Devotionals &
Field Reports

Matt 9:35-38 — Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." (NKJV)

This is a great passage of scripture. What I want you to do is to ask yourself about your salvation. Did you know that everything about you is being chipped away by God to make us look like Jesus? That is how God works. He conforms us to the image of Jesus and we are to look like Him, talk like Him, walk like Him, love like Him, and see like Him.

In our scripture above we see what Jesus does best. He preaches, teaches, and heals. It is what the Father told Him to do. He also displayed compassion for people and that brought on His healing nature. Then He says to His disciples that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. I believe they are few because they do not see like Him, think like Him, nor act like Him.

His goal is for you and me to be conformed into the image of Jesus, and that means that if we do not look like Him, act like Him, or speak like Him, He allows a chipping away of the old man so we can put on the new. God has a motive for your salvation, and it is a process that transforms you into the image of His Son. So you and I need to examine ourselves and ask some hard questions. How do we look at the multitudes and reach the lost?

Notice that Jesus saw the multitudes, and it caused Him to be moved with compassion because people were scattered, having no shepherd. Jesus not only saw the multitudes, He also saw individuals. The kingdom of God has multitudes, but it is made up of individuals. Remember Zacchaeus in Luke 19? Jesus stopped the crowd and called him out. What about the woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5? Again, Jesus stopped the crowd and ministered to the one. Jesus always saw the one in the multitudes. What do you see when you see a crowd?

1. Notice that Jesus saw the sheep without a shepherd.

You pass people every day — how do you see them? Jesus saw them and valued them; He really saw them. He saw them as God’s possessions and not as lost sinners; He came to redeem them back to God. He saw scattered sheep, faint and weary from the load they were carrying. Did you know that a sheep’s wool is so thick you cannot always see its wounds? That is how people are too. You cannot always see the wounds that have injured their inward man. Jesus identified with them because He too was a lamb led to the slaughter — wounded for our transgressions.

2. He saw the harvest.

Jesus saw a multitude — a plenteous, great, ripe harvest. He did not have a harvest problem; the seed is good and it is producing. He wanted His disciples to see the harvest.

John 4:35 — Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

Jesus had a labor problem, not a harvest problem. He is ready now and wants people to go now.

3. Feel what Jesus feels.

He was moved with compassion — He felt compassion and mercy in His gut when He saw the people scattered. He was so impacted that He could not pass by without stepping into their pain to relieve it. When we begin to see people as Jesus sees them, compassion and mercy will hit us in the gut too.

4. Do as He says.

Now that you see the harvest, pray! Pray for laborers to be sent now. But you cannot stop at the prayer meeting, which is what most church people do. You need to go on and be the answer to the prayer. In Matthew 10 the twelve went; they accepted the call and changed the world. The commission is not “come and see” — it is “go, ye!”

It has been a great journey through a worldwide pandemic, political chaos, and war. But one thing remains true: the Word of God is just as prevalent today as it was yesterday. The Word works when you work the Word. Today we look at how God invites us to be with Him, explains why He wants us with Him, appoints us after we have been with Him, and then empowers us to engage the world.

Let’s begin with Moses on the backside of the desert. He is tending sheep — a necessary step to be ready to be used by God. The main voice in your life will always influence your direction more than you think, as will your culture. God moved Moses to the backside of the desert so he could learn to be a shepherd, to learn to do things the way God does business. Everyone who ever did anything great in the harvest first received an invitation from God to join Him.

Exodus 3:1-3 — Now Moses was tending the flock... And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn." (NKJV)

I. The Invitation

God is always giving every human an invitation to be with Him before He can use them. Intimacy with God is what He has desired for us. The call is not enough; you need relationship. Moses sees a bush burning but not consumed — because God is not a consumer of resources and people; He is a renewer of life and joy. In Mark 3:13, Jesus went up on the mountain and called those He wanted, and they came to Him. This invitation exists for all believers. It is possible to have Jesus in you and never be with Him.

II. The Explanation

In Exodus 3:4-10 we find the reason God desired Moses to be with Him. Your ministry comes as an overflow of your intimacy with God. It was God’s idea to deliver His people, not Moses’. God had seen the oppression of His people and heard their cry. This is the problem for all of us who follow God: we often find ourselves in a place that once was a blessing and now is a curse, because we become comfortable and complacent when we are not with Him daily. Remember Elijah at the Brook Cherith — when the brook dried up, because he stayed connected to God, he was led, delivered, and blessed. Moses is not the deliverer; he is the delivery method by which Israel is brought out.

III. The Appointment

In Exodus 3:11-14, God tells Moses He will use him as His representative. Moses, like us, does not necessarily like his assignment; he argues and lists his shortcomings. But after a short conversation he agrees to go, knowing God is with him. The key to victory in life is God in us, God with us, and God for us. When Moses gives excuses, God gives solutions: “Who am I?” — “I will be with you.” “Who shall I say sent me?” — “I AM WHO I AM.” We are the messengers; He is the performer. In Acts 4:13, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they realized these men had been with Jesus.

