Missions Manual

Go InTo All The World...

Why we go...
We are commanded in Scripture to go
(Matthew 28:19-20).
We go in order to encourage our partners
in the field (Romans 1:11-12).
It is the first step in confirming your calling.
You will gain new perspective and will have the opportunity
to test your cross-cultural abilities.
You will develop and strengthen your Christian character,
stretching spiritually, culturally, and relationally.

A short-term
short-term mission
A
mission tripmuch
tripmuch more
more than
than aa mere
mereadventure,
adventure,
its
of
fulfilling
The
he Great
i
ts part
part o
ff
ulfilling T
GreatCommission!
Commission!

This manual has been designed to provide information that will prepare you for what is ahead. Please read carefully!
This manual has been designed to provide information that will prepareyoufor what is ahead. Please read carefully
!

Congratulations and thanks for stepping up to make a difference in the world. I believe

Congratulations! You have stepped forward and are about to begin your

that a short-term mission trip is one of the most worthwhile experiences of which you

short-term missions training. This book has been prepared to equip you for

will ever be a part. The material that follows, along with your team meetings, will equip

your mission. I personally want to encourage you to make the most of this

you to make a big impact. I personally challenge you to dive in with all that is in you

experience. Surrender completely to God and allow Him to stretch you and

and allow God to use you. If you do, your life will never be the same. My prayer is that

grow you like never before. Open your heart to the people that you are going to

He will do abundantly more than you could ever ask or imagine!

minister to and ask God to allow your heart to be broken with the things that
break His heart. You will not be disappointed!

Jason Surratt, Missions Pastor

Jodi Felty, Missions Director

Seacoast Church

Seacoast Church

Mission and Vision:

Jesus' final instruction to His followers was to make disciples of all nations and of all peoples. Seacoast Missions
exists to mobilize Christians for the completion of The Great Commission.
We are committed to reaching out to the lost and hurting by forming strategic partnerships with churches and
organizations that are planting churches, equipping leaders, assisting the poor, caring for the sick, and educating
future generations.
Our Vision is to see all believers on Mission with God in some capacity as prayer warriors, financial supporters,
or missionaries. Seacoast Missions is about fully devoted followers of Christ going into "all the world" to offer the
answer, Jesus Christ, to a hurting world in need and, in the process, finding meaning for their own lives.

Trip Preparation
Where God guides, He provides

Therefore go and make

disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, and teaching
them to obey everything
I have commanded you.
And surely I am with
you always, to the very
end of the age."
Matthew 28:19-20

Not me, Not now, No way, No how!

I want to go on a mission trip, but.

I dont
Ive
have the
never
time.
traveled
overseas.
Most of our
Great! What better way
to experience overseas
travel than with a
missions team?
Every team is led by a
caring, trained, and
experienced leader who
will prepare you each step
of the way. Your team will
meet weekly for 8-12
weeks prior to your trip.
Youll be told what to
pack, what shots youll
need, how to get a
passport, and even what
to expect cross-culturally.
You will grow in your
faith as you obediently
take this next step.

international trips
are 7-14 days.
Because they fall over
weekends, most of our
team members only
have to take 5-10 days
of vacation time. Check
your calendar and the
mission trip brochure or
website for trip dates.
Dates may change slightly
depending upon flight
schedules.

I dont
have the
money.
Where God guides,
He provides.
As you pray about going,
God will lead you in
decisions on how to save
and earn money, and how
to ask for support from
friends and family. He will
also surprise you with
financial support from
people and places you
would never have
imagined. If you need
to connect with someone
on this issue, please email
jodifelty@seacoast.org.

Im not
sure what
I can do
or what
I have to
offer.
What are your gifts?
Use them to
reach the world.
Can you smile, play with
children, pray and/or care
about the lost? Your
presence and prayers can
make a huge difference in
corners of the world
where there are no
witnesses for Christ.
Additionally, your pre-trip
training will equip you for
mission trip activities.

And my
my God
And
God
will supply
supply
will
allyour
your needs
all
needs
according to
His
according
to His
r
iches in
in g
lory
riches
glory
in Christ
in
Christ Jesus.
Jesus.
Philippians
Philippians 4:19
4:19

9
9

Before
Before
You
YouGo
Go .. .. ..
Consider
Consider
The
TheCost
Cost
STEPS OF
PREPARATION
Fundraising is an integral part of your short-term missions
experience. Dont let money keep you from jumping in...
God is waiting for an opportunity to show how big He is!
Here are some inevitable costs that are your responsibility
and are separate from the cost of the mission trip:

Deposit & Balance

A $50 deposit is required with the application. In addition,
the balance of the trip cost is due before the departure of
your trip.
After airline tickets have been purchased, you will be
responsible for the ticket fare if you should decide not to
go. Your leader will announce in advance when the tickets
will be purchased.

Immunizations & Vaccinations

Seacoast Missions supports the immunizations that are
recommended by the Center for Disease Control (CDC)
www.cdc.gov/travel/destinat.htm. Please check with your
team leader to determine what is needed for your trip. You
will need to consult your physician or a local travel clinic.
Some shots must to be given 4-6 weeks prior to your trip!
For immunizations, you will need to contact your physician
or a local travel clinic. Following are several options:
MUSC Travel Clinic @ 843-792-1414
Charleston ID Consultants and Travel Medicine
@ 843-763-6336
Passport Health @ 843-225-5688
Charleston Low Country Infectious Diseases, P.A.
@ 843-402-0227

10

Fees for immunizations and vaccinations are NOT included

in the price of the trip. Tetanus/Diphtheria vaccinations are
required for ALL trips. You may also need to get a
prescription from your physician for malaria medication.
For a list of recommended vaccinations, check out
www.cdc.gov/travel/destinat.htm.

Passports & Visas

Passports are required for all trips outside the continental
U.S. Passports: $65-$100, depending on when you apply.
Photos: $10-$20

If you dont already have one, apply now for your passport!
To obtain a passport, you will need a certified birth
certificate (not the hospital record), two passport photos,
and a drivers license. In addition, you will need to pick up
a passport application from the post office and turn in the
requested information to the postal clerk for processing
with the US Passport Agency. You should allow 6-8 weeks
before your trip for your passport to arrive.
For further information on passports, check out
http://travel.state.gov/passport/index.html.
Visas may be requiredthis will be discussed in team
meetings. Your team will obtain visas together; the cost is
included in your trip.

COMMUNICATION
AND FUNDRAISING

PRAYER AND
SUPPORT-RAISING

Are you concerned that people wont understand why

they should support your trip? Here are some reasons
why people give:

You are about to embark on an awesome faith-building

journey . . .

People give when they feel informed.

Think aboutwhy am I going? How will the money be
used? How can others be involved? How do I expect to
grow spiritually through this trip?
People give because they believe their gift will
change lives.
Help them understand how their gift will benefit
Gods kingdom.
People give if you make them feel as much a part of
the trip as those going.
Communicate with them before, during, and after the
trip. They need to know you are depending on their
prayer and support.
People give when they see that you are completely
committed to this and enthusiastic about it!
People are excited to see others with a passion and
are then inspired to support them.
Above all else, focus on God, not on your own need,
claiming the promises of Ephesians 3:20-21.

Prayer is the foundation of your trip. Prayer needs to start

nowlong before you pack your bags and travel. God is
willing and able to do far more than all we ask or imagine,
but we must PRAY. Here are some things to be diligently
praying about as you are preparing your heart to be used
by God on this trip:

Pray for
peace that you are following His will
growing faith as you rely on Him to provide financial
support
wisdom for your team leaders
unity of purpose for your team
clear vision of Gods plans, and for the removal of
all distractions
opportunities to share your story with those who
need Him
insight and understanding for the people and culture
you will be serving
safe travel and smooth planning of all the details
God to prepare the hearts of the people that you
will encounter

Ask the Lord of the harvest,

therefore, to send out the laborers into
His harvest field. Matthew 9:38

11

For your plans to succeed, you must be committed to

prayer. Prayer doesnt seem practical, and unfortunately,
it is often left out of the fundraising process.
Raising the funds necessary to take this trip may seem like
an insurmountable hurdle, but this critical stepwhen
given the proper attentionwill build the foundation for
a spiritual, Christ-filled trip. Fundraising has a scriptural
basis. The way you view it is crucial in turning fundraising
into a partnership.
The level of anxiety associated with money and
short-term mission trips is high. Worry and anxiety often
result when our finances are not entrusted to God.
We often think that God will help us when sharing our
testimony, with cultural adjustments, or with our problems
on the field, but we have to worry about the money! Make
sure you dedicate a good amount of time to prayer, and
ask God for help and wisdom as you
prepare for your trip.

The overall goal and purpose of fundraising should be to

share the vision of what God is doing on the mission field.
A critical, sometimes neglected, aspect of fundraising is
communicating the bigger picture.
You should attempt to raise a prayer support team who
will pray for you regularly during your preparation and
training, and daily during your trip.
Prepare a list of potential prayer and financial partners to
whom you would like to send a support letter. Keep in
mind that your prayer partners will be an important part
of your team, even if they do not support you financially.

Types of communication include:

one-on-one conversations
letter-writing
keeping the partnership team updated
follow-up after the trip

Stop! Before You Mail Your Letters...

You must enclose a
copy of the Mission Trip
Donation Guidelines
with each letter sent
out to supporters. This
form is contained on
the next page of this
manual so that you can
easily reproduce it.

12

Contributors should
be instructed to mail or
bring their donations to
the Missions Department.
Please discourage
placing contributions
directly in the offering
boxes. Send churchaddressed stamped
envelopes along with
your letters. This increases
the potential for them to
be sent back!

You may have the

supporters write your
name on the memo
line of the check. If you
are having difficulties
with raising the necessary
support, contact your
team leader or the
Missions Department.

Only contributions
made out to
SEACOAST CHURCH
and accompanied by
the TRIP DONATION
GUIDELINE form will be
considered and
included on the givers
contribution statement,
thereby qualifying for
a tax deduction.

Mission Trip Donation Form

Only complete if you need a charitable contribution receipt at yearend.
We (I) want to support the missions outreach of Seacoast Church and are sending a donation detailed
below. Our preference is that this donation be used to support the short-term mission trip of the individual
listed below but understand that the use of the donation is subject to the discretion and control of Seacoast
Church. If this team member is not able to participate in the trip, our contribution will still be used to
support the missions department.
***Donate online! In one easy step you can skip the paper work to save time! Ask the trip participant
for a link, or go to www.seacoast.org and select the sponsoring campus, then select Global Missions,
then select the trip, select support, and follow the prompts to complete your donation.

The person I would prefer to support is: ________________________________________

He/She plans to go on a Missions trip to: ________________________________________
Attached is a check made payable to Seacoast Church for $________.

Check #_______

Printed Donor Name ________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________
Street Address
City, State, Zip
Please return form with your contribution to: _______________________________________________

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mission Trip Donation Form

Only complete if you need a charitable contribution receipt at yearend.
We (I) want to support the missions outreach of Seacoast Church and are sending a donation detailed
below. Our preference is that this donation be used to support the short-term mission trip of the individual
listed below but understand that the use of the donation is subject to the discretion and control of Seacoast
Church. If this team member is not able to participate in the trip, our contribution will still be used to
support the missions department.
***Donate online! In one easy step you can skip the paper work to save time! Ask the trip participant
for a link, or go to www.seacoast.org and select the sponsoring campus, then select Global Missions,
then select the trip, select support, and follow the prompts to complete your donation.

The person I would prefer to support is: ________________________________________

He/She plans to go on a Missions trip to: ________________________________________
Attached is a check made payable to Seacoast Church for $________.

Check #_______

Printed Donor Name ____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________
Street Address
City, State, Zip
Please return form with your contribution to: ___________________________________________________

Sample Support Letter #1

Dear Friends and Family:

I hope this letter finds you doing well. I have some exciting news that Id like to share with you.
For some time now, I have had the desire to go on a short-term mission trip, and now I have
that opportunity! I will be traveling to Colombo, Sri Lanka on Oct 18-Nov 2 with a team from
Seacoast Church. We will be working with Pastor Dishan DeSilva, who leads Bethany Christian
Life Center, a church with approximately 250 members. We will spend one week in Colombo
offering our services, sharing our faith and encouraging the small groups in the church. Then
we will travel upcountry to work with children in an orphanage for a week. Sri Lanka is
predominately a Buddhist country, and speaks some English, but the native language is
Sinhalese. Fortunately, we will have interpreters!
As I have started to prepare for this missions opportunity, I have been overwhelmed with a
sense that something great is going to happen in and through me. This will be my first mission
trip experience, and I anticipate being stretched and broken and made new daily.
If you would like to share with me in this powerful ministry, here are some important things
that you can do:

Pray that God would strengthen me spiritually to do the work He has called me to do.
Pray that this trip would encourage and forever change the lives of the people of Sri
Lanka.
Pray that my health would remain strong.

Obviously, this trip will be expensive. The team members are responsible for raising a
percentage of the trip cost that includes airfare, food, lodging, and transportation. This cost is
approximately $2,500. I feel confident that since God has called me to do this, He will also
provide a way. I would greatly appreciate your prayerful consideration of giving financially to
help me meet this need. If you are able to make a gift to the church to help with my expenses,
please complete the attached Mission Trip Donation Form and return to me with your check
made payable to Seacoast Church. We need this form to help us properly record all assistance.
Alternatively, you may contribute online at www.seacoast.org and (1) choose the Mount
Pleasant campus, (2) select Missions, and (3) choose Support.
I thank you in advance for taking the time to consider supporting me prayerfully and/or
financially. If you have any questions or would like more information on the trip, please do not
hesitate to call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx, or email me at xxx@xxx.com. I look forward to sharing this
experience with you upon my return.
Blessings,

Sample Support Letter #2

Dear Friends and Family:

I have some exciting news that Id like to share with you. I have an opportunity to travel to
Togo, West Africa on June 15-29 on a short-term mission trip with Seacoast Church. Our team
will be working with local missionaries to build a church in a remote West African village. We
will also have the opportunity to do street performances (puppet shows, dramas, balloon
animals) and teach Vacation Bible School to the village children. In the evenings, we will
participate in outreach programs and share the Jesus video. Fortunately, interpreters will be
attending!
In order to make this possible, we need to assemble a strong supporting team. People like you
may lift us up in daily prayer and/or give a financial gift toward the expense as we seek to serve
God in this area. The total amount that each team member needs to raise is $2,400. This
amount includes travel, expenses, food, lodging, and transportation.
I would appreciate your prayerful consideration of giving financially to help me meet this need.
If you are able to make a gift to the church to help with my expense, please complete the
attached Mission Trip Donation Form and return to me with your check made payable to
Seacoast Church. We need this form to help us properly record all assistance. Alternatively,
you may contribute online at www.seacoast.org and (1) choose the Mount Pleasant campus,
(2) select Missions, and (3) choose Support.
I thank you in advance for taking the time to consider supporting me prayerfully and/or
financially. If you have any questions or would like more information on the trip, please do not
hesitate to call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx, or email me at xxx@xxx.com I look forward to sharing this
experience with you upon my return.
Blessings,

Trip
Trip
Preparation
Preparation
He protected us on
our entire journey
and among all the
nations through
which we traveled
Joshua 24:17

16

DO NOT Pack or Wear:

WHAT
TO PACK...
Passport
Neck pouches or fanny packs for
your passports, tickets, and money
Bible, journal, pen
Ministry materials
Spending money
Towel/washcloth
(quick dry towel is great)
Twin sheets (on some trips)
Sunscreen, lip block
Insect repellent (high deet)
Snack foods
(protein bars, crackers, candy)
Handi-wipes, antibacterial gel
Pepto-Bismol, Imodium AD,
allergy meds, Tylenol,
Dramamine (drowsy and
non-drowsy)
Mosquito nets (Africa trips)
Flashlight/extra batteries
Laundry soap (small amount or
share with a teammate)
Duct Tape
Toilet paper
Camera and film (make sure
the batteries are fresh)
Neck pillow for traveling
Good walking shoes/sandals;
sandals for shower
Toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste,
soap, shampoominimal needs)

Mini skirtsall skirts should be

BELOW the knee
Short shorts (most places shorts
are not allowed)
Two piece bikinis
Spandex
Midriff tops, off the shoulder,
spaghetti straps, or tank tops
Clothing with ads for tobacco
or alcohol

Do not take anything you dont need.

Leave valuables at home!
Go through your wallet and purse
and take out credit cards, keys,
and other items you will not need.

Clothing and Jewelry

Talk to your team leader about
specific dress requirements for your
trip. Certain cultures have specific
guidelines that you need to follow in
order to avoid offending the locals
and damaging the work of the
ministry. Do not bring expensive
jewelry or watches.

TIPS
FOR TRAVEL
NO, NADA, ZERO JOKES of any
kind about safety or security
issues in the airport.
Take a money belt or shoulder
harness to keep cash, passports,
and other important items.
Always carry prescription
medications in their original
pharmacy-supplied bottle.
When packing toilet paper,
remove the cardboard center. It
will flatten and require less space.
If you carry detergent, buy small
packets and keep them in their
original container. Otherwise,
customs may open your bag
and find a baggie of suspicious
white powder!

HEALTH
AND SAFETY
Pack a small sewing kit with a
few safety pins.
Leave economy sized shampoos
at home. Use travel sizes.
Avoid taking wrapped gifts.
Airport security has the right to
open them.
Wear comfortable clothes and
shoes while traveling. Be sure to
bring something to cover up
with (even if your trip is in the
summer) in case the airports or
planes are cool.
Dont bring any knives, fireworks,
scissors, toys resembling
weapons, or liquid corrosives.
Remove your toiletries, food
items and other items from their
boxes and pack in zipper seal bags.

Be sure that everyone has had the

proper immunizations and vaccinations! By using a little common sense
and a little care, you should have no
problems with your health while on
a mission trip.
NOTE: For countries requiring
Yellow Fever vaccination, you must
show your yellow card (proof of
vaccination) in order to enter
the country.
We suggest that you bring a hand gel
that is antibacterial, and Handi-wipes
for use throughout the day, as soap
and water are not always available.
The most common ailments
experienced by visitors are an upset
stomach and diarrhea. The major
cause of this problem is the
non-purified water. Carry bottled
water with you and do not eat
food from roadside vendors. Do
not eat raw vegetables (including
salad) that have not been washed
in clean water (just ask your leader).
Eat only peeled fruit. Sodas are
generally safe to drink. Food in
recommended restaurants is quite
delicious and inexpensiveenjoy!

17

Remember.
Report any illness to your
team leader.
Water should not be used for
drinking unless you are certain it is
purified and safe. This includes
water in motels and restaurants.
Use bottled water for brushing
your teeth.
Be sure to drink a lot of bottled
water to avoid dehydration.
Powdered Gatorade is great to
bring and keeps you hydrated.

MONEY
Money will be exchanged by the
group leader, the missionary, or by
yourself at a money exchange house
or at the airport. We suggest that you
bring only enough cash to cover
shopping and personal expenses.
Travelers checks can be very hard to
change, if not impossible.
Keep your money with you at all
times. A money belt or a neck pouch
will come in very handy. Your team
leader will let you know when and
where money will be exchanged.

DEVOTIONS
Take advantage of the time before
your trip to prepare your heart for
the work that God wants to do in
your life. You will not be effective in
serving others until you completely
surrender your heart to God and are
open to what He wants to do
through you. Set aside time each
day to study Gods Word and allow
Him to make you the person that
He has created you to be.

18

JOURNALING
Keeping a journal is not just
something to do for fun; it is a way
to process the events of the trip.
Maybe youve never kept a spiritual
journal before, or maybe you are an
expert. Either way, its an important
process of your spiritual growth.
The great thing about journaling is
that you can write whatever you
want! It is a time to reflect on your
day and process what has been
running through your mind. You
can write out what you want God to
do in your life, what you have been
reading in your Bible, questions,
struggles, prayers, poems, incidents
in your day that sparked a thought
anything you want. Sometimes you
may need to write to God; other
times you will want to write
to yourself.

Consistency is the key. Record

something every day even if you
think there is nothing happening.
You will see Gods hand working as
you look back over your entries. You
can track specific answers to prayer,
and remember events that would
otherwise have been forgotten.
Give it a try. Find a quiet spot and a
daily time. Write. Draw. Dream. You
wont be disappointed!

Now devote your heart

and soul to seeking the
Lord your God.
1 Chronicles 22:19

SET GOALS
Dont have rigid expectations, but do plan to set general goals.

Take a minute to think about your personal goals in these areas:

In what areas do you want to grow and be challenged?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
What do you want to learn about working closely with others in ministry?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
How can you use and improve your spiritual gifts to help your team?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
What kind of insights do you hope to come away with spiritually, practically, and culturally?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

19

REFLECTION PASSAGES
Psalm 67:4...Let

the nations be glad

Whatever you did for one of the least of these,

you did for Me

Matthew 25:40

Matthew 6...Giving
Matthew 10...The

to the poor and prayer...

twelve disciples instructions and prayer

Matthew 28:19-20...Go
Acts 4:12...And

there is salvation in no one else

Romans 1:16...For
Romans 10...The

and make disciples of all the nations

I am not ashamed of the Gospel

word of faith brings salvation

Romans 10:15How

beautiful are the feet of those who bring

the Good News...

Galatians 5:16-26...The
Philippians 2Be
1 Peter 1:16...Be

20

fruit of the Spirit

like Christ...

holy, because I am holy...

Team Unity
Where God guides, He provides

May the God who gives

endurance and
encouragement give you
a spirit of unity among
yourselves as you follow
Christ Jesus, so that
with one heart and mouth
you may glorify the God
and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Romans 15:5

Our
Our
Statement
Statement
ofof
Faith
Faith
THE
ESSENTIALS
The sole basis for our belief is the
Bible, which is uniquely God-inspired,
without error, and the final authority
on all matters on which it speaks. As
the Bible teaches, there is one God,
eternally existing in three persons
Father, Son, and Holy Spiriteach
possessing all the attributes of Deity.
God created humans to have fellowship with Him, but we have defiled
God by going our own way. As a
result, we need Gods saving grace
to end our alienation from Him.
Salvation comes only through Gods
grace, not human effort, and must be
received personally by repentance
and faith.

24

Jesus Christ, the second person of

the Trinity, lived a sinless life on earth
and voluntarily paid for our sins by
dying on the cross as our substitute.
This accomplished salvation for
all who receive grace by trusting
Him alone.
He rose from the dead and is the
only mediator between us and God.
He baptizes believers in the Holy
Spirit. He will return to Earth to
consummate history.
The Holy Spirit draws sinners to
Christ and equips believers for
personal growth and service to the
church. The churchs role is to glorify
God and serve those in need. At
the end, everyone will experience
bodily resurrection and the
judgment. Only believers will enjoy
eternal fellowship with God.

In the essentials
we believe in unity.

In all our beliefs

we show charity...

T
here is
There
isone
onebody
bodyand
and
one
one sspirit...there
pirit...there is
is one
one
lord,
one
l
ord,one
one faith,
faith, o
ne
baptism, and
baptism,
and one
one God
God
and
Father.
and Fa
ther.
Ephesians 4:4-6
4:4-6
Ephesians

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I hold
If I
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inmy
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not only
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have no
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ll.
Corinthians 13:2
13:2
11 Corinthians

A ccepthim
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whose faith
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Accept
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on disputed
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disputed
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lses
to
servant? To
To his
hismaster
master he
servant?
he
standsor
falls...soeach
each
stands
or falls...so
of
us will
will give
give an
an
of us
account
himselftto
o
account of
of himself
God.
. so whatever
whatever you
you
God...so
believe
about these
things
believe about
these things
k
eep bbetween
etween yourself
keep
yourself
and
God.
and God.
Actss14
14

Act

25
25

Get
iin
To
K
nwowYo
Getting
ToKnow
Know
Gett
t
ng
gTo
K
no
ur
Getting
To
Your
YTeam
ou
am
Your
Team
T
er
amTe

26
26

...May they
...May
they be
be
brought to
tocomplete
complete
brought
unity
unity
John 17:23
John
17:23

Missions Team Member

Guidelines and Covenant
Remember that you are representing Jesus Christ as well as Seacoast Church. Model Jesus in your behavior and attitude.
Attend all weekly team meetings before the trip as well as follow-up meetings.
Prepare spiritually and physically as needed.
Respect the team leader(s) and his or her decisions. All team members must work under the supervision of the team leaders
and missionary host. Members should give practical and spiritual support and encouragement to their leaders.Working as a team
is a necessity.
Develop and maintain a servants attitude toward all nationals and your teammates.
Be flexible with scheduling, changes, and roles assigned.
Remember that you have come to learn as well as teach. Resist the temptation to inform your host about how we do things.
Respect the hosts view of Christianity, recognizing that Christianity has many faces throughout the world, and that one of the
purposes of this trip is to experience faith lived out in a new setting.
Refrain from complaining.Travel can present numerous unexpected and undesired circumstances, but the rewards of conquering
such circumstances are innumerable. Instead of complaining, try being creative and supportive.
Be committed to the standards of Gods Word and Seacoast Missions.This includes refraining from using profanity, tobacco, illicit
drugs, and the consumption of alcoholic beverages while on this trip. Also, respect dress codes.
Cell phones are not to be used on the trip unless it is an emergency. In order to get the most of this experience, it is preferred that
you do not bring them at all.
Remember not to be exclusive in relationships.If your boyfriend/girlfriend or spouse is on the team, make every effort to interact
with all members of the team. If you are attracted to a teammate, do not attempt to pursue a relationship on the trip save it
until after you return home!
The team is to travel together.There will be no late arrivals or early or late departures unless approved prior to the trip.
Remember the missionarys prayer:Where You lead me, I will follow; what they feed me I will swallow. It is an insult to turn
down the food you are givenit is always their best although it may be different from we normally eat. Most people in the
countries we visit eat one meal per day, at best. Please honor your host.
DO NOT give money or gifts to anyone without first consulting your group leader and host missionary.
Your team leader should know where you are at all times. NEVER wander off aloneit is too dangerous.
Always BE ON TIME for meals, team times, and projects.If there is a problem or you are not feeling well, please let your leader know.
Do not waste waterit is a precious resource.Be considerate and use as little as possible.
Remember that you can be sent home at your own expense if you dont adhere to these guidelines, or if your team leader believes
it is in the best interest of the team.

