by RobertCummins | May 3, 2016 | 18. The Cross
I know it seems like I am breaking stride with the traditional MwM posts but this seems to be the direction the wind is blowing just now. However, we will still be exploring together as we ask some very straightforward questions; What is the Church? What is my part in the Church? Why is the influence of Christianity waining in my culture? How can the Church attain her full stature in Christ? If you read MwM, you know these questions comprise the mystery I am exploring. This 30 minute video puts us right on the trail to these answers.
by RobertCummins | May 2, 2016 | 18. The Cross
In my early grades at a Catholic elementary school in Long Beach, California, I went to the weekly Catholic mass. I would sit in the pew looking about, standing, sitting, kneeling on queue. Then the homily or the sermon would come while we sat looking up to the elevated pulpit. In this church, St. Barnabas, there was a Scripture in large letters above the pulpit—a reminder. It was quoted from James 1:22 “Be you doers of the Word and not hearers only.” In that early age, I, like a child lost at sea, did not know what it really meant. All these decades later, that Scripture has stayed with me, and…I think…maybe I am getting it. And like that Bible verse, I have discovered that what we learn along the way—to our surprise—comes out later.
Two weeks ago Kalyn and I were in Beirut visiting Mary and Drew and our 3 glorious grandchildren. They and their team have been reaching out to the Lebanese people and the Syrian refugees for several years. Their team is passionate in their desire to see Jesus become established in many broken lives. With first hand knowledge, we know that Jesus changes desires, brings favor, creates opportunity, heals hearts, and gives new direction. While in Lebanon, we had the opportunity to visit those hurting families that Mary and Drew have been sowing into in the Syrian camps.
In Lebanon, like Africa, the ideal for mission-minded folks is to find someone who is hungry for the truth in Jesus, someone who is ready for a dramatic life-change that will bring risks, and hopefully someone who has a desire to impact his family, friends and neighbors. Drew and Mary and their team have been reaching out to the needy in Lebanon.
Sitting with Mahmoud, with his wife and children in their canvas tent in the makeshift refugee camp in the Becha Valley, here I was, once again, stepping into a foreign culture with truth for every man. But our visit was neither random nor an accident. We knew. We had been here before, but in different settings and with different faces. And as before, we “felt” our hearts in play. I listened as Drew translated Arabic. Mahmoud was a successful entrepreneur with 25 employees before the Syrian revolution. Because of his success, he was targeted and captured. Escaping, he had to leave home and everything behind, as he fled with his family across the border to Lebanon. Sitting with Drew & Mary, Kalyn, and the kids, we listened to the journey of his heart. As I listened and Drew translated, I thought, “His home, his city has been destroyed; his livelihood gone; his living circumstances radically, unexpectedly altered. Though their crisis is one of millions facing this horrible plight, our paths had now crossed. We were sitting with them. It was now personal. Why was I hearing this story? What could I possibly do to help? Again, we had been in this situation before and we had processed these questions before, so our confidence and faith was up.
Because of our experience, we also knew that it was no accident we were there. We understood that we were representing the King who sends His ambassadors to speak into situations to bring hope, alter vision, and breathe life. As I listened, I heard a seeking man, asking questions, intrigued with the Scriptures, wanting meaning and purpose to wrap around all that He had suffered and lost. He took his time explaining in Arabic to Drew engaging questions about the Scriptures—and their importance to him. He was wrestling with Kingdom things.
We listened and discerned. After hearing his struggles and discoveries, from this kind of experience, I knew that it was time to step up, to speak up and deliver words that have life. I carefully reminded him of the chosen ones in the Old Testament—Abraham, Daniel, Joseph, Moses, and others who had ended up in foreign lands through troubling and dramatic circumstances. From our experience we have witnessed how words can explode into revelation in the Father’s timing. So it looked like words, but the power of Jesus does something to words. Words have power. Words to hopefully create vision for his new season, words to create a picture of sustainable hope, “that he would be an elder at the city gates where many would come for his wisdom.” I felt a heart connect with him. Our intention was to bless and bless. Towards the end of our time, he sent someone to purchase two chickens and other food items in order to bless us. The power of a blessing.
