Rebecca and I have close friends that we have known since university days. Nancy has always been prolific and insightful in her writings. Monthly emails often contain what I call ‘spiritual gems’. She has a way of capturing Christ in so much of what happens day to day, and then to use that image as a reminder of our need to ‘speak the Gospel to our hearts’ each day.
Let me quote from one of her emails titled: Calling
“Of all the staggering Scriptures, the verse that most staggers me these days is Hebrews 5:7, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.” He was heard. Not saved from death, but heard. Isn’t that enough? To be heard by the God of the universe? If it was enough for Christ, how dare it not be enough for me?
At the recent Together for the Gospel conference, we wore these bands:
10,000 people wore the black bands allowing access to the conference. Far fewer people wore the white bands that allowed access to the speakers. How foolish we would have been to have this gift of access and not use it to get notes from and have conversations with the speakers so we could better serve the main participants!
We still have the bands, but we no longer have access to the speakers. I can’t ask John MacArthur what to say to the students about prayer. Chuck can’t ask John Piper about a thorny paragraph he is trying to translate for seminary. But God has given us better-than-white-bands: unlimited access to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16)!
What thirsty person, tongue brittle as a leaf in drought, has access to a fountain of pure water but crawls past it? We have access to the life-giving fount, but pass by it if we skip or skimp on prayer.”
At first I pondered why she gave the subject line as “calling”. Then I realized that our calling is first and foremost to God (read Os Guinness, The Call, on that topic) and our main ‘access’ is by our conversation with the Father.
We might say, in other words, that our calling is to bring the nations of the world before the Father’s throne and plead with Him to work in us and through us that many might come to know the Messiah Jesus.
Filed under: Calling, Mission, Prayer | 4 Comments »
Now, I had linked this run to the challenge that I had gifted to us as a mission: to see significant impact among two unreached people groups in the coming months and year. We had chosen to focus our attention on the Dadjo (Chad) and Cham (Cambodia) peoples.
I have always been fascinated by the verse in Isaiah: “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear” (59:1). It’s a poetic way of stating that God is not limited, in any way, from doing what pleases Him. What delights Him most is when His creation attributes glory to Him. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it: “And in our prayers to praise him, ascribing kingdom, power and glory to him.” God’s desire is that in everything we do, we bring glory to Him (1 Corinthians 10:31)
I was part of an ‘online prayer’ meeting this past Wednesday. Sounds kind of strange and impersonal. However, seeing everyone’s face around the virtual table and being able to mobilise people from three different regions of the world to pray was a definite encouragement and certainly a plus to spend this time praying ‘virtually’ together.
Thoughts Along The Journey 