DMI ministers in response to Isaiah 61:1, "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound."
I just received a “joy package” in the mail, and I want to share my joy with you! The package contained thank you letters from five pastors in Kenya and pictures of them receiving the new bicycles that Deborah Ministries provided for them. One of them wrote that he had been walking 20 miles every Sunday to his church to minister! Doesn’t it bring such joy to know that we are able to make a difference in people’s lives? And, making a difference in others’ lives makes a difference in our lives; don’t you agree?
I am continually amazed at the various ways that the Lord chooses to work through us. Sometimes, through counseling, it seems that I invest an enormous amount of time in making a difference in one, single life. Other times, through teaching and tapes of the teaching, I am able to make a difference in hundreds or thousands of lives in a couple of hours. But through it all, my foundational attitude must be one of being willing to believe that I can make a difference.
Sadly enough, many powerful and influential things go undone because too many ordinary people leave them for the powerful or influential people to do. I am a very ordinary person, but I have a God who can make everything I do or say (in him) very extraordinary. And you do, too! Go ahead; believe that you can make a difference—and expect God to use the ordinary in your life to accomplish the extraordinary! Be sure to allow Him to give you His perspective of what extraordinary looks like, okay? Sometimes, it will take place within your own heart; sometimes within a relationship; sometimes in turning a situation completely around. Often, the extraordinary will suddenly show itself right in the midst of what has been mundane, daily routine. God delights in revealing Himself through the ordinary—and what a delight it is for us!
Recently I was convicted while reading an excellent book. The author was noting that ministries always write newsletters filled with testimonies of victories and miracles and glowing reports of what God is doing. Of course it is wonderful to give God the glory for the things He is doing by His Spirit—and it’s always nice to know that we are a part of something that is “getting things done.” However, it gives kind of a lopsided picture of ministry—or even life, in general. And it tends to make an ever-widening chasm between those who are getting to do all these miraculous things and those who read about them. It made me think of the Bible. God didn’t only write about the victories. He wrote about the reality of lives lived as people experienced their God. And the picture He presents isn’t lopsided. And so I’ve decided to make a concerted effort not to fall into the trap of trying to impress you each month with a litany of things that Deborah Ministries has done “that the Kingdom just couldn’t get along without!” What I’d rather do is be able to share the experience of ministry with you. Sometimes that will include wonderful testimonies, sometimes heartaches, sometimes challenges; but always a very real cross section of the way ministry really looks.
Having just finished participating in a week-long international conference which took place here in Denver, I am currently “revived to a rag” as a dear pastor once put it. The rigors of very short nights and intense days put a real strain on the physical body. But the most difficult part of “re-entry into after-conference normal life” is the heartbreaking difference between what I hear being preached from the pulpit and what so many people are experiencing. For example, one of the benefits that we have as a result of the finished work of Christ is that we are able to stand in the presence of God without the sense of guilt, inferiority, or condemnation. Although that is a fact, I don’t find it to be the real experience of very many Christians. It is my heart’s desire to help people come to the real-life realization that because of Christ, all of our guilt and condemnation has been washed away. (That means current guilt and condemnation, too—not just from our ‘before Christ’ past.) I don’t want this to just be a doctrinal truth—I want to help people unhesitatingly enter into the presence of a loving God without being influenced by their own sense of sinfulness or “not good enough-ness”. Jesus is the sacrifice that God already examined to see if it was “enough”; but we are constantly worried about how we fall short in such an examination. We are not enough; neither is our righteousness nor our good behavior. But because Jesus’ righteousness is (not was) enough, God does not examine you or your behavior. You (in Christ) have already been examined and found acceptable. Since Jesus doesn’t change, the sacrifice can never suddenly become unacceptable. Therefore, you aren’t acceptable one minute and then unacceptable the next. Your behavior is not what determines whether or not you can stand in the presence of God—Jesus’ behavior is. And His behavior is worthy. Therefore you and I can “come boldly unto the throne of grace” without fear of sinfulness or inadequacy. We can rest in the fact that God accepts us, so let’s not keep a daily tab to measure our acceptability!