Lord would you open our eyes again!

“…as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal”. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

There’s a great story recorded in 2 Kings Ch 6. At this time the king of Syria was at war with Israel but his plans were being constantly thwarted by Elisha’s prophetic insight. The king gets so frustrated that he sends horses, chariots and a ‘great army’ to capture the Prophet. This great Syrian army comes by night and surrounds the entire city where Elisha lived. The next morning Elisha’s servant rises early to find a great army camping on their doorstep. In a state of panic he rushes back to Elisha crying out ‘what shall we do’? I imagine Elisha at this point sitting quietly, perhaps enjoying his morning coffee in his favourite chair, a picture of perfect peace. With a mischievous grin he turns to his servant saying, ‘Why are you afraid?’. Why am I afraid, thinks the servant, why do you think I am afraid?, there’s an entire army sitting on our doorstep! Elisha continues, ‘those who are with us are more than those who are with them, Lord would you open his eyes’. The Lord opens the eyes of the servant who instantly sees the mountains all around them full of horses and chariots of fire. 

There is a greater reality beyond our reality. In 2 Corinthians Paul encourages us to look not to the things that are seen, which are transient, temporary and passing away, and look to the things that are unseen, which are eternal. There's no doubt that there is always the ‘seen’ things of life in front of us. Jobs to do, tasks to accomplish, mouths to feed, mountains to climb, battles to fight. Yet in the midst of the ‘seen’ things how much of our time is spent looking to the ‘unseen’ reality beyond this reality. There may be an army camped at your doorstep but there is a greater reality than what's in front of you, if we will just have eyes to see it. 

I believe we are in a time when the Lord is desiring to open our eyes to His reality. There’s much in front of us that can easily consume our attention. His invitation is to look past the ‘seen’ to the things that are ‘unseen’. He is wanting to align our hearts with His heart, that we might then partner with His purposes on the earth at this critical time. My prayer is that we would be a people who have eyes to see the greater reality of the King and His Kingdom. Lord would you open our eyes again! 

Blessings

Andrew

Pray and Go

Luke 10:2

 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Go…………

Late last year both the Board and the pastoral team felt stirred to set aside a month each year to focus our attention on Missions. It has been a foundational commitment, backed with action, as a church to financially support Missionaries in the field and to send people out, both short and long term. And yet, as with many long held commitments that keep ticking along, we can get complacent. It’s in place, we are ticking that box, and so we become less aware on a day to day basis of the needs of our Missionaries and indeed of the mandate on us as believers to both pray and go.

And so March is Missions month in 2017.

We have a number of “our Missionaries” coming to share with us in March, orchestrated by God to coincide with our set missions month rather than our exceptional planning, I might add. Take time this month to become familiar with who we support as a church, the people groups they are called to serve, their needs and situations. We have a notice board dedicated to missions giving updates in our foyer. Seek God as to how you might support them from your means, be that financial, in prayer, or in practise.

But can I encourage you not to stop there. We cannot tick the box of going into the world proclaiming the gospel and making disciples with a church program or even by making a missions donations. (Not that these things are bad) We, as His people are the sent ones, each one of us.

In John 20:21 He says, “as the Father sent me, I send you.” We are sent ones because our Father is the sender and the heart of mission involves living out who we are as God’s people. It is not the role of the church as an organisation to be missional, it is the call of God’s people to be missional.

You may or may not be appointed and sent to Thailand, or Mozambique or India or South Africa or Papua New Guinea but as sent ones you do carry the Kingdom into workplaces, places of education, your children’s school, your family, and the places in your community that God leads you.

One of my favourite songs at the moment, “For the one” a new release by Jenn Johnson says

Let all my life, tell of who You are

And the wonder of, Your never-ending love

Let all my life, tell of who You are

You're wonderful, and such a good Father

Pray and Go

Kathryn