Most of us eat every day, some of us too much because yesterday's food
is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do some
of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to keep
us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change all
of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need to
live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to Your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker, Elle David Harris. Good morning, good morning, Good morning.
It is Sunday, June thirty, twenty twenty four. Hello, my
name is Elle David Harris. I am your host, and this is your
Daily Portion where we give you God's word every single day, and today is
no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study, our new Lesson study
series through the Book of Mark, and our caption for today is the failed
Missionary. The failed Missionary. We'll get into that in just a moment,
but first I'd like to say welcome to you and ask you to go over
to your Daily Portion dot com. Please join our online community, join the
coaching program as well, pick up the Your Daily Portion book and let us
know where you are in the world at your daily portion dot com. This
is a way that we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead
and pray, and then we will get underway. Father in Heaven, thank
you for giving us the opportunity to pray. Father, please give us the
mindset of Christ. Teach us how to work with people for the glory of
God. Lord, teach us, please how to be holy in these last
days in Jesus name, I pray, Amen and Amen again. Okay,
the failed missionary Now, I just really want to say, we need to
be clear whether the missionary that we're referencing was a failure, yes or no.
But let me say something. I'm going to give people a bonus.
Right. It may be a bonus for you in terms of ministry. It
may be a bonus for you in terms of business if you're a business leader,
or you're a manager at a company or something like that where people follow
you, or that you have direct reports. Yes, if you don't have
mission clarity, then you can't have mission aries. Can I say that to
our coaching clients if you can't. If you don't have mission clarity, that
is a mission that can be communicated simply and clearly, and you can have
buy in. If you don't have mission clarity, then you cannot have mission
airies. That means the people on the ground, the boots on the ground,
the people who will carry out the mission won't know where to go if
you don't give a clear, concise mission and then you live according to the
same mission that you are sharing. So that was a bonus. Now,
the question for me really when you see the failed missionary is what caused the
failure and what made that a failure? Like what caused the failure and what
made what we're reading about like a failure. So we'll go down to the
bottom of the lesson for quote in the Acts of the Apostles book, page
one hundred and sixty nine, and it reads, Mark overwhelmed with fear and
discouragement wavered for a time. Can I just say for a time? Somebody
type in the chat please it was temporary, Mark overwhelmed with fear. Now,
God has not given us the spirit of fear. He was overwhelmed with
discouragement. When we are discouraged, the Bible says that we are to give
all of our cares to Him meaning God, because he cares for us,
and he wavered for a time in his purpose to give himself wholeheartedly to the
Lord's work. Unused to hardships, he was disheartened by the perils and privations
of the ways of the way. Okay, and so now we know what
the antidote to this failure would have been. When you have fear, give
that fear to God. When you have anxiety, remember the Bible says,
be anxious for nothing, but in everything, give thanks, for it is
the will of God concerning you. So he could be overwhelmed with fear and
say, God, here is my fear. I know that you've not given
me the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a
sound mind. When he was discouraged, he could say, but God,
you promised that you would give me another comforter, one who is just like
Jesus. If you, brothers and sisters are going through any these things,
then you can just give it to Jesus and then ask him for the strength
to not waiver, to not be overwhelmed, to take his yoke upon you
and learn of him. He said, his yoke is easy and his burden
is light. He shall give you rest. We shall find rest unto our
soul. So instead of focusing on Mark's failure, let's focus on God's power
and favor. May I say that again, Instead of focusing on Mark's failure,
let us focus on God's power and favor. That's the key. And
so sometimes we identify these things. We look into the lives of people,
because that's how a lesson is crafted, and then we look at it and
then we drill it and then we move on. But what we need to
do is see, well, what is what is God's will here? Like,
what is his power? Let's see what makes God look as wonderful as
he is and as holy and powerful? Blessed be his name, Like let's
talk about about God. Okay, And so we have already, so we've
started there. Now we know what the uh, what the what the driving
force was behind what happened with brother Paul, I mean not brother Paul,
John Mark. And so we need to be asking God to help us to
put on his whole armor. Paul taught us in the Book of Ephesians chapter
six that we can put on the entire armor of God. And I'll read
it from the New English translation translation. Finally, be strengthened in the Lord.
So we can find our strength in the Lord, because he's all powerful.
Blessed be his name and the strength of his power. Clothe yourselves with
the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand.
You see see John Mark in that moment he ran. But the Bible says
that we can be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For
we wrestle or struggle, not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the powers, against the world old rulers of this darkness, against
spiritual forces of evil in high places. For this reason we take up the
full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand your ground
on the evil day. And having done everything to stand, what must we
do? What can we do? Now? We can stand firm by the
fastening of the belt of truth around your waste, by putting on the breastplate
of righteousness, by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good
News or the Gospel of Peace verse sixteen, And extinguish all of the flaming
arrows of the evil one, and take on the helmet of salvation and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Verse eighteen and
final with every prayer and petition. Pray at all times in the spirit,
and to do this and and to this end be alone with all perseverance and
petitions for all saints. And in short, in Romans chapter thirteen and verse
fourteen, the Bible says, but put you on the Lord Jesus, and
make not provision for the flesh. That's even my fears, even when I'm
discouraged, even when something unexpected happens in my life or on that ministerial journey.
Ah. He said, to make not provision for the flesh to fulfill
the lusts thereof. God has given us all that we need, but we
have to focus our attention on him, Okay. And so with a few
moments that we have left, I'm going to give you a couple of tips
and you can read about them in your spare time. Deepen your prayer life.
Deepen your prayer life. From Philippians chapter four, verses six and seven.
Also engage in Christian community because we're not alone. God has also given
us other humans of like faith. Where if we are unified with other humans
of like faith, he has promised power in our community. So engage in
community with other believers, and then reflect on scripture together. When we're together,
it's not just talking and being intelligent and intellectual about scripture, but to
become reflective about about saying Joshua chapter one and verse eight, and then finally
commit together to God's purpose as in Galatians chapter six and verse nine. Be
committed. He said, whether two or three are gathered together in his name,
and of course for his mission there he is. God is in the
midst of us. We give God thanks. We don't have to be fail
missionary. Thanks for joining us listening to friends. Always remember we cannot live
by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
This has been your daily portion with El David Harris. Make it a
great day. Yeah,