___________________________________________
Team Members Signature

___________________________
Date

27

PERSONALITY (DISC) TEST

In the grid below, rate yourself using a scale of 1- 4.
(4 indicates what is most like me and 1 indicates what is least like me)
Beginning on line #1 and moving across the line:
Place a (4) below the word that is most like you
Next, place a (1) below the word that is least like you
Next, place a (3) below the word that is next most like you
Last, place a (2) below the word that is next least like you.
It is important to do this in this order and respond as if in a business setting. Next, add up your numbers down the
columns and put the total in row #11 provided. Your two highest numbers reflect your personality traits.
Either D, I, S or C. (See personality chart attached).

28

#1

Directing
( )

Influencing
( )

Steady
( )

Cautious
( )

#2

Self-Certain
( )

Optimistic
( )

Deliberate
( )

Restrained
( )

#3

Adventurous
( )

Enthusiastic
( )

Predictable
( )

Logical
( )

#4

Decisive
( )

Open
( )

Patient
( )

Analytical
( )

#5

Daring
( )

Impulsive
( )

Stabilizing
( )

Precise
( )

#6

Restless
( )

Emotional
( )

Protective
( )

Doubting
( )

#7

Competitive
( )

Persuading
( )

Accommodating
( )

Curious
( )

#8

Assertive
( )

Talkative
( )

Modest
( )

Tactful
( )

#9

Experimenting
( )

Charming
( )

Easy-Going
( )

Consistent
( )

#10

Forceful
( )

Sensitive
( )

Sincere
( )

Perfectionist
( )

#11

Total
( )

Total
( )

Total
( )

Total
( )

THE RESULTS ARE IN!

High Point

Value
to a Team

Takes
initiative

Influences
people

Builds
relationships

Focuses on
details

Major
Strengths

Strength of
purpose;
goal-oriented;
gets things done

Enthusiasm;
gets people
motivated
and involved

Good people skills;

good team player
or leader

Thoroughness;
accuracy in
analyzing
all the data

Major
Weaknesses

Can be
insensitive to
feelings of others;
impatient

Impulsive;
may not focus

May sacrifice results

for harmony;
reluctant to initiate

Overly cautious;
can be too
thorough and
lose sight of time

Motivated by

Results:
challenge; action

Recognition;
approval; visibility

Relationships;
appreciation

Being right;
quality

Time
Management

Focus: now;
efficient use of time;
likes to get to
the point

Focus: future;
tends to rush
to the next
exciting thing

Focus: present;
spends time in
personal
interaction

Focus: past;
works more
slowly to
ensure accuracy

Enthusiastic;
stimulating;
often one-way;
can inspire others

Two-way flow;
a good listener

Good listener,
especially
in relation
to tasks

Communication

One way...not as
good a listener;
better at initiating
communication

Emotional
Response

Detached;
independent

Highs and lows;

excitable

Warm; friendly

Sensitive; careful

DecisionMaking

Impulsive;
always makes
decisions with
goal in mind

Intuitive;
quick;
lots of wins
and losses

Relational;
makes decisions
more slowly, due to
input from others

Reluctant;
thorough;
needs lots of
evidence.

Behavior
Under Tension

Autocratic

Attacks

Acquiesces

Avoids

Would Improve
Effectiveness by

Listening

Pausing

Initiating

Declaring

29

UNDERSTANDING RELATIONAL NEEDS

D

How to relate
to a...

Be direct. Start with

results/benefits first,
and then provide
details only as needed.
Be quick
and to the point.
Challenge them.

Be enthusiastic,
positive and friendly.
Provide praise.
Validate their
self worth. Give
them a feeling of
I need you.

Be relational.
Use friendship.
Be easy-going.
Be low-key on
objectives. Dont push.
Let them respond at
their own pace.

Be analytical.
Give clear facts.
Present ideas
objectively.
Dont rush.
Be specific
and thorough.

How to
persuade a.

Key Question: WHAT?

Focus on
results and
bottom line first.
Answer their
question,What are
their benefits?

Key Question: WHO?

Provide emotion;
be enthusiastic.
Share testimonies
of significant
people. Answer
their question,
Who else
has done this?

Key Question: WHY?

Be friendly
with them. Take
time with them.
Answer their
question,Why do
you want things
to change?

Key Question: HOW?

To them it is
important to do it
right. Show them
step-by-step
how to do it. Answer
their question,
How do you want
me to do this?

How to lead a...

Goals/Results.
Give them the
what and let
them determine
the how. Let them
have control, be
in charge
of something.

Group/Recognition.
Consult/counsel
with them about
ideas, projects, people.
Recognize
their efforts in
front of others.
Let them have fun.

Group/Together.
Doing things
together is
important.
Always maintain
the relationship.
Let them have peace;
minimize conflict.

Goals/Quality.
How to do it
the best way is
important.
Be available to
work closely
Let them have time
to do it right.

Agree with their

Goal + Test.
Ask: Why do you think
this is the best way?
Have you considered
other alternatives
to reach your goal?

Agree on their
Vision + Time.
Allow time to pass.
They get excited about
so many things,
theyll move on to
something else.

Together.
Take time to
convince them that
the disagreement
will not disturb the
relationship.

Facts.
Gather your facts.
They will not
be swayed by
emotional appeals
or verbal
persuasiveness.

How to disagree
with a...

30
30

CHARACTERISTICS . . .
D

Quick action;
creating change
taking charge;
getting results

Verbalizing;
generating
enthusiasm

Sitting or staying
in one place;
patience

Following
directions;
accuracy

Desires an
Environment
Including:

Freedom from
controls and
supervision;
many varied
activities

Social recognition;
popularity;
freedom from
control and detail

Sincere
appreciation;
traditional
procedures;
known results

No sudden or
abrupt changes;
security;
reassurances

Fears:

Being taken
advantage of

Loss of
social recognition

Confrontation;
change

Irrational acts;
antagonism

Aggressiveness;
results

Verbal skills;
flexibility

Consistency;
amiableness

Accuracy;
precise standards

Stress Relief:

Open hostility

Emotional expression
of feelings

Excessive need
for sleep

Need for
time alone

Recovery
Needs:

Physical time

Social time

Nothing time

Quiet time

Tendencies
Include:

Judges
Others By:

31
31

HANDLING CONFLICT
The g
The
guidelines
uidelines be
below
low aare
rei
intended
ntended to
to s
serve
erve as
as aa guide
guide to
tore
responding
sponding to
to po
potential
tential oor
r re
real
alco
conflict
nflictsituations.
situations.At
At any
any g
given
iven
time,
time,some
some may
maybe
be more
more appropriate
appropriate than
than oothers:
thers:
When dealing with conflict, PRAY FIRST. Seek Gods guidance for you and those involved.

Realize that conflict is an opportunity for growth.

Withhold judgment until you have heard the other persons perspective.
Keep emotions and hasty conclusions under control.
Identify the core issue and central problem, and let the other stuff go!
Determine if the issue is worth fighting for; pick your battles wisely.
Commit yourself to seeing the problem through.
Different does not mean wrong. State your commitment to the relationship as a priority.
Compare the relative value/importance of the goals you desire and the relative value/importance of the relationship.
Remember that Gods glory and your witness are at stake in how the situation is resolved. It is okay to agree to
disagree as long as you leave the situation with a healthy respect for each other and are able to affirm the other
persons dignity.

Ifyour
If
your br
brother
othersins
sinsagainst
against you,
you, go
goand
and show
show him
himhis
his fault
fault,,just
just b
between
etween the
the
two
two of
of you.
you. If
Ifhe
helistens
listenstoto
you,
you,
you
youhave
havewon
won your
your br
brother
other o
over.
ver.But
But i
iff he
he will
will not
not
listen,
listen,take
take one
one or
or two
two others
others along,
along,so
sothat
that every
every matter
matter may
maybebeestablished
established by
by
the
the testimony
testimony of
of two
two or
or three
threewitnesses.
witnesses.IfIfheherefuses
refusestotolisten
listentotothem,
them,tell
tellit
itto
to the
the
churc
h;and
and iif
f he
he refuses
refuses tto
ol
isten t
thechurch,
church,treat
treathim
himasasyou
youwould
would aapagan
pagan
church;
listen
too the
Matthew 18:15-17
18:15-17
or
tax ccollector.
ollector. Matthew
or aa tax

32
32

Evangelism
Where God guides, He provides

"...Everyone who calls on the

name of the Lord will be saved."
How, then, can they call on the
One they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in the
One of whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear without
someone preaching to them?
And how can they preach unless
they are sent? As it is written,
"How beautiful are the feet of those
who bring Good News!"
Romans 10:13-15

Evangelism
Evangelism
SHARING
YOUR TESTIMONY
Your Story
Everyone has a story. Your story, however boring or crazy
you may think it is, can have major impact on someone
elses life. Take some time to reflect on what God has done
in your life and how you have come to the place that you
are now. A personal testimony is the most persuasive form
of communication!

The Value of Your Testimony

It is unique! There are no others like it.
It is personal and easy to understand.
You are the authority on it. Its difficult to
argue with!
People love to hear personal stories, and they
remember them.
It builds a relational bridge.
In our postmodern world, it may be your most
effective witness.

36

Its Biblical!

We are commanded to share our

testimonies! Let the whole world know
what He has done for you.
Psalm 105:1b
Every day tell how He saves us.
Tell the nations of His glory; tell all
peoples the miracles He does.
Psalm 96:2-3
Be wise in the way you act towards
outsiders, make the most of every
opportunity.
Colossians 4:5
But in your hearts set apart Christ
as Lord. Always be prepared to give an
answer to everyone who asks you to
give the reason for the hope that you
have. But do this with gentleness
and respect.
1 Peter 3:15

The Four Parts of Your Testimony:

1. What my life was like before I met Christ:
What common circumstances would an
unbeliever identify with?
What were your attitudes that an unbeliever
would identify with?
What was most important to you?
What substitutes for God did you use to find
meaning in your life? (sports/fitness, success,
marriage, sex, money, drugs/alcohol, fun,
popularity, hobbies)

2. How I realized I needed Christ:

What significant steps led up to your conversion?
What needs, hurts, or problems made you
dissatisfied with the way you were living
without God?
How did God get your attention?
What motivated you?

3. How I committed my life to Christ:

What specifically did you do?

Where did it happen?
What did you say in your prayer?
Be specific.

4. The difference Christ has made in my life:

What benefits have you experienced?

What problems have been resolved?
How has Jesus helped you change for the better?
How has it helped your relationships?
Give a current example.

Preparing Your Testimony:

If you became a Christian as a child, but walked away or

never developed a deeper commitment until you became
an adult...
Use the same four steps, but start with the time just prior
to your recommitment. Give some examples of how you
were trying to meet your own needs without Christ
although it wasnt working.
Describe what caused you to realize you needed Christ
directing your life and how you made a full commitment
to Him. Then explain how Jesus is currently meeting the
deepest needs of your life.

If you became a Christian at an early age and never

strayed...
Use the same four steps with this modification:
Point out some deep need or common problem that
you see other people trying to resolve. Point out how
unsuccessful their attempts are to meet their own need.
Then explain why you never experienced that problem
by trusting Christ early in life. Dont say the exact age.
Continue with steps 3 and 4.

Always be prepared to give an

answer to everyone who asks you to give
the reason for the hope that you have
1 Peter 3:15
Note: The Bible does not ask us to share our faith...it asks
us to share our hope. Faith is what we believe; hope is the
benefit of what we believe. Share the benefits!

When you give your testimony, spend the least amount of

time on what your life was like before Christ. Spend more
time on how you realized you needed Christ. Spend even
more time on how you committed your life to Christ.

Spend most of your time on the difference your

relationship with Christ has made in your life!

Think of the pyramid:

37

38

Suggestions for Preparing

Your Testimony.

COMMON-GROUND
CIRCUMSTANCES

Pray and ask God to give you the right words.

Write it out on paper. God honors preparation.
Keep it short and to the point. Dont lose sight of
your goal.
Be concise. Avoid excessive, unnecessary details.
Try to keep your testimony below 3 minutes.
Refer to experiences most people have in common.
Share a slice of your life (a story) that they will
identify with.
Be honest about your continuing struggles. Your life
is not perfect.
Dont imply that all of your problems ended at
conversion.
Emphasize WHY you received Christ (the benefits of
doing it).
Mention the benefit of being certain of your destiny
when you die.
Dont exaggerate, glorify, or brag about
pre-conversion sins.
Dont make negative remarks about other religions
or people.
Dont mention denominations.
Give concrete examples of changes in your life, but
dont share more than is appropriateask your
host/leader if you are not sure.
The more specific you are, the more dynamic it will be.
Avoid using dates, names, and ages.
Be prepared. Practice it until it feels and sounds natural.
Read it aloud and edit it to make it conversational.
Let a friend read it and make suggestions.
Speak casually and informally, in a matter-of-fact tone.
Dont dramatize or embellish your story.
Dont share mystical experiences.
Share on their level, not yours.
Dont talk down to people.
Use I, me, and my, not you.
Dont use slang.
Choose a central theme.

Give a testimony about how Jesus has helped you with

any of the following:

Positive Experiences

adoption
breaking a bad habit
financial gain
raising kids
marriage restored
or strengthened,
new baby
new business

new friends
new home
new marriage
new job
success
renewed love
restored friendships

discrimination
divorce
empty nest
financial problems
infertility
incest
jail
rape
surgery

Negative Experiences

abuse
accident
addiction
abortion
bankruptcy
broken dream
eating disorder
death
depression
disease

HowHow
trusting Jesustrusting Jesus
has helped mehas given
with my...to me...
Worries/anxietyInner peace
Guilt/shameForgiveness and a fresh start
Anger/temperPatience and love
Emptiness/lack of purposePurpose and meaning in life
GriefComfort and joy
Stress/burnoutNew energy/power for living
Low self-esteemSignificance
Poor healthStrength to go on
DisappointmentTrust in His good plans
InsecurityConfidence/sense of security
RegretsA second chance at life
DiscontentmentContentment and peace
FearsFaith to face my fears
LonelinessAssurance Hes always with me
Lack of emotional supportA church family that supports me
Addictions/habitsPower to change/freedom
Self-centerednessLove for other people
Despair/depressionHope
Cheap thrillsReal, lasting happiness
Boredom with my lifeAdventure with God
Fear of deathAssurance of heaven
Something was missingA sense of fulfillment
Bitterness/resentmentAbility to be free from my past
Pain of rejectionGods unconditional love
Marriage problemsPositive changes in marriage
Financial problemsPositive changes in finances
Business problemsPositive changes in my business

39

SHARING JESUS WITHOUT FEAR

By Frank Cate
The material you are about to read is the practical
application based on a book entitled Share Jesus Without
Fear, written by William Fay with Linda Evans Shepherd.
Bill Fay is a gentleman who was involved in prostitution,
mafia-run businesses, and other activities not pleasing to
God, until he accepted Christ as his personal Lord and
Savior in 1981. I am grateful to him for developing this
approach to sharing Christ with others, and believe it will
prove to be a blessing to your life and to the lives of others
through you.

One Bible translation says his job is to equip the saints.

In other words, the role of our pastor(s) is not to do the
ministry or the witnessing, but to train us. Too long we
have depended on others, when it is our biblical
command to do it, with training from our pastor. It is the
responsibility of the pastor to witness and minister in his
own sphere of influencefamily, friends, neighbors, etc.
But we are the ones to share the Good News with those
around us.

Sharing Jesus Without Fear is encouraging to you who

know people that may seem difficult. But God is sovereign.
God can take somebody like Bill Fay and change them.
Bill testifies as to how difficult he was, but some people
continued to confront him with the Good News, and the
Holy Spirit finally drew him in.

Have you ever wanted to share your faith with others,

and just plain chickened out?Yes, that is something that
we have all done. Have you felt a need to share your faith
with someone in your life, and just never quite got around
to it? Yes, weve all also done that, too.

God can take anybody in your life and change them, as

well. But the difficulty is that He can't if you don't share.
He can't if you feel like a failure. It has nothing whatsoever
to do with bringing anyone to the Lord. We have to do
more than just offer little tiny tidbits of gospel truth. We
just can't say to someone, "I love the Lord,I'll pray for
you," or "I go to church." The purpose of this presentation
is to help you never again fear sharing your faith with
anyone, even if you know the person to be difficult, or a
close friend or relative, or even if they are a total stranger.

LESSON ONE: SHARING JESUS IN POWER

What do you believe the Bible tells us is the duty of your
pastor or of an evangelist? Many of us feel our pastors
duty is to do ministry and to share his faith with others.

And He personally gave some to

be apostles, some prophets, some
evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
for the training of the saints in the
work of ministry, to build up the body
of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-12

40

What keeps you from sharing your faith?

Feeling of inadequacy
Fear of rejection
Fear a question will be asked for which I dont have an
answer (sadly, that fear normally comes from a believer
of ten years or more)
Fear I dont know the Bible well enough
Fear of offending, losing a friend, etc.
Not knowing where to start or how to begin a
conversation
There are many fears that we have, and perhaps hide
behind, that prevent us from sharing our faith with others.
Perhaps we even just fear rejection; that someone will
say no. Remember this truth as you share our faith with
others: Success is not leading someone to Christ. Success
is acting out our Christian faith, sharing the Good News,
and trusting God for the results.
If you really believe that success is sharing your faith, living
out your Christian life, and it is not bringing someone to
Christ, you'll connect with the fact that it is not you they
are rejecting. It is Jesus they are rejecting. It is God's Word
they are rejecting. It's never you. If you will just believe
that, you'll realize you can't fail.
Keep in mind that Jesus is offensive to many people, but
we dont need to be offensive. There is no reason to feel
you are offensive when you share with a friend or relative,
so you will not be in any danger of losing a friend. But if
we are silent, we can love someone right into hellnot a
pleasant thought.

We also need to remember that only about 15% of

people who profess Christ at some point in their life do it
at an event (a church service, an evangelistic preaching
event, a Christian festival, etc). Most people make a
decision when someone takes the time to share with
them individually. And, on average, people need to hear
the Gospel numerous times. It is estimated that the
average person who finally accepts Jesus as their Lord
and Savior does so after hearing the Gospel about eight
times. So perhaps your witness to an individual is number
one, but it might well be number eight. Now what is our
role in this? In what we know as the Great Commission
in Matthew, we are told

Then Jesus came near and said to them,

"All authority has been given to Me
in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore,
and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Matthew 28:18-19
Notice that Jesus does not say go as soon as you get a
divinity degree, nor does He say go when you have the
gift of evangelism. He just says for them to simply go and
tell everyone about Himself. It is a command, so if we do
not obey Jesus commands, would you consider it sin?

We are ambassadors for Christ; certain

that God is appealing through us, we
plead on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled
to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20
What a responsibility! I am to be His voice; His witness.
But it is also an incredible privilege to speak for our King.
We have looked at what our responsibility is in sharing
our faithwhat is Gods role?

No one can come to Me unless the

Father who sent Me draws him, and I
will raise him up on the last day.

"This is why I told you that no one can

come to Me unless it is granted to him
by the Father." John 6:65
When we witness to someone, we cannot know for
certain if God is drawing that person to Himself. Therefore,
do not draw conclusions that when a person seems so
difficult, so hostile toward God, toward the Christian faith,
and toward individual believers, that the person is not
hungry for the Good News. There are many accounts of
people who seemed very hostile, but who accepted Christ
the moment someone took the time to share with them.
How about Paul? How much more hostile could one of
your friends or relatives be than Paul? Remember it was
his job to kill Christians. Yet, when he heard the saving
knowledge of Christ, his life turned completely.

My speech and my proclamation were

not with persuasive words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of the Spirit
and power. 1 Corinthians 2:4
Here Paul is saying it was not because of his eloquence
that people were saying yes to Jesus, but through the
power of the Holy Spirit in their heart and in their life. So,
as you share your faith, keep in mind that the person will
not say yes because of your great words or your great
answers, but through the power of the Holy Spirit. And
isnt it great to know that God can use our ineptitude?
HE CAN! AND HE WILL! If we will only be faithful.
It's one area of your Christian life you cannot botch if
you'll say something. Even if what you say is somewhat
tactless, even unloving, our Lord can use that. He can't use
your silence. And He will use your prayers. If you will
prayand prayand PRAY! prior to sharing with that
person for whom you have a burden, God will honor
those prayers. In addition, He will cause you to see the
face of any person for whom He wants you to pray, and
to whom He wants you to share Jesus. Try it! Ask God to
show you to whom He wants you to be a witness, and He
will show you.
Adapted for Seacoast Christian Community Church, 2006.

John 6:44

41

SHARING JESUS WITHOUT FEAR

By Frank Cate

LESSON TWO: SHARING

JESUS BEGINS WITH QUESTIONS
Preparing to Use Questions
Sharing Jesus Without Fear is a simple approach based
on a series of general questions using some simple guidelines to help you get started. Never offer our own answers
and do not disagree with any answer the person may give.
Rather, just smile, stay relaxed, nod or occasionally say,
Uh-huh, or Yes,to let the person know that you are
listening. Do not stare, but good eye contact also shows
that you are listening. Keep in mind that listening is a form
of love. So, no matter what the person says, you are only
going to listen until it is appropriate for you to tell your
story. Under no circumstances should you give your own
answers, or correct the answers of the other person.
Just listen, smile, and nod that you are hearing them!

Ask questions of others for only two purposes:

to probe to find out what the person truly believes.
Even if it is a person you know well, you will not be able
to predict the answers to these questions.
to obtain permission to open Gods Word to the person.
A major advantage of asking questions is that it helps
guide the conversation toward a discussion about
salvation. How often do we start out to share in our
normal way of telling people thingswhat we believe,
what the Bible says, what our church believesonly to
discover that the other persons defense mechanism is
better than our telling skills, and an argument ensues?
Another benefit to questions is that most of us like to
express our opinion, even if we know nothing about
the subject. So people are complimented when we ask
questions, because it gives them an opportunity to
express opinions.
Evangelism is not a project. It is a lifestyle. If someone
ordered you to spend one hour each week out of your life
and evangelize, most of you would mentally reject the
command. Even though dedicated Christians might agree
in principle, they still will likely fail to do it. But if you
discover that as you move through the normal course
of your life, you can switch every conversation into an
opportunity to share Jesus, then it will become a normal
part of what you discuss with those you encounter.

42

You can take any conversation that you have with anybody
and use one of the following questions and insert it into
the conversation. That's all. It's just that simple. You don't
have to set more time. As you move through your life,
wherever you are, whoever you're in front of, you can say,
Excuse me, can you tell me about your spiritual beliefs?
Assignment: During the next week go to one person and
ask these first five questions. Go to a friend, an enemy, next
door neighbor, work mate, somebody, because you need
to experience how open people really are.

Using the First Five Questions

Imagine how the non-believer to whom you feel a need to
share Jesus might answer these questions. Keep in mind
that is important that you stay relaxed and casual. It is not
an interrogation, but rather an act of love being genuinely
expressed by being interested in what the person thinks
and feels.

Question #1: Could you tell me about your spiritual beliefs?

Do not fear that this questionor any of the others
would be received as combative or argumentative. They
are not. They have been used by many, many people, and
rarely, if ever, lead to any argument or confrontation. Most
people seem to be complimented that you ask, and that
you are willing to listen to their answers.
You will get many different types of answers, including
such answers as I have been a Christian all my life,I have
been a Catholic all my life,I have been a Methodist all my
life, etc. You may hear people describe the beliefs of
someone else. No matter what the answer, just listen.
And, by the way, the answers you receive will probably
surprise you; even from those people you know intimately.
However, do not act shocked or surprised. Just listen and
smile. Once again, do not provide any answers. Do not
correct anything they may say, no matter how wrong they
may be. If you dare touch it, they can take you off on a
path that leads nowhere except to trouble.

Question #2: To you, who is Jesus?

People may say He is a great teacher,The Messiah,He
is God,the man that died on a cross, or numerous other
descriptions. The only answer that would cause you to
think the person is a Believer is if the answer is personal
i.e.,He is my Lord and Savior, or a similar answer.

Question #3: Do you think there is a Heaven and a hell?

Most people will answer that they believe in Heaven.
Fewer will answer that they believe in hell. Of course,
many will answer that they are not sure about either.

