The week before last I shared about how God prepared Israel for the new and radical thing He was going to do in their lives. I believe we live in a time when God wants to do new and radical things in His people, in His church, and in missions. In Isaiah 43:19 it says, “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
A road speaks of a way to travel in an unfriendly environment “wilderness” to a place of destination. God is not calling us to go cross country or to blaze a trail through the wilderness. Life and ministry can often be tough and the way rough because we are off blazing our own trail. Isaiah 30:21 says “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.” God has prepared a road for you with all the provision that you need for the journey. Jesus put it this way, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:29-30
God’s promise goes on in Isaiah to say that He will make “rivers in the desert.” In the midst of the spiritual wilderness that surrounds us and can sometime overtake us, God desires to bring rivers of refreshing and life. God not only wants to make a road for us to travel on, but He wants to give us rivers of refreshing. Rivers (plural) speaks not only of an abundance of refreshing but different sources of refreshing. God does not want you to be struggling and dry. That does not benefit you, Him or His kingdom. God does not promise to deliver us from the desert and wilderness, but He promises to make a road and to bring refreshing as we wait on Him. Jesus said, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." John 7:37-38
But for that river to flow in the desert, we must diligently seek God and be open to the new thing He wants to do in our life and ministry. You may have heard the term and even used the term “stuck in a rut.” This happens when we repeat things until they become habits that bind our lives. If we are not careful, we develop ruts in our job, ministry, church, life and even devotions. God is not calling us to quit these things but to allow his creative, miracle power into these areas of our life. Let His Spirit show us new and creative ways of doing these things. Seek His face and be willing to take a risk and step out and do something new. Respond to that nudge of the Spirit, believe for something bigger than yourself, do something you would not ordinarily do, or be even capable of doing in yourself, and see what God will do.
“Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” May you discover God in a new and refreshing way this week.
Andy Clark
Associate DirectorWorld Horizons US Office
www.worldhorizonsusa.org
Monday, February 22, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
A Call to The Nations
A Call to The Nations
"Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you." Isaiah 55:5
God is calling His church to raise their voice and call to the nations. God is calling His apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists and teachers to raise their voice and call to the nations. God is calling His people, His chosen ones, the ones upon whom He has given His spirit to call to the nations. In the midst of crisis, political and economic upheaval, it is time to raise the shofar and give a sound to rally the nations unto God and unto His kingdom.
As I shared last week, it is time to turn aside from our daily routine of life and hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the church. God wants to reveal Himself to us in a new way to enable us to do a new work, a work of His grace and power, "to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Luke 4:19 We need to see bigger than ourselves, our ministry, our program and our church. We need for God to give us a vision and heart for cities, people groups, and nations. Our hearts cry should be "GOD GIVE US THE NATIONS!"
Isaiah goes on to say that as we call a nation, that nations will run to us because the Lord our God has glorified us. We must prepare ourselves spiritually and position ourselves in ministry for the harvest that is coming and in some places is already here. Isaiah said people will run to us because the Lord our God has glorified us. As economic, political and social upheavals happen in this world, people are going to run to us if the glory of God is in us. 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."
Paul said: "I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named." Romans 15:20 God is raising up a vast army of missionaries from around the globe to take the gospel where it has not yet been preached. We have a saying on the wall of our World Horizons office that says, "We are here on the behalf of the church yet to be in a world where every second another person slips into a Christ-less eternity." Jesus said, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." Matthew 24:14
I want to challenge you to step out of the quagmire of your everyday circumstances, lift up your eyes in faith to the fields that are ripe and ready for harvest, and cry out for the nations.
"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah." Psalms 24:7-10
May the Lord of hosts, the King of glory be with you and empower you today to give Him glory.
Andy Clark
Associate Director
World Horizons US Office
www.worldhorizonsusa.org
"Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you." Isaiah 55:5
God is calling His church to raise their voice and call to the nations. God is calling His apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists and teachers to raise their voice and call to the nations. God is calling His people, His chosen ones, the ones upon whom He has given His spirit to call to the nations. In the midst of crisis, political and economic upheaval, it is time to raise the shofar and give a sound to rally the nations unto God and unto His kingdom.
