GOD IS SOVEREIGN

PRAY WITH ME FOR AFRICA: Djibouti is experiencing widespread famine, extreme unemployment,  and rising issues of human trafficking, prostitution and drug abuse. The Afar New Testament is published and a project is underway to record the NT and songs on tape for a largely illiterate population. The Jesus film is available in Afar and Somali and Arabic. Some innovative outreach takes place through the internet and mobile phones. Pray for God to use all of these resources by His Spirit to bring locals to Christ and to encourage persecuted believers.

Flag of Djibouti

I think Oswald Chambers says it best in this devotional from December 18th.
Test of Faithfulness by Oswald Chambers

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God…- Romans 8.28

GOD IS SOVEREIGN EVEN IN A BROKEN WORLD

It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith— the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes. If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.

Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others, or to anything else; just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.
The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.

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Good articles I read this week: 
http://www.arabworldmedia.org/2018/03/do-not-be-afraid-rejection/?utm_source=Media+Contacts&utm_campaign=fc492529cc-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d0175b7468-fc492529cc-429139981

http://www.bpnews.net/27125/warden-saw-only-one-answer-for-troubled-la-prison-christ

“I Never Made a Sacrifice”: The Call and Question of David Livingstone