Monday 4 February 2008

My Servant Shall Succeed!


My servant shall succeed in his task and be highly honoured. This is a prophecy in the book of Isaiah that my mother sent me throughout her lifetime. Whenever I got discouraged, whenever I did not know which way to turn; when it looked like all was lost and that my life was going nowehre; when there was no financial profit in all the things I did; when I was rejected by the church leaders and my ideas squashed; when I wanted to throw in the towel on many occasions she would simply cut out a piece of paper on which she typed the words on her old black Remmington type writer with the black and red ribbon: 'My servant shall succeed in his task!'

Being a missionary in the modern world without the backing of any organization who want to own you and squeeze you into their own mould, is certainly not an easy task! You never budget because you do not know where the money is going to come from this year! You never plan a holiday because you do not know who is going to offer a holiday home for you in December! There is no pension scheme, nor medical aid - it is a journey of total faith - and praise God for His grace and mercy, I have travelled this path for over 35 years now, 30 with a wife and family and I can testify with confidence: it works to trust God for everything! But I admit it is not for the fainthearted or squeemish.

If God decided you are going to be successful - then everything will work together for your good if you love Him and you are called according to His purpose, which is to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, the first born among many brothers.

The secret lies in the fact that you have to choose to become God's servant. It is His servant that shall succeed in His task.

Ephesians 2 tells us that we are the workmanship of God who created us for a specific task and how he empowers us to complete that task successfully. He created good works for us to walk in. So your divine design is actually the secret of success - not just wordly drive and selfish motivation!

I once wondered what the Lord meant by telling his disciples to look at the lillies of the field and the birds in the air...then I went to sit on the side of Table Mountain where there are a lot of lillies every day for a few hours and just look and lie on my back and watch the bird in the air. I pondered and meditated but didn't quite get it.

Suddenly the revelation came to me one day - unexpectedly! The lillies are where they are supposed to be and the birds are where they are supposed to be! Only the surrelaist painter Salvador Dali would paint lillies in the air and birds planted in the ground!

Lillies do not try to be birds and birds do not try to be lillies. In being what they were created to be they do not have to toil or labour and the Creator sees to it that they are clothed and fed! To feed all the sparrows in America would bankrupt the governmnet in no time! God takes good care of his creatures.

So in order to be God's servant we should first of all learn to be ourselves, first. Then we can do what we were designed to do and have success as a result. Success is not a place you arrive at. It is a lifestyle.

Moses told Joshua to meditate in the word day and night and to observe what to do and then he would make his way prosperous and have good success. After Moses passed away God repeated the same words to the young man. Read the book of Joshua to see what he accomplished through meditation in the Holy Scriptures!

All I wanted to do was to play professional cricket and be an actor! There was no such thing as professional cricket when I was young (a bit before my time) so I became an actor. After many years I became a missionary. While in Australia I heard these words on the inside: prophetic actor! I became a preacher that acts out the prophetic word of God when I preach - and I still help to coach cricket wherever I can!

So, by just being honest with who I really was, I was enabled to raise a family, by the grace of God and to put my children through school, bible school and university. The youngest one is still at school. It is a miracle if you consider that most places I go to as a missionary cannot afford to have me there. We do have a church called Harvester that helps me from time to time, but not all the time.

By being faithful to the call I received as a 12 year old boy when Aunty Raper the old prophetess came to our house in 65 Gardener Avenue, Brakpan, and prophesied, 'Young man you have a calling from God. God will use you in other lands!' I was able to live and raise a family! My wife needs a medal for sticking with me! But she also has a call. When met her I asked her what she wanted to do with her life. She said she would like to be a missionary and an actress. I realised that our paths were the same - and she was pretty, sporting and talented! So I popped the question and later on she accepted!

I cannot measure my success but I know I have had some success already and I do not live for one day when I am successful. I enjoy one day at a time and try to live life to the full - as a servant of the Lord, perhaps not perfect, with many shortcomings and weaknesses, but at least sold out to be a servant of the Lord and willing to go to other nations.

What is it that you were designed to do? What is in your heart, if you are honest? A man's gift will make room for him: wherever it turns it prospers! My gift is to talk to groups of people, on stage or while preaching!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're right in what you say...


By the way...check what I found in wikipedia...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Apostolic_Reformation

God Bless!

Elda said...

Enjoy being myself!
That includes letting all my gifts and talents come to its full potential (it's never too late) irrespective if anyone ever sees or hears it or even approves of it, except He who gave it to me in the first place and to be enjoyed by my wonderful husband and children(not to forget my dearest lifelong friends)!
Comming up for air!