As I shared last week, it is time to turn aside from our daily routine of life and hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the church. God wants to reveal Himself to us in a new way to enable us to do a new work, a work of His grace and power, "to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Luke 4:19 We need to see bigger than ourselves, our ministry, our program and our church. We need for God to give us a vision and heart for cities, people groups, and nations. Our hearts cry should be "GOD GIVE US THE NATIONS!"
Isaiah goes on to say that as we call a nation, that nations will run to us because the Lord our God has glorified us. We must prepare ourselves spiritually and position ourselves in ministry for the harvest that is coming and in some places is already here. Isaiah said people will run to us because the Lord our God has glorified us. As economic, political and social upheavals happen in this world, people are going to run to us if the glory of God is in us. 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."
Paul said: "I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named." Romans 15:20 God is raising up a vast army of missionaries from around the globe to take the gospel where it has not yet been preached. We have a saying on the wall of our World Horizons office that says, "We are here on the behalf of the church yet to be in a world where every second another person slips into a Christ-less eternity." Jesus said, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." Matthew 24:14
I want to challenge you to step out of the quagmire of your everyday circumstances, lift up your eyes in faith to the fields that are ripe and ready for harvest, and cry out for the nations.
"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah." Psalms 24:7-10
May the Lord of hosts, the King of glory be with you and empower you today to give Him glory.
Andy Clark
Associate Director
World Horizons US Office
www.worldhorizonsusa.org
Monday, February 8, 2010
A New Thing
A New Thing
God is creative by nature and so always wants to do new things in our lives. We, on the other hand are people of habit and tradition and usually don’t adapt well to change, especially if it is out of the norm. In Exodus chapter 3 God was preparing to do something radical that had never been done in the history of the world. He was preparing to deliver a people group who had been in slavery for over 400 years. They had known nothing else but slavery for generations.
I want to look at three essential things that had to happen to prepare Moses and the children of Israel for what God was about to do.
God had to get their attention. Moses is herding sheep just as he has done for years when an angel of the Lord appears to him as a flaming fire in a bush that is not being consumed. Exodus 3:3 says “Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight.” For God to do something new and extraordinary in our lives, He usually has to get our attention. We are so busy running along doing our thing in life that sometimes God has to disrupt our life in order that we will turn aside and be willing to listen to Him.
God had to identify himself according to their past experience. Now that He has Moses undivided attention, God says to Moses, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” Moses and the children of Israel knew all the stories of the call of God on Abraham, Isaac’s supernatural birth, and all the wonderful things God had done in their forefathers’ lives. This was the foundation of their belief system and the hope of their lives. Through Israel’s history, every time God got ready to do a new thing, He would have them review what He had already done. It is from the foundation of our past that God builds our future.
God had to reveal a new dimension of Himself to prepare them for the new thing He was going to do. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob now reveals himself to Moses and Israel as “I AM WHO I AM.” I AM the God of your forefathers, IAM the God of your present in Egypt, and I AM the God of your tomorrow.” This is crucial! In order to move into the new thing that God has for us, we must have a new revelation of God. Our past revelations cannot take us into the future. We live in crucial times when God wants to do extraordinary things, but we must turn aside from our daily routine and come to know this extraordinary God in a new way. We cannot continue to do things the way we have been doing them and expect different results.
“Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19
May God grant you a renewed vision of Himself and what He desires to do in and through you.
Andy Clark
Associate Director
World Horizons US Office
www.worldhorizonsusa.org
God is creative by nature and so always wants to do new things in our lives. We, on the other hand are people of habit and tradition and usually don’t adapt well to change, especially if it is out of the norm. In Exodus chapter 3 God was preparing to do something radical that had never been done in the history of the world. He was preparing to deliver a people group who had been in slavery for over 400 years. They had known nothing else but slavery for generations.
I want to look at three essential things that had to happen to prepare Moses and the children of Israel for what God was about to do.
God had to get their attention. Moses is herding sheep just as he has done for years when an angel of the Lord appears to him as a flaming fire in a bush that is not being consumed. Exodus 3:3 says “Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight.” For God to do something new and extraordinary in our lives, He usually has to get our attention. We are so busy running along doing our thing in life that sometimes God has to disrupt our life in order that we will turn aside and be willing to listen to Him.
