I Saw a Mission Field

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

It was a beautiful warm late mid-May afternoon.  I was sitting in my chair on my back patio as the aroma of hamburgers on the grill surrounded me.  I was enjoying the mixture of smells and sounds of that spring day.  The fresh cut grass, the grill, the flowers, the birds sweetly chirping, the crowd at the youth baseball game and the laughing children on the playground all played a melody on my senses that day.  As I took in the view, I saw it.  Any other person would have seen the same thing I saw and say that it was just a group of children playing on the swings, playing king of the hill on the dirt pile, or just a few parents watching their child play a rousing game of baseball.  I saw something different.  I saw a mission field.  As I watched the children scurry from slide to swing to seesaw and the parents loudly cheering for their child’s swing of the bat or an exciting catch of a fly ball in the outfield, my mind pondered the words of Jesus to His disciples just prior to His ascension in Acts 1:7.  He said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  I quickly got up to grab my Bible and read the words with interest.  I looked back at the group of people and realized the task that I had as an ambassador of His kingdom. 

We first find that we must be a witness locally (Jerusalem).  The town I live in is a small town.  We have one bank, one gas station, and the city hall, police department, and the local library share one building.  Yet despite the fact that the town is small, the opportunity to witness is tremendous.  It does not matter what size town you live in, the opportunity you have to be a witness is tremendous.  There will always be someone who needs to come into contact with the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  There are people who are hurting, yet you can be the one to share with them the marvelous grace of God and how He has helped you endure the trials and difficult circumstances you have faced.  There are people who are seeking answers and you have access to one of the greatest help books ever in the Word of God that can provide the answers they seek.  Be witnesses where you are planted. I once came across a picture of a beautiful single flower growing in a vast desolate desert.  The captioning on the bottom read “Bloom where you are planted.”  The mission field first begins at home.

Secondly we find we must be a witness regionally (Judea).  As I reflected on that, my mind began to think of the county I live in.  The more I thought of that, the more I wondered how could this apply to me.  Then I thought of my workplace.  The place I work is not in this town but in another town in the same county.  It is there I must continue to witness.  I have listened to countless souls describe the problems they are facing.  People who work there also know the testimony of my faith and my unwavering commitment to God and His word and His church.  I must continue to be a witness. 

Third, we see that me must witness nationally (Samaria).  The opportunity to witness goes even further than our backyard.  Does this mean we must pack up our belongings and move to a different part of the country?  Only if God wills it.  If it is not God’s will, how can we be a witness?  Have you thought of churches which have been planted in a new area that could use your prayer or financial support.  Be a witness. 

Fourth, we must be a witness to the world (and to the end of the earth).  God bless the men and women who have left their culture and their home to venture into an unknown land and culture to share God’s love to the people of that land.  They need our help.  They need our prayers.  They need our witness. 

Before I could think about the world, I had to think about those children and parents at the park behind my home.  My heart became burdened.  I realized my duty and my task.  All because I saw a mission field.

What the Women Did Not Find

 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.  And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,  but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing;  and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead?  He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, (Luke 24:1-6)

