If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7
“Wherever the providence of God may dump us down, in a slum, in a shop, in the desert, we have to labor along the line of His direction. Never allow this thought — “I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly can be of no use where you are not! Wherever He has engineered your circumstances, pray . . . the prayer that looks so futile is the thing God heeds more than anything else. Jesus says — “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” Think what an astonishment it will be when the veil is lifted, to find the number of souls that have been reaped for Jesus because our disposition had made Him Master, and we were in the habit of taking our orders from Him.”
Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) in “The Key to the Missionary Problem” in So I Send You: The Secret of the Burning Heart in The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers (Grand Rapids: Discovery House Publishers, 2000) 1325.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of laboring at Denver Seminary where I shot the header photo. My work there was rewarding; however, often we find ourselves working in difficult and undesirable circumstances.
All the time we must grasp the fact that God has placed us right where He wants us. Right in that place we must labor. Should we need anything, we must pray. Our role in God’s generous design is to labor and pray. When we do this, He gets all the glory, as He works through us to accomplish purposes we often can’t see.
Rather than try to control the outcomes of our service, let’s wait until we get to the kingdom to see the results. I think all those who make Him Master will be pleasantly surprised. Our most generous act today may simply be to labor and pray faithfully right where God has placed us.