I have set before you an open door that no man can shut

When God guides He provides! Don’t listen to the wrong voices! Start listening to the voice of God! Receive it by faith; step out and obey it, for the promise to us all is ‘I am with you’

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Has God ever given you a vision for your future, and put that vision firmly in your heart only for you to be discouraged by friends, family or even brothers and sisters in Christ? I suspect that this has happened to most of us at some point in our lives, however if God gives us a vision we should keep praying and in addition, ask others to pray with us as well.  God will then begin to work in us and to prepare us for what he has called us to do; He will open the right doors at the right time. We can be encouraged by two great women; Gladys Aylward and Jacki Pullinger who were both rejected by the Missionary Societies of their day, but they refused to let go of their calling and God’s promises; Philippians 4:13 ‘I can do all things through Him who strengthens me’ and Romans 8:30 ‘And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified’.

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Gladys Aylward (1902-1970) - was one of the most well-known missionaries of her time. A working-class girl with a strong calling from God for China. She was discouraged by the Missionary Society but undeterred she worked as a house maid and used her life savings on a train passage to Yuncheng in China where she assisted a missionary named Jennie Lawson, providing hospitality and sharing stories about Jesus. Later Gladys went on to assist the Chinese government as a ‘foot inspector’ which required travelling the countryside to enforce the new law against foot binding of young Chinese girls. She became a Chinese citizen in 1936 and she was loved by the local people, Gladys looked after orphaned children and took in several herself. In 1938 the region was invaded by Japanese forces and she led 100 orphans to safety over the mountains, it was a hard and dangerous journey. Gladys cared for the orphans personally and converted many to Christianity. She spent her last days in an orphanage in Taiwan, until the Lord called her home in 1970; 1 Peter 2:21 ‘To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps’.

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Jackie Pullenger MBE -  Born in 1944 and at the age of 22 Jackie decided that she wanted to be a missionary and contacted various missionary organisations, but was unable to find support. Undeterred she brought a one-way ticket for a boat trip to go as far as she could. Jackie got off the boat in Hong Kong with just £10 in her pocket where she found work as a Primary School Teacher in Kowloon walled city. In the 1960’s Kowloon was not policed and so crime, opium and street gangs flourished. Jackie started a youth club in Kowloon where she began to win the trust of the local youths. One night while she was binding the wound of a triad gang member in a urine soaked alleyway she came to realise that saying; ‘Jesus loves you’ was not enough. She realised the people responded to Jesus in action and thought; ‘How can they understand that Jesus loves them when they have never been loved or shown any love’? At that moment Jackie decided to be Jesus to them in practical ways when she realised that words were not enough. In 1981 she started the St. Stevens Society, a charity that would provide rehabilitation for recovering drug addicts, prostitutes and gang members. The Hong Kong government of that day donated land for the Society’s work for which prayer and ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit was part of what they did. This resulted in miracles and changed lives which came about when they met Jesus Christ in a powerful way. Many decided to give their life to following Jesus Christ their saviour.

Jackie was awarded an MBE in 1988 and today she says; ‘I feel Blessed to have lived my life to do God’s work’. She also said; ‘churches tend to look after nice people but I do my work with the nasty ones like addicts and prostitutes who feel despised and excluded’. Jackie recognised that these people won’t go near churches, so she made it her job to go out and find them. The sad reality is that Jackie and Gladys were not seen as suitable for mission work, however, God had other plans for their lives. Amen.

In Jeremiah 1:5 God explains His calling to Jeremiah ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations’. God foresaw Jeremiah ministering to nations. Discernment (to recognise or find out) is so important because it is not us who decide our calling, we need to discern it! If you haven’t discerned your calling yet, then get into God’s presence and stay there until He reveals it to you. Jeremiah’s response to God in Jeremiah 1:6 was to doubt his calling; ‘Alas, Sovereign LORD, I said, I do not know how to speak; I am too young’. Are we all guilty of this sometimes? Saying ‘I cannot’, or ‘I’m too young’, ‘too poor’, ‘too old’, ‘not had the right training’, ‘the wrong nationality’ etc. God’s response was to change what was coming out of Jeremiah’s mouth; Jeremiah 1:7 ‘But the LORD said to me, Do not say, I am too young. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you’.

If we keep contradicting what God says to us we are effectively ‘pulling the plug’ on everything He wants to do for us. Listen again to God’s words in Jeremiah 1:8-9 ‘Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the LORD. Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, I have put my words in your mouth’.

When God guides He provides! Don’t listen to the wrong voices! Start listening to the voice of God! Receive it by faith; step out and obey it, for the promise to us all is ‘I am with you’.

Author: Eileen Greaves

May God bless and enrich your life

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