Question #4: If you died tonight, where do you think you

would go?
You will find that a majority will say they are going to
Heaven (in some cases even when they have just said, in
answer to question #3, they do not believe in Heaven).
Many will say they do not know where they are going.
Some will say they are going into the dirt. A good number
will even say they are destined for hell.
If their answer is Heaven, very casually ask them,Why do
you think God would let you into Heaven?The only
answer that will lead you to believe they are a born-again
believer is that they have accepted Jesus as their personal
Lord and Savior. Most, however, will say something along
the lines of,Because I am a good person. Some will say
things like,I never harm anyone,I have never killed anyone, or I go to church. All of these are works- oriented
answers. However, the Bible is very clear that only faith is
required for salvation. Saving is all [Gods] idea, and all His
work. All we do is trust Him enough to let him do it.

It's God's gift from start to finish! We

don't play the major role. If we did, we'd
probably go around bragging that we'd
done the whole thing! Ephesians 2:8-9

So we cannot earn our way into Heaven by being good,

by being in church, or by giving our money.

Question #5: If what you believe is not true, would you

want to know it?
Please ask this question exactly as stated. You do not
wish to ask them If what you believe is wrongYou are
asking them if it is not true, because you are next going to
open the Bible, and that is what we, as Christians, believe
is truth. So that will be our basis for establishing truth.
The person will say yes virtually 100% of the time. Until
you try this approach, that seems a little farfetched that
people would say they do want to know it if what they
currently believe is not true. Very few people will say no.
But, if they should, you just go silent for awhile and pray,
and most of the time they will ask if you are going to tell
them. Or you can just ask the question again in a little
different tone of voice. You may want to ask,But if what
you believe is not true, wouldnt you want to know it? Or
they may give you a grudging answer like,Well, I guess
so, or Oh, go ahead and tell me.
The reason you want a yes answer is that you are
looking for permission to open the Scripture to them.
Remember, our questions were to accomplish two things:
to probe, and to get permission to open the Scriptures.
When they say yes, we are now ready to move ahead
into Gods Word.

Notes __________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Adapted for Seacoast Christian Community Church, 2006.

43

SHARING JESUS WITHOUT FEAR

By Frank Cate

LESSON THREE: SHARING JESUS WITH SCRIPTURE

Handling Romans 3:23

God uses His Scriptures to change peoples lives. What

distinguishes Sharing Jesus Without Fear from other
methods of sharing our faith is the manner in which we
present the Scripture. We are going to use two biblical
principles to expose the person to Gods Word.

A good verse to highlight with a yellow marker is

Romans 3:23. Next, take a pen and print at the top of
the page ROMANS 6:23.You may opt to print it upside
down. Well explain why in a moment. The printed verse
reference serves as a road map for you to find your next
Scripture. You will recall that we have just asked the
person if what they believe were not true, would they
want to know it. So now, in a very calm and relaxed
manner, pull out your New Testament. Dont make a big
deal of it; just calmly open it to Romans 3:23.

1. Christians are told in Romans:

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing

by the word of God. Romans 10:17
Faith comes from the hearing. Help them understand by
reading the Scripture aloud.

2. Christians learn a principle from the Gospel of John:

On one occasion an expert in the law

stood up to test Jesus. Teacher, he said,
what must I do to inherit eternal life?
What is written in the Law? he replied.
How do you read it? Luke 10:25-26
Instead of interpreting and explaining the Law to this
man, Jesus asked the man,How do you read it? In our
vernacular today, we might say,What does it say to you?
or What does that mean to you? Christians should keep
a New Testament available to them whenever possible.
There are many good translations that you might use,
but if you are serious about sharing your faith with others,
you will always have in your possession a sharing New
Testament.
It is strongly recommended that you do not use your big,
marked up, and highlighted Bible to share with others.
Avoid intimidating the person to whom you are witnessing. Carry a small New Testament stashed away in your
purse, your pocket, or your briefcase, ready to be used
when God presents us an opportunity to share with
someone. Always treat the Bible with respect and replace
your Bible as it becomes worn or frayed, or has loose
pages. Your investment in a Bible with few markings will
make it easier for you to give away the Scriptures to those
who have no copy of their own.

44

Some people choose to put a little tab on this page, so

they can easily and quickly open it to the starting place.
Use any little aid like this to make it as relaxed for you as
possible. Now that you have opened it to Romans 3:23,
you hand the Bible so the person who receives it is
looking at it right side up.
You then say,You will notice that the 23rd verse there in
the 3rd chapter is highlighted. Would you be kind enough
to read that verse out loud? Emphasize out loud.
Remember Romans 10:17. Faith comes from hearing the
message, so we want our person to read the Scriptures
out loud.
Do not fear that the person will object to reading the
Bible out loud. Choruses of many who have expressed
this fear have tried it and find no objection at all. Many,
many people have been skittish, only to discover that
they encounter no resistance. We need to trust God that
He will prepare the hearts of those who will read the
Scripture, so it will fall on fertile ground. PRAY!
Are you also discovering that with Sharing Jesus Without
Fear, we are not required to memorize and quote
Scripture verses? Instead, we allow the person to read
them. Does that make you feel more comfortable?
If a person is not comfortable reading aloud, just take the
New Testament back, and read each Scripture aloud very
slowly, then repeat it once or twice until they grasp what
Romans 3:23 is saying.
After they have read it aloud, we then very calmly ask
them,What does that mean to you?You certainly must
realize, if you have shared your faith at all, that the

traditional way is to quote a verse, then explain it to the

person. Using this method, we allow the Holy Spirit to
speak to the person, and aid them in understanding
what it means.
As the person responds with their understanding of
what the verse means, listen carefully to see if they truly
understand the meaning of the verse. This brings in your
required preparation. Just as a teacher must know the
answers to any test questions he/she may pose to a
student in order to know if the response is correct, so
you must study each verse you intend to use to make
certain you know the correct interpretation.
Correct answers you may get could be something like,
It means we are all sinners,It means we all do bad
things, or It means I am a sinner.When you receive an
answer you believe is correct, you just reach over and take
back the New Testament, and turn to the next Scripture.
It was mentioned earlier that you might choose to print
the next verse upside down on the page. Why upside
down? As you take the Bible back from the person, the
printing will be readable, and perhaps make it easier to
quickly turn to the next Scripture. But the way you print
is whatever way makes it easiest for you.
But what if you get an incorrect answer? And, as easy as
this verse is to understand, you will frequently get a wrong
answer. It seems there may a couple of good reasons
why so often the explanation is incorrect:
The person may be reluctant to acknowledge the
presence of sin. Many people deny the existence of sin.
It may be because the person is nervous, wondering
what is going on.Is this a Bible I have in my hands? I
have not held a Bible ever. What is my friend doing?
I just sat down with them to discuss the weather, and
Im reading a Bible. Whats going on?They never seem
to express these feelings, but a good number will seem
a bit confused during the first one or two Scriptures.
Then they come to realize you are doing them no harm,
and they relax.
In any case, you may get answers like,I dont know,It
means some have sinned, or the like. What do you do if

the person doesnt grasp this verse, and gives an incorrect

explanation? Do we explain it to them? No! All we do is
calmly ask the person to read it again aloud. This may
seem as if it will produce some type of negative reaction
from the person. But it does not. They will read it again
aloud, and you again will just ask them,What does that
mean to you? If you can stay relaxed about it, the person
will relax as well.
In his book, Share Jesus Without Fear, Bill Fay indicates
that he has asked people to read the same verse as many
as fifteen times, before the person finally grasped the
meaning of the verse. Wow! It seems as if that would make
them get a bit testy, but it does not. Many people report
that they have asked persons to read the same verse three
to five times aloud, and with no negative reaction. You will
be comforted using this repetition only when you have
experienced it personally.

A quick review:
a. Open the Bible to Romans 3:23. Turn it around, then
hand it to the person and ask them to read the yellow
highlighted verse out loud. When they have read it,
then ask them,What does that verse mean to you?
or What does it say to you?
b. When they give you the correct interpretation, take the
Bible back, and turn to the next verse. If they give you
the incorrect answer, ask them to read the verse again.
Then re-ask the question until they give the correct
answer, and turn to the next verse.

Handling Romans 6:23

Next, turn to Romans 6:23, highlight the verse, and
then print JOHN 3:3 on the top of the page. Again you
will do exactly the same thing as before. Hand the person
the Bible, ask them to read aloud the 23rd verse, which
is highlighted, then ask them,What does that mean
to you?
If they give you a correct answer to the meaning of the
verse, take the Bible back from them. If not, ask them to
read the verse again aloud. Repeat until they properly
interpret the meaning of the verse.

45

Handling John 3:3

Now please turn to John 3:3. This is the only Scripture
passage that is treated slightly differently from all the
others. Please highlight the verse in your New Testament,
then print JOHN 14:6 at the top of the page. In addition,
please place an X somewhere on the page near John 3:3,
large enough so it will catch your attention. The reason for
the X is that for this verse we will not ask,What does it
mean to you?The X reminds you that this verse is an
eXception.
Ask the person to read the verse aloud, then ask the
question,Why do you think Jesus came to die?You may
often get an answer like,He came to die for my sins,
or a similar, very personal answer. Often, even when the
person has not seemed to grasp the meaning of the
earlier Scriptures they have read, at this verse they will
fully grasp that Jesus came to die for them.
Note that this question is not the same question asked
on the other Scriptures. The reason is because Jesus was
speaking to Nicodemus. And Nicodemus was a highly
trained man in the Law of Moses. He was also of the
ultra-pious Pharisee sect. And yet, he didnt understand
what Jesus was saying to him.
A paraphrase of Nicodemus response to Jesus could be
stated,You mean at this advanced age I need to go back
in my mothers womb and be born a second time? If this
man did not understand what Jesus was saying, there will
be a good chance the person with whom you are sharing
will not understand well enough to explain it to you.
But reading this Scripture is a key to effectively sharing
Jesus without fear.
We all need to understand that we must go through a
spiritual transformationbe born againin order to be
saved. They need to hear it because if they are responding
to the Holy Spirit working in them, they will come to
realize the impact of Jesus words.

Before moving on
If you feel the person has not fully grasped these first
three Scriptures (perhaps they seem a bit confused, or
havent seemed to fully grasp the meaning), it is okay to
do a quick summary of the three verses they have read.
Even though you have done no talking to this point, you
must still keep it short. Here is a suggested explanation
for you to learn and tell in your own words

46

In Romans 3:23, you read that we are all guilty of sin, then
in Romans 6:23 you read that the wages, or the payment,
for that sin is eternal death, or hell. But some of the best
news in the Bible is in the second half of 6:23, that God
gave us a gift of Jesus coming to redeem us of our sin and
rescue us from hell, if we will establish a relationship with
Him. Then in John 3:3, we see that if we establish that
relationship, then we can undergo a spiritual rebirth or a
spiritual transformation, and we can be saved.
This short review should put the first three verses in
proper perspective for them.

Handling John 14:6

Please turn to John 14:6. Please yellow highlight the
verse, and print at the top of the page ROMANS 10:9-11.
Once again, ask the person to read this highlighted verse
out loud, and then ask them,What does that verse mean
to you?You will frequently see a visible transformation
taking place on this verse. Here Jesus is making a claim
that He is God, and that no one can get to Heaven,
except through accepting Jesus Christ as their personal
Lord and Savior.
Please keep in mind that the world has been telling this
personand perhaps they believe itthat there are
many ways to get to God, many ways to get to Heaven,
and all religions are good. Now they have Gods Holy
Word in their hands, and they are reading that Jesus is
making the claim that what the world is telling them is a
lie. He is the only way.
Perhaps you have been confronted with that realization at
some time in the past. When people come to this verse,
they are frequently overcome with the truth that is hitting
them squarely in their heart.
Please be reminded that the beauty of this approach to
witnessing is that you are not telling, you are not preaching, nor are you trying to convince. Gods Word is speaking
for itself. Do you truly believe in your heart that the
Scripture is fully capable of standing on its own? If you do,
it will be much easier for you to keep your mouth closed
and not be tempted to interpret each Scripture to the
person. It is a beautiful approach. And it works!

Handling Romans 10:9-11

Please turn to Romans 10:9-11, highlight these verses, and
print REVELATION 3:20 at the top of the page. When you

share, you are going to once again ask the person to read
these verses aloud, and then ask them to share what the
verses mean to them. What frequently strikes people in
these verses is that we are being asked to speak the name
of Jesus aloudwith our mouths. You probably know
many people who profess to be Christians, and yet they
still refer to God as The Big Guy Upstairs,The Creator, or
perhaps they might call Him God, but they are not able to
speak the name of Jesus. Here we are being told in Romans
10 that we must speak His name if we are to be saved.

Notes __________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________

Handling Revelation 3:20

_______________________________________________

Now lets turn to our final Scripture verse, Revelation 3:20.

Highlight this verse. Ask the person to read this verse aloud
and then ask,What does it mean to you?This is one of
the best known verses in the Bible, and paints a beautiful
picture. As a matter of fact, there is a famous painting of
this verse which shows Jesus standing at a large door
knocking. The thing we notice is that there is no door
handle. The only handle is on the inside. This is symbolic
of our heart, to which this verse is referring.

_______________________________________________

Jesus stands at our hearts door from the time we are a

young man or young woman, and have reached the age
of accountability, or age of knowledge. He stands and
gently knocks on our hearts door, which has no outside
handle. He is the perfect guest. He does not go where He
is not invited. So He will not come into our heart until we
invite Him in to be Lord of our life. And since God has given
us free will, He will allow us to make the choice of never
inviting Him in. But that is not what He desires. It is our
choice to make. When the person to whom we are
witnessing gives us a correct interpretation of this final
verse, we are now ready to move the most exciting part.
Youre almost ready to move into what we call The Close.

_______________________________________________

Before moving on
We first asked the person some non-threatening questions
designed to gently probe and find out where this person
really stands spiritually. We also wanted obtain permission
to share the Bible with them. After getting permission
by asking them if what they believe is not true, would they
want to know ityou then shared Scriptures with them.
They have now read, and correctly interpreted, each of
the passages. Throughout the process you have demonstrated your love and care for them by just listening to
them. You havent preached or given your opinions;
havent told them where they are wrong; havent given
your opinion of the meaning of Scriptures. You have
simply asked, then listened.

_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________

Adapted for Seacoast Christian Community Church, 2006.

47

SHARING JESUS WITHOUT FEAR

By Frank Cate

LESSON FOUR: SHARING JESUS WITH THE CLOSE

Get ready to ask the final set of questions. Since the
person with whom you are sharing has just read Bible
passages that tell them they, like we, are sinners, then
ask this series of questions:
1. According to the Bible, are you a sinner?
Always say according to the Biblenot our own
judgment of them. You will get a yes to that question
virtually 100% of the time. And, even though many
people dislike the idea of sin, since they have just read
it in Gods Word, they will agree.
2. Do you want forgiveness of your sins?
They will almost always say yes.
3. Do you believe Jesus died on the cross for you, and
rose again?
The reply is usually a yes.
4. Are you willing to surrender yourself to Christ?
Even though they may not yet understand what this
truly means, they will far more often than not say yes.
If they say either no, or they are not certain, then you
can also learn how to handle objections or rejections.
5. Are you ready to invite Christ into your heart and
into your life?
When you ask this question, go silent and pray. As you
know from your own experience, this may be the most
important moment in the persons life. And you are
placed here by God to be a part of it. So PRAY! If it takes
the person ten seconds to answer, stay silent and pray.
If it takes thirty seconds to answer, stay silent and pray.
If it takes five minutes to answer, stay silent and pray!
It can be a bit scary going through this moment, but it
is a high and holy moment. So just pray, and God will
guide youand the other personthrough it. You
have just asked a question that may well be the most
important question the person is ever asked in their
lifetime, so it is worth staying silent and giving them
time to contemplate their answer.

Handling a positive decision

If the person answers yes to question #5, then you get
the privilege of being a part of something really, really
special. Lead this person in praying what is commonly

48

called The Sinners Prayer. Actually, there are a good

number of sinners prayers, but they all contain the same
fundamental elements. Here is one:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and need Your

forgiveness. I believe that You died on the Cross for my
sins. I want to turn from my sins. I now invite You into my
heart and into my life. I want to trust You as my Lord and
Savior. In Jesus name. Amen.
Once they have answered yes to Question #5, indicating
they want to invite Jesus into their heart, tell them you
would like the privilege of praying with them to invite
Him into their lives. Indicate that you would like to say a
prayer (reading the prayer is perfectly okay), and you
would like them just to listen as you go through it. Then,
if it is a prayer they would like to pray, you would be
honored to pray it with them.
You then slowly say or read the prayer. After they have
heard it, you ask them if that is a prayer they would like
to pray. They will usually say yes. Encourage them to
kneel together with you, or just bow together, or hold
each others handswhatever seems appropriate at that
moment. Tell them you will say a portion and they can
repeat it after you.
You say Dear Lord Jesus and then pause to let them
say that phrase. Then you say,I am a sinner (pause). They
repeat it. Then say,and I need your forgiveness (pause).
They say that phrase. Continue this approach through
the remainder of the prayer, remembering to go slowly.
Dont rush it. This is the most significant moment in this
persons lifeallow them to savor it.

Handling a negative decision

If the person rejects the invitation to question #5, inviting
Jesus into their lives, then do not be upset or act hurt in
some way. It is only your intent to share Jesus with them
and rely on the Lord for anything that happens. Thank the
person for exploring this important life decision. Affirm
them as a person in the eyes of God by saying something
like,You are a special person to me. I hope that we can
talk about this after you have had time to think about it.
Seek to leave the door open for them to talk with you

again. Try to follow-up in a few days by asking if they want

to talk about putting their trust in Jesus. If the person asks
to delay answering the invitation to question #5, then
seek to establish a time when you can get together. If you
sense that it is appropriate to do so, ask the person if they
have any questions that you can answer. Listen to their
questions and seek to help them know the answers from
a biblical standpoint.

Next steps for a new believer

There are five things you want to do to guide a new
believer into the fellowship of other believers:
1. Make sure that the new believer is baptized as soon as
possible. In some situations, there may not be a church
established in the area. In that case, it is up to you to
baptize the believer following Philips example with the
Ethiopian in Acts 8:26-40. Seek to lead the new believer
to establish a new church in which they would baptize
the new believers that would form the church.
2. Involve the new believer in Bible study. Assign the new
believer the first 10 chapters of John to read prior to
your next meeting. Give the person the Bible you used
in sharing Jesus if they do not have one of their own.
Use the first Bible study time to affirm their decision
of faith and begin thinking about sharing Jesus
without fear.
3. Encourage the new believer to think of five people that
they know that need Jesus. Have them write down the
names and then pray for their salvation for a week prior
to sharing Jesus with them.
4. Train the new believer how to begin sharing Jesus
without fear! Take them through the steps that you just
learned including learning the questions and using
their Bible.
5. Volunteer to be the new believers partner when they
go to share Jesus without fear.

REMEMBER: Success is not leading someone to Christ.

Success is acting out your Christian faith by sharing the
Gospel, and trusting God for the results. There is always a
blessing when we share our faith with someone.

I pray that you may be active in

sharing your faith, so that you will
have a full understanding of every
good thing we have in Christ.
Philemon 1:6
God only asks us to prepare, to pray, and to show up. He
will use our preparation, our prayers, and our availability
to do His work through us for His eternal glory. To God
be the glory!

Recommended Resources:
Camel Method Training is a Muslim evangelism training
guide by Kevin Greeson and Randy Owen that was
adapted from the book for P.E.A.C.E. participants.
Available free on the P.E.A.C.E. e-Learning System online
at http://thepeaceplan.com (under Advanced Electives).
Share Jesus Without Fear by William Fay and Linda Evans
Shepherd (Broadman & Holman: Nashville, TN) 1999.
Available for $9.99 from LifeWay Christian Resources at
http://lifewaystores.com
Training for Trainers by John Chen provides training for
evangelistic Bible studies. An oral version is also available
for those who cant, wont, or dont read.T4T coaches
someone through sharing their faith and seeing that it
is continually passed on to others.T4T is also good for
evangelism training where there are no churches.
Available free on the P.E.A.C.E. e-Learning System online
at http://thepeaceplan.com (under Advanced Electives).
Other recommended resources free on
http://thepeaceplan.com, under Resources/Evangelism:
Sharing the Gospel Hand picture book, Four Spiritual
Laws worksheet handout, Gospel Bridge Illustration
handout, How to Help Fulfill the Great Commission,
How to Know God's Will for Your Life, How to Prepare a
Personal Testimony, How to Use Evangelism Picture
Books - The Four Spiritual Laws, Kingdom of God II - A
Broken World to Heal, Ready and Willing Witnesses,
Road to Salvation handout
Adapted for Seacoast Christian Community Church, 2006.

49

Come, follow Me
I will make you fishers of men.
Matthew 4:19

50

Cross-Cultural Perspectives
Where God guides, He provides

After this I looked and

there before me was a great
multitude that no one
could count, from every
nation, tribe, people and
language, standing
before the throne and in
front of the Lamb.
Revelation 7:9

Cr
cuult
lt
rlal
Cross-cultural
c
ro
os
ss
s-c
uu
ra
cross-cultural
Pe
rrssppe
ivveess
Perspectives
P
e
ec
ct
ti
Perspectives

CULTURE
SHOCK

Whether you are going to a different

city or a different continent, you will
encounter some form of culture
shock when leaving home.
Unfortunately, the way things are
done in our world forms the basis
for the way we believe things should
be done in the rest of the world.

Nothing iissmore
Nothing
more damaging
damaging to
to
ministry
ministry than
than t
turning
urning pe
people
ople away
away
from
f
rom the
the message
message by
by o
offending
ffending
them
them or
orttheir
heir cculture
ultureby
by something
something
we
w e do
do o
or
rs
say.
ay.

54
54

We need to stay open as to how

other cultures are different. To be
effective in ministry, we should
move from judgment-passing to
diversity-embracing. Here are some
tips on how to make sure you
understand the culture and
represent God to the people you
are going to serve.
Make time for a quiet time.
Be relationship-oriented instead
of task-oriented.
Be flexible.
Share Gods love in everything
you do.
Pray that God will open your eyes
to see the people as HE sees them.
See Cultural Differences beginning
on page 58.

Cultural Values
Feelings of frustration, irritation, tension,
tenimpatience, embarrassment, and consion, impatience,
fusion
are inevitable.
embarrassment,
The most important thing is how you respond. Think
and confusion,
about
how Christ
arewants
inevitable.
us to The
respond when these situations arise.
most important thing is how you
Culture
Cu
lture is
isThink
neutral
neutra
lwhen
whenhow
vviewed
iew
edfrom
fromaa Ch
Christian
ristian vview.
iew.
respond.
about
Christ
wants us to respond when these situations arise.
Always respect others and act as a servant.
Have a willingness to submit and try new things.
Culture
Cu
lture is
isneutral
neutralwhen
when vviewed
iew edfro
from
m
We are guestsdont act like it is your home.
a
a
Ch
Christian
ri
s
t
i
a
n
v
view.
i
ew.
Ask questions; try to understand their culture and customs.
Be honest about your feelings, and discuss them with your team.
respect
Always
Remember
thatothers
God can
anduse
actour
as adiscomfort about cultural differences
servant.
as
a way of stretching us and giving us a larger view of Him and His world.
Have a willingness to submit and
try new things.
We are guests-dont act like it is
your home.
Ask questions, and try to understand their culture and customs.
Be honest about your feelings, and
discuss them with your team.
Remember that God can use our
discomfort about cultural differences
as a way of stretching us and giving us
a larger view of him and his world.

...Observe them
...Observe
them carefully,
carefully, for
for this
thiswill
willshow
showyour
your
wisdom
wisdom and
and understanding
understanding t
too the
the nations
nations
Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 4:6
4:6

55
55

10 TIPS
FOR EFFECTIVE

CROSS-CULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
by Neil Payne
Communicating across cultures can be confusing and
uncertainunless you have the right frame of mind and
approach. These practical strategies can help you prevent
misunderstandings and communicate effectively across
cultures.

1. Slow Down.
Even when English is the common language in a crosscultural situation, this does not mean you should speak at
normal speed. Slow down, speak clearly, and ensure your
pronunciation is intelligible.

2. Separate Questions.
Try not to ask double questions such as,Do you want
to carry on, or shall we stop here? In a cross-cultural
situation only the first or second question may have been
comprehended. Let your listener answer one question
at a time.

3. Avoid Negative Questions.

Many cross-cultural communication misunderstandings
have been caused by the use of negative questions and
answers. In English we answer yes if the answer is affirmative and no if it is negative. In other cultures a yes or
no may only be indicating whether the questioner is
right or wrong. For example, the response to Are you not
coming? may be yes, meaning Yes, I am not coming.

4. Take Turns.
Cross-cultural communication is enhanced through
taking turns to talkmaking a point and then listening
to the response.

56

5. Write it Down.
If you are unsure whether something has been understood, write it down and check. This can be useful when
using large figures.

6. Be Supportive.
Effective cross-cultural communication is in essence
about being comfortable. Giving encouragement to those
with weak English gives them confidence, support, and a
trust in you.

7. Check Meanings.
When communicating across cultures, never assume the
other party has understood. Be an active listener.
Summarize what has been said in order to verify it. This is
a very effective way of ensuring accurate cross-cultural
communication has taken place.

