2008-10-20    Thu 5:00a   Guatemala City

“Let the dead bury the dead, but you, go and preach the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:59

Nydia Corado, a 73 year old widow and INSTE graduate, is an “apostle of love” who has planted eleven new churches in the past five years.*

This past Saturday I gave the INSTE seminar to the one person who came — Alma Velasquez. We usually have 5 to 20 in attendance in our monthly leadership seminars. Those who participate have to study the 60 page leader’s manual, over a 5 day period before coming, to be able to take the test and practice leading a group of 4 or 5 people during the seminar. This month eleven leaders from various churches had signed up. By Friday, 4 had confirmed they were ready and would come. On Saturday morning one came. But, that one seed may have been worth the six hours spent.

Alma Velasquez, and her husband Carlos, are non-formally trained professional Christian counselors. For more than ten years they headed up the counseling staff of one of the biggest evangelical radio stations in Guatemala, and then for seven years headed up the 80 member pastoral counseling staff of their large Church. For the past year and a half they’ve worked from 8am to 8pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays as pastoral counselors in their Church’s offices. When they’re not ministering to someone in prayer counseling, they sell Real Estate.

Carlos and Alma will be planting a new Church in the capital of Guatemala the beginning of next year and want to use INSTE to train their leaders. Alma heard about INSTE from a former student that she described as a true “apostle of love”.

Nydia Corado’s pastor began training some of the staff members of his church using INSTE about ten years ago. Nydia was a prayer counselor and a widow at 64 when she enrolled in INSTE with her pastor. Since her formation in INSTE, Nydia has been instrumental in planting eleven new churches. She loves on people in Jesus’ name, prays for them, counsels and teaches them until they become a group of about twenty or so, and then she finds a Pastor for them. Eleven pastors are now following up on those that she was instrumental in bringing into God’s kingdom. Through INSTE Nydia learned that every true follower of Jesus has the heart of a missionary because God’s mission flows only through His bride.

Prayer Power

Papa, we open our hearts to flow with Your mission of love. Thank you for setting Your eyes on us to make us Your Bride. As a part of Your “First Lady”, may we each lift our heads to see Your harvest around us. Draw us intimately into your heart that we may be empowered by your love to reach out to the most needy we see around us each day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen and Hallelujah!

AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I will be sensitive to the heart of my eternal Husband, the Lord Jesus, to discern how He wants to use me in His mission to the needy around me.

*This is a correction of the previous report that Nydia had planted 4 churches in 7 years.

2008-09-24  Thur 5:00a  Guatemala City

“When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. “What a huge harvest!” he said to his disciples. “How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!” (Mat.9:37 The Message)

Yesterday (Wed)

What is Jesus’ passion? David Rodriguez’s story says it all.

David decided to follow Jesus at a youth retreat in 1988 in Antigua, Guatemala. He was 17 years old and the next year he married Leti. From the outset, David took all the informal “courses” his Church had developed, but he yearned to study the Bible professionally and be trained in flowing with God’s mission. However he says he couldn’t afford to go to a Seminary or Bible College.

The responsibilities of being a husband and father forced David to put off his College career after his third year. He and Leti taught Sunday school, became youth leaders and home group leaders. David became a worship leader and his Church’s administrator as well as its School’s administrator.

When the Institute of Theology by Extension, INSTE, arrived in Guatemala in 1998, David saw how inexpensive it is and that he could study with a group in his own Church. He felt it was an answer to his 10 year prayer for professional ministerial training. So David and Leti enrolled and he led his INSTE group to become the first graduates in Guatemala of the 2nd Level of INSTE (college level).

Two years ago the pastor of David’s Church in Antigua sent him and Leti out with 130 members to plant a new Church in Ciudad Vieja, the first colonial capital of the Vice Royalty of New Spain, a city now ravaged by poverty. The new church has doubled in attendance already and 60% of the growth has come from the youth sector.

David learned in INSTE that every Christian is a missionary, so his church is growing in relationship with God’s mission to the needs of those around them. Every week they give out clothes and food, show films and evangelize the poorest children on the streets of their community. They’ve organized teams that have permission to teach in the high schools about drug addiction, sexual abstinence, and AIDS. The youth are also ministering in homes for the elderly.