IV. The Engagement

The engagement requires commitment by two parties: God and man. God has chosen to carry out His purpose in the earth through mankind. He is with you and empowers you while you supply the faithfulness to preach, teach, and be a witness. One man, Moses, after being with God, goes to Pharaoh and a whole nation is delivered. On the day of Pentecost, after being in prayer, Peter preaches and 3,000 are saved. Peter and John heal a lame man on the way to prayer. Philip leaves a city-wide crusade to meet one Ethiopian so that a nation could be changed. It all comes from an unquenchable fire that comes from being with Him.

Isaiah 43:19 — Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. (NKJV)

The issue is what you will do with your encounter with God. Are you meeting with Him daily so you can be empowered to liberate your family, your friends, your community, and the world? This life comes from an unquenchable fire that can only be obtained from being with Him.

No change will take place in people’s lives without first changing our thinking. When you change your thinking, you change your life. Benjamin Disraeli said, “Nurture great thoughts, for you will never go higher than your thoughts.” Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Any area of your life can be changed — the key is changing your mind and your way of thinking. Your thinking must line up with God’s Word.

Romans 8:6-8 — If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace. (NLT)

Most of your decisions in life are not made on a conscious level but on a subconscious level — preprogrammed thoughts formed over years. Ephesians 4:23-24 tells us to be renewed in the spirit of our mind — the subconscious level that controls the decision-making process and attitudes of your life. If you do not renew the spirit of your mind, its present mechanics will keep operating just as they were programmed years ago. It must be changed into the image of Christ.

The world has more hold on us than we want to think. Every time we watch or hear things that are not godly, we vex our minds and deprive them of the life of God. So here are five steps to renew the spirit of your mind.

1. Take responsibility for your thoughts.

Take responsibility, or you will remain out of control and unable to change. Quit blaming everyone else — your past, your friends, your parents — and think godly thoughts.

2. Rethink what you believe and what you think is true.

Romans 12:1-2 says to renew your mind. Quit assuming that what you hear from someone you think highly of is always true. If you change your hearing and your thinking, you will change your beliefs.

3. Reject your old ways.

This requires us to take our thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). If you are responsible for your thinking, you will be ready to take your thoughts captive. Remember: your thoughts are blueprints for action.

4. Review your new thoughts.

Meditate on your good thoughts. Keep practicing them in your mind (Psalm 19:14).

5. Speak your new thoughts.

Faith comes by hearing, so let your mouth say what your heart believes (2 Corinthians 4:13).

Jeremiah 7:24 — But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. (KJV)

No change will take place in people’s lives without first changing our thinking. Notice in Jeremiah that the people went backward because of the stubborn inclinations of their hearts. “Stubborn inclinations” deals with thoughts, and “heart” here refers to the mind. In your life you will not be able to go forward without changing your thinking, which requires renewing your mind so you have new thoughts.

Here are three elements of change: (1) Life requires that we change. (2) Life requires that we help others through change. (3) Life requires that we face the obstacles to change. Two key thoughts: seldom does change happen without some level of resistance; and change always happens within us before it happens around us. A church or a Christian cannot stay where they are and be what God wants them to be. People and churches that do not change, die.

Anytime God initiates change, it will always take us to the place of blessing He has prepared for us. You have a choice: you can listen and obey, which brings the desired outcome, or you can do it your way and continue to die. When you refuse to change, that is sin. Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

Now the hardest part of change comes because we refuse to change our thinking. If our thinking does not change, we will keep doing the same things and wonder why we get the same results. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” So how do you become a good thinker?

1. Expose yourself to good input — the Word of God.

The only way to have good output is to have good input, and the only way to have good input is to dwell on the Word of God. Joshua 1:8 promises prosperity and success to those who meditate on it day and night.

2. Expose yourself to good thinkers.

If you want good thoughts, spend time with people who think good thoughts. Proverbs 27:17 — as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

3. Choose to think good thoughts.

Become intentional about the thinking process; thinking is a discipline. Philippians 4:8 tells us to think on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable.

4. Act on your good thoughts.

James 1:22 — be a doer of the Word, and not a hearer only. As Eddie Rickenbacker said, “Think things through, then follow through.”

5. Repeat the process.

Keep renewing your mind. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 — no matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Today I want to take us forward as to what we need to do to grow a life-giving church. God wants His Church to model and give away the life of God to everyone we encounter — both the saved and especially the unsaved.

