And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth (Luke 18:8)? Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name (Romans 1:5). I have a simple definition for Grace: “all that God has, and all that God is.” He gave this to us as a gift for our New Birth. Now we have to learn how to live with this gift. How do we use it? As we accomplish His will, we discover that Grace is actually working for us. Apostleship means we have been given certain assignments—as an apostle is a “sent one”—and as we go to do that assignment, we do it through His Grace. For instance, in my early years as a Christian, the Lord told me to go and love people and not be concerned about who loves me. In my carnal self I am always wanting to be loved, but in my spiritual self, I love to love others, and I find I have the Grace to do it. This verse instructs us to obey the faith among the nations for His name. As a missionary to France, I can enthusiastically tell you, that if you are not praying for—supporting a missionary to—a particular nation that God has put on your heart, maybe even taking a short-term missions trip there, then you are not accomplishing your assignment. Actually, it frightens me when people come up and confess that they were called by God to be a missionary to a certain place, and that they have never responded to that call. It frightens me because there are so many of them. Would the Lord have already returned if everyone obeyed?
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And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth (Luke 18:8)? So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily (Acts 16:5). My son has lived in Tanzania for many years, so during my visits, I’ve taken a few Safaris. It seems like everyone I meet on these Safaris has favorite animals. Some like lions, some like elephants, and I like zebras. Why the lowly zebra? Because it reminds me of the church—The Body of Christ. They have all these crazy stripes on their bodies, and though they look similar, no two zebras are ever alike. When a lion sees a zebra who has strayed from the herd, and he or she sets sights on the animal, all the zebra has to do is run back to the herd, and the lion is outwitted, as his eyesight only allows him to fix on one animal, but who can tell one zebra from another in the herd? That’s the joy of having brothers and sisters in Christ. When the lion-pretender, Satan, comes stalking us, we have each other—we have the church, where we are strengthened in our faith. We need support in our faith walk, and we have it in the family of God! |
Marty DelmonWriter Archives
December 2018
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