March 17, 2010

• why deerlife? (we are separated on the wall, far from one another - Nehemiah 4)

  Nehemiah 4:19  And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 20  In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

  Though we're each to be part of a local congregation, we are each also part of the church universal. Over the past few years of blogging, I've made a couple close friends here, friends that have encouraged me and prayed for me and I've done the same for them.

  For quite some time now I've felt a bit like Nehemiah did, i.e.- The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another.

  God has placed each one of us in the church for a reason (both the local church as well as the church universal). We are not only dependent on Him, but we are interdependent on one another. That's part of God's design. It's a reflection of the diversity and unity we find in the Godhead: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

  I've always felt an affinity, a calling, to minister cross-Church/cross-denomination, what have you. I love being able to fellowship with believers from all across the Body of Christ and for now, that's primarily the harvest field to which God keeps sending me (e.g.- please see my posts here and here). Yes, with that, there's always a bit of tension...

  Now I'm expecting, Lord willing, to enter into a commitment to my local congregation, so I do have a calling and responsibility to minister there. However I also have a calling to minister to and in the church beyond that particular body of believers.

  Specifically, I have seen that God has brought some of us together here who have a passion for Him and a heart to pray for revival. There are some of us who have seen the ruins in the Church and have been grieved over them. Please see my posts here, here, here, here, here and here. Please, please read these things if you've already been grieved as an encouragement to stay the course, and if you've not been grieved, I ask you to read them; my prayer is that the Holy Spirit might prick some of your hearts and show you things you've not seen before and be grieved like Nehemiah for we are in great trouble and shame...we are broken down.

  

  In addition my blog here, which is devoted primarily to the teaching of the Word, a year ago I opened up tent of meeting, a blog devoted to prayer for revival. If God has been putting into your heart a burden to pray for the Church, I invite you to visit tent of meeting; you can read more about it here.)

  For quite some time now I've been praying about a way we might support one another in a more tangible way, in a bit more organized way...

  I shared some of my thoughts and desires about that in this post a few months ago...

  I am praying God would bring together in a more cohesive way those of us who have a heart for revival and have received a calling to pray for revival. I believe we are spread too thinly on the wall. I'm not quite sure how that might look in reality, but I have been feeling for some time that we need to be strategic as we rebuild the wall (think Nehemiah). By strategic I don't mean resorting to worldly means but seeking God's ways and His wisdom. The three fold cord is not quickly broken. I confess I have often been tempted to feel like Elijah, that there are no others out there, even though I know there are others. God always has a remnant He is calling. I pray God might raise up a fellowship of believers who can support, uphold and encourage one another as we pray and so we can then be mobilized and sent out into our home churches and communities on mission for Him. I am praying that those of us who have had a taste of revival in our own lives would be able to take that into our churches. I know there are some of us who are specifically called to this blogging community, but all of us are called to battle on the home front as well.

  
  

  I am praying God would begin to raise up people in the local church to disciple and equip the saints both now and as revival does come, for there will be an influx of hungry souls needing meat. We should all be praying about our responsibility and role in that.

  I've had contact with some of you via your comments here, your own blogs and personal messages. I have been blessed to have found some like-minded believers who have a passion for God. I am eternally grateful for your prayers and support for me and your challenges to me to press on toward the mark of the prize of the high calling.

  In case you didn't know it, a few days ago I started up another blog, deerlife. (Yes, some of you might be tempted to say I am beginning to collect blogs much like Imelda Marcos collected shoes... )

  You can read more of my vision for deerlife here. If you have a heart for God and a passion to see the people of God revived through the local church, and if God is leading you to be involved in that work and to encourage others in that work, I invite you to check out deerlife. I'm hoping that deerlife might be one means God uses to bring us together as we work on the wall, similar to Nehemiah's intent:
  
  Nehemiah 4:19  And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 20  In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

  The work is great. The work is widely spread. We are separated on the wall, far from one another.

  If we back up in Nehemiah 4, we see another reason for us to come together: the world is united in opposition against Christ and against those who are working to do His will (Nehemiah 4:8):

  And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it (Neh. 4:8, ESV)
  
  And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it (KJV).

  (Please also see my posts on Nehemiah here and here about the opposition we face.)

  Notice that the enemies of God were united: Plotting together. Conspiring all of them together. (How often does the church come together as God intends?)

  Of course this opposition to God's people and God's work is nothing new:

  Genesis 3:15  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring...

  As we look at Jesus' words in John 17, we love to read about the essential unity we as believers share in Jesus Christ and how our unity brings glory to God and is a witness to the world, but let's not forget this: the world is also unified: unified against us because we are of Christ, because we are no longer of this world, because we have been born again into a new life through the Holy Spirit and are no longer of the world. Yet we are sent into the world; as a result we will have tribulation and trouble.

  The race set before us is a race we must run by faith despite the tribulations and troubles we will face in this world. But God has given us the means to do so. He given us His Word, His Spirit and one another to assist us in running the race. And of course, our great high priest Jesus Christ is continuing to intercede for us at the right hand of God in glory. He was in the world and was victorious over the world and conquered the grave, overcame sin, death and Satan. He can sympathize with our weaknesses; consider that He was tempted and yet without sin! All these things are necessary ingredients so we might press on to know Christ and make Him known.

