In one of the memorable passages of the Bible, the prophet Isaiah says that weary people can find new strength for living when they wait for the Lord. He writes, “…they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” And so often we find ourselves worn out and weak. There are many sources of weariness in our lives.
The philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre, once wrote a story about three souls being locked in a single room for eternity. In that story we find this line, “Hell is other people.” Other people, says Sartre, make us weary because they make us objects and only want to use us for their own advancement. Another source of weariness comes from the difficulties we have when our bodies become ill. We find ourselves weary and tired day after day as the illness sucks the vitality out of us. Yet another source is the spiritual weariness that comes from longing for God when we do not know him. Actually, all our weariness stems from that central longing in our hearts. We need God to revive our souls and give us a new life that can flourish.
Pray and Wait on the Lord to be Free of Weariness
It is that life in Jesus which we proclaim as Christians. So we have the opportunity to help those who are weary. What we at Christian Leaders Institute seek to do is to train Christians to be ready, willing, and able to be tools in God’s hands to renew and revive the world’s population. We as Christians can turn Sartre’s world upside down. With revival going on in our hearts, other people become our flock of eagles who soar on outstretched wings together with us. Together we gain the strength God provides in Jesus. Together we shed our weariness and find new life surging in our hearts.
At Christian Leaders Institute we have students who are in training to be the encourager of revival in the lives of weary people. One of our students in Nairobi, Kenya, says of her calling, “I counsel individuals and groups to grow and achieve their dreams as a Christian counselor. I am committed to social change…” Another from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, says, “My goal is to study the Bible more thoroughly and help the church to provide contextualized Bible Study materials and lead the Christian education ministry of the church.” He is doing that so he can turn back the weariness that he finds among his people in Addis Ababa. A pastor from Fort Portal, Uganda, writes of himself and his struggles with life. He says, “For a long time I became very blind- blind to the sinful life and lies that tortured my mind. I couldn’t sleep at night; everyday became an internal fight- a fight to find a purpose for my life, who would ever think that something like this could happen? Then again, how could anyone know? I wouldn’t let anybody in. God burned a desire in my heart …” Now he is getting training which he knows will enable him to be used of the Lord to bring revival to thousands. He discovered that when he waited upon the Lord, suddenly God gave him wings to soar like an eagle.
Each of these students and thousands more like them are examples of what the Bible means when it says, “6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” God is the one who is at work in the lives of those who study with us. God will bring his good work to completion in their lives. He will equip them to bring not weariness, but revival to cities, towns, villages, and even more remote places where people will discover a community in Jesus that frees them from sin, from guilt, from aimlessness to serve Jesus with great joy.
What it is about Christian people who enter ministry- whether it be full-time or part-time bi-vocational pastors? What makes them think that they can speak for the Lord Most High? What gives them the courage to stand in front of others and say, “This is what God is speaking to us today.”?
There are many such questions that I have had over the years as I looked at myself. Who am I to speak on God’s behalf? What kind of person do I need to be to actually find the courage to be a spokesperson for God? Why would a desperately shy farm kid from the fields of Iowa in the United States think he could be a man who pointed people toward the Creator of Heaven and Earth? “Who am I that God would choose to use me?” echoes through my heart even yet today.
The People Who Speak on God’s Behalf
Let me tell you about some of us. Please understand, I am only speaking for myself and for some others whose stories I have heard and read. But I think that I can safely say that there are some common traits that would move someone to become a pastor.
- The first common characteristic of these people who come alongside others to show them the way of God are people who have heard the Lord say to them as clearly as he said to Ezekiel the prophet in Bible time (see http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+33%3A7&version=ESV), “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel.” Those who are faithful pastors are people who have heard the Lord calling their names ad giving them a task. You are a watchman for me. You are to warn people of what will happen if they continue in their ways of ignoring Me or serving other gods who are not true. You need to show them the way home. I, says the Lord, I give you this task. The first and foremost characteristic is the conviction that God has spoken to their hearts and they must do this even if they do not want to.
- The second common characteristic is those teach at and those who come to Christian Leaders Institute to be trained for the work of revival is that they themselves have been revived in their walk with God. It may seem like a strange thing to say, but each of us here know that God has reached deep inside of our lives and given us a heart that is alive to Jesus. We were dead, but now we are alive. Our spiritual selves had been no more than a withered dry tree, but now it is alive by the power of the Creator and Redeemer so that our lives will produce fruit for God. In the Bible we find a passage that reads, And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. ( see http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+2%3A1-10&version=ESV) God has made us alive in his Son Jesus. That is second to hearing his call.
