Category Archives: Evangelism

Basic Principles, Eschatology, Evangelism

Racing through life

February 8, 2014 Wisdom Hunter 7 Comments

Life is short.

It’s a common observation, but one that leads people to vastly different conclusions.

A couple of weeks ago, at a family gathering, I was chatting with my niece Kyla who is only a few weeks away from the birth of her first baby. Kyla commented on how quickly the months of her pregnancy were racing by. As she looks forward eagerly to the birth of her child, she wants the months to fly by – despite the pain of childbirth that she knows is coming – so that she can hold her baby.

All of us can relate to her sense of anticipation. When you are looking forward to some eagerly-awaited event – a wedding, a new baby, graduation, a new job, a trip, a move, the Olympics, the coming of spring – you can hardly wait for time to pass.

But what about the rest of the time? What happens after the wedding is over, the baby is born, the job has become routine, the trip has become a photo album, the Olympics are history, spring has become summer and then fall and then winter again? How do you stay motivated on the race through life?

The wedding becomes a marriage, the young couple becomes a middle-aged couple and then an old couple, the baby becomes a child and then an adult, trips become memories, seasons change, medals lose their glory. Yet we continue to race through life, trying to keep ourselves motivated with new goals, because a life that is only about survival is a life that hardly seems worth living.

All of this can be good, but in the end, none of it satisfies. That’s because we were made for eternity.

Sooner or later the harsh realities of suffering and death will put an end to our hopes and dreams. Like it or not, eventually our strength will fail and we will have no energy left for new goals, new projects, new accomplishments. Even the love of family will not be enough to sustain our hope when the energy of our life fails, and our capacity to dream new dreams runs dry.

There is only one hope that will not fail when our strength is gone, only one vision that will stay bright when all else fades into obscurity or dusty memories. It’s really the only hope worth living for, the only dream worth pursuing, the only vision worth cherishing.

Most of us are very self-focussed in our race through life. We look for satisfaction in pleasing ourselves. In the end, that way leads to eternal pain, frustration and loss.

But there is another way. Instead of seeking to please ourselves, we can look for satisfaction in loving the One who has loved us first – the One who has suffered and died for us, the One who conquered death for us, the One who is seeking us out even now.

Reflecting on the goals he had once pursued before surrendering his life to Christ, the apostle Paul had this to say (Philippians 3:7-11):

I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider … everything else [as] worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him…. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

All of us race through life. The real question is, what goal are you racing towards?

Evangelism, House of Prayer, Intercession, Neighbourhood

A walk in the park

August 16, 2013 Wisdom Hunter 7 Comments

Over the past couple of years, in response to the call of God to plant a local House of Prayer, I have set my heart and will to pray for Vanier, the historic Ottawa neighbourhood where Marion and I have made our home for the past six years.

Staying motivated in prayer can be a challenge at times. The enemy doesn’t want us to pray, so he is adept at finding ways of convincing us that we are wasting our time. Thankfully, the Lord is more than ready to encourage us when we get weak and weary. It is always energizing to draw near to Him in worship and seek Him in his word. Sometimes, though, we need signs of the coming harvest to keep our hope bright.

I received one of the Lord’s signs last Saturday morning while I was out prayer walking in Richelieu Park. Marion and I had gathered with a small but vibrant group of praying friends for the fourth and final outing in Vanier House of Prayer‘s Summer 2013 series of prayer walks. I had sent everyone out to walk and pray on their own for a few minutes, after which we were going to reconvene and pray together.

I was walking along a pathway through the woods. I met a young boy who enthusiastically told me what a nice day it was, and how much he liked walking in the woods. I loved his innocent enthusiasm and spoke God’s blessing over him. He went on his way and I continued walking and praying.

Soon the path opened up onto a wide grassy area, and I came upon a middle-aged man and a young woman (I had the impression that they might be a father and daughter) lying on a blanket talking. I apologized for disturbing them and the man said “You didn’t disturb us. Actually, I wanted to ask you a question”. He then seemed a bit embarrassed at having been this open, and instead of asking his question, he said he wanted to borrow my cell phone. When he had made his call, I flashed a quick prayer to the Holy Spirit. I didn’t have long, because I was supposed to be meeting the other prayer walkers shortly, but I was sure he had wanted something more than just the use of my phone.

