Paul on Malta

   As I have been reading the Book of Acts recently with the special emphasis on Healing, I was amazed about Paul's experience on Malta, a tiny island in the Mediterranean Sea. Paul, together with all 276 passengers, had just survived a two-week long odyssey through a storm that ended up with the ship breaking apart when it ran aground just off the island. So here is the picture: Paul, like all the other passengers, is tired, cold, wet, hungry and weak after a long fight with the forces of nature. On top of all that, he get's bitten by a poisonous snake, which leaves him quite unimpressed, though, while it certainly made an impression on the locals who expected Paul to die after the snake-bite. But what really got the locals' attention was what happened afterwards:

There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. 

Acts 28:7-9

   Do you see that? Paul heals one guy and then "the rest of the sick" on the entire island were healed as well! Wow! Now, as I said, Malta is a small island, today's population is about 400,000. So let's say there were just a few thousand people living on the island in Paul's days, but anyhow, every sick person among them was healed by Paul! I like verse 8, where it says that Paul "after prayer" healed the father of the official. That means he did not pray for the sick, but he healed them. All of them. Not a single sick person stayed behind, and this on an island where they had never heard of Jesus before. People were healed who could not have had any faith in the Lord, simply because they had never heard of him. Praise the Lord: Paul really walked in the fulness of his calling, according to Mark 16:17-18. It looks like Paul spent about 3 months on the island, which gave him plenty of time to preach the gospel and then to teach the young believers. But the church planting strategy that Paul used was to heal people before he told them the gospel... 

   It looks to me that we could still use this strategy today, especially among the unreached. People like Heidi Baker in Africa are doing just that. Of course, some critics say that it doesn't really help the people if they are healed physically, but remain lost in sin. That is true. But, my Bible says that the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). Many times I realize that most churches in the Western world are not exactly overflowing with joyful people. We do have a lot of sick people, though, and we have come up with great theological crutches to justify our sickness. It seems to be that the longer an area has been "christianized," the harder the ground for healings to take place, and - going hand-in-hand with that - the less joy there is. I am sure there was lots of joy in Malta's young churches, as there were many grateful people who had received healing. A gratefulness that expressed itself, among others, also through abundant giving to the cause of  missions, by the way (see verse 10).

Conclusion: 
   I want to dare to expect healing for myself and for others. I am encouraged to go to unreached villages in Thailand and expect God to heal the sick, whether they have heard of Jesus before or not. And, for greater joy in the churches, it might in deed be good to start with healing, rather than teaching all kinds of other things first... :) jtol (just thinking out loudly) :)

Discipleship

Jesus told us to go into all the world and make disciples. Some challenging thoughts to those of us who are claiming to do that.

Whom are we discipling? 
Jesus did not wait for people to apply at his ministry, but he approached his disciples and asked them to follow him. Likewise, we should not wait for people to choose us as their mentor, but we should choose people to follow us!

Requirements in a mentor - disciple relationship

• Required: The mentor needs to love the person he calls to follow him!
• Not required: The person called loving the one who calls him. 

In fact, the motive of the person called does not really matter:

• he might be looking for financial stability and wealth (like Judas)
• he might be looking for an increased social status (e.g. from fisherman or tax-collector to teacher religious authority)
• he might be in it for some other personal benefit (like a "Greencard," English language, education,...)

How or why did Jesus choose the 12  apostles? 

Obviously, Jesus prayed before he made his decision. But here are a few characteristics that I found:

• The natural gifts, talents and abilities of the disciples were not important - on the contrary: God chooses the foolish things!
• Jesus didn't abandon the disciples when they show certain signs of progress, growth and maturity after a while
• The only criteria that Jesus seemed to have was that he loved them!

That is good news for us, because Jesus chose us. After 3 years of having been with Jesus, the disciples did not "get" most of the things that Jesus had taught them, but Jesus didn't kick them out of the discipleship training school. How much did we not get yet that  he has been teaching us all along? And how much did the people we disciple not get yet, even though we have been trying to teach them for years?

