October 2025 – Wisdom From the Word

Babies, Birth and Revival Part 1

We begin with babies and birth. First, I confess, when I hear someone from a couple say, “We’re pregnant” I have an internal reaction that I sometimes verbalize, “we” are not pregnant, the woman is pregnant. Now, while both pending parents may be excited about the birth, the process is dependent on what happens with the mother. For a healthy natural birth to take place the mother needs to pay attention to her health but she still doesn’t determine the time of birth. As the time of the baby’s arrival nears there are things that can be done to facilitate labour, but in a truly natural process it is the moving of the baby into the birth canal that brings on the labour. Which brings us to revival and cultural transformation.

When Yahweh wants to do something on the earth He first stirs something in the heavenly realm and inspires intercessors to pray (the labour pains) that birth the move of the Spirit in the earth. I have at times looked at the history of various revivals and I personally don’t know of a single one that wasn’t birthed through prayer in response to His leading. Some I am more familiar with are the Welsh and Azusa Street revivals. The key intercessor behind the Welsh Revival was Evan Roberts with his famous prayer, “Lord bend me!” bursting passionately from his heart. With Azuza street the revival initially began more than once but leaders were offended by what the Spirit was doing and shut it down. Each time it moved locations until it was embraced. The key intercessor was Frank Bartleman who was so given to prayer that some of his friends were worried about his health. Bartleman’s response was that he would rather die in fasting and prayer than not see revival.

At this point in history, I don’t personally know anyone with that level of intercessory heart for revival and reformation here in my nation. That of course doesn’t mean there are none, merely that I am not aware of them. We know about Evan Roberts and Frank Bartleman as we know history. Presently I know many of us express a longing for revival and some a longing for and understanding of reformation. In that context I believe we need to develop a greater sensitivity to His presence and leading. We can miss opportunities related to our calling and purpose and opportunities for our culture.

An example of this that I have come back to again and again for over thirty years is Moses. In Exodus 33 we see a transition take place.

¹² Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ ¹³ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” ¹⁴ And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” ¹⁵ Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. ¹⁶ For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” ¹⁷ So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” ¹⁸ And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” Exodus 33:12–18 (NKJV)

For context Moses had his first encounter with Yahweh at the burning bush and many after. Yet here, even though Yahweh has already promised to send his presence, and Moses has been dwelling in it in the tent of meeting in His presence, he has a sudden realization, he doesn’t really know Yahweh in an intimate way! Thus he asks Yahweh to show him His way then asks to see His glory, His character or nature. This is unfolded when Moses goes back up the mountain and is hidden in the cleft of the rock.

Now back to us. Have we spent time in His presence, in prayer meetings and church services but not really gotten to know His heart? Have we cried out in longing to know the One with us and to see His glory? Is He stirring your heart in this direction?

Engagement and Education Part 3

We now look at strategy. An important piece in choosing a strategy is our view of eschatology (end times teaching) and our role in it. It is important to understand what scripture actually says. As a child I was raised with what I refer to as The Great Escape eschatology. Things would get worse and worse in society, Jesus would come and rescue the church from trouble via the rapture, and He would then punish the sinful people left on earth. It is still a popular view and comforting for believers, I simply can’t find it in scripture

A brief interlude here, a very short version of my testimony. I stopped attending church when I was 14 and rarely darkened a church door for the next few years. At 25, after going through cancer and a shift in my worldview at 23, I made a commit to follow Jesus. This is when I believe I was genuinely converted. Prior to turning to Jesus at 25 I read the entire bible over a six-week period during cancer treatments and continued to read it after. When I started attending church services, I saw a lot of things I was unable to reconcile with what I had read in scripture. A bit like a fellow I knew. He was converted during the Jesus Movement many decades ago by reading the bible alone. A friend then took him to a church service. He said partway through the service he turned to his friend, pointed at the platform and said, “I don’t know what this is, but this isn’t that.” He was now pointing at his bible.

Here is an example from my experience. A couple of years into my walk with Jesus we moved and at the little church in the country there was an invitation to a men’s meeting so I went. There was a discussion around a key decision that needed to be made and they were going to vote on it. I was shocked and asked why we would do that and suggested that the proper course of action would be to pray and ask the Lord what to do. Now they were shocked!

