Before They Call, I Will Answer

Dear Children of the King,
I have been challenging us with the concept of prayer lately. The Lord has really put this on my heart. Prayer as intimate fellowship with my Father. Prayer for the church, for Pastor David, for you.

I read an article in the latest edition of Alliance Life about getting ourselves outside of the “box” of naturalism. God is supernatural, and our faith living must show that. We need to get our Bibles, our prayers, and our lives “out” of the box the author insisted. I could not agree more.

Robert Stetter sent me the following piece recently. I opened it up and began to read, and the Spirit struck me to the core. At one point I was so convicted I had to stop and ask the Lord to forgive me for having so little faith, for living in the box. I want to pray with the attitude of the little girl, and I am certain you do to. Let us get outside of the box and call on the Lord, then we too can experience the answers He has already given. (Isaiah 65:24)

Isaiah 65:24

This story was written by a doctor who worked in South Africa ..

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in
spite of all we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny premature baby and a
crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the
baby alive, as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator).

We also had no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on the
equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One
student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that
the baby would be wrapped in.

Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle.
She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the
bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates). "And it is
our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no
good crying over spilled milk so in Central Africa it might be considered no
good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and
there are no drugstores down forest pathways.

"All right," I said, "put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and
sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts.
Your job is to keep the baby warm."

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of
the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the
youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the
tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm
enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, ! and that the baby could so easily die
if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister,
crying because her mother had died.

During prayer time, one ten-year old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual
blunt conciseness of our African children. "Please, God" she prayed,
"send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby
will be dead, so please send it this afternoon."

While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, "And
while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so
she'll know You really love her?"

As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could
I honestly say, "Amen". I just did not believe that God could do
this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything, the Bible says so.
But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God
could answer this particular prayer would be by send! ing me a parcel from
homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time,
and I had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone
did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived
on the equator! Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching
in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my
front door.

By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the veranda,
was a large twenty-two pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes.
I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage
children.

Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot.
We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly.
Excitement was mounting.

Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.
From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys.
Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the
knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little
bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would
make a batch of buns for the weekend. Then, as I put my hand in
again, I felt the ... could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it
out - yes, a brand-new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried. I
had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.
Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed
forward, crying out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly
too!"

Rummaging down to th! e bottom of the box, she pulled out the small,
beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never
doubted!

Looking up at me, she asked: "Can I go over with you and give this dolly to
that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?"

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months. Packed
up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's
prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one
of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in
answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "that afternoon."
"Before they call, I will answer" (Isaiah 65:24).

This awesome prayer takes less than a minute. When you receive
this, say the prayer, that's all you have to do. No strings
attached. Just send it on to whomever you want - but do send it on.

Prayer is! one of the best free gifts we receive. There is no
cost but a lot of rewards. Let's continue praying for one another Father, I ask
you to bless my friends reading this right now. I am asking You to
minister to their spirit at this very moment. Where there is pain,
give them Your peace and mercy. Where there is self doubting,
release a renewed confidence to work through them. Where there is
tiredness or exhaustion, I ask You to give them understanding, guidance, and
strength as they learn submission to Your leading. Where there is
spiritual stagnation, I ask You to renew them by revealing Your nearness, and by
drawing them into greater intimacy with You. Where there is fear,
reveal Your love, and release to them Your courage. Where there is a
sin blocking them, reveal it, and break its hold over my friend's life.

Bless their finances, give them greater vision, and raise up leaders and
friends to support and encourage them. Give each of them discernment
to recognize the evil forces around them, and reveal to them the power they have
in You to defeat it. I ask you to do these things in Jesus'
name.

P.S. Passing this on to anyone you consider a friend will bless you both.
Passing this on to one not considered a friend is something Christ would do. "Do
not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps if you're not willing to move your
feet."

I hope this was as encouraging and challenging to you as it was to me.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott

The Greater Work

Dear Worship Ministry Members,

Worship. A way of life. That is the undercurrent of this ministry we share. Our living. It either validates or invalidates our Sunday morning praises. Actually, it does both depending on which moment is in question.