Lord, what do I do now?

Why don’t you ask how you can pray for them?

Brilliant idea, Lord! Thanks!

So that’s what I did. I told them I needed to be on my way because I was meeting some people who were here in the park to pray for Vanier, and I asked how we could pray for them.

The man looked at me and said, “Actually, I need forgiveness”.

This blew me away. How many people do you meet who are so open about their need for forgiveness? It was quite amazing.

I knew this was an important moment. I talked to them about Jesus. I said that forgiveness was easy – that Jesus had come to earth to make a way for us to be forgiven. The young woman then spoke up and said “Yes, but not everyone believes in Jesus”. I allowed that this was true, but affirmed that Jesus is alive and would hear their prayers. They both nodded as if this was what they had needed to hear. I then spoke a quick prayer over them and went to rejoin my friends.

What a revelation! There are people right here – right in my neighbourhood – who are hungry for the good news that God loves them and has sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for their sins.

I left the park that day feeling greatly encouraged. God had sent this man and his daughter the encouragement they needed, but he had also sent me the encouragement I needed. I knew again that our ministry of intercession was worth the effort.

Evangelism, Intercession, Transformation

Live report from Turkey

June 28, 2013 Wisdom Hunter 1 Comment

I just finished watching this short video clip by Dalton Thomas and Joel Richardson on behalf of Frontier Alliance International.

Report from Taksim Square in Turkey

This little clip powerfully impacted my understanding of how to pray for the persecuted Christian minority in the Islamic nations of the Middle East. According to Joel Richardson, from his recent visits with Christian leaders in Egypt, God has opened a door for the gospel since the upheavals of the past two years, and Muslims are now coming to Christ in unprecedented numbers. The same is happening in Iran – despite intense persecution, Christianity is growing rapidly as the true face of Islam is exposed. He predicts it will begin to happen in Turkey as well (and Syria?). As Tertullian wrote in 197 AD, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”. So instead of praying that the persecution of Christians would stop, let’s pray for our brothers and sisters in these nations to be emboldened and filled with fiery, loving faith in the midst of the persecution. And let’s pray also for the Muslim majority in these nations – people just like us, despite the cultural differences and the lies to which they have been subjected for so long – people with hungry hearts who need the hope that Jesus alone offers.

Evangelism, Intercession, Testimonies

The man in white

June 17, 2013 Wisdom Hunter 3 Comments

From Iran, with all its turmoil, unrest and repression, comes this amazing story. The story is not unique – there are many like it – but it is so wonderful that it’s well worth repeating. Joel Richardson of Kansas City, who has been involved in ministry to Muslims for many years, heard this account from a friend of his – we’ll call him Ali – who is an underground church planter in Iran.

Ali had learned that in a remote Iranian village, a man had become a believer in Jesus even though there were no other known Christ followers in his village. Wanting to find out how this man had come to believe in Jesus, Ali travelled to the village to meet with the man. The villager related how he had been visited by a figure wearing a white robe, with shoulder-length hair and a very commanding presence. The unknown man in white spoke at length to the villager and told him to write down his words. The villager agreed. The message spoken by the man in white convinced this villager to become a believer in Jesus, even though there were no other Christians in his village.

After hearing the villager’s story, Ali asked him if he could see the words that had convinced him to become a Christian. The villager showed Ali a large journal in which he had written down all the words spoken by the man in white. It was written in Farsi, but the English translation of the first line began with these words :

In the beginning was the word. The word was with God, and the word was God

The villager who had become a Christian was holding in his hands a hand written copy of the entire Gospel of John which he had transcribed into his journal. He told Ali that the man in white had related these words to him, verbatim.

How amazing is that? Even a tyrannical Islamic regime cannot prevent the good news of Jesus from being revealed to hungry hearts. Stories like this one motivate me to pray, for surely it is the prayers of God’s people that move His heart to send messengers to the lost.

Joel Richardson comments that such stories are actually quite common in Iran, where many new believers are coming to faith through divine encounters, dreams and visions.

Evangelism, Intercession, Reflections on Life, Testimonies

Was blind but now I see

November 9, 2012 Wisdom Hunter 12 Comments

Yesterday I met a man who prayed for my salvation over thirty-five years ago, when we were both students at the same college.

