Lena's Discipleship Journalin' to 2 Cor 4

What is life about, our existence on earth about, even suffering about?
Do you ask these questions? If not outwardly, I believe most people ask these inner questions everyday.
Ever go through something hard and if you can seem to find purpose in it, it somehow becomes more enduring?
This is how I live, directing my thoughts, always in search of a greater purpose, a deeper understanding, and a higher view of the inward purposes and desired expressions of Christ.
At the beginning of 2 Cor 4 it says, “Being Christ gave us this ministry, we never give up”…Do you ever feel like giving up? When I feel like giving up I ask God to help me see the greater purpose in what I’m involved in. I don’t feel like giving up as much anymore, because I know there is purpose in this life and God has given us each a Divine “assignment” to bring forth His purposes. I know there is probably one great big “assignment” or “mission” or whatever, but I also believe each thing we encounter has its own purpose for us, either to lead us to a greater place in the understanding of Christ or to help others go there, through being able to watch us walk it through.
What is the ministry Christ gave us that keeps us from never giving up? I believe it is the formation of Christ in us, and not just for us, but that we’d become the bread for the earth to eat Him and the wine for them to drink-in the realization of their own purposes.
If men do not become as He is in the world now and feed others the truth, we’ll merely be here, just being here.
Yet when we get outside of ourselves, involved in kingdom thinking and living, we live a resurrected life. Life has a tremendous untapped into potential. Every person has it available to them, everyone who wishes more, can have more and be more for God in this world.
I cannot stand to waste time, yet if I know that what I’m doing is purposeful, I’ll willingly spend the time.
I just met a woman, in her 30’s, she lost a 17 year old boy this year. In her grief, she has come to search for and find her own purposes in Christ Jesus as Lord. She is in hot pursuit of God her Father. I was speaking with her the other night, just getting to know her, she said,
“I woke up, now I’m really alive and I must live on for Christ and God and my other two children, leading the way for them!”
Many times when we speak with people who either attend or visit our churches we listen to see if someone is committed to the purposes of God or is searching for them at all, or if they are there to have their own needs met and to get a fix for their week. As teachers and leaders we are always on alert for that one who really desires to be led into further discipleship of their faith.
As I further listened to her I heard her say this, “I am with you (all), God has led me here, you won’t be able to rid yourself of me, I’m here for the long-run, I need to be engaged as a soldier of God’s army. He has some things He needs to do in the earth and I’m here to be who He needs me to be in the army. I’m a soldier of the King”!
I was not sure if what I heard was a dream or if I was really hearing someone say these things! This is exactly how I feel, everyday. I’ve felt various degrees of this for 27 years. I’ve prayed and have waited to hear those kinds of words out of the mouth of a potential disciple. I told her I was so thankful that her son’s death had led her here, rather than away from this place of realization of purpose.
God is looking for activity, kingdom engagement, fulfillment of purpose, through us. He loves us if we never serve Him, but His heart is overjoyed if we love and serve Him back, as a reciprocation of His great love and service to us.
A lot of people have said they are committed to the cause of Christ, yet when offenses arise, or the test comes, or relationships get hard, or things don’t go exactly as planned, people shrink back and quit if they have no roots in them.
I recently put up a plaque in my boy’s bathroom that says, “NEVER, NEVER, NEVER…..GIVE UP!” My 6 year old girl went in the newly decorated bathroom and saw it, she’s just begun to read. She came out to tell me what someone put in there on the wall, and told me what it said, then she said, "Mom, I want our bathroom to be done like that too"!
So my words to you, from Romans 8 daily bread this week and from Luke 4 Daily bread this week. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER- GIVE UP.
Get rooted and grounded in covenant love, never breaking the promise of commitment to God’s work, no matter what.
Let no offense, no circumstance, no situation take you outside of the active purposes of God, ever!
The parable of the Sower & the writings of Paul’s perils tell the core of the story of this walk of faith that works by love! Without deep roots we’ll never make it, and roots won’t ever get deep, if we keep uprooting them everytime we get offended. If we never get established in a spiritual and natural family unit, for there are some things we're gonna face and go through that God did not mean for us to do alone, or to quit while we are going through it. We’ve gotta see, so we can believe. See beyond what is seen naturally, seeing eternally.