David was in my office lately to get his books to begin two new INSTE groups for his people. He’ll lead one for the leaders who’ve seen their need for Bible training in God’s mission, and the other for the youth. Jesus’ passion is to have multitudes of disciples flowing in God’s mission of redemption to those around them. INSTE is designed to produce just that. When I asked David why he was training the leaders himself, he said, “I want to transmit the passion of Jesus in me to them, and make sure they form the habits of good disciples.” He thanks you for sending INSTE to him through Helen and me.

Prayer Power:

Heavenly Father, open the eyes of the hearts of your pastors in Guatemala to see that your passion is multitudes of disciples flowing in your mission of love and redemption to all who surround them. May our hearts be gripped by your passion and break with Jesus’ heart that your name may be glorified. Haleluya! Amen.

2008-08-23 Saturday 5:30a Guatemala City

“Now Daniel, in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.” (Dn.6:10)

Yesterday (Fri)

Why does Steve think he needs a doctoral degree to be more effective in his mission?

Well, the degree is not the goal, it’s the specialized training that is needed to help the Guatemalan Church get back on track. Guatemala needs highly trained experts in God’s mission. Many Seminaries and Universities from the States offer degrees cheap, with little effort for Latin Americans. But that doesn’t meet the need of the Body of Christ for Churches becoming oriented by God’s mission. The Latin American Doctoral Program (PRODOLA) is the best contextualized mission training that exists for Latin America. All my authorities tell me to “Go for it!”

One of the first things I learned in my studies this year is that on a whole, most Christians are unaware of how influenced their thinking is by modernism. Our education and culture formed us to think “rationally” instead of spiritually. The Enlightenment paradigm, based on scientific logic, affects the way we interpret the Bible, perceive God’s will and do mission. Even when we use biblical vocabulary, our thinking is more rational than inspired. David Bosch brought this to light in his magnum opus, Transforming Mission (1992), that has become a cornerstone in the theology of mission today.

In my class, “Historical-Social Analysis of the Church and Latin American Reality”, Dr. Deiros, apostle and professor at Fuller Seminary, President of International Theological Seminary, Buenos Aires, shared with us an effective way of doing “prayer evangelism.”

Ask someone you want to share the Lord with, “How do you feel about the future?” You’ll get an array of answers. Then ask him/her, “What do you feel the future holds for you personally?” Here you’ll pick up on specific interests he/she has. Then you can ask if he/she would let you bless them in prayer. Pray a special blessing over some of the things he/she mentioned in response to your question. Then ask if you can have coffee with them in the next few days. If the reply is negative, give them your phone number and ask them to call you if they see an answer to your prayer for them.

Compare that with using the 4 spiritual laws, which focuses on intellectual concepts, and is more Enlightenment programmed. The laws are true, but the method that seemed to work well 30 years ago, doesn’t jive today in our postmodern world. People today are looking for authentic spirituality in a God encounter. A one day old Christian can evangelize this way. We are all called to flow with God’s mission. It’s not about defining our own mission, but about discerning what God’s mission is around us (the needs) and flowing with what He’s doing.

Jesus’ Latin American Bride needs to be able to dialogue and self critique her own practice of mission (or lack their of). European and North American theological admonitions are not adecuate for Latin America’s context of extreme poverty, economic oppression, political, social and family abuse. One has to live in solidarity with her in order to lead her to overcome, as she learns to reflect scripturally and missionally by God’s Spirit.

Prayer Power…
Jesus, Lord of our heart, thank you for equipping us for your final harvest. Help us be sensitive to what you’re doing around us. Help us feel your compassion for the needy and your creativity in providing for those needs. Thank you for the spontaneous power gifts of your Holy Spirit. May they be released in the market places of your lost sheep through every member of your Bride. Amen.

“Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed. Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven.” Psalm 85:10-11

AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I will be sensitive to the needs of those around me and to how God is wanting to meet them through me.

