Category: From Our President

by John O’Malley

“Twenty-five cents, plus all the promises of God!” – Hudson Taylor

Recently I read Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret. Brother Taylor wrote many letters. His words encouraged me, and I believe they will encourage you.

In a letter to a friend:

“Never has our work entailed such real trial or so much exercise of faith. The sickness of our beloved friend, Miss Blatchley, and her strong desire to see me; the needs of our dear children; the state of funds; the changes required in the work to admit of some going home, others coming out, and of further expansion, and many other things not easily expressed in writing, would be crushing burdens if we were to bear them. But the Lord bears us and them too, and makes our hearts so very glad in Himself—not Himself plus a bank balance—that I have never known greater freedom from care and anxiety.

The other week, when I reached Shanghai, we were in great and immediate need. The mails were both in, but no remittance! And the folios showed no balance at home. I cast the burden on the Lord. Next morning on waking I felt inclined to trouble, but the Lord gave me a word—“I know their sorrows, and am come down to deliver”; “Certainly I will be with thee”—and before 6 a.m. I was as sure that help was at hand as when, near noon, I received a letter from Mr. Mueller which had been to Ningpo and was thus delayed in reaching me, and which contained more than three hundred pounds.

My need now is great and urgent, but God is greater and more near. And because He is and is what He is, all must be, all is, all will be well. Oh, my dear brother, the joy of knowing the living God, of seeing the living God, of resting on the living God in our very special and peculiar circumstances! I am but His agent. He will look after His own honour, provide for His own servants, and supply all our need according to His own riches, you helping by your prayers and work of faith and labour of love.”

In a letter to his wife:
“The balance in hand yesterday was eighty-seven cents. The Lord reigns; herein is our joy and rest!”

In a letter to Mr. Baller:
“Twenty-five cents, plus all the promises of God! Why, one felt as rich as Croesus, and sang:”
“I would not change my blest estate
For all the earth holds good or great;
And while my faith can keep its hold,
I envy not the sinner’s gold.”

Fellow missionary and friend, no matter your financial estate today, your “twenty-five cents, plus all the promises of God” are enough. “The Lord reigns. Herein is our joy and rest.”

Yours for the harvest,
John O’Malley

by John O’Malley

The groom looked down the aisle; his bride made her way toward him. The hope of a thousand tomorrows beamed from her eyes. In that moment, the joy of a thousand dreams played out in his mind.

Today they pledge their love and fidelity. They clasp hands and believe they know what love means. Their vows spoke of days to come when their love may be challenged. They will learn as life’s seasons come, and their love will be challenged.

As they age, they will learn marriage teaches love’s dimensions.

• • • Love goes further.
    • Love reaches deeper.
    • Love makes the difference.
    • Love means you care when tired.
    • Love means you show up.
    • Love means you lift.
    • Love means you care again.
    • Love goes the second mile.
    • Love refuses to quit.
    • Love sees.
    • Love speaks softly.
    • Love shares.
    • Love means you listen.
    • Love means you say to each other, “tell me more.”

Showing love, giving love, and receiving love teaches the axiom,
“Love awakens love.”

In your ministry, home, and marriage, when you love the people, your love will awaken love. When you stop loving, you no longer are awakening love in others.

John’s first epistle (4:19) teaches us that Christ loved us first. His love awakens our love. Therefore, we are to love others. By loving others, we will look like our Savior.

We are never more like Christ than when we love others. John 13:34–35

Today, find someone who needs their love awakened by loving them first, loving them most, and loving them longer.

Yours for the harvest,
John O’Malley

by John O’Malley

Grace from God to man is amazing, inspiring, and uplifting. His grace gives us the ability to stand. His grace sustains us. His grace comforts us.

Man is challenged to give grace to others. When wronged, my flesh wants to speak as it wishes, act as it wants, and do as it pleases.

Paul used an interesting phrase in our English Bible. He mentioned to the Corinthians on two occasions that the grace of God bestowed on him was not in vain. He later mentioned that he did not want them to receive the grace of God in vain.

Grace must not just arrive in me, but it must also flow from me. What a shame if we got such grace and never displayed and distributed such grace with any other.