8. Avoid Slang.
Even the most well educated foreigner will not have a
complete knowledge of slang, idioms, and sayings. The
danger is that the words will be understood but the
meaning missed.

9. Watch the humor.

In many cultures business is taken very seriously.
Professionalism and protocol are constantly observed.
Many cultures will not appreciate the use of humor and
jokes in the business context. When using humor think
whether it will be understood in the other culture. For
example, British sarcasm usually has a negative effect
abroad.

10. Maintain Etiquette.

Many cultures have certain etiquette when communicating. It is always a good idea to undertake some cross-cultural awareness training or at least do some research on
the target culture.
Cross-cultural communication is about dealing with people from other cultures in a way that minimizes misunderstandings and maximizes your potential to create strong
cross cultural relationships. The above tips should be seen
as a starting point to greater cross-cultural awareness.

LEADING
CROSS-CULTURALLY
Crossing into a Different Culture
Team leader leads cross-culturally when he/she:
Understands his/her own culture by identifying and
examining its worldview
Learns about the culture and worldview of the host
country and people group

Team members function cross-culturally when they:

Are open to learning about another culture
and worldview
Seek to connect with people of other cultures

Key Issues in Cultures:

Beliefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What I hold as truth
Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How I relate to nature
Habits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What I do routinely
Adaptability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How I respond to change
Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What I hold as good or evil
Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What are significant markers

In your home culture you live day to day in harmony

with the key issues. This is the BEHAVE factor in your life
and culture. What happens when you cross into a different
culture? All of the BEHAVE factors you rely on may clash
with the different culture.
Listed below are BEHAVE factors from other cultures.
Make a check by the ones that would be challenging for
you to deal with:
B____ I have no control over my life; I am subject to
what the gods and spirits deal me.
E ____ Rats, roaches, any living thing cannot be killed.
H____ A full-course dinner is served and eaten at 11pm.
A____ I have no schedule; we will just go with the
flow today.
V____ Obesity is a sign of wealth and prosperity.
E ____ The birth of a son must be celebrated by a feast
for the entire community.

57

SEVEN
TRIGGERS OF
CULTURAL STRESS
In this section you will:
- Define culture stress.
- Identify seven triggers of culture stress.
- Consider effective responses to triggers.
Culture Shock: the immediate sense of disorientation
upon entering a new environment. Temporary and shortterm.
Culture Stress: the day-to-day stress that occurs in new
or changing situations creating doubt, frustration, short
temper, sleeplessness, anxiety.
Think about a time that you have entered a new
environment. You moved to a new town, job, or school.
At first you were disoriented, but you oriented yourself
fairly rapidly because the environment was similar to
places you had been before.
Although you were uncomfortable for a short period of
time you knew how to act, to get things done, and to
respond to others around you. Your culture shock was
over quickly.
Below, in the space provided, name a time you entered
a new environment. Describe what was most disorienting
to you in each situation (ex. going to a new school and
finding the cafeteria or food court). Write how you solved
your disorientation (ex. followed the crowd, the smell,
read the signs).
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________

58

During an overseas trip you experience an initial culture

shock that is replaced almost immediately with culture
stress. You need to know ways to act, how to get things
done, and how to respond to others around you. You act,
do things, and respond to others according to your life
experiences and worldview. However, you are in a new
situation where the ways to act, to do things, and to
respond to others is different. Cultural stress grows as you
encounter situations that are contrary to your expectation
of what ought to be.
You do not have to go overseas to experience culture
stress. In your own familiar environment you may not recognize your feelings and behavior as being culture stress
because in that environment you know how to cope.
Seven triggers of culture stress are:
Courtesy
Charity
Comfort
Communication
Control
Cleanliness
Conclusion Making


THE
THE B
BIBLE
IBLEIS
ISNOT
NOTTHE
THEBA
BASIS
SISOF
OFMISSIONS;
MISSIONS
;
MISSIONS
MISSIONSIS
ISTHE
THEBA
BASIS
SIS O
OF
FT
THE
HE BBIBLE.
IBLE.

Courtesy
Charity
Comfort
Communication
Control
Cleanliness
Conclusion-Making

RALPH WINTER,
RALPH
WINTER,
U.S. CENTER FOR WORLD MISSION

59
59

CULTURE SHOCK TRIGGERS

(What we may experience)

COURTESY

all smiles, bowing, tea

drinking; so slow to get
to the pointpersonal
questions pointed at me
all the timeno lines;
pushing to get on buses
or grabbing taxis

COMFORT

CHARITY

beggars are everywhere

do I ignore them?
how do I help the local
believers?they take up
so much of my time
how and what do I give?

CONTROL

the meetings dont ever

start on timeplans
made weeks ago have all
changedwhat we were
told last night we would
do today has changed
no one seems to be in
chargeit is chaos
everywhere

60

no air conditioning or
icebeds are straw
matshard pillows
water pressure is nil
long lines to get
anythingno easy way
to wash clothes

COMMUNICATION
no one speaks clear
Englishthey just smile
and laugh at uspoint at
us all the timecant get
our orders correct in the
local cafescant even get
a cup of black coffee
phones dont work

CLEANLINESS
cant drink water from
the tappiles of
garbage bugs, flies,
everywherechildren
with open soreshorrid
smellsopen markets
with unrefrigerated food
Ill get sick

uh-oh!
CONCLUSIONs
WE MAY FORM:
crazy placewhy
do we have to eat at
11:30 at nightit
is bad for digestion
what a waste of good
daylight hours
when everything
shuts down from
noon to 3:00
children are not
allowed to stay for
worshipthey are
sent home to guard
the househow can
a child do that?

CULTURE SHOCK RESPONSES

(How we should respond)
COURTESY
follow the lead of your
host culturetake time
necessary to build
relationshipsbe patient
and flexibleprepare
answers ahead of time to
personal issues

CHARITY
remember that the
beggar is loved by God;
smile and acknowledge
the beggar as a person
explore with your hosts
or leader how they
respond to needs

CONTROL

CLEANLINESS

go prepared for having

a safe supply of water
concentrate on the
beautiful things you see
rather than the piles of
garbageremember
that the children are
victims of povertyeat
only food that is stove-hot
or peeled with a sterile
knifelearn a polite way
to refuse food that is
not safe

use unplanned free time

to get to know people
be flexibleenjoy and
maximize unscheduled
opportunitiestake
time to pray and write in
your journallet go and
let God

COMFORT
pack comfortable
clothing and shoes
learn how to take a
30 second shower
observe and imitate
your hosts who are
comfortable

COMMUNICATION
memorize useful phrases
and wordsalways carry
pad and penwriting it
out helpsspeak slowly
and simplysettle for
what you get rather
than what you want
use your smile

Avoid drawing
conclusions or
making judgments
without learning
about the culture.
Be flexible and
consider different
habits and customs
an adventure!
When seeking
information use
the phrase tell me
about rather than
asking why.

61

Worldview
Worldview
&&Culture
Culture
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
In this section, you will:
- Define worldview
- Increase your understanding of the components of a worldview
- Practice making cultural adjustments

Worldview is the framework you use to explain life around you.

Read about parents and children in the chart on the opposite page. The information reflects the worldview for each type
of family and the culture they live in. After reviewing the chart, reflect on the following questions:
How does the worldview of discipline differ between the Asian worldview, and the Western worldview?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you were participating in a time of worship and small children interrupted, what would be your usual reaction?
What would be the reaction in the African culture?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

In situations
such as the ones
described in the chart,
there is a collision
of two worldviews.
Every day you experience
worldview collisions,
but are perhaps unaware
of what is going on.

62

African

Western

Middle Eastern

Asian

Child is named,
and mother is
referred to as
Mama Jeff.
(male childs name)

Childs name may

be the family
name, or randomly
chosen.

Childs name
is reflective of
religious personage,
or important
historical figure.

Childs name
reflects heroic or
noble qualities;
women are fulfilled
when first grandson
is born.

Childs health is
dependent on the
spirits and good
fortune of the
family; most children
are nursed; folk
medicine and
remedies are often
utilized.

Pediatricians
provide specialized
care of children;
child is nursed
according to
mothers choice.

Children are nursed

as required by
religious practices.

Child is nursed until

next child is born;
health is supervised
by oldest woman
in household.

Child eats and

sleeps on his/her
demand.

Child has schedule

for eating and
sleeping.

Child eats and

sleeps on his/her
demand.

Child eats and

sleeps on his/her
demand.

Discipline is
permissive in
the early years.

Discipline begins
at birth.

Discipline is within
the framework of
religious beliefs.

Discipline is
permissive until
school age; then
based on importance
of keeping
family honor.

In the Middle East, what would be the reaction if a child did not eat with the family, but
wanted a meal at an unusual time? What might be the reaction in the Western culture?
_________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

63

WORLDVIEWWHAT IS REAL
Knowing a culture
There are many different cultures in which you participate. To name a few:
Your family
Your small group
Your workplace
Your neighborhood

Each culture has behaviors that define what is done, values that define what is
good, and beliefs that define what is true. This makes a WORLDVIEW that defines
what is REAL. Please add some of your own examples to the chart below.

Behavior

what is DONE

64

Values

what is GOOD

Beliefs

what is TRUE

My family

ex: We open Christmas gifts

on Christmas morning.
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

Opening gifts together

brings warmth and
harmony.
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

Family harmony is
important.
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

My small group

ex: We call everyone by

first names.
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

Using first names shows

that the group members
are bonded.
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

Using first names shows

intimacy or knowledge
of a person.
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

My workplace

ex: We celebrate employee

birthdays once a month.
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

Recognition of a special
day fosters in the celebrant
a sense of being special.
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

Employees need special

recognition.
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

My neighborhood

ex: We cut grass regularly.

_____________________
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

Neat yards or lawns show

community pride and caring.
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

Well-kept neighborhoods
reflect the kind of people
who live there.
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

THE CULTURAL ICEBERG

Functions of Worldview

Worldview explains how and why the world came to be as it is and how it continues.
Worldview provides ways of judging and validating different actions and institutions.
Worldview provides psychological reinforcement during times of crisis.
Worldview is an integrator providing comprehensive, uniform explanation of reality.
Worldview provides the possibility of growth and change.

Worldview is your framework for explaining life around you. You probably have not given it much thought. Your worldview
shapes the cultures in which you operate.

Each culture is like an iceberg. Behaviors, values, and beliefs are part of the iceberg,
but only some of these are evident. Those that are below the waterline, you know, but
have not necessarily named or recognized their existence and impact on your culture.
Whats In The Tip of the Iceberg?
Language Architecture Food Population Music Art and literature Clothing Pace of life
Emotional display Gestures Leisure activities Eye contact Sports

Behaviors
Five Senses

Opinions
Viewpoints
Attitudes
Philosophies
Values
Convictions

Whats In The Bottom of the Iceberg?

Notions of time How the individual fits in Beliefs about human nature Rules of relationship Importance of work
Motivations for achievement Men and womens roles Adult and childrens roles Tolerance for change
Expectation of macho role Importance of avoiding confrontation Leadership styles Communication styles
Preference of thinking style: linear or systematic

65

THE BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW

Your most important worldview is the Biblical worldview.
Study the chart to compare and contrast the Western, Non-Western, and Biblical worldviews.

Western
Cosmos:

What is the world?

Self:

Knowledge:

66

Biblical

Created from matter;

progresses from simple
to complex.

Created by and
continually influenced
by spiritual beings
who are unseen and
withdrawn.

Created out of nothing by

powerful, holy, loving God.

Can be experienced,
studied, measured
through the senses.

Is complex and dangerous

world of seen and unseen
powers and beings
among which humans
must survive.

Consists of seen and

unseen elements.

Cause and effect can

explain all things.

Influenced by capricious
spiritual beings, both
good and evil.

Follows physical laws, but

is not tied to the cause
and effect.

Complex machine.

Human society,
not individual, is focus.

Image of God.

Emotions and feelings

are result of glands and
chemicals.

Soul is multiple; may leave

the body.

Has personality; can love;

soul leaves body at death.

Is organization of cultural
forces and elements that
have formed and are
expressed.

Ancestors determine who

and what kind of person
one is.

Is moral, can make

judgements between right
and wrong.

Death is endcessation
of the machine.

Death brings membership

in world of ancestors.

Death brings Gods

judgementreward or
punishment.

Can know real laws

by which the universe
is controlled.

Truth and wisdom

come from ancestors
experiences.

Man, in the image of God,

can think and reason.

Man, through knowledge,

controls the universe.

Man must follow the

ancestors and not
disturb the spirits.

Man is to work and

care for creation.

No higher power exists.

Appeasement and
sacrifice to the spirits,
but no communication.

Man can communicate

with God.

What is man?

What and how do

we know?

Non-Western

(continued)
Time:

What is history?

Value:

What is good or evil?

Western

Non-Western

Biblical

Extends from infinite past

to endless future.

Has a past and a

present; no future.

Extends from creation

to the fulfillment of Gods
purpose.

Is a valued commodity.

Not a valued commodity.

Is valued as opportunity
to fulfill Gods will.

Change is progress,
and creates an optimistic
view of the future.

Change is dangerous;
can upset natural
equilibrium.

Change (moving forward)

is seen as the Creators
objective (hope) for His
creation.

Ethics are relative;

based on man-made
assumptions.

Based on family or
social group.

Based on the absolute

nature of God.

Necessary only to allow

individual to develop their
own potential without
detriment to others.

Established by history
or tradition.

Revealed in Scripture,
and by human conscience.

Mankind is basically good

and will acquire wealth
for itself.

Judged by the value

of the good provided by
family or community.

Cannot be reached by
mans own efforts.

A Quick Review!
Now that you know even more, think back to WorldviewWhat Is Real? and the iceberg illustration on page 51. What behaviors does
your culture have that differ from the Japanese culture? Whywhat are the values and beliefs behind those behaviors? Fill in the
chart below, using it as a sample. Then make your own, based on the culture you are planning to visit.

Think: Iceberg

Your Culture

Japanese Culture

Eye contact

B E H AV I O R :
VA L U E :
BELIEF:

_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________

Limit eye contact

Being polite
Making eye contact is rude

Emotional
displays

B E H AV I O R :
VA L U E :
BELIEF:

_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________

Avoid touching in public

Appropriate distance
between people
Emotions cannot be shown

How
individual
fits in

B E H AV I O R :
VA L U E :
BELIEF:

_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________

Never show individual

behavior or opinion
Group decisions are best
Individual that sticks out
must be hammered down

67

"We
"
Wemust
mustbe
begglobal
lobalCh
Christians
rist
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ithaagglobal
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urGGod
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od."
JohnStott
John
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68
68

Spiritual Warfare
Where God guides, He provides

Be strong in the Lord and in

His mighty power. Put on the
full armor of God so that you
can take your stand against
the devils schemes. For our
struggle is not against flesh
and blood, but against the
rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this
dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:10-12

Spiritual
Spiritual
Warfare
Warfare

A Spiritual Warfare Study

for Your Team:
When it comes to spiritual warfare most people are too
hot or too cold. They are either the ones that say there are
demons behind every bush or I havent noticed there was
a devil and lets not talk about it lest he start picking on
me. Often times we get out of balance when it comes to
spiritual warfare. On a scale of one to ten, with one being
no awareness of spiritual warfare, where do you fall?

10

Our secularized culture has disarmed us to the spiritual

nature of life; we forget that we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers
and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
realms (Ephesians 6:12). As a result, we rely on our own
resources when we encounter adversity, and thus we are
quickly discouraged and defeated. To be truly prepared
for life we need to know how to be fed, nourished, and
equipped with the resourceful life of Christ. We need to
understand the reality of spiritual conflict and know the
resources that God has given us for standing firm.

Be self controlled and alert.

Your enemy the devil prowls around
like a roaring lion looking for
someone to devour. Resist him,
standing firm in the faith because
you know that your brothers
throughout the world are undergoing
the same kind of sufferings.
1 Peter 5: 8-9

72

When we read about the devil and the principalities of

evil it can get kind of scary. Sometimes it is tempting to
think that if we dont bother the devil, he wont bother us.
Heres some good news and some bad news. First, the
bad newsit doesnt work that way. The devil has
declared war on you and if you didnt know it then hes
been having a heyday with you. The good news is that
the devil was stripped of all his power at the cross and
Christ has given us authority over him and the sin he
wants us to commit.

Read 1 Peter 5:8. How does Peter describe the devil?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
What things does Peter tell us to do in verses 8 and 9?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
What things should you be alerted to while preparing for this mission trip?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Read Ephesians 6: 11-12. What do you think the schemes of the devil may be for your team?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
List some spiritual battles you think are faced by the people to whom you are going to minister:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
What do you think it means not to struggle with flesh and blood? Who should we struggle with?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Think back to the last time you were angry with someone or some situation. How could you have struggled with
the enemy instead of flesh and blood?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
People involved in other religions, paganism, demon worship, animism, etc., dont always think that what they are doing
is the worship of Satan. If they did, they would certainly run. They see themselves as worshiping their god. They have
simply been blinded to the truth; therefore we must RESPECT them and pray for Christ to open their eyes to the truth.
Read 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. How do people deal with things in a worldly way?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

73

Thought to reflect on

The Armor of God

Are you impressed with God and only aware of Satan,

or are you impressed with Satan and only aware of God?

We often enter the world wearing only the helmet of

salvation, knowing that we are forgiven and saved through
Jesus Christ. A helmet is great, but without the full armor
we are thoroughly unprotected. God has provided us with
all the authority we need to manifest his authority over
areas that the adversary seeks to dominate. Knowing how
to use these resources is a vital dimension of maturing in
Christ and engaging in ministry.

Read Hebrews 2:14:15. You do not receive your

authority over the enemy at a certain age, or after you
have been a Christian for a certain number of years, or
even after you read the Bible. God gave you authority
the minute you asked Him into your heart.
Most non-Christians think that God is equal, but opposite,
from the devil. It is like this big tug of war with equal and
opposing forces. This is a lie from the pit, trying to give
us the image of a puny God and a powerful devil. The fact
is that it is God who created Lucifer, who then rebelled
and became the devil. It is God who the devil has to
answer to. It will be God who will put the devil in his
place in the lake of fire. If we want to compare God and
the devil it would be like comparing Niagara Falls to a
drip from a faucet, or a heavy weight boxing champion
to an ant, or a brilliant sunset to a pile of ashes.

What type of weapons do you think Paul wants us to fight

with? See Ephesians 6: 13-17; 2 Corinthians 6:7

Read 1 John 4:4. God has given us authority over

the enemy.

________________________________________________

________________________________________________
________________________________________________
List the various items of armor, and describe the
significance of each for our protection.
________________________________________________

________________________________________________
Is there anything in your life that this truth does not apply
to? Take some time and reaffirm Gods truth in situations
in your life that you may struggle with. Remember that
God who is in you is greater than anything you face.

Take a moment to ask God to show you some areas where

you and your team may be under attack, and then pray
for that person or that situation.

The thief comes

only to steal
kill and destroy,
but I have come
so that they may
have life and
have it
to the full.
John 10:10

74

SPIRITUAL WARFARE QUIZ

Test your knowledge of spiritual warfare!
What is spiritual warfare?
a)

The use of garlic and holy water to ward off evil vampires.

b) The use of weapons to attack non-believers in order to force them to accept Christ.
c)

It is a holy war,jihad or the use of Christian principles to justify going to war.

d) A pro-active approach to our faith. Actively resisting the devil when his hosts harass us, and actively pursuing
spiritual disciplines that will make us stronger and better prepared. It is actively engaging the enemy when people
are in spiritual bondage.

Which of the following is a Christians primary weapon when involved in spiritual warfare?
a)

The Bible, in order to beat non-Christians over the head with it.

b) An AK-47.
c)

A shield-in order to protect himself from the devils schemes.

d) Prayer-a weapon to penetrate strongholds that cannot be reached in any other way.

Which of the following is an example of spiritual warfare experienced by Christians today?

a)

The fear of what non-Christians will think when they speak of Christ.

b) A medical student who decides not to go on the medical trip he has been thinking about for years, because he is
worried where the money will come from.
c)

A man who is possessed by demons that cause him to hallucinate and make violent threats.

d) All of the above.

e)

A and B only; things like C dont happen any more today.

Who is our enemy when we engage in spiritual warfare?

a)

Non-Christians

b) The devil

Which of the following is true of Spiritual warfare?

a)

Good Christians are immune from Satans deception.

b) If we ignore the devil and his demons, they will ignore us as well.
c)

We can never be harmed when engaging in spiritual warfare; as long as we trust in God we are always safe.

d) Satans primary tactic when engaging in spiritual warfare is lies and deception.

75

TRUTHS ABOUT
SPIRITUAL WARFARE
The devil is real and he is our enemy.
1 Peter 5: 8-9
John 10:10

When you attempt to serve God in your life and

through your missions team, Satan will attack
you, and spiritual warfare will be involved.
John 16:33

Jesus has overcome the devil. The victory has

already been won.
I John 4:4
John 16:33
I John 2: 12-14
Hebrews 2:14-15

As Christians, we have the full power of God with

which to fight the enemy.

Christ has equipped us with all the weapons we

need to fight spiritual battles.
Ephesians 6: 10-18

Spiritual warfare is not fought against people,

but against Satan.
Ephesians 6:12

Matthew 28-18-20
2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Satans primary means of attack is by

deception and lies.
Revelation 12:9
John 8:44
Genesis 3:5

A true believer can give a foothold to Satan

in his life, but a true Christian can never be
possessed by a demon because we belong to
Christ; we have been bought with the price of
the blood of Christ.
I Peter 1:18-19

76

I have told you

these things, so that in
Me you may have peace.
In this world you
will have trouble.
But take heart! I have
overcome the world!
John 16:33

IDENTIFYING SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Learn to use your spiritual eyes to identify spiritual warfare within your team.
How does the enemy attack your team? By attacking your unity!
Satan sows discontent within your team in any way he can.
Just before Jesus was arrested to be tried and crucified, He prayed for His disciples to receive something that was
essential to Gods mission. What was it?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Unity is not the only issue the enemy will attack. List other ways the enemy will wage war within your team.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
List what you can do to protect your team against the enemys divisive wiles.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Realize that the enemy will attack the project itself.

If the enemy cant get at your team to make you ineffective, then hell attempt to sabotage what youre trying to do.
The flight is running late and you may not make your connection. Is this a spiritual battle?
The connection at the airport is not there to meet you in this foreign land. Is this a spiritual battle?
The generator, or projector, or computer, or _______________ (add anything that is supposed to work) does not
operate just before your team most needs it. Is this a spiritual battle?
Rain has made getting to your area of ministry virtually impossible. Is this a spiritual battle?

Understand the people with whom you interact.

You are encountering people who not only believe in the spirit world, they live with the spirit world. The Bible clearly
states that Satan holds people without Christ as captives.
No amount of your own effortnot church planting, leadership training, financial enterprise, medical aid, nor
education will change a persons heart condition toward Jesus Christ. Anything you do for people that originates
from you and is separate from the Holy Spirit accomplishes nothing for Gods kingdom.

My job was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was
God, not we, who made it grow. 1 Corinthians 3:6

77

ENGAGING IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Identify five key weapons to use in spiritual warfare
How do you win the spiritual battle that will be raging all around you as you plan for, prepare for, carry out, and return
from this mission trip?
1. Get in shape and expect to get hit!

Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:3-4
2. Be self-controlled and alert (discern spiritual realities behind situations and circumstances).

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring
lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith,
because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the
same kind of sufferings. 1 Peter 5:8-9
3. Trust Christ.

Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome
the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes
that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5:4-5
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
John 16:33b
4. Use Gods plans and weapons.

We are human, but we don't wage war with human plans and methods. We use
God's mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the devil's
strongholds. With these weapons we break down every proud argument that keeps
people from knowing God. With these weapons we conquer their rebellious ideas,
and we teach them to obey Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NLT

78

5. Know your enemy is and use Gods armor.

Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God
so that you can take your stand against the devils schemes. For our struggle is
not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:10-12
Use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that
after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on
the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness. For shoes,
put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared.
In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed
at you by Satan. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times and on every occasion in the
power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all
Christians everywhere. Ephesians 6:13-18
Write a response to the following situations using your knowledge of spiritual powers
and Gods weapons:
The flight is running late and you may not make your connection.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
The connection at the airport is not there to meet you in this foreign land.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
The generator, or projector, computer, or ____________ (add anything that is supposed to work) decides not to operate
right before your team needs it most.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rain has made getting to your area of ministry virtually impossible.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

79

The thief comes

only to steal, kill, and
destroy, but I have
come so that they may
have life and have it
to the full.
John 10:10

Scripture for Warfare

BE STRONG IN THE LORD

You dear children are

from God and have
overcome them because
the One who is in you
is greater than the one
who is in the world.
1 John 4:4

80

I have told you these

things, so that in Me
you may have peace.
In this world you will
have trouble. But
take heart! I have
overcome the world!
John 16:33

I write to you, dear

children, because
your sins have been
forgiven on account
of His name. I write
to you, fathers,
because you have
known Him who is
from the beginning.
I write to you young
men, because you
have overcome the evil
one. I write to you,
dear children, because
you have known the
Father. I write to you,
fathers, because you
have known Him
who is from the
beginning. I write to
you, young men,
because you are
strong, and the Word
of God lives in you,
and you have
overcome the evil one.
1 John 2:12-14

For though we live

in the world, we do
not wage war as
the world does. The
weapons we fight
with are not
weapons of this
world. On the
contrary, they
have divine power
to demolish
strongholds.
We demolish
arguments and
every pretension
that sets itself
up against the
knowledge of
God, and we take
captive every
thought to make it
obedient to Christ.

