Spiritual Warfare and Prayer (Mcmaster University) — George Verwer

This cassette was recorded at Southern Ontario Youth Missions Conference, held on Saturday, October 15th, at McMaster University campus in Hamilton, Ontario. The speaker is George Verver of Operation Mobilization.

The Call to Become Spiritually Dangerous

His message is spiritual warfare and prayer. Jim Elliott once said, We are so utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we profess to know a power the twentieth century does not recommend, but we are harmless, and therefore unharmed.

We are spiritual pacifists, non-militants, conscientious objectors, in this battle to the death with the principalities and powers in high places. Now meekness must be had for contact with men, but brass, outspoken boldness is required to take part in the comradeship of the cross.

We are the sideliners, coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers, while content to sit by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. And listen to his last sentence, The world cannot hate us, we are too much like its own.

Oh, that God would make us dangerous. George, come help us make us dangerous this morning. I really must apologize for being late. I was watching my watch very carefully. I was trying to type up a very urgent letter that's late.

The only problem is, I'm on Chicago time. Chicago. And I was thinking, boy, this is quite a... Well, I think I better change that watch. Let's just once again pray. Lord, we thank you that when we make even little mistakes, you have a way of overruling.

And we thank you for the few extra minutes just to worship you, to sing your praises. Guide us now in this difficult subject. In Jesus' name, amen. I'd like you to turn to Ephesians chapter 6. Before we read that, I'd like to just make mention of a few other books.

Some of you as students may be completely broke. And I'll give you a little secret about that book table. Every time you buy a book, you can ask them for one free. The one they give you free will be a magazine book, like Personal Revival.

Many people have paid $4 for that book. The full book is in that magazine. And I feel this is one of the most important subjects. We had an extra session that we could deal with this morning. Personal Revival.

So I commend that. And you can get it free with any other book. I also wanted to mention, because I mentioned his name this morning, Dale Roton's Logic of Faith, written originally for Muslims. An apologetic that helps Muslims understand our Christian faith.

Again, in magazine form, now available in 30 languages. You can get it free with any other book. I never forget, in France, when I first got to Europe, I think I was spending the night on the floor of the Salvation Army and somebody gave me this booklet, Chocolate Soldier.

Just unbelievable. It may be a little old-fashioned in language now, but the message is still relevant. C .T. Studd, the founder of the WEC, Chocolate Soldier. Now that isn't a very large book, so we put two books together.

There's Dale Roton's Christian Strategy. How we, this was written when he was a student at Wheaton College, how we can be involved in a strategy for world evangelism. So get these magazine books. If you want to buy extras, I think they're only a quarter.

That's quite amazing. People are charging almost that much for a leaflet. These are full, unabridged books. So do take advantage of that special opportunity. I was so grateful to be able to give out this Ganges Outreach 83.

I just picked this up at the printer in Chicago. He does these for us free. We don't believe in putting much money into publicity because our money is committed to about 500 literature projects in 70 languages across the world, so we're not too enthused about putting a lot of money into propaganda.

Over here, thought we got this done free. I was just spending some time in prayer, and I was praying for this campaign, Go83. This is a united campaign in one of the most needy areas in India, different mission groups together with OM, reaching Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, a target area of 100 million people.

Let's bring that to the night of prayer tonight and make use of it. Praise the Lord that we could get that to you, even though it was just printed a couple of days ago. Ephesians 6 is one of the most important passages in the Bible when it comes to thinking about missions.

The Full Armor of God in Spiritual Warfare

If we don't get what we find in Ephesians 6 and, of course, other related passages, we are going to be very soon in trouble. Let's just read some of the verses, beginning in verse 10. Underline that. I hope you mark your Bible.

When I was a young believer, somebody taught me to mark my Bible. It's helped me so much. The devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm. Then, with a belt of truth buckled around your waist, with a breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with a readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, in addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert, and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should.

It's interesting that the Holy Spirit allowed the Apostle Paul to bring into his word a personal request for prayer. Isn't that interesting? Sometimes I feel a little hesitant to ask people to pray for me.