Until yesterday I had not known that he had been praying for me, and he had not realized that his prayer had been answered.

Back in the 1970s, I was a spiritually hungry but very confused young man. I was studying theology at Queen’s Theological College in Kingston, Ontario, which only served to increase my state of confusion. Most of the faculty and students did not really know what they believed. However, they were quick to mock anyone who claimed to be born again, or who articulated a simple faith in the Lordship of Jesus and the Bible as the Word of God, or who said they had been “saved”. Sadly, I joined in the general chorus of mockery. How foolish and arrogant we were in our presumed wisdom.

I do remember, though, that there were a few students at QTC who were different from the rest. Ken was one of the ones who stood out. He had a confident faith which he expressed with respect but without apology. I wouldn’t have said so at the time, but looking back I realize that Ken scared me. It wasn’t that he himself was a scary guy. He was intelligent, polite, and well-spoken. It was his confident, well-grounded faith that scared me, because it challenged the core assumptions of my life. In particular, Ken challenged my prideful assumption that I did not need anyone to save me. I thought I knew so much and had so many answers, but in reality I had no answers at all, and knew nothing about the things that really mattered. I wanted spiritual truth, but I wanted it on my own terms. I was not yet ready to surrender my will to anyone. Still, I remember being hungry for the peace and assurance that I saw in people like Ken, even though at the time I would not have had the words to say so.

I was part of the graduating class of 1977 at QTC, although I hung around for a couple more years and did further studies while my wife finished her degree. Ken likewise graduated, and having been refused for ordination in the United Church because he was unwilling to compromise his convictions on baptism, he was ordained as a Free Methodist pastor. We had not been close while at college, and I never expected to see him again.

Fast forward ten years to 1987. By this point I was married with two children, and trying to be a pastor, all the while still trying to convince myself that I had answers. The truth was that I had no answers at all. Any fragments of truth or wisdom that I did understand were of no real value to me or anyone else, because I lacked the One who holds all things together. But God had prepared salvation for me. Through the loving ministry of the Anglican pastor in our village, a faithful and intelligent man of God, I finally surrendered my pride and accepted Jesus as Lord of my life.

Fast forward another twenty-five years to 2012. Through a mutual friend I discovered that a fellow by the name of Ken Roth was pastoring a Free Methodist church in Stittsville. I remembered his name from college and decided to contact him.

It must have been the Holy Spirit that prompted me to get in touch with Ken, because when we finally got together for coffee and a chat at the One Way Ministries office, both of us were encouraged, humbled and amazed at the goodness of God.

Ken told me that back in his days at Queen’s he used to go into the chapel almost every day to pray for the other students and faculty at the college. As one of the only students at QTC who honoured the integrity and power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, he must have been incredibly lonely. Life at Queen’s must have been a huge battle for him. Yet he didn’t give in to the temptation to become bitter or arrogant. He remained gentle, humble and truthful in his dealings with his fellow students and faculty, and (as I learned yesterday) he remained faithful to the hidden ministry of intercession.

As one who has been waking up to the realization that intercessory prayer is one of God’s major callings on this season of my life, I found this tremendously moving and motivating. I was humbled and amazed to realize how faithful Ken had been in praying for all of us so many years ago, and even more so, how faithful God had been. I had the amazing privilege of telling Ken that at least in my life, the prayers he had prayed more than thirty-five years previously had found an answer.

I believe he was encouraged. I know I was.

Eschatology, Evangelism, Faith and Justice, Faith and Suffering, Social Commentary, Transformation

Of whom the world is not worthy

January 23, 2012 Wisdom Hunter 3 Comments

Asia Bibi is a forty year old mother of two. She has been in prison in Pakistan since 2009. Her only crime was telling her coworkers about Jesus. For this she was charged with blasphemy and sentenced to death. Although she remains alive up til now, one of her jailers recently tried to strangle her, and an Islamic cleric has offered a reward of $8000 to anyone who kills her. Her husband and two daughters miss her terribly. She is allowed to see them once per week for an hour. In a recent interview, Asia Bibi stated that she spends her time fasting and praying and has forgiven her accusers.

In March 2011, Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s Minister of Minorities and the only Christian in the Pakistani cabinet, was assassinated. Prior to his assassination, he had been working for a softening of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which mandate the death penalty for anyone who insults Islam. The Taliban claimed responsibility for his death, stating that it was his punishment for blasphemy.

