Category: Devotions

When the journey of mission is paused…

John18
I was too small to be able to see what was happening at the front of the church. But I could see people disappearing as they were being prayed for. They seemed to be falling down. It was weird but nice.
This was my first experience of such a response.
However, it was always with nice music and a great atmosphere.
Not what we have here in John 18.
600 soldiers waiting to capture Jesus and he had to once again use the ancient name, “I am he” and the soldiers fell to the ground.

When was the last time you fell to the ground?

Way back in Exodus God instructed Moses to tell people His name is I AM.
Jesus embodied the I AM.
I am the bread of life John 6:35;
I am the light of the world John 8:12;
I am the gate for the sheep John 10:7;
I am the good shepherd, John 10:11;
I am the resurrection and the life, John 11:25;
I am the way and the truth and the life, John 14:6;
I am the true vine, John 15:1.

The soldiers fell under revelation of the name above all names. Maybe also we should voluntarily fall at the sound of the I AM?

Let’s make Him known.
Mission is not complicated.
John 17
It is to know God, v3
It is to know the One He sent: Jesus, v3
It is to know the love of God, v23

So let’s get this simplified.
In your home, work and leisure:
Are you knowing God, welcoming Jesus and receiving His love?
And …
Are you making known God, being sent by the sent one and sharing the love of God?
Mission is this.

The world is full of missionaries.
John 16
The time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God, v2.

According to a recent report at least one in four of the estimated 2,000 foreigners fighting for ISIS in Syria and Iraq is British – and half of those are already back in the UK.
That means there are now almost three times as many British Muslims fighting for Islamic State than there are serving in the UK military, an MP has claimed. Another report reveals how girls as young as 14 or 15 are travelling mainly to Syria to marry jihadis, bear their children and join communities of fighters, with a small number taking up arms. Many are recruited via social media.

We are living in a time where young people are becoming missionaries in unprecedented ways. In service to God they are offering their lives, often sacrificing them for the cause of wickedness.
How someone can commit horrible crimes thinking they are serving God is beyond us. Their God is not God.

However we do not despair. We rejoice that this is simply a copy of what our God is doing. For we are also seeing droves of young people sign up to lay their life down not to kill but to serve, to love and pour mercy on those who need it the most in our world.

For Elim, over the next few years we are going to see hundreds of young people sign up for the Missionary Apprenticeship Programme. They will think they are in service to God and they will be. Whatever Satan is doing in the world it is just a faulty copy of what God is truly doing. Watch this space!

Mission with friends

John 15
Take friends with you along the journey.
Everyone should have one friend.
“You are my friends”, v14.
The blind humanitarian, Helen Keller, once said, “My friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privileges, and enabled me to walk serene and happy in the shadow cast by my deprivation.”
Jesus said:
A friend lays their life down ,v13
A friend does what they are asked to do, v14
A friend can be trusted with secrets, v15

What friends do you have in mission today? Call them and thank them for being that friend.

A call to mission
John 14
Come on, arise, let’s go and do this! v31
* Believing Jesus has got it sorted for us after this life, v1,3.
* Calling people to a journey to seek truth and find life, v6.
* Expecting God to work through us, v12.
* Willing to ask and obey, v14,15.
* Being comforted and with peace, v18,27.

This is mission. Sign up today.
Come on!

There is no ladder to climb in mission, just a towel and a bowl.

John 13: 1-12

Mission is to leave your elevated place (as the Son of God)
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. (John 13:3, 12 NIV)

Mission means your own needs do not come first, v4 “so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist”.

Mission means you will look like a servant v4

Mission does not mean your work of service may is fully appreciated at the time v7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

Mission can be lonely. Some of your closest friends may insist you do not serve v8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

Mission will cost and that is a guarantee. The cost is often unpleasant. You may have to serve the one who will betray you v11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