The Syrian hospitality in their obvious needs humbles us. But the right thing to do—is to receive with gratefulness and thanksgiving. And then literally pray specific blessing into their lives. It was no accident that we were there. We know that the Lord is moving in their hearts in bigger ways than what we can measure. It was obvious how much they enjoy and love Mare and Drew and their kids. Sharing the hope of the life-changing Jesus only comes through genuine relationship. Meeting Jesus is not supposed to be a quick fix; transformation is a metamorphosis. It takes time, “line upon line, precept upon precept,” as new desires and new identity form and take shape.
Having been here before, receiving sacrificial blessings in tangible form from the Syrians moved me to give what I was able to give: praying in a specific blessing. This is an important opportunity that we have learned. If I have nothing to give, I should not be bothering them. We represent the King. We are to give and bless them in their needs. Often we pray for safety where there is danger, or financial provision where there is lack, or peace in the family where there is conflict. We have heard the testimonies of these kinds of prayers. We pray specifically so they can see the Father’s hand in their lives. We give something essential for their sustainable lives, and in so doing, point them to the power of Jesus.
Two months ago I was invited to speak to a group of struggling Africans who had been taking a course on “job readiness.” It is a program to teach what is important in terms of being an outstanding employee—positive attitude, work ethic, teachability, and other values. They wanted me to speak about the hope and vision of the gospel to these unemployed Africans looking for a better opportunity. I had spoken many times about “job readiness” in the States, but this time I asked the Lord for His Word in this season for these needy Africans.
I felt that the Lord wanted me to speak about how “words have power,” “the power of being a blessing.” In a culture of serious needs it is easy to focus on want and need. I shared how we are called to be givers, blessers in our circle of relationships. And that we can only do that as we align our hearts and minds to that of Jesus because He is the source of blessing and giving. He gives us truth, wisdom, and grace to give away. Life-changing truths. We are to be pro-active with our words. I kept using the phrase “words have power.” When the session was over, I did not realize the implication of what I was saying to this particular African group. In their culture it is a supernatural culture where curses can predominate. Often it is a “scolding culture,” “a culture that verbally beats up” those around them—their children, their relatives, and their neighbors with words that tear down. I inadvertently was challenging them to stop the generational line of curses toward those who do not agree with them, but to speak life. It surprised me when one of the group came up and repented and asked God to forgive her for the way she had been speaking to her children that morning. Words have power. And she decided to change, to be a carrier of a blessing and see the lives that she cares for change around her.
During family life in our home in Tulsa on 54th street, we discovered a fresh opportunity to change thinking and emotions. On a given night, with our 5 kids around the dinner table, we would say, “Tonight let’s each one of us say what they really appreciate about mom.” On another night we would choose one of the kids. Then we would go around the table with each one of us blessing the targeted family member for that night. It was refreshing and life-giving word of affirmation. It required us to stop, reflect then articulate what was unique and powerful in our family member. In retrospect I see how words have power. And what I learned at the family table, over the decades, I have been using in Africa. Words have power. Words with the Spirit of Jesus in them create vision, bring hope, change desires, lift up, refresh, and motivate. He calls us to be ready to step up, speak out, as He is the Word of Life.
In His Life,
mike and kalyn
Father, (this is Rob again) Help us to see that, in-Christ, the power of life is in us and that it transforms everything. Help us to reassess what we have perceived as real in the light of resurrection-reality. Until we are animated by your life, may we be silent. As we walk in your spirit may we raise our hands—giving voice to our personal reports of Your Life within us and among us. Let this be.
by RobertCummins | May 9, 2015 | 18. The Cross
Luke 22:1-71
“And they all asked, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “Yes, I am.” (Luke 22:70)
What would we say if they all asked, “So are you a son of God?” Would we have to pause and take inventory before we answer? Or would we say, without hesitation, “Yes. It is as you say. I am a son of God.” It is mostly to those of us who paused that I want to share. The uncertainty that necessitated our pauses might masquerade as a humble root in light of the grandiose nature of the claim; “A son of God?!” one might react. “Really now! That’s just a few thousand notches above my pay grade. I wouldn’t dare think of myself so presumptuously!” This particular line of thinking betrays something that truly needs to be addressed. It is our identity – which is the foundation of the Christian life. (Note: Please do not confuse identity with a positive self-image. Our identity in-Christ is something eternally larger.)
