Sonship, grace and destiny…

 Mission and service do not begin with a verb! They begin with a relationship.

All too often we quote the word “Go!”, forgetting that,

“When they saw him, they worshipped him;”

 The Father in the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21:28 also uses the verb “go.” However he precedes the verb with a relationship.

“Son, go and work today in the vineyard.”

It is no use going and getting on with it if we haven’t had a clear revelation of our preciousness as sons and daughters of a loving Father. This principle was manifested in Jesus’ own life. He went into the waters of baptism and,

“as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

 This “Spirit baptism” brings a revelation of sonship. In the same way, we also need to be renewed in the revelation of God’s Fatherhood in order to fully accomplish the works which he has prepared in advance for us to do. Perhaps the first sign of being truly filled with the Holy Spirit is to do with “hearing” rather than speaking.

Do you hear the Father affirming you as a loved son or daughter?

Without this revelation our service can be full of fear and duty. The famous verses from Romans prove an effective remedy to such slavish toil.

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry “Abba, Father.”

 The apostle Paul encourages Timothy not to be ashamed or fearful but to boldly suffer for the gospel,

“by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life- not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.”

Grace and destiny, two pillars of strength for our Christian walk.

What is my destiny? A verb, a relation or a vocation? Try these two biblical destinies.

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.“

 “In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ…to the praise of his glorious grace.”

 We are called to be “grace in action” truly “charismatic”. And we need such active grace if we are to become like Jesus.

Paul’s missionary endeavours hung on his capacity to understand and receive grace. For him, grace was much more than a sort of “mess up, clean up” agent. It was his motivation and strength.

“…and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them-yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”

 Have you learned the secret of the “yet not I, but the grace?”

Where were you before you were born ?

God says to the prophet Jeremiah:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

Before you were born I set you apart;

I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

 Are you secure in God’s passionate prognosis ? His fantastic foreknowing.

I have forever existed in God’s intention which is now manifest in space and time. Faith in Christ and obedience to the Holy Spirit brings a fruitful collaboration with the divine intention.

Don’t get too focused on the problem of sin. We are not called to be under the yoke of condemnation, begging a few morsels of hope through our contrition but we,

“who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness”, are called to “reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”

 Remember that,

“where sin increased, grace increased all the more…”

 My prayer is that through these few lines God will renew you in the fundamentals of adoption grace and destiny. Receive a fresh baptism in the Spirit and hear that you are His precious son or daughter.

You are not a failure, He is well pleased with you !

I’ll finish by encouraging you to meditate on Paul’s personal missionary testimony to the Galatians which is soaked in the security of destiny, inspired by grace and caressed with the revelation of sonship.

“But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles…I went immediately…”

 

 

 

 

Pygmies, prayers and “papillons” – Central Africa 2001

 Early man found himself in a beautiful garden with trees, fruit, steams and the perfect presence of God. ………………..Paradise.

Caught up in the heavenly songs of a hundred polyphonic Pygmy voices, a forest for our Cathedral, and dozens of multicoloured butterflies gliding on the wind of prayer, I heard an echo of that distant garden.

God gave an authority to early man to reign, and, in a realm way beyond human strategy and modern machinery, I discovered an ‘authority’ amongst the ‘early’ peoples of this Central African Republic. An ‘authority’ of life in harmony with earth, but as redemption works its purpose, an authority in prayer to usher in the chosen destiny of a nation. It is the pursuit of this ‘hidden’ destiny in the heart of Africa that has led our brave brothers in C.A.R. to give their all to this pioneer work amongst the Pygmy clans of Bobelé.

For those linked to ‘Nations’ the Chinese word for ‘New Beginnings’  – a buried seed with a long root beginning to sprout fresh green shoots above the ground – has been an inspiration. The pygmies also have a word for ‘New beginnings’ or ‘New thing’ : ‘To Yé’ (Tow-Yeah). It’s the word they use to describe God calling creation into place.  A new beginning.  A new thing.

  “See, I am doing a new thing ! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it…”

God is working a quiet miracle in the secret of the equatorial forest. Benjamin Lessy and his team have won over 100 of these ‘unreached’ peoples to the Lord over the last year and are involved in the delicate task of discipling them.

Total joy emanated from the evenings of worship, dancing in a circle around a huge fire sending myriad sparks up into the star filled african nights and bringing memories of God appearing in a flame to the shepherd Moses, or speaking of a multiplied family to nomadic Abram as he contemplated his own ‘African’ heaven.

It’s hard to evaluate the worth of a little basket weaved with wise dexterity at the hands of a young Pygmy girl and then carried with effortless grace on her head, or the greeting of a grey haired elder, honouring a visitor, his muscle bound frame and noble bare feet, speaking of years of dignified labour on the earth. Western clothes are not well adapted for the natural wear and tear of forest life, and maintaining a minimum of dignity with the coverings the forest provides, the more hidden clans teach a long lost secret about lack of shame and self consciousness.