- The third common characteristic is that we are people who are doing this so that the whole world may come to know God and find new life in Jesus. A man named Philip, from the country of Cameroon, who is one of our students writes this, “My hope is that through this seminary, I will acquire the knowledge that will enable me to preach the uncompromised Good News of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. This training will enable me to fulfill this calling of not just winning souls and church planting but also to build a free traditional Bible school in Africa just like CLI that will help create new leaders to expand the work of God.” The movement among the population of the world that leads people back to God is called Revival. We pray that God will use us to being revival to the millions who are still dead in their sins. That we will be used by God to speak his Word of Love in Jesus to those who need to hear the sound of God’s voice. We are people who know we are not worthy, nor are we all that articulate. But God can use our faltering words, our humble faith, and our trembling voices to miraculously reach those who God is calling from death to life.
So what is it about us who are these preachers of God’s Good News? We’re tools in the hand of a God who can make even the dead live, the sinner a saint, and the rebel into a follower of the King of Kings. That is who we are, not much in ourselves, but in Christ the workmanship of God.
There has seldom been a time in the United States when reaching the next generation for Christ was more difficult and less acceptable. We are at a point where we can no longer choose culture and Christ. We must often make the choice: culture or Christ.
This truth is seen increasingly in all major societal indicators. News writer and commentator Todd Starnes recently published an article that encompasses several recent stories about religious rights in America. These include the removal of Christian symbols from military chapels, regulations against speaking about God in the armed forces, charges against Christian bakers, photographers, and other similar occupations for asking Christians to violate their spiritual convictions and the Internal Revenue Service targeting Christian non-profit organizations involved in pro-life activities. Everywhere you look in the United States, speaking out for Christ is becoming less popular and, in some cases, criminally prosecutable.
Katherine Gloede, a student at Christian Leaders Institute, knows the importance of reaching out to the next generation. She recognizes that even in the educational system there is a constant push to choose culture over Christ. In a reflection paper in the class Sermon Construction and Presentation, she talked about her ministry to the girls in the youth group at her church.
Reaching the Next Generation for God Starts in the Church
It made my heart swell with joy when I saw the faces of these young teen girls just loving God, and wanting to be better for Him, and not just for themselves. A few of the girls that I teach had started to fall into the stereotypical high school drama that a lot of girls deal with. Between peer pressure on things like relationships, immodest dressing, drugs, and just all around discontent, I saw these girls start to fall. I know that God has bigger plans for them, so I made the point to try to cast my net, as well as I could to keep them from falling any farther.
I thought that the story of Esther would be a great topic to share with these girls. The book of Esther never mentions God, no one prays, no miracles happen, and the book is never even mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. It is as if God was on vacation during the time of Esther. The hero of the book is a Jewish young woman who hides her identity. And she’s not just any woman, but an orphaned girl who grew up to be so beautiful that the great King Xerxes chooses her as his bride!
Despite all this, Esther is instrumental in saving the Jews from certain genocide and succeeds in having all of her enemies destroyed in a bloodbath. It’s not exactly the type of story you read your kids at night. No one comes off looking good, and everyone has a hidden agenda. A story full of action, suspense, what’s not to like about the story itself. It’s a Hollywood producer’s dream!
The story of Esther seemed to be in perfect timing with everything going on around these girls. They feel like they don’t have anyone to lean on, that they are totally alone. But, just like these girls, Esther meets God, and she is totally transformed!
I know that I may not change the world just by myself, but I truly believe that I changed a few hearts and minds over those three weeks. It made it so much easier for me to write on subjects after that. So when it came time to write the first sermon in the class, I was excited for it!
Esther was a woman of faith who chose to be identified with God’s people in a time when they were under the most intense persecution. Even knowing the king’s edict that all Jews in the kingdom were to be killed, she came forward and identified herself to the king as one of the Jewish people. She could have trusted in her position as queen to deliver her from death. She likely could have been left alive in the palace while the rest of her people died throughout the kingdom. Yet, at great personal risk to herself, she believed it better to be identified with God’s people than to escape persecution for His name.
Katherine Gloede was empowered in her quest to reach the next generation as she took the class Sermon Construction and Presentation at CLI. In her reflection, she wrote:
Overall, this class really improved my public speaking skills, and made it easier for me to relate to my audience and keep them engaged on what I’m saying. Having a class within the class, on delivering the topic well, and keeping your audience involved really helped out as well. the videos that were used in order to demonstrate different preaching styles gave me pointers, but it didn’t limit me on what to say or how to say it.
If the United States’ current trend is to be reversed and religious freedom to once again exist in our society, we must inspire and motivate our young people to take a stand for Christ. Katherine understands the importance of teaching the youth in her church the importance of living for God, but each of us can have an impact on somebody for Christ. Each of us can take a stand, and teach those we know to do the same. We pray that God will turn our hearts and minds to Him, that we may stand firmly on the cross without wavering. We long for the day that the United States of America may once again be called “one nation, under God.”