"GO! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves..."

Hello All!

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. GO! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves."

Luke 10:2-3

I'm sure you are all very familiar with this verse and know what it means. But, personally, I knew what it meant but never experienced it. If you ask the Lord for greater things, he will make you do things that "no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived"... and I'm sure your nodding your head and saying... "ofcourse!" but i'd like to tell you...

God is never an "ofcourse"-kind of God =)

I have been working at an investment bank in Japan for the past 10 weeks and God has truly sent me among the "wolves."

When I arrived in Japan, my expectations were that I would learn more about the financial world, learn how to analyze financial products and build a deep and wide network to fulfill my dream of bringing economic prosperity back to the Philippines. I thought I would go to a Church in Japan, be involved, study the Bible, mingle in the Church and have good time. My plans seemed to be alright. I thought I was doing the right thing. I had my plans set. But one thing I prayed before leaving Japan is... "God give me direction. Show me what needs to be done. Help me grow. If you have to break me... break me."

Sure enough, God "answers you and tells you great and unsearchable things you do not know." And I had no idea what God had in store for me.

At work, He placed me in an internship that was completely different from my expectations. He continually broke me in the most unexpected way. He taught me things that I did not think was important at all. He gave me responsibilities and situations that I thought I could not handle. He made me talk to people that I never expected talking to...  And finally,

He is telling me to "GO! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves."

And after ten weeks being in Japan, now I know how the Seventy-two that Jesus sent out felt like... I know how David feels like when he fought the Goliath... I know how Paul feels like... and the Apostles... the thousands of missionaries in the depths of a country... the millions of Christians being sent out to the World...

Completely scared. =)

God's plan should scare you. It should make you feel weak. It should make you want to avoid it. It should make you doubt. It should hurt. It should be hard. It should be the thing you least expect. It should make you think like your the most incompetent thing in this world.

Look at Moses,  he tried to make excuses =)

Exodus 4:10 "O lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue..."

The Lord said to him, "Who gave his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or make him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?"

Jeremiah wanted to stop preaching because of the hardships he received, but God kept pushing him further...

"So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long.

But if I say, "I will note mention him or speak any more in his name,"

his word is in y heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.

I am weary of holding it in; 

indeed, I cannot." Jeremiah 20:9

Even Jesus was scared and wanted to make it a little easier,

"My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." 

Matthew 26:39

BUTTTTT

Recall Paul's comment, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'... That is why I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Where does our strength come from? Let us all shout it out aloud peopleee!!! (>.<)

"My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and my horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my SAVIOR - from violent men you save me."

2 Samuel 22:3

Let us, strive for God's plan. Strive to fear it, feel our weakness and glorify Him always! Let us seek the "wolves" in our lives and seek the harvest that God has put out for us =)

Sorry, I didn't talk about what I did over the summer and just lectured everyone....

But if your still interested in hearing me blabber on you how God has been shouting things in my ear and how i've been too dumb to hear it, I'd be glad to =)

Truly apologize for the long post! See you all at school!

Peace be with you all.

Mark