2008-08-19 Tue 4:00a Guatemala City

Yesterday (Mon)

“But the priests, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me.” (Ez.44:15)

During the past two weeks I had the enormous privilege of being trained in Paraguay with what felt like a team of Latin American Olympians for “God’s Olympics”. Our trainers were the foremost missiologists and Church historians on the continent—true apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers. My teammates were Roberto Aldana (Guatemala, Superintendent of Church of God Central America – represents around 5000 churches); Ruben Fernandez (Argentina, Rector, Nazarene Seminary, Costa Rica); his wife Monica Fernandez (Argentina, Pastor and Seminary Professor); Jorge Baños (El Salvador, Asst. Rector, Nazarene Seminary); Amos Cahuich (Mexico, President, Presbyterian Seminary, Yucatan); Eder De Melo (Brazil, Pastor Baptist renewal church); Ruben Driedger (Uruguay, Mennonite Seminary Professor, Paraguay), Arturo Delgado (México, Apostle, San Luis Potosi); Christian Giordano (Spain, Mission Director to the Muslim world); Javier Kosacki (Argentina, Director Latin American Four Square Churches, USA); Young Min Lee (South Korea, missionary to Amazon tribes, Ecuador); Juan Verón (Paraguay, Mennonite Pastor renewal church); and me (USA, INSTE Director, Guatemala). We were missing three precious friends who weren’t able to make it this trip. (Check out the photos on our FaceBook http://www.profile.to/stevecobb).

Jesus’ Latin American Church is exploding numerically and needs serious, professionally trained, and anointed leaders to help navigate the increasing storm the planet is facing. Deep spirituality, coupled with strategic mission planning is required. Most Latin American Pastors don’t understand what God’s mission is. His mission in Jesus is for each member of the Church to minister to the needy around them where they hurt most with the power of the Holy Spirit. Each member is a dynamic missionary in his own home and neighborhood. Many churches however have gotten way off on tangents of self promotion and aggrandizement or are simply in maintenance mode.

As with the Olympic games, this deeper level of specialized training is the greatest challenge I have ever faced. The Lord has shown Helen and me that in order to do what He wants to through us, He has to train me on a deeper level. Even with the 60% scholarship I’ve received, the program has increased to cost $8000 a year for four years. We need 30 friends who will invest $1000 each for this vital training that will enable us to produce the depth of ministry that the Church in Guatemala needs from us. We prayed for two years before entering this program and some friends gave us $3000 to start off. So we know the Lord will see us through with this.

Please prayerfully consider stretching your faith with us to be a part of God’s “Olympic team” in Latin America to bless the nations in this way. You may contribute now by clicking here and designating for “Steve’s PRODOLA training”. Thank you.

Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, thank you for making your will clear to Helen and me about this training. Thank you for the wonderful friends You’ve given us over the years, who believe in what you are doing through us and sacrifice along with us to flow with your mission of life to this needy nation. Thank you for multiplying the bread in our hands as we give it out together to feed your flock. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“Oh, that My people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries… and with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.” Psalm 81

AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: My utmost for His highest!

2008-07-29, Tue. 5:30a, Guatemala City

So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. Lu.10:34

It’s so beautiful to see a struggling church restored to health through the process of true discipleship! Many Guatemalan pastors have never considered mentoring individual members of their congregation into ministry, as a major priority in their service. When a pastor’s eyes are opened to the reality of Jesus’ call to personally discipleing others and he finds a tool like INSTE to help him do it, it’s as if you could take “before and after” snapshots of the fruit of that congregation’s ministry.

Amilcar Alvarez turns 40 next month. He’s been a Christian for 26 years and a Pastor for 22. He and his wife Sonia have five children, the youngest of which has Downs Syndrome. Besides pastoring, he is a History professor at the National San Carlos University in Guatemala City.