Youcef Nadarkhani is a thirty four year old father of two. He is the leader of a network of house churches in Iran. He was imprisoned in 2006, released for a time because of international pressure, and then imprisoned again in 2009. Raised a Muslim, originally he was charged with apostasy for renouncing Islam. As Iran’s constitution officially guarantees freedom of religion, and does not support a sentence of death for conversion, the charges against him were later changed to rape and extortion – allegations that both he and his church members strenuously deny.

On several occasions Pastor Nadarkhani has been offered release if he will recant his conversion to Christianity, or declare that Muhammad was a prophet sent by God. He has consistently refused to make any such confession. Reportedly, Iranian government officials, who want Iran to be a monolithic Islamic republic, are quite concerned about the spread of Christianity in their country through the house church movement.

Kim Sung Min, a former propaganda officer for the North Korean Army, is now fighting for the freedom and faith of his home country. According to the Voice of the Martyrs, “once a diehard socialist, Mr. Kim became disillusioned when he saw the lack of freedom and opportunity in North Korea while serving in the military. After defecting, being arrested and escaping again, Mr. Kim began spreading a new message of hope and liberty”. He is now part of a team that broadcasts messages of freedom in Christ into North Korea.

Recently, Al-Shabaab, an Islamic terrorist group based in Somalia, sent a letter to Christian missionary groups operating out of Kenya that were working among Somali refugees. The letter warned missionaries to stop infecting Somalis with what it termed “the cancer of Christianity” and threatened to attack and kill them.

These are just a few of thousands of cases of Christians who have been imprisoned or otherwise persecuted for their faith. While some of this persecution is at the hands of radical Hindus in India, or Communist governments in North Korea, Vietnam and China, by far the majority of cases of persecution are at the hands of Islamic governments or mobs. But all persecution, whether at the hands of radical Hindus, Communists, or Islamists, can be taken as a sign that the oppressors fear the spread of the gospel because it represents a power that they cannot control.

Satan is the source of the rage that fuels these attacks. He hates the spread of the gospel in totalitarian regimes because it is a sign of his impending doom. He knows that the Lord will not return until the gospel of the Kingdom has been proclaimed to every people group on earth, and the Bride of Christ is prepared for her husband.

In 2003, two Chinese house church leaders were asked what the church would be like without persecution. They responded that it wouldn’t grow. They said they saw persecution as a gift from God to the church, to bring about the purification of our faith. So, ironically, the very persecution that Satan incites in his rage and fury is turned by God into an instrument to bring Jesus’ bride to glory. This has been happening for a long time. During the days of the Roman Empire (AD 197), Tertullian famously wrote in his work Apologeticus “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”. But even though these periodic storms of hostility against believers are nothing new, we can expect them to become more frequent and more intense as Jesus’ return draws near.

This is not the kind of talk that tends to make Western Christians comfortable. We like our freedom, our prosperity, and the relative peace and safety of Western societies. While it is undoubtedly true that freedom, prosperity and peace are great blessings, they can also tend to make us forget our dependency on God.

There is a wonderful chapter in the letter to the Hebrews that recounts stories of some of the martyrs and heroes of faith among the people of Israel. Towards the end of the chapter, the author describes these heroes as people of whom the world was not worthy. I feel the same way when I read stories about believers who are suffering torture, imprisonment and separation from their families for the sake of the gospel. What especially moves me is the testimony of the love that Jesus frequently deposits in the hearts of these suffering ones towards their captors. It makes me want to pray for them. And when I pray, although I do ask God for their deliverance, I ask Him even more passionately to grant them a revelation of His glorious presence with them in their suffering. We are told in the book of Daniel that when the three young men were in the fiery furnace in ancient Babylon, the king saw a fourth man with them. I believe the fourth man was Jesus who had revealed himself at their time of need. We are told in the book of Acts that when Stephen was being stoned, he looked up and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, ready to receive him. My prayer is that those who suffer for their faith in our times will have a similar experience, and that if they have to die, their blood will be the seed of the church as Tertullian prophesied long ago.

