I’ve been pondering the blessings that God has heaped upon America’s churches.  And I have made a profound connection between Christian churches and missions.  This connection was highlighted upon my return from visiting my son while he was serving in South America.

Christians in the country where I was blessed to visit by comparison have very little in comparison to Christians in the United States.  But you know what was glaringly apparent in these dear people?  They were rich in the things of God!  I came away from that glorious encounter with an ache in my heart to not be so materially minded.  Slowly a transformation began taking place in the way I viewed the blessings of God.

I am ashamed to admit this for myself and my fellow Christians but we are in a fog when it comes to our attitude towards blessings.  And if you are familiar with my book and/or blog about fiery darts, then you understand the fiery darts that contributes to this fog.   (http://fierydarts.wordpress.com     Fiery Darts: Satan’s Weapon of Choice)  We all know that God blesses obedience.

Luke 11:28,

But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.

You know, that’s a good thing to understand but there’s a greater thing that must be understood so that we won’t make the mistake of consuming all these blessings upon ourselves.  With blessings comes responsibilities!

   Matt. 25: 19-25 ..

  The parable of the talents.

In these verses The Master entrusted his wealth to his servants and after returning from a long absence he asked them to account for how they had managed his wealth.  So how are we doing in taking the Gospel to the world?  I wonder if we have made the connection that how we go about  fulfilling that mandate from God is to be done by how responsibly we  manage our blessings!

Think about it.  If we as individual church members see our blessings from God as a means to spread the Gospel, then obviously how we give to missions (our time, our money) will be given an overhaul.  In turn this will dramatically affect how our churches give their time and their money to missions.

I’ve heard my son say many times the following:

Some are called to go, and some are called to pray, and some are called to give. But ALL are called to obedience.

Therefore, if we all obey then we will be blessed and we will be prompted to use those blessings in a responsible manner.  It may be to go and serve in missions, either short term, long term, or short mission trips.  It may be to intensify your prayers for missions.  It may be to give either by means of your time and/or your money.  If every Christian committed to this call then only God knows what could be accomplished for missions.  It gives me chills to think of the impact this type of attitude could have on the world.  One thing I do know that the following excerpts from a mission website would read TOTALLY different:

 http://www.imb.org/main/news/details.asp?StoryID=9700

The 2010 offering is $3 million less than the $148.9 million Southern Baptists gave in 2009, a 2.2 percent decrease, and $8.3 million less than IMB needs to meet its 2011 operating budget. Offering receipts also fell well below the national goal of $175 million. Elliff said the “deficit is a matter of concern, but the issue is ultimately spiritual, not fiscal.

“Never has the cry of the lost been more desperate and the opportunity for sharing the Gospel been greater,” he said. “The fact that there remain 3,800 people groups that are not engaged with the Gospel coupled with the fact that, barring an awakening of our faith, 1.7 billion people will die without hearing the name of Jesus, should be totally unacceptable to those of us who call ourselves by Christ’s name.

As my son and daughter-in-law prepared to serve as career missionaries, it broke my heart when they told me of all the missionaries who desired to serve but were unable to do so because there was not enough funds to send them!  Realize people that means that 1.7 billion people will die without hearing the name of Jesus, because these missionaries were not there to tell them about Jesus.

We here in America enjoy blessings in abundance.  If we would give more to missions and less upon ourselves, then couldn’t we fund those missionary appointments?  If our churches would spend less on themselves and more on missions wouldn’t those 1.7 billion people have the opportunity to hear about Christ before they die?

PRAY ABOUT THIS, DEAR CHRISTIANS, PRAY ABOUT THIS!

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