Amilcar pastors the “Secure Families” Church, which he founded in the poor historic district of downtown Guatemala City. Prostitutes, drunks, drug addicts and gays are common in the neighborhood. For years his congregation was plagued by the “us” and “them” paradigm. But since Amilcar began discipleing leaders in his church using INSTE, those on the street are finding a helpful hand for their restoration as the members of the community learn the power of being salt and light through Christ’s love and service. They are learning this as they apply the practical aspects of the INSTE lessons to their own lives and social context and through the personal mentoring of their Pastor and the leaders he is forming for ministry.

Pastor Amilcar knew that his church needed more than just the weekend emotional lift of a loving Sunday sermon in order to grow into a healing element in the downtown district. He knew that each of the members would have to become comfortable with their true identity and nature in Christ as participants in God’s mission. And he has found INSTE to be just the tool he was looking for to mentor them into that reality.

Amilcar thanks you for sending INSTE to Guatemala through us.

Prayer Power

Father, thank you for Amilcar and his church that are serving the residents of their community with your love and power. Thank you for giving him the heart of a mentor and coach in your kingdom. May we each continue to seek those we need to help move us up a notch in our effectiveness in Your mission to those around us. In Jesus name, Amen.

2008-07-12 Sat 5:00a Guatemala City

Yesterday (Fri)

“The Lord has given me the the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.” Is.50:4

Last night in home group, JJ and Amilcar lead us with soft guitar picking, into Jesus-centered worship (no noisy self-centered stuff). The Lord reciprocated and His presence enveloped us stronger and stronger, deeper and deeper, sweeter and sweeter, stimulating our passion for Him. It was easy to get lost in His waves of love.

JJ was visiting from West Palm Beach where he’s a youth leader in a Latin American church. He’s from Guatemala and his dad was an Elder in our church. The home group hadn’t seen this development in JJ since he’d moved away three years ago after graduating from the Christian Academy, the same one our kids, Anita and Tim graduated from.

I asked those present if they were surprised by the intensity of God’s presence and what they received from Him in worship. All of the 30s and over group acknowledge they had. I shared that, that kind of worship doesn’t come from a person whose goal is just to make good music. It comes from worshipping alone, on one’s knees, day after day, pouring out one’s heart in song to our Father.

Throughout the world, God is responding to “the millenniums” (those in the 15 to 30 year old generation). They’re desperate for the authentic life they see in the New Testament and haven’t seen much of it in the Church. They would prefer to be mentored by the older and wiser, but they’re going for it, with or without the cooperation of their forerunners.

In Isaiah 50, we find the prophet sharing how he learned the Way of the Lord. He sought Him early and interceded for the rebellious in the midst of the darkness and confusion of his society. When God drew near he responded to His call to pray and received His encouragement (v2-3).

The whole chapter is prophetic of Jesus. “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his Servant, while walking in darkness and having no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on His God. Those who light their own fires to see in the dark will be put to shame” (v10-11).

Are we paying the personal price to learn our Lord’s Way before the storm gets darker?

There’s no other way to learn it than the way Abraham, Isaiah, Jesus and the disciples learned it.

Those who pay that price will have His light when they need it.

Prayer Power …
Abba, thanks for being so near, even within us who have received You in Jesus. Our delight is to know You, worship You, and have Your love flow though us to others. You’re so awesome God! We kiss Your Son. Come reign in us that the lowly may see and find Your life in them.

“Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God.” Psalm 43:4

2008-07-08 Tue 4:00a Guatemala City

Yesterday (Mon)

“This people I have formed for Myself: they shall declare My praise.” (Is.43:21)

Agustín Kanú (40) is a warm-hearted Mayan Pastor with a sparkle in his eye. “How can we help the drunks on the corner that stumble into our church meetings?” he asked me. “Have you thought about offering them some coffee and bread?” I replied. As we discussed numerous possibilities for working through some of the challenges he faces in his new pastorate, he became thankful for the mentoring relationships he’s developing as a student in INSTE.

Agustín has a 6th grade education and is beginning INSTE’s Second Level leadership training (college level). He is father to Benjamin (22), Rafael (16), and Pedro (13), as well as husband to Maria Estela. We chatted informally about how worshiping Jesus, and focusing on Him is the primary purpose of the Church meeting, and the Pastor’s role is to facilitate that. Too many churches are focused on people; the worship team, the Pastor or someone else. We thought together about the priority of the Pastor’s family life and how to develop worship in the home. I asked him if he had ever served the Lord’s Supper to his family at home, and he had not.

