Anyway, for what it's worth... this is what was on my heart and mind this morning.
'If anyone here is feeling left out, unnoticed, unrecognized, alone, I need to tell you that God is looking at you and thinking 'I have a plan for you, and it's awesome!'
I grew up with a bit of a wierd childhood and as a result I never really felt like I fit in anywhere. So I began to spend time with God, reading my Bible praying and I would say 'God, there are these great men in the Bible, Noah, Moses, Joseph, David, Paul... and they're all guys like me... human... do you want to do something incredible with my life? If so, I'm not psychic, I can't read minds, I need to know, so tell me.'
Then one day, I was 25 or so, I got this little bit of a feeling like I was supposed to go to Papua New Guinea to visit. And I couldn't forget that thought no matter how much I tried. Some people came to our class and spoke like I'm speaking now and I got this thought and it wouldn't go away.
So I prayed about it. And so I went to PNG. And when I got there, it was THERE that I felt at home. THERE that I felt like I fit in, I belonged, all my skills all my interests, my talents and my hobbies, my childhood everything clicked and I knew, I knew...
people say 'how did you know'.... man when you know it's very strong on your heart and your mind, and I KNEW this was the plan for my life.
God had planned everything that had happened in my life to get me to that point where He wanted me.
Jer 29:10- 10 This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14
Okay so now, if your'e in this room and you're in the other boat. You're thinking 'I got this handled... I've been a Christian since I was 5 years old, and I know exactly what's going on in my life. I have my goals, I have my life all set out before me.' That's awesome.
Guess what, that was me after college. I had goals to accomplish, and I did too, I accomplished every one of my goals. I was 33 when my last goal was accomplished. I wanted to have 2 kids, a lovely wife, and a job that paid me six figures a year. And I had it.
Then I said 'wow, now what? Retirement? At 33?'
So I started asking God more about what His plan for me was.
If you're there, where you have your plans all set out before you, you've got your life all laid out, you're in the cool group.... be sure that's what God's plan for you is.
Okay so the Bible says He has a plan... so let's talk about how we figure out the plan.
I mean are we supposed to HEAR GOD'S VOICE like we hear stuff on the t.v.?
Let me tell you how it worked for me.
I spent my time and effort getting closer to Christ. I spent a lot of time reading the Bible, praying, finding out what the truth was, kept asking God what He wanted of me. And the more time we spent together, the more times I knew what to do in those moments when you have a tough choice to make.
The the more times I chose to do what I felt would please God and not myself, the more I got to know what God wanted from me.
It was like building a friendship. You hang out with your buddies and you learn about them, you learn what they like and hate.
Okay... so that's the story of how I got involved in mission work and went overseas.
So the question remains for you all, ... what does God have planned for you. Well, I can't answer that for you, but I can answer a different question.
If you're asking 'how can I right now, get involved in reaching the whole world for Christ? Missions work?' ... I'll tell you very simply.
PRAY.
If you don't believe prayer works, go overseas and depend on God for everything. You'll soon realize prayer is everything.
There have been so many times I've been in dangerous situations that I got out of safely only because of prayer. Situations totally outside of my control. There have been times when we felt lighter inside happier during times when we should have been very sad, because we knew people back in the united states were praying for us.
So pray. Pray for us, pray for safety, pray for encouragement, pray for support, pray for our kids, pray for everything you can think of.
Prayer works, we're all standing here in front of you because God answers prayer.
KEEP praying. Prayer takes a while sometimes. In Daniel there's a story about an Angel who takes 21 days to answer a prayer because of all the fighting through the enemy he had to do. Check it out.
KEEP praying.
