Wise Words for College Students

​On Tuesday, November 12, BJMBC honored the 70th birthday of Jeanne Raymond, missionary to the Philippines for 34 years. In addition to her work as a homeschool teacher for missionary children, Jeanne taught at BJMBC during many of those years, and has given her students an excellent example of what godly femininity, selfless service to God, and a heart for prayer looks like.

During this special chapel service, she also shared the following wise words of advice for the students.

Wise Words for Bible College Students

​1. If you want to know the will of the Lord for your life, the best thing you can do is be in the will of God today.
The Lord will lead you by opening up opportunities for you to serve. While you are still in college, get as much experience in ministry as you can, whether that means

• Taking part in a Bible club
• Preaching on the weekends
• Teaching Sunday school
• Conducting a choir
• Doing special music
• Visiting people in the hospital
• Having a Bible study with someone
• Passing out Gospel tracts

2. The Lord usually leads us step-by-step; He doesn't usually lay our whole life out before us.
When I graduated from college, the Lord didn't lead me into mission work right away as I thought He would. Instead, He led me into teaching in a Christian school for several years. That was God's preparation for me, because He knew that one day I would be teaching homeschoolers. I also taught a Sunday school class at my home church, went on visitation, helped in the bus ministry, and prepared the devotions for the monthly ladies group. The Lord will be able to use any experiences and education you have for the future.

3. The Lord will lead you by opening opportunities for you to serve and by confirming those through His Word.
Before I made the final decision to come to the Philippines, I asked the Lord to confirm His will through His Word. He did that for me through several passages of Scripture. Ask the Lord for confirmation of His will through His Word. In the future, as you face trials that might discourage you, you can lean on those passages for encouragement.

4. Always be flexible when making your own plans. 
It isn't wrong to plan, but sometimes the Lord has other plans. Be submissive to His will because His plans are always the best. Don't run ahead of the Lord, and don't lag behind. Learn to wait on the Lord. Sometimes we think our timing is better than His, but the Lord is never late.

5. The key to fruitfulness in the ministry is how much time we spend with the Lord each day. 
If we spend little time reading His Word and praying, we will accomplish little that has lasting eternal results. Serving the Lord is less doing and more being: specifically, being right with the Lord. Reading and meditating on the Word of God is where we get our wisdom, insight, discernment, vision for what God can do through us, spiritual perception, foresight, understanding, and discretion.

6. The more we pray, the more we will see God work.
Be a person of prayer. If you truly become a man or woman of prayer, you will see God accomplish things you could never accomplish in the lives of the people to whom you minister. He will make up for the abilities you lack. Don't forget to pray the Scriptures back to the Lord.

7. Go back to the Cross often. 
Let the Cross of Christ ever remain dear and precious to you. Don't forget the sacrifice of Christ that saved you.

8. Don't compare yourself to anyone else. 
If you want to be wise, don't compare yourself to anyone else, don't compare your abilities to anyone else's, and don't compare your ministry to anyone else's. Just be faithful in what God has given you to do and focus on that. Also, don't be critical of others who are ministering; instead, encourage and build them up. We are all pressing toward the same goal--seeing people saved.

9. Keep growing in the Lord for His glory, no matter what age you are.

• Be teachable. There is always more to learn.
• Be thankful and teach others to be thankful by your example.
• Ask the Lord for a humble spirit; you don't want God to resist you because of pride.​

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Pictures from Ate Jeanne's years of ministry in the Philippines