God had to identify himself according to their past experience. Now that He has Moses undivided attention, God says to Moses, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” Moses and the children of Israel knew all the stories of the call of God on Abraham, Isaac’s supernatural birth, and all the wonderful things God had done in their forefathers’ lives. This was the foundation of their belief system and the hope of their lives. Through Israel’s history, every time God got ready to do a new thing, He would have them review what He had already done. It is from the foundation of our past that God builds our future.
God had to reveal a new dimension of Himself to prepare them for the new thing He was going to do. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob now reveals himself to Moses and Israel as “I AM WHO I AM.” I AM the God of your forefathers, IAM the God of your present in Egypt, and I AM the God of your tomorrow.” This is crucial! In order to move into the new thing that God has for us, we must have a new revelation of God. Our past revelations cannot take us into the future. We live in crucial times when God wants to do extraordinary things, but we must turn aside from our daily routine and come to know this extraordinary God in a new way. We cannot continue to do things the way we have been doing them and expect different results.
“Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19
May God grant you a renewed vision of Himself and what He desires to do in and through you.
Andy Clark
Associate Director
World Horizons US Office
www.worldhorizonsusa.org
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Extraordinary Faith in an Extraordinary God
Extraordinary Faith in an Extraordinary God
“By faith Abraham, even though he was past age, and Sarah herself was barren, was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.” Hebrews 11:11-12
What an amazing testimony of Abraham! How did this bedouin nomad who had no property, no program, and no ministry become the vehicle of God’s blessing to the nations and the father of faith? I believe there are two keys in this verse. He was “enabled” by God to do the impossible. He and Sarah were enabled to have a child when he was past age and she was barren. What was born to them was not of man but of God. The promise of God seemed dead because it could not be fulfilled in the natural. God brought Abraham and Sarah to the end of themselves, which is often where God wants to bring us, not to discourage us or cause us to give up but to force us to depend on Him.
The second key was that Abraham and Sarah’s focus was on God’s faithfulness rather than the promise. “Abraham considered Him faithful who had made the promise.” Oftentimes we fail to maintain faith in the midst of adverse circumstances because our eyes are on the promise rather than the giver of the promise. I have known people who have been crushed in their faith, given up in their ministry, and some given up on God because what they were believing for did not come to pass. I find many Christians who have lost the ability to believe God for the supernatural because the reality of life has crushed their dreams.
The problem with focusing on a promise of God is that oftentimes we have little or no idea of when God will fulfill the promise or how He will fulfill it. God speaks something to us and we begin to pray over it, declare it in faith, positioning ourselves, working hard toward the fulfillment of the promise, and it just doesn’t happen as we expect. So we become discouraged, doubt ourselves, doubt God, or forget about the promise as it is choked out by the issues of life.
To have extraordinary, long-lasting faith we need to focus on an extraordinary God who is everlasting and sees things from an eternal perspective. God is the author and finisher of our faith. God’s character and nature is unchanging. You can count on Him. When you focus on the unchanging God, then your faith will remain consistent and resilient no matter what the circumstances. We live in unpredictable times when nothing in life seems sure. At times we may wonder how God will ever fulfill what He has promised to us. The promise is His, and so He is going to have to work that out. Our responsibility, like Abraham, is to consider him faithful who made the promise. He is always true to His word.
Andy Clark
Associate Director
World Horizons US Office
www.worldhorizonsus.org
“By faith Abraham, even though he was past age, and Sarah herself was barren, was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.” Hebrews 11:11-12
What an amazing testimony of Abraham! How did this bedouin nomad who had no property, no program, and no ministry become the vehicle of God’s blessing to the nations and the father of faith? I believe there are two keys in this verse. He was “enabled” by God to do the impossible. He and Sarah were enabled to have a child when he was past age and she was barren. What was born to them was not of man but of God. The promise of God seemed dead because it could not be fulfilled in the natural. God brought Abraham and Sarah to the end of themselves, which is often where God wants to bring us, not to discourage us or cause us to give up but to force us to depend on Him.
The second key was that Abraham and Sarah’s focus was on God’s faithfulness rather than the promise. “Abraham considered Him faithful who had made the promise.” Oftentimes we fail to maintain faith in the midst of adverse circumstances because our eyes are on the promise rather than the giver of the promise. I have known people who have been crushed in their faith, given up in their ministry, and some given up on God because what they were believing for did not come to pass. I find many Christians who have lost the ability to believe God for the supernatural because the reality of life has crushed their dreams.