I mean, who am I to ask people to pray for me? There's so many other people to pray for. I've even said, and this is how mixed up I get, don't pray for me, pray for somebody else, or pray for my wife.

Well, there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with asking people to pray for you. If you're going to go to the mission field, you're going to have to be delivered a little bit of pride.

In our generation, people, they often feel difficult to receive money. The Bible says the laborer is worthy of his hiring. And it's only pride that keeps us from receiving, especially if we're only talking about our basic needs.

We're not talking about money to build an evangelical castle in the jungles of Texas prosperity. We're talking about somehow finance to survive and to press on in the work. And there's nothing wrong with asking people to pray for you.

As soon as you think about becoming a missionary, you ought to think about doing some kind of a newsletter. That's what I've been actually typing up, because it's a couple of days late. And I started doing this newsletter when I was about 19, on my way to Mexico.

And it's been my link with people, because if I'm overseas as I've been, I can't be having personal fellowship with all my friends and prayer partners. So there's got to be some link. About an hour ago, I was praying through some prayer letters from people that send their letters to me, because my prayer time was a little short this morning.

And then as I was praying for that person, I got the burden to write. And so I quickly wrote a letter off to him. I would challenge you about the need for you to start now mobilizing people who will pray for you.

Whether you end up on the mission field or not, let's face it, everybody here is either a missionary or a mission field. And even if God keeps you back in some little village in the outback of Saskatchewan, there's still needy people around you who need Christ, and you'll need prayer to reach them.

So Paul said, pray for me. And that's an encouragement. And it's encouraged me to say that I would appreciate your prayers as my wife and I, mid-January, go back to live in Pakistan for two months and minister there, especially facing Muslims in evangelistic meetings.

I feel very, very inadequate. I would appreciate your prayers for our time there in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. What an open door those countries are, especially for Canadians. Ephesians 6 is a chapter you're going to want to memorize.

You're going to want to read regularly. There's a verse in Corinthians that ties very much in with verse 11 where we're told that we're standing against the devil's schemes. It says, be not ignorant, be not ignorant of Satan's devices.

The Reality and Weapons of Spiritual Warfare

And that's why I have chosen to speak to you on the subject of the spiritual warfare. We're also told in Corinthians, I think it's 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5. I wasn't going to turn to it, but let's turn to it.

I think it'd be good. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5, but we can start reading at verse 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. That's strong, isn't it? For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, I'm reading my old King James now, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

It is war. It is war. Spiritual warfare. And the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty unto God. As a young student, I made a study on the subject of prayer. I was amazed. The Gospels, the prayer life of Jesus.

There's a whole book written on it. The book of Acts. We need to get to know the book of Acts. I was in a church meeting some time ago, and I said, I want to speak on the book of Acts. Please turn with me to Acts chapter 29.

Almost everybody, including the pastor, were turning. Of course, you all know, don't you? Only 28 chapters in the book of Acts. We are Acts chapter 29. It hasn't stopped. The Holy Spirit hasn't changed.

He's not now some kind of a bourgeois American capitalist who mainly relaxes. You know, part of the biggest problem in the thrust that took place when America got pushed into Vietnam was that during a crucial telegram, they couldn't find most of the top men.

One was mountain climbing, one was on a golf course, and the other one, I think, had disappeared altogether. When that telegram was sent, the tragedy and the agony that it eventually led to is just staggering.

And yet we are in something that spiritually is more significant than Vietnam. There are evil forces. There are lives at stake. There are eternal destinies at stake. We are not in some kind of computer game.

This is not war games. This is the real thing. And somehow this doesn't seem to get in. Maybe this is why God allows or raises up loudmouthed, intensive, burdened people like myself somehow to just come every once in a while and just somehow attempt to stab this truth into our soul.

The Cost of Discipleship and Love for Neighbor

Because somehow with the present contemporary preaching with a high emphasis on prosperity and blessings, it's not getting into our soul that we are in a war and that Jesus said in Luke 14, 33, except you forsake all that you have, you just cannot be my disciple.

Can you think of a verse more disturbing than that? I can. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Who is my neighbor? Then we have the story of the Good Samaritan in which love is shown for an enemy.

