One striking mark that was common to Paul, John the Baptist, Moses, David, and even Jesus, was that God called and sent them. They, and others like them, did what they did because God told them to do it.
In our day, many thousands of men and women have left home for distant shores to work as Christ’s ambassadors among other peoples for the simple reason that God sent them.
This sense of being called and sent by God comes to people in different ways. When it is genuine, the Holy Spirit sustains this call with persistent assurances all through the years.
Look for God’s call and leading to you. Let it come in God’s own way, and then treasure it as a most precious gift and trust from God to you.
Many Christians fail to do this. They see only their own place of work and miss the joy of being swept along in the full tide of God’s mission in the whole world.
But you will have to work and study to get a broad view. Read all you can about the history of missions since the time of Christ. Read and learn all you can about the missionary movement all across the world today. Go to missionary conferences. Study missionary magazines and reports. Talk to missionaries. Ask questions. Take notes. Discuss what you learn with others who have the same interest you have. And determine to work at this for the rest of your life. There will always be new things to see about missions even if you live to be 80 years old. And the more you see and learn, the more glorious your task will appear to be in the overall view of the whole Christian mission on earth.
Your tool chest, your medicine bag, your textbook, your road map is the Bible. Know your way around in the Bible, forwards and backwards. Get a hold of its content, its teachings, its mind, mood and spirit.
Treat it always with humility, with faith, and with expectation. Let it master your conscience, mind and heart. It is the means God uses to bring saving grace to people. It is your meeting place with God.
Don’t argue with the Bible or about the Bible. Hosts of people will try to draw you into controversy over the Bible. Avoid this kind of controversy as you would a hole in the ice on a lake. And if you should fall into this danger, then cry like Peter did when he sank in the waves of the sea, “Lord, save me!”
But preach the Word of God and teach it to anybody who will listen. Do it warmly, faithfully, persuasively, urgently and gladly. Look for the coming of faith as God gives it to those who hear. Then shout for joy and give glory to God, whose Word is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16).