Devotional

Below is a devotional sent to us by our sending agency, WorldVenture. I thought it was so well said, I decided to post it on our blog for others to benefit from as well. Jenn and I are beginning to comprehend this type of life as we watched God do the impossible when we, and so many of you, decided to ask in prayer!

Enjoy.

Dear Mission Family,

One of the implications of living in the shadow of the cross is understanding what it means to pray, think and live supernaturally.  I believe it is the heart of sanctification.  We are to live by the power of the Spirit of God.  But how easy it is for us to forget.

A good friend met with me recently and announced that he is a genuine apostate.  He has left the faith.  This friend has a dramatic conversion story, many examples of powerful Spirit work in and through him, and he is a seminary grad and former pastor.  But he has tossed it all aside believing now that present reality is the only thing that ensures peace in this life.  The supernatural, including an inerrant Word of God, Jesus as the Son of God and even the hope of eternity for him is gone. 

I wonder if my friend doesn't actually reflect my own challenge of trying to live my life apart from faith in the supernatural.  For my friend, it is now intentional; for me it is simply that it comes unSpiritually natural. 

Kind of like the disciples when the 5,000 men and more were listening to the Master.  "Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here." 

That was an excellent response to a very real problem.  The disciples might even have had some concern for the crowd and were giving a very reasonable solution.  Jesus could have agreed with their plan and dismissed the crowd.  However, that solution would not have taught them to live supernaturally.  And so Jesus replies, "YOU give them something to eat."  Immediately they were forced into the realm of the supernatural.  Using the best language of my Missouri roots we would say, "Ain't no way no how!"  True, but it IS the way to live, think and pray.  Jesus encourages us to operate in the realm of the supernatural.

I wonder how often I roll through my day not even thinking about what God might want to do through me that is impossible without his intervention.  Perhaps I've developed a habit of measuring every challenge by my capacity rather than by God's.  Perhaps I've even applied that to the capacity of my WorldVenture department or our WorldVenture impact in the world.  "Oh, we can't do that.  We don't have enough..." you fill in the blank.  And so there it lies, dead in the human capacity pool because we fail to pray supernaturally.  We don't even give God a chance to say no!

I think it was Martin Luther who once said, "I've got so much to do today it will take two hours of prayer to get it all done."  There was a man who understood the difference between personal or organizational capacity and supernatural prayer.  Would you care to try it on for size this month?  Actually, it never fits; you don't have the capacity!  But why not test this supernatural God with some supernatural prayer?  Reopen that "ain't no way no how" folder and see if your prayer can match your God.  And don't forget to act if God whispers back, "YOU give them something to eat!"

Doug Hazen

Regional Mission Director

Northwest Regional Connections