I Heard It Again

"I just admire you missionaries SO much! You give up everything to serve the Lord. I could never do something like that!"

Such a telling statement. And then in the same conversation: "How do you missionaries go to those dangerous places and terrible climates and yet work there so happily?

I'm not sure that a response will move the person who is asking off dead center or toward those places - people generally cling to their self-protective excuses - but I'll try. The big part of the answer is this : such missionaries have settled the survival question.

Those who ask these "how" and "why" questions clearly have not thought much about it, and so they think that missionaries are either super spiritual or completely crazy, while they somehow admiring them and faintly wishing that they could be like them.

Our "survival question" answer gives insight into the way Jesus lived and conducted His ministry. "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). Jesus was able to live as He lived and minister as He ministered because He had settled the survival question.

We say, "I can't live without this or that," meaning, "I could never survive without it." This just shows how deceptive has been the spirit of this age subverting what is at the essence of the Christian life. That is: Christians cannot live authentically without the cross. "Whoever does not forsake all [that everyone else is living for, longing for, and cannot do without] and take up his cross, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33).

To be Jesus' disciple means to be like Him in embracing the cross and in His will to sacrifice self that the Father might be glorified through the worship of those so redeemed. This means that when I no longer ask, "How am I going to survive?" I am finally free to ask, "How can I serve?" and like Jesus, I move into all of life with freedom, authority, integrity and single-minded purpose.

Someone has said, "There's something worse than dying; it's going through life with nothing to die for." But I think there's something even worse than that. It's going through life never having died! Indeed, having never died, we have nothing to die for! 

Have YOU settled the survival question? To the extent that there is any prior commitment to self, you haven't - and you will always be amazed when you see in someone else the joy and adventure of total commitment. In fact, I predict that you will always be more saddened when you realize that the person you watch with such admiration could have been you.

The only hope

Hope and Change? That has always been the promise - explicitly or implicitly. But, well, little has changed - at least for the good, and the only real hope for the church, the nation, the world is a sweeping movement of the Spirit of God. 

I am more convinced than ever that the onset and then the ongoing significance of such revival in and through any of us will be solely, "By Prayer" - Philippians 4:6.

This that you will see did seem to start with just one man. Please watch this brief clip and consider its closing question:

http://vimeo.com/54376030

Prayer Changes the Man

And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it - John 14:13-14.

In all our praying, however, it is important that we keep in mind that God will not alter His eternal purposes at the word of a man. We do not pray in order to persuade God to change His mind. Prayer is not an assault upon the reluctance of God, nor an effort to secure a suspension of His will for us or for those for whom we pray. Prayer is not intended to overcome God and "move His arm." God will never be other than Himself, no matter how many people pray, nor how long nor how earnestly.

God's love desires the best for all of us, and He desires to give us the best at any cost. He will open rivers in desert places, still turbulent waves, quiet the wind, bring water from the rock, send an angel to release an apostle from prison, feed an orphanage, open a land long closed to the gospel. All these things and a thousand others He has done and will do in answer to prayer, but only because it had been His will to do it from the beginning. No one persuades Him.

What the praying man does is to bring his will into line with the will of God so God can do what He has all along been willing to do. Thus prayer changes the man and enables God to change things in answer to man's prayer. A. W. Tozer. The Price of Neglect, pp. 51-52

Spending Yourself On Yourself

Get A Life! We have heard it or said it; usually to someone who seems to devote a lot of time to silly things or who leads a boring life. 

This is definitely not the Christian life, yet committed followers of Christ are sometimes viewed this way. “Get a life!” they say. Spend your money on yourself. Spend your vacation on yourself. Spend your retirement on yourself. You deserve it. You’ve earned it. Spend yourself on yourself!

But Jesus also speaks to us. In all four Gospels He warns, “The best way to destroy your life is to ‘get’ it!” (John 12:25). Matthew, Mark, and Luke similarly record, “What good does it do to get a life, and then lose it?” (e.g. Mark. 8:36)

We see how irrational this is when we understand that none of the things in life that we handle so casually are even OURS to begin with. Yes, we are talking stewardship here because according to the Bible, a steward cares for someone else’s property.

“Get a Life!” is then bad advice for a Christian on two counts: it is anti-discipleship and it is just plain wrong to steal or misuse another’s property.

This is something that we all spend our lifetimes learning and relearning but we make great strides when we acknowledge these two things and intentionally allow God to direct us. He will then lead us to places and into situations where we “get” the life God has for us – one of richness and abundance of blessing.

by Ray Shive in the Heartbeat section of Vital Signs newsletter

the quarterly update of TEAMS for Medical Missions

The Spirit's Sword - There Is None Like It

In I Samuel 21, when David was running from Saul, he came to Ahimelech and asked for a weapon. When the priest had nothing to offer him but the sword of Goliath, David said to him, "There is none like that. Bring it to me" (21:9). Later in the Scriptures, the writer of Hebrews speaks of another sword; one that is alive, powerful, and sharper than any other (4:12).