Easter.  The glorious celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, a celebration of the fact that no grave could contain Him and no stone could hinder Him.  A celebration of not what was found, but what was not found.  As the women approached the tomb, they found an empty tomb.  There was more to what they did not find than the fact they did not find the body of our Lord Jesus.  They did not find any blocked access.  The stone had been rolled away.  Do you know the story of the Tabernacle?  The Holy of Holies was separated from everything else.  Only the high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies.  The place where God made His presence specially manifested among men.  With the stone being rolled away, that all changed.  Jesus became our High Priest.  Through Him, we have direct access to God.  Through Him, our relationship with God can become renewed.  Sin blocked our access to a relationship with God, but now through Christ’s death and His resurrection, that stone has been rolled away.  No longer is the access blocked.  Not only did they not find any blocked access, they did not find any broken promises.  Can you imagine the sadness of the disciples when they were told that their friend and mentor, the one they had left their nets and duties for to follow and to serve was going to die at the hands of men?  Now imagine what could go through your mind when told that he would die, only to come to life three days later.  The promise had been fulfilled.  The stone had been rolled away.  Death had been defeated and no longer held the power it once had.  Now the evidence of God’s promises to be fulfilled was stronger than ever.  He promised to be with you even through the most difficult time, at the tomb, the promise was not broken.  He promised to provide your needs to help you in your walk with Him, at the tomb, the promise was not broken.  He promised everlasting life to all who believe and accepted Him as Lord of their life, the tomb was empty and death had been defeated; the promise had been kept.  He promised to come back, the tomb was empty, and the promise was not broken.  As the women ventured to the tomb, they did not find any bragging devil.  There was nothing for Him to be brag about.  He thought victory was his.  The power of Christ was stronger than that of Satan.  Though he walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, victory had been achieved by a much more stronger lion, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.  I can almost imagine the snickering of Satan as Christ drew His last breath on the old rugged cross of Calvary.  During the early morning hours of the first day of the week, Satan’s mood changed.  His victory party was over.  Christ conquered death, hell and the grave.  His redemption work was complete and the war was far from over.  Today, because of that empty tomb, hope is stronger than ever and the ultimate victory is drawing ever so closer.  Easter, the glorious celebration of what was not found at the tomb, is our source of hope and strength as we continue our daily journey to the grand prize.  It is through this resurrection that victory in our life will be won.  Do you know Him?  Have you thanked Him?  Our celebration and worship of Easter must not be once a year, but every day.

See His Hands

 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”  Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”  Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” (John 20:27-29)

A touch.  Sometimes in our life, we just need a touch.  I remember those nightmares I use to have as a young boy.  I would wake up with a gasp and a scream and my body coated with sweat only to have my rapid breathing eased when my father would put his arms around me to let me know everything is okay and nothing would happen to me.  There were those nights when I was struck with sickness, my body in pain and my spirits dampened only to be comforted by my mother’s gentle touch as she slightly feels my forehead and strokes my hair.  A touch.  Even as we get older, we still need the touch. A Savior’s touch is a touch that carries more value and more weight than a father’s touch or a mother’s touch.  In John 20, after his resurrection, he tells a doubting Thomas to look at His hands as evidence that He is who He really is, Jesus the resurrected Son of God.  Let us look at his hands and see the power of His touch in our lives.

 In Matthew 14, we read the story of the disciple Peter walking on the water towards Jesus who also was walking on the water.  Around them a storm raged.  Peter shifted his focus to the winds and the waves and became afraid.   In the midst of the storm, Peter sank.  But do not stop there for you will miss the blessing.  When Peter cried out to Jesus to save him, Jesus extended His hands to Peter and pulled him to safety.  Oh the beautiful picture of Jesus’ helping hand, which in the midst of our storms, will extend his hands toward us to help us face whatever we are struggling with and give us the safety, strength, and victory we so desperately need.  We cannot face our trials alone; we need the precious hand of Jesus in our life to help us.   Are you weary, embattled, and worn? Reach out for the hands of Jesus, ask for His touch and let Him give you the help you need to face the situation. 

In Matthew 8:14,15, we see the story of Peter’s mother-in-law healed.  It was not by medicine, surgery, some miraculous transplant, but by a touch of the hands from the Great Physician.  This is a picture of Jesus’ healing hands.  He healed the son of a nobleman.   He healed a man suffering from paralysis.  He healed a blind man.  His healing power raised from the dead the daughter of Jairus and also Lazarus.  I have seen doctors confounded and forced to change their diagnosis of the patient because of the healing power of Jesus.  Yes, that Jesus he overcame death, hell, and the grave.  It is the same healing power that heals the broken hearted.  Are you sick?  Are you hurting?  Are you broken-hearted?  Place your hands in the healing hands of the Master.