Remember: The only thing that is required for you to make disciples is that you love them. So keep on loving them. If you haven't really started to make disciples yet, then maybe now is a good time to call somebody you love to follow you. It will mean that you allow that person to be a part of your life, because I cannot see there being a different way of making disciples. That's how the Master did it, and I don't think we have come up with another, better way than that yet.

The goal of discipleship, but not required at the beginning, is to love Jesus. After 3 years of having been with Jesus, Peter can't help but to realize that indeed he loved the one whom he followed. And it is in that very moment, that the Lord releases him to feed his sheep... Before then, Peter had been send out to preach and to heal, but only now, after he realized that he really loved the Lord, was he given the greatest task of all - to make disciples :)

Brothers and sisters in the ministry: Let us delight in this high calling!
May the peace and joy of the Lord be with you all!

Honoring God's work in one another

Sitting in a classical concert tonight I found myself in awe of the musicians' excellence. Each member of the orchestra performed on his or her instrument with almost stunning perfection. And while each instrument by itself would be nice to listen to, the real feast for the ear (and the spirit) is to hear the orchestra play the symphony together. It made me realize how little I appreciate what God is doing in and through other people. No, it is even more than that: I don't really appreciate WHO HE IS in other people. I don't know about you, but I don't like it when I have the feeling that people are trying to point out to me what God still needs to do in me, how far I am falling short and how many problems there still are. It makes me feel belittled and unappreciated. But I know that I often look at people in the same way. And with that I am expressing a lack of appreciation not only of the person I am thinking about, but also of who Christ is in that person. "Jesus in us, the hope of glory," it says in Colossians 1:27. Instead of pointing out other people's faults and shortcomings, let us honor what the Lord has already done and what he is currently doing in one another. Yes, let us honor who He is in one another. We have more reason to thank Him than we think. And not only that we should ask the Lord to show us what he is doing in the lives of our Christian brothers and sisters, but also in the lives of those who don't yet follow the Lord. If we honor and praise the Lord for that, not only will we encourage one another, but we will also pave the way for God doing even more! Because why should He do anything else if we don't give him praise for what He has already done?
Oh Lord, open our eyes that we would see who you are in us; for your name's sake, I pray.

Instant prayer answers Part 3: God sends a friend!

It had been a long journey already. After a 2-week excursion from my university in Germany to the Greek island of Naxos, I had traveled by myself to Turkey in order to see the ruins of Ephesus. It had been an exciting time to walk where the apostle Paul and other heroes of our faith had walked some 2.000 years ago. This morning I had taken a bus from Selcuk via Izmir to Bursa, where I now had to wait for a ferry that would take me across the Sea of Marmara to Istanbul. Being alone in a different culture (Turkey is a Muslim nation) and not speaking the local language I was feeling quite lonely already, and when I found out that I had to wait several hours for the next departure, I couldn't help but feeling a little bit downcast. "Lord, I could really need a friend," I prayed silently, just in my thoughts. Immediately, as soon as I had had this thought, a man approached me and said in perfect English "You look like you could need a friend!" He invited me to have some tea and for the next couple of hours we talked as if we had known us for years. This was a great example for me that our Father in heaven really knows what we need even before we ask him, as Mathew 6:8 says. Because the man must have started to approach me from where he had been sitting before I even prayed! Needless to say that the waiting time for the ferry flew by in no time. So, dare to ask for a friend even when you are far away from home and it seems impossible that there should be anybody near by who cares for you. Our Father knows what we need, always :) Oh, by the way, this was before the time of cell-phones, internet and Facebook. Are we missing out on opportunities like these because of technology? Just wondering...

Healed on Halloween!

Times Prayer Changed Everything - Instantly! Story # 2

Once while visiting a missionary friend in Kolkata (at that time it was still called "Calcutta"), India, I got very sick: I had fever and stomach pain, threw up, and felt completely miserable for about two days or so. I tried various remedies, but nothing worked until I realized that it was Halloween. Knowing that Halloween is the highest holiday of Satanists around the world,* I broke the power of curses put on missionaries by Satanists by claiming the power of the blood of Jesus and Proverbs 26:2 which states that an undeserved curse will not come to pass. Within an hour, I was completely back to normal!

