Friday, August 8, 2008

Joining God on Mission

Presence ~ Perspective ~ Purposes

Our God is a God who is on a mission. He is constantly in pursuit of humanity. He is drawing all men and women unto Himself for the purpose of a love relationship with Him. This is not His mission alone to carry out. We who have been captured by this love are called to join Him in making His love known to the world around us.

At The Journey, the third step of the discipleship making process is living out God's purposes. Once you are seeking His Presence and walking with Him, it will begin to change your Perspective of people and the world around you, you will see the world as God sees it. When we have His view of the world, it will cause us to join Him in accomplishing His Purposes to the world.

This step will happen in two environments (in no order): first, you will begin to serve His church and find a way to join the mission of the church. The church is God's redemptive agent on this earth and the only entity that Jesus ever promoted. Second, you will begin live God's purpose in your every day lives. Whether it be at work, with your neighbors, school, or your kids sports team, The natural result of seeing the world through God's eyes is that you join Him in accomplishing His purposes.

These are the three steps of discipleship that we are striving for each person to take at The Journey: Presence, Perspective, and Purposes. There is not an ending point in this process. Once you are living your life for God's purposes and have joined Him on mission, it will naturally springboard you back into His presence. The more sold out to His purposes, the more you will seek His presence...you can't sustain without it. The process is cyclical. If a step is skipped, it will be noticeable. Someone who is trying to go from presence to purposes without first gaining His perspective of people will quickly burnout in ministry. They will get frustrated at people and soon forget why they are serving to begin with. Each step is critical.

Where are you on the discipleship process? Perhaps you have made the circle, maybe several trips around, but can you identify where you need the most work right now? If you are having trouble seeing people through God's eyes, go back and seek His presence. If you find yourself hesitating to join His purposes in your life, go back to seeking His perspective of the world around you. Our objective at the Journey is to form disciples of Jesus with these three steps in mind.

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