From now until the end of the month we will be re-releasing highlights from our Wake-Up Call Acts journey together. Join us on December 1 when we begin our new series celebrating Advent—Protagonist by brothers Matt and Josh LeRoy.
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 1:6–11 (NIV)
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 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.”
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
CONSIDER THIS
If I’m honest, and you know I try to be, I mostly want God to fix the broken things in my life. I want Jesus to heal me inside and out. I want him to restore to me—borrowing the prophet Joel’s imagery—the years the locusts have eaten. I want him to provide good opportunities for my children and good health for my parents. I need him to provide for my needs and some of my wants. I need more margin between the end of the month and the end of the money. Consequently, those are my prayers. And I pray such things for others. In short, I want him to restore the kingdom to me and those I love. What could be wrong with that?
I’ll give those emerging apostles credit. They thought bigger:
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
On my better days, my prayers hold similar aspirations. I pray for great awakening in my church and town; in my state and nation. I want Jesus to slay mental illness, desecrate poverty, restore deep-hearted love in people, bring multitudes of people into deep wholeness and otherwise save us from this present darkness. I want Jesus to “restore the kingdom to America,” or at least start there. What could be wrong with that?
Those aren’t wrong prayers or aspirations. Those are just my and maybe your agenda items for today and the way ahead. Jesus, however, is chiefly concerned about one thing—one primary act.
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.”
Jesus wants me and you, and us together, to be completely changed into fire.
You will be my witnesses . . . that’s what it means—to become illuminated with a life so transcendently powerful and a love so transformationally potent that we lose sight of our agendas and become caught up in and carried by the Holy Spirit into the very acts of Jesus—on earth as it is in heaven. This is not aspirational, philosophical, or theoretical. This is the real life for which we were made. All these things, our health maintenance and wealth management (or lack thereof) and the problems of our parents and our children, and mental illness and crime and poverty and gun violence and all the things that consume our daily lives—it is as if he is saying, I can handle all of these things if you will just do your one job: Be my witnesses.
Earlier he put it this way: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33).
Here’s what we don’t want to hear him say one day: “You had one job.”
THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION
Abba Father! Lord Jesus! Holy Spirit!
We are so caught up in so many things. We, like our sister Martha, are worried and upset and anxious about so many things in our lives and world. Lead us to this transformational life of the only necessary thing—our one job–becoming your witnesses. I am weary of being my own witness; of witnessing to you and anyone else who will listen to all my concerns and agendas. I desire the transformation that comes from your life in me which becomes your witness through me. I want to be caught up in you, Jesus, and carried along by your Spirit, who alone can handle all these things. Yours is the kingdom. Yours is the power. Yours is the glory. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.
THE QUESTION
Can I get a witness? Or is it just me? Are you seeing the difference between you being your own witness and you becoming Jesus’s witness? Are you seeing the difference between you “witnessing” about Jesus and Jesus witnessing through you?
THE HYMN
We are warming up the choir this week. Let’s stay with “Spirit of the Living God.” It is hymn 299 in our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com
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7 Responses
While I can surly identify with your concerns that we all tend to get distracted by the many trials and concerns with this life, my overall prayer has been for God to open my eyes to find my place in His will and purpose for my life. I’m hung up with Paul’s admonition to the church at Ephesus: “ From him the whole body , joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work.” (4:16) In my honest opinion, the fact that many of us have either not discovered our part, or neglected to do it, is the primary reason for the delay of the next Great Awakening. Christ have mercy.
Power to be a strong witness!
The inner fitness
To be Christ’s witness
Is released within people
Who obey the promptings
Of the Holy Spirit
There’s an inner power flow
That lets people know
That the risen Jesus
Makes His followers grow
To be and to live like Him.
Without that inner flow
We can’t an effective witness
And demonstrate His presence
Because we have nothing
Supernatural to show.
Always surrender to Jesus
And let the inner rivers
Of His Spirit freely flow
Everywhere you are
And everywhere you go!
Typo alert: “We can’t an effective witness,” should be “We can’t be an effective witness.”
Acts 1:6
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
The disciples assumed He returned to finish what they thought He came to do initially; free Israel from Roman rule.
But that’s not the kingdom He came to defeat.
1 John 3:8
8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
We are the disciples of today, the witnesses, representatives of Christ. As Jesus lives in me, His power in me, the Holy Spirit, has defeated the king of sin, whereas his authority in me has no jurisdiction because Jesus has overcome the power of he who is in the world.
We are to be witnesses of this life transformation that the Lord offers to all.
How do we witnesses?
Today reminded me of the saying, “Preach daily. Speak only when necessary.”
Staying 💪’n Christ
Ephesians 6:10
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
I do feel as though I could be a stronger witness for God, he has blessed me in so many ways. The struggles we go through at times, work, personal, loss of a loved one does sometimes make it more difficult to “Let my light shine for God”, but I want to be the person of Faith, Courage and Love and give him all the Glory.
This recap brings to mind an old Ford automobile commercial: “Quality Is Job One”. I truly believe that IF, we could ever truly live out both our individual as well as communal calling to be His witnesses, then we really would experience the next Great Awakening.
Our one job is to be a true, sold-out Jesus fan. The world needs more Jesus fans who will connect with His heart and celebrate His presence and glory.
Jesus fans lose sight of their own agendas and stay caught up in and carried away by His presence and power. The Kingship of Jesus and the glory of His presence can be seen in the passion and devotion of His true fans.
The body of Christ is a tapestry of His worldwide fans whose hearts are woven together by their passion for His presence. When I meet a true Jesus fan, we have an immediate sense of belonging and connection as we celebrate our excitement about Him.
Be a Jesus-groupie. Focus on spending all your time with Him and His biggest fans.
Jesus fans aren’t content to hear a weekly lecture about Him. They personally interact with and celebrate His presence day and night! Jesus fans don’t passively follow a script. They keep their eyes on Christ and interact with Him from their heart.
Attending church doesn’t make someone a Jesus fan. Letting your heart be continually consumed by His love and presence does.
Fans focus on the person or thing they most adore. I’m a Jesus fan! Here’s my cheer: “Brighter than the sun, Jesus is the glorious eternal One!”
The more that people get to know the risen Jesus the more they become His on-fire fans and the more love for Him burns in their hearts. Attention, Jesus fans: Let’s enthusiastically put Christ back in the front of Christianity.