Yesterday we looked at the value of solitude – times of quietness and obscurity. We may often consider these times as early in the morning, or a retreat away from home. How about the lonely hours at night? These were some of the most productive times for Paul. Consider the following two examples:
“And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us”” (Acts 16:9). “The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about Me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome”” (Acts 23:11). The first appearance was for direction in Paul’s ministry and the second was for encouragement because the Lord knew what Paul was facing and would face in the near future. In both cases, these appearances were in view of more effective ministry in Paul’s immediate future. In the first case, God intended to save a whole household and start a new church in Philippi. In the second instance, God was moving the chess pieces so Paul could testify of Jesus before kings and rulers. I am learning to use pain and wakeful times at night to commune with my Lord. They are becoming more and more valuable as I ask the Spirit to speak God’s mind to me. Are you expecting God to communicate to you at night, or is prayer and communion with Him only for certain times?
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“A life marked by depth can only be cultivated in protracted periods of time spent in solitude, quietness, and obscurity – concepts foreign to those who live their lives at the speed of light.” The fact that you are reading this blog is a good indication that “you desire to go deeper in your relationship with Christ. Yet, a major obstacle that prevents us from getting there is our lifestyle. We are simply too busy.” (1)
The demands on Jesus were enormous when you consider what He did in three and a half years. “The world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). Yet, He made time for solitude. We make time for what we consider important, and Jesus made time; “rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35). I am no example to follow, but I can tell you that the morning times I have alone with the Lord are very special. The more I have made this a habit, the more I realize I cannot live another day without being alone with my Savior. There have been a few mornings around my surgery that made it physically impossible for me to read the Scripture and commune with Him, but this has also made me realize how important this time with Him is. Tomorrow morning, read Psalm 16:11 and see how the Spirit enlightens your spiritual eyes (Psalm 19:7-11). (1) Charles Swindoll, A Man of Grace and Grit – Paul, Thomas Nelson, 2002, page 45. If you have followed us on this blog for any length of time, you will have noticed that our major focus is on biblical principles, not so much on the material events or things we are doing, that are part of this ministry. There is a reason behind that. Our focus looks through the eternal Word of God to the eternal results.
Paul reminds us that “we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18). I want to challenge you to take a moment to examine your work and daily activity. How much of it has an eternal focus? If you are overwhelmed by difficulties, trials and suffering, please consider the words of Paul in verse 17. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (4:17). What are you preparing for? It is a thrill to discover a few missionaries who catch the vision to use Paul’s method of church planting even before they set foot on the soil of a primitive people group. In 1944, Frank and Marie Drown felt called by God to reach a tribal people called the Jivaros. “They caught the vision of planting an indigenous church in a primitive tribe: a church that would be self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating. A missionary’s chief goal should be to establish churches – indigenous churches that would be self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating.” (1)
What was the result of this vision 74 years after they went to Ecuador? 10% of the Jivaros tribe are Christians today! Consider that these people were head-shrinkers, violent warring people, and the approach was the right one and a biblical one. You may not be a missionary, but the principles that led the Drowns, also impact every area of any Christian and church. If you were to condense these three principles down to one word, it would be “maturity”. Spiritual maturity is the Spirit’s goal for ever believer (Ephesians 4:11-16). (1) Frank and Marie Drown, Mission to the Head-Hunters, Harper & Row, 1961, pgs. Ix, 8. Because of our nature and the way higher education is expected of us before committing ourselves to the Lord’s work, we have learned to put more stock in what others think we should do than receiving directions from the Lord. It was very different for Paul. He must have learned by the valuable example in Ananias and Barnabas. Ananias had “heard from many about” Saul and was very hesitant to minister to a man that openly persecuted the Church. “But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine...” (Acts 9:15).
After Saul’s conversion in Damascus, “he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus” (Acts 9:26–27). When it comes to living out our purpose, Paul’s life is a model of how this is done. He understood the gospel of grace by divine revelation (Galatians 1:12). After receiving the call from the Lord, he “did not immediately consult with anyone, nor did [he] go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before [him], but [he] went away into Arabia” (1:16-17). As Paul gained understanding directly through the Holy Spirit in the gospel, so he relied on Him for direction for ministry. Many will quote Proverbs 11:14 to me as a proof that we all need many counselors to know which way to go in life and ministry, and there is a certain truth to that. But the greater danger is not having the eyes and ears of our hearts tuned to the Holy Spirit. I would propose that the greatest work in life and ministry is accomplished by those who have keen eyes and ears to the Spirit. After all, He is the Helper and Counselor (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). There is a common phrase that is used among Christians which is very true, but far too general; “God has a plan for your life.” While every conversion is different, there are unique features about every conversion that we need to remind new disciples of their importance. None of these will be seen or understood unless new birth takes place (John 3:1-8).
