Blazing the trail of revolution

Today, I and a small army of young adults descended upon the seniors building adjacent to our church. Our mission was clear, but yet uncharted. We wanted to show the love of Christ by doing good to the elderly in this building. Yet we were not sure entirely who was home, whether the authorities would permit us to traverse the building and who would be recipient to our ministry.
In summary, our mission was successful. God used us to visit quite a few seniors. Names were obtained, prayers were said, gifts were offered and Jesus was glorified. We left with a waiting list of seniors waiting for visits, and a strong assurance that God is moving in this government housing complex of often forgotten seniors.
One event that stood out in particular was the visit that I had with a 70 year old lady who could easily have been my grandma (or my mom. Sorry mom). This lady was the 21st century embodiment of prophetess Anna in the birth narrative of Christ. She was a spiritual stalwart, who had known Christ for decades, having converted from the religion of Islam. In the short hour that we visited her, she shared with us her story about life, upbringing, family, trials, temptations and victories. Her eyes bright and shiny were lit the entire time as she shared story after story. Obviously she was a life of the party sort. In the time we were with her, both phones rang several times reminding us that we were not the only ones vying for the time of this precious saint. Her prayers touched our hearts, and made us feel as if heaven was courting the living room of this modern day saint. We did get to share a tiny bit. Explaining why we had come and that were committing to stand with her and the needy in the building. She immediately nodded and called us evangelists, acknowledging the work we were doing was highly needed.
Evangelism in the inner city often takes time and looks different from the traditional explicit curt gospel presentation. Our time spent seemed quite unproductive in western measurements. After all she was a believer, we didn’t quote much scripture and we chatted for a good part of an hour about trivial matters. Yet unbeknownst to the superficial eye we were making great strides. Incurring the trust of this spiritual stake holder in the building was tantamount to breakthroughs of magnificent proportion. She promised to share fliers of outreach events whenever we had them, and even proved she was a self made evangelist as she had brought unbelievers to receive food from our emergency food pantry a few weeks earlier.
Can you see God is moving in this place? In fact God is moving all over the earth, but especially in places where people are open to him. Often they are open because they are simple, humble, poor and desperate. Will you join the revolution that is happening right underneath your nose? Come and be a part of our community outreach that happens every other week in Jane and Finch. Bring a friend out. Visit a senior, pray for a family, interact with community youth, you just never know what God will do, but you can be sure, that you are blazing a revolutionary trail of Christ’s love to those he cares for the most, the least of these.

The hand of God

Nothing must hinder the gospel. This was Paul’s disposition in Sergius Paulus presence, a Roman ruler who was open to the message of the truth. Paul’s exposition of gospel truth is hindered by a satanic persona. Bar-Jesus a Jewish sorcerer opposed Paul in the same spirit as Pharoah’s magicians with Moses. Paul reacts apparently overly, as he pronounces a curse upon Elymas aka Bar-Jesus. Ponder that for a moment. An evangelist is sharing the gospel to a bystander on the road side and turns to invoking curses open a listening heckler. Sounds absurd right?
Paul saw things quite different. Reading the text of Acts 13 we see the evil influence this Elymas had on the proconsul. Via his influence, he literally had the ruler bound, and thus disabled him from perceiving God. Just as Jesus rebuked the devil working in Peter (Matthew 16), Paul saw this as a direct confrontation between the kingdom of darkness and light. Thus he invoked the God’s heavy hand upon Bar-Jesus and brought upon temporary blindness.
Why is it that we find it difficult to convert our friends and loved ones to Christ? Could it be that there are spiritual forces hindering them from perceiving God? I believe we can learn from Paul. Maybe not typically invoking blindness upon human personas, but having spiritual discernment and sharing the same aggressive intensity in dealing with kingdom opposition.
Scripture says we wrestle not again flesh and blood, but against evil forces (Ephesians 6:12, abbreviated). Our battle is not ordinary, and thus our attitudes need to be adjusted accordingly. May God open our eyes to see that lives are at stake, and that a warfare stance must be held in averting disaster pertaining to human souls.
Next time you share the gospel, or are praying for a lost soul, ask God for spiritual perception. Maybe you will see the “Elymas” in their lives. Then boldly proclaim Jesus’ mastery over every evil force, and trust that God will bring that lost soul into his glorious light.