You belong to your

father, the devil, and
you want to carry out
your fathers desire.
He was a murderer
from the beginning,
not holding to the
truth, for there is no
truth in him. When
he lies, he speaks his
native language, for
he is a liar and the
father of lies.
John 8:44
For God knows that when
you eat of it your eyes will
be opened, and you will be
like God, knowing good
and evil.
Genesis 3:5

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

In truthful speech
and in the power of
God; with weapons
of righteousness in
the right hand and
in the left.
2 Corinthians 6:7

Since the children

have flesh and blood,
He too shared in their
humanity so that by
His death He might
destroy him who
holds the power of
deaththat is, the
deviland free those
who all their lives
were held in slavery
by their fear of
death.
Hebrews 2:14-15

For you know that it

The great dragon was

hurled downthat
ancient serpent called
the devil or Satan,
who leads the whole
world astray. He was
hurled to the earth,
and his angels with
him. Revelation 12:9

was not with the

perishable things such
as silver or gold that you
were redeemed from the
empty way of life handed
down to you from your
forefathers, but with the
precious blood of Christ,
a lamb without blemish
or defect.
1 Peter 1:18-19

81

FIRST-PERSON:
4 Biblical Principles for
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82
82

Satan is real (1 Peter 5:8-9). When youre being

attacked, welcome to the club. Its proof that youre a
believer. The fact is, the more you make an impact for
God, the more the devil is going to fight you. You never
outgrow it. It just gets more intense. If there were no
devil, why would God send His Son to fight what does
not exist? The Bible says God sent Jesus Christ to defeat
the works of Satan. The Bible says that Satan is the
prince of this world. Jesus said so. He never disputed
Satans right to work all across the world. The Bible says
in 1 John 3:8, "The Son of God came for this purpose:
to destroy the devil's work"

Second, I accept God-given authority.

Most believers are very ignorant about the authority they
have for use against the devil. Matthew 28:18-19 says we
have all authority in heaven and earth. Then Jesus says,
Therefore go and make disciples He transfers the
authority to you and me. He does that because Hes given
us a specific mission (2 Corinthians 5:20). When you send
an ambassador to another country, the ambassador has
the full authority to represent that country. The Bible says
that you, as a believer in ministry, are Christs ambassador.

Third, I put on the full armor of God.

Take a look at the famous passage on spiritual armor in
Ephesians 6:11-17. When the Apostle Paul wrote this, he
was in prison. He was chained 24 hours a day to a Roman
guard. Sitting there chained to this centurion, Paul looked
at him and saw a model for spiritual armor.
The Roman had on a breastplate -- a piece of metal to
protect his chest from spear attack. He had a strong,
leather girdle around his waist to protect him. He had on
boots, a shield, a helmet and a sword. Paul says just as the
Roman soldier goes out to do battle, when youre in
ministry youll need to be dressed for battle. You put it
on before you teach that Bible study, before you teach
that Sunday School class, before you play that note in
worship. In all these things, you need to put on your
armor of God. I do this every time I speak. I mentally run
through this list, putting on the full armor of God. I say, for
instance,Lord, I put on the helmet of salvation that will
protect me from the thoughts the devil will try to give
me. I don't want to think the devils thoughts. I dont want
to think my thoughts. I want to think Your thoughts, that
I may be a voice for You. I put on the belt of truth. Lord,
I want to share the truth, not falsehood. I want to lead
people into righteousness.

Fourth, I aim the weapons God gave me

for warfare.
Not only do we have some armor, but also we have some
weapons to use when were involved in ministry.
Remember, were not fighting against physical people.
Were fighting against spiritual forces.
The battlefield for spiritual warfare is primarily in the
thought life; in your mind (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). Notice
what Paul says the weapons do: They demolish argumentsthats the way people think. They pull down pretensionthats the way people think. We take every
thought captive. In this battle for thoughts, you have four
weapons: humility, faith, truth and praise. I use them every
day, but especially as Im preparing to teach Gods Word.

Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback

Church in Lake Forest, CA, one of America's largest and
best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of
The New York Times bestseller The Purpose-Driven Life
and The Purpose-Driven Church, which was named one
of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century.
He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet
community for ministers.

83

THE
AUTHORITY
OF THE
BELIEVER
by Josh McDowell

I would like to talk about the

authority of the believer over
Satan. I believe this is one of the
five most important messages a
person can hear and consider.
As you study the Old Testament,
you see that the men and women
of God were in a constant
struggle with Satan. Study the
life of Christ, of Paul, of the other
apostles, and you'll see a constant
spiritual struggle.
If I were to ask you, "How many of
you in the last year have felt a real
spiritual struggle in your witness
on the campus?" I would estimate
that 80 to 90 percent of you would
raise your hand. The authority of
the believer is a possession of
every true child of God. We have
authority over Satan, and Satan
tries to blind believers to that fact.

The Devil in a Dodge

I first learned of the authority of the
believer during Easter week at
Balboa Beach. About 50,000 college
students would come (much like
Daytona Beach). We had a big
ballroom, and we packed that out
several nights in a row. In fact, we
would have two, three meetings a
night, packed-out. We also packedout a supper club and a coffee shop.
Andr Kole would put on his
performance each evening. We had
so many people coming to our
meetings that many of the bars were
empty. It really irritated some people,
and one night, one of the men from
a place called Socrates' Den decided
to come and try to break up our
meeting. So, they came over driving
a new souped-up Dodge. As Andr
was performing (whatever went on
outside, you could hear inside
because the walls were so thin) this
guy pulled up with his Dodge,
stopped out in front, and revved the
engine--"Vroom, Vroom, Vroom."
Then he popped the clutch, and
"roooooooom" down the street.
Well, everyone inside turned around
and looked out. Andr got them
settled back down and the guy went
back around the block. He came
back, stopped out in front and
revved it up again. Vroooommm,
vroommm, vrooommmmm, and he
took off down the street.
By this time everybody was whispering and wondering what was going
on. Some of them were standing up
trying to look out the window. Well,
the guy went back around the block
again. And I knew at that time that if
he did it once more, it would literally
break up the meeting. So, I turned to
one of our staff members, and said,
"I think Satan is trying to break up
this meeting. Let's step out in the
doorway and exercise the authority
of the believer." So, we stepped out
in the doorway, and we prayed a

84

very simple prayer that I'm going

to teach you how to pray. The guy
came, stopped out in front and
started to rev it up, vrooommm,
vroommmmm. And he popped the
clutch and Eeeerrrrrrr Brrrmmmm,
and he blew the rear end of his car
all over the street. Well, we just
thanked the Lord, and we went over
and pushed him off the street, and
I shared the Four Laws with him.
It reminded me of what Jesus said.
"All authority is given to me in
heaven and earth."

Misconceptions about
Authority
Now, what is the authority of the
believer? First, let's ask what the
authority of the believer is not. One
misconception is that the authority
of the believer is the fullness of the
Holy Spirit. Now, I believe God
desires every person to be filled
with the Holy Spirit, but the filling
of the Holy Spirit and the authority
of the believer are different. Then
there are others who say the
authority of the believer is a spiritual
gift conferred only on a few that
endows them with power over Satan.
Now, of course, God gives spiritual
gifts. But spiritual gifts and the
authority of the believer are different. Then there are those that believe
that the authority of the believer is
to be equated with prevailing prayer.
That's when you go to your knees
and you pray something through
until you have God's confidence that
it's been answered. So, God leads
people to prevailing prayer. But
prevailing prayer and the authority
of the believer are different. Now,
what is the authority of the believer?

What is Authority?
First we need to answer,What is
authority?" Now, to point out what
authority is, I need to show you the
difference between two Greek

words which are often rendered the

same in our English translation. For
example, in Luke 10:19, the King
James Version would read: "Behold,
I have given you power to turn upon
the serpents and scorpions and over
all the power of the enemy and
nothing shall injure you." There
are two separate Greek words used
for power here but one English
translation. The first word should be
translated authority, not power. The
Christian does not have power over
Satan. We have authority over Satan.
What's the difference? Let me give
you an illustration.

Authority Illustrated
I used to live in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. It's the second largest city
in the western hemisphere. It has
one of the longest streets in the
worldalmost 60 miles long. It also
has one of the widest streets in the
world, a street called Corrientas. In
English, it means current, and it's a
solid current of traffic. Sometimes,
it's one of the longest parking lots in
the world. As you approach an
intermodule, about the only way you
can really make it across is to confess
any unknown sin, make sure you are
filled with the Holy Spirit, commit
your life into the hands of a living
God and dash across the street.
But one day as we approached it, an
amazing thing took place. It was very
unusual and yet very usual. Out in
the center of the intermodule there
was a platform. On the platform
there was a uniformed policeman. He
looked over at us. There were about
20 of us at that time congregating on
the corner waiting to cross. He
looked at all those cars and all of a
sudden he blew his whistle and put
up his hand. The moment he put up
his hand, all of those cars came to a
screeching halt. Then he motioned us
to cross the street. Now, what is the
explanation for that? With all of his
personal power, he couldn't have

stopped one of those cars. But he

had something far better than
personal power. He was invested
with the authority of the police
department. And, the moving cars
and the pedestrians recognized that
authority. Authority is delegated
power. Its value depends on the
power behind its user.
In Mexico, they have these little
platforms for traffic police about a
foot and a half off the ground out in
the center of the large intermodules.
One day I saw a mother walking
along with a little boy. He was quite
infatuated with the traffic police.
The traffic policeman stepped off
the little platform and walked to the
other side of the intermodule. This
little kid broke away from his mother,
ran out in the intermodule, jumped
up on the platform, and put out his
hand like he had seen the policeman
do and all those cars stopped. You
see, they recognized the authority of
that platform. The authority of the
believer is delegated power. The
believer must be aware of the divine
power behind him or her, and of his
or her own authority to face the
enemy without fear or hesitation.
Why? Because the authority
possessed by the believer is backed
by a greater force or power than our
enemy Satanmuch greater. And
Satan knows that.

The Source of Authority

Ephesians 1:19-23 reads, "And what
is the surpassing greatness of His
power toward us who believe? These
are in accordance with the working
of the strength of His might. Which
He brought about in Christ when He
raised Him from the dead and seated
Him at His right hand in the heavenly
places far above all rule and
authority and power and dominion
and every name that is named."
I'm so glad I knew that before I went
to Latin America. Jesus' name is far

above every name that is named; not

only in this age, but also in the one
to come. And, "He put all things in
subjection under His feet and gave
Him as head over all things to the
church which is His body, the fullness
of Him who fills all in all."
When Jesus Christ was raised
from the dead, it was the greatest
manifestation of God's power
recorded in the Scriptures. The
Apostle Paul used four Greek words
for power to describe what God did.
First, he says the "greatness of His
power." The word power here is
dynamis. We get our word dynamite
from this word. It means personal
power. Then Paul goes on to say
these are "in accordance with the
working." The word working is
energeo. We get our word energy
from this word. It means a manifestation or an activity. Paul then says that
it is the working of the "strength." In
other words, it is God's exercise of
strength. The word strength here in
the Greek is kratos. Like a man
working out or exercising, God
exercises His strength. The word
for might is from the Greek ischuo.
It means a great summation of
power or power afforded by
strength; great inherited strength.
The combination of these four
words signify that behind the events
described in Ephesians 1:19-23,
we have the greatest working of God
manifested in the Scriptureseven
greater than creation. When most
people talk about the might of
God, they refer to the Resurrection.
That's only half the story. If it were
only a resurrection, it wouldn't have
taken all that might of God. Look
at verse 20 and see what it
incorporates. Paul says that this
power raised Him from the dead
and seated Him at His right hand in
the heavenly places far above all
rule and authority and power and
dominion. The last thing Satan

85

wanted was not for Jesus Christ to

be raised from the dead. Of course,
he didn't want this. But the last thing
Satan wanted was Jesus Christ to
ascend through the powers of the
air to take His place at the right
hand of the Father. Satan was not
defeated at the resurrection alone.
It was the resurrection, ascension,
and the seating of Christ that
defeated him. And so, in this great
unleashing of God's might, "He
disarmed the rulers and authorities,
He made a public display of them
having triumphed over them
through Him" (Colossians 2:12-15).

The Operation
of His Power and Authority
The source of the authority is the
resurrection, ascension, and the
seating of Jesus Christ. By those,
Satan was defeated and disarmed.
But when did this power become
operative in our lives as believers? In
discussing the text of Ephesians 1:19,
I skipped over four words that are
extremely important to this point:
"toward us who believe" or "toward
the believing ones." In other words,
all of this unleashing of God's might
in the resurrection, the ascension
and the seating of Jesus Christ was
for you and me. All of this might of
God was towards you and me,
towards the believing ones, that we
might take victory over Satan.
Observe the identification of Christ's
people with him and the crisis of
the resurrection and ascension and
the seating. Look at Ephesians 2:1.
"As for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins." Paul's flow
of thought in 1:20 is continued in 21.
It would read like this. "And seated
Him at His right hand in the heavenly
place." And then 2:1, "And you also
who are dead in your trespasses."
In other words, there was such an
identification of the believer with
Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, burial,
resurrection, ascension, and seating

86

and victory over Satan that the

apostle Paul used the same verbs
that described the resurrection and
ascension of Jesus to describe our
resurrection and our ascension (the
verbs raised and seated). How can
Paul say this? Because at the
moment of salvation, you were
placed into the body of Christ
(1 Corinthians 12:3). Paul says, "By
one Spirit we've all been baptized."
The word baptized here means
identified, we are identified with one
body, the body of Christ. At the
moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit
took and baptized you and totally
identified you with the Body of
Christ. This happened the moment
you believed in Jesus Christ. And at
that moment, you are identified in
the eyes of God and Satan with
Christ's crucifixion, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seating at the
right hand of the Father. That's why
the Apostle Paul used the same
verbs to describe our resurrection
and ascension.

At the moment of
salvation, you are
identified in the eyes of
God and Satan with
Christ's crucifixion,
burial, resurrection,
ascension, and seating
at the right hand of
the Father.
There are two persons who know
that: God and Satan. The biggest
problem is that the believer usually
doesn't know it. So many Christians
sincerely believe that they never
get to the right hand of the Father
until they die. They don't realize that
at the moment of salvation we were
co-resurrected, co-ascended, and

co-seated with Jesus Christ

positionally; far above all rule and
power and authority and dominion
and every name that is named.
You might say, in our co-crucifixion
with Christ, we died to the penalty
of sin. In our co-resurrection, we
died to the power of sin. In our coascension, we gained authority over
the source of sin, the evil one.

The Location
of Our Authority
Let's review for a moment. First, we
looked at some misconceptions.
Then we learned that authority is
delegated power. The believer has
no power over Satan. It's delegated
power. Third, we saw that the source
of the authority is the resurrection,
ascension, and the seating of Jesus
Christ. And then we learned that this
authority became operative in the
life of the believer at the moment
of salvation. Now, let's look at the
location of spiritual authority. In
Ephesians 2:4-6, Paul writes, "But
because of His great love for us, God,
who is rich in mercy, made us alive
with Christ even when we were dead
in transgressionsit is by grace you
have been saved. And God raised us
up with Christ and seated us in the
heavenly realms with Christ Jesus."
Made us alive together with whom?
With Christ. And raised us up with
Him and seated us with Him in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We
are co-resurrected, co-ascended, coseated. We have been made to sit in
the heavenlies. We are co-occupants
of the right hand of the throne of
God with Jesus Christ. It is not some
special gift conferred upon a certain
group of believers. It is the birthright
of every true believer in Jesus Christ.
The right hand of the throne of God
is the center, or the location, of
power. And we have been elevated
to that right hand position so that
we may exercise to the extent of our
spiritual apprehension authority

over the powers of the air. But this is

only to the extent of our spiritual
apprehension. Because, you see,
authority is delegated power and
until the believer comes to realize
the power behind him, he will
never exercise the authority of the
believer. The more you apprehend
the power behind you, the more you
will exercise the authority of the
believer. That's why I have to take all
this time to give you the background
for a 30 second prayer. Because you
will never pray a prayer to exercise
the authority of the believer unless
you realize the power behind it; that
you've been co-resurrected, coascended, and co-seated far above all
rule, power, authority, and dominion,
and every name that is named.

"Oh, No, They Won't Be"

Hebrews 12:2 reads, "Let us fix
our eyes on Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith, who for the joy
set before Him, endured the cross,

scorning its shame, and sat down at

the right hand of the throne of God."
Where's Jesus? At the right hand of
the Father. Where are you? If you
believe in Jesus Christ, if you have
been co-resurrected, co-ascended,
and co-seated with Jesus, at least two
people know about it, God and
Satan. Now, let me show you how
my understanding that I have been
co-resurrected, co-ascended, and
co-seated with Jesus Christ allows
me to be bold in my witness. I don't
know about your personality, but
mine is the type of personality that
when I'm in an adverse situation (a
free speech situation or debate),
and it seems like everyone turns on
me, if I set my mind to circumstances
around me, I start to withdraw. I
almost become an introvert and
back away from the situation. But
now that Ive learned that I'm
above the situation and I am seated
at the right hand of the Father and
I fix my eyes on Jesus, I see the things
abovenot the circumstances

around me. I become bold. Let me

illustrate. I was at the University of
Colorado. We had a two night series
on prophecy. The second night was
packed out. There were five guys at
the back of the room and as soon
as I closed the meeting, they literally
ran to the front. The leader had
bloodshot eyes. And he just ran
forward screaming. I mean he was
damning God, damning the Holy
Spirit, damning Jesus, and damning
me. (I kind of appreciated the
progression.) And he was just
screaming. I looked at him and
said, "Who in the world do you think
you are?" He said, "I was born to be
a disciple of Satan and by free choice,
I have become one." And he lit into
me. Well, let me tell you, if I had set
my mind to circumstances around
me, I would have withdrawn. But I
set my mind at the right hand of the
Father and knew that I had been
co-resurrected, co-ascended, and
co-seated with Jesus Christ far above
all rule and power and authority

87

and dominion and every name that

is named. I looked straight back at
him and every time he opened his
mouth I quoted Scripture. He'd say
something else, and I quoted
Scripture. And he'd say something
else, and I quoted Scripture. It went
on and on.
Well, something happened. I guess
he didn't have his mind set at the left
hand of the pit, because he turned
around and walked away. He walked
about nine feet and turned back
around. I'll never forget it. He
screamed at me and said "Christian,
we're going to meet again. And the
next time we meet the tables are
going to be turned." Well, let me tell
you, if I would have set my mind on
the circumstances around me, I
would have withdrawn and said
"Well, maybe that's right. Let's hope
we don't meet again." But, I set my
mind at the right hand of the
Father, and I knew that I had been
co-resurrected, co-ascended, and
co-seated with Jesus Christ far above
all rule and power and authority and
dominion and every name that is
named. And I looked back at him
and I said, "Oh, no, they won't be."
His face just dropped and he said,
"How can you say that?" I said,
"That's easy. You see, I've been
co-resurrected, co-ascended, and
co-seated with Jesus Christ far
above all rule, power, authority, and
dominion and every name that is
named, and there is nothing that you
can do to hinder the gospel going
out when I am speaking. Come on
back tomorrow night." Jesus said,
"all authority is given to Me in
heaven and earth. Go therefore and
make disciples of all nations"
(Matthew 28:18, 19). Now, how can
we go into all the world and make
disciples? Because Jesus said "all
authority has been given to Me in
heaven and on earth. Now you go."
And the only way we can go is when

88

we realize the authority we have.

The more you learn of your position
in Christ at the right hand of the
Father, the bolder your witness
will become.

Qualifications for
Exercising Authority
Let's discuss the qualifications for
authority. Please remember, it is not
a special gift. It is the birthright of
every true believer in Jesus. At the
moment of salvation, you were
elevated to the right hand of the
Father. You don't climb some ladder
of faith to get there. Here are some of
the qualifications. First of all, there
must be a knowledge. A knowledge
of your position in Christ and
Satan's defeat. You see, if you don't
understand who you are and that
you are co-resurrected, co-ascended
and co-seated and that Satan was
defeated, you will never exercise
spiritual authority.
Second is belief. It's not mere mental
assent I'm thinking of. The will is
involved. Belief must lead to action.
Or you can put it this way: that
which the mind accepts, the will
must obey; otherwise you do not
truly believe. Do you truly believe
that you have been co-resurrected,
co-ascended, and co-seated with
Jesus Christ? I mean men and
women, if you truly believe that,
then your actions would be
different. You'd wake up each morning and say, "Lord Jesus, I accept my
position. I acknowledge it at the right
hand of the Father. And today, cause
it through the Holy Spirit to be a
reality in my experience."
The third qualification is humility.
While belief introduces you to your
rightful place at the throne of power
(the right hand of the Father), only
humility will ensure you of keeping
it. Humility is knowing who you are,
who made you, and giving God

the glory for it. Maybe I'm not all I

should be, but I am more than I used
to be and I'm who God made me to
be. Men and women, once you
realize that the source of your
strength and authority is the power
behind you, you are going to go out
of here and pray the way I show you
how to pray. And God is going to do
things in and through your life that
you've never seen done before.
Pretty soon, you're going to start
saying "Well, God sure is lucky to
have me on His team." And you
know what happens next? A nosedive. Because if you go out of here
and you set your mind at the right
hand of the Father and you start
exercising the authority of the
believer, you'll see things happen
that have never happened before.
And you start thinking you're really
someone. And the next thing is a
nosedive. Spiritual authority must be
exercised in a spirit of humility!
The fourth qualification is boldness.
With humility comes the greatest
boldness. True boldness to me is faith
in its full manifestation. When God
has spoken, to hold back is sin.
What we need are men and women
filled with the Holy Spirit, with their
mind set at the right hand of the
Father, that fear no one but God. And
true boldness comes from realizing
your position in Jesus Christ and
being filled with the Holy Spirit.

What we need are men

and women filled with
the Holy Spirit, with
their mind set at the
right hand of the Father,
that fear no one but God.
The fifth and final qualification is
awareness. Awareness that the place
of every believer at the right hand of

the Father is also the place of the

most intense conflict. The moment
your eyes are opened to the
right hand of the Father and the
knowledge that you have been
co-resurrected, co-ascended, and
co-seated, Satan will do everything
possible to wipe you out, to
discourage you, to cause you to
give up. Because the last thing
Satan wants is a believer exercising
spiritual authority. The last thing
Satan wants is a Spirit-filled believer
that knows his throne rights. And so
you become a marked individual.
I'll warn you ahead of time: Satan
will start working in your life to discourage you from further study of
this topic. He'll try to get you not to
look at your position in Christ. I'll
warn you ahead of time.

The Authority of
the Believer in Practice
Now here's the way I exercise the
authority of the believer. I had to go
through all of this just to show you a
30 second prayer. Why? Because,
remember, authority is delegated
power. First, I always pray in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and
claim victory on behalf of His shed
blood on the cross. Speak right out
and remind Satan that he's already
defeated. I'll say, "Satan, in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ who shed His
blood on the cross, I command you
to stop your activities in this area."
Or, "Satan, in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ who has shed blood on
the cross, I acknowledge the victory
that is in Jesus Christ." Or "Satan, in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
who has shed blood on the cross, I
acknowledge that the victory is in
Jesus and all honor and glory in this
situation should go to Him." I speak
to Him various ways, but I always use
"In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
who has shed blood on the cross"
because it reminds Satan that he is
already defeated. And then, I realize

that there is nothing I can do. I have

no power over Satan. I only have
authority. The more I learn of the
power behind me, the greater
boldness I have in exercising the
authority of the believer.

Make Sure It's Satan

Now, you need to make sure it's
Satan working. Satan gets blamed
for a lot of things that are simply a
lack of organization on the part of
man. I've spoken at meetings where
the organization was horrible. Some
student will stand up and say, "Wow,
we really need to pray and exercise
the authority of the believer here."
And I'll say, "Forget exercising the
authority of the believer. Next time
just start preparing." There is total
disorganization and they blame it on
Satan. How do you know it's Satan
working? Paul says in 2 Corinthians
2:11 not to be ignorant of the wiles
or schemes of the devil. As we study
the Scripture, we'll learn more about
how Satan works. Second, is the
witness of the Spirit (1 John 4:1-4).
Many times you may feel the
presence of a spiritual struggle in
a situation. Note the Scriptures,
weigh the circumstances, and judge
if there is a witness in that struggle.
If I think there is, then I exercise the
authority of the believer.

Honor to His Name

Not Ours
Now, once you exercise the authority
of the believer, be patient. I find that
God always acts when it brings
the most honor and glory to His
namenot to our name. I'm very
impatient. A lot of the time, I think
God ought to work according to my
schedule. I exercise the authority of
the believer, and I think God ought to
act when I think He ought to act and
in the way that I think He ought to
act. Well, God doesn't always do it
that way. So, I've learned to be

patient. Sometimes I exercise the

authority of the believer and just the
exact opposite of what I expected
takes place . Now I've learned to wait
six months and even a year to look
back on a situation to see how God
got all the honor and glory. I can
honestly say that I have never exercised the authority of the believer
where I did not see Satan defeated.
Never. Sometimes I had to wait six
months. Sometimes it seemed like
Satan was getting the victory, but in
the long run, God worked out His
plan and it was just beautiful.