Acts 2:41-45 — Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers... and had all things in common. (NKJV)

This passage contains five elements of a New Testament, life-giving church: (1) Teaching — the Word of God; (2) Fellowship — close mutual involvement; (3) Common meals — physical nourishment for the body; (4) Prayer — spiritual refreshing and fellowship with God; and (5) Sharing — prosperity that leads to generosity. When we reproduce these elements in today’s church, the life of God flows out of us into those around us and brings increase and discipleship in the body of Christ.

1. Man forfeited the life of God.

Romans 5:12 — through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin. When man pulled away from God through sin, the life of God that was in Adam left him, and it leaves us too. Romans 3:23 — all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

2. We have the life of God in us.

John 10:10 — I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. In the kingdom of God four things happen to a believer: you believe God, you belong to God, you become like God, and you build on God. John 5:26 — as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. God wanted His life in us, so He placed His life in Jesus, and we are in Jesus.

3. We give the life of God to others.

We received this life as a free gift; Jesus paid every debt. Now we share it. Matthew 10:8 — freely you have received, freely give. Matthew 28:19-20 — go and make disciples of all nations. The gospel is one starving man telling another starving man where the bread is. This is the model of true discipleship in the church — so freely give it away today.

Luke 11:1 is an interesting scripture. The disciples heard Jesus praying and asked Him, “Teach us to pray.” They noticed that Jesus obtained results they were not able to obtain. The first thing we need to know is that God wants us to have confidence when we pray to Him about whatever we need.

1 John 5:14-15 — Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. (NKJV)

I believe most people do not get their prayers answered because they never enter into confidence. Mark 11:24 gives three conditions that must be met to obtain the promise: desire, pray, and believe that you receive. God’s Word always contains conditions; if we meet the conditions, we obtain the promise — and that is our confidence. Most people have desire and most people pray, but you are not in faith merely because you desire or pray. You are in faith when you step into the realm of believing that you have received.

1. We must know the will of God.

How can you ask in confidence if you do not know the will of God? John 8:31-32 — if you hold to my teachings... you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. It is the truth you know that sets you free, not the truth someone else knows. James 5:16 — the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much; “effectual” means well-grounded on evidence, so you must get into the Word for yourself.

2. He hears us.

People tend to cast away their confidence because they see no change in symptoms. But 1 John 5:14 assumes we have confidence that God hears us. God is no respecter of persons and will hear anyone who prays according to His will. In John 11:41-42, Jesus prayed with confidence: “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me.” That gives me the right to say the same.

3. We know we have the petitions.

1 John 5:15 — if we know that He hears us, we know that we have the petitions we desired of Him. If I prayed His will and know He heard me, then God responds the moment I pray, even before circumstances or symptoms change. Hebrews 11:6 — He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Pray with confidence, and enjoy a vibrant prayer life.

A lot is said about destiny. You hear preachers, motivational speakers, teachers, and others speaking about it, writing books about it, and declaring its importance. I have concluded it must be important, or people would not spend so much time on the subject. So let me give you some thoughts about what destiny speaks to and how we need to pursue it.

To be realistic, I joined the game of following destiny late in life. When I was a kid, I acted like a kid — I thought about the next baseball game, not my future. There is one bright spot: while my dad had me painting the fence in the hot sun, I realized I did not want to be a painter for the rest of my life. From a destiny standpoint, painting was out. It’s never too late to fulfill your destiny.

Destiny, according to Merriam-Webster, is something to which a person is destined — a predetermined course, something foreordained that often suggests a great or noble end. I once sat next to a man dying in the hospital. I asked if he had any regrets. He said yes: he had spent his life in a job he hated, knew he was destined for something else, but because of fear he never pursued it. It hit me like a ton of bricks.

As a boy I would dream of the ministry. I grew up Catholic, so that was all I knew of ministry, but I became disillusioned as a teenager and quit going to church, and the dream diminished. It was not until I became a born-again believer in Jesus that my dream revived. I remembered my great-grandmother, Sally Moore, praying with her open Bible on a shawl over her lap. She would pray that God would use me in the ministry and send me to the nations. That prayer and my dream ultimately propelled me to where I am today.

Recently I had the privilege of speaking to approximately 1,000 high-school students in Bibiani, Ghana about pursuing destiny. It stirred me as I spoke. I wondered if they would engage or think about the football match about to start — but they listened and engaged, and by the grace of God they too will be propelled to follow God’s plan for their lives, according to Jeremiah 29:11.

If you think you have gone too far in your career, or you are too old to make a change, remember: it’s never too late to fulfill your destiny.

In 2022 we partnered with Christopher Alam and his team to train pastors in the morning and hold crusades in the evening in Bukoba, Tanzania. We will continue to work with these existing pastors and churches to train new pastors in biblical teaching, evangelism skills, church planting, and outreach coordination.

For our trip in July, we will work in Dar es Salaam. We will again hold pastor’s schools in the morning and crusades in the local churches in the evenings.

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