We looked at God’s story where the Passover began that night when the death angel passed over Egypt. Where was the Passover supper initiated? In the homes of the Israelites? Where was it initiated in the New Testament? In a friendly upper room after Jesus had washed the feet of his family and best friends. I asked him, “If your children worship Jesus in their home, with His Supper, what will they feel like when they come to His Supper at the public meeting?” They’ll be more deeply centered on Him!

In Jewish life the family is top priority. God’s covenant with Abraham made him a father, and he mentored his children in the faith (Gen.18:19-20). Rodney Clapp, senior editor for IVP, in his book titled, A Peculiar People, reflects on how individualism and separatism have distorted the biblical identity of many Christians and has hindered them from leavening society with holy life. “Christians” after Constantine, “all too quickly forgot how to be good Jews, yet Jesus and the earliest, New Testament Christians did not” (p77). True Christianity, as with being a true Jew, has nothing to do with formality, and everything to do with giving God the worship He desires and deserves.

Agustín and I prayed together for his family and community, that he will be sensitive as to how the Holy Spirit desires to lead his congregation into serving and meeting the needs of those who live in the vicinity of his church.

Prayer Power …
Heavenly father, thank you for Agustín and his family who are a healing and restoring element that you have placed in their community. Give him wisdom and strength to lead his congregation into ministering your holistic salvation that will glorify You, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

2008-05-28 Thu 4:30a Guatemala City

“I have learned that the head does not hear anything until the heart has listened, and what the heart knows today the head will understand tomorrow.” James Stephens*

Yesterday (Wed)

Paul and Teresa Kohler are missionaries to India who in the past six years have been instrumental in helping plant more than 250 new churches by training nonliterate men and women how to tell Bible stories. They trained 50 people who each promised to train at least 4 others to tell the Bible stories they had learned. Over a two year period they learned around 100 Bible stories and became walking Oral Bibles (though many of them cannot read.)

Paul has long been one of my “heroes”. He became Globe International’s first missionary 35 years ago. My first summer as a student at Liberty Bible College, I visited him in Tuxpam, Mexico (1974). It was then that God put His love in my heart for Latin Americans. Paul planted a dozen or so churches in Mexico before moving to India six years ago. His goal is now to help plant another 250 new churches in the next 18 months. A church is 7 baptized adults. Is that awesome, or what?!!

Our last journal entry told of helping Norma remember the main characters and themes of the first 8 chapters of the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans. I should clarify that what I did is not an example of Bible storytelling, but rather an exercise in association. I helped Norma associate something she knows well, the interior of our house, with something unfamiliar to her, the characters and themes of Romans 1-8. Norma has been a Christian for over 20 years.

A 2002 scientific investigation of Church growth in Guatemala showed that though 33% of the population claims to be evangelical, only 30% to 40% of these have personally internalized saving faith–that means they can tell you what they believe and why they believe it. Once during a baptismal service, after the last person was baptized, one of the Elders of the congregation got baptized again as well. When I asked him why he did that he said, “I wanted to feel good like them.”

Recent studies are showing that the reason why many people don’t assimilate the message of the Gospel is because we have been taught to preach and teach logically to the head, when theology is more easily assimilated in the heart by narrative or storytelling. Many people learn by narrative much more easily than by conceptual communication. When we tell the stories of God’s great acts in history and our lives, we leave them open to choose for themselves and let God form their theology for them. My friend Paul calls that incarnational ministry–teaching others in the way they learn best.

*James Stephens, The Crock of Gold (New York: Macmillan); quoted in Ruth Sawyer, The Way of the Storyteller (New York: Viking Press, 1942), 16.

The “Mystery of the survival of the Jews”

There have been many times in history when measures were taken to eradicate the Jewish race. One of those occasions took place while the Jews were exiled and is recounted in the fascinating Bible story of Esther. In it we feel the power of God’s sovereignty at work.

