Trusting God to complete the mission He has called you to do

I was recently reading one of my favorite passages of the Bible – Jesus calming the sea (Luke 8:22-25).  As I read it I thought about how Jesus had told the disciples that they were going to reach the other side. He didn’t say, ‘let’s see how far we can go and if we can’t make it, then we’ll forget about it.’  No, Jesus said, ‘Let’s go to the other side of the lake.’  They would get to the other side of the lake, no question.

After saying this Jesus lay down and went to sleep.  The storm came in.  Not just a typical lake storm which the fishermen were used to, but such a storm that they felt they were in great peril and feared that they would die.  And in the midst of the howling wind, beating waves and frantic movement all about while fishermen trying to bail the water out of the small boat, Jesus slept.  It wasn’t because He was unconcerned that the storm had arisen or seemed to be totally unaware of the terror the disciples were experiencing that He continued His peaceful sleep.  He could peacefully rest because He knew that they were going to get to the other side, no matter what came up to attempt to slow them down or stop them.

At times in my life, even though I was confident that Jesus had called me to something or promised that He was going to do something in ministry, I have felt that He was ignoring me or was unconcerned that I was seeing little happen in connection to His promises or call…I have felt disappointed that it seemed that He was asleep on the job.  The Lord reminded me again through this passage that when He has said that He will do something, He will do it and I simply need to rest in Him.  I am not get anxious or impatient but must always wait in great faith that what He said He will do, He will do. 

If He has given you promises regarding using you to help to bring the gospel to your campus and to help develop a movement of students, administrators and faculty that will make a difference for Christ on your campus, then you must trust that He will do it. You must trust Him, no matter how great the storm is all around and no matter how sound asleep He may seem right now!  If He said He would do it, He will do it!

During the upcoming holidays, please take some time to ask God to show you His promises for you this coming semester.  Ask Him to place His plans in your mind and on your heart and direct you to do what will best bring about His glory on your campus.  Continue to ask Him to lead you to other believers at your campus to whom He has given the same call, the same dream for making His Name known among your classmates.

Even though we are taking a break from the coaching tips until the beginning of next semester, I will stay in touch with you with details about the Winter Bible Conference.  As soon as I know more details about the cost and the possibility of some of the travel expenses being paid for I will contact you.  I hope to see you there.  Continue in prayer that the Lord will provide the finances for you to go!  Raising funds for conferences  will guide you in seeking financial support from others for the conference. 

Good luck on your tests.  Enjoy the holidays! 

The Basics of Prayer

I just came across this summary of prayer and I thought it might be helpful to you to use to give someone an overview of what prayer is.  If I were to write a “summary” of prayer, it would end up being a 3 MB-sized document!  This New Life staff person managed to do a basic overview in less than a page – how I wish I had his ability!  Of course, it doesn’t cover everything, but it answers the questions a new or young believer may have about prayer.

THE BASICS OF PRAYER   

Eric Swanson

Prayer is simply conversing with God.  It is the God-given means to communicate our thoughts, desires, concerns and worship to Him.

1)  We can pray about anything, at any time, in any place. (Philippians 4:6-7)

2)  We can know that God always hears and grants requests that are according to His will.  (1 John 5:14-15)

3)  When we are praying for something that we’re not certain is God’s will, we can still pray in faith.  Praying in faith is not merely positive thinking.  It means that we believe God can answer our request and we are praying that He will answer but we trust Him to answer it only if it is His will.

4)  God doesn’t always answer our prayers in the way we pray for them to be answered.  He always answers according to His will.  Just as a good father doesn’t give everything a child asks for, so God uses His wisdom in how He answers our requests.  To those requests that would be good for us now, He answers, “yes”.  To those things that would eventually hurt us or not further His plan for us, He answers, “no”.  To those requests that would be good for us, but in the future, He answers, “wait”.  God sometimes grants us our desire but not our specific request.

                “Yes” – Mark 10:46-52

                “No” – Mark 10:35, 40

                “Wait” – Genesis 15:2-5

                “Desire”- He will fulfill our general ‘desire’ but does not always fulfill our specific “request” – Psalm 37:4, Romans 1:9-13

5)  Prayer is not just the means to get what we want but the means for God to give us what He wants.  There are four types of prayer mentioned in the Bible.

                Adoration – praising and worshipping God for who He is.  Psalm 145:1-6

                Confession – telling God about ourselves, our sins, our fears, our thoughts.  1 John 1:9

                Thanksgiving – thanking God for what He has given you or has done in your life. Ephesians 5:20

                Supplication – praying for ourselves and others.  Matthew 7:7,8

                (Note that of the four types of prayer, only one of the types is dependent on answers.)

Possible hindrances to effective prayer:

                Unconfessed sin – Psalm 66:18, Mark 11:25

                Wrong motives – James 4:2,3

                Distorted relationships with people – 1 Peter 3:7b

                Lack of perseverance – Luke 18:1-8

                Lack of faith – James 1:6-8, Romans 10:17

Which of the above might be hindering your prayers?

Winter Bible Conference

Sorry, this blog is only in Russian.

Essential Bible studies for believers

Perhaps you have had the privilege of watching a non-believer enter into God’s kingdom as you helped them to understand the gospel!  Perhaps you have found some young believers by now as well.  According to Colossians 1:28-29, God has entrusted these new and young believers to you and He has charged you to help them to grow in their relationship with Him.  But where do you start in this sacred undertaking?

Your New Life is a series of 5 lessons for new believers that were extremely helpful to build in me a solid foundation as a new believer.  I call these lessons “foundational” because they form the important building blocks of our faith. Many believers, especially those who have spent a lot of time in church, sometimes skip over these “elemental” foundations because they seem too simple.  When the storms of life blow into their lives, their shaky foundation doesn’t hold firm and they begin to doubt God’s presence in their lives. 