Perhaps our pointed question provoked these kinds of thoughts: “I’m a pretty good person. I have not hurt others.” Or, “I attend church regularly. I give when the plate is passed.” Or possibly, “I am an elder.” Or, “I lead worship.” (insert whatever title or achivenent fits,) with the sense that through our service we have attained good standing with God. I assure you this foundation is faulty and nothing built upon it will stand. I truly hope you are still in pause-mode because I would like to share some really good news while our hearts are hopefully in attendence.
However before that, I have to first share some news that may strike you as bad. It is this. We can’t play the piano well or regularly enough to please God. Neither can we give enough to please Him. Our titles, no matter how hard we worked for them have no merit with God. His standards are so infinitely high, even the most noble and pure human thoughts and deeds are defiled in comparison. An ancient prophet said it like this…
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.
Initially anyway it’s not good news to learn that, in believing the lie of our adequacy, we have been standing on shifting sand. Its even worse (initially) to discover that, as a New Testament apostle put it….
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
It would be a glorious day indeed if we are moving, in our hearts, from pause to prostrate, to that place of authentic God-gifted humility where Life germinates, where we have grasped the nature of our personal bankruptcy before God and find ourselves positioned to finally receive good news. That even though….
….we all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us having turned to our own way; the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
This is singularly the greatest news that has ever been stated in the realm of man or angel. All our sins, ranging from deficient works to heinous behavior were all laid upon the Son of God so that we could become the sons of God. If the absurdity that the quality of our lives might qualify us before God has dawned upon us, we have received the first stage of a gift that will address this foundational identity issue. That is the gift of repentance.
Repentance is a work of grace in the human heart. It is essentially our heart’s agreeing with God and saying, “I was utterly wrong. I was 180 degrees out of sync with you God – thinking I might have been good enough to win your approve and get to heaven.”
If it were not for the conspiracy between the world, the flesh and the devil, it would be simple. But….
The god of this age (Satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
It’s simple because the new foundation of identity is a gift and gifts cannot be earned. Even an iota of attempted payment undoes the gift – undermines the foundation. Again our N.T. apostle….
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
For those who believe this in their hearts and are willing to confess it with their mouths, the old foundation is demolished and a new foundational identity is established. An intimate friend of Jesus’ put it like this….
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:15-16)
Going from having the identity of one alienated and condemned to becoming a son of God is not just merely good news. It is stunning – revolutionary news! Some who stayed in pause-mode may accuse us of fanaticism, going so far as to confidently say, “Yes, I am a son of God.” Atheists and agnostics will scoff, “You deluded fools have simply played a convenient psychological trick on yourselves, inventing a God to cope with the predictable angst of an evolved piece of cosmic nothingness.
All I can say is that neither we nor God are rattled by their derision. We have all been there. Those of us who are realizing our identity-replacement in Christ can only say, “You might not believe us when we say, “We are sons and daughters of God, but, my oh my, would you ever be entertained be the intricacies of our delusion!”
The gift is free to us but it was not cheap to God. He had to come to earth and take upon himself the wrath that was due you and I. The Cross is fashionable today but in the time of Christ it was the unmistaken symbol of death, well employed and marketed by the Romans. If one did not submit to the Roman’s authority, to a cross one would go. It was the inhumanity and brutality of the Cross absorbed by God in Christ that facilitates our good news. It was supremely costly! The extravagance of this gift betrays the value the Giver places on the anticipated recipients. This is why John says……
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
As one first-century group heard this message….