I recently came across a message given last year by Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Riskin. He is founder of a network of schools, colleges and postgraduate schools in the US and Israel, that promote the principles and values of modern Jewish orthodoxy. This was his Cedar message of April 2007, given in Efrat, Israel, a community he founded about 22 miles south of Jerusalem. In it he mentions being invited by two Universities in China to speak on the subject of “The Mystery of the survival of the Jews”. Here he states that there are two keys to their survival: first the covenant God made with Abram, making him a father before he had any children; and second, the practice of Abraham’s family, of telling the stories of God’s great redemptive acts. These stories impart identity, value, and destiny to their families. Many times these stories are put to song making them even more easy to remember (ie. the “Song of Moses” and many of the Psalms).

To illustrate the impact of how these stories have preserved Jewish culture, Riskin said he was invited to teach the Tora in English to a community of Jews in eastern India. While there, they sang him a song that lasted two hours and recounted the entire history of the Jews from Adam to the destruction of the temple. This community that had very little instruction, had a strong identity due to recounting the stories of the great redemptive acts of God.

What would our families be like if we learned to tell ours and the Bible’s stories of God’s great acts, as a frequent practice with our children and grandchildren? Would generations of our families be preserved? Would we restore the foundations of society?

Prayer Power…
Father, thank you for your wonderful and powerful stories through which You reveal Yourself and your love to our hearts. Help us learn them by heart and tell them with emotion to our children and grandchildren. We pray for Pastors and leaders in your Church that they will discover the power of Your narrative theology to heal the identity crisis in your children. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Psalm 149 – “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth. This honor have all His saints.”
Pro.29:23 – A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.

2008-05-28 Wed 5:00a Guatemala City

Yesterday (Tue)
Norma comes to our house once a week to clean. She often brings one or two of her children with her. Since Helen is in the States I made lunch for them yesterday. At the table Norma told me she felt bad because her pastor was going to give a test on the book of Romans and she was embarrassed because she doesn’t know how to read. So I taught her how she could remember the main characters and themes of the first 8 chapters in 15 minutes, by associating them with the different areas in our house.

I told Norma to imagine, that when she comes to our house, Jesus meets her at the garage door and welcomes her in. That’s the introduction. The first person we see in Romans is Jesus. “He is good news. God reveals his righteousness through the good news of Jesus.”

Then you come in and talk with Steve and Helen in the INSTE office. They’re not Guatemalan’s. They’re foreigners from the nations. The rest of Chap. 1 is about all the nations being sinners and needing Jesus. That’s Chapter 1. In the living room she sees a man with a little round covering on his head sitting in a chair. He’s a Jew. Talking with him he says that all Jews are sinners too. That’s Chapter 2. So we all sit together in the living room, Steve and Helen with the Jew, and we remind her that all people everywhere, Jews and everyone, can receive forgiveness in Jesus. That’s the theme of Chapter 3.

Then we sit down to have lunch with Abraham who is already at the table. He tells us that he received forgiveness by believing God’s promise that Jesus would come through his children. That’s Chapter 4. From there, we go into the kitchen and find Adam and Jesus standing together. They are brothers. Adam is the first man and father of all sinners, and Jesus is the second man and father of all God’s kids. When you identify personally with Jesus on the cross, Adam in you dies. Adam and Jesus are Chapter 5.

Then we walk outside to hang up the clothes and find a cross and 2 tombs. The first guy went up into Jesus on the cross and he died to sin (Chapter 6). The other guy went up into Jesus on the cross and died to the law (Chapter 7). That’s chapters 6 and 7. This is our home where we live together and love each other, which we can only do by walking in the Holy Spirit. And that’s what Chapter 8 is about.

We went through it again: First she sees Jesus, then Steve and Helen and a Jew, then Abraham at the table, then Adam with Jesus in the kitchen, and a cross with two tombs. Then we come to life in the Holy Spirit. So Norma told me the analogy and what each of the characters represent. She got it right the first time. She thanked me for patiently teaching her and went home happy. I told her it was a pleasure.

