My Road Less Travelled

Along the road of life I find myself waking up to each day that brings forth a different sort of challenge. Every day is a new beginning but what is newness? Does newness mean an added hope? Refreshing of the soul...Delighting in the Maker....is that enough?

I spent the day working through some questions, pen down some thoughts, cancelled out some of them, pondered on the rest and found myself in a big whirlpool.

Being that semi melancholic self that I am on a moody saturday afternoon, i sat down thinking....but at the same time had to be watchful of where my thoughts were heading and whether they were healthy.

I seek CLARITY and WISDOM from my God about some real pertinent issues in my life. I seek to pray, O Lord that you will bless me. My Pastor has told me many times then when things don't make sense, it doesn't mean God is confusing you. When things don't make sense, it just means God will be the one to direct you. Do not look to your right or left for advice - look only to Him. Knowing what to do and knowing that it is God's way (the green light) will give you an overwhelming sense of inner peace and joy that no matter what hits you, what others say or even when things dun go the way you expect it to do - you still hold true to that which the Lord has shown you. Show me your ways O Lord, O teach me Your Paths, Guide me to Your Truth for YOU ARE MY GOD AND SAVIOUR.

Show, Teach and Guide..

I have been thinking about the cost of "followership", discipleship and the kingdom of God.

Are they tests? Most very likely. What is the eternal principle on that? To everyone entrusted with spiritual authority, searching tests are bound to come. After the Equipping Weekend, I sense that alot of leaders are undergoing tough times...and I remember reading that a true leader is at his best in baffling circumstances. I remember Moses and the crossing of the Red Sea. I remember Hudson Taylor in his mission in China. They were mere men just like you and I, chosen men who learnt that no failure need be final and acts upon that to still choose to adhere to the Master's will because it secured for them a more ample conception of the grace of God.

For myself too, I find that God is bringing me into this year of growing myself to grow others. To grow myself means, to remove every bad seed that is stifling my growth - be it my character weakness or issues in my life that are unresolved. Or it may also go further to the things I need to surrender like my career ambitions or could it be things in my life that I need to learn to persevere and take back, lay hold strongly to what the Lord has given me which the evil one slowly seeks to destroy.

So what is the cost of being a disciplemaker to me?

No one need to aspire to be a disciplemaker in the work of God who is not prepared to pay a price greater than his contemporaries are willing to pay. Do not compare your christian life with another person's christian life. The call to intentionally making disciples or in some ways "leadership" always exacts a heavy toll on the whole man, and the more effective you are, the higher the price to be paid. It took one man's blood to give us what we so graciously enjoy today.

I read about a man who was so devoted to the Lord Jesus, went where the Lord told him to, did what the Lord told him to and paid the price. This is what he said :
" There is often a very real cost too which has to be paid by others than the one entrusted with the calling/mission. Indeed, it is they who sometimes pay the heavier price" (Fred Mitchell)

Fred Mitchell was invited to become the Director of the China Inland Mission and he knew that there would be a price to pay not only by himself but those dearest to him. His hands were already full and he had no desire for more work. He wrote his thoughts down when he was asked to take up that position " I have lived long enough, and have already had sufficient responsibility to know that is is not to be sought, for it usually carried at a heavy price." Later he wrote to his son " I have had many a sorrow of heart and it still remains one of my chief regrets that i have not been able to give myself to your mother and you children more. The harvest is great and the labourers are few which means that there have been many calls upon me. I do not justify my negligence....; but any sacrifice made by you for our dear Lord Jesus' sake has not been unrewarded"

That was Fred Mitchell's cost and the cost of his dearest ones.

Woah! Isn't that just amazing...wouldn't you want to inherit that man's legacy ? I think if I was his wife or child, it would bring me no greater joy to know God has used Fred more and more and more and responded to His servant's trust that his family was well taken care of by his Maker.

What kind of life do I want to life? How do I want to life it? Who am I living for?

I will continue to delight in my Maker. I will continue to seek the Lord day and night. I will learn to devote my life to prayer and a prevailing kind of prayer.

Prevailing prayer is the outcome of a correct relationship with God. Prayer influences men by influencing God to influence them. It is not the prayer that moves men, but the God to whom we pray. By the power of prayer, we can demand the power of God. ( J Oswald Sanders)

May we all learn to refresh our own soul and then, serve Him with a mighty zest wherever we are, in whatever we do.

London...is this the place to be?! =) Time will tell...