Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "When God Calls" for Friday, 5 September 2014 - Read Isaiah 55:6-11

Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "When God Calls" for Friday, 5 September 2014 - Read Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek God while he’s here to be found,
    pray to him while he’s close at hand.
Let the wicked abandon their way of life
    and the evil their way of thinking.
Let them come back to God, who is merciful,
    come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.
8-11 “I don’t think the way you think.
    The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
        God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
    so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
    and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
    and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
    producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
    not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
    they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.(Isaiah 55:8 (NIV))
Just before I left on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic, the wife of a colleague gave me 24 copies of the Gospel of John — 12 in English, and 12 in Spanish — to take with me.
Within days after our arrival, I had given away all 24 copies. But when it was time to visit a prison, one of the young missionaries, who stayed behind to guard our truck, returned his copy of the Gospel booklet to me, thinking it might be more useful in the prison.
As we spoke with the prisoners, those near me noticed the Gospel of John in Spanish that I held and asked for it. Because I only had one copy to give, I asked one of the prisoners if he would read the Gospel aloud to the other prisoners after we left. When he agreed, I gave him this last copy.
Back home in the U. S., I often think of the joy on that young missionary’s face when he heard that the Gospel he gave up would be read aloud to 41 prisoners. And I think of the woman who surprised me by sending those 24 Gospel booklets in the first place. Once again I realized that when God calls us to mission, God also equips us — in surprising ways.
The Author: Robert J. Eckert (California)
Thought for the Day: When God calls, God equips.
Prayer: Giver of all good things, thank you for surprising us with the joy we find in serving you, and for equipping us with what we need for the journey. Amen.
Prayer focus: Mission teams
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