How many of us really have a burden for China? Really pray for China, one-fourth of the entire world or one-fifth? How many of us have a real burden for the Soviet Union? My heart was so burdened for the Soviet Union as a student I started to study Russian.

When I went to Spain I was... because I'd been in Mexico a little while and the best way to learn a language is just get out of the United States as fast as possible or Canada and get over there where people are speaking French or Italian or Urdu and I can tell you any dunce can learn a language.

I learned one. When I studied Spanish at college my teacher just looked, oh, very discouraging. I was supposed to read a book, I couldn't even read the title. In two months in Mexico I was preaching in Spanish.

Had been ever since. And I went to Spain and I started studying Russian and that ended in what I told you about already so we don't want to repeat the trauma. I just had the joy a few months ago again of being in the Soviet Union.

When I was there I just became so aware of the enormous pressure that these people live under. People disappear from society and go into underground printing presses and stay there for two years. One lady recently died of fumes in an underground press.

Many places in the Soviet Union they had no literature, hardly any Bibles. And don't think Soviet Christians are all some kind of special super saints. They're human beings just like us. The young people that came to me for counseling they were having struggles with sex and with jealousy and envy.

The same problems that many of us have struggles with over here. But what a challenge, what a burden. I think when we get a vision of some of these places then some of these teachings like accept and forsake all that you have, you can't be my disciple they make more sense.

Of course that's brought into balance. Philippians, God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And again and again as I tried to emphasize this morning earlier, one truth will bring another truth into balance.

Perseverance and the Discipline of Prayer

So we are in a spiritual warfare. There are real enemies and therefore it is not optional to wear our armor. It's not optional whether in the morning you go out without your armor. I don't think even in contemporary promiscuous society it's acceptable to go running out of your house in the morning naked and getting on the local bus.

I think even today it might cause someone to look. And it's just as ridiculous when as God's people without our breastplate, without our helmet, without our armor, without our waist being girded, we launch out into a day.

And of course we wonder then why by the end of the day we're defeated, discouraged and we've made another mess somewhere. Spiritual warfare is the call for every disciple and every Christian. And I hope you will understand that.

I don't know if I can find it, but I noticed in my book this amazing quotation by a man named H .A. Hodges from a book called Unseen Warfare. I think this is an important quotation. Let me read it. The fervor, speaking of the initial fervor, when we're first converted.

You know, a lot of people get my name mixed up and I was introduced to the huge conference as Mr. George Fervor. Anyway, I need some fervor, that's for sure. But I often found that the initial fervor I had as a young Christian wasn't always there.

It certainly wasn't always there in my quiet time battling through numbers. And it wasn't always there when I went out into the streets to witness. In fact, I found my heart was deceitful. I found I didn't even want to witness.

I found getting fed up with Operation Mobilization. I thought the whole thing was going crazy. And I had a lot of struggles. I don't know if you've read David Wilkerson's book, Have You Felt Like Quitting Lately?

But I think most of us, after we're in the warfare for a couple of years or a couple of decades, we do, we get to the place where we just feel like quitting. Maybe you never had the temptation. Wonderful.

I don't want to project all my problems on you. Forgive me. But you know, you've all heard over here of the midlife crisis. I was feeling great until a couple of years ago I picked up that book, Midlife Crisis.

I got through the first chapter and I thought, man, if all this is coming to pass, I'm finished. And I put the book back on the shelf. I haven't looked at it since. I prefer something a little more positive, you know, like the Psalms or something.

Don't be frightened when this initial fervor, the initial bubble, it's not your first love. Don't confuse it with your first love. When it disappears, here's what Hodges says. The fervor is especially characteristic of beginners.

It's drying up should be welcomed as a sign that we are getting beyond the first stage. When I first read that, I had to read it again. I thought it was a printing mistake. It should be welcomed as a sign that we are getting beyond the first stage.

To try to retain it or to long for its return in the midst of dryness is to refuse to grow up. And I believe God has brought us here today to have a head-on collision with growing up. It is to refuse the cost.