Now we return to the John 20.  What did Thomas need to see?  What was so special about His hands that were visible to the naked eye to give Thomas that sure, strong evidence that the person in front of him is in fact, Jesus?  There was something there, which served as a reminder to all who saw it, that this was Jesus.  His scars served as evidence to Thomas and the world that this Jesus who had been crucified is now raised from the dead.  Thomas was looking at Jesus’ hurting hands.  They were hands that endured such intense pain because of His never-ending love for us.  Oh sinner, Christ endured pain for you because he loves you and through His death has provided for us the most wonderful gift of eternal life.  Because of those hands, the debt I owed is now marked PAID IN FULL!  How precious are those hands.  Look at them, reach for them, and hold them; for they help, they heal, and most importantly, they save.

The Prayer on the Cross

And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. (Luke 23:32-34)

                The world watched as He hung on the cross.  Hung by three spikes, one through his feet and one on each hand, He had endured humiliation and shame at the hands of the very crowd who was watching Him take His last breaths.  Excruciating pain sailed through the vast network of His nerve system as He would push up with His feet and pull up with His hands, just to take a breath of fresh air to fill his lungs.  The skin on His back was shredded open from the flogging He received from the whips that were forcefully brought down upon His back which were filled with small sharp bones and pieces of metal to further enhance the pain of a guilty criminal charged with a crime.  A wooden staff, which served in mockery as a scepter for this “King of the Jews”, had bruised his skull that had also been bloodied by a crown made of thorns.  He had been further humiliated when He was forced to carry His own object of execution, a cross which weighed approximately over 250 pounds.  Along the journey to the crucifixion site the bloodthirsty mob hit Him, spat on Him, and pulled the hair in His beard.  It all lead to this point.  He painfully took another breath and within seconds uttered words that shook the foundations of the earth.  The crowd looked up in wonder and awe at the words He had just spoken.  “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

                Have you ever heard preachers and teachers say, when He was on the cross, you were on His mind?  Have you ever wondered at what point that occurred?  I would like to say it was when He prayed.  Let’s look at the phrase “Father, forgive them”.  If you look between the words Father and forgive, you will find an all-important punctuation, the comma.  There a few things I remembered from my grammar classes in high school and one of those things is that the comma denotes a pause.  As he prayed, he paused to think of the Roman soldiers who were at the foot of the cross gambling for their ultimate prize for this event, the garments of a “convicted criminal”.  Forgive them.  He thought of Peter, His own closest disciple who had denied him on three separate occasions.  Forgive Him.  He thought of the crowd that sat before Him who just hours before had hungered for His blood and His death.  They had chosen the freedom of a violent criminal and for Jesus to die.  Forgive them.  He thought of Pilate who pandered more to the wishes of a crowd than what was right.  Forgive Him.  He thought of the Roman soldiers who gleefully played a role in brutally punishing Him and inflicted the pain upon Him prior to being hung on the cross.  Forgive them.  He thought of Chris Thomas.  I was not there, but he thought of me.  He prayed for me.  He thought of you.  You were not there, but you came to His mind.  He paused as one by one each of us came to His mind and then he prayed, “forgive them”.  It is through this moment and through this prayer that we are able to find forgiveness and redemption from our sins. 

                This prayer during this ordeal is the ultimate act of compassion.  Have you found forgiveness from your sins?  God loves you so much that He sent down His son to die your death for your sins.  If you have found forgiveness, when was the last time you prayed a prayer of thankfulness?  Through Him, we have the gift of eternal life.