God's Perfect Timing

Let me close with an illustration. I
was speaking in a University in South
America, and it was a very tense
situation. I was the first American in
four years to speak at the University
because of its Marxist leanings. They
had photographs of me all over
campus, and the communist
students, to keep students from
coming to where I was speaking,
painted CIA agent in red letters
over the photos. I thought it meant
Christians in Action. But of course
they meant "Central Intelligence
Agency." It backfired on them. Most
of the students had never personally
heard or seen a CIA agent. So they all
came to the meeting to see what
one looked like, and we packed out
the room. Whenever you speak in
South America, you always have a
lot of professional agitators. There
were some professional Marxist
agitators there that night. When I
go to another country, I like to speak
as best I can the language of that
country. And so, I pointed out to
them that I was learning their language and that night I would be
lecturing in it. Well, I started in and it
was horrible. These guys would jump
up and say "you filthy pig, etc., etc."
One after another, they were jumping up and throwing out accusations,
and I couldn't answer them. I didn't

89

even know what they were saying.

I felt so sorry for the Christians
because they had so looked
forward to my coming to see new
brothers and sisters and a lot of
evangelistic contacts.
And you know, that first night
everything was going wrong. I
wanted to crawl underneath the
seat. I felt like crying. It finally got to
the point where I was about to quit.
Every time I mentioned Jesus, they
just laughed. The entire audience.
But I had exercised the authority of
the believer, and I thought "God,
why aren't you doing something?"
Why? Satan's defeated, yes. But I
wasn't walking by faith. You see,
God works when it brings the
greatest honor and glory to His
name, not to ours. Well, this went
on for 45 minutes and finally God
started to work. The secretary of
the Mobiento Revolutionario, the

revolutionary student movement,

stood up. She was quite an
outspoken woman, and everyone
went silent so I figured she was
someone. She said, "Professor
McDowell, if I accept Christ tonight,
will He give me the love for people
that you have for us?" Well, men and
women, I don't have to tell you it
broke just about every person's
heart. We had 58 decisions for Christ
that night. God works when it brings
the greatest honor and glory to His
Name, not to ours. I've learned to
exercise the authority of the believer
and then to walk by faith. God will
take care of it from there. Jesus said
"all authority has been given to Me
in heaven and earth. Go therefore
and make disciples of all nations."
This article has been prepared from a
transcript of Josh's tape, "The Authority of
the Believer."

Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven

and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything
I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always,
to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:18-20

90

TheGospel
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CarlF.H.
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Henry
Carl

91
91

YOUR AMAZING AUTHORITY

by Wesley Duewel

During the last week of Jesus' life, before His mediatorial death and resurrection,
He gave His disciples some special instructions concerning prayer. These were
among His deepest teachings. One of His primary emphases was that, hereafter,
Jesus' disciples were to bring their petitions in His name. No leader has ever given
such amazing authority to his followers. In order to be able to use this authority
to the glory of Jesus and the advancement of His kingdom, we need to know the
answer to three questions: What does the word name imply in Jewish thought?
What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name? How can we use Jesus' name most
effectively in our praying?
The Meaning of Name in Jewish Thought
The word name, as it was used in the time of Christ, implied three things:

The name is the person.

To praise the name of Jesus is to praise Jesus Himself. To love the name of Jesus is to love Jesus. To dishonor the name
of Jesus is to insult Jesus. The name represents all we know of the person. Moses hungered to draw closer to Jehovah; he
asked to see His glory. God replied that a human being could not survive such a divine encounter, for His glory would be
greater than the physical body could bear. But God promised to reveal Himself partially. He Put Moses in the cleft of a
rock, covered him with His hand, and passed in front of Moses, removing His hand for a second so Moses could see the
glory that lingered after God had passed by. As He did so, He proclaimed His namea revealing two-sentence name: The
Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love
to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished (Exodus 34:6, 7).
To know God was to know all that His name represented. To understand the name was to see God.

The name of Jesus represents all we know of Him from Scripture

and personal experience.
It includes His transforming power, His love, His mercy, His intolerance of hypocrisy, His desire for us to be holy as He is
holy. It includes our knowledge of Him in His eternal glory, His creation of the universe, His incarnation, His atoning
death, His resurrection, and His coming again.

The name is the person actively present.

To the early Christians, to be gathered "in Jesus' name" (Matthew 18:20) meant for Jesus to be personally present in their
midst, as He truly is today. To be sent "in Jesus' name," to do all "in the name" of Jesus (Colossians 3:17), meant acting by
the authority of Jesus, manifesting His character. When we act "in Jesus' name" today, we likewise believe that we are not
acting alone, but with Jesus by our side, even though He is invisible to our eyes.

92

The Meaning of Praying in Jesus' Name

Several important concepts must be kept in mind before you can pray in Jesus' name:

To pray in Jesus' name is possible only If you are "in Jesus." Jesus said, "I will do whatever you ask in My

name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it" (John 14:13,
14). In that same conversation with His disciples shortly before His death, He reminded them: "If you remain in Me and My
words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you . . . Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:7,5).
Jesus used the phrase "in Me" seven times in John 14 and 15. To be "in Jesus" means:

1. to be in Jesus' love (15:9, 10). Love is the prevailing topic of

John 13-16. Love must be mutual; if it is to be received, it
must be responded to. His new command is love (13:34; 15:17).
You cannot love Jesus unless you love His other children (13:34).
To love Jesus is to obey Jesus (14:15, 23). If you love, you will
remain in Jesus (15:10).

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

to have Jesus living within you (14:20; 15:4-5).

to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit (14:15-18).
to be in the vine (15:4).
to be in spiritual unity with Jesus (15:4-7).
to have Christ's words remaining in you (15:7). Our ability to
pray in Jesus' name depends upon this "in Christ" relationship.

To pray in Jesus' name is to be conformed to His nature. The example given in John 13 is Jesus in His servant
role, washing the disciples' feet. As you know truth you must do truth (13:17). When you joyfully do His will, reflecting His
Christ-likeness, you may pray in Jesus' name. To pray in Jesus' name is to pray for His sake. You must so desire what Jesus
desires that your every request is in the spirit of the Lord's Prayer, "Your will be done" (Matthew 6:10). This was the attitude
of Jesus as He prayed in Gethsemane. You are to pray actively, aggressively that Jesus' will may prevail. To pray in His name
is to insist that His total victory be made manifest in the world.
To pray in Jesus' name is to use His name as your reference. This aspect of God's truth is clear in The Living
Bible paraphrase of John 14:12-14: "You can ask for anything, using My name, and I will do it, for this will bring praise to
the Father because of what I, the Son, will do for you. Yes, ask anything, using My name, and I will do it." Jesus is your
reference as you approach God the Father in prayer. When Satan tries to block and oppose you, use the name of Jesus to
gain total victory.
To pray in Jesus' name is to claim Calvary's victory for your need. Because Jesus openly defeated Satan

and all his evil hosts of demons (Colossians 2:15), Satan is a defeated foe. He is a usurper. He tries to frighten and bluff you,
but he has already lost the last battle. In Jesus' name you claim the actualization of the victory Christ won on the cross.

To pray in Jesus' name is to acknowledge His full role as God's anointedyour Prophet, Priest,
and King. As Prophet, He is your Counselor and Guide. As Priest, He is your Intercessor. As you pray He says the "Amen"

to your prayer (Revelation 3:14). "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through
Him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 1:20). As King, He is your Sovereign Lord. As you pray
in His name, you claim His prophetic guidance for your prayer, His priestly intercession for your prayer, and His kingly
answers to your prayer.

To pray in Jesus' name is to pray in all His authority. He has delegated to you the authority to pray and ask
God to accomplish great things in His name. You can rebuke Satan and his schemes, his demons, and all his infernal work
in the name of Jesus. This is your protection; this is your might; this is your victory.

JESUS

93

How to Use the Name of Jesus in Prayer

Oh, holy privilege! You need no other recommendation to God, no other introduction. Come instantly, directly to God's
throne. Lift up your heart and look to your Father. Don't be embarrassed to come. God has been expecting you, waiting
for you to come in prayer. As a child of God, your sin and guilt have been forgiven. You are no longer a servant. You are
Jesus' friend; you are His official prayer partner. You come to the throne of grace, not in your own name, but in Jesus'
name, representing His interests, by His authority. You are officially appointed to intercede. How shall you use that
wonderful, almighty name?
Remember what His name represents. The name of Jesus represents His person, His purposes, His honor,
His authorityall that He is.
Rejoice in the preciousness of His name. The name of Jesus signifies all His beauty and loveliness.
Recall all His graciousness, especially His loving kindness to you. His name represents His constant, personal love
for you, and for the ones for whom you pray. Use His precious name in praise and song as you pray (Psalm 135:3).
Express your love by use of His name. Those you love are thrilled to hear you speak their name. Jesus loves you more
than any other, and no matter how many thousands call His name, He thrills to hear you say it again. No matter how
many times you have spoken it before, He constantly rejoices to hear it spoken in love. Confessing His name is a true
sacrifice of praise. "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-the fruit of lips that
confess his name" (Hebrews 13:15).
Believe in His name. As you pray, Jesus wants you to exercise your faith through belief in His name (1 John 3:23).
His name creates expectancy, gives firmness to your confidence, and fills you with joy (Romans 15:13; 1 Peter 1:8).
Faith in His name brings miracle answers (Acts 3:16).
Make your prayer requests in His name. (See John 14:13-15; 15:6, 7; 16:26, 27.) Be sure you are in unity with Him.
Pray for what pleases Him; what will glorify Him. Claim your inheritance in His name. Askfor His name's sake.
Use the authority of His name. The name of Jesus expresses His sovereign authority, recalls the victory He has already
won at Calvary, and suggests the availability of the angelic hosts who are subject to Him. His name endorses His plan
and program; it guarantees Satan's failure and defeat. His name has been given to you to use in prayer. Be firm in
claiming its authority to resist Satan and promote Christ's will to prevail.
Sanctify your prayer in His name. There is a sanctifying influence as you use the name of Jesus in prayer: (a) His name
guards the nature and motive of your request. You cannot pray selfishly or carnally in His name. (b) His name demands
that He be given the glory. (c) His name expects your integrity and obedience. (d) His name calls for your perseverance
in prayer. You only pray in His name for that which is truly important.
Involve His partnership through His name. Christ is your great High Priest, interceding at the right hand of the Father
(1 Peter 3:22; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20-23). You can join in His intercession and involve His prayer partnership by
praying in His name. That which the Holy Spirit prays through you on this earth as you pray in the Spirit is prayed by
Christ as He sits enthroned at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Using His name in the full biblical sense makes
you prayer partners.
Give honor to His name. God wants you to glorify the name of Jesus. Your prayer in Jesus' name enables Him to bring
glory to the Father (John 14:13, 14). God has exalted Jesus to the highest place and given Him the name which is
above every name (Philippians 2:9). You give glory to the name of Jesus by praying in His name.
Rebuke Satan in His name. Even the angels rebuke Satan and his demonic hosts in the name of Jesus. Remind Satan
who Jesus is. Remind Satan of Jesus' victory on the cross and of His resurrection, and remind Satan that he is already
defeated. Remind Satan of your identity with Jesus and the authority you have been given through His name.
Use the name of Jesus as your refuge. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe"
(Proverbs 18:10). Rejoice in your privilege to bear and use the name of Jesus. Claim the ministry and protection of
God's holy angels for yourself and for others for whom you pray, especially missionaries serving in dangerous places.
Angels are on constant assignment to help you and all God's children (Hebrews 1:14). All are subject to Jesus and
follow His command. You are safe in the refuge of His name.
Do all in the name of Jesus. Colossians 3:17 is all-inclusive: "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the
name of the Lord Jesus." Live for the glory of Jesus' name. Pray in His name. Serve in His name. Trust in His name. Glory
in His name. Take the name of Jesus with you and thus be triumphant wherever you go. Rejoice in all that the name
of Jesus adds to your prayer. You have amazing privilege and authority in the name of Jesus. Using His name brings the
dimension of the supernatural to your praying. It clears the way before you. It pushes back the darkness from you. It
is the key to heaven's resources. Rejoice in His name! Clothe yourself with His name! Learn to pray in the full authority
of the name of Jesus!

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Your Enthroned Prayer Partner

Prayer brings you into a sacred partnership with Jesus Christ, the enthroned Son of God. If God had not revealed this
to you in His Word, it would have been blasphemous to suggest that you could share such partnership. "The Lord worked
with them" is a succinct history of the early church (Mark 16:20). Further Scripture calls all Christians "God's fellow
workers" (1 Corinthians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 6:1).
There are many ways to "work" with Godthrough obedience, through service to others, and through sharing His love.
But He wants to have even more intimate contact with you. He wants to bring you into His inner circle where you can
hear His great heart beating for a lost world. He has created you with the ability to speak to Him and fellowship with
Him. Above all else, as His "fellow worker," you were created to prayas He prays.

Why Does Jesus Pray?

We are told repeatedly in Scripture that Jesus prayed and that He continues to pray today. But why is prayer necessary
for Jesus who spoke worlds into existence (John 1:3) and sustains all things (Hebrews 1:3)? Why must He pray? Why not
merely command? No demon from hell or combination of demonic forces could stand against His powerful Word. Why
does Jesus not just rebuke them, stop them, or consume them by His Word?
One day He will (2 Thessalonians 2:8). One day He will rule with an iron scepter (Revelation 12:5), and so will we
(Revelation 2:27). But today Christ has chosen to rule the world by prayer. This is the day of grace, not the day of His
power and glory. Christ is already enthroned at the right hand of the Father. What is He doing? He is reigning. But how
is He reigning? Not by His scepter, but by prayer! Even before His death and resurrection, when He forewarned Peter
that Satan had asked permission to sift the disciples as wheat (Luke 22:31, 32), Christ did not say, "I will stop Satan."
Instead, He said, "I have prayed for you."

Jesus Reigns by Interceding

Today Jesus Christ is seated at the Father's "right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power
and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God has
placed all things under his feet" (Ephesians 1:20-22). Christ is already seated on His throne. And what does Christ do
there? Grant interviews to the angels or departed saints? The only picture Scripture gives is that He is "at the right
hand of God . . . interceding for us (Romans 8:34). Jesus lives forever, has a permanent priesthood, and always lives to
intercede (Hebrews 7:24, 25).

Does Jesus not live to reign?

Yes, but He also lives to intercede. He reigns by interceding. He is the Sovereign over all, but He is also the great High
Priest praying for all. Prayer secures results; prayer conveys blessing. He blesses as He prays. He is the royal Intercessor
and Giver of blessing.

Your Priestly Prayer Role

And that is exactly the role He has chosen for you. He loves you so much that He desires you to intercede with Him as
He intercedes with the Father, and to bless the world as He does. He mediates blessing through prayer. You and I are to
do the same. Thus we read in 1 Peter 2:9, "You area royal priesthood." John writes us that Jesus loves us, has freed
us from our sins by His blood, has made us into a kingdom, and has made us priests to serve His God and Father
(Revelation 1:5-6).
Jesus is God's High Priest (Hebrews 2:17). He has made us priests to God also (Revelation 1:6). This is how we are to serve
God (v. 6). The greatest service you will ever do for God will not be your external ministering, witnessing, or preaching.
Your greatest service, whatever your vocation, is to be your priestly intercession. God has ordained to work through the
prayers of His people. He is waiting for your intercession. You were not only created to pray; you were redeemed, justified,
and sanctified to pray.

95

Your Mutual
Commission with
Christ
What is Jesus' greatest
personal prayer assignment
in this age? Perhaps it is to
pray for the church. However,
only one command regarding Christ's intercession for
the churches is recorded in
the Bible. It is found in Psalm
2:7-8: "I will proclaim the
decree of the Lord: He said
to me, You are my Son; today
I have become your Father.
Ask of me, and I will make
the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your
possession. Is that why Jesus
intercedes today?
Jesus is commanded by the Father to ask for the nations. His Great Commission to the church, His last request to the
church, is to go to the nations (Matthew 28:19-20). His second return will be delayed until adequate witness is given to the
nations (Matthew 24:14). If He is a God of infinite love, His heart is yearning for the nations. Certainly one of the priorities
He places on every Christian is to intercede for the evangelization of the world.
Since Jesus ever lives to intercede, any time you prayday or nightJesus is already interceding. Every time you go to
prayer, you can be Jesus' prayer partner. Paul makes this very clear: "By grace you have been saved. And God raised us up
with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. . . . For we are . . . created in Christ Jesus to do
good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:5-6, 10). You are already seated with Christ in the
heavenly realms. Where is Christ seated? On the throne of the universe beside God the Father. You are to be sharing
Christ's throne already and doing what Christ is doinginterceding.

Jesus: Your Divine Prayer Partner

Note the important ways your prayer partnership with Christ affects your praying:

What reverent caution it places on you as you pray! If you are Jesus' partner in intercession, you must be

sure to pray in harmony with Jesus' prayers, not in contradiction to them. What kind of prayer partner would you be if you
kept disagreeing with Him? How urgent it is, not only to seek to know God's will, but to pray constantly the words Jesus
taught us to pray: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). Just as Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, so
you must pray, "Yet not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39).

What strong confidence it gives to your prayer! If you are praying for His will to be done, if you are joining

your prayer to the intercession of Jesus, with what full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:22) you can draw near to God. "In
Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence" (Ephesians 3:12). If Jesus and you are
praying together about a matter, what doubt is there that God is listening? Once, when praying, Jesus mentioned that He
knew God the Father always heard Him (John 11:42). God's Word stacks assurance on assurance to encourage your intercession. "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And
if we know that He hears uswhatever we askwe know that we have what we asked of Him" (1 John 5:14,15). The very
next verse shows that the Holy Spirit especially had in mind your praying for othersin other words, your intercession.

96

What strong incentive it gives you to persevere in prayer! Jesus Himself

urges you to hold on in prayer and not give up until the answer comes (Luke 18:1-8;
11:5-10). If you are praying in the will of God and your prayer has not yet been answered,
you can be sure Jesus is still interceding for the need, so you too should persevere. What
an amazing story Jesus told to illustrate this truth! You are to keep praying with the same
insistence as the widow who persisted in her plea to an unjust judge who was ignoring
her and refusing to answer. God the Father, said Jesus, is not like that judge! But you
should be like that widow!

The God of Amen

There is a beautiful picture in Scripture of Jesus' role as your prayer partner. "These are
the words of the Amen" (Revelation 3:14), meaning that Jesus is the "Amen." What does
this mean? The Hebrew rendering of Isaiah 65:16 calls God "the God of Amen." The
original meaning of the verb "to amen" is to regard someone as reliable, trustworthy,
and truthful. It is therefore used in the Old Testament in two ways: (a) It echoes a leader's
prayer or praise. That is, it means "Yes, indeed" or "May it be so in very truth." (For some
examples, see Psalm 41:13; 72:19; 106:48; 1 Chronicles 16:36; Nehemiah 5:6) and (b) It is
used as the assent of an obedient listener to a royal decree or purpose (1 Kings 1:36;
Jeremiah 11:5). When Scripture declares that Jesus is the Amen, it means that He is
the divine "Yes" to all of God's will and to the prayers of God's people whenever they
are in accord with God's will. "For no matter how many promises God has made, they
are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God"
(2 Corinthians 1:20).
Now let the full glory of the scene in heaven dawn on you! In human pictorial terms,
Jesus is seated on the throne on the right side of the Father. You, sharing the throne of
Jesus in Spirit, are seated beside Him. When you intercede according to the will of God,
aided by the Holy Spirit indwelling you (who intercedes for you and through you), you
turn to Jesus and make your plea for His glory and for His sake. By your authority "in
Christ," you hand the request to Jesus. He joins His almighty intercession with yours and
turns to the Father to present your united intercession (Jesus' and yours!) and then seals
it by saying His royal "Amen," being in His very essence your enthroned "Amen." Because
of who Jesus is, because of what He accomplished at Calvary, because He agrees with
you in prayer (Matt. 18:19), He is the sovereign "Amen" of your prayer. Is not this the time
to sing the doxology? And is it not a time to fall on your knees and join the heavenly
beings exclaiming in adoration: "Holy, holy, holy!"?
Excerpt from Touch The World Through Prayer, Wesley L. Duewel

Amen.

What is man
that You are
mindful of him,
the son of man
that You care
for him?
Psalms 8:4

Oh, the depth of

the riches of the
wisdom
and knowledge
of God! How
unsearchable
His judgments,
and His paths
beyond
tracing out!
For from Him
and through Him
and to Him
are all things.
To Him be the
glory forever!
Amen.
Romans
11:33, 36

97

YOU CAN DEFEAT AND

BIND SATAN
by Wesley Duewel
Because of Jesus' triumph at Calvary you and I have an
amazing new authority. What does that include? Is it really
the plan of Jesus that you and I bind and restrain Satan
and his demons?
Jesus said, "If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then
the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or again, how
can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his
possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he
can rob his house" (Matthew 12:28, 29). This teaching is so
important that it is repeated by both Mark (3:27) and Luke
(11:21-22). The strong man to whom Jesus referred is Satan.
The possessions which are to be taken from Satan are the
people who are enslaved by him--even those who are
possessed and indwelt by demons. The power Jesus used
included His own inherent authority and the power of
the Holy Spirit.

But does Jesus expect you to seize Satan's possessions?

Yes, God wants you to rescue those whom Satan has seized
or bound in any way. Jude 23 urges, "Snatch others from
the fire and save them." Proverbs 24:11 commands "Rescue
those being led away to death; hold back those staggering
toward slaughter." Second Timothy 2:26 teaches that
sinners are made captive by Satan to do his will. Jesus and
His followers are commissioned "to proclaim freedom for
the captives" (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18).

But do we really have authority to bind Satan?

Remember the words of Matthew 16:18-19: "I will build My
church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will
give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you
bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you
loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Commentators interpret this passage in several ways.
Whatever the full meaning may be, it is related to building
Christ's church. This teaching was so important to Christ
that it is repeated and amplified two chapters later. Here, it
is related to prayer in Jesus' name and is strengthened by
agreement in prayer. "I tell you the truth, whatever you
bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you
loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you
that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask
for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. For
where two or three come together in My name, there am
I with them" (Matthew 18:18-20).

98

Whatever else Christ may have had in mind, certainly He

was teaching the following truths:
He is determined to build His church.
This building will be dependent on both His power and
our obedience.
Binding and loosing has something important to do
with building His church.
He expects us to participate in this binding and loosing.
Heaven's authority and power will back our binding
and loosing.
This binding and loosing can be related to agreement
in prayer.
Those agreeing in prayer need not necessarily be a
large group, for Jesus Himself will be there joining in
their prayer agreement.
Binding and loosing is primarily accomplished through
our prayer.
It was prophesied that Jesus would crush the serpent's
head (Genesis 3:15). Jesus' victory over Satan is implied by
symbolism here and in the following passage: "I have
given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions
and to overcome all the power of the enemy" (Luke 10:19).
The primary reference is not to physical snakes and
scorpions. It is to be interpreted spiritually. Christ gives us,
His disciples, authority over all the power of Satan, our
chief enemy. "The reason the Son of God appeared was
to destroy the devil's work" (1 John 3:8). Binding Satan's
power, restraining his diabolical work by the authority
of Christ, is certainly in the will of God.
But please remember: This is not child's play. It is spiritual
warfare. Even the archangels respect the awesome power
of Satan and, in their warfare against him, do all in the
name and authority of Jesus (Jude 9). When the seven sons
of the Jewish chief priest Sceva tried foolishly to use the
name of Jesus without themselves being in right relation
to Jesusand therefore, not covered by His promise
they were physically assaulted and hurt by the
demon-empowered man (Acts 19:13-17). Spiritual
warfare is not for the spiritually defeated, or for those
not covered by Christ's blood.

You don't bind Satan by repeating a few words as if they

were some magic formula. To use the name of Jesus, you
must be "in Christ" and must be living in harmony with
His holy nature and will.
Paul says clearly, "We struggle" (Ephesians 6:12). Prayer
warfare is serious spiritual conflict. However, every
scriptural injunction in this connection is for you to be
bold, to have faith, and to expect Christ to prove His
sufficiency and authority. You need not fear Satan when
you use the name of Jesus scripturally.

How to Bind Satan

Since prayer warfare is so urgent and Satan so powerful,
we are urged to use all the armor and all the weapons God
provides to win victory. We are to put on "the full armor of
God" (Ephesians 6:13). This passage found in Ephesians
(vv. 10-20) refers to all spiritual warfare, but primarily to
prayer warfare (vv. 19-20). The full armor includes all the
separate pieces listed in this passage. The purpose of the
armor and exhortation is "so that you can take your stand
against the devil's schemes" (v. 11). The Christian in this
warfare is expected to do "everything" made possible by
God (v. 13). This implies that there will be various aspects
to your prayer warfare.
As you live a Spirit-filled life and daily fulfill your role as
a fellow intercessor with Christ and the Holy Spirit, there
may come unexpected emergencies when you are
confronted by a manifestation of Satan's power and
must, like Jesus, rebuke Satan instantly (Matthew 16:23;
Luke 4:8). Do not hesitate to take the authority Christ
gives you whenever you need it.
There are, however, other places and situations where
Satan has been long entrenched. It is not so much an
emergency situation as an urgent need. You may have
prayed repeatedly and yet not seen God's answer to your
prayer. God may lead you to spend a longer time in prayer
until you feel the inner witness of the Spirit that your
prayer has been heard and by faith you claim the binding
of Satan. It is for such a longer period of intense prayer
warfare that the following suggestions are offered. You
may feel free to use any of them at any time as the Spirit
leads, without regard to this specific sequence.

