I am teaching the book of Ephesians in one of the adult Bible fellowships in my home church this spring. This week we studied Paul’s second prayer for the Ephesian believers at the end of chapter 3. The prayer ends with a benediction in verses 20-21, both for the first half of the book and for the prayer. “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
I see four key ideas in this benediction. First, it is imperative that we see God as powerful. Theologically we know this to be true. But practically we often see God as impotent. We doubt that He is really in control of or involved in the mess we see in the world we live in and the mess our lives sometimes are.
Second, we need to pray big, audacious prayers. We need to tap into all our creativity and innovation, and ask God to do some wildly significant things. We need to claim the promises of Scripture, and ask Him for outrageous things.
Third, we need to not only see God as powerful, but see His power at work in us, His body, His Church. We are not all, but certainly part, of how God will answer our prayers. He will share His power freely with us as we prove faithful to use it to further His mission in the world, and not our own.
And finally, our prayers need to focus on the glory of God. Not some self-focused desire or personal agenda. We need to become consumed with what will advance God’s reputation and God’s mission in the world. Not what will add to my or someone else’s personal peace and affluence.
So what should you and I pray?
A great place to start is with the hundreds of unconditional promises found in Scripture. But guided by the framework that God laid out for Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. “Blessed to be a blessing.” Not asking God to bless us as an end in itself (prosperity gospel). But asking God to allow us to join with Him in His mission and use us as vehicles for blessing the nations.
A second suggestion is to begin to take advantage of some great daily prayer tools to pray for those at the very center of God’s mission in the world today – those with little or no access to the gospel, the world’s least reached peoples. Check out Joshua Project’s unreached people of the day (www.unreachedoftheday.org) or the USCWM’s global prayer digest (www.globalprayerdigest.org).
Let’s start to pray some big, hairy, audacious prayers and see what God does in response.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
from February 6, 2011 prayer update
I am handling the resource table (selling books, DVDs, etc.) at one of Austin’s two Perspectives on the World Christian Movement classes this spring. This class, hosted by my home church, has more than 120 students participating, with a healthy mix of older and younger students. We have already completed 3 of the 15 sessions.
I love this class. It looks at missions through four lens: Biblical, historical, cultural, and strategic. It brings in a different expert from across the U.S. to serve as the speaker each week. And there are excellent reading assignments between each class with articles written by global experts. I have the privilege of teaching the lesson “the task remaining” in Kansas City and Columbia, MO this spring. And teaching the lesson “world Christian partnership” in Fort Worth, Tyler, and Costa Rica this spring.
The class is fantastic at casting vision for unreached (least reached) peoples around the world. According to Joshua Project there are 16,594 distinct people groups living today on this planet. 9723 of these are reached (more than 2% evangelical Christian), 6871 are unreached (less than 2%). Of the 6871 unreached peoples, approximately half have Christian outreach efforts that have begun among their people. Sadly half (approximately 3400 people groups) are totally unengaged. And 632 of these unengaged unreached peoples involve populations of at least 50,000 people. These 632 largest unengaged unreached people groups represent the highest priority of missions sending organizations like Pioneers.
These unreached peoples stand in strong contrast to the U.S. where, according to the 2010 edition of Operation World, 77.6% of the population are professing Christians and 28.9% are evangelical Christians. This is not to say there is no longer a need for evangelism in the U.S., but not nearly on the scale of many other places around the globe. The issue is access to the gospel. Many people groups still do not have any access whatsoever.
The Perspectives class has been rightly critiqued as being too conceptual, without enough hands on experience and practical ways for participants to engage in what they have been challenged with. Virtually everyone leaves the class with a new view of their Bibles and the world. They are highly motivated to get involved in some way with missions. Local churches that have folks attending Perspectives this spring would be wise to plan ahead. Make certain you have tracks that goers, senders, welcomers, and mobilizers coming out of the class can travel down long-term. Be an excellent steward of this God provided opportunity. Take the initiative to meet one-on-one with each class participant before June and help them identify specific and appropriate next steps. Then walk with them as they embrace (perhaps for the first time) God’s global mission.
I love this class. It looks at missions through four lens: Biblical, historical, cultural, and strategic. It brings in a different expert from across the U.S. to serve as the speaker each week. And there are excellent reading assignments between each class with articles written by global experts. I have the privilege of teaching the lesson “the task remaining” in Kansas City and Columbia, MO this spring. And teaching the lesson “world Christian partnership” in Fort Worth, Tyler, and Costa Rica this spring.
The class is fantastic at casting vision for unreached (least reached) peoples around the world. According to Joshua Project there are 16,594 distinct people groups living today on this planet. 9723 of these are reached (more than 2% evangelical Christian), 6871 are unreached (less than 2%). Of the 6871 unreached peoples, approximately half have Christian outreach efforts that have begun among their people. Sadly half (approximately 3400 people groups) are totally unengaged. And 632 of these unengaged unreached peoples involve populations of at least 50,000 people. These 632 largest unengaged unreached people groups represent the highest priority of missions sending organizations like Pioneers.
These unreached peoples stand in strong contrast to the U.S. where, according to the 2010 edition of Operation World, 77.6% of the population are professing Christians and 28.9% are evangelical Christians. This is not to say there is no longer a need for evangelism in the U.S., but not nearly on the scale of many other places around the globe. The issue is access to the gospel. Many people groups still do not have any access whatsoever.
The Perspectives class has been rightly critiqued as being too conceptual, without enough hands on experience and practical ways for participants to engage in what they have been challenged with. Virtually everyone leaves the class with a new view of their Bibles and the world. They are highly motivated to get involved in some way with missions. Local churches that have folks attending Perspectives this spring would be wise to plan ahead. Make certain you have tracks that goers, senders, welcomers, and mobilizers coming out of the class can travel down long-term. Be an excellent steward of this God provided opportunity. Take the initiative to meet one-on-one with each class participant before June and help them identify specific and appropriate next steps. Then walk with them as they embrace (perhaps for the first time) God’s global mission.
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