Prayer, abundant life, and God's worth

December 27, 2007
by Andy Corley

Do you believe in the power of prayer? Do you trust that God can provide for our needs -- and even our wants?

After 18 years as a "missionary kid" (watching God provide for my parents and us 5 kids) -- and now after more than 6 years in the ministry myself (watching God provide for Kristi and I and our 3 kids), I can tell you that prayer is powerful. But not just any prayer.

Every time I read in James 5:16 that "the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much", I wonder what exactly a "righteous" man is. I mean, none of us are truly righteous, right?

Well, I heard an incredible sermon this weekend about God's desire to "prosper" His family -- and it wasn't at all one of those tele-evangelist "health and wellness" sermons, either. It was all about how God sent His Son to die for our sins, and because of that sacrifice, we are blessed with eternal life. But that blessing is not for us to keep to ourselves -- we are blessed to be a blessing!

If you're thinking you've heard this before, let me take it one step further. Because when you can connect the "blessed to be a blessing" with "the prayers of a righteous man", you start to see what is reinforced by so many other scripture passages.

Like how God's heart is to give us "more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think" (Eph. 3:20). But He only wants to give us those things if we will use them to be a blessing to others!

(Sorry about the pulpit-pounding :-)

... it's just that it's so easy for me to take all these scriptures and hold God to some twisted spiritual promise that He will provide anything and everything that I ask Him for just because I ask Him for it. And because I'm not living in sin at that moment, I must be "righteous", so my prayers are powerful and God must grant my requests! (Sounds sort of like rubbing the lamp just right to get the genie to pop out and grant three wishes, right?)

Anyway, this whole scriptural truth is very important to me because, as a missionary, I live and die by the power of prayer. And I wanted to let you know where Kristi and I are coming from when we ask you to pray for wisdom ... when we ask you to pray for specific needs and provisions ... and when we ask you to join us in reaching tribal people with the Gospel.

It's all about requesting God's blessing so that we can give our lives away as a blessing to unreached people around the world.

Kristi and I are specifically called "to change the lives of countless people around the world". And you are a part of that just by reading this message -- and by praying for our ministry -- and by giving financially to see this work continue.

Not only is God worthy of our praise, but He is worthy of the praise of countless tribal people who have yet to hear the Gospel!

What a privilege it is to spread God's love and glory in this way.

More Productive from the USA

July 30, 2007
by Andy Corley

Imagine a highly trained computer programmer with his laptop in the jungles of Indonesia. He's working to create software or optimize email and web communications tools from within the Dao tribe in Indonesia.

This technomissionary is hugely successful at optimizing the message of Jesus for the Dao language and culture, and the Dao people may even come to a saving knowledge of Jesus' love sooner than ever would have been possible!

However, imagine this same technomissionary in a little more modern setting -- in a city in Indonesia where support missionaries work to meet the needs of dozens of other missionary families who work in various tribes throughout Indonesia (including the Dao).

Now the technical skills of this missionary are being used to develop software and web tools that will help tribes in the entire country of Indonesia to be reached more quickly with the Gospel. What a ministry!

But step back even further. Now imagine this same technomissionary working in the home offices of New Tribes Mission -- in the steamy tropics of Florida! :)

This missionary is now able to develop computer technology that benefits not only the Dao tribe, and not only the entire country of Indonesia, but now every tribe in every country where NTM works around the world!

Does that sound a little familiar? ... like: "Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations ..." (Matt. 28:19)

That's our mission and our calling. To use technology to speed the Gospel message to people in every country around the world!

THOUGHTS ON GOD'S WILL

April 4, 2007
by Andy

As followers of Christ, it's always apropriate to seek God's will and strive to center ourselves in His purposes. And this article is just a simple compilation of quotes and thoughts to encourage and remind us of how this is done.

Joy Meets Hunger ... "As Frederick Buechner said so well, God's call to us will always be that place where 'our deepest joy meets the world's great hunger.'" [from 5-Day Devotional Study - 2007 Week 13 / Tuesday, http://www.northlandchurch.net/]

Testing Your Faith ... from James 1:2-4,12 (NAS) "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."

... check back on this page from time to time for more quotes and thoughts on God's will ... or contribute to this page yourself! Just send me your thought or quote >>
(or use the "comment" link below)

My Intro

What's a "techno missionary"?

Um, well, it's a lot of stuff. But mostly, I help people around the world to connect with each other over the Internet for the purposes of God's love.

God's love ... huh? Dude, it’s in the Bible. Just check out John 3:16. It's like about 3/4 of the way through the Bible. Here's what it says:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

So that's what I do. I use the Internet to help everybody share that message around the world. Here's a few sites that I work on:

- http://www.NTM.org/ (175% of my time -- my main "job" and full-time ministry.)
- http://www.WomenInDiscipleship.org/ (about 3% ... just updates, since I created their site a while ago)
- http://www.ntm.org/andy_corley/ (maybe 5% ... since this is my personal family web site ... lots of fun photos there)
- http://www.corleyz.com/alex/ (at least 1%, including updates and sending out e-mail updates since this is a blog about how my oldest daughter is doing with her seizure disorder ... we always try to keep it light, but there's definitely some intense stuff in there with all the options we've tried)

Anyhow, you can see that I only work 184% of the time.

So be inspired. Be very inspired. But not by what I have to say. Or what I do. But by what God has to say. In the Bible. It's AMAZING! You can't read it without being changed. And without learning about God's selfless love.

So that's me. In love with God. And workin' the web to communicate all this to the world!