Living In The Kingdom Where Grace Rules Order Printed Copy
- Author: Steve Mcvey
- Size: 957KB | 223 pages
- |
Others like living in the kingdom where grace rules Features >>
Living In The Grace Of God
Living In The Balance Of Grace And Faith
Walking In The Newness Of Life
Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God
Two Covenants
He Chose The Nails
Embracing The Love God Wants You To Have
10 Things Jesus Never Said: And Why You Should Stop Believing Them
Israel: The Blessing And The Curse
About the Book
"Living in the Kingdom Where Grace Rules" by Steve McVey is a Christian book that explores the concept of God's grace and its transformative power in our lives. McVey delves into how understanding and embracing God's grace can lead to freedom, peace, and a deeper relationship with God. The book offers practical guidance on living a life grounded in grace and experiencing the fullness of God's love and mercy.
Jim Elliot
EARLY LIFE
Jim Elliot began his life in Portland, Oregon in the USA. His mother, Clara, was a chiropractor and his father, Fred, was a minister. They married and settled in Seattle, WA where they welcomed their first son, Robert in 1921.
Later they relocated the family to Portland where Herbert arrived in 1924, Jim in 1927, and Jane in 1932.
Jim knew Christ from an early age and was never afraid to speak about Him to his friends. At age six Jim told his mother, âNow, mama, the Lord Jesus can come whenever He wants. He could take our whole family because Iâm saved now, and Jane is too young to know Him yet.â
THE YEARS THAT CEMENTED HIS DESIRE TO SERVE THE LORD IN MISSIONS
Jim entered Benson Polytechnic High School in 1941. He carried a small Bible with him and, an excellent speaker; he was often found speaking out for Christ. He and his friends were not afraid to step out and find adventure. One thing Jim didnât have time for in those early years were girls. He was once quoted as telling a friend, âDomesticated males arenât much use for adventure.â
In 1945 Jim traveled to Wheaton, IL to attend Wheaton College. His main goal while there was to devote himself to God. He recognized the importance of discipline in pursuing this goal. He would start each morning with prayer and Bible study. In his journal he wrote, âNone of it gets to be âold stuffâ for it is Christ in print, the Living Word. We wouldnât think of rising in the morning without a face-wash, but we often neglect the purgative cleansing of the Word of the Lord. It wakes us up to our responsibility.â
Jimâs desire to serve God by taking His gospel to unreached people of the world began to grow while at Wheaton. The summer of 1947 found him in Mexico and that time influenced his decision to minister in Central America after he finished college.
Jim met Elisabeth Howard during his third year at Wheaton. He did ask her for a date which she accepted and then later cancelled. They spent the next years as friends and after she finished at Wheaton they continued to correspond. As they came to know each other there was an attraction, but Jim felt he needed to unencumbered by worldly concerns in order to devote himself completely to God.
In addition to his hope to one day travel to a foreign country to share Christ with the unchurched of the world, he also felt the need to share with people in the United States. On Sundays while at Wheaton he would often ride the train into Chicago and talk to people in the train station about Christ. He often felt ineffective in his work as the times of knowingly leading people to Christ were few. He once wrote, âNo fruit yet. Why is that Iâm so unproductive? I cannot recall leading more than one or two into the kingdom. Surely this is not the manifestation of the power of the Resurrection. I feel as Rachel, âGive me children, or else I die.ââ
After college with no clear answer as to working for the Lord in a foreign country, Jim returned home to Portland. He continued his disciplined Bible study as well as correspondence with Elisabeth Howard whom he called Betty.
They both felt a strong attraction to each other during this time, but also felt that the Lord may have been calling them to be unmarried as they served Him.
In June of 1950 he travelled to Oklahoma to attend the Summer Institute of Linguistics. There he learned how to study unwritten languages. He was able to work with a missionary to the Quichuas of the Ecuadorian jungle. Because of these lessons he began to pray for guidance about going to Ecuador and later felt compelled to answer the call there.
