Archive for February, 2009
India – Day 3 on Mission
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
Good evening to all who read this as I hope it get’s posted sometime this morning here in India thus making it evening or nighttime in the US.
For those who don’t know me or have met me, I’m Mike or on the paper work, Michael Viser, leader of Team India or as we like to be called Cult India. Choosing to be here and experience what we experience almost qualifies you as a cult follower because it is really quite out of the ordinary, comforts are lost, things happen here which just don’t happen back home. Things are raw, pure, and simple here in India. The work of God and that of Satan is evident, strong, and fierce. This isn’t a place for the faint of heart and yet it is a place for those who want to join God on mission.
As I write this it is 5:30am on Monday and I am alone in Dr. Premdas’ office listening to a worship album that I was able to download for free of all things from Frontrunner music I believe.
The album is comprised of those who lead worship at International House of Prayer in Kansas City and what an album/CD/Download, whatever you want to call it, it is incredible.
The song as I type goes something like this – O Lord bless me and keep me, cause your face to shine on me, Lord be gracious, let the light of your countenance give me peace, for I live only to see your face, so shine on me. For I live only to see your face to shine on me, Oh Lord bless me, and keep me, cause your face to shine on me, Lord be gracious, with the light of your countenance give me peace. For I live only to see your face, so shine on me, for I live only to see your face, so shine on me……..
……. awesome song and this is just the first, mix the music with the lyrics and you have an incredible worship experience that provides a glimpse what will be one day when we are face to face with Jesus in the presence of God falling down and worshiping and crying out Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God almighty, who Was, and Is, and Is to come.
Our team is working through a wonderful devotion which is specifically prepared for those who have left their place of comfort and have decided to join God on mission. In all truth, this devotion could be marketed and sold as a devotion book for everyone in daily life and activity if someone or a collective group of someone’s who recognize that for the church globally to begin to be effective in reaching the lost and see the return of Christ then a shift in focus needs to take place. To eliminate a lengthy blog post I think I will do a separate one with just these thoughts and will call this post which I have yet to write but is swirling around within me, Being on Mission.
In any event, today’s reading was 1 Peter 5:6-11 and it was verses 7-11 which really hit me hard and it is only because of my experiences here in India the last 3 days which have enabled these words to take on a whole new meaning. I won’t elaborate on the context for which I have been living other to say on one side the work and activity of God is strong here and He is using me and my team members in extra ordinary ways. Our team makeup was divinely orchestrated for which I am eternally grateful and within this group God is revealing Himself and much ministry is taking place. We are being exposed to countless numbers of people who need a touch from God as they are bound up spiritually, physically, emotionally and the reality is, we aren’t the answer to their problem. These people literally need a divine intervention as it truly is only God who can reach down inside of them and correct that which is broken. All we can do is be people who come alongside, offer and invitation of hope, lift their head and allow them to see the love on our face and the hope in our eyes as it is God who has put these things within us. All we can do is point these people to Jesus and allow Him to work the change, bring the healing, deliverance, the forgiveness of sins. We are not their hope, God is their hope and all we can do is make ourselves available to His activity as vessels or instruments. In and of ourselves, we have nothing to offer these people but like the apostles, we can say in the name of Jesus rise up and walk.
Oops, I went chasing a rabbit, back to the devotion and scripture, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Talk about anxiety. You lead a team of people, you are responsible for leading them in the pits of hell so to speak and stuff is happening all around you, you are spending your energies rescuing those caught in darkness and bam you get hit out of nowhere and become burdened and anxious because a team member begins to suffer. You hear a story from a partner which burdens you, on a walk you come face to face with one on eternity’s door if help doesn’t come quickly, you share with those who have a limb disappearing and it is oozing flesh. Everywhere you look you see the darkness and the desperation of a people and you realize Oh my God if you don’t do something these people are going to die without knowing you and the freedom that you have for them.
You assume the burden of the people and you become heavy and tired, your strength wanes, your appetite falls, you can’t get rest and then you read the scriptures….
Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you and you realize that this is His deal and not yours. He calls us to get involved, to get dirty, too suffer but He doesn’t call us to bear the burden for Him. He is not weak, He is not tired, He doesn’t need a break, the load is not too heavy for Him to carry.
Then you go on to read about how the devil is prowling around looking for prey and that he is going to strike you and yet you are to stand against him, resist his attach, for it will come and that you are to realize as you are getting prowled upon that God has equipped you with weapons to stand against Satan himself and to fight. He has also reminded you that you are not alone in this struggle, this fight, this war, but that there are many who are struggling and fighting. In fact, the scripture says to remember that your brothers THROUGHOUT the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering.
There it is, I am part of something bigger than myself. I am part of a war, battle, struggle, which has at its core a struggle but more aptly put, it IS suffering. We are called to suffering.
If you don’t want this then I suggest you find another faith because the Christian faith requires this. WE are engaged in this and it is something that is to be avoided, it is something that we need to accept as part of the deal and to count ourselves blessed.
Why?
Because that is what happened to Jesus and why should we expect anything else or better. Do you think Jesus suffered so that we would not have too? Sure, he paid a price, he suffered the ultimate penalty for our sin, and he did this willingly. He gave up his body so that we could have life.
Yet within this, we all know what the cross means. We all know that we are called to take up our cross and follow him. We are called to lay down our lives, too lose it, so that in its loss we would find the life that God offers us.
There is though a suffering that we all like to avoid. That suffering which is because we are engaged with God in His mission and for that involvement there is a price to pay. I am reminded continually that the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and if it suffers violence then how are we to see it come? We are to engage and be violent; to enter into fight, to engage the evil, to fight, to overcome by the weapons granted to us, exercising the authority bestowed upon us by the one who overcame and gave us this ministry to the world, which incidentally includes everyone around you and is not just a place across the water or a border.
The scripture ends with a promise, that the God of all glory, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, AFTER you have SUFFERED a little while, will himself restore you and make you STRONG, FIRM and STEADFAST. To Him be the power forever and ever, amen. Sounds like my IHOP music which is still playing in my ears.
God has called us to join Him in mission, mission which involves each and every one of us in our place of residence and in places travelled too; and as we engage His mission, which coincidentally is not just a 10 day or 2 week short term experience but a lifetime, we will suffer, we are called to this, we are to embrace it and in fact welcome it. Suffering is a wonderful thing because it is something God ordains in order to make us STRONG, pure, steadfast, firm in our faith. WE need a strong faith, a vibrant one, one that recognizes the strength and ability of God. One that sees the lost and recognizes them as wonderful opportunities for God, and one that acts.
I end by inviting you to join me.
Join me in suffering because it is in suffering that we see Jesus. It is in suffering that we will know Him.
…I believe that heaven is coming down, Jesus will reign on the earth, and the two shall become one, forever united in the Son, and this is reality, You are coming to reign on the earth and the increase of your government will know no end.