It takes work and study to get the Bible in our heart in such a way that the Holy Spirit can produce creative analogies, stories and parables, in fun and interesting ways that our family and friends will like. What would our families be like if we took the effort to spend time with them in this way?

God awakens us to our destiny
Reading Ezra and Nehemiah the past week, we observed God waking folks up to His mission and their destiny in that mission. Most of the Jews in Babylon were born there, like the Israelites in Egypt. “God woke up the spirit of King Cyrus” who made a decree for all Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple to pray for him there (a gentile king wanting Yahweh’s people to pray for him – surely influenced by the prophet Daniel – who himself never returned to Jerusalem). This was the 2nd Exodus of Israel. There were three trips made: the first brought a spiritual reform to God’s people (rebuilding the temple), the second a moral reform to God’s people (marital covenants), and the third brought community and business reforms (rebuilding the city walls). God’s mission is holistic, restoring wholeness, health and peace to those who flow with Him.

The leadership of the prophets (Haggai and Zachariah) in the first wave, the priests (Ezra) in the 2nd wave, and the governor (Nehemiah) in the 3rd wave, was essential for the success of God accomplishing His mission. You have to dream God’s dream with all your heart, pray and fast His dream in order to fulfill God’s mission. If it can be done without that, it’s not God’s dream, it’s your ambition. God wakes up our spirit putting in us a strong sense of His destiny for our lives which builds in us a strong enough foundation to be able to overcome all the odds. Only men and women convinced of God’s mission can overcome the opposition that will rise up against the Lord’s way.

Lately I’ve been strengthened by some new friends the Lord has brought into my life who are mentors focused on accomplishing God’s mission for them. Dr. Randy Peck, M.D., has an infectious joy in blessing others to be a blessing. For the past 8 years he’s been in the business of helping others discover God’s purpose and mission for their life. He’s a networker of networks. He mentors people into experiencing the love of God daily so they can give that love to others. God has awakened Randy’s spirit. Would you like to have your spirit awakened? Randy can help. Check out his web site and be blessed.

http://www.randypeck.com

I was especially blessed by this entry: Uncommon DESTINY Coaching

Prayer Power…
Father, thank you for seeing my need even before I do. Thank you for bringing Randy into my life. Bless him today and return to him a thousand fold all the blessings he gives to me and others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Psalm 148 – God of wonders beyond our galaxy – you are holy!!

Pro.28 – the righteous are as bold as a lion.

Week 22 — WEDNESDAY

We look one more day at the possibility of being saved from being babes in Christ. This passage is compelling: “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men… Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the Head, into Christ” (Eph. 4:14-15). “We are to grow up in every way into him … into Christ.” The only way to grow up is to grow up into Him. You cannot by the very nature of things grow up in every way when you commit yourself to a system of thought organized around one man or a group of men and their emphases. They imperfectly comprehend Him Who is the Truth; so they hold truths about the Truth. You must break out from blinkered systems and “with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord” become “changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another.”

When Jesus Christ is the center of your faith and the center of your quest, then you are upon the Illimitable. Men and their views are exhaustible, but Jesus Christ the Divine is the inexhaustible. The Gospel of Thomas says that Jesus said that the Kingdom “is a movement and a rest.” You move toward Him, and you rest in something transforming and satisfying. Then there is a movement again and a rest—and so on, forever. “We are to grow up in every way into him.” The “in every way” is significant. It is a total growth—not merely spiritually, but mentally, emotionally, socially, and physically. You become “every whit whole” and “whole” after a pattern of the Son of God—the highest pattern of the universe. This is no lopsided growth—so spiritual you are unfit for material relations, or so material you are unfit for spiritual relations—but an all-round growth—in every way. So it is an eternal growth and a symmetrical growth. Nothing is more beautiful than a truly Christian person.

O Unlimited Christ, You are calling me to the Infinite—to partake of Your Everlastingness, to share Your Universality, to enter the Boundless. I come. Take my nothingness and make it into Your Everything—“in every way.” In Your name. Amen.

AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: If I am a Christian in “some” ways, may I shift to being a Christian in “every” way.