WATCH TODAY’S EPISODE ON YOUTUBE.
CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
THE WORD OF THE LORD
Matthew 28:18–20 NIV
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Acts 1:1–2 NIV
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.
Acts 1:8 NIV
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
CONSIDER THIS . . .
I’ve always had great admiration for John Wesley. Wesley had a vision of spiritual gifts that was profound and hopeful for his time. He believed that the Holy Spirit was about saving souls, helping believers “work out [their] salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12) as they moved toward becoming like Jesus in all respects.
If anyone believed that Christians were ready to be used by God to love people to life by the power of the Holy Spirit, it was Wesley.
He was saddened by the lack of the activity of the gifts of the Spirit in the church. Howard Snyder, author of The Radical Wesley, writes this:
Wesley thus believed that if “extraordinary” gifts of the Spirit had practically vanished in his day, this was because of the fallen state of the church and represented a loss of God’s best intent. Yet God’s power was still at work, even if hampered by the general coldness and deadness of the church. Far from disparaging the gifts, and despite his reticence concerning so-called extraordinary gifts, Wesley valued all gifts and felt that in a truly restored, spiritual church all the gifts would be in evidence.1
Doing all the things that Jesus did is not only possible but preferable! We no longer live in a time when words and sermons and wonderful preaching get the work done.
The work of the kingdom, done his way and with peaceful discernment (“My yoke is easy and my burden is light” [Matt. 11:30]), is happening around your dinner table, across the fence in your neighborhood, and in times of prayer initiated with our Kingdom Question:
“May I pray for you?”
Take a deep breath. Jesus has given you authority to do all the things that he does, with him (Matt. 28:18–20). We have received power to be his witnesses from the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces in the heavenly realms; we partner with Jesus in undoing the works of the evil one (1 John 3:8).
Above all, we “put on love” (Col. 3:14).
“May I pray for you?” That’s all it takes to begin to do all the things that Jesus did, along with him. That is the “on earth” part of the prayer Jesus taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).
Blessings as you do all the things that Jesus does, with him.
You and I are ready for this!
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I am ready and willing to do all the things you do, with you. You are the one who is able, and I step out in faith in this next year of my life to join you in transforming lives, undoing the works of the evil one, and putting on love as I do it. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.
JOURNAL PROMPTS
Write down all the things you would like to do with Jesus this year. Pick one to begin with this month, and give your all to learning how to step out in faith.
ACTIVATION
Today, take one thing of all the things that Jesus does, and set your heart to do it with him for the next month. Is that praying for the sick? Do it often. Is that caring for the poor? Do it often. Is that hearing God’s voice and offering words of knowledge? Do it often. Is it bringing a gift of encouragement to others? Do it often. It’s your time, his time—and it’s his work through you in the world.
SING
Today, we will sing “The Doxology” (hymn 682) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.
NOTES
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Howard Snyder, The Radical Wesley: The Patterns and Practices of a Movement Maker (Seedbed Publishing, 2014), 109.
For the Awakening,
Dan Wilt
Dan Wilt is an author, communicator, pastor, and practitioner. With roots in the Vineyard stream of churches, Dan has served the development of followers of Jesus internationally and is part of the Seedbed Farm Team.
3 Responses
Thank you, Dan and Seedbed for bringing us such a meaningful and challenging series! You have provided insightful and encouraging lessons in how to work with the Holy Spirit as we sow for an awakening. God bless you all!
God is a chef who is looking for people to be His Spirit-prompted ingredients. (Romans 8:14) He wants to bring Christians together to demonstrate His glorious presence and power. (1 Corinthians 2:4)
Be an interactive ingredient in the body of Christ, not just a cold vegetable passively chilling in a religious fridge. Humbly receive and surrender to God the Holy Spirit. Allow Him to continually direct and empower you (Acts 1:8) to testify about what He is saying and doing in your life. (Revelation 12:11)
One ingredient can’t make a delicious recipe. One persona alone can’t fully empower people to “taste and see that God is good.” However, when a group of Spirit-led Christians allows God to connect them heart-to-heart and mold them together in His presence as a living demonstration of the body of Christ, if unbelievers come in, ‘the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God exclaiming ‘God is really among you!'” (1 Corinthians 14:24-25)
A few songs and a one-man sermon aren’t God’s recipe for meetings in the body of Christ. The Bible says that when Christ-followers meet together, everyone has the opportunity to say something. (See 1 Corinthians 14:26) If you have been redeemed by the Lord, speak up and openly say so! Go beyond the Sunday morning wall of silent, frozen passivity.
Christ-followers,
When you meet
Let the Light
Of Christ shine
Through each person
Like sky blue holes
Of Heaven’s light
Breaking through
A forest
And reflecting
Off the trees.
As Julie and I walk our own Emmaus Road
Dan Wilt was the fourth man.
Thanks be to Jesus as we head to Emmaus to sup with Jesus.