Longings

 “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, 30while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” 31And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:29-31...."We must have apostolic faith, power, and consecration if we're to see apostolic results....and be prepared for apostolic trials." Watchman Nee

I think there has always been a longing within the church for a ministry like we read of in the Book of Acts. Wonders and miracles. Challenges and victories. Large numbers of people coming to Christ. Cities being turned upside down for the Lord. Our hearts are thrilled at the thought. There have been periods when the church has lived in that power, when the Holy Spirit swept an area, even a nation, moving in miraculous power. But at some point, the moving seemed to cease, and the church seemed to become more of an organization than a living organism, a literal part of the Body of Christ. In those times we read the book of Acts and our hearts are warmed at the thought. We even pray that such times would once again come upon us. There have been moves, but not on the level of what we read of there. Why not? Why do our longings and prayers not bear fruit? The answer is found in the quote from Nee.

There are 5 points Nee makes about the church moving in the power that was witnessed in the time of the apostles. He points to having apostolic power. We want that. We also want the apostolic results that he mentions. It's the rest of the equation we shrink back at. To have the apostolic power and results we must also possess apostolic consecration and faith. And we must be prepared to face the kind of trials they did in the living out of all of it. That is a very tall order for our comfort loving, low risk lives of what we call faith.

Just a short look at what Nee speaks of shows us the daunting steps we must undertake. Consecration; the giving of every aspect of ourselves. Our lives, our families, our future, our ministry. We, and they are not our own. They are given completely over to Him....in total trust. We trust in His goodness all along the way, especially those parts of the way we don't understand, and that will be the majority of the way. This is where we develop apostolic faith. When we have these two, we will begin to pray the kind of prayers the believers prayed in Acts 4, and we will fully believe we are heard, and will trust Him to respond and move as He sees fit. We will see results. Sometimes they will be earth shaking, as they are in the Scripture, and other times, they will be more subtle, but there will be results, and we will know without any doubt that it is Him.

That leaves us with what may be the most sobering of all Nee's points; being prepared to face and walk through apostolic trials. Church historians believe that every one of the apostles died a martyr's death, except John, who after being tortured, was sent to a prison island, where he lived out the remainder of his life. In those days when the church moved in it's greatest witness, it faced its greatest dangers and tribulation. They pressed on, and they were ultimately victorious, but the cost was great. A cost not many in the western church are willing to enter into. The apostolic church ministered on their knees and at the cross. We prefer to do so from our easy chairs and from a distance from the crucified but risen Christ. And so we never really know and experience the wonder of those believers and of that time in the church. We go on longing for, but for the most part, never realizing that which we say we desire. Will this change? I believe we are entering times when only such lifestyles will see us through. Where only the church on its knees and at the cross will triumph.....and see His wondrous works. Will you and I be ready for that, for ready or not, these times will come upon us.

I want to be swept up in such a move, not swept aside and away. How about you? May the prayer of our hearts be "Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus! Come soon! Come now!"

Blessings,

Pastor O