Prophet? Who me?

A prophet is one who speaks for God, and many times we see this image as one who is old, bearded, and spews out gloom and doom in preparation for the coming kingdom. While this antique imagery is not without truth, I believe a prophet is much more. IN the scriptures, prophets not only spoke, but acted on behalf of God. There was an active and dynamic aspect of prophecy. Often times, a prophet would not even be allowed to speak but instead would simply mime, dramatize or live out scenarios that had divine and foretelling implications. Prophets as explained so far sound quite heavenly, but indeed are usually ordinary people. In fact sometimes less than ordinary that they may often go unheeded by the people they so seek to counsel. Jesus in Matthew 14, returns to his hometown of Nazareth. While one would have hoped his message and theme would be appropriated accordingly, and would lead to many miracles, it was largely an uneventful experience. His town folk actually took offense at him because they thought he was putting on airs. After all Jesus was one of them. “How did he end up being so gifted and unusual?” They wondered where he got these powers from, and doubted in his ability. Because of this uncertainty in his prophetic identity, he could not do many miracles for some of the people he was most familiar with. A spiritual leader is a prophetic person who need to be aware of his identity. When God calls us in to leadership there is a dynamic, active, living approach to his working in our lives that others are supposed to experience. Whether you lead in the church or in the marketplace God desires to use you as a message to others. Yes friend, you are a prophet as you lead for God. We need to shed the one-dimensional archaic view of prophets that is prevalent, and understand that we as Godly leaders are messages of life and meaning to others around us. Without this knowledge of your prophetic identity you will see limited impact as was the case in Nazareth, where they doubted our Lord’s prophetic nature. Are you a teacher, writer, singer, Sunday school teacher, officer, preacher? Do you see ministry in any of these capacities? Does God use your leadership gifts somehow, even in the littlest way? If so then embrace the prophetic. Get wisdom and understanding. Let it weigh down deep in your heart, that you are a spokesperson for God. God speaks and lives his message through you. Pray for a revelation of this, and act it out. As you step into your day remind yourself that you are a prophet for God, and that you point others to God through something in your being. And as you possess this identify, then maybe others will see you more in this light, and I trust you will be able to see Christ manifest more in your life making miracles for them to see louder and clearer than ever before.

Finishing Well!!!

1 Corinthians 9:27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize

As I approach my 15th year in ministry, I realize how important it is to stick to the basics. The rudimentary principles that often make one passionate in ministry or effective in their endeavors quite often fall by the wayside once “success” is attained. Some of my friends who started out when I did have simply fallen by the wayside. Oh, not necessarily into sin, but they have lost the flame that we all possessed. Gone is the love, passion and self sacrifice that marked our spirits. Instead is spiritual apathy, longing for material satisfaction, and a mediocre faith at best. In our theme scripture the apostle Paul writes on not being comfortable even though you are esteemed as a leader of others in the faith. As I reflect back over the years, and even in my pre-ministry days, I understand where he is coming from. Only the grace of God has kept me consistent in this race of faith. I realize how easy it would have been to succumb to pressures to relax, or indulge in false passions. God’s gentle but firm nudge to keep the prize in view helped me to take Paul’s caution to heart. King Asa reigned over Jerusalem in the Kingdom of Judah for four decades. He sought God in all his affairs, and served him excellently. His leadership career was almost flawless. But in his last remaining years, he wavered in his commitment to God. An imposing enemy unnerved this veteran spiritual champion who had indeed thwarted many similar enemies in his earlier years. King Asa sought an earthly king for help in the form of Ben-Hadad of Aram, instead of focusing on God. He did buy temporary security for his kingdom, but at what cost? The story ends 5 short years later, with the aged king sickly in his feet, and losing his life from an ill timed disease. Recorded on his spiritual epitaph are the words of the Chronicler

though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. 2 Chronicles 16:12b

Can I encourage you to finish strong. This means staying consistent. What are the things you did in your earlier days in Christ, that helped you stay passionate. Some of you were in church every day, or read your scriptures during your lunch break at work. Others attended retreats, conferences, evangelistic exercises and visited soup kitchens. Maybe you won’t be able to do everything, but at least try something. Pray for God’s leading, and pick that one activity that you feel was the key. Whatever you do lean on the grace of God, but remember Paul’s advice, and work really hard. As you do I trust that you will indeed finish the race as good or, even better than you started.

Preparing to build

Solomon was ordained of the Lord to build him a temple. This temple when completed was one of the wonders of the ancient world. It was quite a sight to see. The monumental task was completed after spending countless hours, involving over a hundred thousand workers and the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars in today’s currency. In 1 Kings, we see God glory filling this temple. Evidently God was pleased with the building, and the mode of dedication, thereby gracing the whole commemoration affair with his beautiful presence. The Bible describes God’s ordination of the service as so glorious that the priests could not even sustain themselves. They bowed down in awe as God’s spirit enveloped the entire temple atmosphere. As many looked on that day, they would have only considered the finished work of the temple. They would have been unaware of the key facet in the undertaking of such a task. The work of God upon the heart of the builder. David instructed Solomon on the secret to completing this undertaking. A relentless pursuit of God that begins from the heart, and culminates in an active relationship with God. Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the Lord God,.. 1 Chr 22:19 Indeed before any undertaking we need to consider David’s words to Solomon as well. Are you about to build a career, a marriage, or a ministry, then devote yourself. Let God constrain you, measure your motives, and be the reason behind your doing. Pursue God in earnest, seeking him daily till you come to that place of affirmation that he undergirds your travail. Then and only then will you have his glory fill the temple that you complete on his behalf.

