I have enjoyed doing a lot of reading the past couple of months. Much of what I’ve read has been stories of Christians living in other parts of the world who participated in the plan of God however He called them. I’ve been feasting on stories of the favor and provision of the Father, the miracles He worked by His hand, and the lessons he taught these beautiful people.
These people all have some things in common. Here are five lessons I’ve learned from these five books (as a whole… not necessarily one from each book, but the commonalities that these people have).
1. I must pray. Prayer is our communication with God. How can we go without it? If Jesus spent time with the Father in prayer, how could we not? God has taught me a lot about the importance of prayer the past 9 months and all of these books have inspired me to pray more and more. It’s so rich!
2. I need to know Scripture. Each of these people had a commitment to Scripture in their hearts and minds. When they needed it, it was there. I’ve been blessed by working on some memorizing lately. The Word is so rich!
3. I’ll face discouragement. Each of these people came to a place of discouragement at least once in their great ministries. Often, it was very serious discouragement. However, through their confidence in the Word and time in prayer, they overcame these discouraging times. I like this lesson because I can have confidence that when I’m discouraged I will make it through “by your prayers and the help given me by the Spirit of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:19).
4. It’s an honor to give my life for the sake of Christ. What more can I say about this? What’s the value of life if it’s not lived completely for His glory?
5. It’s not about me. As I’ve had the opportunity to teach the Perspectives material again*, I’m constantly reminded that life is so much bigger than me and “my vision.” God’s purpose is so huge – His plan for the nations so vast – He will fulfill His purpose with or without me and it is my privilege and opportunity to join with Him and take part in it. I rejoice in that!!
Read more stories. They are inspiring and we can learn so much from these people who God has used in mighty ways.
*If you want to hear what I’ve been teaching, go to www.fflife.us/listen. My lessons are the ones that have my name by the word Speaker.