With Paul, he knew within hours of conversion why he was saved; “to carry My name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15); “I [Jesus] am sending you to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me” (26:17-18). It is true that Paul grew in understanding God’s purpose for his life, but he captured it at the first. I am deeply concerned that most of us live at only 10% of what God has planned for us. I am not advocating that we live busier, more crowded lives, and at a feverish pace. NO! Seeking the Holy Spirit’s presence and active control will mean that our spiritual capacity will run at 100% and we will see God work through us in ways we never expected. This type of living means that our energies are placed where God wants them, not where we feel comfortable. When Paul says that God “was pleased to reveal His Son to me, in order that I might preach Him among the Gentiles” (Galatians 1:16), that purpose guided every waking moment, every decision, and every situation. What is God’s purpose for you? At the age of seven when the Lord rescued my life, I knew in a tiny way that God had called me to serve Him. I will take the motto of William Borden, “NO RESERVE, NO RETREAT, NO REGRETS!” I am continually amazed that God should use me! Paul says that God “was pleased to reveal His Son to me, in order that I might preach Him among the Gentiles” (Galatians 1:16). The word “pleased” could be also translated “well pleased.” Stop and think about that as it relates to you.
If anyone should doubt whether God could use them for reflecting His Son to a lost world and to a Church that needs renewal, it was Paul, AND ME! The greatest purposes of God are accomplished through the most unexpected means. I felt the weight of this truth in Lusaka, Zambia years ago through a most difficult experience, when the Lord spoke to me through Paul’s words, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). It is not the vessel that shapes the message, but the message shapes the vessel. There will be more to say about this verse tomorrow, but this point is so important, I cannot pass over it too quickly. The relationship between understanding God’s pleasure in working through you and your submission to the Holy Spirit is directly connected. Please do not pass this moment by without realizing anew God’s eternal purpose for your life. When this reality sinks in, you cannot live any longer for yourself. “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Now that I am back from hospital for hip surgery, I am getting into the things that give me the most joy. I want to explore with you how God prepares us for His work. Because my interest centers around the Early Church and its rapid expansion, we will look at the Apostle Paul.
“But when He who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by His grace,” (Galatians 1:15). Notice there are two elements to this phrase. 1. Paul knew the foreknowledge of God was real (Romans 8:29) and it had determined to set this man “apart before [he] was born.” God looked ahead into what the life of Saul could be and then planned to make a transformation from the Christ-hater he was into a servant who spread the gospel from Antioch and Jerusalem to Rome. Though Paul felt “as…one untimely born” (1 Corinthians 15:8), he became one of the greatest Christ-lovers that ever lived. 2. Then came the moment when God called Saul. Saul knew there was nothing in himself that deserved such a call. It was all of God’s grace. Read how Saul, now Paul, felt about this grace. “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:4–6). We need to feel more and more this way about how God looked down from past eternity and set us apart. You and I were not afterthoughts with God. It was His eternal purpose and grace. Now, how will you treat such divine love? Can you live as if this is not your top priority? We appreciate your interest and time in our blog. We are taking a little break from our regular posts to take care of some personal things, but don't worry! We will be back shortly!
When I think of the places that God sent His key men for His assignments, they were certainly not the best resorts of the world. Abraham went to a land that was totally strange to him. Moses was sent back to his own people where he had killed a man and then spent forty years trekking through a desert with those who rejected His leadership and nations who opposed Israel’s journey. David spent much of his early years running from cave to cave; dodging his enemies. Jesus had nowhere to lay His head during three and a half years. Wherever God sent Paul, he ran into hardship, rejection and suffering. They were all in the places God assigned for each.
The place God sent these men to did not matter. What mattered was that each one knew God intimately and wanted to do His will. The most wonderful example is our Savior. He shared “glory” with His Father “before the world existed” (John 17:5), and in following the Father’s will, He left that glory and “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). Let God choose the place of your assignment. If you choose, you will impose your will on God’s and miss the greatest experience of doing God’s work God’s way. I could not think of a better place to be than where I am, even with all its limitations, but confident of the presence and power of God the Spirit. Are you content with where you are? |
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