Thursday, August 4, 2011

Process or Directive?

This year God has begun to breathe into our spirits fresh, clear vision of the essence of our call as He prepares us for a higher level of His ministry.  Needless to say...it is very exciting! Sometimes it takes time "out of the woods" to clearly see the forest.  Ministry has a culture itself, much of what is unintentionally man-made.  If one is not careful, the burden becomes a desire to please man and self.  The motivation can be to compete with others so others can be impressed with what you do! The only problem with that (outside of it not being God) is that those you think you're competing with are too busy competing back and marveling over what they have built!

Not everyone will agree to this statement but much of the ministry in our culture is designed to reach those who are not hungry for God.  As a result some ministry becomes nothing more than entertainment relating to the intellect, but not the soul.  I'm not saying we should not reach out to those who openly deny God, especially if one is called to a particular group.  But God put it this way to me a couple of months back.  "Pray earnestly and diligent for those who are not hungry.  And GO to those who are hungry." If you know of a person or people or people group who are hungry for God, spend your time, energy, and resources reaching those people.  Because out of these may come the ones who can reach those who openly deny God!  Yes, Jesus died for everyone.  But on this day, there are people who are ready to receive Him. God says find them!  Go to them! Seek Him to know who and where they are!

Prayer is the key to impacting others for Jesus.  Only through prayer will the hard heart be softened. Only through the supernatural force of prayer can the Holy Spirit direct us to the hungry.  It seems to be so easy to "do" what everyone else does without praying.  The whole evangelism process should not be a process.  It should be a directive with specific instructions as in the early church.  While Peter was praying, the Holy Spirit told him to go to the home of Cornelius.  While Ananias was praying He was told to pray for Saul. Evangelism is not a process. It must be a directive with specific instructions. And again, that only comes through consistent, fervent prayer. When more of God's people pray consistently and fervently for the lost, more people will be saved and more stuff will happen!


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