It has been my observation of Christian institutions that they will often face a ‘Job experience’ – staring down the loss of the work they have laboured for, usually due to a lack of finances. God gave them a vision to start a mission, an orphanage, a school, a Bible College or a Church and now all they had laboured for is about to become undone because of lack of money!

Now how do we answer this question, when Jesus comes to us and asks, “Who do you say that I am?”

For my whole Christian life, I imagined my answer to this question would be as Peter’s answer, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. In the last year I have come to realise that I am more a Pharisee than a Peter, in that although I believed in God (that He exists) there were many times I didn’t really believe Him, that what he says about Himself is true.

Our daily world is full of atheistic and humanistic philosophy and practice, “depending more on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2.8) Sometimes I wonder just where we get some of our ideas from about God when I hear people I would regard as sincere committed Christians, say things that are a contradiction to scripture and what was spoken by Jesus in the Gospels, or by Paul in one of his letters to the church. 

God is waiting for us to pull ourselves, back up into this High Call. Near enough is not going to be good enough. And religiosity is only ever going to be a shameful counterfeit to true holiness. If we will learn to carry His power, and faithfully embrace our High Call we will be found worthy to stand among those I saw in that gathering. Following Jesus was never going to be easy, but it was, always going to be worth it.

There is nothing more confronting than coming into contact with people living on less than three or four dollars a day, struggling with the sorts of issues that are magnified by poverty, like health, nutrition,  education, and social isolation. Living in hardship can develop your faith into a finely honed edge. Third world faith is often best expressed in practical pragmatism and in community closeness. 

Some years ago, Eddie had a vision in which he saw a locked chest with a dove on it. The Lord showed him that the church had locked up the gifts of the Holy Spirit. When I became a Christian, (some 25 years ago) it could certainly be said of the New Zealand Churches that we really did desire the ‘greater gifts’. Though I know there are still many charismatic churches in NZ, I would have to say that as a whole the body of Christ in this nation has a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude towards the gifts of the Spirit. Which is a shame as it is these gifts that demonstrate the power of God to an unbelieving world.

In the previous three centuries many western missionaries were called by the Lord to Asia. Some ploughed and sowed, others came later to nurture and water. They forsook the joys that their homelands offered, to toil among the unreached, losing husbands, wives and children to tropical diseases. They poured out their lives for gospel. Some even packed their belongings into coffins, knowing this was a one way trip.

This is why encouragement is so necessary. We are constantly faced with the ‘impossible’ – ‘impossible’ in our natural ability, but ‘made possible’ when we step out in obedience. Jesus said to Peter, “Come” (Matt 14:29) and the impossible became possible. He was able to walk on the surface of the Sea of Galilee. His obedience triggered a supernatural provision.