Elisabeth Elliot wrote in Shadow of the Almighty:
âThe breadth of Jimâs vision is suggested in this entry from the journal:
August 9. âGod just now gave me faith to ask for another young man to go, perhaps not this fall, but soon, to join the ranks in the lowlands of eastern Ecuador. There we must learn: 1) Spanish and Quichua, 2) each other, 3) the jungle and independence, and 4) God and Godâs way of approach to the highland Quichua. From thence, by His great hand, we must move to the Ecuadorian highlands with several young Indians each, and begin work among the 800,000 highlanders. If God tarries, the natives must be taught to spread southward with the message of the reigning Christ, establishing New Testament groups as they go. Thence the Word must go south into Peru and Bolivia. The Quichuas must be reached for God! Enough for policy. Now for prayer and practice.
THE ECUADOR YEARS
In February 1952 Jim finally left America to travel to Ecuador with Pete Fleming. In May Elisabeth moved to Quito and though they didnât feel the need to get engaged she and Jim did begin a courtship.
In August Jim left Elisabeth in Quito and travelled with Pete to Shell Mera. At the Mission Aviation Fellowship headquarters in Shell Mera, Jim and Pete learned more about the Acua Indians, a people group that was largely unreached and very savage.
Leaving Shell Mera, Pete and Jim moved on to Shandia where Jim was captivated by the Quichua. He felt very strongly that this was exactly where God intended for him to work to spread the Gospel.
While Jim was in Shandia, Elisabeth was working to learn more about the Colorado Indians near Santa Domingo. In January of 1953 he went to Quito and she met him there and they were finally engaged. They married in October of that year and their only child Valerie was born in 1955.
They settled in Shandia and continued their work with the Quichua Indians. It was Jimâs desire to be able to reach the Waodoni tribe that lived deep in the jungles and had little contact with the outside world. A Waodoni woman who had left the tribe was taken in by the missionaries and helped them to learn the language.
Jim, along with Pete, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, and their pilot Nate Saint began to search by plane in hopes of finding a way to contact the Waodoni. The found a sandbar in the middle of the Curaray River that worked as a landing strip for the plane and it was there that they first made contact with the Waodoni. They were elated to be able to finally be able to attempt to share the love of Christ with this people group.
After their first meeting, one of the tribe, a man they called George lied to the tribe about the menâs intentions. This lie led the Waodoni warriors to plan an attack for when the missionaries returned. The men did return on January 8, 1956 and were surprised by ten members of the tribe who massacred the missionaries.
Jimâs short life that was filled with the desire to share Godâs love can be summed up by a quote that is attributed to him. âHe is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.â
every dayâs a bad day - how ecclesiastes taught me to enjoy life
After decades of ministry, what is one piece of advice I wish I had received as a young woman? Study the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes has shown me the secret of enjoying life, even in the midst of trouble. It has rescued me from disillusionment when labors I thought were fruitful appeared to be for naught. When friends have turned their backs, Ecclesiastes has helped me guard against bitterness. It has cured me of setting my hope on a particular outcome, and protected me from becoming bewildered and disheartened by bad news. In short, Ecclesiastes made me a realist, and yet Iâm happier than ever before. This collection of wisdom has become (as it is for J.I. Packer, whose writings introduced me to Ecclesiastes) my favorite book of the Bible, and one I regret not studying sooner. If you get the wisdom here while you are still young, it will prepare you for real life. It clears away false assumptions with which we sometimes read the rest of Scripture. Even if you find Ecclesiastes when you are older, it sure explains a lot. You learn that life didnât go sideways; it was already crooked (Ecclesiastes 1:15). Ecclesiastes paints an unvarnished picture of real life, but its heavy shadows help you see the light of real joy. Bad Days Are Normal To begin with, Ecclesiastes tells us what life is really like.  