In the West Highlands of
Scotland, Christian men from a variety of denominations meet periodically by
invitation, to pray for unity and revival. This is a really positive step
because the majority population of our churches these days is middle
aged/elderly women. Thus, a group of men who are prepared to devote their time
and energy to prayer is quite unusual.
Such prayer groups would
agree that ‘waiting on the Lord’ is an extremely profitable activity for the
development of their Christian lives and experience. However, having been
around evangelical circles for most of my 63 years, I’m getting a little tired
of phrases like, ‘being shut in with the Lord’ and ‘waiting on the Lord’.
Indeed, I am certain that there is clear evidence in scripture that the Living
God has never endorsed this persistent culture of insular inactivity.
Let me explain.
In the Gospel of Matthew,
the ‘Parable of the Talents,’ is a story told by Jesus about the master who
gives his servants bags of gold and asks them to invest the gold for him. In
the parable, the bags of gold represent the gifts, talents and resources given
to each individual by God.
In common with the last
servant of the parable, Christians often take the gifts, talents and resources
given by the Living god and bury them deep in the earth.
In the parable the servant
is called to account by his master. When asked why he hadn’t invested the
resource and returned it with interest he responds…….. ‘I was afraid’.
Sadly, for many Christians,
myself included, this is the key reason why we neglect using the vast and
varied resources God has given us to take the good news about Jesus to the
immediate community………. we are too afraid !!!
A recent article in RELEVANT
magazine by Michelle Bunt entitled, ‘The Active Work of Waiting on
God………Waiting on God doesn't mean we don't do anything’, suggests three actions
to enable Christians to change their perspective:
“Firstly, change the way you
pray. Pray humbly, but from a place of empowerment rather than lack.
Secondly, share your good
works with the world. Galatians 5:22-23 has already outlined for us what the
fruit of the spirit look like: ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control. Against such things there is no law.’ Note the second part of
that text: against such things there is no law. This means that if we are
acting in accordance with love, kindness and self-control, for instance, we can
be assured that we are doing God’s will, whether or not God directly spoke to
us and specifically told us to take that action.
Thirdly, don’t allow
yourself to get paralyzed looking for your ‘calling.’ By all means pray, but
don’t let your praying trap you into a state of paralysis.”
For too long, Christians
have satisfied themselves that prayer of the ‘gimme, gimme, gimme’ kind was all
that was required for revival to happen, when all along, God is looking for
people with surrendered hearts who pray, listen to Him, then take action in
co-operation with Him.
I am in wholehearted
agreement with Michelle Bunt when she says: ‘There are already enough
Christians burying their talents in the ground where they can’t be seen or
used. Let’s start a new trend: one where
Christians are known as people of action and change and living demonstrations
of their faith.’
So, amongst the born again
Christians of the West Highlands……………….who’s in?
Let the ‘By the Way’ team
know of your desire to take action. Fill in the comments box and we’ll take
action to support you.
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