My point is simply that we often do things or hold to a theology based on tradition and habit without really weighing our traditions and theology in light of scripture. My end times view is that Jesus was clear, the gospel of the kingdom would be preached to all ethnos – nations, ethnicities or people groups and then the end would come (Matthew 24:14).

This means that contrary to much popular theology Jesus return is not imminent as this has not yet taken place, that is a bit of an aside though. The gospel going to all people groups means the church needs to be established and effective, which brings us to a key distinction. In the past year I read something by Dutch Sheets where he differentiated between the Mark 16 and Matthew 28 commissions. He presented Mark 16 as being about revival and Matthew 28 about cultural reformation or transformation.

When we look back in history at the two Great Awakenings, they reshaped society because they lived out both Mark 16 and Matthew 28. Here in North America, we had the charismatic movement in the latter part of the twentieth century which produced great experiences and numerous converts but we forgot about the culture. In the meantime, those with another agenda were discipling our political institutions, our courts systems and our education system. The results have not been good for the church or the culture at large.

Which brings us to our strategy portion. We need to pray for transformation and labourers. We need to be come involved in our culture seeking to bring about change and transformation. We need to seek His wisdom as to our role. When we disengage, we see our children and institutions discipled by those who do not have their best interests at heart. As Jesus body, the church, He has called us to engage with and shift our culture in the visible realm and to shift the atmosphere in the heavens wherever we are so that captives are set free and the spiritual climate reflects righteousness.

I am not suggesting we will become a Christian nation, I am suggesting that as Christians we can have a significant impact in and on our nation. If we look at places like Iran or China the church is growing rapidly while the nations are, for the moment anyway, remaining on their present anti Christian path. Yet, the church is still growing and shifting the culture. There are more Christians in communist China than people in Canada. Estimates vary a great deal but range from 48 to 100 million Christians in China. There are around 40 million people in Canada.

In conclusion, our job isn’t to hang on, it is to reach out. To live as Christians in a culture that has shifted from indifference to our faith in some cases, to outright hostility toward our faith in other cases. In this environment Jesus said we are to be both salt and light. Salt is a preservative and light helps us to see.

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:13–16 (NKJV)

How are we doing?

Engagement and Education Part 2

Some decades ago, at the beginning of the 1990’s, I took a certificate program in adult and continuing education at our local university. Given that Jesus has called and anointed me to teach this was a good use of my time. Something that stands out for me during this time was a debate I had with some of my classmates. We were all working in our respective fields and had education as part of our role to varying degrees. At the time two things that were popular were a focus on facilitation and felt needs. We were encouraged to respond to the felt needs of adults and be facilitators not teachers.

I engendered some debate and was pretty much a lone voice with the concern I raised. I shared that from my perspective there wasn’t anything wrong with the idea of teaching and I saw facilitation as something a good teacher did. I also asserted that a responsibility of good teachers was not only to respond to felt needs but to discern what people actually needed and teach them that as well. In light of that let’s review our calling and responsibility as believers in light of what Jesus instructed.

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:18–20 (NKJV)

Of interest here is that Jesus didn’t instruct us to respond to felt needs, He instructed us to teach and observe all the things that He had commanded. While Jesus did respond to felt needs; He healed the sick and fed the hungry, His broader messianic mission is presented in Luke.

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; ¹⁹ To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18–19 (NKJV)

Jesus response to felt needs was always in the context of His broader mission, calling people to repentance and submission to the kingdom of God, which is what The Great Commission in Matthew 28 reinforces. After all Jesus began His mission this way.

¹⁴ Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, ¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14–15 (NKJV)

This shows us that while Jesus responded to felt needs, it was an aspect of His ministry and should be an aspect of ours, it now dominates and twists our culture. If we look at our current culture wars and outrage, felt needs dominate. We see it in the socialist agenda, the gender debates, the political groups and on it goes. We have come to the place where we deny reality out of a desire to enshrine felt needs rather than support truth and reality. We are living in a season that Paul warned us about.

³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 2 Timothy 4:3 (NKJV)

We are there and it is not a good place to be, thus I leave us with a reflective question. Where in our culture is the church taking ground? If your answer is that it isn’t, here is the next question. Do we capitulate to our culture or change strategies?

We will look at strategy next time.