Spending 2 hours a day ‘teaching’ these peoples has to rate as one of the deepest privileges… and challenges I have found over the years. You can throw away every  book and prop of Western thinking and theology! Whose teaching who ?

Leaning heavily on the crutch of grace, every step being a prayer for help, I discovered that mime, theatre and song were the means of communication rather than ‘preaching’ words (albeit though a translator) at them. The best times were ones of ‘group’ activity where everyone got a say in creating the ‘word’ God was giving. I was absolutely amazed to see that they could compose a ‘new song’ -usually the word in their dialect that the Lord was giving – within five to ten minutes and then sing it joyfully together for the next 15 minutes! We acted out their own ‘creation’ mythologies before going on to make a mime and song of the true creation story. My greatest joy came when I realised that they had grasped the ‘secret’ of prayer as I listened to the joyful ode they had composed from John 14.14.

“You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.”

I’m sure that part of Jesus’ “joy set before him”– even through  the sheer suffering of the cross, was to see the nations of the world owning his word in their cultures. Pygmies rejoice the heart of Jesus!

New beginnings are also the fruit of suffering and even the most hard hearted atheist would confess, along with the poem of Milton, that this world is now a “Paradise Lost”. One can also hear the echo of sin and suffering amongst the now “fallen forest”.

 The “little brothers” shared how some of their oppressors (nearly every other African tribe!) forced them to  sell their blood cheaply to them so they could then sell it on for profit to the hospitals! The grossly enlarged feet of elephantiasis, the swollen bellies of little children – the legacy of malaria, and horrendously infected wounds also testified to the curse of illness. People here die for lack of medicine costing a mere hamburger in the west!

The missionary team pulled a little girl back from the brink of death caring for her and sending her to hospital, at their own cost, in Bangui. She got well, bloomed under the care and I met her smile a number of times during my time. Amongst her early problems had been syphilis in her blood. Shocking, and yet the reality of the demonic infestation of paradise. Healing and redemption, a real possibility with some acts of selfless love… and yet. On return to the clan her family, not yet belonging to the Lord in the fullest, wanted her back in the ‘old ways’ and exposed again to the old dangers.

A number of different groups from other African tribes in Central African Republic made up the number for the ‘consultation’. We spent the whole time in a 24 hour prayer chain interrupted only by the teaching sessions!

I’m always amazed at the grip of ‘prayer’ and ‘prophetic’ statement that comes from these ‘forest’ consultations. At one session God seemed to be cleansing and healing the “conscience of the nation” as we prayed for 3 generations of leaders. The old, the now and the future ‘Joshua’ generation that will rise in pure intercession to lead Africa into its destiny.

At another session a ‘prophetic’ mud brick was laid and anointed as a sign of a ‘Joseph’ (missionary movement) being birthed in the forest. Anatole Banga (the leader of Nations en Marche) had been praying about basing his training in the forest, and the ‘brick’ may well be a sign of a 24 hour prayer house and ‘Centre for the Nations’ being established here in the future. I couldn’t think of a ‘better place’ for pioneer missionaries from around the world to be ‘trained’.

Four hours a day in Anatole’s ‘Polytechnic’ in Bangui finished off (or finished me off – 40° Centigrade in the shade !) the time in C.A.R. The students are ‘a new generation’ of self-help, praying african missionaries.

We ended the teaching sessions with a night of prayer. At about 2 in the morning an anointing came on the praying and I heard the ‘sound’ of ‘nations’ on the march! It is a new, non-western, energetic, vibrant, wild and powerful sound! It is the sound that lies in the hearts of this ‘new generation’ in the polytechnic and no doubt in the heats of multiplied thousands from the new missionary armies around the world.

“Each nation will bring its ‘sound’ to make up the redemptive harmony of a new world.”

“To Yé Bobelé!”

Happy Holy…days

“In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed, In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.” Exodus 15:13

As many look forward to a refreshing break over the summer, it’s good to remember that true refreshment comes through dwelling in holiness rather than a throwing off of restraint. The call to holiness is a call to happiness.

True holiness is experienced in four essential encounters.

•  An encounter with “living force.”

 There is nothing dead about true holiness. It is a call to life. A call to the awesome. All the great works of God have been accomplished through men and women who had an encounter with this passionate revelation of powerful life force. Wild nature, transcendent worship, incarnate silence, living word and covenant fellowship can all renew us in such an encounter.

• An encounter with “separateness.”

 The Hebrew word for “holy”, qadosh, means “to set apart.” We are called to be different. A chosen people, a holy nation, belonging to God. “You are to distinguish between the holy and the common “declares the Levitical law. (Lev 10:10) Many of us can feel continually condemned by such a law, painfully dogged by a persistent sense of a lack of holiness. Leviticus 10:10 has to be put aside Hebrews 10:10 which gives us the fantastic news that our holiness is already won for us through faith in the redemptive work and will of Jesus Christ.

