PRAYER OF 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.
Acts 11:25–30 (NIV)
Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
CONSIDER THIS
There’s a lesson just beneath the surface of all that is going on in this grand story of the Acts of Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the apostles—let’s call it the “under” story. We have discussed the backstory of Acts, which is the story of how Jesus builds a house of prayer among all the people for all the nations. There is, of course, the front story of how Jesus heals the sick, feeds the hungry, casts out the demons, raises the dead, and brings thousands of people into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Certainly, we continue to document the “over” story which began with the words of Jesus in Acts 1:8 about witnesses receiving the Holy Spirit and moving out into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. By chapter 11, Jesus is reaching the beginnings of the ends of the earth. This brings us to the “under” story.
We need to revisit a verse from yesterday for context.
Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. (Acts 11:19)
This was Luke’s way of lifting up the under story which began back in chapter 8 on the day Stephen was martyred.
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. (Acts 8:4)
Because of the backstory, we have the front story. Because of the under story, we have the over story. We don’t like the under story. It’s the part of the story we would rather not go through. It’s the story of how bad things happen to good Christians and how God uses terrible things to bring about beautiful things. (Note I did not say how God causes terrible things but uses them).
Here’s the under story. The church scattered first into Judea and Samaria and soon after into Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, not because of some Great Commission strategy but because they faced withering persecution. The gospel didn’t move out of Jerusalem until the day they murdered Stephen. People undoubtedly lost their businesses and livelihoods. Families were uprooted and likely separated. Longtime settled and established residents became refugees on the run. It’s why Paul would later write things like this:
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8–9)
Bad things are happening to good Christians and God is taking those bad things and reincorporating them into glorious outcomes. I tend to repeat certain stories because Jesus keeps bringing them back around to my attention. Years ago I was on a retreat at a famous monastery, The Abbey of Gethsemane, in Trappist, Kentucky. One of the monks gave a message I will forever remember. The title of the talk was written on a sheet of paper and posted on the door of the meeting room. It read simply,
“GOD GETS US WHERE HE WANTS US . . .”
The monk explained his strategy. He knew we would be won over by the warm, encouraging, and reassuring title of his talk. Then he referenced the ellipsis . . . noting that now he had us in the room, he would give us the rest of the title to the presentation: NO MATTER THE MACHINATIONS. Full title:
GOD GETS US WHERE HE WANTS US . . . NO MATTER THE MACHINATIONS. Full stop.
He then proceeded to tell us a series of the most heartbreaking but mind-blowing, difficult but divine, tragic but triumphant, broken but beautiful stories I had ever heard. All of them told the story of how “in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
GOD GETS US WHERE HE WANTS US . . . NO MATTER THE MACHINATIONS.
He called the apostle Paul as a witness, noting how not only will God get us where he wants us no matter the machinations, but will cause the worst things to work for his highest good. That’s how the “under” story always works.
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. (2 Corinthians 4:10–11)
He capped it all off with this one:
The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
This is from the LORD,
and it is marvelous in our eyes. (Psalm 118:22–23)
I had never seen a monk do a mic drop before—until that day.
THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION
Lord Jesus, I am your witness.
I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness.
I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness.
I receive your fullness and release my emptiness.
I receive your peace and release my anxiety.
I receive your joy and release my despair.
I receive your healing and release my sickness.
I receive your love and release my selfishness.
Come Holy Spirit transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father, amen.
THE QUESTION
Is it a tragic loss, a tumultuous disease, a devastating divorce, an unjust verdict, or something else shaping the painful “under” story unfolding in your life now or in the past? How are you keeping your eyes fixed on the “over” story? Journal this out today. The Spirit will bring clarity in time and will help you and through you will help others. This is hard stuff, friends; not what we planned for.
THE HYMN
Today we will sing “When Peace Like a River” (or “It is Well with My Soul”). It is hymn 344 in our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com
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2 Responses
In our physical bodies we refer to it as growing pains. Physical maturity is accompanied with physical pain sometimes. Christian maturity is no different. Paul sums it up like this in his letter to the congregation of believers at Rome, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:1-5) Father John Coropi, a RC priest once said, “You’ve got to be centered on Christ. It’s a work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit forms Jesus within us. No cross? No crown. No pain? No gain. No way around it— if there was a shortcut, I’d know it and I’d tell you.” Looking back in retrospect; I can now see what seemed to be faith crisis’ at the time, tuned out to be faith building exercises meant to prepare me for the present times we live in.
I woke up with this thought in my mind and heart this morning. “Christianity isn’t about a religious organization. It’s about daily surrendering to and being led by the living Jesus.”
That ties yesterday’s and today’s Wake-Up Calls together. God wants people to daily follow and obey the risen Jesus, not just to be a good member of a religious organization. He uses painful circumstances (that He doesn’t cause) to bring us to the point of brokenness and surrender to His presence and to His will. In addiction recovery that is called “hitting bottom.” When we are desperate and have nowhere else to turn, we are most willing to open up to the risen Jesus and let Him take full control of our life.
Today JD quoted a great example of that: “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church (ekklesia) in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. (Acts 8:4)” The apostles (sent ones) had ignored Jesus’ command to go into all the world and instead of sending the believers into all the world, they kept them together a megachurch of many thousands of people within the city of Jerusalem. The sent ones had even expanded the local religious leadership hierarchy to include 7 Spirit-filled men to oversee food distribution. However, one of those men preached so strongly that he was murdered for his boldness and stirred up a terrible and cruel persecution that disrupted the leadership structure by scattering all the thousands of believers except for the apostles (sent ones) who still stayed put in Jerusalem. The scattering that resulted from a horrific tragedy began the fulfilling of Christ’s command to be His witnesses throughout the world.