When I was in missionary Language School, I had a linguistic teacher who had served in Bolivia under the most difficult of circumstances. Newly married, her husband had been martyred reaching an unreached primitive tribe. She later returned to that village and witnessed her husband’s murderer coming to know Christ! She had a sense of purpose on her life. Her name was Jean Dye Johnson.
She was a continual inspiration to me of God’s wonderful and powerful transformation in a life committed to Him. … She was a woman who told us that only “God could have changed her selfish heart into a shepherds heart”. She wrote a book called “God Planted Five Seeds”and the previously untold story of five martyrs…who blazed a trail for Christ in Bolivia, sixteen hundred miles from the spot where five others later laid down their lives in Ecuador. She weighed her priorities and recognized the importance of… the permanent taking priority over the immediate! At the University Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. said,
“Never sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate!”
I think most of us have a daily battle with this principle.
How many times have we done that….today?!!
We are forever making choices that tell us what is most important to us. The continual interruptions are usually the permanent choices we are being asked to sacrifice!
How are you doing with your priorities?
There are many good books written that address this very issue. Oswald Chambers in “My Utmost for His Highest” said, “If God is first, God is second and God is third… there will be no problem.”
The pragmatic application of learning what is permanent in life (those choices that have eternal value) and the immediate choices that bombard our every busy mom thoughts are forever confronting us…demanding attention!
At the beginning of the year we tend to take note of our priorities. Priorities presuppose we have defined ourgoal (what we hope to do to finish the course that year and does our life have purpose?). We like to think we understand who we are and know where we are going…at least the general direction!
There are two kinds of goals: God’s and The Fools! Proverbs 17:24
Do you believe God has a purpose for your life?
“I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own;
it is not for man to direct his steps!” Jer.10: 23
If we do not direct our steps…who does??
Here again, there are only two choices:
God or The Destroyer“
“A man’s steps are directed by the Lord (or the devil).
How then can anyone understand his own way?” Pro.20:24“
The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me…”Pro.25: 12 God made us each with personal destiny! “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do!” Eph. 2: 10
“Who then is the man who fears the Lord? God will instruct him in the way chosen for him.” Psa.128: 8
God definitely has a plan and purpose for each of us! How, then, can we think apart from His determination for our life? Since God has a divine purpose for us, don’t you think it would be in our best interest to harmonize with His will and purpose by setting Godly goals and priorities… and working toward them?
Can you find His purpose or set Godly priorities
without making the Bible a major part of your life?
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is discipling and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
God Planted Five Seeds can be ordered from New Tribes Mission Bookstore:
· http://www.ntmbookstore.com/god-planted-five-seeds-p/109803.htm