We receive grace like Niagara falls, and we let grace out by the thimble. Perhaps, some do not even show or give grace at all. When I read the Bible, I learn:
• Grace does not retaliate when our dignity is sacrificed.
• Grace does not retaliate when our liberty is threatened.
• Grace does not retaliate when our security is challenged.
• Grace does not retaliate when our property is at stake.
• Grace loves the haters.
• Grace blesses the cursers.
• Grace prays for the users and abusers.
• Grace means I love the hard ones and greet everyone.
• Grace means I look like Him perfectly in my actions
• Grace means I sound like my Father with my words.
• Grace means I look like my Father when I act.
• Grace means I sound like my Father I speak.
• Grace means I respond like my Father.

The following are examples of grace in the Bible. If you could ask the Bible characters below, they would each add to this list above in the circumstances they faced.

Abraham would say: When strife arises, unity is better than strife; give away your rights. Genesis 13
Grace says unity is better than strife, even if it costs me something. When I seek my own and not another, I lose.

David would say: When you can hurt your oppressor or pursuer, don’t. Honor them. 1 Sam 24
Grace respects the anointing of God on a man’s life, even when their prime is past.

Elisha would say: When you can help your enemy, do it. 2 Kings 6:8
Grace remembers how I treat my enemies is more important than what I could imagine I could do to my enemies.

Joseph would say: When God vindicates, love and forgive your enemies — Joseph when he kissed his brothers. Genesis 50
Grace responds with love. It does not grow bitter. When given a moment to retaliate, just love your enemies.

David would say: When your critics publish your failures, tell God and keep moving — David with Shimei.
Grace responds in silence. When my enemies publish bad news, leave it alone. Take time to rest and refresh. Let God avenge. Let him requite how he wants.

Stephen would say: When you are attacked in ministry, keep your eyes on Him; forgive — Stephen with the stoning. Acts 7:54-60
Showing grace means I keep my eyes on Him when assaulted.

When grace influences your life, your world changes, and you change others.

Yours for the harvest,
John O’Malley

By John O’Malley

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:” (Deuteronomy 6:6)

I can remember as a boy I owned a toy box. Inside this toy box were treasures to be rediscovered on any given day when the whims of exploration swept across my young mind. On those days of exploration, I would discover Legos, G.I. Joe men and their uniforms, puzzle pieces, binoculars, and much more. Each one had a way of evoking memories of the day I got them. I would then strive to recapture that same emotion in my playing with them again. My toy box was really a box of treasures. I knew I had these toys, but I just had not been using them for a while.

The Lord gave Moses His words. They were His statutes, laws, and commandments. Moses told the Israelites, “these words shall be in your heart.” Consider this precious truth, His word in our heart; what a precious treasure to explore! His word is a lamp to our feet. His word is light to our paths. His word in our heart is the barrier between sin and us. Oh, that we would take the time to explore His word and deposit it in the treasure box of our hearts.

When last did you have a day of exploration in the treasure chest of His word?

Yours for the harvest,

John O’Malley

By John O’Malley

When I read Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” I ask myself, “Am I thinking one and the same with Christ?”

Asking myself this question makes me take an honest inventory of myself.

• Do I think one and the same with Christ?
• Do I feel one and the same with Christ?
• Do I respond to others one and the same with Christ?
• Do I have the presence of mind one and the same with Christ?
• Do I have a one and the same disposition with Christ?
• Do I have a conscience one and the same with Christ?
• Do I have the moral inclination one and the same as Christ?

As I read about the mind of Christ, I see three guiding principles which help me to align myself with the mind of Christ.

Principle One: The mind of Christ always chooses humility. 

There was no assignment beneath Christ. He became a servant rather than choosing the spotlight. He chose humility over honor. He chose obedience over opulence. In humility, Christ became a man and a servant.

To think one and the same with Christ means we must choose humility no matter our place and position in ministry. When unrestrained pride smothers humility in the home, the church, and the pulpit, it hurts us and those around us. Humility is to think one and the same with Christ.

Principle Two: The mind of Christ always chooses sacrifice. 

The work of His Father’s will required incredible sacrifice and death. But, Christ chose the path of sacrifice so we could be made right with God.

To think one and the same with Christ means we do not choose the path of gain. Instead, we choose the path of sacrifice. Sacrifice means something has to die. We should choose to die to ourselves to have the mind of Christ.

Principle Three: The mind of Christ always chooses submission. 

Submission is to choose the low place. The Father chose humiliation to exalt His name. Submission to the Father brought salvation to man, honor to God, and elevated the name of Christ.

To think one and the same with Christ means we choose submission of our will, desires, and aspirations to bring God glory. Submission is not the same as surrender. Surrendering is to cease resisting. Submission means I do not resist, I yield.