Prayer. An act of worship. Though that may not be the definition of what prayer is, it certainly is an act of worship. Accordingly, it is an integral part of the ministry that we share. We pray to begin rehearsal, we pray before we depart. Sometimes we pray in the middle of rehearsal. But are we praying as the scripture teaches us, “without ceasing”? [I Thessalonians 5:17] Is prayer a way of life? Are we experiencing a constant communion with our Lord?

The Lord placed a burden for prayer on my heart early this year. As a result I intensified my pastoral prayer. Many of you have responded to my inquiries and have given me an item or area to agree with you in prayer. That is always the way I have discussed it, agreeing. By saying that I am implying that you are already praying about that need, and that I am desiring to join you in that earnest plea. I believe you are praying for the things that you have asked me to pray for. Some of you have been praying for these things for years. I am about to ask you to agree with me in prayer as well.

Don’t stop reading because you are intimidated by this. I am not asking for the commitment yet. I simply want you to know what I see the Lord developing and at least part of the timeline for all this.

This is a long-term commitment, but it has been a long-term development as well. Shortly after I arrived in Morgantown I began to ponder who would serve as prayer partners and how that would function. I prayed and waited, waited and prayed. It seemed so long in coming when in my previous pastorates I developed some sort of prayer circle around me fairly quickly. I thought coming “home” would make that even quicker. The Lord had different plans.

I formulated a list of people, and before I felt lead to ask them, the list began to change. Things changed in my relationships with people, people changed, I changed. Then as we entered the fall, Pastor David began to talk about his current sermon series with me. Not only did I begin to get excited because of the content of the series, but God began to show me that His time was unfolding for the prayer ministry he had placed on my heart throughout my pastoral ministry.

Though I have been praying about it for a couple of years, today I sent out a plea to a group of men who I have asked to serve in a core group called the Inner Circle. Without going into the details of the commitment I have asked them to make, know that I will be calling on them to pray over a prayer card for me, my family, and this ministry daily.

Beyond this core group, I desire to enlist the labors of a larger team. I desire this for two reasons: 1) More people praying will change more people [at least all those involved] and 2) It spends the joy of the victories won across broader group. It is this group that will be open to all interested in partnering with us in prayer for the worship life of our entire church.

I will give you more details in the weeks ahead, but I wanted to alert you to this developing prayer ministry opportunity. Pastor David has encouraged us to be working on drafting a solemn covenant. I pray you would begin to consider including on-going prayer for you own life of worship and the worship life of our entire church somehow, somewhere in that covenant. Or at least understand that praying for this ministry we share will be a part of your involvement in it as you trust the Lord to transform you through it.

I pray that through this journey we will all become more like Jesus and that part of that change would be to have a better understanding of prayer. Oswald Chambers describes prayer like this.

Prayer does not equip us for the greater works-prayer is the greater work….When you labor at prayer, from God’s perspective there are always results. (My Utmost for His Highest, October 17, “The Key of the Greater Work”)

May God heighten our sense of anticipated results as we being to draw closer to Him in prayer.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott

EXTREME

Dear Worship Ministry Members,

Allow me to remind you of our vision statement. Our Worship Ministries exist to nurture worship as a lifestyle characterized by sincere responses to God’s self-revelations. God reveals Himself, and we respond. That is the essence of worship. We want to nurture that not as isolated acts, but as a way of life.

There are a couple of phrases running through my head as I write. “Our God is extreme” is the first one. It comes from the new curriculum that we are using in our musical disciple-making endeavor that is our Children’s Music Ministry. The song by the same title ass some questions of the listener and then affirms some truths about God. It is solid song scripturally (say that three times fast) and the kids really love singing it. This makes it a joy to teach and share. Oh, the delight of knowing we are instilling these kinds of truths into the hearts and minds of these children! If your soul is stirred, speak to me. We may have a place of ministry for you.

