Finish What you Started - Part 3

 Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon

This is my testimony of one of the experiences with my Heavenly Father´s provisions that he promised to keep in our time of need. After all one of his “names” is “Jehovah Rafah” God our Provider.

I had the blessing and privilege of translating several books, articles and booklets from English to French for a christian creation ministry. It was a gift from God to be involved in such a task that was going to share the truth of the Gospel of Grace with the french speaking countries fulfiling my desire to help with missionary services around the world when I came to the USAs in 1965.

It was around 1997 when this story took place. I had already been translating 2 books and divers booklets for a year. While I had finished one half of the third book I was working on, I received a letter telling me to stop working on the translation because the ministry had run out of money alloted to the language translation department.

I was disappointed and was left with questions about how to proceed. I felt that it was my duty to finish the book and that God would provide a way for me to complete the task. 

Waiting patiently with faith in silence  

So I waited until I would hear from the Lord what to do.

About that time as I was finishing the Pauline epistle of Colossians, my mind still waiting for an answer from God, I read the following:

After this letter has been read among you, make sure that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea. 17 Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.” 18This greeting is in my own hand—Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.… Colossians 4:17

 The answer comes

Here was the answer I had been waiting for. I love these little and big surprises from our Heavenly Father who rewards his expectant children an who keeps his promises. Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Raise your voice loudly, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and His arm establishes His rule. His reward is with Him and His recompense accompanies Him. 11He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.… Isaiah 40:10

Let the unrighteous continue to be unrighteous, and the vile continue to be vile; let the righteous continue to practice righteousness, and the holy continue to be holy.” 12 I am coming and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”… Revelation 22:12

I believe the emphasis here is “according to what he has done”. Can we imagine an omnipotent creator God who just thought of, imagined and talked about creating the universe out of nothing but never achieved what he had set out to do.

 To do or not to do, When what we do shows who we are.

… So they answered, “We do not know.” And Jesus replied, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 28But what do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first one and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ 29‘I will not,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went.… Matthew 21:27-29

James 1:22-25
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves. / For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, / and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ...
 

Some time passed when one day, I got a financial windfall that was welcome at a time when the family budget was tight. I had counted on the extra income from my translation to keep afloat.

Here was the expected answer to my quandary. I wrote the ministry to ask them if I could continue to translate and finish the book at my own expense as a gift to them which they gladly accepted.

Our God has creative ways of finding solutions to our problems that turn difficulties into blessings. This is one of the reasons why christians are grateful for life and God´s impartiality who makes rain fall on the unjust as on the just.

We christians are blessed to understand some of the ways of God as Psalm 25 declares: Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. 5Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation;

All day long I wait for You.14The LORD confides in those who fear Him,and reveals His covenant to them. 15My eyes are always on the LORD,for He will free my feet from the mesh.

In conclusion

to those who make resolutions for the New Year, here is a suggestion: try your hardest to keep your word and act on what you say you will do, test to see that God is good, that he is faithful, that his promises are sure and his Word is true.

18 “I have all I need and more, now that I have received your gifts from Epaphroditus. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. 19 my God will supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ And 20To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.…” Philippians 4:19

Wonderful blessings on your life. 

Jean-Louis.

Finish What you Strarted - Part 2

 Written and Published by Jean-Louis Mondon

I finally got to it after much hesitation. Can you guess why?

This sequel might as well been entitled “7 years later”. It seems that my personal clock is set on big moves that alter my life drastically, not always tragically but certainly in a way that expands my horizon and bring new breadth and the chance to start a fresh new beginning, to learn new useful skills that help me navigate this tough and dangerous world. I wonder how I was able to survive until now if it had not been for the love of God and his providential hand.

1995 was rough year for me personally. My mother living in France had an accident in her apartment and needed to be under care in a retirement home. I felt bad to let my elder brother who  took care of her since she was living in Montpellier in Southern France and he in Paris.

When I was in a catholic boarding school at the tender age of seven, I didn´t miss one occasion to thank my mother profusely for all the dedication and loving care she showed us four boys. So I could not wait for Mother´s day to come so I could prepare a nice card to prove that I was capable of showing the filial gratitude that I genuily felt for all the years of being away from my family. Especially missing the times we did to spend together as often as we could to make up for all months we were apart.

One of the Leit Motiv in my life was my desire to show her all the love I could express when I was writing the cards so as to seal forever in my mind why I sounded so melodramatic at the anticipationI imagined she was feeling when she would read the forever promises of eternal gratitude and love a 7 year old could muster to compensate for all the bad behavior he showed while back home and the bad grades he brought to display the lack of gratitude in exchange for all the wonderful things my parents did for me and my brothers.

I could not understand all the reasons they had to keep us separated from the country we loved, from our friends, at that precious young age when one still has not yet formed the undertanding that comes with the maturaity and wisdom acquired later in life when adults expect that someone else will teach learn young boys and girls have to deal with their rough and tough environment. A heavy load of guilt added to the psychological problems and melancholy nature that had built up along my formative years.

I just could not understand why my parents sent me to a foreign land across the sea where I felt rejected by my peers and the very religious figures that were supposed to show me the love of Jesus and the exemple of a life dedicated to service of God and other needy people around the world. I had to be confronted by the severe and real lessons of life that can make or brake the most basic relationships.