….they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Father, I pray that your good news might be preached with the same punch that it had originally when Peter first heard it escaping his lips. May all those you are calling pause to reconcile these eternal mattes in their hearts. May the simplicity and the clarity of your good news pierce the darkness that has been cast on this earth and in our hearts. Prevail among those of us working to please you and convey the futility of our labors as well as the glory of Your gift. May the Bride of Christ soon face off with your enemies with their confident declarations, “Yes, absolutely, we are the sons of God.” Amen.
by RobertCummins | May 7, 2015 | 18. The Cross
Mark 14:1-72
At one level there is much we think we know. These things are our creed – the things we say we believe. However, if we can be honest, we know there is a danger that those stated beliefs can go without expression. Let’s call that danger sleep. Work with me.
In Gethsemane, as Jesus is entering into the first stages of the agony of His Cross, the disciples are entering into the dreamland of sleep. While Jesus has gone a little ahead, falling to the ground praying for a way out: “Father, you can—can’t you—get me out of this? Take this cup away from me. But please, not what I want—what do you want.” , the disciples were sleeping.
He came back and found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, you went to sleep on me? Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert, be in prayer, so you don’t enter the danger zone without even knowing it. Don’t be naive. Part of you is eager, ready for anything in God; but another part is as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.” (Need I say this was from The Message)
Surely, you would think, a direct word from God would have enough effect on one to keep him awake a bit longer but no……
Jesus then went back and prayed the same prayer. Returning, he again found them sound asleep. They simply couldn’t keep their eyes open, and they didn’t have a plausible excuse.
The disciples know at one level that Jesus is going to be betrayed. (He just told them again in the Upper Room.) At one level they know He is the Messiah. At some level they honor Him as the Messiah and know that He loves them. They were all unified (less Judas) in their creed and declared that they were prepared even to die with Him if it was to come to that. We know as the cock crowed their beliefs had gone without expression. They had entered the danger zone without even knowing it.
Paul recognized the danger of sleep as well. Keying off of Isaiah, he says,
Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall make the day dawn upon you and give you light. (Isa. 26:19; 60:1, 2)
Isaiah actually goes a bit further than just saying, “Wake up.”
Arise from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you–rise to a new life! Be radiant with the glory of the Lord, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you! For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and dense darkness all peoples, but the Lord shall arise upon you, and His glory shall be seen on you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
While Isaiah the prophet may be more dramatic, Paul the teacher is more explicit and specific in his wake up call to us. Before I relate the council of this true apostolic heart, please understand the kingdom-inheritance motivation of an apostle’s heart.
Paul knew what Jesus suffered. In fact he was privileged to even share in some of the sufferings of Christ. He was keen that both God and the saints realize their inheritance – not someday but now. An important backdrop to anything said in scripture is that God’s inheritance is the saints themselves and, if the saints can wake up and grasp it, God Himself is theirs. Paul does not teach a passive, God-will-work-it-out life with Christ. He teaches that it is our job to wake up and live with deliberation and intentionality.
Paul’s specifics include the wisdom that says, “Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” No doubt he had been influenced by the Psalmist’s counsel, “Teach me to number my days that I may present to Thee a heart of wisdom.”
Paul was consistently prodding us out of our sleep so that we can actively enjoy our inheritance and God can enjoy the fruit of His Spirit being expressed in our lives. When we hear him say, “Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord”, we see that Paul envisioning an experiential interaction with the Spirit of God that would result in a visible glorious display of God’s life in this earth.
Surely the tides of war will have shifted when the nations begin coming to the Church to see our light, and kings to the brightness of His rising. But perhaps we should not fast forward quite so far. For the sake of an immediate hope and personal application let’s say we shall see our victory when we have awakened and the light is shining upon us when our neighbor (those we have been called to walk along side) see that we have awakened from our slumber and the light of Christ is shining upon us.
Another wake up-word from Paul involves our heart’s orientation to our circumstances. “Give thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.” He specifically instructs us to replace our course language with the language of gratitude; There must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.”