I think it is vital that all believers go through these  essential truths as they are considered the most foundational for all believers.  Look over each lesson and ask yourself, “Am I able to clearly communicate these truths well to another believer?  Am I able to show other believers where these truths are found in the Bible?”  If not, why not spend some time during your devotional times with God to review these foundational truths.  Pray, too, that God will direct you to others who need to become well founded in these truths and invite them to study the Bible with you to learn the important essentials of our relationship with God!

Idea for starting spiritual conversations

I want to introduce you to an evangelistic tool, called “Soularium,” that is a fairly new tool which invites students into conversations about their lives and hopes and their view of God.  It uses a variety of photographs which students are asked to choose the 3 that describe their life, 3 that reveals what they wish was a part of their life and 3 that describe their view of God. 

Some of you have never heard of this tool.  If this is you, then the attached documents will give you more information on what Soularium is and how to use it.  (“Soularium” is basically a packet of photographs and a survey which has recently been re-translated into Russian and can be found in the attached document.  This packet, which is used worldwide, can be purchased for about $10.)

The following is a creative idea for how to create your own version of “Soularium”:   

This packet of photographs was originally made for use in the United States and in Western Europe.  The photos are fine to use in Russia, but you may find other photos which offer choices that students in your local culture will better connect with.  Why not create your own packet of photographs?  If you would like to see the types of photos used in the original Soularium packet for ideas, then go to http://mysoularium.com/?view=i.  (If you prefer to order the original packet used in the US, ask me and I will help you figure out how to order it from Russia.)

You can print out each photo individually, in the 10x15 cm size that the packet comes in, or you can print the photos a little smaller if you want.  Just be careful to make sure the images are large enough to capture the person’s attention.  You can cut out the photos individually if you want (which makes it easier for students to choose and set aside the 3 in each category that you have asked them to choose), or you can think of other creative ways to present the photos.  We spend a lot of time standing around outside in Moscow talking to students in the university courtyard since we don’t have student IDs.   We ourselves are trying to figure out how to present the 50 photos to students to view while we are standing or sitting on the small benches (tables are a little inconvenient to carry around Moscow!).  Please let me know if you have any good ideas that we can use here!

Yana and Christina frequently use Soularium to bring up conversations about God among their classmates at their university in Moscow.  This is how they use Soularium:

“Soularium is a very effective way to start a conversation about Jesus with someone you have just met.   The packet has a very trendy look to it and people are always interested in it, no matter their age or profession.  It’s especially popular with students!  The Soularium packet brings about pleasant conversations about God.  We often present Soularium as a game that up to 3 can play.  (Of course more can be involved in the conversation, but we have experienced that it is better when no more than 3 other people are participating.)”

An idea for prayer

I was just reading the “Lord’s prayer” (or better, the “disciples’ prayer”) in Luke 11: 1-4.  I was convicted by how committed the Lord Jesus was to finding time alone to converse with the Father.  He was constantly seeking out times and places to be alone to be with God.  This is an area where God is continually reminding me that I need to be often in communion with Him through prayer.

I was also struck by the simple outline of prayer items that Jesus told His disciples to remember to pray for.  Jewish teachers often used what is called “index prayers” to teach their students how to pray.  Jesus is giving His disciples an index prayer here in Luke 11.  An index prayer is a collection of brief sentences, each suggesting a subject to pray for.  The idea of an index prayer is to take each brief sentence as a topic of prayer and spend time elaborating in prayer on that particular topic.

When you look at the prayer model in Luke 11:2-4, you will see the following topics for prayer:

-‘Father, hallowed be Thy name…’ – recognizing God for who He is in a time of praise; spend time in focusing on who the Father is in worship and submission.

-‘…Thy kingdom come…’ – God wants us to set our hearts and wills on the things He wants – the completion of the mission, the coming of the Kingdom of God into the hearts of every person on earth.  Spend some time in praying that He would make Himself known on your campus and pray that all believers (including yourselves) would be aligned to His will.

-‘…Give us each day our daily bread…’ – spend time reminding yourselves Who our ultimate Provider is – God provides our daily food, but He also provides us the resources we need in ministry.  Pray for the things you need in order to carry out the task He has given you to accomplish on your campus.  It could be that you need more believers with a desire to bring God’s kingdom to your campus, it could be financial resources, it could be a meeting place, it could be non-believing students who are seeking to know more about God…spend time in praying for His provision for your needs.

-‘…And forgive us our sins…, - spend time in confession (either silently or aloud – it’s good to be honest with others about where you struggle with sin).

-…for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us…’ – Jesus wants us to remember what ‘debtors’ we are to Him so that we will have mercy on others as He has mercy on us.  Take some time to pray for your relationships with others.  Ask forgiveness from specific people if you have sinned against them.   Pray for God to give you an ability to give grace and forgiveness to others and for an ability to love others with His love.

-‘…And lead us not into temptation.’ – go to God to ask Him for protection from the things that tempt you to walk less and less closely with Him, from the things that will cause you to stumble and tarnish His name.

I would encourage you to use this Index Prayer in Luke 11 in one of your group prayer times in the next coming weeks.  It wouldn’t be a bad thing to return to it again and again.  These are the things that Jesus is telling us to pray for, so it’s a good thing to keep bringing these topics before His throne on a regular basis.

Look for more group and individual prayer time topics in the coming months.  If you have found something that has been helpful to you concerning the idea of prayer, please send the idea to me (catalist@promail.ru) and I will try to distribute this idea to others.  Please keep me informed of things I can be praying for you!  You will be helping me to grow in the area of spending time with God in prayer!