Do you have the mind of Christ? When we have the mind of Christ:

• We choose the Father’s will above our will.
• We choose the Father’s work above our work.
• We choose the Father’s way above our way.

Yours for the harvest,

John O’Malley

by John O’Malley

Press Play. Press Pause.

In a digital world, these are familiar terms. Whether in Eastern or Western society, these terms have meaning. Play and Pause allow us to control the timing of what we want to see and hear.

In life, we do not get to push Play or Pause; God does.

God wrote the narrative of our lives. He chose the main and minor characters for the story of our lives. He decided the context for our lives. He set us in our location on the globe. He needs us for Him to get maximum glory.

Job knew God wrote his story. (Job 23:1)

God placed Job when and where He needed him. God chose the characters who spoke in Job’s life. God chose the context of suffering for Job as the canvas on which He would bring Himself glory through Job’s responses and reactions.

Elihu said to Job, “Hearken unto this, O Job: Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.” (Job 37:14) When I read Elihu’s words, it is as if he calls Job to see his moment of suffering as God pressing Pause on Job’s life. Elihu called Job to see suffering as a moment to consider God’s script for Job.

It is good for everyone to see that God is working in the pauses of life.

Our context cannot and will not hinder God from working.

God wrote the script of your life. He chose you for the moment through which you are going. He even chose the Pause. Perhaps God chose your Pause for you to consider Him and what he has done, is doing, and can do.

Are you paused for the moment? Look around. Consider God’s work.

Yours for the harvest,
John O’Malley

by John O’Malley

The road of grief often feels lonely. No one gets your grief as you do. Several men and women of the Bible experienced this lonely road. 

Hagar knew grief. She thirsted. She just wanted her kid to live. She found herself in a situation not of her own making. Ishmael was given up to die, but God showed up. So many religious and racial issues could divide, but God still cared about the seed of Abraham. God said, “I see you.” God bore Hagar’s grief.

Job knew grief. He lost all. He wanted to please God, but he wanted a family. What was so terrible about that? Satan brought a plethora of trials to Job — with God’s permission. Job called his companions “miserable comforters.” God bore Job’s grief.

Isaiah knew grief. God chose him as a liaison to His children. God promised forgiveness to His people but consequences if they persisted in disobedience. They rejected God’s offer over and over. Isaiah continually received and delivered bad news. Burden followed burden. No light awaited Isaiah at the end of the tunnel. No silver lining for Isaiah’s lifetime. Yet God spoke comfort to Isaiah and told him of the coming Savior. God bore Isaiah’s grief.

Who was this Savior? A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. This Man of Sorrows wept and sweated drops of blood as He prepared to take the weight of humanity’s sin. He knew His Father would turn away from His Only Begotten. The very people He came to save would spurn Him. Our human minds cannot grasp the grief of our Savior that night.

How did our Savior respond? Surely he hath borne our griefs. Our Savior not only knows and relates to our grief but also bears it. From bearing our sins to bearing our burdens, God carries them in divine love. The rest of the verse says, “Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”

• • • God bears your grief in rejection.
    • God bears your grief in a loss.
    • God bears your grief when it gets worse.

You are not alone in grief or any other human condition. God bears your grief.

Yours for the harvest,

John O’Malley

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. O’Malley here to let him know.

by John O’Malley

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10

Psalm 46 comforts our souls, resets our fears, and restores our confidence.

Like you, I have taken this psalm and read it to the sick, lonely, and troubled.

I read these inspired words to find the same comfort.

Perhaps in your home, you have Psalm 46:10 on a plaque as a reminder that God will always be more significant than our storms, greater than our troubles in the world, and is Sovereign over the political climate.

Have you thought about what stillness means? Have you ever thought about God’s calling and His command to stillness?

The world is noisy. The noise creates unrest.  The world’s noise brings inner discomfort, stirs our fears, and shakes our confidence.

The Psalmist delivers God’s message with inspired clarity. God calls us to stillness. Yet, what does stillness look like? I asked myself this question and made a note of these:

• • • Being still sounds like silence.
    • Being still looks like rest.
    • Being still seems like doing nothing.
    • Being still feels like waiting.
    • Being still means listening more and speaking less.
    • Being still will not make sense to the world.
    • Being still will not make sense to the enemy.
    • Being still may not make sense to your spouse.
    • Being still means more thinking, less speaking.
    • Being still means more faith, less fear.
    • Being still means waiting without worry.
    • Being still means trusting without being terrified.
    • Being still means God can do it better without me.
    • Being still means God can do it bigger without me.
    • Being still means God can do it beyond without me.
    • Being still means God can do more without me.

