"If God would grant us the vision, the word sacrifice would disappear from our lips and thoughts; we would hate the things that seem now so dear to us; our lives would suddenly be too short, we would despise time-robbing distractions and charge the enemy with all our energies in the name of Christ . . . Lord speak to my own heart and give me to know thy Holy will and the joy of walking in it."

~ Jim Elliot

He is Worthy

I have been so challenged and encouraged by the testimony displayed in the lives of Jim Elliot and those who gave their lives in ministry in Ecuador. Despite tragedy and death while reaching out to lost souls, their hearts and words point to a greater hope, a greater treasure--the One who was over all. Over the next few posts, I hope to share a few quotes which illuminate Christ's sustaining presence in their lives.

"Their story . . . has pointed to one thing: God is God. If He is God, He
is worthy of my worship and service. I will find rest nowhere but in His will, and that will is infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.

" . . . God is the God of human history, and He is at work continuously,
mysteriously, accomplishing His eternal purposes in us, through us, for us, and
in spite of us."

~ Elisabeth Elliot
Through Gates of Splendor

Go The Extra Mile

The Lord is encouraging me through a book called Through Gates of Splendor, the story of God's work through Jim Elliot and Nate Saint encompassing their testimony of faith and service to the hostile indians in Ecuador, South America. Not that I have gotten that far yet--still at the "setting the stage" part of the book.

These missionaries' passion for the Gospel really has encouraged and challenged my heart. I wish I was this way.

One quote particularly stirred my heart. Ed McCully, one of the missionaries who met up with Jim Elliot in Ecuador, tells of the Lord's burden on his heart for ministry inspired by his study of Nehemiah:

Here was a man [Nehemiah] who was left everything as far as position was concerned to go do a job nobody else could handle. And because he went the whole remnant back in Jerusalem got right with the Lord. obstacles and hindrances fell away and a great work was done . . .
I have one desire now--to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting ALL my energy and strength into it. Maybe He'll send me someplace where the name
of Jesus Christ is unknown . . .

I'm taking the Lord at His word, and I'm trusting Him to prove His word . . . [W]e've already put our trust in Him for salvation, so why not do it as far as our life is concerned?

If there's nothing to this buisness of eternal life we might as well lose everything in one crack and throw our present life away with our life hereafter. But if there is something to it, then everything else the Lord says must hold true likewise.

-Ed McCully