As wonderful and powerful as that phrase is, that revelation if you will, there is another that is searing my conscience. It is the closing line of the song, repeated several times. “He deserves extreme devotion.” This one is a little more difficult to sing, and I do not mean because of the way it is written musically. It is more difficult because it communicates our only appropriate response to God.

Though not everyone will do it, it is a simple thing to state the fact. “Our God is extreme.” Extremely powerful, extremely gracious, extremely loving, etc. It is an entirely different thing to say that this truth has an implication on the way I live, and yet another to say I will according to it.

The key word in these phrases is extreme. That is defined as “far beyond a norm in quantity or amount or degree; to an utmost degree.” Those of you that have been reading My Utmost for His Highest probably can begin to see where I am going with this. Certainly God consists of all good far beyond the norm in quantity, amount and degree. His love is extreme. Simply consider the cross.

With that revelation in mind, what should be our response? Extreme devotion. What is devotion? It can be defined as selfless affection and dedication. So, our response to God should be selfless affection and dedication far beyond the norm in quantity or amount or degree. Our utmost for His Highest. Our best for His Glory. Does that describe your relationship to Christ? Or better yet, is that what others would say, especially those closest to you, to describe your relationship with your Lord.

Are you living a life of obedience to Christ? If not what is keeping you? Do you know there is more to the Christian life than you have understood and experienced? Do you long for something more? What should you do?

Oswald Chambers put it like this.

It is not study that brings understanding to you, but obedience. Even the
smallest bit of obedience opens heaven, and the deepest truths of God
immediately become yours. Yet God will never reveal more truth about
Himself to you, until you have obeyed what you know already. (My Utmost
for His Highest, October 10, “How Will I Know?”)

Be encouraged. If you feel like you have almost grasped something of God, obey what you know, and trust to meet God in your obedience. Jesus is waiting to draw you closer than you ever thought possible. Trust me, you will be extremely satisfied with all he has to offer, but first you must offer all you have.

Let us encourage each other in this obedience that Christ may be formed in us.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott

In Christ

Dear Disciples of the Lord,

I am really excited to be entering into this next season as a church family. As Pastor David challenges us to live the call together, I can only begin to imagine the transformation that may take place in our midst. Maybe it did not sound to you like the continuation of Missions Conference, but it was.

This call that Jesus has issued is one that requires all of us. This is more of a command than an invitation. We must come with abandon to Him, offering Him all that we are. We must hold nothing back.

Ultimately, this is not about doing, but about being. As Pastor David and I talked about this series today he affirmed that. Jesus is calling us to be, not to do. It just so happens that our doing flows out of our being, so some different doings will probably result. This call is about relationship more than responsibilities.

I asked you last week to begin thinking of what you will do to be a blessing to others in the upcoming Christmas season. Please know that I am assuming that your activity will flow out of your relationship to Christ. But maybe as you think about doing, there is something in the way. Something that keeps you from answering the call with a resounding, “Yes!” Something that keeps you from Jesus.

Oswald Chambers slammed me again yesterday when he said the following.

Your duty in service and ministry is to see that there is nothing between Jesus
and yourself. Is there anything between you and Jesus even now? If
there is, you must get through it, not by ignoring it as an irritation, or by
going up and over it, but by facing it and getting through it into the presence
of Jesus Christ. Then that very problem itself, and all that you have been
through in connection with it, will glorify Jesus Christ in a way that you will
never know until you see Him face to face. (My Utmost for His Highest, October
3, “The Place of Ministry”)

So what is that thing between you and Jesus? What is that thing that you must get through to get into the presence of Jesus? You place of ministry is IN JESUS. By that I mean you must find your way through that irritation or that mountain and into Jesus before you can really serve Him well.

That is part of what I mean each time I sign off. It is my desire to remain in Christ. For apart from that abiding, I am not useful to Him, or anyone else for that matter. Therefore, let us learn over these next few months how to live in Christ. The call, and our sharing it together, will flow supernaturally from there.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott

Ministry Notes
♪ Thanks to those who attended last weeks reading. That was a good time together. Thank you Susan Callahan for coordinating for us. Next social is set for Friday, November 4 at 7:00 p.m. Watch for details.