âIt is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy withâ (Ecclesiastes 1:13). This is the way life really is, for all of us. Because of that first fatal sin, God cursed the ground and imposed hardship on Adamâs offspring (Genesis 3:16â19). The curse has affected all of us who live âunder the sunâ (Ecclesiastes 1:3). Christians are not exempt. The curse has also infected all of manâs work, âthe toil at which he toilsâ (Ecclesiastes 1:3). Life is a burdensome task, a frustrating occupation, a grueling grind. It is an unhappy business. And God made it this way. Our problem is that we donât really  believe life is an unhappy business. We think if we work hard, weâll eventually succeed. We imagine suffering is short-term, pain is the exception to the rule, and failure merely the prelude to victory. These illusions leave us blindsided by setbacks, devastated by failure and loss, bewildered by trials, confused by pain. This isnât the way things were supposed to go!  We talk about having âa bad dayâ as if it should be one in a thousand, but Ecclesiastes (and really the rest of Scripture, when you read it right side up) tells us that they are all bad. Daily work under the sun is an unhappy business. The sooner we face the fact that we live and work in a sin-cursed world, the more realistic and stable we will be. We will stop expecting things to always get better. We wonât be so surprised when they sometimes get worse. We no longer fear bad news: not because we hope itâs not coming, but because we know it is coming  (Psalm 112:7; Ecclesiastes 12:1). Get Ecclesiastes, and we can learn to meet lifeâs unhappy business with pluck and humor. We wonât be so quick to doubt God, and we will finally have a settled peace in our heart. As my family reminds each other (with a smile) when faced with some new unhappy business, âThatâs Ecclesiastes!â In other words, God can be trusted; he told us this was going to happen. Blessings You Cannot Count Ecclesiastes teaches us how to enjoy life , in the midst of our unhappy business. For while all humankind labors under the effects of the fall, to those God has called according to his purpose, he gives joy . âThere is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God. . . . For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joyâ (Ecclesiastes 2:24, 26). Godâs gifts of enjoyment arenât random; they are from his hand . As it says in James, âEvery good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lightsâ (James 1:17). God blesses the Christianâs toil with enjoyment. Every feeling of satisfaction in a made bed, a mopped floor, and an organized closet is from the hand of God . Happiness in a deadline met, a budget balanced, or a report filed comes down from the Father of lights . Pleasure in a delicious meal, and in the dishes all cleaned and put away? You guessed it: from the hand of God . How about the relief of solving a problem, the delight of reading a book to your children, the blessing of easing your husbandâs troubles? The fresh breeze through the open windows on carpool morning, the delightful lunch with friends, the sweet feeling of a comfortable bed at night â all of these moments of enjoyment in our work are gifts from the gracious hand of God . When you start to look for Godâs gifts of joy, the ratio of troubles to joys becomes astonishingly unbalanced, leaning heavily in favor of joy. As my husband likes to say, good gifts are raining down upon us from the hand of God, every day, all day long. We can find enjoyment in our toil if only we would take the time to see, and give thanks to God. Consider: what is one way you can remind yourself to enjoy the gifts from Godâs hand today? You will find that it is a happy  unhappy business that God has given to those who please him. The Final Commendation Finally, Ecclesiastes helps us to see beyond our unhappy business . Even if your friends walk away, your business fails, or you are forced to move to a smaller home, you can persevere, because the final value of your work is not found in this life. âFor God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evilâ (Ecclesiastes 12:14). In other words, it is not left to us, here and now, to determine the ultimate value of our work. As Jeremiah Burroughs says, we are simply called to âperform the duties of [our] present circumstances,â trusting God who will ultimately judge the fruitfulness of our work and give us our heavenly reward. This means that no matter how much heart you poured into a failed friendship, how much creativity you invested in a business you have to close, or how much effort you put into the home you have to leave, your work for the Lord  is never a net loss. Which is why Paul can exhort us to âBe steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing  that in the Lord your labor is not in vainâ (1 Corinthians 15:58). Life under the sun is brutal, and it shows no signs of getting any easier. Our work is cursed and will often, more likely than not, fail on some human level. But the godly woman can face the future with peace and confidence; she even âlaughs at the time to comeâ (Proverbs 31:25). For the same God who told us that life is hard has told us that he is near (Psalm 34:18). Through faith in Christ we can enjoy Godâs fatherly gifts, abound in the work he has called us to, and look forward to the day when â oh, amazing grace! â we receive our commendation from God (1 Corinthians 4:5).
