To my On Call For Christ mission team
I’ve been pleading
for rain for years
for lightning,
thunder, whirlwinds of power
we all conceal a desperate need for healing
and we want it NOW.
Is this a bad
desire?
Nope. Not at all.
but lately there’s
a lesson that’s been tugging me from my intended course
to still and to
bring knowledge:
God works slow.
you see,
revival is like the
newborn baby’s very first breath
the doctors, nurses
and parents breathe a sigh of relief
Mom & Dad, do
they leave the new little life, on to their next thing?
Of course not. A baby is a full-time job.
A baby requires
work, pain, money, love, maturity – sacrifice.
And usually
life-time commitment. At least eighteen
years or so.
Do you know what it
means to be involved in conversion?
Discipling and
conversion are like fingers and hands.
They're useless, separated.
Think about
it.
What is the Great Commission anyway?
“Go therefore and
get everybody to call themselves Christians”?
“Go therefore and convince people to pray”? “Go therefore and free people from poverty and suffering”?
“Go therefore
and make disciples
of all the nations,
baptizing them
in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them
to observe all
things
that I have
commanded you;
and lo, I am with
you always
even to the end of
the age.”
For you? For me?
What does it mean?
Did you know the
word “wait” is in the Bible one hundred and forty-four times?
Did you ever
realize that Elijah’s bout of suicidal depression was right after the revival
on Mount Carmel?
Did you know that
this year, you are not called to produce certain ministry results but
You are called to
be faithful?
Elijah’s problem
was doubt
He thought God was
not powerful enough
He forgot about
God’s sovereignty
And this is stuck
with me because when I hear Elijah’s words, it’s my voice speaking.
“I have been very
zealous…
I alone am left!
Now, Lord, take my
life!”
But God causes the
wind that splinters the boulders
The earth quakes
And a mighty fire
roars
All the noise and
power I’ve been begging for
And
He is not in them.
But He opens my
ears
And this still,
small voice
It’s been speaking
all along.
In everyday grace
Yahweh’s
disintegrating glory has been quietly working.
See, I thought I
knew what it looked like.
I’ll bet we each
have our own idea of what it must look like.
But Yahweh gently
continues, regardless of our confused ideas
This work, this
master story that He designed before the dawn of time.
Our lives are like
one stitch in the King’s robe.
I forgot, when I
was railing at Him for not caring
His joy is
sunshine, oceans deeper than my purest gladness
And His tears, dark
as blood
Led Him to take on
millions of eternities of hell compressed into a few hours
I thought I loved
them?
Comments
love Dad