Jennifer Kim, a graduate of Boston University, spent a year in Shanghai as one-year intern from 2013-14. She is currently serving as a staff at Catalyst Agape Church (New Jersey) while attending Alliance Theological Seminary.
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS FOR TODAY
Overcoming Fear to Serve God
Exodus 4:1-12
Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’” 2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” 3 And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. 4 But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— 5 “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” 6 Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. 7 Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. 8 “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. 9 If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.” 10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.
While many have heard the testimony of my time serving in Shanghai, not as many people know about the long two-year journey I had wrestling with God before I obeyed Him to serve overseas. On a regular Friday night worship service, our church was singing the song, “How Great is Our God,” and while I was meditating upon the words, I was so encompassed by the truth of the lyrics of how majestic and awesome our God is. Captured by His presence, I prayed to the Lord, “There is nothing more that I want than to serve the awesome God You are for the rest of my life.” Immediately after, I heard the Lord say to me, “Then will you go.” While this was one of the greatest moments of my faith, it also became one of my most shameful moments, because while I had just prayed this prayer of submission to the Lord, the moment God asked me to go overseas a fear came upon me, and all I could say was, “God I can’t do that.”
In today’s passage, Moses encounters the living God through a burning bush, and immediately after, the Lord commissions Moses to go to Egypt to deliver the Israelites from Pharaoh. While Moses is in the midst of God’s presence and given this incredible calling to be used by God, he wonders how he could be used for such a task as this, sharing all his doubts to the Lord. Yet the Lord addresses all of Moses’ fear by telling him exactly what to say to Pharaoh (3:13-22), by showing him miracle after miracle to show His incredible power (4:1-7). God even eases Moses’ insecurity regarding his inability to speak by allowing him to bring his brother Aaron (4:13-17).
My greatest insecurity regarding God’s commission to serve the Lord overseas was my fear of leaving my comfort zone, as well as the reaction of my non-Christian parents. For the next year, God addressed all of those insecurities when I had to be re-located to another state for a job and saw God’s amazing provision in my life, and when my parents gave me their full blessing to serve in China. While I had never asked God to ease these insecurities, He showed me powerfully that He is the God of miracles and the sustainer of our lives, and thus I could trust that He would be with me in Shanghai.
God has called each and every one of us to serve His Kingdom. We may struggle through fear and doubt, but I want to encourage you today to be honest about these fears. Ask God to show you His provision and grace, so that you may align yourself to God’s calling over your life. For: “God will supply all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19).
Prayer: God, what an amazing privilege it is to join Your Kingdom work. Help me to surrender my fears to You so that I may serve faithfully in all that You ask of me. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: John 5-6
The word “compromise” probably isn’t popular among some believers who see themselves as committed to Scripture. To them, the compromisers lack the backbone to uphold their convictions. While that may be true in some cases, it isn’t always so. Now, upon seeing this image, some will see either a duck or a rabbit, initially. But, unless a person is dogmatically committed to his/her preferred position regardless of evidence, most people will see that the image contains both animals.
Recently, our church hosted a friendly yet competitive kickball tournament to help raise funds for our short-term missionaries. During the game, someone in the crowd started booing to one of the teams on the field! So, when I asked her why she was booing, she responded, “Because my team was losing.” In truth, I wanted to know why she thought it was necessary to demoralize a group of college students at missions’ fundraiser, but her answer reminded me of how there is an innate part of us that always wants to be on the winning side.
Most of us would dismiss prosperity gospel as unscriptural since it presents health and wealth as the divine right of all believers. But when it comes to our understanding of God’s blessing, are we all that different from those who advocate this theology.
experience God’s power, particularly as it relates to our own lives. In today’s passage, we see that Jesus uses the fig tree as an object lesson to show His disciples that “with God all things are possible” (Mt. 19:26). And that’s the lesson I learned in searching for jobs in Boston and Philadelphia.
Today’s AMI QT Devotional is provided by Lily Jang (in corroboration with Pastor Ryun) who attends Grace Covenant Church in Philadelphia. Lily, a graduate of Emory University and teacher by profession, spent a year in Pekanbaru, Indonesia, from 2011-12. 
Many of us, millennials in particular, too easily pull ourselves toward achieving a performance-based faith. It seems King Saul was too, since he was concerned more about actions to gain the approval of his soldiers (1 Sam. 15:24) rather than obeying God. Saul was oblivious to what God wants from us: our obedience, not performance.
The AMI QT Devotionals July 17-23 are written by David Son, who serves as the college pastor at Symphony Church in Boston. David, a graduate of UC Berkeley (B.S.) and Gordon-Conwell Seminary (M.Div.), is married to Grace who teaches at a public school.
When I was a single man, my singleness was sometimes a source of discouragement and frustration. There was one particular season that was especially hard – I had confessed my feelings of attraction to a friend, and she rejected me. The next few months, I found it difficult to sing praise songs. Most of the time I draw energy from those praising God around me, but during that time, seeing them discouraged me even more, because I felt even more disconnected from the Lord in comparison to those around me.
In our passage today, Paul articulates one of the most frustrating realities of our human condition: the tendency to turn back to old habits. I had a powerful encounter with Jesus during the summer of my freshman year of college. It was the turning point of my life, when I decided to live my life for God.
Back in 2010, I attended a mission trip in rural China with a small team, including the head pastor of the church I was attending at that time. It was a humbling experience to meet the over 50 Chinese house church leaders who had gathered to receive training from our team. Our team consisted of a few college students (I had just graduated from college), and our lead pastor, yet there we were in rural China, teaching and equipping underground church leaders who were old enough to be my grandparents and had withstood the hardships of government persecution. Needless to say, our lead pastor did most of the teaching/preaching.