A young heart and mind are not prepared to fight back and stop the bullies of this world. That was the conclusion I had reached when confronted with the pain and suffering that was my lot in life. It pushed me to become sulky, rancourous and vengeful in times of despair and with the inability to control my reactions.

So here it is after many years of learning, trying and failing again. In spite of the rough terrain in front of us, I can see that there is hope in this world for those who while being afraid of the unknown can trust in God and know deep inside that there is redemption for the human race and life in a wonderful dimension that is awaitng us that will surprise us with more than we can imagine or dream of as the Word of God says.

All we need is to share the deep and durable lessons we have learned in this life that we experienced so we may pass it on to someone who need a touch from the living God as he has graciously brought us in contact in the most miraculous way, even if at the itme we didn´t even think that it would be possible because we did not think ourself worthy of such love.

Help from above

One of the most helpful passages in the Old Testament is found in Joshua 3:5. “ But keep a distance of about two thousand cubit between yourselves and the ark. Do not go near it, so that you can see the way to go, since you have never traveled this way before.” This seemed very paradoxical to me! You might ask: How can a man know his way if he has never been there before?

This is the wonderful work of our gracious God and Father. his Son Jesus Christ through the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit.

 Our Adequacy from God

Definition of adequacy: Adequacy is the state of being sufficient for the purpose concerned. The meaning doesn't suggest abundance or excellence, or even more than what is absolutely necessary. Adequacy is simply the state of sufficiency. 

Jesus said to Paul:Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. 10That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.…2 Corinthians 12:9.

Such confidence before God is ours through Christ. 5Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God. 6And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.…2 Corinthians 3:5.

The only person that keeps you from taking the first step of faith toward being a new creation with a new abundant life is yourself. But there is hope.

Hope

"1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. 3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. 4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." Romans 15:1-4.

Hope is what you and everyone needs.

Faith

The Faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah
…5By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. 7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Hebrews 11:6.

So my friends, here we are. Will you seek him while you can. Fear, shame and guilt are the real enemies of your soul keeping you prisoners unable to free yourself from their grip. It´s up to you.

Nobody else can make that decision for you.

Finish what you started = Part 1

Finish what you started Part1

Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon

Original written January 2017.

 

Important lesson from the Word of God. John the Baptist testimony about Jesus to his disciples: So John’s disciples came to him and said, “Look, Rabbi, the One who was with you beyond the Jordan, the One you testified about—He is baptizing, and everyone is going to Him.” 27John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of Him.’… John 3:27

For the last few days I have had a thought going through my mind. Usually it means that the Lord is trying to tell me that it is worth looking into it, elaborating after consulting him of its importance, meditating on it and most important double checking like a Berean in the Word where this concept is found, the context of when, to whom and why it is addressed and if my own life experience and application of this biblical principle when guided by the Holy Spirit has contributed to my own spiritual growth.

Before the Lord saved me 53 years ago, my life was a mess. It was what seemed to be a succession of random, haphazard events and circumstances over which I didn´t have any control. My emotional and selfish reactions only made it worse. Whenever I tried to correct the situation ended up in more failures and one thing that brought me down more than anything else was the feeling of waste and utter desperation at finding some self-worth because of the total lack of positive and constructive accomplishments to look at and be proud of. Everything I touched and every relationship I had turned into one more proof that my  existence on this earth was a curse from an unjust and vindictive god that hunted me down and punished me for the simple fact that I was born without asking for it or having anything to say about the matter.

Needless to say, this kind of attitude doesn´t contribute to accomplishing much in life and the feeling was exacerbated when I compared myself with my friends, neighbors and all the great heroes  out there that receive the adulation and honor for their accomplishments and contribution to society. I wasn´t sitting on a pile of ashes, I was buried under the ashes of the death dealing blows of a self-incriminating conscience piled on the top of more judging and condemning by the society in which I happened to be born. 

Now, this is not wallowing in self-pity on my part, I just wanted to set the stage for demonstrate the extraordinary saving power of Jesus-Christ through love, mercy and grace He has for anyone who knows he or she is soul-sick, lost, hopeless and helpless with no way out and no one to turn to, but in a last act of desperation turns to the God that unbeknownst to him/her was faithfully and patiently waiting for the child to acknowledge his/her lost condition and come home to his real, loving Heavenly Father.

To summarize the above, I never finished what I started before I was 23 years old.

Then, my life started changing because I met the God who never changes, who is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the End and everything in between, accomplishing what He said He would do, as I trust more and more in His transforming power. As I was reading the Word, I encountered some encouraging verses such as:

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philipians 1:6 

The Lord completed the mission His Father entrusted Him obeying Him even though He knew what agony and torture He would have to bear on our behalf. In John 10:17, Jesus declares: The reason the Father loves Me is that I lay down My life in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father.”…

If the Lord obeyed His Father in all things, should we not do our best to obey Him if he commands us to perform a servant´s duty that he has made us adequate to fulfill, gifting and empowering us to do. After all, the Word says that we are His disciples if we keep His teachings. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31,32.

 

A wise advice from a missionary at a home group meeting when I was a young christian in 1966: There is no shortcut in the christian life.

 

Continued in Part 2 https://thelightseed.blogspot.com/2024/12/finish-what-you-started-part-ii.html