Intentionally voicing our gratitude to God and to each other prevents us from having some flimsy creed about God’s goodness and sovereignty that never finds expression. Giving of thanks enables us to begin receiving our kingdom-inheritance of God now. And, when our hearts are made joyful (and therefore strong), God’s will is certainly being done on earth as it is in heaven. We must be clear that if we are grumbling verbally or inwardly we are living in creed-only and little if any light is being emitted.
The New Testament Narrative in its entirety might be said to be the waking-vision for our lives but here is one last specific wake up-word from Paul from Ephesians 5…
Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
Those next to us are not there by happenstance. They are the appointed and specific place for those good works we have been told that were prepared before hand that we should walk in. These very people are holy components of God’s inheritance and whether we are awake to it or not, we are joined to them for eternal reasons that God is wanting us to be awakened to. With God, the bottom line is always love. I can hear Jesus saying even now…
“Are you going to sleep all night? No—you’ve slept long enough. Time’s up. Get up. Let’s get going.
I can also hear Paul say in the present tense…
Be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
Father, expose our flimsy excuses and hollow creeds, awaken us to the glory round about us. May our spirits fully awaken to who you are and what you are doing in our lives right now. Teach us to stay alert in prayer that we would not enter that arena of tempting slumber. Father, you who never slumber and never sleep, teach us to imitate you, living intentionally with our eyes wide open. Help us to convert our creeds into action, with our wise choices, making investments in that realm where moth and rust do not destroy. In the darkness that deepens may the contrasting Light of Christ be seen and draw many to you. Amen.
by RobertCummins | May 7, 2015 | 18. The Cross
Mark 15:1-41
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Truly…
….we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
What is your greatest temptation? Is it covetousness? Lust? Greed? Lying? Anger? Jesus faced all those as well as all the ones I’ve left unmentioned. That means for Jesus, like us, there was an enticement to giving-in. And just like us, there was a junction where He had to choose which path he would take. As the Son of Man, like us sons of men, he knew this juncture well.
When Jesus was bone weary at the end of the day when the flesh, as we all know is particularly weak and is longing for some relief or pleasure, he did not open the wine bottle to mute the disappointment that no one really knew or undertsood Him. He didn’t turn on the TV so that he could escape his awareness that He was not climbing an earthly ladder of success or was not looking forward to a family vacation. He could not surf the internet, attend a conference, go to a movie, read a magazine to distract Himself from the reality that even His disciples were nearly clueless. So, how did this Son of Man, living in human flesh, just as we do, face those moment by moment temptations to give-in to despair and turn down the well rationalized, culturally accepted pathways of least resistance?
Are we really conscious of what we are doing to ourselves with all our varied diversions? (If this is an answer you are personally seeking, by all means read Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman).
I think at the root of most temptations there is a core complaint that expresses itself with this question.
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Yet, Jesus stood in for us in the extreme. He wasn’t just facing run of the mill temptations as we do when we ask ourselves, “Why was I fired? …Why was I was abused?… Why did my spouse reject me …Why am I misunderstood? …. Why do I screw everything up?”…..Why doesn’t my life work?” No, Jesus’ “why” was being asked by the apparent brunt of the ultimate and cruel cosmic prank.
While believing wholeheartedly that He was God’s son in whom God was well pleased, He was asking “why” after having had spikes driven through His wrists and ankles, after having had a thorny crown rammed into His scalp, after having the skin shredded from His back by a lead tipped whip, after having been slugged and spit upon and beaten with a pole, after having been abandoned at His greatest point of human need by His closest friends, after being stripped naked and exposed to a throng of ungrateful mean-spirited mocking souls, after having done His very best and never once yielding to the temptation to ask “why?” until this moment on the cross.
Here Jesus faces down mankind’s primal fear that we have been abandoned to the malignant, cruel and random powers of this world. He looks our core nightmare of meaningless and abandonment in the eye and says, “Abandonment, you are an illusion. I shall crush you forevermore!” By draining the cup of this root temptation down to the dregs He swallowed what we would have had to otherwise drink. That is why the writer of Hebrews goes on to say….
Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
Perhaps our battles with the world, our flesh and the devil will be more victorious if we understand the fundamental battle ground – this juncture where our idea of justice and God’s collide. It will be no small affair to grasp that our time of need, that moment of help, that place where we really need grace is when we are tempted to despair and depression because our circumstances are seemingly intolerable, impossible, inconvenient or unwelcome, where in our heart of hearts we are asking “Why?” Perhaps if we can see that this is our heart’s truest trench warfare we shall become the over-comers we were created to be.
So, when we hear the enemy’s taunts rising up so familiar in our thoughts, we will grasp, at this very juncture, that Jesus paid the price so that we could be over-comers – those who draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that they may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need, people who instead of faltering with a “Why?” instead say,,,
Thank you Father that You have not only become an example of the life that we must attempt to live but that you have become in reality our very Life – Life that establishes our destinies as over-comers – those who have been equipped with new hearts to overcome unbelief, self pity, resentment, fear and hopelessness. Amen.
by RobertCummins | May 4, 2015 | 18. The Cross
Mike Arndt, raising his hand …….
In my early grades at a Catholic elementary school in Long Beach, California, I went to the weekly Catholic mass. I would sit in the pew looking about, standing, sitting, kneeling on queue. Then the homily or the sermon would come while we sat looking up to the elevated pulpit. In this church, St. Barnabas, there was a Scripture in large letters above the pulpit—a reminder. It was quoted from James 1:22 “Be you doers of the Word and not hearers only.” In that early age, I, like a child lost at sea, did not know what it really meant. All these decades later, that Scripture has stayed with me, and…I think…maybe I am getting it. And like that Bible verse, I have discovered that what we learn along the way—to our surprise—comes out later.
Two weeks ago Kalyn and I were in Beirut visiting Mare and Drew and our 3 glorious grandchildren. They and their team have been reaching out to the Lebanese people and the Syrian refugees for several years. Their team is passionate in their desire to see Jesus become established in many broken lives. With first hand knowledge, we know that Jesus changes desires, brings favor, creates opportunity, heals hearts, and gives new direction. While in Lebanon, we had the opportunity to visit those hurting families that Mare and Drew have been sowing into in the Syrian camps.
In Lebanon, like Africa, the ideal for mission-minded folks is to find someone who is hungry for the truth in Jesus, someone who is ready for a dramatic life-change that will brings risks, and hopefully someone who has a desire to impact his family, friends and neighbors. Drew and Mary and their team have been reaching out to the needy in Lebanon.
Sitting with Mahmoud, with his wife and children in their canvas tent in the makeshift refugee camp in the Becha Valley, here I was, once again, stepping into a foreign culture with truth for every man. But our visit was neither random nor an accident. We knew. We had been here before, but in different settings and with different faces. And as before, we “felt” our hearts in play. I listened as Drew translated Arabic. Mahmoud was a successful entrepreneur with 25 employees before the Syrian revolution. Because of his success, he was targeted and captured. Escaping, he had to leave home and everything behind, as he fled with his family across the border to Lebanon. Sitting with Drew & Mary, Kalyn, and the kids, we listened to the journey of his heart. As I listened and Drew translated, I thought, “His home, his city has been destroyed; his livelihood gone; his living circumstances radically, unexpectedly altered. Though their crisis is one of millions facing this horrible plight, our paths had now crossed. We were sitting with them. It was now personal Why was I hearing this story? What could I possibly do to help? Again, we had been in this situation before and we had processed these questions before, so our confidence and faith was up.
Because of our experience, we also knew that it was no accident we were there. We understood that we were representing the King who sends His ambassadors to speak into situations to bring hope, alter vision, and breathe life. As I listened I heard a seeking man, asking questions, intrigued with the Scriptures, wanting meaning and purpose to wrap around all that He had suffered and lost. He took his time explaining in Arabic to Drew engaging questions about the Scriptures—and their importance to him. He was wrestling with Kingdom things.