* A day lasts 24 hours - in one location. But taking in account the different time zones and the international dateline, a calendar-day actually lasts almost 48 hours globally. So I think that I started to get sick when Satanists in Eastern Asia began to "celebrate" Halloween by worshiping Satan and making sacrifices to him, and when the Holy Spirit brought my attention to it some 36+ hours later, it was still October 31st in the US and other parts of the Western hemisphere...

Times Prayer Changed Everything - Instantly

We all believe it: Prayer changes things. But sometimes change seems to come slowly. And when we don't see a prayer answered after a while, we more often than not give up prayer altogether. After all, we reason, it must not have been God's will, otherwise He would have done something already. As I thought about this today, I was reminded of some situations in my life when the Lord responded to prayer instantly and the idea was born to write them down and post them on this Blog. Thus the start of this little series today. I hope that you will be encouraged to be uncomplicated and spontaneous in your prayer, as it seems to be the pattern in the stories that came to my mind so far: It is when we pray simple, childlike and not pre-meditated prayers that our Father in heaven rushes to move heaven and earth, and even people's hearts!

Story #1: A drug addict set free!

"Are you willing to make an experiment tonight?" I asked. He looked at me with big eyes and said "What do you want to do?" "I want to pray for you, and see what the Lord will do." That didn't seem to be too threatening to him, and so he agreed. We were in downtown Los Angeles on a rather chilly night. Together with a team of students from our Discipleship Training School I had come to what is known as "Skit Row" to hand out sandwiches, hot coffee and cocoa to the homeless that populate the streets here after business hours. In many ways it was a crazy night. Hundreds of men were more or less aimlessly walking around, some had made fires on the street to keep warm. Drug dealers waited for their regulars, many of the men were drunk, here and there were quarrels with people yelling at each other. A police car had stopped by a few minutes earlier and one of the officers had made it clear to us that we should not be there as it was too dangerous. They urged us, just as some of the homeless people themselves, at least not to go into certain side streets, but I am not sure whether all of the team members even heard the warning and thus some of us probably went there anyway. I was glad that I had called a prayer meeting before we had jumped into our two vans to get here. This way we knew that God wanted us to be here and we felt completely safe and were very much aware of the peace of God surrounding us. While I had talked to Peter*, an obviously demon-possessed man tried his best to make us scared by yelling at us and rolling his eyes weirdly. But he kept a respectful distance to us. So did the drug dealer who was eager for me to finish talking to his client. "Okay, let's pray: Father, I pray for Peter, that in the moment he walks away from here you would change his heart so that he would no longer want to use drugs. In Jesus' name. Amen." When I opened my eyes after this short prayer, Peter looked at me curiously and maybe just a little bit mockingly. "So you think God will answer your prayer?" he asked. "Yes," I said, with a confidence that you cannot manufacture by your own effort even if your life depended on it. "But I don't feel any different," he said, and I heard his dealer laughing a few meters away from us. "You remember," I reminded him, "I prayed that in the moment you walk away from here God would change your heart." I had never prayed like that before, and I had not thought about what to pray before I had closed my eyes. And I certainly had not thought about how to respond to his questions after the prayer. As it was time for us to go back to our base on the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, I pointed to our vehicles and asked Peter whether he wanted to walk with us to send us off and maybe grab another sandwich. He agreed. We had walked just a few steps when he pulled his drug equipment out of his pockets and cheerfully handed them to me: "Here, please keep this, I don't want to do this anymore!" I was stunned, but then again not even really surprised. Rather, me and my friend who had been part of this encounter were genuinely happy and thankful. Don't ask me what it was that Peter actually handed over to us, because I have been blessed with total ignorance in regards to things related to drugs - I've never tried anything but cigarettes and never made it my mission to study up on the subject in regards to how exactly to use the various drugs, whether you smoke, inhale, shoot, sniff or simply eat them. I do know the difference, though, between a fake surrender for whatever reason and a genuine change of heart. And Peter didn't pull a stunt on us, but he was delivered from his drug-habit in an instant. As our vans had parked at one of the Missions that are offering meals and shelter for the homeless in the area, we connected Peter with it for follow-up and discipleship. 

