“But as I continued to pray, God helped me see that my whole perspective was skewed. He then tweaked my prayers and massaged them and refined them – and then He answered. It’s as if He then was telling me, “That’s the prayer I want you to pray.”
david jeremiah, the prayer matrix, p. 18.
Daily Devotionals: Ascent’s Mission – Loving God, Loving People and Impacting Our World. Each day’s devotional will guide us through a scriptural thought based on the mission God has called us to follow.
We spent the last two weeks focusing on the first part of our mission, Loving God and Loving People. We turn this week to the final part of our mission: Impacting Our World.
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Engage the Word: Impacting Our World
This week is Holy Week and we reflect on Jesus’ journey to the cross on Friday, culminating in His resurrection on Easter Sunday. This week includes the most monumental events in the history of our faith, and the crux of the Gospel, the “good news” that has impacted our world for 2000 years. In our daily devotionals, we turn now to the final part of Ascent’s mission: Impacting Our World. Today, we consider some of Jesus’ words to His disciples immediately following His resurrection.
Read John 20:19-21
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
Connect the Heart
After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples in John 20:21 and said to them “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” Jesus sent His disciples into the world to make more disciples, build His Church and make His name great.
That’s where you and I enter God’s greater story. We, too, are sent into the world to make disciples in the same way God sent Jesus and Jesus sent His disciples (and sent His Holy Spirit to empower us).
God is a sending God. That has never changed.
We can see this by looking all the way back to Genesis 12, when God called Abram (later named Abraham) and blessed him – to “be a blessing” – that in him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Then, He sent him to Canaan – the Promised Land for God’s people. From this land, and out of this people would come the Promised One, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Each of us are called – based on Jesus’ Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 – to identify as a missionary and embody the gospel wherever we are. To “go into all the world and make disciples.” The word missionary actually means “sent one.” That’s you. That’s me. That’s God’s mission – sending us. Into our families, our neighborhoods, our communities, our cities…
Sending us out to bring the gospel message of eternal hope in Christ (“good news”) to a lost and dying world.
Reflect on the Truth
- God sent Abram… He sent Jesus… He sent the disciples… He has sent each of us. To where or to whom have you been “sent?”
- Impacting our world translates into each of us living out our “sentness” where God has placed us. As you reflect on John 20:21, ask the Lord to show you what this means for His gospel plans for you.
Depend on the Spirit
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see the deeper longings, desires or motives in your heart that these thoughts are pointing to. (For example: you may write down, “Lord, I’m not so sure about this ‘sentness’ idea – I’m struggling just to make it through each day. But I’m willing and have a deep desire to live out the gospel where I’m able to.”) The Lord can help us discern the path forward – through His word, His Spirit, His people.
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For Prayer
As you conclude your devotional time, pray for those in our Monument and N. Colorado Springs community who are spiritually lost and without hope. Pray that Ascent Church would be an oasis of gospel hope in Christ for those who need it. And pray that each of us would live out our “sentness” where we live, work, learn and play.
Fasting
Please read the first blog post entitled “Why Fast?” This explains what fasting is and why we follow Jesus in this spiritual discipline as, together, we seek the heart of God.
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Some parts of our 21 Days devotionals are adapted using various resources on scripture and prayer like The Bible Exposition Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, The New Bible Commentary, Logos Bible Software and other resources.
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