FEAR Extinguishers (DAY 11) - Modeling for others
Jesus didn't just give His disciples a set of teachings; He modeled for them the way they can/should live as His followers.
Sometimes we think a book or an article is enough (or a blog!?!?) to inspire others to live out their faith. And at this hour, to be FEAR Extinguishers.
But, we have been doing quite a bit of modeling for others. It is a great idea to help others who are struggling with fear, but HOW we do it is just as important if we want people to run with the idea, to run with the mandate!
Very practical things need to be considered and I have endeavored in this blog to share the questions that I ask, the prayers that I have prayed, the words that I am using, etc. I have sought to demystify things - and most importantly to make people feel empowered and that they CAN DO IT!
My heart, my passion is to see others doing this very thing. To see the multiplication of the Body of Christ in the country I am in, and all across the world doing just this in this hour.
This morning I was out with an Arab Christian friend and I was excited because I knew we would run into some Arab Muslim security guards on our walk together. Sure enough, we found a group of 4-5 of them all eating together outside (they were NOT practicing social distancing and they were all sharing their food together - so much for protocol!). So I thought I would "set the table" so to speak for my Arabic Christian partner. I opened up the discussion in Arabic and found out they had all had their salaries cut in 1/2 - so guess what? We had a very practical prayer need to go after. Instead of me praying in my more broken Arabic, I thought I would allow my friend to pray for the group who were all from his country! When he started to pray, I could barely hear him and none of the Muslim guys could hear him either.
My mistake - I had just assumed he would jump in, and pray a loud, bold prayer for these guys. But I realized, I thrust him into a situation he had never been in before. He had never done anything like what I had envisioned he would do. It didn't feel like it was that well received to be honest from the men he had prayed for.
A few minutes later, we met another Arab security guard and I decided to model for him what we could do - I prayed for this Arab Muslim in Arabic using the Lord's Prayer as the basis for my prayer for him. I prayed loudly, and boldly. And it was a great experience. We were thanked by him. And in the 2nd instance, I was able to model for him what was possible. A lot of times Arab Christians who live in Muslim-majority Arab countries don't think they can do certain things. and that also was something I needed to model for him. We've been praying for Arab Muslims openly and boldly in public places now for the better part of 20 years.
Finally, we ended in the Starbucks where I had blogged before about the "mini Church service" we were able to have. Again, my friend got to see, albeit it was in English, the way we can boldly be ministering to people at this time.
I sometimes need to slow down a bit with people who haven't done this kind of thing before and MODEL even as Jesus modeled His ministry to His disciples before launching them out on their own.
...for such a time as this!
Sometimes we think a book or an article is enough (or a blog!?!?) to inspire others to live out their faith. And at this hour, to be FEAR Extinguishers.
But, we have been doing quite a bit of modeling for others. It is a great idea to help others who are struggling with fear, but HOW we do it is just as important if we want people to run with the idea, to run with the mandate!
Very practical things need to be considered and I have endeavored in this blog to share the questions that I ask, the prayers that I have prayed, the words that I am using, etc. I have sought to demystify things - and most importantly to make people feel empowered and that they CAN DO IT!
My heart, my passion is to see others doing this very thing. To see the multiplication of the Body of Christ in the country I am in, and all across the world doing just this in this hour.
This morning I was out with an Arab Christian friend and I was excited because I knew we would run into some Arab Muslim security guards on our walk together. Sure enough, we found a group of 4-5 of them all eating together outside (they were NOT practicing social distancing and they were all sharing their food together - so much for protocol!). So I thought I would "set the table" so to speak for my Arabic Christian partner. I opened up the discussion in Arabic and found out they had all had their salaries cut in 1/2 - so guess what? We had a very practical prayer need to go after. Instead of me praying in my more broken Arabic, I thought I would allow my friend to pray for the group who were all from his country! When he started to pray, I could barely hear him and none of the Muslim guys could hear him either.
My mistake - I had just assumed he would jump in, and pray a loud, bold prayer for these guys. But I realized, I thrust him into a situation he had never been in before. He had never done anything like what I had envisioned he would do. It didn't feel like it was that well received to be honest from the men he had prayed for.
A few minutes later, we met another Arab security guard and I decided to model for him what we could do - I prayed for this Arab Muslim in Arabic using the Lord's Prayer as the basis for my prayer for him. I prayed loudly, and boldly. And it was a great experience. We were thanked by him. And in the 2nd instance, I was able to model for him what was possible. A lot of times Arab Christians who live in Muslim-majority Arab countries don't think they can do certain things. and that also was something I needed to model for him. We've been praying for Arab Muslims openly and boldly in public places now for the better part of 20 years.
Finally, we ended in the Starbucks where I had blogged before about the "mini Church service" we were able to have. Again, my friend got to see, albeit it was in English, the way we can boldly be ministering to people at this time.
I sometimes need to slow down a bit with people who haven't done this kind of thing before and MODEL even as Jesus modeled His ministry to His disciples before launching them out on their own.
...for such a time as this!
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