This happened in January or February 1996. I haven't heard anything from Peter since, but I trust that the Lord continued what He started in this young man's life. I also have never prayed for other people in this way again. I simply was led to pray in this way on that day for that man. I didn't use any "technique", didn't go through 10 steps of intercession and didn't even spend time listening to how the Lord might want to have me pray. I just prayed whatever came to my mind in the situation and God answered. 

I guess you could write volumes of books on the theological implications of this incident, and maybe someday I will do that. But much more do I wish for the same child-likeness in my everyday prayer-life. To help me (and maybe some of you who read this) to get there, I wrote down this little story. If you were encouraged by it, please feel free to post a comment, click on "Like," share or let me know in some other way. I want to post more stories in the weeks to come, so come back to this site every now and then. Be blessed, and be a blessing! :)

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* Probably this is not the actual name of the person we prayed for that day. It's a long time ago and I don't remember the person's name. The rest of the story, however, is a true report, with the quotes reflecting the heart of what was said, not necessarily the exact words that were spoken.

Should Thai Christians support the "Yellow-shirts" or the "Red-shirts"?

Because of the current political situation in Thailand, I want to re-post an article that I first published in 2010 under a slightly different title (see here). So far, the recent protests have remained mainly peaceful, but the country remains deeply split into two camps and the situation continues to be very tense. As Christians, we are supposed to be "salt and light" and I therefore think it is crucial that we have the mind of Christ (or call it a "Biblical World View") on the matter. May Thai people see the peace, joy, love and unity among us Christians that only the Lord can give, and may one day the world see Thailand as a country marked by these attributes!

Here are the main parts of the original article:

A few days ago my attention was turned to Joshua 5:13-14, when Joshua encountered a man with a drawn sword just before the Israelites were to attack Jericho:

"Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?" "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." Then Joshua fell face-down to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?" Joshua 5:13-14

As we have followed the ups and downs of politics and the changing of governments and constitutions in Thailand (which seem to change more frequently than the weather in Southern California) we might be tempted to take sides and support the Red Shirts, the Yellow Shirts, or another group/color. But I am convinced that we, as the body of Christ, are not to take sides, similar to the commander of the Lord's army in the passage from Joshua quoted above. According to Romans 13, we are to obey, support, and pray for the people in authority, no matter what color they represent or how they got into the position of authority. Whether through elections, coups or by other means. We should always remember that the governments of this world are just that: they are of this world. But the Kingdom that we seek is NOT of this world! The advancing of this Kingdom of God does not depend on political systems or political parties. The Bible was written not as a manual to build kingdoms of this world (i.e. political and geographical entities known as "nations"), but as a manual for believers anywhere, anytime, no matter whether they happen to live in a monarchy, a democracy or in a communist nation like Laos. I think that the best testimony we can give to society in Thailand and to the rest of the world that's watching, is that we are content, loyal and supportive to the government at all times, even though we might not like some of the values and/or policies that each particular government stands for.

