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?