Thoughts for Life: #19 The Real Battle

C. Peter Wagner tells us "The basic
lesson Alberto Prokopchuk learned
was that the real battle for effective
evangelism is a spiritual battle.

He learned it in his way: others of us
are learning it in our own way.

The Church Growth Movement, which I represent, has been blessed by God and has been used to stimulate fundamental changes both in local church ministry and in world evangelization.

The movement began in 1955, and for the first 25 years or so under the inspiration of its founder, Donald McGavran, worked on developing the radical new technological aspects of church growth and evangelism, which have been so widely acclaimed.

Around 1980, a few of us started to explore what some of the spiritual dimensions of church growth might look like.

This is not to say that any of the technology is now regarded as bad or that the spiritual will substitute for the technological.

No. The technological has been extremely helpful to churches and missions and we continue to work vigorously to improve and update it.

What we have discovered, however, is that all the evangelistic technology in the world will have only a minimal effect unless the spiritual battle is won. It is like a brand new automobile with all the latest engineering.

It may be beautiful and perfectly constructed, but it will do nothing until gasoline is pumped into the tank. The same thing applies to spiritual power in evangelism and church growth.

To illustrate, look at the decade of the 1980s in America. This was a decade of the mushrooming of some of the largest churches the nation has ever seen.

Almost every metropolitan area now has one or more megachurches it did not have previously.

Church growth seminars and evangelistic resources have multiplied. Private Christian schools and the Christian use of the media increased dramatically.

On the surface it looked like Christianity was making great progress in the nation.

But statistics paint another picture. At the end of the decade church attendance was the same as at the beginning, and Protestant church membership had decreased.

I believe God wants us to do a better job of evangelizing our nation in the years to come. And we will do it, in my opinion, to the degree we understand that the real battle is spiritual.

Warfare Prayer

#19 The Real Battle
By C. Peter Wagner

(pgs. 37-38) Regal Books

Prayer for your pastor: "Preaching. Anoint my pastor with the truth. As ___________preaches, may he/she proclaim Jesus Christ in the energy of the Holy spirit. Let people be cut to the heart and accept Christ. Confirm ____________'s message with signs and wonders. Heal the sick, and set the oppressed free (Mat. 16:17; Col. 1:28; Acts 2:37; Mk. 16:20)". (Scripture-Based Prayers to Pray for your Pastor by Terry Teykl)

Pray with me:

Father, I believe too, that You want
us to do a better job of evangelizing our
own churches.

I understand that the technological advancements are to be used to further the Kingdom, but please help us not to be guilty of
substituting the technological for the spiritual.

May we remember that all the evangelistic technology in the world will have only a minimal effect unless the spiritual battle is won.

Therefore, I ask for You to divinely lead our ministers and leaders to seek what it is You desire for us.

In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Today’s Bible verse: Is. 38:19 "The living, the living he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth."

Today’s quote: T. D. Jakes - "Christ wants to go from being around you, to being in you!"

Some thoughts today: If you need to receive for your needs, begin sowing into someone else's need.

- You'll never find your life until you take up your cross that God has given you.

- What are you willing to do? Will you show the love of God to others because of the love He has given you?

27th- Thursday’s post: #20 Learning About the Battle
C. Peter Wagner

29th- Saturday's post: Our Friends
Jean Oathout

30th- Sunday evening's post: One Who Understands
Dave Roper

12/2nd- Tuesday's post: #21 The Threefold Cord
C. Peter Wagner

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