Worship As Ministry And Mission

"Usually, the next step after catching a vision is to see it die. There is a special reason for this: our vision often contains a combination of godly concerns and human perspectives, so God has to engineer a way whereby the godly concerns remain and the human perspectives are changed to divine perspectives. His way of doing this is to cause the vision to die. This is a Biblical principle that can be traced from Genesis to Revelation. The vision Abraham received of being the father of a great nation "died" when he found his wife was barren. The vision Moses received "died" when he was rejected by his people and was forced to flee into the desert for forty years. Why, we ask, does God bring a vision to birth and then allow it to die? For this reason: the waiting time in which we find ourselves during the death of a vision is God's classroom for the development of godly character in us. It is in the waiting time, as the vision "dies", that such qualities as patience, persistence, perseverance and self-control are built into us. Has God given you in the past a vision of something that you knew was definitely from Him - but now the vision has died? Then don't be discouraged. This is the way God works. He is using the waiting time to change your ideas to His ideas and your perspectives to His perspectives."

by: Selwyn Hughes

as found at

http://oneplace.com/devotionals/everydaylight/546650.aspx

For the last year, God has been birthing a vision in our family. God has faithfully given us clarity and direction. God has faithfully provided for our families needs as we have followed where he lead. And now, I believe, God is asking us to allow the vision to die.

Since we have returned to North Carolina, everything has been a struggle. Finances, relationships, everything. I had a friend ask me about my prayer life since I had returned from IHOP-KC, "the intercessors utopia", he said. Off the top of my head I said it was a stuggle. Later reflecting on my comment, I realized it was not my prayer life that was in turmoil. I find myself nearly in constant prayer. All my thoughts it seems are focused in an ongoing dialog with God. Though it looks different than it was in KC, I'm not in a prayer room soaking in the atmosphere of worship and intercession, the heart of prayer is there.

What is different, what has changed, is the faith behind the prayers. I read in EM Bounds book on Prayer that prayer and faith go together. Jesus made it clear that we are to pray believing we will receive what we ask. Pray believing. My prayers have taken on a more desperate tone. They are not long or elaborate. They are more akin to "Lord Help me, Lord save me!"

I am realizing that becuase of my present circumstances, primarily the lack of direction and lack of finances, I find that my trust in God is wavering. And yet I keep coming back to Him. I keep seeking His face. Even though I can't feel His presence, it is His presence that I seek. Even though I can't hear Him, it's His voice I long to hear.

And so every time we go to worship, I cry. Because worship exposes the longing of my heart. In the midst of what the world and even I think of as failure, I long to worship Him. I crave His presence. To sing "We worship and bow down," to sing "God is good all the time and all the time God is good" to praise God in the midst of this is both foolishness and strength.

And so a week ago, I felt led by God to kneel at the altar, and give the vision back. A pastor who is a colleague and friend shared this quote by Hughes with me. In a two minute conversation before worship, he said "I read this quote that said 'sometimes after God gives the vision, it has to die.'" I wept for the truth of His words hit deep in my heart.

And so we arranged a time the next evening. I came and offered back to God the vision of a calling to worship and prayer. I know with every fiber in my being that this is what God is calling me to do. And yet every circumstance seems to point against it. And so, I gave back to God what He had given to me. Like Abraham, like Moses, it was God's calling, God's vision, God's desire before it was mine. And so in faith, I knelt at the altar, and offered back to God this calling to worship and prayer and the dream of being set apart as an intercessor. I told Him I didn't understand. And I told Him that in spite of it all, all I wanted was more of Him.

And I left it there, the vision, on the altar, to die. It is no longer mine, though it burns within my being. And so we wait for resurrection.

// posted by Mark Curtis @ 10:00 AM