Statisticians say that more mountain climbers die on their way down than on their way up to the mountaintop. For me, being a missionary to the people of Guangzhou and Hong Kong was a mountaintop experience. Returning to America proved to be a more dangerous direction to overcome, but the Lord has helped me.
The Lord Jesus blessed my Bible reading life, my prayer life, my praise life and my love life for Him and others while serving the Lord on the foreign mission field. These were mountaintop experiences. I did not want to return to America, but the Lord brought my family and me back.
I greatly feared that I would lose my close relationship with the Lord. I made a prayer list that I prayed through daily to maintain my prayer life. For eleven weeks, I looked at employment options and concluded that working for The Salvation Army was the best option for me to support my family of six and still maintain my witness for Jesus. That change of direction lasted 23 years. Then, covid struck. At that point, the Lord gave me faith to devote myself solely to ministry of prayer and the Word. Sherry, my wife, was of a similar mindset.
The Lord has graciously and wonderfully sustained us.
I hope that you can identify with my story in some way or form. My goal is to speak from hindsight now about the importance of trusting in the Lord.
If I had believed, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,” I probably would not have opted to work with The Salvation Army due to doctrinal differences about communion and baptism. Also, I see now, when one’s income depends on donations from a wide spectrum of donors, the ministry tends to become a non-profit ministry in more ways than one, as in becoming a non-prophet ministry – one that dampens people who display too much passion for and talk about JESUS CHRIST, and His Word. I must believe “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.”
The religious leaders of Jerusalem believed, “If we let Him [Jesus] alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.” [1]
They considered Jesus a liability instead of an asset. Actually, the opposite is true. The Romans came and took both their place and nation away in 70 AD after they did not believe in Jesus their Messiah. Many years earlier, the Lord had told the people of Jerusalem through His prophet Jeremiah that if they trusted in Him, kings would bring their wealth into the city, but if they turned from Him unto other gods, kings would take their wealth away.
David trusted in the Lord, and the Lord delivered him from an evil government. King Saul sent as many 3,000 elite soldiers against David, but they failed because the Lord was with David.
Richard Würmbrand testified that when the communists came into Romania, many pastors joined with them for fear of being arrested and tortured due to their faith in God. Well, once the communists solidified their control over Romania, they imprisoned, tortured, exiled and killed those pastors anyway. The difference was that pastors who remained faithful to the Lord, like Würmbrand, had the Lord with them to help them lead many others to Christ even in the communist labor camps. Richard survived the camp, and founded, “The Voice of the Martyrs” ministry in 1967.
King David, a man with a price on his head, wrote, “They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them. O, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! O, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.” [2]
Of course, the Lord can provide for His servants. The key is keep one’s face toward the Lord. The Lord has a rich storehouse. He just needs servants who are willing to trust and obey Him. Then, He will resource them. Think! How did the prophets survive? How did the twelve disciples of Jesus and their families survive? How did the early church believers spread the Gospel so far and so deeply? They were blessed because they trusted in the Lord.
“Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause; and let them say continually, ‘Let the Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.’” [3]
Yes, let us shout for joy and be glad! We can serve the Lord’s righteous causes! We can magnify the Lord! The Lord has pleasure in prospering us as we serve and honor Him.
The Lord has been leading me to pray for my fellow servants of God’s Word. Trust Him! Let us shatter the narratives that oppose and deny faith in God.
The Lord says, “He who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received from My Father.” [4]
Let use the Lord’s rod of iron, His Gospel, to shatter the unbelief that shrouds the nations in darkness and confusion, and then, pick up the pieces via discipleship and remold the new creations into His likeness.
[1] John 11:48
[2] Psalm 34:5-10
[3] Psalm 34:27
[4] Revelation 2:26-27
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