Unfortunately, there are not many good examples for us to look at, because in most nations the church is acting as if the body of Christ was nothing more than just another political lobbying group, trying to push their agenda and their values on the rest of the society. Unfortunately, this is especially true for the American church. However, when non-believers look at the church, they should not see just another political party (or color...), but something that is radically different, something that no political, religious, cultural or humanistic movement can produce. People should see us as people who genuinely long to lead a holy life, people who know their sins are forgiven, people who find their joy, confidence purpose, value and meaning in God and who try to love even those who hurt them... Another benchmark for Christians is that we are to give honor to whom honor is due, and whether the Prime Minister's name is Sonthi, Surayut, Somchai, Samak, Thaksin, Aphisit or Yingluck, we can certainly trust the Lord to work out everything for His purposes. That does not mean that we should not vote or participate in other ways in the political life of the country. It does mean, however, that we should never try to use force in any way. The only reason we have to not obey the government is when the government either tries to force us to do things that are against scripture (like bowing down to an idol) or tries to keep us from doing things that are commanded by scripture (like praying, witnessing, and raising our children according to Biblical standards). But because we know that our freedom does not depend on the rules and laws of the nations, and because we know that God is able to do everything according to his purpose we should never put our hope in any man, party,"system" or color. The Kingdom of God is not of this world, and it is not in question who is in charge of it. Let us live our lives for him who sits on the throne and reigns!

Charismatic vs. Evangelical: Pleading for the middle ground

As expected, John MacArthur's "Strange Fire" Conference (October 16-18, 2013) has sparked a tsunami on the web in form of blog-posts, articles, radio shows, web-site statements and YouTube videos. I love and very, very highly respect John MacArthur and other speakers at the conference. However, some of the things that were said at the conference (which you can watch in its entirety at FloydFamilyValues and, partially, on John MacArthur's "Grace to you" YouTube channel) are disturbing, as they are very divisive and don't do justice to the vast variety within the charismatic movement. It looks as if a few black sheep are used to discredit the entire movement. Granted, these "black sheep" have a very high profile and might indeed easily be seen as the official "face" of the movement that, according to MacArthur's on words, includes about 500 million (!) people. But I think that pastor Shane Idleman speaks for many people who consider themselves charismatic, when he says that "I read the John MacArthur Study Bible, not the Benny Hinn Study Bible" and "I love John Piper, not Creflo Dollar". I am also with Michael Brown when he says that John MacArthur owes an apology for saying that there was "essentially zero social benefit to the world from the charismatic movement". I post pastor Shane's message here, as it reflects my own views on this matter quite well. Living on the mission field (in Thailand), working with an overwhelmingly "charismatic" organization (YWAM), attending a Baptist church and having connections to many missionaries, pastors and normal believers from super-charismatic all the way to super-reformed backgrounds, I am very much aware of the need for balance and wisdom in all things. I consider myself blessed to have good friends among people from the entire spectrum of Christianity and I am hopeful that the "Strange Fire" Conference and its aftermath will eventually have a very positive impact on the unity of believers worldwide - because God is still able to bring about good even when man's intention should be evil. I am not saying that John MacArthur had bad intentions by hosting this Conference, I am only focusing on God's ability to bring about good... It is my prayer that an honest, humble dialogue about the raised issues would result in a deeper love and a greater appreciation for one another. Impossible, you think? Ha, you ain't seen nothing yet... :)    

"We trust the time will come when Dr. John MacArthur and those who share his perspective will acknowledge the great contribution that Pentecostals and Charismatics are making in the evangelization of individuals without Christ. We pray God's blessings on their efforts to share His gospel with a lost and dying world. Pentecostals and charismatics are their co-laborers in this effort so we ask that they would similarly pray for God's blessing on us as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission that God has given us all."

From a statement by George Wood's, General Superintendent Assemblies of God posted online

Obedience and Revival

I am convinced that the believer's obedience in small things (e.g. in Thailand: the wearing of helmets when driving motorcycle) would do more to bring about true revival than all "Revival Meetings" and "Prayer Movements" combined (see 1. Samuel 15:22-23, Romans 13:1-2)

Better than New Year's Resolutions...

Rather than focusing on what I should do in the new year, I found it to be much more helpful to focus on what God did in the outgoing year!
Every year I am surprised by how long this list ends up to be, and every year again I find that He has proofed himself faithful, merciful, forgiving, loving and good beyond comprehension in my life. I fall short of the glory of God, He never does. I would again break all the well-intended New Year's Resolutions within a few days (or weeks at best). He will again show himself faithful to His word and He will again keep all his promises :)
As C.H. Spurgeon used to love to say: "Look to him, dear sinner!"