By our steady adherence to God, when the affections are dried up and nothing is left but the naked will clinging blindly to Him, the soul is purged of self-regard and cleansed in pure love. Are you experiencing that?

Do you know that kind of soldiering for Christ? That kind of reality? That kind of discipline? That kind of spiritual perseverance? That's God's will. That's God's will. You know, we get the idea these days that every Christian is to backslide.

Have you ever got that impression? That that was sort of a normal Christian life. First of all, you saved. Then after a period of time, it gets a bit rough. Somebody upsets you or you're not appreciated in your local church or somebody doesn't like your piano playing or they reject your testimony or something, there's a problem and self-pity comes in and envy comes in and hurt.

So easily we get hurt. Listen, if you don't want to ever get hurt anymore, let me give you some real deep insight. You're on the wrong planet. Now, I've heard that the Swedes are booking tours to the moon in, I think, 1996.

Maybe you could sign up. But as long as you're here, you're going to get hurt. There's no way to live without getting hurt. There's no way you're going to get married to anybody without being hurt. So if you don't want to be hurt, forget marriage.

Try to get a ticket to another planet. Oh, well, there are other options. Some have tried suicide. That hurts a lot of other people. Maybe some of you have thought of suicide. It may seem like an easy L.

I'd hate to discover it and end up in hell because of it. But not saying that all people who commit suicide end up in hell because I believe there are extreme cases where a believer could do that. A man in a Bible college in Europe recently committed suicide.

Deliver, perhaps, some people from a naive view of life. But, you know, if we're going to remain here, and I think that's the option for most of us, we've got to learn how to be hurt. And on the mission field, when we get in intensive evangelistic efforts, sometimes we hurt each other.

We're all different. We're very human. Very easy for you to listen to me here. Some of you may even find that hard. You come and live with me under pressure in a full-scale campaign where because the harvest is plenteous and the labor is a few and because God's people often aren't praying very much, the enemy gets his innings.

Do you play cricket in Canada? How in the world did that happen? I want to study that. I think that's an important thing that needs to be studied. But if you come across to England, I will tell you, you better learn the difference between a pitch and a baseball diamond as quick as possible.

But it is a nation of cricket fanatics, and the Pakistanis are five times, five times more intensive about cricket than the British. And that's why I'm talking about cricket, because I'm going to Pakistan soon, and I've got to get to understand what it's all about.

And another reason I'm mentioning it, in case you think this is a tangent, is because these people put more into cricket than we put into world missions. And they go out. Have you ever noticed how long cricket is, if you've ever watched it at all or heard about it?

It's a long, long, long game. That's why Americans go over and open their big mouths and say it's boring, and then end up being beat up by three Englishmen. But you know, when we go to our little midweek prayer meetings, I hope you all go to your church midweek prayer meeting, how much time do we actually spend in prayer?

We've got the hymns and the announcements. It usually starts late. And then we've got a special number. And then probably, if it's a really vivid contemporary place, we might have a film strip. And then we might have some prayer requests.

And for fortunate, prayer takes place for 20 minutes. At the one hour mark, people are looking at their watches. Now people have alarm watches. And if you're a preacher like me and you go overtime sometime, you know, it sounds like a band is starting across the audience.

And now with a new telephone watch that's just coming into being, I can just imagine in the middle of the prayer meeting all kinds of people phoning, you know, the pastor to come to the meeting and get the guy to stop speaking.

We created a form of Christianity in America that is not found in the Book of Acts. It's 80 American culture and 20 Christian. And that's why there must be some radical surgery. If you have cancer, you don't go down to the local drug store or chemist shop or pharmacy or whatever you call it here in Canada and ask for a band-aid or a cold compress.

You go for surgery or something relatively radical. And I feel today there is a cancer in the church. The cancer is prayerlessness. The cancer is a subtle form of deception where we have been tricked into saying peace, peace when there is no peace.

We have been tricked into thinking that we are biblical, evangelical New Testament Christians when we're not. We may be saved because our God is a God of mercy and salvation is hinged totally on what Jesus Christ has done on the cross for us.