We are sometimes tempted to feel helpless, hopeless and fearful when we hear stories of persecution. The best antidote for such gloomy feelings is prayer. All of us who believe in Jesus can pray for our brothers and sisters in prison. We can also write simple letters of encouragement to them. Such letters and prayers may seem like weak tools, but that is because we do not think the way God thinks. Words of encouragement are powerful. Prayers are even more powerful. They have power not only to bless others but also to change us. If you want to know more about what you can do to stand with persecuted believers world-wide, the following links would be a great place to start. God bless you.

Voice of the Martyrs Canada

Open Doors Canada

International Christian Concern

Brokenness and Wholeness, Evangelism, Intimacy with God, Reflections on Life

Surprising answers to prayer

August 13, 2011 Wisdom Hunter 1 Comment

I am continually amazed at the variety of ways in which God answers prayer.

For some time now, as our life group has been talking about reaching out to others with the hope of salvation, Marion and I have been praying for openings to share Jesus in our neighbourhood.

A few weeks ago, God broke into our lives in a totally unexpected way, showing us that our cry had been heard.

We had reluctantly concluded that our four-year-old mattress needed to be replaced. It was a TempurPedic, made of high-quality foam and still in excellent shape. We had bought it because of our ageing backs, and I found it really comfortable, but Marion had been experiencing severe back and leg pain, and had been told by both her chiropractor and her physiotherapist that she probably needed a firmer mattress. So, after prayer and reflection we decided to take their advice and replace the mattress. This was not in our budget but our budget had already been blown sky-high by other unforeseen events (you can read about one of these events in It’s Only Money), and we sensed the Lord saying “Just trust me”, so we asked Him for a good deal on an affordable mattress that would actually help Marion’s back, and went shopping.

We also asked the Lord for guidance about where to go to buy the mattress. You may think that’s a bit extreme, but it turned out to be very important. We hit Sleep Country on a quiet Monday evening and found a very sympathetic salesman with time to listen. Not only did he help us pick a good mattress, he also listened to our tale of woe about our TempurPedic, and encouraged us to try to sell it. He said that the season between July and September was prime time for selling mattresses and that a TempurPedic would probably fetch a good price – maybe even enough to pay for the mattress we were buying.

Just before leaving the store, another customer entered. We heard her asking the salesman about TempurPedic mattresses. I was a bit surprised because she looked like a street person. I thought to myself, “I wonder if she has any idea how much those things cost?”.

By the time we were ready to leave the parking lot, the woman (I’ll call her Meg – not her real name) came racing out of the store and knocked on the window of our Highlander. She wanted to know if we had a TempurPedic for sale. She gave us her name and contact info, and we agreed to find a way to get the mattress to her.

At first, to be honest, the only answer to prayer that I saw in this event was our prayer for someone who would buy our mattress. Then I realized that Meg couldn’t afford to pay the price we had established – at least, not all at once – and that God had led us to someone in need, to whom we could show kindness in Jesus’ name. My heart was touched as I heard her say that most of her bones had been broken due to childhood abuse, and that she had been suffering chronic back pain and living on disability benefits for years. As we continued to listen to Meg’s story, I realized that this was about more than the mattress, and that her need was far more than physical. God was answering our prayer for openings to share Jesus’ love with our neighbours.

To make a long story short, Meg now has our TempurPedic, and is able to sleep through the night which she has not been able to do for years. Through the partnership of Ben, Orlando and Rafael from our life group, we were able to deliver the mattress to her. She wanted to pay for it, which is a help to us and probably important for her, but we have been able to arrange a plan that she can afford. While Rafael and Orlando brought the mattress to her apartment, Ben shared the good news of Jesus with Meg, and Ben and I prayed with her. Afterwards she told us she had not felt so loved in years. She has not yet been physically healed, but I believe that day is coming.

I’ve been back to see Meg since then. She is open and eager to hear more about Jesus, and wants to come to the home Alpha group that Marion and I are planning to host this fall. I sense that in time God may use her to reach out to others in her subsidized housing project.

Does God answer the prayer of faith? Yes – sometimes in surprising ways. One of the keys is to listen with an expectant heart. Another is to be open to whatever and whomever He sends.

I can now honestly say that I’m thankful for having to buy a new mattress. I’m thankful that the Lord led us to Meg. I am thankful that He is preparing her heart to receive Jesus, and preparing the hearts of others in our neighbourhood as well.

No Regrets