The blessings of serving shoulder to shoulder with CBM missionaries are wonderful and rewarding. Terri and I are consciously aware as we serve as president and wife that missionaries contribute significantly to our satisfaction in the ministry.

Some time ago while enjoying missionary camaraderie, we were specifically asked for some private time. We knew the request was of special significance as we learned the reason for the meeting. The couple felt inadequate for the task of leading people in their ministry responsibilities. I was neither shocked nor dismayed, nor was this the first time we’d run into similar worries. Truthfully, I was relieved and heartened! You see, I relate to those apprehensions and insecurities in my own life.

As Terri and I tuned in, we were eager to help and encourage. We could have mentioned many positive reasons they could expect to succeed—the potential others saw in them, their past successes, and the help of others, as well as available resources. While all that would have been true, it would have missed the main point.

We don’t have a standard pep talk—that’s not our style. But it is our style to optimistically expect the Lord to use us, while at the same time, recognizing that none of us deserve to be used; it’s a paradox of sorts. None of us have resources in ourselves that somehow motivate the Lord to call us to service. Personally, I am aware that the Lord could use a rock better than He could use me. I really believe that. Hmm, and I like the sound of that: The Lord could use a rock better than me!

So how do we help when missionaries struggle with not feeling up to the tasks God has placed before them? What is the source of our confidence day by day? Simply put, it’s the Word of God. More specifically, it is confidence derived from an understanding of what the Lord says about us in relationship to Him; it is who we are in the Lord. That’s a far cry from self-assurance or self-reliance. For over three decades, I’ve made a pursuit to study and learn what the Lord says about me (who I am in Him), to believe it, and to apply it to my life. In this spiritual expedition, we’ll be confronted by limitations and warnings, and we learn from those, too. But be thrilled that our journey also embraces the blessings of His empowerment as He enables us to confidently and assertively accomplish our day to day tasks as CBM missionaries. Let me exhort you from the Word—

And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:10). But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (First Corinthians 15:57). And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee . . . (First Chronicles 28:20). as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (Second Peter 1:3-4).

These words influence me daily and I constantly remind myself that they are not just verses to hang on a wall. They are biblical certainties in which we need to saturate ourselves—then we will be equipped for life and living.