We're saved by grace. But after salvation, we're supposed to move on. We're supposed to be enlisted in God's army and therefore we learn how to wear our armor and we learn how to use this weapon of prayer.

Loving Christ Through Personal Prayer

Let me ask you this thought-provoking question. When did you last have a day alone with God? Or would you classify that as something fanatical? If you fall in love and you spend a day alone with your newfound girlfriend about to become your fiancé, do you get classified as a fanatic?

Does everybody start talking about you? Oh, have you heard about Harry? He spent the whole day with Susie. I saw them together in the morning and in the afternoon. They've gone crazy. Let's call the police.

Oh, it's perfectly normal. They're in love. I know it because it happened to me. You know, I had a lot of difficulty in this area. I started going with girls when I was about four. But it's the truth.

I remember, the name was Shirley. I got my first kiss when I was about four and a half. It went on until I was saved, which was just before I was 17. About 32 different girls. Puppy love, but it was sure real to this puppy.

And then I got saved. I still got involved with a couple of girls. I led one to Christ and got involved in necking all night with her and it was a big mess. Somehow I was convicted that I had a weak area.

So I said, Lord, and I'm telling you the truth. In fact, I was in the front of a car. I was about to get involved in some petting. This girl was in love with me. She wanted marriage. That scared me. And I said, look, we've got to finish this.

And we separated. I went off somewhere and I said, Lord, you know, I've got to have at least two years away from this. Can you imagine me, age four to 17, dating, nightclubs? You know, the whole thing except jumping in bed.

Thank God the 50s was the age of romance, not bed linen. And God gave me those two years in which I didn't do any dating. And it was the best thing in my life. I'm not saying everybody should go that way.

And, of course, I had quite a bit repressed. I went to Moody Bible Institute. And, of course, that was a good place to go. You know, they always say there's no good-looking women going to the mission field.

So I went there. And I was pretty well protected by the faces. The word of God, of course, says be not afraid of their faces. But I'll never forget. Am I getting in trouble? I'll never forget. I'll never forget the day I was going up to rent a film.

And I was on the elevator going up that big moody building. And I walked around the corner outside of the elevator. And there was this girl sitting behind the desk. I'd never seen anything like her. I ended up getting to know her.

And my first conversation, I said, You're not going to the mission field, are you? It almost blew her off her chair. This obnoxious loudmouth. She's a very quiet farm girl doing her little secretarial job.

And, well, it's a long story. But we've been married for 23 years. And she's outside the door. It was real. It was real. Somebody says, Oh, that's just a lot of emotion. Man, 23 years is a long time for one emotion.

And if it was just emotion, how did Benjamin and Daniel and Christa, my three children, come along? No, it was a relationship. A significant, beautiful, long-term relationship. And that's what we have in Jesus Christ.

A significant, the most significant, long-term life relationship. And when we're in love with him, we want to spend time with him. When we're in love with him, we want to go where he wants us to go. And whether it's into the jaws of hell, we're happy because he's with us.

And we love him. And he loves us. And he says, I will go with you even to the ends of the earth. And you know the bottom line problem? We just don't love him. We just don't love him. Or maybe it's better put that it's sort of one-way traffic.

We like it when he loves us and he has forgiven us. And we now have heaven and we have peace and reality. We like the blessing, but we don't want the responsibility. Love him. And you know what the master said?

He said, if you love me, keep my commandments. So it's because we love Jesus that we enroll in his ranks as a soldier. And we're willing to pray, Lord Jesus, I'll go where you want me to go. And I'll do what you want me to do.

The Missionary Mandate and Willing Obedience

So many young people, when you talk to them about missionary work, they say something along the line of, well, they don't feel that's their thing. We have many people in America today who seem to be committed enough to become full-time Christian workers, but not committed enough to ever leave their own culture to be a full-time Christian worker.

This is a serious problem. Because it means that 99%, approximately, 99 of full-time American workers, Christian workers, remain in America. Maybe 95 would be safer. It depends who you count as a full-time worker.

But everybody working at Moody Bible Institute, you 700 employees, they're all full-time. If they're not full-time workers, then a lot of our missionaries working in Bible schools in France, then they're not full-time workers.