When the Fish Ain't Biting

A look back on some of my past devotionals from my previous website:

After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way. Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will also come with you.” They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing. But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.  So Jesus said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” They answered Him, “No.”  And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.” So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.   (John 21:1-6 NASB)

Walking down a creek bank one day nearby a small North Carolina town, I happened across an old time  fisherman sitting on a five gallon bucket with a coffee can of worms.  I struck up a conversation with him and asked him how the fishing was doing on that particular day.  He spat into the dirt, stood up, wiped the sweat off of his weathered brow, lifted the lid to the bucket he was sitting on and pointed to the empty bucket and grumbled in his slow tongued southern drawl, "The fish ain't biting".  Have you ever had one of those days?  As the disciples struggled in catching fish, I can only imagine their frustration.  There is a huge difference between verse 3 and verse 6.  In verse 3, they caught nothing.  Every cast of the net was brought back to the boat without a single blessing.  In verse 6, they brought a bountiful of blessings in their boat that was above and beyond what they could handle that they simply were not able to bring in their catch.  Blessings, like the rain brings a sense of refreshment and renewal in our spiritual life.  Sometimes, when the "fish are not biting", we simply need to take a look within ourselves.  When we find the root of the problem, then we can experience the windows of Heaven open and truly enjoy the bountiful of "fishes" more than we can ever imagine.
                The first problem that catches my attention was the disciples "forgot".  Open up a fishing magazine and you will find numerous information on the different techniques on properly attracting a fish to your lure or bait.  After storing our rods for the winter, sometimes those techniques become lost, because we do not keep it fresh in our minds or it simply gets lost in the maze of information in our brain.  Jesus stood on the shore and the disciples did not realize that it was Him.   If we are not careful, our spiritual walk develops into a rut or a ritual that we forget the whole purpose of our relationship.  When we first developed our relationship, we went to church because we wanted to and we loved to.  As we progress in our walk, if we are not careful, our attitudes change and it simply becomes a ritual and we lost focus on why we really go.  The same can be said for anything such as why we tithe, why we serve, why we read, why we pray.  It is up to us to keep our relationship with God fresh so that we can continue to reap God's blessings and keep our focus pure.

The second problem is the disciples were in the wrong place.  Many times I have been out on my boat, only to spend most of the day finding the right spot where the fish was biting.   If we are not truly enjoying God's blessings, then we need to take stock of where we are at in our spiritual life.  If we are not in the right place spiritually, then we are robbing ourselves of a bountiful of fish.  Sometimes, the simple remedy of catching the fish is simply getting in the right place with God.  In verse 6, Jesus lets the disciple know the place they needed to be was on the other side.  They were fishing in the wrong place.  Where are you fishing at?

The third problem is one from personal experience.  Sometimes if the fish is not biting, you are simply fishing for the wrong fish.  Let me explain.   When I was around 12 years old, my dad and I headed to a section of a river near New Bern, NC.  Our goal for the day, stripers or hybrid striped bass.  As we anchored in what seem to be an ideal spot, we baited our hooks with cut herring and casually casted our lines out into the water just a few feet from the boat.  My dad had spent the days prior to our fishing trip the excitement of catching a striper.  After a large amount of time passed catching nothing, the tip of my rod reacted in a violent shaking motion.  I pulled on the rod to set the hook and my dad jumped to his feet excitedly.  After a pretty good battle, I reeled in my fish.  I beamed with excitement as I hauled in my first ever 4 pound.........catfish.  My dad looked at me and said, "well son, it is not a striper but it will do."  All day we spent searching for stripers only to catch none, but we did come home after catching a total of 10-15 catfish which we kept enough of in the cooler to feed our family of four.  You can look at this story in two ways.  We did not get what we set out to catch or we sure did catch a bountiful of catfish ranging in weight from 2-6 pounds.  Sometimes we forget to simply let God decide the blessings.  Instead of saying, I will only be happy and content if this happens, a change of attitude and just letting God do His thing will truly open our eyes and our hearts to appreciating even the simplest things.  Not all blessings come in grand fashion.  Sometimes, they come in the simplest ways.  Open your eyes and hearts to the things in your life and say "Lord, thanks for the bounty of fish."