~*I am a child of God =)*~

Monday, June 25, 2007

There are probably a million reasons why I shouldn't be blogging when I have Econs and Maths papers tomorrow, but I started thinking about this post last night and after that I couldn't sleep until about 3.33am. So here you go.

I actually started by thinking about Stalin. For all those who don't take History, all you need to know about him is that he's a demented psychopath who authorised the Soviet troops to rape up to 2 million German women. I was just thinking about how he should be tortured, when for some reason, my mind went off to think about the disciples and how they were martyred. I guess most of us know about how the disciples went out to preach the Gospel and everything. And some of us may know about how Peter was jailed. But what kind of ending did the paths that they chose lead them to?

I'll tell you at the end of this post, just to keep you in some suspense. XP

Recently my church had a two-day conference. During one of the plenary sessions, the evangelist, Reverend Tim Hall, showed us a video of what he had been doing in other countries, like what has been going on. It was probably the most powerful video I'd ever watched. There were clips showing people previously crippled, walking without assistance. One lady's arm had been twisted, and they showed a clip with her sobbing and her arm held out straight. There were so many healings that I can't remember all of them- and I don't think they showed all of them.

There are two scenes that I remember very clearly, however. One shows Rev. Tim Hall standing on the platform, speaking to the unseen congregation with a group of people worshipping with outstretched arms behind him- I think it was an altar call. So Rev Tim was just speaking to the other people, when suddenly the people behind him started falling, slain. (By the way: slain is when the Holy Spirit just suddenly comes upon you and takes hold of you and you just fall backwards. It's hard to explain, it's basically evidence of a really strong anointing and presence of God.) Rev Tim himself was surprised, he said, "And we haven't even started praying yet!" Then he started praying for them, and he just went and touched their heads, really quickly, like one second per person, calling forth for the Holy Spirit to touch them. And they just kept falling, one by one, the moment they were touched.

In the other scene, Rev Tim was standing on the platform again, speaking to a huge congregation. And when I mean huge, I mean MASSIVE. It wasn't like the LT or even the hall. I don't know if it was a stadium. But there was a HUGE crowd, faces for as far as I could see, and they were all raising their arms to Heaven and praying. And Rev Tim just said a few sentences and swept his arm out in front of him, and people started falling, like a wave. I am NOT exaggerating, seriously. It was like dominoes, or something. I could feel the Holy Spirit's presence, just watching the video. Again, not exaggerating. Watching the way God had transformed the lives of those who had been physically healed, as well as His Spirit taking hold of such an enormous crowd... Sort of makes you want to cry out to God to ask Him to do the same thing somewhere near you. Somewhere like ACJC, perhaps?

I'm not going to use the word 'revival', because like Kenneth from ACSI(B) said, the word has been overused as well as misused, and I don't want to end up doing that too. But I do believe- along with some other people- that God has something in store for ACJC. Something that's bigger than any of us, bigger than anyone in the world. Something probably far better than anything any one of us has ever dreamed of.

'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Luke 10:2a' A verse some of us have probably heard over and over. Two verses down, however, it says, 'Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.' What if, one day God comes down to ACJC and tells you, yes, you, to stand up in front of your clique, or your class, or your stream, or your level, or your school, and tell them about Him? Will we be too afraid? Will we say 'Lord, I don't even know most of them, they'll probably hate me on sight or jeer at me!'?

God's moving, guys. Question is, what are we going to do about it- if anything at all?

Back to the disciples.

Whoever told you the disciples had an easy life lied. They started out fine, as peaceful fishermen leading the same peaceful routine, day in, day out. It would have been more than easy for them to remain that way. But they didn't, they chose to follow Jesus- the path less-travelled. And they didn't become rich. They didn't get bags of fan mail telling them how wonderful they were. Most of the time, wherever they went, there would be people who hated them and what they did. Now let's take a moment to try to imagine what you would have felt like, if Jesus told you, "go and make disciples of all nations", and you said, "okay, Lord, I'll do as You ask of me," and you go to places all over trying to tell people the Good News so that they can be saved, and you end up receiving hostile treatment.

Makes you wonder why they never gave up, doesn't it?

I don't know if mine is the absolute right answer, but I think that they held on because they remembered, and they believed. They remembered the Commission that Jesus had given to them: To go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20).

Wait, Lord. All nations? Wow. Um. Y'know... I'm not sure if I can really do that. Kind of difficult to do that, don't you think? What if I die? Those stones can be really lethal...

A modified version, but probably what most of us would have felt- I know that that would probably have been my immediate, no-need-to-think-about-it, response. But thank God the disciples didn't do that, otherwise history would have been changed forever.

The point is, the disciples probably knew it wouldn't be easy. Even if they hadn't, I'm sure they found out soon enough. But they didn't give up, because they remembered and believed.

It's easy for us to say yes, Lord, we'll do anything and everything for You, even going through a fire!

The stone comment earlier wasn't random, you know. James, the brother of Jesus, was stoned to death. And the stones in those days weren't like the nice cute little pebbles, or even like the gravel on roads. They were big, rough, and probably sharp. Paul was beheaded. If I remember correctly, one of the disciples was dipped in a vat of boiling oil- and still did not die. Peter was imprisoned, tortured, and finally crucified upside-down, because he deemed himself unworthy of dying in the same way as his Lord and Master had.

In His love and mine,
Mel

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

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