Christian women must not become so busy fulfilling Gods plans that they
fail to get instructions from him, Janet Hoffman warned recently.
In her first address to the Southern Baptist Womans Missionary
Union executive board since being elected national president, Janet Hoffman
cautioned her co-laborers not to become so busy that they fail to listen for
God.
Christian women must not become so busy fulfilling Gods plans that they
fail to get instructions from him, Janet Hoffman warned recently.
In her first address to the Southern Baptist Womans Missionary
Union executive board since being elected national president, Janet Hoffman
cautioned her co-laborers not to become so busy that they fail to listen for
God.
“There is no shortcut to Gods vision,” emphasized
Hoffman, a member at First Baptist Church of Farmerville.
“It requires prayer,” she told women. “You and
I know that. Many of us have known it all of our lives. We were created for
fellowship with God.
“But in the busy place of our myriad ministries, in our
sincere desire to do as much as we can as quickly as we can, often, the first
thing to go is our prayer time,” said Hoffman, who was elected to a first
term as national Southern Baptist Womans Missionary Union president last
summer.
“Yet prayer releases the power of God. If we have a fresh
look from Gods perspective, we must make prayer our priority. Only as
we spend time with God – knowing him better, loving him more deeply –
can we experience all he wants to give us.”
Hoffman gave her challenge during the national Womans
Missionary Union executive board meeting.
Womans Missionary Union is at a significant point in
its history – both nationally and locally, she said.
“The occasion of the new millennium calls for us to take
a new look at our world,” the Louisiana Baptist church member emphasized.
“It calls for us to look from a different vantage point. It calls for us
to seek the view from the top – Gods viewpoint –
to get past looking at faces and differences and look at hearts.”
Hoffman reminded her audience of 2 Kings 6:15-17, which relates
the story of Elishas prayer for God to open the eyes of his servant so
that he could see Gods army encircling them.
“The servant needed a new vision because he was looking
through the human perspective and what he saw was frightening – life-threatening
even,” Hoffman recounted. “He definitely recognized that there was
a need.
“We are no different,” Hoffman said. “We need
a new vision when we are surrounded by difficulties or new situations; when
we see problems without visible solutions; when we have questions without answers.”
Hoffman cited several issues and situations that touch national
and state Womans Missionary Union organizations, including reorganization,
new strategies, new titles and job descriptions and funding changes.
“(Like Elisha) It is natural for us to wonder, Alas!
What shall we do? ” Hoffman stressed. “Thats the
first step to receiving a God-given viewpoint – recognizing the need.”
The second step is prayer, Hoffman noted. Elisha prayed for
his servant, and God answered beyond the servants ability to dream or
imagine when he revealed the army of God hovering in protective stance, she
said.
“When we see the need and pray for God to open our eyes,
he gives us the vision. And with the vision comes hope.”
Among her teachers about this concept is her three-year-old
granddaughter, Madison, Hoffman said. She explained that when her young granddaughter
cannot see what others see because of her size or when she is afraid, she tugs
on her daddys pants leg and says – “I want you to hold me, Daddy.
I want to see.”
In her fathers arms, Madison gains vision and understanding
of what is going on around her, Hoffman said.
“When we desire the security of the fathers protection,
when we desire to have his point of view, he draws us to himself and opens our
eyes to see as he sees,” she continued.
“May God grant that … when we have seen, we will pray for others …
the prayer of Elisha: O Lord, open (their) eyes to see, those who are
with us are more than enough. For our God is able.” (BP)
