<\/a><\/p>\n

Read: 1 Kings 19:19\u201321<\/a>
\nBible in a Year: Leviticus 17\u201318; Matthew 27:27\u201350<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Then [Elisha] set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.\u20141 Kings 19:21<\/a><\/p>\n

As a child, I looked forward to our church\u2019s Sunday evening services. They were exciting. Sunday night often meant we got to hear from missionaries and other guest speakers. Their messages inspired me because of their willingness to leave family and friends\u2014and at times, homes, possessions, and careers\u2014to go off to strange, unfamiliar, and sometimes dangerous places to serve God.<\/p>\n

Like those missionaries, Elisha left many things behind to follow God (1 Kings 19:19-21). Before God called him into service through Elijah, we don\u2019t know much about Elisha\u2014except that he was a farmer. When the prophet Elijah met him in the field where he was plowing, he threw his cloak over Elisha\u2019s shoulders (the symbol of his role as prophet) and called him to follow. With only a request to kiss his mother and father goodbye, Elisha immediately sacrificed his oxen, burned his plowing equipment, said good-bye to his parents\u2014and followed Elijah.<\/p>\n

Though not many of us are called to leave family and friends behind to serve God as fulltime missionaries, God wants all of us to follow Him and to \u201clive as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to [us], just as God has called [us]\u201d (1 Corinthians 7:17). As I\u2019ve often experienced, serving God can be thrilling and challenging no matter where we are\u2014even if we never leave home. \u2014Alyson Kieda<\/p>\n

Dear Lord, equip us to be Your missionaries wherever You have placed us\u2014near or far, at home or abroad.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God will show us how to serve Him wherever we are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read: 1 Kings 19:19\u201321 Bible in a Year: Leviticus 17\u201318; Matthew 27:27\u201350 Then [Elisha] set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.\u20141 Kings 19:21 As a child, I looked forward to our church\u2019s Sunday evening services. They were exciting. Sunday night often meant we got to hear from missionaries and other guest speakers. Their… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roapc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roapc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roapc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roapc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roapc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/roapc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":487,"href":"https:\/\/roapc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions\/487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roapc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roapc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roapc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}