Consistency

“Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God” Acts 10:4b

Cornelius was a Roman centurion, whose narrative is featured in Acts 10. Though a Gentile he had come to faith in the Jewish God. This faith for him was an authentic one. Scripture indicates that he was devoted to God, offered gifts and prayed regularly. Thus making him consistent in his walk

Webster defines consistency as having integrity and follow through, producing a compactness that complements the whole.

Here in our narrative, Cornelius, though a worshipper of God is unaware of the new birth in Christ, and the spirit baptism. This movement was a revolution that was quickly reforming the Jewish faith as seen in the book of Acts. Thousands were turning to Christ, political and social systems were being challenged, and mighty miracles were being displayed. Yet Cornelius knew nothing about it. He just remained consistent in prayer.

Sometimes, in our walk with God we may be out of alignment with His greater plans for us. Though we are faithful to him, somehow, whether due to timing, sovereignty, sin or some other reason we may have missed God’s dynamic workings in the larger body. Yet a consistent walk with God like Cornelius’ builds up our spiritual reserves, which though may be intangible to us, is very present. This spiritual reserve is the foundation which God uses to move us further in his will.

As the rest of chapter 10 reveals, Cornelius in fact is realigned with God’s current move. Due to his diligence in prayer, father God sees to it that Cornelius does not miss out. In fact, because of his consistency, an angel is commissioned to appear to Cornelius to prepare him for a visit with the apostle Peter. Upon his meeting with Peter, he receives the gospel of the resurrected Christ, and the baptism of the Spirit with his entire household. Because of his actions, Cornelius receives much favor and becomes the first recorded Gentile to receive Christ post the ascension. In fact Cornelius is the prophetic fulfillment of Acts 1:8, where the message had spread from Jerusalem to Samaria, but not beyond. Truly, God’s favour rested on him, due to his faithfulness in serving.

Can I encourage you to be like Cornelius? Don’t be discouraged if it seems like you are missing out on God’s greater them for your life. Truly he is sovereign and as long as you remain faithful will see to it that his blessings abound on your life.

Suffering for the faith?

As a young believer, I was instilled with a doctrine that invariably taught suffering was virtually not a part of the Christian experience. An aspect of this teaching was that if suffering is occurring then you should pray to have it immediately alleviated.

With this prevalent thought in my mind, I have been confronted time and time again with scriptures such as in Acts 16 where Paul suffered for his faith.

In this passage, Paul and Silas were in Macedonia. It was expressly due to God’s will. In fact he had tried travelling to another region but had been restricted by the Spirit. Upon arriving in Macedonia, a powerful ministry experience soon turned sour, as Paul and Silas were accosted by a crowd due to having performed an exorcism on a fortune-teller. Things quickly worsened as the authorities arrive and order Paul and Silas to be stripped and beaten with wooden rods.

Let’s pause to consider what has just happened. A mob of at least several hundred are thronging them, while dealing heavy blows on their naked body. How horrible this experience must have been. Surely Paul and Silas should have been praying for God to deliver them from this experience. I can only imagine how discouraged they would have been when instead of God issuing their deliverance order, they found themselves thrown into the deepest dungeon of the most secure jail cell.

At this point if I were in their shoes I would have questioned whether I was in the will of God. This may have crossed their minds as well. So often when things don’t go our way in our modern day Christianity, many immediately correlate that with the devil, human decision or some other factor.

Questioning the will of God is just one thought that typically comes to mind. Another is that of God’s presence in the immediate situation. Some that I know who encounter great trials of their faith feel like God, has completely abandoned them. Quite possibly Paul and Silas felt the same way. Keep in mind at this moment they would be literally half-dead. Their bodies would be bleeding profusely, suffering from their hemorrhaging wounds and countless pulsating hematomas. To make matters worse they were locked, hands and feet in stocks unable to tend to their wounds, except for the present rats who may have been attending them. Where was their God who they believed had led them to evangelize in Macedonia? Did he not care? Had he forsaken them? Did he even really exist? These thoughts may be just some of the questions that realistically they would have to deal with in their minds.

In trying to explain Paul and Silas’ suffering, some limit this kind of suffering to particular callings. They say, Jesus specifically assigned a ministry of suffering to Paul, “the martyr calling”, and confirms this with the scripture in Acts 16:9. Only a small percentage of believers are called to suffer like this, while.

Yet, we see another scripture where Paul enjoins all believers to suffer for Christ just as he has
11 You know how much persecution and suffering I have endured. You know all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra—but the Lord rescued me from all of it. 12 Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 2 Timothy 3:11-12

Here Paul clearly associates suffering with the normal Christian experience. Leaving it a necessity for the astute believer to wrestle with the possibility of God ordained tribulation in their Christian walk just as Paul did.

Paul and Silas did wrestle with suffering, and we should learn from their approach. For while in their deepest darkest moments of affliction they cried out to God. Their prayers could have been cries for salvific deliverance, but more likely it was akin to the prayers of the three Hebrew boys in Daniel who acknowledge God’s power to deliver, but didn’t demand it (Daniel 3:17-18). Paul and Silas simply praised the God of heaven, despite their situation. Eventually they were delivered in a powerful way, and God restored all they had lost, and much more, granting their jailer salvation to boot. The positive experiences at the end of the narrative would surely have helped to ease the pain of their trial and sufferings.

At the end of this blog, I still am unable to fathom the depths of suffering these men, and many others in certain parts of the world experience for their Christian faith. I am keenly aware for many, such as Stephen (Acts 8) the story is not quite positive, and often ends in physical death. Suffering, even unto death, is a scriptural precedent, and a reality that some, maybe even I, will have to consider.

My prayer for you and I is that God will strengthen our faith to seek him, in the good and bad times, not questioning but persevering through – regardless of the outcome.