Mission 101: Death.
John 12
Recently I overheard a conversation regarding a conference that was being planned and the organisers were thrilled that a big-named speaker had agreed to be there. They were thrilled because they believed this would automatically bump up the numbers of attendance.
It probably will.
Why?
Because we live in a world where we chase after the cult-like leaders who walk on red carpets with flashing lights all around. How we love to see that carpet! And one day who knows God may allow us to walk on that platform of accolades and recognition, for His glory of course.
Desperate Pastors and desperate churches think they are just one major miracle away from a revival and that revival would be their red carpet. One miracle, not much of a big thing for God to do.
Jesus said if he is lifted high from the earth then men will come to him, v32.
There are many being lifted high today and many more wanting to be. And there are many who gather in the auditoriums of life to cheer and to applaud, to drool and to wish.
Sometimes this is called mission.
It is not.
This is pride, an enemy of mission.
In being lifted high, Jesus was referring to him being hung on a cross, v33. He was speaking of his submission, of giving his life, his death. It is this that will motivate people to the cause.
Stars come and go and their audiences fluctuate like the wind. But sacrifice remains. Death is permanent.
Pastors and churches who long for revival (whatever that is) should die.
You want to lead your friends to faith in Jesus? Then die.
To surrender is to be truly lifted high. This is mission.

Weeping or Leaping?
John 11

Some people are content to just weep. Some people have been crying for years, ‘It’s not fair’
Maybe today something has died within you, don’t just stand and cry!
Can you hear a call from Jesus?
‘Lazarus, Come out!’ Impossible!
How did he come out?
For his feet were bound with the burial clothes.
Can you see him leaping out? He has a chance of a lifetime. One moment in time, one opportunity.
If things are ever going to change for you, then you had better hear God when He calls, and leap when He does.
Lazarus didn’t shout back “I can’t, I’m dead!” But the devil wants you to lay your life down and play dead. It’s all over, my life will never get better, it’s impossible.
Will you hear a new voice today? A voice of one who called to Lazarus, “Come out!”
This is not the day for weeping, it’s a day for leaping. Leaping out of the grave that was designed so that you wouldn’t make a comeback. Leaping out of a grave that others have placed you in and said ‘he won’t be back, she’s finished. Its over.’
Everybody around you can cry out ‘Come out. Get better. Snap out of it.’ But its not till you respond to the call of Jesus will you ever be able to move on.
His call is always to do the impossible.
Today God calls you to do that what man says you can never do.
Stop wallowing in your pity, get up and do what you and others say you can’t do.
Stop weeping and start leaping.
Now, that’s mission!!

Speaking truth

John 10
I tell you the truth, Jesus said those few words 78 times.
Whether for emphasis or as a reminder, Jesus said this because Jesus did speak the truth.
The church needs truth-tellers.

A little while ago, an overseas Pastor on being challenged about a lie I thought he had told replied it wasn’t a lie, it was simply withholding the truth.

When presented with 2 reports of direct opposite views of the facts as I have been given recently, who is telling the truth?

Today as you go about your usual life who will you bump into who is saying one thing but meaning another? What exaggerations will you be told? Who will you trust? Maybe this won’t be a problem but maybe you live and work in a culture where it is exactly as I describe.

Make sure you spend time in the truth today and stay there even if all around you it is different.
He will tell you the truth.

God’s mission is for man
John 9

His neighbours and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” “How then were your eyes opened?” they demanded… “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said. (John 9:8-10,12).

He knew that he was a changed man. He knew that Jesus had been involved in the miracle.

What he didn’t know was where Jesus actually was.

There was a distance between himself and Jesus and he didn’t know what to do or where to go to find him.

Many are content to have a form of Christianity, a religion, but have no close relationship with Jesus.

Maybe now that we have everything, like the man now with his sight, maybe we don’t desire God like others who have nothing.

The poet Irina Ratushinskaya spent many years in a Russian labour camp. Now free and living in the West, she reflected:
A person who is deprived of everything, of family, of contact with friends, who is totally isolated, alone, without any property at all, not even a toothbrush, has nothing left to lose. An enormous, powerful sense of security follows. Instead of panic, one feels God’s hand on one’s shoulder. We all felt that nothing really bad could happen to us: we all thought, ‘If they kill us today, tomorrow we will be in heaven.’I wish I had the same feeling now, but I don’t. Under such pressure, God feels really close: it’s easier to serve God when in trouble than on holiday. When I came to the West, I thought, ‘Now I’m in a world of holidaymakers.’ When Jesus came, he said, ‘Leave everything you have.’ That was a frightening demand. A person can only develop if he or she is able to let go. It was easier for us to take risks back in the Russian labour camps because we had nothing to lose. Now, after spending ten years in the West, I do have something to lose.

Is this true of you?