Rejoice in Christ's victory at Calvary

over Satan and his demonic spirits.
Strengthen your prayer by reading such Scriptures as
Luke 10:19, John 12:31-33, Romans 16:20, 1 Corinthians 2:6,
Ephesians 1:21-22, Colossians 2:15, Hebrews 2:14, and
James 4:7.

Praise God for Christ's complete victory.

Thank Jesus for paying the price. Perhaps some chorus
or a hymn will be the expression of your heart. My Indian
co-workers often sang this chorus of triumph:

He signed the deed with His atoning blood

And ever lives to make His promise good.
When all the hosts of hell combine to make a second claim
They all march out at the mention of His name.
They all march out at the mention of His name.

Rejoice in Christ's sovereign authority

and almighty power.
Praise God, Jesus has sat down "at the right hand of the
Majesty in heaven" (Hebrews 1:3). He is seated at God's
right hand while God is putting everything beneath His
feet (Psalm 110:1). "Of the increase of His government
and peace there will be no end" (Isaiah 9:7). He has power
to bring everything under His control (Philippians 3:21).
"Your God reigns!" (Isaiah 52:7). Jesus is seated at God's
right hand in heaven "far above all rule and authority,
power and dominion, and every title that can be given"
(Ephesians 1:20-21). All authority in heaven and earth has
been given to Him (Matthew 28:18). Our Jesus Christ is
the same in power and authority yesterday, today, and
forever (Hebrews 13:8).

Plead the blood of Jesus.

You have no merit of your own, but Jesus died for you.
You do not place faith in yourself but in Jesus' blood
(Romans 3:25). When Jesus cried on the cross, "It is
finished" (John 19:30), Satan's defeat was complete, the
victory of Calvary was complete, the blood of the Son of
God was now available as the basis of your plea for God's
answer to your prayer. Now you can overcome Satan by
the blood of the Lamb of God (Revelation 12:11). Plead
the blood of Jesus as you advance and attack Satan's
stronghold and his power.

99

Use the name of Jesus.

Your prayer warfare is for His name's sake. It is for the
glory of Jesus' name that you advance against Satan.
Before Jesus every knee must bow, for He is Lord
(Philippians 2:9, 10). Jesus promised, "I will do whatever
you ask in My name, so that the Son may bring glory
to the Father.
You may ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it"
(John 14:13,14). "The Father will give you whatever you
ask in My name" (15:16). "I tell you the truth, my Father
will give you whatever you ask in My nameAsk and you
will receive" (16:23, 24).
All power in heaven and earth is behind that name.
Every demon from hell knows the authority of that name.
Peter, Paul, the apostles, and the early church again and
again proved the power of Jesus' name. Across the world
today Satan is being driven back and forced to release his
captives through the use of the name of Jesus. You are
authorized to use His name. Take the authority God has
given you. Use the name of Jesus when you pray. Use it
when you claim God's promise. Use it as you take the
initiative to drive back Satan and his evil spirits. Use it to
break the bonds of sin and hell and demand the release
of Satan's captives. Use the name of Jesus to rout the
Devil. Use it to bind Satan's power and authority. Use
the name of Jesus now!

With the Bible at his side and forgetting to use Jesus'

name, he started toward the door of the house. To his
amazement, at a certain point he was stopped by an
unseen power. Try as he would, Frank, who is a strong
man, could not advance another step.
"Hold your Bible before you, Frank, and use the name of
Jesus!" the pastor called. Suddenly realizing the seriousness of Satan's power against him, Frank held out his Bible
before him and, in Jesus' name, walked right into the
house and brought out the idols. I myself have faced
experiences in India when I wanted the Bible in my hand
to symbolize my strength and confidence. Bible truth is
literally the sword of the Spirit. March forward, praising
Him. Praise is not only a method of worshiping the Lord,
bringing joy to the heart of God and expressing your love
and thanks, but praise is also a mighty spiritual weapon.

Take the sword of the Spirit,

the Word of God.
Quoting from the Old Testament, Jesus used the Word to
defeat Satan (Matthew 4:1-11). The weapon which the
Holy Spirit uses to defeat Satan, the Spirit's sword, is the
Bible (Ephesians 6:17). The entire Bible contains passages
which can be mightily used to claim victory over Satan.
You may use Scripture to point out to Satan how Christ
is Conqueror over him. You may, like Jesus, use the
Scriptures to rebuke Satan to his face. Refer to the
Scriptures, quote Scripture passages, and you may even
at times symbolically want to hold the Scriptures in your
hand or place your hand on the Word of God as you
pray or rebuke the devil.
While he was president of Union Biblical Seminary in
India, Dr. Frank Kline visited the village home of a new
convert to share in a joyous service of cleansing the home
of its former idols. He was chosen to be the one to enter
the house and bring the images outside. The Indian
pastor instructed him: "Call on the name of Jesus, hold
your Bible in your hand before you, and go in and bring
out the images." This was a new experience for Frank.

100

Use praise to defeat the Devil.

Praise strengthens your own spirit of faith. Praise brings
the angels of God to help you. Praise clears away the dark
clouds with which Satan would like to engulf you. Praise
angers and frightens Satan and his demons. The name of
Jesus is powerful in prayer, powerful in commands you
give to Satan, and powerful in striking terror into the
ranks of Satan.
Advance against the demon opposition, praising the
Lord. Shout the praise of the Lord in the Devil's face. I
have several times been used by the Holy Spirit to cast
out a demon just by calling praise to Jesus in the ear of
the demoniac as the demon convulsed him. Praise to
Jesus routs the unclean spirits.
Perhaps Jehoshaphat is the only king who won a literal
war by praise instead of by weapons (2 Chronicles 20).

Judah had been invaded by a vast army from Ammon,

Moab, and Mount Seir. Jehoshaphat called the nation
together to fast and pray at Jerusalem. They came
from every town "to seek help from the Lord." King
Jehoshaphat stood and led the nation in prayer, first
rejoicing in God's sovereignty, and then interceding for
the men, women, and children who were all standing
before the Lord in prayer. The Holy Spirit came upon
one of the Levites in the middle of the congregation
and He prophesied that they would not need to fight;
the battle was the Lord's (v. 15). He told them not to fear,
but to go out and face the enemy, and the Lord would
be with them. The whole nation fell on their faces before
the Lord in worship, and the Levites praised the Lord
"with very loud voice."
Early the next morning they all arose; Jehoshaphat
exhorted them to believe God, and then they appointed
singers to lead the army into battle, praising God. "As
they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes"
against the enemy (v. 22). While the Israelites praised the
Lord, the enemy began to attack one another, and they
were all destroyed. For three days Judah gathered the
loot from the defeated enemies. On the fourth day they
had a praise gathering, and then the king led the whole
nation in a triumphal procession back to Jerusalem and
into the temple. We have no record that Jehoshaphat
ever again was attacked by another nation. Satan was
absolutely routed.

Through Christ, You Can Defeat Satan

Thank God the Christian is able to resist Satan and cause
him to run from the field of battle (James 4:7). Sometimes
you must drive him away by prayer and praise. Sometimes
you must command him to leave. Sometimes you must
bind his power. Sometimes you must rob him of his
captives and in Jesus' name set them free. You have full
authority in Jesus' name to defeat Satan on any field
of combat.

You are not to run. You are to force Satan to run. You are
to invade the devil's territory and set his captives free.
Satan is nothing but a usurper. Through Him who loved
us and gave Himself for us, through Him who goes with
us and covers us with the protection of His blood,
through Him who has armed us with the authority of
His conquering name, you are to battle and defeat
Satan again and again.
Some battles may be more prolonged than others;
sometimes Satan is deeply entrenched. In some battles
you may need the backing of an interceding, fasting
group of believers who agree with you in prayer. But
Jesus is Victor now and forevermore. Stand in His victory.
In yourself you are nothing, but in Christ and His name
you are more than conqueror.
Excerpt from Touch The World Through Prayer, Wesley L. Duewel

Command Satan in Jesus' name.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of speaking
directly to Satan in Jesus' name. "Satan, you were
defeated at Calvary. By the authority of the name of
Jesus I command you to go. By the name of Jesus I
bind you and all your working."
When casting out demons, if the demon's name is
known, use it in ordering the demon to leave as you
command by the authority of Jesus' name. In cases of
demonic pressure, oppression, or opposition, do not
hesitate, if God leads you, to command Satan and all
his demons to obey your command.

"If Jesus Christ be God

and died for me, then no
sacrifice can be too great
for me to make for Him."
C.T. Studd

101

TOOLS FOR WARFARE

by Mark Bubeck

Blessed is
the man who
perseveres under
trial, because
when he has stood
the test, he will
receive the victor's
crown, the life
God has promised
to those who
love Him."
James 1:12

A number of years ago, a friend of mine presented me with an unexpected gift which
has proven to be one of the most helpful gifts I've ever received. This man brought me a
large carpenter's tool box jammed full of wrenches, hammers, saws, screwdrivers, nails,
screws, and many other things that go with such a box. One might wonder why a pastor
would treasure such a gift. It is a gift that has never ceased to be a treasure to me
because I like to do things with my hands. There is nothing more frustrating than wanting
to do some project around the home and not having the necessary tools. In my heart I
thank my friend for that gift every time I use it. The tools work for me in enabling me to
get the job done.
We need tools in spiritual warfare as well. It has been the underlying purpose of this
book to provide practical, usable information and insight into the waging of a winning
warfare. The world, the flesh, and the devil will be continuously defeated if we use the
weapons of our warfare. The Lord has provided all the tools we need. The Lord Jesus
Christ has provided all of our victory. He used the same tools He has provided us in
winning the battle. His victory is our victory. It remains our responsibility to use these
weapons so graciously provided in His grace. Every time you use them you'll thank God
for the tools of victory He has provided. Just as I think with fond remembrance of the
man who gave me the tool box when I use my carpenter's tools, so your heart will reach
out in an ever-deepening gratitude to your Lord.
Doctrine, God's unchanging truth, is mighty in defeating our enemies. This truth must
get deep into our souls. This can only come about as we gain understanding of the Holy
Word of God and then use that Word aggressively in our lives. With the permission and
approval of Dr. Victor Matthews, professor of theology at the Grand Rapids Baptist Bible
College and Seminary, I include here some very fine helps in keeping doctrinal truth in
the forefront of your warfare.
"The Daily Affirmation of Faith" was written by Dr. Matthews to provide a concise, clear
statement of the truth of the Word of God as it applies to our victory. I recommend this
affirmation for daily reading aloud on the part of those who are experiencing intense
warfare. It will do much to build spiritual foundation into your soul. It will keep the
ground of your victory aggressively in action against your enemies. Study the texts of
Scripture for your own enlightenment and edification.

102

The Daily Affirmation of Faith

Today I deliberately choose to submit myself fully to God as He has made Himself known
to me through the Holy Scripture which I honestly accept as the only inspired, infallible,
authoritative standard for all life and practice. In this day I will not judge God, His work,
myself, or others on the basis of feelings or circumstances.

I recognize by faith that the triune God is worthy of all honor, praise, and worship as

the Creator, Sustainer, and End of all things. I confess that God, as my Creator, made me for
Himself. In this day I therefore choose to live for Him (Revelation 5:9, 10; Isaiah 43:1, 7, 21;
Revelation 4:11).

I recognize by faith that God loved me and chose me in Jesus Christ before time
began (Ephesians 1:1-7).

I recognize by faith that God has proven His love to me in sending His Son to die
in my place, in whom every provision has already been made for my past, present, and
future needs through His representative work, and that I have been quickened, raised,
seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenlies, and anointed with the Holy Spirit
(Romans 5:6-11; 8:28; Philippians 1:6; 4:6,7,13,19; Ephesians 1:3; 2:5,6; Acts 2:1-4,33).

I recognize by faith that God has accepted me, since I have received Jesus Christ as

my Lord and Savior (John 1:12; Ephesians 1:6); that He has forgiven me (Ephesians 1:7);
adopted me into His family, assuming every responsibility for me (John 17:11,17;
Ephesians 1:5; Philippians 1:6); given me eternal life (John 3:36; 1 John 5:9-13); applied the
perfect righteousness of Christ to me so that I am now justified (Romans 5:1; 8:3,4; 10:4);
made me complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10); and offers Himself to me as my daily
sufficiency through prayer and the decisions of faith (1 Corinthians 1:30; Colossians 1:27;
Galatians 2:20; John 14:13,14; Matthew 21:22; Romans 6:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-3,11).

I recognize by faith that the Holy Spirit has baptized me into the Body of Christ

(1 Corinthians 12:13); sealed me (Ephesians 1:13,14); anointed me for life and service (Acts
1:8; John 7:37-39); seeks to lead me into a deeper walk with Jesus Christ (John 14:16-18;
15:26,27;16:13-15; Romans 8:11-16); and to fill my life with Himself (Ephesians 5:18).

I recognize by faith that only God can deal with sin and only God can produce

holiness of life. I confess that in my salvation my part was only to receive Him and that He
dealt with my sin and saved me. Now I confess that in order to live a holy life, I can only
surrender to His will and receive Him as my sanctification; trusting Him to do whatever
may be necessary in my life, without and within, so I may be enabled to live today in
purity, freedom, rest, and power for His glory (John 1:12; I Corinthians 1:30; II Corinthians
9:8; Galatians 2:20; Hebrews 4:9; 1 John 5:4; Jude 24).

103

Having confessed that God is worthy of all praise, that the Scriptures are the only authoritative standard, that only God can deal with sin and produce holiness of life, I again recognize my total dependence upon Him and submission to Him.
I accept the truth that praying in faith is absolutely necessary for the realization of the
will and grace of God in my daily life (I John 5:14,15; James 2:6; 4:2,3; 5:16-18; Philippians
4:6,7; Hebrews 4:1-13; 11:6, 24-28).
Recognizing that faith is a total response to God by which the daily provisions the Lord
has furnished in Himself are appropriated

I therefore make the following decisions of faith:

For this day (Hebrews 3:6,13,15; 4:7) I make the decision of faith to surrender wholly
to the authority of God as He has revealed Himself in the Scripture to obey Him. I confess
my sin, face the sinful reality of my old nature, and deliberately choose to walk in the
light, in step with Christ, throughout the hours of this day (Romans 6:16-20; Philippians
2:12, 13; 1 John 1:7, 9).
For this day I make the decision of faith to surrender wholly to the authority of God as
revealed in the Scriptureto believe Him. I accept only His Word as final authority. I now
believe that since I have confessed my sin He has forgiven and cleansed me (1 John 1:9).
I accept at full value His Word of promise to be my sufficiency and rest, and will conduct
myself accordingly (Exodus 33:1; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 9:8; Philippians 4:19).
For this day I make the decision of faith to recognize that God has made every
provision so that I may fulfill His will and calling. Therefore, I will not make any excuse for
my sin and failure (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
For this day I make the decision of faith deliberately to receive from God that

provision which He has made for me. I renounce all self-effort to live the Christian life
and to perform God's service; renounce all sinful praying which asks God to change
circumstances and people so that I may be more spiritual; renounce all drawing back
from the work of the Holy Spirit within and the call of God without; and renounce all
nonbiblical motives, goals, and activities which serve my sinful pride.

I now sincerely receive Jesus Christ as my sanctification, particularly as my

cleansing from the old nature, and ask the Holy Spirit to apply to me the work of Christ
accomplished for me in the crucifixion. In cooperation with and dependence upon Him,
I obey the command to "put off the old man" (Romans 6:1-14; 1 Corinthians 1:30;
Galatians 6:14; Ephesians 4:22).

I now sincerely receive Jesus Christ as my sanctification, particularly as my

enablement moment by moment to live above sin. I ask the Holy Spirit to apply to me
the work of the resurrection so that I may walk in newness of life. I confess that only God
can deal with my sin and only God can produce holiness and the fruit of the Spirit in my
life. In cooperation with and dependence upon Him, I obey the command to "put on the
new man" (Romans 6:1-4; Ephesians 4:24).

104

I now sincerely receive Jesus Christ as my deliverance from Satan. I take

my position with Him in the heavenlies, asking the Holy Spirit to apply to me the work
of the ascension. In His Name I submit myself to God and stand against all of Satan's
influence and subtlety. In cooperation with and dependence upon God, I obey the
command to "resist the devil" (Ephesians 1:20-23; 2:5; 4:27; 6:10-18; Colossians 1:13;
Hebrews 2:14, 15; James 4:7; 1Peter 3:22; 5:89).
I now sincerely receive the Holy Spirit as my anointing for every aspect
of life and service for today. I fully open my life to Him to fill me afresh in obedience to
the command to "be filled with the Holy Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18; John 7:37-39; 14:16,17;
15:26,27; 16:7-15; Acts 1:8). Having made this confession and these decisions of faith,
I now receive God's promised rest for this day (Hebrews 4:1-13). Therefore, I relax in the
trust of faith, knowing that in the moment of temptation, trial, or need, the Lord Himself
will be there as my strength and sufficiency (1Corinthians 10:13).

Submit yourselves, then, to God.

Resist the devil, and he will flee
from you. James 4:7

105

Another doctrinal tool

that has proved of great
benefit to me and to many
others is the "Warfare
Prayer" composed by
Dr. Matthews. As a
theologian, his unique
and thorough way of
including sound doctrine
in this prayer is most
helpful. I would urge
anyone facing obvious
spiritual warfare to use
this prayer daily. It is good
to read it aloud as a
prayer unto the Lord.
Eventually one will be
able to incorporate the
doctrinal truths expressed
into his own prayer life
without reading it.

The devil hates

this prayer.
Usually before working
with anyone who has
deep demonic affliction,
I will request that we read
this prayer in unison. Many
times the oppressed one
can read only with great
difficulty. Sometimes sight
problems, voice problems,
or mind confusion
become so intense that
the afflicted person can
continue only with great
effort. It is the truth of God
that Satan cannot resist,
and he vigorously fights it
being applied against
him. Those serious about
warfare should daily use
a prayer of this type.

106

Warfare Prayer
Heavenly Father, I bow in worship and praise before You. I cover myself with the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ as my protection during this time of prayer. I surrender myself
completely and unreservedly in every area of my life to You. I do take a stand against all
the workings of Satan that would hinder me in this time of prayer, and I address myself
only to the true and living God and refuse any involvement of Satan in my prayer.
Satan, I command you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to leave my presence with all
your demons, and I bring the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ between us. Heavenly Father,
I worship You, and I give You praise. I recognize that You are worthy to receive all glory
and honor and praise. I renew my allegiance to You and pray that the blessed Holy Spirit
would enable me in this time of prayer. I am thankful, heavenly Father, that You have
loved me from past eternity, that You sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to die as
my substitute that I would be redeemed. I am thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ came as
my representative, and that through Him You have completely forgiven me; You have
given me eternal life; You have given me the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ so I am now justified. I am thankful that in Him You have made me complete, and
that You have offered Yourself to me to be my daily help and strength.
Heavenly Father, come and open my eyes that I might see how great You are and how
complete Your provision is for this new day. I do, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
take my place with Christ in the heavenlies with all principalities and powers (powers of
darkness and wicked spirits) under my feet. I am thankful that the victory the Lord Jesus
Christ won for me on the cross and in His resurrection has been given to me and that
I am seated with the Lord Jesus Christ in the heavenlies; therefore, I declare that all
principalities and powers and all wicked spirits are subject to me in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I am thankful for the armor You have provided, and I put on the girdle
of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the sandals of peace, the helmet of salvation.
I lift up the shield of faith against all the fiery darts of the enemy, and take in my hand
the sword of the spiritthe Word of God. I use Your Word against all the forces of evil in
my life; I put on this armor and live and pray in complete dependence upon You, blessed
Holy Spirit.
I am grateful, heavenly Father, that the Lord Jesus Christ spoiled all principalities and
powers and made a show of them openly and triumphed over them in Himself. I claim
all that victory for my life today. I reject out of my life all the insinuations, the accusations,
and the temptations of Satan. I affirm that the Word of God is true, and I choose to live
today in the light of God's Word. I choose, heavenly Father, to live in obedience to You
and in fellowship with You. Open my eyes and show me the areas of my life that would
not please You. Work in my life that there be no ground to give Satan a foothold against
me. Show me any area of weakness. Show me any area of my life that I must deal with
so that I would please You. I do in every way today stand for You and the ministry of the
Holy Spirit in my life.
By faith and in dependence upon You, I put off the old man and stand in all the victory
of the crucifixion where the Lord Jesus Christ provided cleansing from the old nature.
I put on the new man and stand in all the victory of the resurrection and the provision
He has made for me there to live above sin. Therefore, in this day, I put off the old nature
with its selfishness, and put on the new nature with its love. I put off the old nature with
its fear, and put on the new nature with its courage.
I put off the old nature with its weakness, and put on the new nature with its strength.
I put off today the old nature with all its deceitful lusts. and put on the new nature with
all its righteousness and purity.

I do in every way stand in the victory of the ascension and the glorification of the Son of
God where all principalities and powers were made subject to Him, and I claim my place
in Christ victorious with Him over all the enemies of my soul. Blessed Holy Spirit, I pray
that You would fill me. Come into my life, break down every idol, and cast out every foe.
I am thankful, heavenly Father, for the expression of Your will for my daily life as You have
shown me in Your Word. I therefore claim all the will of God for today. I am thankful that
You have blessed me with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. I am
thankful that You have begotten me unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. I am thankful that You have made a provision so that today I can live filled
with the Spirit of God with love and joy and self-control in my life. And I recognize that
this is Your will for me, and I therefore reject and resist all the endeavors of Satan and of
his demons to rob me of the will of God.
I refuse in this day to believe my feelings, and I hold up the shield of faith against all the
accusations and against all the insinuations that Satan would put in my mind. I claim the
fullness of the will of God for today.
I do, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, completely surrender myself to You, heavenly
Father, as a living sacrifice. I choose not to be conformed to this world. I choose to be
transformed by the renewing of my mind, and I pray that You would show me Your will
and enable me to walk in all the fullness of the will of God today.
I am thankful, heavenly Father, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty
through You in the pulling down of strongholds; the casting down of imaginations and
every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God; and in bringing every
thought into obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, in my own life today I tear
down the strongholds of Satan, and I smash the plans of Satan that have been formed
against me. I tear down the strongholds of Satan against my mind, and I surrender my
mind to You, blessed Holy Spirit. I affirm, heavenly Father, that You have not given us the
spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. I break and smash the
strongholds of Satan formed against my emotions today, and I give my emotions to
You. I smash the strongholds of Satan formed against my will today, and I give my will
to You, choosing to make the right decisions of faith. I smash the strongholds of Satan
formed against my body today, and I give my body to You, recognizing that I am Your
temple. I rejoice in Your mercy and Your goodness.
Heavenly Father, I pray that now through this day You would quicken me; show me the
way that Satan is hindering and tempting and lying and counterfeiting and distorting the
truth in my life. Enable me to be the kind of person that would please You. Enable me to
be aggressive in prayer. Enable me to be aggressive mentally, to think Your thoughts after
You, and to give You Your rightful place in my life.
Again, I now cover myself with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and pray that You,
blessed Holy Spirit, would bring all the work of the crucifixion, all the work of the resurrection, all the work of the glorification, and all the work of Pentecost into my life today.
I surrender myself to You. I refuse to be discouraged. You are the God of all hope. You
have proven Your power by resurrecting Jesus Christ from the dead, and I claim in every
way Your victory over all satanic forces active in my life, and I reject these forces; and I
pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with thanksgiving. Amen.
Excerpt from The Adversary, Mark I. Bubeck

107

Give
Give thanks
thanks tto
ot
the
he Lord,
Lord,
call
call on
on His
His name;
na me;
make
make known
known among
among the
the nations
nations
what
what he
he has
has done.
done.
Psalm
Psalm 105:1
105:1

108
108

Re-Entry
Where God guides, He provides

"Some wish to live

within the sound of
a chapel bell; I wish to
run a rescue mission
within a yard
of hell."
C.T. Studd

Re-entry
Re-entry
So the man went
home and told all
over town how
much Jesus had
done for him.
Luke 8:39
Coming home from the
mission field opens your
eyes to the fact that your
life as you knew it is very
different from what you
have been experiencing
while on your trip.
Being aware of the
changes can help you
get through the re-entry
time and adjust back to
life in your culture.

112

You will be moving from:

Daily focusing on the spiritual to daily focusing on the practical matters.
Being daily surrounded with Christian encouragement and fellowship to deriving
your fellowship and encouragement solely from church services.
Having a specific, driven goal to perhaps having no goals at all.
Seeing devastating poverty to experiencing seemingly overwhelming wealth
and selfishness.
Being someone important and needed in the culture you were serving to not
feeling as if you are important at all.
Serving with people who share your world perspective to being with people who
may not care much for people outside their own circle.

