Playing for the Right Team

I shared this amazing Francis Anfuso quote on my FaceBook Status today:

"We’re created to be the salt and light of this earth. (Matthew 5:13–16) Salt preserves what is good, melts what is cold, and flavors what is bland.
Light eradicates darkness, shows direction, and reveals the truth. By blending into the world, adopting its values, and compromising Biblical wisdom, we misrepresent God and our life experience ends in regret. Eventually, we become exactly what we detest, living and dying in mediocrity.
If we, as Christ’s church, misrepresent Jesus, then we lose the essence of our purpose. Either we reflect the likeness of Jesus, or tarnish it and live a forgettable life. We must change, reflect our true Source, or accept the reality that we aren’t living up to our full potential. The God of second chances awaits our decision."

I've been thinking of our role as Christians in light of sports teams (March Madness affecting my brain :) We who have been redeemed play for God's team, while the Lost play for Satan's, whether they realize it or not. We Christians, however, have a choice: we can play with abandon and total commitment, or we can skip practices, shirk games, become distracted by our own affairs, and essentially bench ourselves. I must ask myself, "how loyal and committed are you? Honestly, I vaccilate. Sometimes I'm the gung-ho, most-improved player, and other times, I'm lazy and indifferent, the sort of player coaches want to kick in the butt. I hate it when I'm apathetic, but I don't usually hate it enough at the time. I WANT to LIVE in exuberance and steadfastness, not to waver with the wind.

So my prayer this week is that I fall so completely in love with Jesus that I can't help but exude His very life and light to EVERY person I encounter. That I'm not so caught up in my own agenda that I despise the very beings HE died for, you know, the ones cluttering up my goals. Sometimes I'm so self-absorbed, it's embarassing. So Lord, cause me to so hunger and thirst for You, that I AM salt and light in a world starving for Your love-a world looking to us to pour it out that love for them.

And we say we want revival...

Lately I have been studying the lives of old-time revivalists...and also modern Christians who have healing ministries. Many of us American Christians claim we want revival; we want to see miracles and mass salvations, but are we really willing to pay the price? The biggest difference I notice between the old time revivalists/modern healers and your run-of-the-mill American Christian is PASSION and COMMITMENT. I don't know about you, but compared to them, I'm lazy, indifferent and distracted. They had/have single-minded purpose to promote and usher in the Kingdom of God, and to that end, spent hours and hours on their faces before the Lord, crying out for His hand to move in mighty ways. They fasted and gave up lives of luxury to live among the poor and diseased. They didn't give a thought to financial success, increasing their standard of living, entertainment, recreation, or personal fulfillment. They embraced poverty and possessed radical love for the lost. Reading about such zeal makes me ashamed of my shallow, self-serving pursuit of STUFF and EXPERIENCES.

In this context, I'm embarrassed to note that my thoughts often revolve around getting a raise, taking a vacation, buying new shoes, finding a new hairstyle, picking up a latte, or catching up on my favorite TV shoes. None of those things are wrong in themselves, but what portion of my thoughts and energy are budgeted toward things for ME rather than for the Kingdom of God? I think it boils down to priorities. I have been indoctrinated to think I deserve to live the middle-class, American life. I have not yet allowed love for Jesus to saturate my every fiber. I have not set aside MY time to sit at His feet soaking in His love and filling up with the Holy Spirit's fire. Revival will not come until we are done with putting God on the back burner while we pursue the American dream.

Daniel Kolenda wrote, "Everybody seems to want 'revival,' thinking it is a pleasant and enjoyable experience. But to be revived is to be shaken out of a state of slumber, to be jolted out of apathetic complacency, to be alarmed awakened, and startled.  Too many churches praying for revival have a 'Do not distub' sign hanging on the door...Instead of praying for revival, perhaps we should pray with Sir Francis Drake, "Disturb us, Lord! Powerful prayer begins where complacency ends."

Acts 2:42-47 reads: "They DEVOTED themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."



Quite a contrast to the average American life. I truly believe that if we devote ourselves to PRAYER and the study of scripture, as did the apostles, we will catch fire. Passionate intercession will bring revival, starting with us. And that fire will spread, igniting a family, a church, a community, a city, a nation, and eventually, the world.