Trust & Go!

Rathvinden House, County Carlow, Ireland

The Gospel lectionary reading for today is from Matthew 10:7–15 ....

As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for labourers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that town.

Can you imagine missionaries functioning this way today? Most missionaries today spend a year or two raising financial support before they go on to the mission field. I am not saying that is wrong, but it is different from what Jesus instructed his first disciples to do. Basically he said, "Go and trust me to provide for your needs along the way."

When the Lord made it clear to our family that he wanted us to go and serve him in Ireland in 2004, we didn't know where all the resources were going to come from. We didn't even know how long the Lord wanted us to be there. We simply asked the Lord to close every door he didn't want us to go through and open the one door he did want us to enter. That's how we ended up going to Ireland to serve with Doug and Merrie Gresham in their ministry at Rathvinden House. We went on a one-way ticket, not knowing when or even if the Lord would want us to return to the United States. It was scary, but also exciting to see how the Lord provided for us. And then when it was time for us to return to the United States it was amazing to see how the Lord arranged for the plane tickets and the exact place where he wanted us to live, as well as providing a car for us to drive and everything we needed to serve him.

Most servants of the Lord, serving him in mission, are not wealthy people, but they have a Father who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. I wonder: would you dare to attempt something so great for God that it is bound to fail unless he is in it? Would you dare to offer yourself to go on some sort of mission, not knowing how God might provide to make it happen? There are hundreds of Christian organizations that could use your service in some sort of short term mission, either in the US or overseas. Why not look into it and see what the Lord might have you do and how he might expand your horizons?

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