As I ponder the art of stillness from Psalm 46 I conclude:

1. 1. 1. God has a plan for my situation.
      2. God has a place for me in my situation.
      3. God has a purpose for me in my situation.
      4. God has a promise for me in my situation.
      5. God has a policy for me in my situation.

Recently, I preached at my home church a message on Psalm 46. You are welcome to watch the message below.

Your leadership in the area of stillness will affect your marriage, family, and ministry.

Yours for the harvest,
John O’Malley

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. O’Malley here to let him know.

by John O’Malley

This past week, I met with nearly thirty pastors from across the Arabic-speaking world who serve in the 10/40 window.

These men will never have their names in a nationally recognized religious periodical. These men will never have their names heralded from a national religious worker’s conference platform. Instead, they serve in anonymity to man but are known to God.

These men and their families know suffering, persecution, beatings, and death, and are acquainted with difficulty.

These men serve where God called them. They serve in places few would go and where no American could easily go. They serve in their homelands.

These men bring the Gospel to places where hostility for their faith abounds from governments, culture, and religious militants.

These men will continue to serve when their churches are threatened with bombings, imprisonment, and loss of all their possessions.

These men care deeply for each other. They strive to help each other in the ministry. They are raising their families in locations we would call extremely challenging, but they call the same locations home.

World Wide missionaries Edgar Feghaly and Mike Ward work with these nearly 30 men. In fact, there are even more men with whom they work whom I did not meet. These men spoke with affection for our two missionaries and our missions agency. These dear National Partners and Associate Gospel Workers expressed gratitude for the help they receive.

These men reminded me of the unnamed people in Hebrews.

“(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, mountains, and dens, and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:” – Hebrews 11:38–39

Indeed these dear servants of the Lord, known to our God, must be like those of whom the writer of Hebrews wrote.

Yes, some of these men are in hiding. Some serve in nondescriptive locations. These men face an oppressive religious culture, yet they figure out a method to obey the Great Commission. Their townspeople speak of how Islam kills their families, and the Islamic persecution makes them turn to Christianity. Some of these men have been imprisoned, beaten, separated from their families, lost their homes, faced humiliation, and have known personal suffering because of the Gospel.

The men I met told me how they prayed for World Wide New Testament Baptist Missions, the churches who support them, and those in our office who serve them. They asked me to remember to pray for them, their families, and their outreach.

Before the men departed, Brother Feghaly asked me to pray publicly for these dear servants. As these men knelt before the Lord and the congregation of believers, I thought, “The world is not worthy of these beloved servants.”

Dear WW family, you are serving somewhere today. Wherever you serve, remember God sees you. He knows where you are, the sacrifices you make, the distance you are away from your family, and the oppressive religious culture where you serve.

Keep your eyes on Him; His eyes are on you.

Yours for the harvest,
John O’Malley

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. O’Malley here to let him know.

by John O’Malley

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:7–9

If you live with an infirmity, you may find yourself saying, “Why me? Why do I have to suffer with this ailment? Why must I go through this trial?”

You may question God. You seek answers from others. You wonder, “What possible good could come from this infirmity?” You may look at others who do not have your infirmity and wonder, “Why do I have to suffer and they do not?”

When Paul spoke of his infirmity, he quantified his infirmity in three ways. He saw it as a thorn in his flesh. He declared it a messenger of Satan. He wrote of it as something which was meant to keep him humble.

Paul knew what he saw in the revelation from God when he was caught up into the third heaven. What he saw was so amazing that it could have gone to his head and made him boastful. God forbade Paul from speaking of what he witnessed.

Paul’s inspired words speak to me. From his words, I learn God’s presence, power, and promises are linked to my infirmities. When Paul spoke of his infirmity, he spoke of glorying in his infirmities. Glorying in our infirmities is not a natural reaction to affliction. Paul saw his affliction as the path for him to have the power of Christ rest upon his life.

The sense of this word rest is that God’s power tabernacles or dwells with us in our infirmity. What a beautiful picture! Like the Shekinah glory shown through the badger skins in the wilderness tabernacle, Paul’s thorn in the flesh teaches me God tabernacles with us in our affliction. He brings His power, presence, and promises as He sets up a tent over my life and dwells with me in my affliction.

If you live with an infirmity, you might say, “Why me?” But, since the power of Christ is known through our infirmities, perhaps we should say, “Why not me?”

Yours for the harvest,
John O’Malley

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. O’Malley here to let him know.