Category: power

Jump Me! The Vital Ministry of an Encourager

We, more than others, should carry jumper and tow cables not only in our cars, but also in our hearts, by which means we can send the needed boost or charge of encouragement or the added momentum to mortal neighbors.

        — Neal A. Maxwell

“One of the highest of human duties is the duty of encouragement. …It is easy to laugh at men’s ideals; it is easy to pour cold water on their enthusiasm; it is easy to discourage others.  The world is full of discouragers.  We have a Christian duty to encourage one another.  Many a time a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept a man on his feet.  Blessed is the man who speaks such a word.”

 —William Barclay

 “Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.” Philemon 1:7

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Living in Alaska, jumper cables are crucial necessities.  The winters here are challenging on cars, and I’ve pretty much determined to have the best just in case.  Whether I need a jump or can give one, they have already paid for themselves.

For the non-initiated, jumper cables are used to essentially replace a dead battery.  A car that is running can hook up and provide current to a car that is not running so it can start.  It just takes a couple minutes with the cables and it is fairly easy to do.

The ministry of encouragement has been key in my life.  There are several people who have been used by God to encourage me.  A Christian brother named John Yokela, who is in his 90’s, comes to mind.  He is a solid stalwart of faith, and has helped me on my way many times.  I don’t know where I would be without his caring words.

The ministry of encouragement is similar to jumping a car.  There are people in God’s Kingdom that intervene in our lives.  They are equipped with spiritual jumper cables, and just seem to come along when we are dead and are unable to make it work.  They come alongside, eager to help and not inclined to judge.  They are there to get you moving again, and they seldom will show irritation.

We need to learn how to connect with the discouraged brother or sister.  Some of our issues are deadening, they frustrate us to the point that we just want to walk away.  Our hearts start to toughen and get hard.  Life is full of futility and coarseness.  But along comes someone with cables, and in just a few moments our situation has completely turned around.  What they’ve done seems miraculous, and the grace they carry with them is profound.

Father, send to your Church gifts of encouragement.  We are needy and we could use a jump from time-to-time.  Please provide what we need, and help us to bless others.  Give us wisdom, power and grace to reach out and connect others to your Presence.  Amen.

ybic, Bryan

 

FYI. How to Jump Start a Car:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4500480_use-jumper-cables.html

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/jumpstart.htm

 

Take the Ministry of Encouragement a step further:

http://internetpastoronline.com/

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Going to the Gym: Prayer as Work

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Building a prayer life

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.“

Mark 1:35, ESV

Why is it that we avoid the very thing that we need so desperately? Lately I’ve been fascinated by my own seeming failure to pray. I am so completely convinced by prayer’s efficacy and power. It works! Spending time with Jesus, covered by his love is the most authentic thing I can do. It clarifies and brings wisdom to this foolish old man.

So why can’t I pray? A private time with God, that is consistent, I suppose is like going to the gym. I need it, but its hard. It isn’t what I want to do. I know its the right thing to do, but I still avoid it. Prayer is quite often spiritual work.

Now conversing with the Almighty really isn’t like going to the gym. But the deliberate decision to share, and listen (and talk) can be the best thing happening for me… (and for those who must put up with me.)

Jesus did not vacillate on this. It had been a hectic day. But he was sold on the reality of being with his Father. He didn’t need rest, but he did need active prayer. Leading up to this was a very full and substantial day (read Mark 1). There was so much going on, and it was constant non-stop ministry.

In a single day:

  • Jesus Picked the First Disciples
  • Jesus Healed a Man with an Unclean Spirit
  • Jesus Taught in the Synagogue in Capernaum
  • Jesus Healed Many, Many Others
  • Jesus Confronted the Demonic

“And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him,“Everyone is looking for you.” 

Mark 1:36-37

Where is Jesus? He is missing, and a search party finally locates him. He was praying and “working out” with his Father. What a lesson for us! My own days are relatively tamer than Jesus’ day. Jesus prioritizes prayer. It was the first thing he chose to do. It had supremacy over all else. It is worth thinking about anyway.

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Photo from: http://howard-carter.blogspot.com/2012/09/we-are-working-our-way-through-sermon.html

An Explosive Church

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“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning.”

“It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return. ”

Annie Dillard

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I think that as Church-going people we should be regarded as spiritually “armed and considered dangerous.” We are the true subversives. And we should always be on the verge of a “loving goodness’ that explodes within us .

“But the people who know their God shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do great exploits [for God].”

Daniel 11:32, AMP

I admit I once considered Christians as weak and passive people. They were far too tame for me. At least the kind of believer that I found in most churches.  I wanted dynamic, and active. I somehow surmised that the church couldn’t provide this for me.

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:8

The feast of Pentecost is where the power and fire of God bonded with the disciples. It was said that flames of fire could be visible on each believer. It was precisely at this point they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. They would never be the same– indeed, the world changed.

It was sometime later I was reading Hebrews 11. I was amazed by these believers who endured so much in their faith. I’ve come to the conclusion that to live your faith you’re going face obstacles that will be quite challenging. You will end up quite often doing the improbable which most think is impossible.

 32″How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.35 Women received their loved ones back again from death.

But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.”

Hebrews 11:32-38, NLT

We have got a hold of something, or someone, that is quite real, and very disrupting  (in a good way!) We should expect to do exploits, and live in a manner that would seem dangerous to people without faith.

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Radiators

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“And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 13:52, NIV

“Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,”

Ephesians 5:18, NLT

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Most old houses used to be heated with radiators. They were cast iron monstrosities that radiated steam to warm the house. You could come inside from the cold and lay your mittens on them to dry. They are now more or less, obsolete. But for the longest time were ubiquitously common; I guess new technology has replaced them.

But in a way, Christians are radiators of the Holy Spirit. Just as the heated steam from the boiler room flowed into them, so we too receive from the Lord specific ministry for others. We provide “heat” to the people around us. We simply share what He has given us. The radiator’s source of comfort comes from another source. All it is, after all it it is us  becoming a receptacle for the steam.

It is the Spirit that gives us warmth. We are basically hollow until He fills us. In ourselves, we are nothing. It is Jesus inside that makes the difference. Without His presence we just take up space and gather dust. We’re just in the way unless we are used. But a radiator is a good thing to have.

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Holy Spirit, full me up.

Perhaps we need a reminder of who we really are. We must make ourselves wholly available. Being filled with the Spirit is never a one time experience, but rather, a way of life. Someone once asked a preacher why he kept preaching on the filling of the Holy Spirit. His reply was classic, “Because I leak.”

Dear one, seek to be filled with Him today. Set aside your own agenda and allow Him to enter in. Apart from Him, you can do nothing. Let us pray with  St. Augustine,

“O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.”

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