The problem with focusing on a promise of God is that oftentimes we have little or no idea of when God will fulfill the promise or how He will fulfill it. God speaks something to us and we begin to pray over it, declare it in faith, positioning ourselves, working hard toward the fulfillment of the promise, and it just doesn’t happen as we expect. So we become discouraged, doubt ourselves, doubt God, or forget about the promise as it is choked out by the issues of life.
To have extraordinary, long-lasting faith we need to focus on an extraordinary God who is everlasting and sees things from an eternal perspective. God is the author and finisher of our faith. God’s character and nature is unchanging. You can count on Him. When you focus on the unchanging God, then your faith will remain consistent and resilient no matter what the circumstances. We live in unpredictable times when nothing in life seems sure. At times we may wonder how God will ever fulfill what He has promised to us. The promise is His, and so He is going to have to work that out. Our responsibility, like Abraham, is to consider him faithful who made the promise. He is always true to His word.
Andy Clark
Associate Director
World Horizons US Office
www.worldhorizonsus.org
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Positoning Ourselves for God's Favor
Positioning Ourselves for God’s Favor
I shared with you at the end of last year that the Lord spoke to me that “2010 will be a monumental year of God’s grace (Divine favor) and power (Divine enablement!” But that a monumental year must be proceeded by monumental prayer. Along with prayer, we must position ourselves or put ourselves into a position where God can exert His favor and enablement on our behalf.
God is calling us to reach beyond our circle of influence and our ability where we become totally dependent upon Him. We must shift our trust from the political, economical and religious structures of this world to His kingdom. Those of us in the western world are especially prone to depending on and working within the structures and programs that we have built. Structures and programs that may require more capitol and manpower than God is willing to invest.
Are our ministries putting a demand on man-made resources or upon God’s resources? If our ministry is dependent on man-made resources then I am afraid we are doomed for failure as man’s resources become depleted and our society moves farther away from and even opposing God’s kingdom. I believe the persecuted church often times has a better grasp of the true kingdom then those of us in the west. The kingdom of God is exploding where there are the often the least man-made resources.
Jesus said in Mark 16:15-18 "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. And these signs will accompany those who believe:” I believe God’s favor, glory and power follow the preaching of the Gospel, the declaration and demonstration of the truths of His Word.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:17 “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” In Romans 1:16 he says “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”
That word salvation is all encompassing to every need of mankind. Paul was persuaded that the gospel of the kingdom was the solution to every problem.
Jesus said Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Lord, give us your wisdom and anointing to know how to communicate effectively the gospel to those who are perishing around us. Help us to position ourselves to be used by you for your glory and the furthering of your kingdom.
Andy Clark
I shared with you at the end of last year that the Lord spoke to me that “2010 will be a monumental year of God’s grace (Divine favor) and power (Divine enablement!” But that a monumental year must be proceeded by monumental prayer. Along with prayer, we must position ourselves or put ourselves into a position where God can exert His favor and enablement on our behalf.
God is calling us to reach beyond our circle of influence and our ability where we become totally dependent upon Him. We must shift our trust from the political, economical and religious structures of this world to His kingdom. Those of us in the western world are especially prone to depending on and working within the structures and programs that we have built. Structures and programs that may require more capitol and manpower than God is willing to invest.
Are our ministries putting a demand on man-made resources or upon God’s resources? If our ministry is dependent on man-made resources then I am afraid we are doomed for failure as man’s resources become depleted and our society moves farther away from and even opposing God’s kingdom. I believe the persecuted church often times has a better grasp of the true kingdom then those of us in the west. The kingdom of God is exploding where there are the often the least man-made resources.
Jesus said in Mark 16:15-18 "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. And these signs will accompany those who believe:” I believe God’s favor, glory and power follow the preaching of the Gospel, the declaration and demonstration of the truths of His Word.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:17 “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” In Romans 1:16 he says “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”
That word salvation is all encompassing to every need of mankind. Paul was persuaded that the gospel of the kingdom was the solution to every problem.
Jesus said Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Lord, give us your wisdom and anointing to know how to communicate effectively the gospel to those who are perishing around us. Help us to position ourselves to be used by you for your glory and the furthering of your kingdom.
Andy Clark
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)