Tuesday mornings I have the privilege to meet with the godly men and women who God has called and placed into leadership at several campus ministries at the University of Arizona. This time is always a encouraging and humbling time for me. I love to go and hear how God is working in the lives of the staff and students of other campus ministries because it helps me keep perspective of the bigger global picture of God's redemptive plan. It reminds me of the incredible blessing I have in being around to see the miracles of God's grace working in transforming and redeeming people's lives.
Last Tuesday's meeting was very somber. As each one in the group went to share what was happening in their lives and others in their ministry a heaviness and gravity was present in the tone and content of what was shared. At that moment I think everyone in the room was very aware of the nature of the work we do. Ministry is war. People in Ministry Leadership are on the front lines of the Spiritual war between the things that keep people from entering into relationship with Jesus Christ and experiencing the freedom that comes from living victoriously under His grace.
The rest of last week was a continual reminder and battle with things that are spiritual. Typically I have a tendency to reason out or find logical explanations for problems of life that come up. I'm quick to analyze and attribute causes of problems in relationships to things I know from my psychology background, but some weird freaky things happened to me last week that caused me to reframe all these problems within the context of Spiritual Warfare. It forced me to really look back to Scripture and in the midst of conflict know that I'm not struggling against other Christians or believers, these are things that are distractions that crop up in life to keep the people of God from being united to fight against our real enemy. Things that come up to distract us from accomplishing our mission and obeying the commands of God
Mission: Make disciples of all nations. Teach them to observe all the commands of God.
Commands of God:
Love God, Love others
Something else that I found myself doing last week in being more aware of the spiritual root of conflicts and problems that come is becoming fearful. There are somethings that happened last week that I know without a doubt were not normal, and things that can't really be explained except through Spiritual Warfare, but I did what the scouts of Israel did in Numbers 13. I became so focused on the strength of the Enemy that I felt overwhelmed and unprepared.
Numbers 13: 31-33
"But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Last Tuesday's meeting was very somber. As each one in the group went to share what was happening in their lives and others in their ministry a heaviness and gravity was present in the tone and content of what was shared. At that moment I think everyone in the room was very aware of the nature of the work we do. Ministry is war. People in Ministry Leadership are on the front lines of the Spiritual war between the things that keep people from entering into relationship with Jesus Christ and experiencing the freedom that comes from living victoriously under His grace.
The rest of last week was a continual reminder and battle with things that are spiritual. Typically I have a tendency to reason out or find logical explanations for problems of life that come up. I'm quick to analyze and attribute causes of problems in relationships to things I know from my psychology background, but some weird freaky things happened to me last week that caused me to reframe all these problems within the context of Spiritual Warfare. It forced me to really look back to Scripture and in the midst of conflict know that I'm not struggling against other Christians or believers, these are things that are distractions that crop up in life to keep the people of God from being united to fight against our real enemy. Things that come up to distract us from accomplishing our mission and obeying the commands of God
Mission: Make disciples of all nations. Teach them to observe all the commands of God.
Commands of God:
Love God, Love others
Something else that I found myself doing last week in being more aware of the spiritual root of conflicts and problems that come is becoming fearful. There are somethings that happened last week that I know without a doubt were not normal, and things that can't really be explained except through Spiritual Warfare, but I did what the scouts of Israel did in Numbers 13. I became so focused on the strength of the Enemy that I felt overwhelmed and unprepared.
Numbers 13: 31-33
"But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
I did what Peter did in Matthew 14, I took my focus off of Jesus. I let all the things around me, distract me and when I took my focus off of Jesus, just like Peter I began to sink. In the midst of feeling like that God said to me just like Peter:
Matthew 14:31
"Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”God really revealed Himself to me in Isaiah 64. This is a passage that has been on my heart the past few weeks from the men's prayer time at FSBC. It's a verse Pastor Randy shared that has stuck with me. In particular verses 1-8
Isaiah 64:1-8
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!
2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
and cause the nations to quake before you!
3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
4 Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to our sins.
8 Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
Another way God spoke to me is through the song playing right now..."Stronger" by Hillsong United. In the midst of being overwhelmed by what I saw as my circumstances and my inability, God reminded me who He is. I lost sight of who God is and how He has been working in my life. I had to be reminded that God is the One who at His Name, all knees will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. (Phil 2:9-11) As real and as powerful the spiritual forces of darkness might be I need to remember that means that Jesus is real, that God is real. Moreover, that my God is Stronger than the nature of my circumstances and the spiritual forces of darkness that I face. I don't face these things alone! Christ already faced them for me, all Christ asks me to do now is to follow Him, and join Him in taking a stand.
The question I need to ask myself in all this is really whether or not I believe the truth of Matthew 6:33.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
When I become scared or worried about the responsibilities I may have in my need to "be used as an instrument to change other people's lives." I need to remember that the thing God is more concerned about is the change that occurs in my life as I wrestle with the decision to obey Christ and put His righteousness for my life first before seeking the righteousness of someone else's life. I have to remember that God is the one that seeks, saves, and transforms. Not me. So there isn't any pressure for me to try and change someone else. The struggle now is to put His kingdom and righteousness for my life first by submitting to the authority and power by which He maintains His Kingdom. I think I gloss over that fact. It's His Kingdom. God is King, so I'm supposed to submit and obey.
So do I trust that if I submit to God and obey Him that "all these things will be given to [me] as well?"
Do I face the challenges of life and the spiritual confidently knowing that I've submitted to Jesus, the One whose Authority binds all things under Him?
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