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The other day I was reading a devotional on the kingdom of God and it ended with this, “We need to be kingdom minded in everything we say and do”. Now this really made me stop and think about what it actually means to be kingdom minded. What does that look like? Being kingdom minded is when we are aware that this is only our temporary home and each of us has a unique purpose here to help further the kingdom of God. We know that what we do is not for us, but for God. We need to be kingdom minded in everything we say and do" But what does it look like to be kingdom minded? What would someone see in us? And how do we become kingdom minded and continue to grow in that mindset? 4 Things People Should See 1. They should see God at the center of our lives. To be kingdom minded is to keep God at the center of all that we do. We are aware of our actions and whether they would glorify God. 2. They should see us reaching out to others, and serving. Being kingdom minded is to have a servant heart. It is reaching out to the poor and needy, even if we don’t benefit from it ourselves. Serving in the community is as important as serving in the church. 3. They should see us sharing our testimonies. Sharing our testimony is so important. You may think your testimony isn’t worth sharing, but trust me it always is. Even if you didn’t have a huge life changing event happen, or an exciting transformation story, your story still shares of God’s grace and love. And that is always worth sharing! 4. They should see that our priority is not our own agenda but God’s. Being kingdom minded is to put God’s agenda before our own. Our number one priority should be furthering God’s kingdom by sharing of God’s love, peace, joy and grace. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. 4 Tools and Practices to Help Us Be Kingdom Minded 1. Devotions and Prayer Spending quiet time with God in devotions and prayer is a great way to stay kingdom minded. This time will help you build your relationship with God and learn more of what he has in store for you! 2. Attend Church Attending church is a great place to learn more about God and what it looks like to further his kingdom. You can also build strong relationships with other church goers. These people can encourage you and walk alongside you in your journey to be more kingdom minded. 3. Become more Missions Orientated Get involved in missions. Support a missionary, pray for a missionary, or go on a missions trip. These are great ways to get involved in furthering of the kingdom. Supporting a missionary financially and in prayer is as important as going. Help in the way you think God is calling you to. 4. Bring God into all Daily Activities Bringing God into all your daily activities allows God to be fully involved in your life. When God is fully involved you will be able to show God’s love and grace in every area of your life. We are here on earth for a purpose. God calls us to glorify him in all that we do and say. Wherever we may be on the scale of kingdom mindedness, there is always room for growth. Our purpose is so much bigger then we can imagine and it will take time and effort to achieve. What have you been doing that shows you are kingdom minded? And what will you change to become more kingdom minded? Let these 4 views and 4 tools/principals help and encourage. Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”
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I met a young lady at a missions event a few years ago where I got to hear about her story. Her name was Bethany and she was an undergrad wanting to become a medical doctor. Her marks were good but the limited amount of spaces in the program required more than good grades to get accepted. Unfortunately, Bethany wasn’t accepted right away. I shared with her about the work that OMS Canada does with the Bethesda Medical Clinic in Haiti. I explained to her that there were many opportunities to serve there. Bethany applied with OMS and was accepted into our Embark program to serve in Haiti and spent many months working at the clinic having a transformative experience. When Bethany got home, this experience proved to be enough to get her into the medical program the following year. Why am I telling you this? Well, Bethany is only one example of many whom we have met at mission events who have come to serve the Lord with OMS. Mission events are a significant part of OMS’ recruitment strategy. We set up an OMS booth and staff and volunteers interact with visitors at the event. If the visitor expresses an interest in opportunities available at OMS, we gather contact information and follow up at a later date. Through mission events we are able to meet, encourage and help those looking to serve have the opportunity to go. We all have a part in missions whether we are the ones going or not". We all have a part in missions whether we are the ones going or not. Besides the goer, missions also involves senders, encouragers, supporters and prayer warriors. OMS attends mission events so that we may become senders for those feeling called to go. From there we need encouragers, supporters and prayer warriors to join us. The single most important and effective tool to leverage the work done at mission fests is prayer. Having made the needs known and explaining the opportunities, we must now pray to the Lord to send these contacts into the Harvest. That is God’s job. And so we pray to Him to do exactly what He wants to do. You may not be called to ‘go’ but you are still called to serve and to play a part in God’s mission. Will you join us in the works of missions by committing to pray for each of the new contacts made this coming year? Become an encourager and supporter today! (If you are interested in learning more of how you can be involved in missions and other ways to pray, visit our website at www.omscanada.org or contact the office). Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” Do you ever wonder if you are following God’s plan for you? Are you afraid that what you're doing or wanting to do isn't actually from God? It would be so much easier if God would write out his plan for us in clear English. Unfortunately, that’s not the way it works for most of us. Are you afraid that what you're doing or wanting to do isn't actually from God? Making decisions in life can be very stressful when we are trying to do God’s work. It is even harder when we aren’t sure if what we're doing is from God. So the question is, how do we know if something is from God? 1. Pray This is the most important tool and the first tool we should use when asking the question if our path is God’s path. Ask God to show you his plan for you for the situation you find yourself in. Psalms 25:4-5 is a great prayer to do this. Jeremiah 42:3; Matthew 7:7 2. Go to Scripture God has given the Bible for our direction, so why not go to it for help with making life decisions. Your decisions should agree with Scripture. If your reading of Scripture raises doubts about your plan, you may want to rethink it. Psalms 119:105; 2 Timothy 3:16 3. Is it Glorifying? Will your actions in the situation bring glory to God? We're called to glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31), if it isn’t for God, it isn’t from God. Ask yourself, ‘would Jesus do it?’, for Jesus’s actions always glorified God. If Jesus wouldn’t do it, we shouldn’t either. Romans 6:13; 1 Peter 4:10-11 4. Seek Counsel Pastors, teachers, friends and leaders can all be very helpful in making decisions. Don’t be afraid to ask those around you for advice and for their input on the situation. Be careful who you choose, and pray about their words afterwards. Proverbs 1:5; Proverbs 11:14 5. Is it Challenging? If you think that you can handle whatever comes next in your situation on your own, take a step back. We need God in all that we do. If it's something God doesn’t need to help you with, if it doesn’t challenge your faith, it might not be from God. If faith isn’t involved, how will people see the God you have faith in. John 5:30; Hebrews 11:6 6. Patience and Trust Have patience and trust in God. Sometimes we don’t receive the answers we want right away, but trust that God will guide you and keep His promises. If the desire you have grows over time, or you hear it repeatedly over time, take note of it. Psalms 27:14; Psalms 32:8; Proverbs 3:5-6; Proverbs 19:2; Proverbs 19:21; Isaiah 58: 11; Jeremiah 29:11-13; James 1:5-6 God created you and loves you, His path will never harm you. He only wants His best for us. Don’t rush to make decisions because time can be a gift. So go forth, be a blessing and glorify God in all that you do! And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. –Romans 8:28 (NIV) A professor used to talk about the "fog factor" in communications. He multiplied the average number of words in a sentence by the average number of letters in the words to get the "Fog Index." The idea behind the Fog Index is that if you want people to read and understand what you wrote, it needs to be clear and simple. Someone once said, "When there's a mist in the pulpit, there's a fog in the pew." If people are to understand and support missions as a critical function of the church, we need to be clear about some things that have become foggy. 1. We need to be clear about the goal of missions. For many of us the primary goal or aim of missions has gradually become dim. In a Christianity Today article on short term missions, the author mentioned that Christian young people have great compassion for the physical, social, and justice issues of people. Unfortunately many are theologically confused about the need for a gospel transformation of the heart by Jesus. What is it that missions is supposed to accomplish? After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9-10 shows us a picture of people from every tongue, tribe, language and people worshipping the lamb. As we plan our missions ministry, this is our guiding principle, that it is primarily about God and not man. The end goal of missions is gathering the worshippers that John saw in Revelation, because the Lamb deserves the worship of everyone. 2. We need to be clear about the scope of missions. Missions used to be reaching the pagans overseas, and church ministry was building up the church at home. The distinctions may never be this clear again because the world is too complex. But we must somehow draw boundaries between missions and church ministry. Missions is what we send people and resources to do because the congregation can't do it while church ministry is what we as individuals and the church can and should do as part of our life and ministry among people we can reach. 3. We need to be clear about the priorities of missions. Many things may be included in missions but not everything is of equal value, importance, or urgency. Our planning must indicate what fields, tasks, projects, and activities we consider of greatest strategic importance. Usually this is most effectively done with budgets and budget goals and with public prayers, reports, and celebrations. When these things are clear in the minds of our church leaders and our people, we may expect the kind of support and involvement that missions deserves. Do you wonder where your church stands with regards to the three critical concerns? We have an assessment tool that can help! Click HERE to download our Missionary Assessment Tool for your church. Has fear ever brought anything good to your life? Has it brought you peace, happiness, love? If it has, please let me know, because I want to fear what you fear. I have never gotten those things from fear. Fear has brought me regret, anxiety, loss, stress and pain, but none of these are good. None of these things are from God and, well, that’s because fear is not from God. In fact, God calls us not to fear! But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine" - Isaiah 43:1 As children of God we have nothing to fear, so why do we still have fear in our lives? Fear is Satan’s tactic to prevent us from doing the things we're called to do. It paralyzes us. When we give in to our fears and allow them to prevent us from doing something, we are letting Satan win. Our fears are lies that we tell ourselves, They won’t like ME. I’m going to lose. I’m going to get hurt. I won’t have enough money. They’ll make fun of ME. All these fears are about us, and they are earthly fears. If we aren’t accepted, if we lose or go broke, it doesn’t change God’s love for us. They are things that only matter in this earthly life, but we know that this is only our temporary home. Fear is nothing but distrust. For example, maybe we fear falling through a platform, that’s us not trusting that the platform will hold. When we fear things, we've lost our trust in God. God promises that He will provide for us, protect us and love us, and God never breaks his promises. So we have nothing to fear. For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you”. – Isaiah 41:13 I leave you with this. Next time you have fear, don’t let it hold you back, turn the fear into trust in God. Use your fear as a reminder of the promises God has made you and that he hasn’t failed you yet. Turn your distrust to trust and your fear will disappear. #bethefeet #onelordonelifeonecalling |
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