We listened and discerned. After hearing his struggles and discoveries, from this kind of experience, I knew that it was time to step up, to speak up and deliver words that have life. I carefully reminded him of the chosen ones in the Old Testament—Abraham, Daniel, Joseph, Moses, and others who had ended up in foreign lands through troubling and dramatic circumstances. From our experience we have witnessed how words can explode into revelation in the Father’s timing. So it looked like words, but the power of Jesus does something to words. Words have power. Words to hopefully create vision for his new season, words to create a picture of sustainable hope, “that he would be an elder at the city gates where many would come for his wisdom.” I felt a heart connect with him. Our intention was to bless and bless. Towards the end of our time, he sent someone to purchase 2 chickens and other food items in order to bless us. The power of a blessing.
The Syrian hospitality in their obvious needs humbles us. But the right thing to do—is to receive with gratefulness and thanksgiving. And then literally pray specific blessing into their lives. It was no accident that we were there. We know that the Lord is moving in their hearts in bigger ways than what we can measure. It was obvious how much they enjoy and love Mare and Drew and their kids. Sharing the hope of the life-changing Jesus only comes through genuine relationship. Meeting Jesus is not suppose to be a quick fix; transformation is a metamorphosis. It takes time, “line upon line, precept upon precept,” as new desires and new identity form and take shape.
Having been here before, receiving sacrificial blessings in tangible form from the Syrians moved me to give what I was able to give: praying in a specific blessing. This is an important opportunity that we have learned. If I have nothing to give I should not be bothering them. We represent the King. We are to give and bless them in their needs. Often we pray for safety where there is danger, or financial provision where there is lack, or peace in the family where there is conflict. We have heard the testimonies of these kinds of prayers. We pray specifically so they can see the Father’s hand in their lives. We give something essential for their sustainable lives, and in so doing, point them to the power of Jesus.
Two months ago I was invited to speak to a group of struggling Africans who had been taking a course on “job readiness.” It is a program to teach what is important in terms of being an outstanding employee—positive attitude, work ethic, teachability, and other values. They wanted me to speak about the hope and vision of the gospel to these unemployed Africans looking for a better opportunity. I had spoken many times about “job readiness” in the States, but this time I asked the Lord for His Word in this season for these needy Africans.
I felt that the Lord wanted me to speak about how “words have power,” “the power of being a blessing.” In a culture of serious needs it is easy to focus on want and need. I shared how we are called to be givers, blessers in our circle of relationships. And that we can only do that as we align our hearts and minds to that of Jesus because He is the source of blessing and giving. He gives us truth, wisdom, and grace to give away. Life-changing truths. We are to be pro-active with our words. I kept using the phrase “words have power.” When the session was over, I did not realize the implication of what I was saying to this particular African group. In their culture it is a supernatural culture where curses can predominate. Often it is a “scolding culture,” “a culture that verbally beats up” those around them—their children, their relatives, and their neighbors with words that tear down. I inadvertently was challenging them to stop the generational line of curses toward those who do not agree with them, but to speak life. It surprised me when one of the group came up and repented and asked God to forgive her for the way she had been speaking to her children that morning. Words have power. And she decided to change, to be a carrier of a blessing and see the lives that she cares for change around her.
During family life in our home in Tulsa on 54th street, we discovered a fresh opportunity to change thinking and emotions. On a given night, with our 5 kids around the dinner table, we would say, “Tonight let’s each one of us say what they really appreciate about mom.” On another night we would choose one of the kids. Then we would go around the table with each one of us blessing the targeted family member for that night. It was refreshing and life-giving word of affirmation. It required us to stop, reflect, then articulate what was unique and powerful in our family member. In retrospect I see how words have power. And what I learned at the family table, over the decades, I have been using in Africa. Words have power. Words with the Spirit of Jesus in them create vision, bring hope, change desires, lift up, refresh, and motivate. He calls us to be ready to step up, speak out as He is the Word of Life.
In His Life,
mike and kalyn
Father, (this is Rob) Help us to see the power of life is in us in-Christ and how this transforms everything. Help us to reassess what we have perceived to be real in the light of resurrection-reality. Until we are animated by your life, may we be silent. As we walk in your spirit may we raise our hands – giving voice to our personal reports of Your Life within us, among us. Let this be.
