James 4:1-12

James 4 New International Version (NIV)

Submit Yourselves to God

 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. ⁴ You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

You are now entering the mission field

Kansas is not my home...
After I got saved I was dumbfounded to meet missionaries that actually devoted their lives to a mission calling.  Who left their familiar surroundings to venture out into a foreign land and minister to and share the love of Jesus with people who were different than them.
You see, my upbringing (in the Mormon religion) taught that missions weren't so much a calling, but a duty; a 'right of passage' per se.  Young people were expected to give 2 years of their lives to a predetermined mission field.  It was something that was pretty much a requirement.
So, to meet people who literally felt called to leave the comforts of their home and family and friends, and devote their lives to living in a place that is foreign to them, was pretty much a crazy thought, in my mind.
I'll never forget the first time I met my friend Christine, she and her husband and kids were on furlough, back in the US from their mission in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo-Congo for short....),  They were staying in the parsonage home of the Baptist church where I attended (and got saved) and were invited to share with the congregation an update on their mission life in Africa.
I was enticed, and attended the special meeting.  Christine and her husband, Dan had all these beautiful blonde hair, blue eyed daughters and I couldn't wrap my mind around how they could raise them in a place like Zaire.
After Dan gave his update, Christine addressed the audience from the podium complete with a slide show...
Her first comments where how when she and Dan were dating she knew full well that Dan (a redheaded white man) had been raised in Africa by his white missionary parents. Dan is actually the third generation of this particular family ministering in Africa.  She prayed that God would not send them to Africa!  
But after they were married, that's exactly where they wound up!
She pulled up the funniest slide picture of all of them in a group (family) photo wearing mismatched clothes that were missing buttons and some of the children had on broken glasses.  She said this was the idea of life on the mission field that she had in her head!  How hilarious!
I also remember her sharing her heart for the 'nationals' that she and Dan and their family ministered to in Africa.  How their hearts ached because of the dire situations that a lot of people were in there.  She shared about the malnourished children whose hair had turned red because of their poverty stricken diets that were missing simple things like salt and minerals.
After hearing their story that night, I was so struck by the extreme basic needs of these dear people that I went out and bought containers of table salt and boxes of baby cereal and brought them to Dan and Christine to take back with them to Africa.  She was gracious enough, and accepted my gift, probably wondering how in the world to pack such items to take to Africa!  I was naive then, but my heart was in the right place!
Over time, I started really learning the Bible and my heart was truly becoming sold out to Jesus.  I started wishing I could be a missionary someday, but it seemed impossible and unrealistic at the time...
Fast forward to today, Jay and I are now living in a place that is very foreign to us, is not our culture, and is far far away from our loved ones and everything familiar!
We do joke at times, that we are in a mission field, right here in Kansas!  And truly so, because the only reason we are here is because we love Jesus and feel called to minister in Abilene.  I wonder if anyone even realizes that at times?  I was talking to my Dad recently on the phone and lamenting the fact that no one wants to come to Kansas to visit us.  I said how I don't blame them, Kansas doesn't mean anything to our loved ones as this is not their home.  Whenever we get a chance to, it is us that have to travel to our family and visit them in their homes.
I love praying with my husband, we do that together every morning.  His heart always defaults to pray for the people in our church first and foremost before family.  It is actually very endearing to me.  Of course I love and am burdened for our church family as well, but its not my default setting to put them before our own family, like he does.  That leaves me baffled some times, because truly his heart is burdened for those we live among.
It is hard living in a foreign place; and lonely, too.  Holidays are the worst.  We are right smack in the middle of the heartland surrounded by a multitude of families, good American born and bred families, that work together and play together on a regular basis.  We are always thrilled to see generations of families sitting together on a church pew any given Sunday.  But, it truly magnifies our loneliness at times.  Its hard to describe or understand.
But this is our calling, it is the center of God's will for our lives; so we submit and live to the glory of God.

Psalm 103

Psalm 103 The Passion Translation (TPT)

Our Father’s Love

103 King David’s song of praise
¹ With my whole heart, with my whole life,
    and with my innermost being,
    I bow in wonder and love before you, the holy God!
² Yahweh, you are my soul’s celebration.
    How could I ever forget the miracles of kindness
    you’ve done for me?
³ You kissed my heart with forgiveness, in spite of all I’ve done.^[a]
    You’ve healed me inside and out from every disease.
⁴ You’ve rescued me from hell^[b] and saved my life.
    You’ve crowned me with love and mercy.
⁵ You satisfy my every desire with good things.^[c]
    You’ve supercharged my life so that I soar again^[d]
    like a flying eagle in the sky!
⁶ You’re a God who makes things right,
    giving justice to the defenseless.
⁷ You unveiled to Moses your plans
    and showed Israel’s sons what you could do.
⁸ Lord, you’re so kind and tenderhearted
    to those who don’t deserve it^[e]
    and so patient with people who fail you!
    Your love is like a flooding river
    overflowing its banks with kindness.^[f]
9 You don’t look at us only to find our faults,^[g]
    just so that you can hold a grudge against us.
¹⁰ You may discipline us for our many sins,
    but never as much as we really deserve.
    Nor do you get even with us for what we’ve done.
¹¹ Higher than the highest heavens—
    that’s how high your tender mercy extends!
    Greater than the grandeur of heaven above
    is the greatness of your loyal love, towering over all
    who fear you and bow down before you!
¹² Farther than from a sunrise to a sunset—
    that’s how far you’ve removed our guilt from us.
¹³ The same way a loving father feels toward his children—
    that’s but a sample of your tender feelings toward us,^[h]
    your beloved children, who live in awe of you.
¹⁴ You know all about us, inside and out.^[i]
    You are mindful that we’re made from dust.
¹⁵ Our days are so few, and our momentary beauty^[j]
    so swiftly fades away!
¹⁶ Then all of a sudden we’re gone,
    like grass clippings blown away in a gust of wind,
    taken away to our appointment with death,
    leaving nothing to show that we were here.
¹⁷ But Lord, your endless love stretches
    from one eternity to the other,
    unbroken and unrelenting toward those who fear you
    and those who bow facedown in awe before you.
    Your faithfulness to keep every gracious promise you’ve made
    passes from parents, to children, to grandchildren, and beyond.
¹⁸ You are faithful to all those who follow your ways
    and keep your word.
¹⁹ God’s heavenly throne is eternal, secure, and strong,
    and his sovereignty rules the entire universe.
²⁰ So bless the Lord, all his messengers of power,
    for you are his mighty heroes who listen intently
    to the voice of his word to do it.
²¹ Bless and praise the Lord, you mighty warriors,
    ministers who serve him well and fulfill his desires.
²² I will bless and praise the Lord with my whole heart!
    Let all his works throughout the earth,
    wherever his dominion stretches,
    let everything bless the Lord!

Phil 4:4