Engagement and Education Part 1

Here I am going to share a bit about my role the last few years of work prior to retirement. Not to reminisce, but to look at how it relates to our mission as believers and our broader role and responsibility as the body of Christ. I was the Director of Engagement and Education in one of the legislative offices. As the Director of my team, my responsibility and the role of my staff was to engage and educate both within the organization and externally. I also played a role in setting organizational direction as a member of the Strategic Leadership Team.

Engagement was about the responsibility to engage with those within or aligned with the purposes of the organization to create alliances and educate them around common interests. Engagement and education with those outside and not aligned with the purposes of the organization took the form of sharing and building or furthering relationships.

The role of the office was provincial which meant that I needed to keep my staff engaged with the broader issues in the province but also needed to keep my staff in the two major cities 300 kilometres apart engaged and focused on the same mission across the province. In terms of the broader structure my boss reported to a standing committee of the Legislature so his authority came from that relationship and he then delegated that authority to those of us that reported to him.

Now let’s apply this to the church, beginning with a passage I suspect most of us are familiar with to some degree.

Here the making of disciples (not just converts) was the mission and it required, and still does, both engagement and education. The scope of the mission is outlined in Jesus final command before His ascension.

⁸ But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (NKJV)

Practically this means, as noted above in my job example, that we need to engage with and educate both within and outside the church. By church I am referring to people not buildings. Engaging within the body needs to focus on building relationships leading to discipleship (education). Engaging outside the body needs to focus on sharing the truth of the gospel (education) and seeking to bring others into the kingdom then discipling them.

It is one thing to simply encourage us to go and do but prior to issuing His commands Jesus modeled for His followers how to do the work of the kingdom and trained them. After He commissioned them, He said upon leaving that the Holy Spirit would come and continue to help them. We still need the Spirit as the reality is that what Jesus commanded in Matthew 28 and Acts 1 requires strategy and intentionality on our part. I encourage you to seek Him in this regard.

We will delve more into strategy next week.

Spiritual Warfare and Spiritual Growth

I don’t know how often we associate spiritual warfare with spiritual growth but if we don’t we should. I am not speaking of railing against and binding this that and the other thing. I am referring to how engaging in prayer, intercession and teaching is a pathway to spiritual maturity. After all, that is a major motivation for me in doing this teaching, providing a tool for growth. I also pray regularly for many of you. Let’s dig in a bit.

For decades I have believed that Paul’s apostolic heart cry is summed up in one verse of scripture.

¹⁹ My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, Galatians 4:19 (NKJV)

Here Paul is expressing his desire for the Galatian converts to come to maturity. Maturation is a process not a magic encounter. It requires commitment and discipline, that biblical word discipleship. Our culture prizes autonomy, scriptures prizes submission to the Lord. This is clearly seen in Romans.

¹⁴ For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Romans 8:14 (NKJV)

¹⁶ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, Romans 8:16 (NKJV)

These verses highlight an important spiritual truth, yet in a desire to be non offensive and gender neutral many modern translations unintentionally obscure what Paul is saying. The Greek word for sons refers to mature children, not all believers are, while the word children applies to all believers. Those who are submitted to and following the Spirit are the ones who come to maturity. Which takes us back to Paul’s heart cry on Galatians 4:19 and the how in Colossians. Paul’s ministry to create converts focused on preaching and prayer. His ministry to see converts embrace discipleship focused on teaching and prayer. We can see his focus in Colossians. This passage is long but important.

²⁷ To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ²⁸ Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily. ¹ For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, ² that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, ³ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 1:27–2:3 (NKJV)

Here Paul wants us to know Christ within. To that end he preaches Christ and teaches with wisdom to see his readers mature. He then talks about the great conflict he is engaged in to see that maturity realized. Here he is talking about his prayer life. If you look at his letters he begins Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians telling his readers how he is praying for them and in the passage above also references his intercession for believers in Laodicea. If we apply this our lives not all of us may be able to teach or preach but we can all pray. We can all intercede asking the Spirit to give wisdom and revelation to those we for whom we we pray (Ephesians 1). We can ask that they would grow in love, knowledge and discernment (Philippians 1), and we can ask that they would be filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s will with wisdom and spiritual understanding (Colossians 1). This is the connection between spiritual warfare and spiritual maturity so let’s take up the sword of the Spirit and help the body mature.