 “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

 Rather than be continually worried about being polluted by the world, let us instead infect the world with our holiness.

•  An encounter with “God-likeness.”

 Holiness has a God reflecting quality. “Be holy, for I am holy”(Lev 11:44) says the Lord, encouraging us to enter into His character. God-likeness is wholeness, and God has a passion for wholeness in every area of our lives. The idea of wholeness links very much to the word “shalom.” This Jewish greeting was much more than a simple “hello.” It was a desire for completeness; for right relations between men and creation.

The Orthodox theologian Paul Evdokimov, wrote the following:

“The power of divine holiness is a devouring flame that consumes all impurity; when it touches a man it purifies him and makes him holy; it brings him into harmony with the holiness of God-even into his likeness.” Another Paul, in 2 Corinthians 3:18 wrote: “we all,…beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his image from one degree of glory to another.”

•  An encounter with “dynamism.”

 Holiness is on the move. There can be nothing “static” about the “ecstatic!” It gives us a sense of destiny and purpose. Holiness shows itself in action. It is the fuel of the Kingdom of God. Holiness is courageous in proclaiming truth and justice and working with others for good. John Wesley recognised that there “was no holiness but social holiness.” Holiness is a group event to be lived out in the rigours of the real world.

In the face of holiness we can respond in three ways.

Worship

Change (Repentance)

Mission

 May your holidays be truly holy days impregnated by these grace inspired responses. Isaiah had an incredible revelation of holiness as he saw the Lord upon His throne. Like many of us he found himself unholy yet infinitely loved. He worshiped, changed and boldly responded to the Lord.

“Here am I. Send me!”     Isaiah 6:8

 

This devotional owes much to Alan Kreider’s writings in “Journey Towards Holiness”

 

At Jesus’ feet…

“She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.”

“Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down.  In the middle of the night something startled the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet.”

 

These beautiful verses from Luke 10:39 and Ruth 3:8 (we will look at this chapter together) give us insight into the “priority position” to take this summer. Whether you are in the breach or on the beach, or both, you need to find “what is better” and what lasts forever – our intimate relation with Jesus, the ultimate kinsman redeemer.

 “My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for?

 We find identity and a home with Jesus.  Relation with him is where all true provision begins.

 “Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes.”

 Confess and repent of your sins, washed in the cleansing blood of Jesus. May the incense of prayer and worship arise from our contrite hearts and may we clothe ourselves with the fruit of the Spirit and with power from on high. Colossians 3:12-14 gives us a whole wardrobe of “best clothes”. Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience…and the “overalls” of love!

 “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer.”

 How we need the garment of grace to approach our Lord. This is not our own garment but it is given to us freely. As Christ spread out his loving arms on the cross to embrace fallen humanity, so he extends his individual grace to each of us and clothes us in his righteousness.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God.”   2 Corinthians 5:21

“And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask.”                                                                                               

“You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” John 14:14

Move from fear to faith in his presence. Hear and believe his uncompromising promise to those who pray. Let your request rise to the generous level of giving expressed in the faithful words of our master. It is not time to be silent in unbelief or hedonistic passivity. It is time to ASK. Time to formulate a clear heart inspired request to a greater redeemer than Boaz.  Find a prayer from your intimacy, from your dreams, from the discernment of the lover’s longings.

“David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!” 1 Chronicles 11:17

Our Lord is still longing to drink from the occupied territories of this world. Who are the mighty men and women who will break through?

“Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and put it on her.

Ruth went from gleaning to extravagant provision. She was used to working all day for one “epah”- and that was on a good day. Now, from an encounter of intimate prayer she perhaps received about 6 times that amount, more than she could comfortably carry.

“What these measures were is not expressed; the Targum is six seahs or bushels, as the Vulgate Latin version, but that is too much, and more than a woman could carry; unless we suppose, with the Targum, that she had strength from the Lord to carry it, and was extraordinarily assisted by him in it”  Gill’s commentary.

Ruth’s shawl may be an image of our lives and ministries. Perhaps the Lord is asking you to hold out your work, prayers and dreams before him once again so he can pour in the long awaited blessing. Ruth went from a great time of trial and famine to a place of wonderful provision because of her intimate prayer with the redeemer.

 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.

 There is much talk of new paradigms for Church and mission. Some of the more traditional bastions of our faith, doctrine and practice are being assailed by a genuine quest for the new. This is not however the time to throw out the baby with the bathwater! We need the tension of the old and new treasures together. The place of prayer transcends human methods. A fresh encounter with the living Lord will bring renewal and keep us all on track. Ruth was able to give new hope to the “barren and bitter” Naomi and make her “pleasant” again in her old age. She brought Israel into its promised purpose by stepping into destiny and the genealogy of the Messiah. Prayer locks us back into our chosen destiny.

So, choose the place of prayer this summer.

 “May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.”