STAGES
OF RE-ENTRY
Stage 1: FUN

Stage 4: FIT

This stage is marked

by excitement and
enthusiasm for being
home. You are happy to
be sleeping in your own
bed and eating with the
friends and family that
you missed.

This is the final stage of

re-entry. It is marked by a
desire to do what you
need to in your daily
routines balanced with a
new world perspective.
You have learned to
re-adjust to your
environment and get
back into the way that
your life works here at
homebut with a better
view of how life works
outside your home.

Stage 2: FLIGHT
This stage is marked by
constant daydreaming
and desires to be back in
the foreign culture. Your
mind wanders back to
the things that happened
on your trip, and you
remember how incredible
it was to be there.

Stage 3: FIGHT
This stage is marked with
low points and frustration.
If you are in the fight
stage, you dont want to
be home anymore. You
feel like no one understands; you want to try
and alienate yourself from
your friends and family.

113
113

THE RE-ENTRY PROCESS

5 WEEKS
OF DEVOTIONS
FOR YOUR
RETURN HOME
beginning
on page 108
you will find...

Week 1

What am I doing HERE?

(where am I?)

Week 2

How do I absorb what I

have experienced?
(gaining perspective...)

Week 3

How do I turn my
emotion into practical
action?
(taking the next step)

Week 4

As you return from your trip, you will begin to experience many different feelings.
The following suggestions are provided to assist in your re-adjustments.
Debrief during and after the trip.
Post trip de-briefings are mandatory.
Identify your areas of growth.
Build rest into your schedule.
Be prepared for grief.
You will miss the people and experiences. You may tend to be judgmental about
the American culture and materialism. It is not up to us to determine other
peoples convictions. Pray and make practical changes in your own lifestyle.
Remember as you share with your family and friends that they have had different
life experiences while you were away. They may not be as excited as you expect
them to be. Be patient as you share with them. Prepare for the innumerable times
you will be asked,So, how was your trip? by thinking of specific stories or
examples to share.
Remember to thank the people who made it possible for you to go on your trip.
Send follow-up letters to let them know everything that God did on the trip and
how their support made a difference in your life and in the lives of those you were
able to reach.
Be cautious in reporting negative elements of the trip.
Review your journal from time to time to continue processing the growth that
began on the trip.

How do I continue the

experience long after
its over?
(who is God and how can I
relate to Him?)

Be excited that you spent time making a difference in the lives of others.
Be confident that you are able to personally deliver Gods never-ending hope and
love to others.

Week 5

Give the Lord all the praise.

Praise Him for your home and birth place, and receive all that He has blessed you
with and understand that with the blessing comes HUGE responsibilities to the
Kingdom!

How do I infect others

with what I have caught?
(continuing in His
presence)

Be confident in Jesus who made it all possible.

But the plans of

the Lord stand
firm forever, the
purposes of His
heart through all
generations.
Psalm 33:11

114

Introduction

When I applied my mind to know

wisdom and to observe man's labor on
earthhis eyes not seeing sleep day or
nightthen I saw all that God has
done. No one can comprehend what goes
on under the sun. Despite all his efforts
to search it out, man cannot discover
its meaning. Even if a wise man
claims he knows, he cannot really
comprehend it.
Ecclesiastes 8:16-17
Now that youre back and have unloaded your bags from
your mission trip, let me share with you that youre still
carrying other baggage a whole range of emotions and
experiences from your trip. Soon, youll start to unpack
those bags, too, as you think about how you can re-enter
your life without losing your heart and how you can
regain your balance without losing your momentum.
You may soon ask yourself,Who will take care of what we
started?You may even feel that you should do a 180 and
grab the next plane back.
Join me in unpacking those other bags. Lets take some
time together to let the experience soak in, to bring it into
our lives in a lasting and meaningful way, and to make it
a springboard for continuing the work that you began
on your trip. As we get started, just remember that time
takes time. All things get revealed over the course of
Gods timing. You can have ultimate confidence that God
has a lasting purpose in all that you have experienced,
but it may not be what you initially think after returning
from your mission trip. Dont try to rush Gods timing.

And we know that in all things God

works for the good of those who love
Him, who have been called according
to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
Grab your Bible and a pen and lets spend time together.
Notice there are two devotions in your first week back
and also two on your fourth week. Read these on the days
that are indicated.

Lets start in prayer:

Oh, Father, You have brought us through a journey that
has changed our lives. We are so in awe of how close we
have come to You, how it was as though we almost
touched You, and how we have been changed because
You touched us. We are so humbled by the miracles we
have observed, the people we have grown so amazingly
close to, and the intensity of our trip. You have brought
us home safely. But somehow, we knew that even as we
traveled we were always home, safely in Your arms,
defended and protected by Your angels, and gifted with
the ability to see through new eyes. Now that were home,
we want to be the people that You have crafted during
our trip. We long to become the vessels that You have
continued to form with our lives. We are anxious to yield
to the Masters hands as you continue the work You have
begun in us. Help us to see Your ways during the next
several weeks and inspire in us what You would have us
do. We praise You and thank You in the name of Your
precious son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

115

Week 1. What am I doing HERE?

1st day home: Where am I?

"Come to Me, all you who are weary and

burdened, and I will give you rest. Take
My yoke upon you and learn from Me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart, and
you will find rest for your souls. For My
yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Matthew 11:28-30
Its your first week home. Where are you? How did you get
here? Last night you were dreaming that you were still on
your mission trip and now you wake up and dont recognize this place. Is this home? What is home anyway? What
did you ever see in this place? It seems so unimportant
that you think youll just go back to sleep and return to
your mission trip
But now you remember. God saw you safely through the
trip and safely back home where your family and friends
were waiting for you. And you have work to do here.
What were you doing before you left? You almost dont
remember. You catch yourself telling anyone around you,
Did I tell you the story about? You cant believe
what!You feel as though part of you is still on your trip
and part of you is at home. Maybe you were one of those
who asked,Why am I here? I really want to go back. I
want to turn around and catch another plane. Or maybe
youre tired. In fact, youre weary. You have been wearied
by what you have seen and what you have done. In any
case, Solomon advised in Ecclesiastes

There is a time for everything, and a

season for every activity under heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
This is a time for rest and renewal. Rest comes in the Lord
as you give yourself permission to be home and to just
accept things as they are. On your trip, you learned not to
judge anything by your own experience, but instead to be
an observer and to respect the culture you were visiting.
Now that youre home, you need to do the same thing in
reverse. Accept things as they are without judging them
against your recent mission experience. God created
everything; He has made everything for a reason, and
put everything in your life just where it is for His purpose.
Dont try to figure it out. Rest.

Be still, and know that I am God; I will

be exalted among the nations, I will be
exalted in the earth.
Psalm 46:10
Quiet your mind; move slowly and calmly. You have much
to absorb. Be still so that God can teach you and renew
you. It takes time to readjust and it takes time to regain
your strength. Gods Word says that its normal to be tired,
even when you dont recognize it.

Even very young men get tired and

become weak, and strong young men
trip and fall. But they who wait upon
the Lord will get new strength. They
will rise up with wings like eagles.
They will run and not get tired. They
will walk and not become weak.
Isaiah 40:30-31
Give into it and let God renew your strength. Write down
your thoughts about how you feel. Do you feel tired or
energized? Do you feel calm or anxious? Why? What
would you rather do than rest? How will you rest and let
God renew your strength?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________

116

2nd day
2nd
day home:
home:
Inthe
In
the night.
night.
Tonight before you slip
into the bed that you
left so far behind to go
on your mission trip,
go outside for a few
minutes and thank
God for the wonder of
the night. Is there a
freshness in your faith?
Do you feel changed by
the experiences that
you had on your trip?
Has God used this
experience to reshape
you and transform you
into a person closer to
His heart? Consider the
majesty of the heavens.
At night when the light
of the day is erased
from the sky, you can see the glory of His creation.
Right where you are. If its a clear night and you can see
the stars, go outside and look up at the sky. If its raining
or cloudy, imagine a clear, starlit sky sprinkled with the
sparkling diamonds of millions of stars. Then read
these scriptures:

WhenII consider
When
consider Your
Your heavens,
heavens, the
the
work
work of
of Your
Your fingers,
fingers, the
themoon
moon and
and the
the
stars,
stars, which
which You
You have
have set
set in
in pplace,
lace,what
what
is
is man
man that
that You
You are
aremindful
mindful of
of him,
him,
the
the son
son of
ofman
man that
that You
You ccare
are for
for him?
him?

What is the night sky telling you about God? As you look
at the night sky, or imagine its beauty in your mind, do
you remember a night on your trip when you looked to
the sky and were almost overwhelmed by the work of
Gods hands? What do you remember about that? Now
that youre back, Gods work in the world and in your life
has not stopped. It is continuing just as it always has. The
universe displays the timelessness of Gods creation.
Everything in the universe is moving to Gods timing,
keeping time to an eternal clock that He alone has
designed. And so are you. Remember that God has
created a perfect balance of night and morning so that
there would be rest and renewal. Write down a prayer of
thanks to God for His gift to you of this night.

Psalm 8:3-4
Psalm
8:3-4

The
heavens decla
re t
he g
lory oof
f
T
he heavens
declare
the
glory
God;the
theskies
skies pr
oclaim the
work oof
f
God;
proclaim
the work
His
hands.Day
Day after
day they
they pour
pour
His hands.
after day
f
orth speech;
speech;night
nightafter
night they
they
forth
after night
display knowledge.
knowledge.T
Th
ere i
no
display
here
iss no
speech or
speech
orlanguage
languagewhere
wheretheir
theirvoice
voice
Psalm 19:1-3
19:1-3
is not
not heard.
heard. Psalm
is

117
117

Week 2. How do I absorb what I have experienced?

Gaining
Ga
ining Pe
Perspective
rspective

My
changed within
within me;
me;a
ll
Myheart
heart is
is changed
all
my
ion iis
sa
roused.

my compass
compassion
aroused.
Hosea
8b
Hosea 8b

How do you begin to put all of the pieces togetherwhat

do you do with what you have seen and done on your
trip? How does it all go together with the life that you
have returned to? Why do you feel so different?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________

W isdom is
Wisdom
is supremeso
supremeso get
get wisdom.
wisdom.
And
And whatever
whateverelse
else you
you get
get,,get
get
understanding.
understanding.

Proverbs
Pr
overbs 4:7
4:7

Understand that God has gifted you with an experience

that is meant to propel you forward. So the question is
this: how do you use this experience to move forward?
Take some time to reflect on your trip. Then take a few
minutes and jot down your thoughts. What was the most
significant experience of your trip?
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
__________________________________________
___________________________________________
____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________

118
118

In

In his
his heart
heartaaman
man plans
plans his
his course,
course,
but the
Lord d
etermines his
.
but
the Lord
determines
his steps
steps.
Proverbs 16:9
Proverbs
16:9

Why do you think God might have wanted you to have

that experience? Write down two ways that you can
use that experience now that you have returned home.
What experience on your trip puzzled you or left you
wondering why it happened?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________

In Proverbs were instructed that:

Many
Manyare
arethe
theplans
plans in
in a
a man's
man's heart,
heart,
b
ut iit
ti
the LORD's
LORD's purpos
that pr
evails.
but
iss the
purposee that
prevails.
Proverbs 19:21
Proverbs
19:21

What purpose do you think God might have had in

allowing that puzzling experience during your trip?
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________

119
119

Week 3. How do I turn my emotion into

practical action?
Taking the Next Step
God is so great. He created us, loved us before we were
born, made us unique, and didnt want us to ever be apart
from Him, so He gave us prayer.

What experiences did you have that made it clear to you

that you were on your trip to do Gods work and that He
was definitely using you for a purpose?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________

Im sitting here drinking a cup of coffee the morning after

a day of prayer and fasting for the people we visited in
Africa. I wanted Peanut M&Ms really bad about 4 pm yesterday, but every time I thought about eating, I thought
about why I felt hungry. It was intentional. I was doing this
on purpose. I had the choice. It was just a decision that I
made that I could change if I wanted. And that caused me
to think about the two men among the people we visited
who decided to build a church.
These men made a choice. It was their decision. They had
decided to follow the God who gave them hope, who had
sent His son to die for them, who had made the ultimate
sacrifice already for them. Their choice was to follow Him
and to obey His ways and to teach their families to do so.
Because of their choice, one of them had already experienced years of isolation. No one would hire him; he had
been within one day of graduation from college and his
future was yanked out from under him. He was a bright
mind made to shuffle around on the streets for 17 years
as a peasant begging for money until a missionary saw
him and got him a job as a night watchman at a church.
The other man was thrown into jail for being a Christian.
He accepted Christ while helping that same missionary
translate the Bible into his language. He wanted to start a
church in his village for 13 years, but no one would help.
Every church he approached for encouragement told him
he should just go to their church in town and read the
Bible in their language. He told me how he became a
Christian and why he is willing to be the pastor of a new
church in his village.I translated the missionarys Bible for
12 years and now I have it. Its in my heart. Gods Word
became part of who he is. His life was changed. And now
that there are newly printed Bibles in his own language,
he wants to build a church in his village for his people. He
is one of only three known Christians among the 40,000
of his people in this country.
Can you hear it? Its the irrepressible cry of the heart set
free. Theyre crying out to worship and others are dying
without Christ.

120

_______________________________________________

What have you started and who will keep doing it?
What are some practical steps that you can take?
(Remember, I said practical here, which in most cases
does not mean selling all of your belongings and moving
to China.)
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________

Commit to the LORD whatever you do,

and your plans will succeed.
Proverbs 16:3

Consider prayer and fasting as a step of worship and

entreaty to God on behalf of the people you left.
Remember, only God can truly take care of them. You can
take a day to fastgo without something that you really
like and count on every day. For some people, that means
going without food and having only water or fruit juice
during the entire day. For others who are medically unable
to do that, it means giving up coffee or sweets or soft
drinks. In every case, fasting means to make a personal
sacrificethe more significant, the more meaningful it
will be to you. And then, during your day of fasting, every
time you want what you have voluntarily given up for that
day, pray to God for the people and the area you visited.
Ask Gods blessing and ask for His inspiration in your life
to help you think of other ways to further His cause there.
Pray as specifically as you can, and journal your thoughts
so that Gods inspiration during your time of fasting can
be recorded for you to read later.
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________

"Let
my heart
be broken
with the
things
that break
God's
heart"
Bob Pierce,
World Vision
founder

121

youre home, listen. Do you hear it?

Its the sound of the world waking
up. It may be cars and planes and
people, but listen. Do you hear it?
Theres something else.
One of our dear friends from
Missouri likes to say,of a morning to
describe what is happening during
those hours when the day is waking
up. Give yourself permission to be of
a morning, to let the day wake up
and unfold and fill you with the
wonder of what God has in store for
you todayright where you are.

Week 4. How do I continue

the experience long after its over?
Monday: In the morning

Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider

my meditation. Hearken unto the voice
of my cry, my King, and my God:
for unto Thee will I pray. My voice shalt
Thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in
the morning will I direct my prayer
unto Thee, and will look up.
Psalm 5:1-3
Theres something so soothing about the morning. Did you
experience one of those quiet mornings on your trip,
where the sun was slow in waking and every other part of
nature was in place when the sun finally rose in the sky?
Today as you wake up at home and look around at the
world that you have returned to, theres a morning waiting
for you. Its the birth of a new day, the beginning of another
chapter in Gods plan for your life. Now that youre home,
keep the beauty of your trip with you. Take time this
morning to see what you rarely look at; to hear what you
dont often listen to; to feel what you usually give no time
to. Can you feel it? Its the morning.
When you were on your trip, you heard things more clearly.
The birds sounded different. The wind felt different. Even
the sun brought a new touch to your skin. And now that

122

As the morning continues, let your

experiences gently wash over you.
What were you doing last week at
this very time? Were you somewhere far away, being of a
morning? Remember that in the stillness, in the quiet
place, God is waiting for you. He cant break through the
noise and clatter of what we put in our minds. But He is
there, waiting, and He will meet you to spend time with
you of a morning. Right where you are.

You will look for Me and find Me when

you look for Me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13
When you listen really closely this morning, what are you
hearing that God wants you to hear? Why do you think
God wants you to hear that particular sound? Describe one
morning from your trip when you really felt Gods presence
around you. What happened? What can you do every
morning to be still and listen for God? What habit could
you start that would let you hear His voice in your life?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________

Wednesday: Who is God and how can I relate to Him?

Just a prayer to my God. Driving to work this morning,
trying to pray, but all that comes out are just routine words,
like my brain is on automatic and my mouth has no power

to override it. And suddenly the thoughts flood my brain:

Should I be praying to God on auto-pilot? Just who is God?
Is He just someone who is bigger than I? Is He someone to
whom I put my knee to the ground simply because He is
in a position of authority? Is this something that just gets
done without thinking, because that's the way it is,
because it's the routine, because I'm supposed to?
And why am I allowed to pray in the first place? Who is
this God that I pray to? This is not just a powerful person.
And He is not just more powerful than me. He is God. How
can I fathom that? God, who knows everything, is more
powerful than anything, is perfect, and is capable of being
everywhere at oncehow can I even imagine that?
He is so powerful that He created all that is. He created
the vastness of the universe with its mysteries that man
will never unlock, its unreachable emptiness that we will
never travel as humans, its uncountable immensity of
planets, stars, galaxies. He planned that this particular
planet would orbit this particular sun, and that both would
have such a balanced combination of elements and other
physical attributes that this would be a wonderful world
for human life. He designed and built the earth knowing
that erosion would create the grandeur of the Grand
Canyon. He created humans that we might have senses to
experience the wonder of His creation. And He planned
the tiniest detail, like the intricate workings of even the
mosquitoall fearfully and wonderfully made. All from
a plan of infinite design.
How can I approach this God whose power is so great that
I am not even a molecule of air in the breath of a whisper?
How can I boldly kneel at His throne without fearing His
awesome power and might? How can I so casually mouth
a mechanical prayer to Him that took no thought and was
more an act of routine than respect?

And so I kneel at His throne. Stunned. Unable to speak. No

mechanical words to automatically pull out of well-worn
envelopes and lay routinely at His feet. Just a prayer to my
God. Thank You, Father.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is

Your name in all the earth! You have set
Your glory above the heavens. From the
lips of children and infants You have
ordained praise because of Your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger. When
I consider Your heavens, the work of
Your fingers, the moon and the stars,
which You have set in place, what is
man that You are mindful of him, the
son of man that You care for him?
You made him a little lower than the
heavenly beings and crowned him with
glory and honor. You made him ruler
over the works of Your hands; You put
everything under his feet: all flocks
and herds, and the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the
sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is
Your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8

Pretty deep thoughts for a morning commute among

thousands of other drivers all vying to win the coveted
pole position at the next intersection. But suddenly the
answer to my questions caused everything around me
to stand still.
How can I approach Him? It is only because the God who
created the universe and all things also created
what humans would readily see is the ultimate sacrifice:
the life of His Son to pay for our lineage of sin. God, who is
all-powerful and all-knowing, loved usthis one little part
of creationso much, that He did this. And nothing, not
the roar of mighty oceans, the blast of volcanic eruptions,
or the cosmic explosion of a super nova, can take away
that immense love that He has for us.

123

Week 5. How do I infect others with what

I have caught?
Continuing IIn
n HHis
is Pr
esence
Continuing
Presence

Day after
Day
after day,
day,in
inthe
thetemple
temple courts
courts
and from
and
fromhouse
houseto
to house,
house,they
they never
never
s
stopped
topped teaching
teaching and
and pr
proclaiming
oclaiming tthe
he
Good
GoodNews
News
that
thatJesus
Jesusisisthe
theChrist.
Christ.
Acts 5:42
Acts
5:42

How has your life returned to the way it was before you
left on your trip? Have you found yourself going through
the motions, not thinking or being intimately involved in
prayer? What can you do with the people you traveled
with to revisit the emotion and incredible experiences
from your trip?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
If you have shared your experiences with your prayer
support team or others in your circle of friends and family,
what was that like? What were their reactions? What
questions did they ask?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________

124
124

IIthank

thank my
my God
Godevery
every time
time IIremember
remember
you.
you. In
In all
all my
my prayers
prayers for
for all
allof
ofyou,
you,
IIalways
alwayspray
pray with
with joy
joy because
because of
of your
your
partnership
partnership in
in the
the Gospel
Gospel ffrom
rom the
thefirst
first
day
day until
until now,
now,being
being confident
confident oof
f tthis,
his,
that
that He
He who
who began
began a
a good
good work
work in
in you
you
will
will c
carry
arry it
it on
on to
tocompletion
completion until
until the
the
day
day of
of Christ
ChristJesus.
Jesus.
Philippians 1:3-6
Philippians
1:3-6

By now you are fully back, fully into your life again, and
fully into all of the activities, plans, and schedules that
have rushed back in to fill up your life. The stories you so
readily told have stopped pouring forth. You dont find
yourself frequently mentioning something that happened
or that someone said. In fact, there may be a few people in
your life now that dont know you went on a mission trip.
And yet, you are changed. What happened on the trip
didnt stay on the trip; it came home with you and your
life will never be the same.

What can you do to further the work you started during

your trip? Did it end when you got on the return flight?
Did you leave someone at the airport or in the last town,
waiting, hoping that you werent another fleeting hope?
Or has your heart made a commitment to continue? To do
what you can with what you have to make a difference?
And to get others to do the same?
_______________________________________________

If your small group was part of your experiencethey

sent you, this was a small group trip, or they supported
youwhat could your group do to keep things going?
Lets talk about a few ways that small groups and others
in your circle of supporters can get involved. If your travel
team has not already met to go through this section, call
them and ask them to meet. Go through this exercise
as a team. If you were the only one traveling, do this on
your own.

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

Many people return from their mission trip with a lot of

enthusiasm to keep doing what they did on the trip, but
over time they simply slip back into doing what they used
to donothing. God let you have this experience to use
it for His glory and His purpose. He has invested in you.
Now you get to return that investment.

_______________________________________________
First, pray for Gods guidance and direction, for His
strength and persistence, and for your own faithfulness
and obedience. Then, get out your paper and pen and
complete the goals on the following page.

The good news is, most of the people who had something
to do with your missions experience were tremendously
affected by their involvement with you and they would
love to do more. They just need someone to set them off
in the right direction and to keep things moving. The
greatest thing you can do now is not to talk about what
happened, but to keep it going. But heres a radical
thoughteveryone is waiting for you! So, lets spend
some time together to see what you should do now.
First, write down the names of the people who went with
you on your mission trip. Then, write down the names of
all of the people who supported you, either in prayer or in
other ways, as you went on your trip. Now, imagine just
one thing that you can do to continue the work that you
did when you were on your trip. How could you involve
your fellow travelers and the people who supported you?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________

You can give without loving. but

you cannot love without giving."
Amy Carmichael,
missionary to India

125

Conclusion

Whom have I in heaven but You? And

earth has nothing I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but
God is the strength of my heart and
my portion forever.
Psalm 73:25-26

Short-term:
1. What commitments did you make to people during
your trip? (List them)
2. Cross off any of these commitments that you have
already met.
3. Which commitments are left and who could be
blessed by helping you meet them?
4. List each one and put a name next to it. Then describe
the commitment to each person listed and ask them
to help you meet it.
5. Discuss with them a date that is mutually agreeable
for the commitment to be met.
6. Put dates on your own calendar for the commitments
you will take, and make sure the rest of the people
who are helping do the same with their calendars.
7. Ask one person to be responsible for holding you
or the team accountable.

Long-term:
1. What are the most obvious ongoing needs of the
work you began during your trip?
2. Which of those ongoing needs would you like God to
meet in one year?
3. What steps need to be taken in order to meet those
needs and who could be blessed by helping you
take them?
4. List each step and put names next to them. Then
describe the step to each person listed and ask them
to help you. Some steps may require several people
and you may need to ask one person to be in charge
of the people doing the work.
5. Discuss with them a date that is mutually agreeable
for each step to be completed.
6. Put dates on your own calendar for the steps that
you will take, and make sure that the rest of the
people who are helping do the same.
7. Ask one person to be responsible for holding
you or the team accountable.

126

I press on toward the goal to win

the prize for which God has called me
heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14
We have gone on a journey together. It has been a time
of reflection and refreshmenta time for re-entry into the
world we left so long ago to go on a mission trip. During
our last week together, we had a time of recommitment.
May I tell you how honored God must be at your
faithfulness? You didnt just do the trip, youre living the
life. It has been a privilege to go through this time with
you and to know that you have made your experience a
new and important part of your ongoing life.
Gods word helps us to understand that no matter what
we face, He is with us. And, no matter what happens in our
daily lives, the destination is worth it.
Thank you for continuing the work that God began in you
during your trip. Thank you for pressing on toward the
goal. And thank you for bringing others with you on this
journey so that they also can be blessed by the experience
of being used by God in missions.

Can we pray together?

Lord, we are on our knees before You with thanks for
Your plan that includes our lives. As Paul told the church
in Corinth, now we see as through a glass, darkly, but
someday we will see You clearly as we stand face-to-face
in Your presence. Thank You for letting us see You through
the work You are allowing us to do. Thank You for seeing
in us the people who could be used for Your glory. Thank
You for the prize for which we work and for which we are
called heavenward. May we be faithful to the work and
may Your name be honored by what You have us do.
In the name of Your Son Jesus we ask these things. Amen.

Missions Manual
To Know Him and To Make Him Known