Oswald Chambers spiritualizes a parallel between these two weapons: "When Christian workers use the Word of God, they do not damage themselves or hurt others' souls, but they do great damage to the kingdom of the Devil and bring benefit to the souls of human beings."

Some years ago, my wife and I visited a place - a kingdom - where Satan’s control is virtually uncontested; a kingdom of 32 million where 99.8% are Muslim. Only 0.010% profess to be born-again Christians. This was, and is still today, a place shut up tight against avowed missionary work and any open preaching of the Gospel.

The Devil's control of that part of his kingdom is pervasive; the religion that enslaves these millions seems monolithic and indestructible. It is unquestionably rock-like, but it is also one that is just waiting to be smashed in pieces by the mighty hammer (another wonderful metaphor) of God's Word. It does seem to be invulnerable, but it is really an obstacle to be thrust through . . . cut down . . . utterly destroyed by the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

And it has begun to happen. Even in that impregnable fortress of Islam we met people and families who had been themselves penetrated with the sword of God's Word. We also met some who right at that time were starting to feel its keen edge.

After that trip I was more certain than ever that the mighty Word of God is the only means by which damage can be done to an Islamic kingdom . . . or any other realm where the Enemy holds sway. And it is the ONLY way that eternal benefit can be brought to the souls of human beings.

It is “the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.” It is “the Sword of the Spirit” (Romans 1:16; Ephesians 6:17).

What are you up against today? Is there something of the Devil's kingdom that for you seems unassailable . . . invincible . . . unconquerable? 

Say then of the Sword of the Spirit: “There is none like it. Bring it to me.”

More Wisdom from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

When another Christian falls into obvious sin, an admonition is imperative, because God’s Word demands it. 

The practice of discipline in the community of faith begins with friends who are close to one another. Words of admonition and reproach must be risked when a lapse from God’s Word in doctrine or life endangers a community that lives together, and with it the whole community of faith. Nothing can be more cruel than that leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than that severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin. 

When we allow nothing but God’s Word to stand between us, judging and helping, it is a service of mercy, an ultimate offer of genuine community. Then it is not we who are judging; God alone judges, and God’s judgment is helpful and healing.

My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit 

should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Galatians 6:1

Restore us again, O God of our salvation,

and put away your indignation toward us. Psalm 85:4

From 40-Day Journey With Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Copyright © 2007 Augsburg Books

The Christian's Real Safety

"The Christian's real safety is not in the absence of danger 

but in the presence of a Protector."

A few weeks ago some missionary friends returned to their Central America field after a short furlough. On the three-hour drive, somewhere between the airport and home, gunshots forced them to pull over. They and the other missionary family, also just returning to the field, were threatened, tied up and separated - men from the women and children. All of their belongings were searched and everything of value was taken - a laptop, clothes, home school materials, everything, right down to wedding rings. They were finally released unharmed - very much sobered by what had just happened but also rejoicing that what might have happened did not.

Some time ago a missionary wrote: "Our security meeting today with 30 mission leaders was a time of prayer, many tears, and rejoicing to see God working in spite of the danger here. However, it has been confirmed that ours is the most violent country in the world. The crime, per capita, is eight times that of the United States. North Americans still are a real target. The guerrillas have increased attacks and are focusing on our city . . . We have learned that the MK school where our children attend is under guerrilla surveillance."

With this in mind I began to think of all the missionaries I know or have known that have faced great dangers or difficulties. 

• Some, with their children are in actual physical danger. 
• Others have experienced serious automobile accidents, physical injury, or life threatening sickness - often with only prehistoric treatment (as one missionary described it). 
• Some have seen spiritual children and whole churches - a whole lifetime of work - destroyed by an attractive but false gospel. 
• And there are always the more personal, quiet tests and trials.  

The list goes on and it's a long one but in all of this - for the servant of Christ - there is peace, rest, security.

Our hymns and gospel songs speak of it:  "The Lord's our Rock in Him we hide; a shelter in the time of storm." Or, Till the Storm Passes By - "In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face, While the storms howl above me, And there's no hiding place. In the crash of the thunder, precious Lord hear my cry, 'Keep me safe till the storm passes by.'"

The Scriptures take up this theme time and time again: Isaiah wrote, "For you have been a . . . strength to the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm" (25:4). We read in Proverbs that, "The fear of man brings a snare but whoever puts his trust in the Lord will be safe." And here, to be safe literally means, "set on high"; in one translation, "inaccessibly high" (29:25). The write of Hebrews quotes the Old Testament: "He has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So that we may boldly say, 'The Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear what man can do unto me'" (Hebrews 13:5b, 6).

The missionary's letter went on to ask: "Are we ending our mission here?" The answer: "No. We're just beginning."

He's not in denial. There's no boasting here; nothing cavalier. He says this with confidence because,

"The Christian's real safety is not in the absence of danger 

but in the presence of a Protector."