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A CALL TO MISSIONS

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.”

Isaiah 61: 1 – 3 (King James Version)

When God called me to be a missionary, He commissioned me and gave me these verses. I have always loved this passage of Scripture and I was so excited when He gave these verses to me as my call to missions. I have received several emails asking me if I am a pastor since God gave me this devotional ministry as part of my mission assignment. I am not a pastor; I am a missionary. I have not had the privilege to attend Bible School but I took correspondence courses from a Bible School several years ago.

Our Heavenly Father is the one who called me to the mission field. The Holy Spirit is my teacher. He is the one who brings the verses to my remembrance when I forget where they are in the Bible. Jesus is the one who inspires the writings. I am simply a servant; a lady who loves Jesus with all of her heart. I have dedicated my entire life to serving the One who died for me. I have given Him all of my time and everything that I have.

God may not have called you to be a full time missionary, a pastor, a Sunday School teacher, a writer, a singer, a choir director, a counselor, or given you a leadership position, however He has called every person to spread His unconditional love to everybody we meet. You can not use the excuse that you have no talents so you can’t serve Him. If you have a mouth, you can tell people that Jesus loves them. If you have two arms, you can hug people for Him. If you have a telephone, you can call someone who is lonely and desperately needs to know that someone cares about him or her. No, we have no excuse not to serve our precious Saviour.

Are you spreading the unconditional love of Jesus to your family, your friends and to a hurting world? Are you hugging people for Jesus? If you are not telling somebody every day that Jesus loves him or her, then everything that you did that day means nothing to Jesus. Not only that, you are being disobedient and hurting Him when you refuse to spread His love. Again, none of us have any excuse for not serving our precious Saviour.

If you are too busy to take a few minutes during the day to tell somebody that Jesus loves him or her, then you are too busy. Is Jesus first in your life above everyone and everything? It is very important that you read your Bible daily but if you are not spending time every day with the living word, Jesus, you will never be able to serve Him effectively or please Him. The level of our service to Jesus depends on our level of love for Him. Let me repeat this as it is so important “The level of our service to Jesus depends on our level of love for Him”. How much do you love Him?

Joanne Lowe
September 12, 2007

An entry by Joanne Lowe (e-Mail: joannelowe8[at]cox.net), Pensacola, FL.
Please vistit her website with over one thousand writings/devotions