So we've got somewhere about 95 to 99 of our personnel who have taken at least the step to go into Christian work, they remain here. And 1 to tackle the rest of the world. And yet the Lord Jesus told us in Acts 1 -8, before he ascended into heaven, that we would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth.

Brothers and sisters, we can't go halfway. We can't say, Lord, I'm willing to be dedicated and be a Christian worker, but I'm not willing to go overseas. We've got to say, Lord, I give my life to you, and I'll go where you want me to go, wherever it might be.

So many students in their first year at seminary, when I go to these seminaries, they already know exactly what God's will is. They even come to me, and they say, well, I know God's called me to remain in America, but I'd like to talk to you anyway.

You know, as if I'm some kind of evangelical Pied Piper. I'm flattered he's willing to talk to me, even though he knows God has called him to stay in Dallas, Texas, with thousands and thousands and thousands of other Christian workers in Dallas, Texas.

I think we're predetermining God's will in our lives before we really know, before we've considered the options. We haven't even considered these places. We don't even know what's going on in the Muslim world.

We don't even know what kind of people are needed in these areas. Maybe Keith Green was a little extreme. God knit my heart with him just before he died, and he said, look, if you're not called to stay, you better go.

I said, wait a minute, Keith, you know, I mean, that's... But I've been thinking about that a lot since Keith gave me that line, and maybe it needs to be brought into balance. But certainly a larger number of people who enroll in the army of God and who learn the reality of prayer must begin to at least move in the direction of the battlefronts where one Christian soldier is taking on 10 ,000 rather than remain back here where one Christian soldier may be taking on 1 ,000.

I know there's a need here. It's interesting that the Mormons have 25 or 30 ,000 out on the field, and they don't lack any horsepower back here. Because what happens after these young men give two years out on the field, they come back here, they go into business, they get involved, they get committed, and they send another 25 ,000 out.

And I will tell you today as far as I can see it, and this is of concern to me when I see most of you are young people, that a far bigger problem is to get the churches to stand behind missions than to get the young people to go.

And some of you are going to have to face the reality that you're going to want to go and you're not going to be able to do it because we are part of the church, and when one member suffers, we all suffer.

At least you will never get there without a lot of patience, without a lot of prayer, and a lot of perseverance. To see God breaking through in the church and among the businessmen and among those who have the wherewithal, the resources to send out the armies of men and women.

I believe it is a biblical option that we have a mighty army of two and three-year people in short-term service to supplement hopefully an increasing army of more traditional, longer-term missionaries.

We need both and should never put one against the other. We should never confuse commitment, which is always life, soldiering for God, life. It's reality first, geography second. Don't confuse that with as a committed person saying, I believe two years geographically I should be overseas, at which time the Lord can confirm whether I should remain over there, go back and get more training and return, or one of the other many options, or return and become a supporter and a prayer warrior and a sender.

Hell shall they go, Romans 10, except they be sent. And today we need soldiers, men and women committed to this task, who are willing to go, and we need those who are willing to send. That's why we need each other, even if you're a pastor or a seminary teacher in Toronto or Calgary.

We need each other. We're not all to run off to Russia or China. The Holy Spirit must lead and guide and confirm, but certainly a larger number in obedience to the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the captain of our salvation, should begin to move by faith.

Because Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. And his commandments are, go ye. And he repeats it in Mark, go ye. Oh, young people, this is biblical. This is basic. We are in a warfare. Let's take this weapon of prayer.

Let's wear this full armor every day. Let's stop playing the game of words and enroll as a spiritual guerrilla force to make his name known in love and brokenness, in sensitivity and balance, to make his name known to the ends of the earth.

Prayer for Missionary Obedience

Let us pray. Oh, Lord, these words are strong. Some of us are frightened. You might actually somehow lovingly grab hold of us and want to lead us out to the ends of the earth. Lord, we know you'll never ask us to do something without giving us the grace to do it.

We know you don't want us to launch out on the basis of a guilt trip, by intimidation or whatever else, but by the sweet, tender, loving guidance of your Holy Spirit. Yet that doesn't exclude vision. That doesn't exclude obedience.