  So as we are sent into the world (in this case: many, many places all over the earth), my prayer is that deerlife might be one means we sound the trumpet and rally to one another: to fellowship with, encourage, exhort, build up one another and bear one another's burdens, to rally to one another to stand strong against the wiles and taunts of the devil and our own flesh. That includes rejoicing with one another and weeping with one another, and even our having fun on occasion as well for we know that a cheerful heart is good medicine. Much like Elijah, we sometimes lose perspective and forget there are many, many others God has called to His work (at least I know I do).

  We forget there are Aarons and Hurs God has provided to lift up our arms.
  We forget we've been called to be Aarons and Hurs to others when their arms need lifting.

  We forget there are Moseses behind us as we battle on the front lines.
  We forget we are called to intercede for others who are battling on the front lines.

  
  

  My intent here is not to undermine or supplant or minimize the local church but rather to encourage others to rise and go and minister primarily in their local churches and communities, wherever God leads. I will add that for some of you, your local church may actually be a church plant or a mission or God knows where. I want each of you to be where God wants you to be, to fulfill the holy ambition He has for your life and not to waste your lives! I am praying as we run the race, we might be a means of support for one another as we rise and go and minister wherever God sends us (including here on Xanga and Revelife as He leads us).

  We have been given a really unique opportunity here. All of us have come to Xanga and Revelife for many varied reasons, but we know that God does not have us here by accident. Let us make the most of the time we have here with one another and seek God's heart and mind in this.

  Last year I wrote how I believed that God could bring something good out of Xanga. Though my faith has wavered, I still believe that. Yes, it seems preposterous if we begin to look at the situation through human eyes, but may God anoint our eyes to see Who He really is! Is His arm shortened that He cannot save? Our God is the God who can do immeasurably above all we can ask or image. Why can't God bring something good out of Xanga and Revelife? I know many of us have gotten discouraged disenchanted and dismayed with much of the watered-down content here (as well as in many congregations and denominations, even those which were once strongly orthodox):

  • the tearing down of the authority of God and the Bible
  • the lack of solid Biblical teaching rooted in Christ and Him crucified
  • Christianity being remade into just another religion rather than the only way of salvation
  • the Jesus who would never sit as Judge over anyone
  • the watering down of Biblical definitions of sin and holiness
  • so-called gospels which allow for continuing sin without conviction of sin
  • Jesus as our boyfriend
  • Christianity rooted in emotions with no doctrinal foundation
  • Christianity rooted in intellectual profession with no room for the working of His Holy Spirit
  • Christianity that is more concerned about the outward appearance than the heart
  • so-called gospels which are but legalistic bondage
  • moral teaching, family values and social gospels which cleverly disguise themselves as Biblical Christianity
  • entertainment being exchanged for discipleship
  • the pick-and-choose, self-centered Christianity which makes Christianity a means to gaining happiness

  There are more, I know, but those are just a few off the top of my head. Looking at this list can either make us depressed...or press us into our Master's service to work on the wall once again! If we look at the situation through our own eyes and forget the power God provides us, we will have every reason to be depressed! I admit I've been depressed about these things, but God has been gracious and hasn't ever let me stay in my depression for very long...He's kept taking my eyes off the ruins and put them on Him time and again. He is Lord! He is Lord! He is King of the Church! He is Head of the Body! He will have the preeminence in His Church, which was created by Him, for Him and to His glory! When we see the ruins (which we will and should), we need to help one another to keep looking away to Jesus, our sure hope! He whose live birthed us into being will not fail to revive us again for His glory!

  Do the things I've listed above bother you? (Have you ever noticed them?) Do you care? Do you see how far short we are falling of the glory God has intended for us? Will you do whatever it takes?
  
  Wouldn't it be just like God to take the blogging communities of Xanga and Revelife and use them to sweep through the world with the wind and fire of His Holy Spirit, starting with a few of us here! Remember that the King of kings and Lord of lords delights to use the foolish, despised and weak things of the world for His glory! Look through the Bible and Church history and see the unlikely people He uses to accomplish His will!

  I believe He can do that. Will He do it? Who's to say? I can't say He will. God is sovereign. But let's not be guilty of limiting God based on what we see or what we think is possible but trust by faith what He can do in the blink of an eye! With Him all things are possible! We know how His mighty Spirit has come in and worked in many of our lives and brought us from death to life and begun to transform us into the image of Christ. (If you've not known that work in your lives, then perhaps you've not really known Him...) Can almighty God not work in a similar way many times over to bring revival to thousands and thousands of people? After all, is He not the God who orchestrated the saving of 3000 souls on the day of Pentecost almost 2000 years ago? Is He not the God that preserved the nation of Israel time and again from extermination all so He could preserve the line of Jesus Christ? We see God preserving and providing for His people time and again. Let's walk with the same faith we read of in the great cloud of witnesses. We have the same God as they did!

  Until God calls me elsewhere, I am willingly offering myself to remain here (Nehemiah 11:2). It is my heart's desire to encourage anyone who has but a mustard seed of faith that God wants to bring revival to His Church once more to come alongside you to help to plant, water, nurture and fertilize those seeds of faith and trust God to give the increase. The Church today in many places is much like Israel and Jerusalem were after the exile: we are in great trouble and shame...we are broken down. We are sorely in need of revival. We must look to the living God and His power to work in and through us what we cannot do apart from Him. May almighty God be gracious to us and rend the heavens and come down and restore, revive and renew us once more for His glory!

  If you have further questions, please comment below or message me

  Yours in Christ, seeking His face for revival in my own life and in the Church for His glory,
  Karen

  • 2:11 PM
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