This blog is about encouraging, empowering and equipping Ordinary Christians live an intentionally missional life that shine the Light of Christ brightly back into this dark world. We will provide training on on developing the basic skills necessary for living a life of a missionary; Biblical insights that will empower Ordinary Christians to share their faith; and inspirational stories of other Ordinary Christians who are living a life on mission with Christ.
The world we live in is a very spiritually dark world. Everyday people are roaming around in this darkness cold, frightened and stumbling around. Many, if not most, of these people don't even realize they exist in darkness! Why? Because they have never experience the Light of Christ and don't know any different!
But for those of us who have come to faith in Christ we have experienced the Light and even more than that Jesus says we are now the Light of the world. People only exist in spiritual darkness because Christians have either not come into their life to shine the Light of Christ or Christians have been hiding their Light and keeping it from those who most desperately need it.
Living a powerful missional life doesn't happen because you have learned how to harness your strengths and apply it to the area of missional living! As a matter of fact it is impossible to live a powerful missional life from your own personal strengths but instead, those who are intentionally pursuing a missional life, find that it is the exact opposite that is true. It's not from our strength but through our weaknesses that we find the power necessary to engage in a powerful life on mission. It's an oxymoron for sure but it's a truth that cannot be denied found in scripture.
POWERFUL MISSIONAL LIVING COMES NOT FROM OUR STRENGTHS
BUT FROM OUR WEAKNESSES!
If the truth be told, God loves to use weak people to exhibit His great power and the good part is that everyone has weakness'. Some have physical weakness', others have emotional weakness', then their are those who may be consider weak intellectually. The kind of weakness isn't the issue. God loves to use all kinds of weaknesses and He love to use all our weaknesses.
However, the most common way people, including Christians, like to deal with their weaknesses is to try to defend them, hide them, excuse them or deny them. We defend them by saying that they are natural and that everybody has them. We hide them when we try to cover them up so others won't recognize them as a weakness but actually view them as a strength. We excuse them when we try to to convince ourselves and others that though it was wrong it really wasn't to bad. And then there's just the out and out denial that we ever exhibited such a weak trait. But for those who live powerful missional lives a different way of dealing with their weaknesses has been developed. Read this scripture to get a glimpse of what I mean:
"Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor. 12:8,9 (NIV)
According to God's word through the Apostle Paul's example Christians who want to live powerful missional lives need to learned to "BOAST" or "DELIGHT" in their weaknesses. Now that's a totally different way of looking at our weaknesses! And it looks totally WRONG! Beginning to embrace this way of thinking about our weaknesses is going to take some time to wrap your minds and our hearts around it. It's a totally different perspective that comes across totally crazy. But in order to get to the place where we can accept this new way of thinking we need to look at Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV),
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Why does this way of looking at our weakness look so backwards? Because we don't think about things the way God thinks about them! His perspective is totally different about life than our perspective! He is Holy and perfect and we are sinners through and through. Of course God's way of viewing life would be completely opposite from your way. We think God wants to use our strengths but instead we learn that God wants to use our weaknesses.
Why?
Why does God chose to use our foolish weakness to accomplish His extraordinary work?
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him." 1 Cor. 1:25-29 (NIV)
Why? So that no one, not a single person, can stand up and boast of the great things he has done for God! The only boasting that God want to happen, when His extraordinary work is accomplished, is us boasting of:
THE GREAT THINGS GOD HAS ACCOMPLISHED EVEN
THROUGH OUR WEAKNESS!
So, if you want to live a powerful missional life where the Light of Christ shines brightly through you and into your part of this dark world, then you will need to embrace the concept that God wants to accomplish His great work through your weakness.
PRAISE GOD FOR THIS WAY OF DOING THINGS!
FOR IT IS ONLY A TRUE AND LIVING GOD THAT CAN USE EVEN OUR WEAKNESSES TO ACCOMPLISH HIS GREATNESS!
I want to be an encouragement to you as you pursue a life on mission with Christ. Each week I send out via email a video devotional on Missional Living for FREE! If you would like to receive this free subscription to MISSIONAL LIVING DEVOTIONAL then just fill out the subscription form below.
So, here's the challenge we are faced with! Whose perspective on our weaknesses are we going to accept? Ours or Gods? If we accept ours we will never truly engage in the missional life that Christ has called us to because we will always feel our weaknesses disqualify us. But if we, by faith, accept God's perspective then we will wholeheartedly accept the mission because we will understand that nothing, not even our weaknesses, can hinder us, let alone stop us, from living that powerful missional life that Christ is leading us into.
To become a Follower of Christ requires a certain level of faith to begin the journey. But as we start following and experiencing both the power and presence of Christ we really begin to become a believer. Watch this video and be both empowered and encouraged to live a powerful missional life.
Sign up now for a FREE subscription to Missional Living Devotionals and start receiving weekly encouragement to live a powerful missional life.
