This verse is a pretty good description of the work of
associational missions. God grouped us
together by geography, theology, and mission.
There are clear ways that God is at work among us; we don’t have to urge
God to be at work, or will Him to care about His world: He cares and He is at
work. As Henry Blackaby noted (and Jesus
before him, John 5:17) we must join God where He is at work. To do this, we must really know God’s heart,
which isn’t especially hard to do since He has revealed His heart all over the
pages of Scripture. What is the issue
then? I think Oswald Chambers summarized
it well in the daily devotional My Utmost
for his Highest:
“If anything is a mystery to you
and it is coming in between you and God, never look for the explanation in your
intellect, look for it in your
disposition, it is that which is wrong. When once your disposition is
willing to submit to the life of Jesus, the understanding will be perfectly
clear, and you will get to the place where there is no distance between the
Father and His child because the Lord has made you one, and ‘in that day ye
shall ask Me no question’ (John 16:23).”
When our “disposition” is willing to submit to God we will by
definition have revival. Our concern for
the church will mirror God’s, and our efforts will be consistent with His heart
and concern for each community in which He has planted our churches.
In the book, Deep
Mentoring Randy D. Reese and Robert Loane wrote, “Igniting a grassroots
renewal is possible. Although there are
important things to be said for vision from the top or a ‘speed of the leader,
speed of the team’ approach, if we desire the work of the Spirit in our midst
these [top-down movements] are sometimes overrated.” The thing I really like about this idea is
that God can work in small, praying, believing clusters in churches to ignite
spiritual revolutions. Only our
“dispositions” can prevent this. And
these small revolutions are what we desperately need for Kingdom expansion and
cultural transformation.
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