VF: 9 The Resources of Visionary Faith I

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Chapter 9 The Resources of Visionary Faith

All from God

Table of Topics

Our Prayer
God With Us

C) God’s Protection

D) God’s Provision

E) God’s Power

Extras & Endnotes

Primary Points

A visionary faith capable of glorifying God will be beyond our abilities and will require divine involvement and intervention.
“I am with you always” is the special, all-encompassing promise God gives to anyone attempting to serve Him.
Five vital things that we need from God in our visionary faith: protection, provision, power, opportunity, and people.
Difficult personal trials in our lives, or others we are responsible for, can hinder us and we must be asking God to protect us.
Even God’s work requires money on this Earth, making His promises to supply such needs so valuable.
God is not going to accomplish our visionary faith apart from us, or merely by working around us, but by working through us.
All of the supernatural power and strength we need to accomplish our visionary faith comes from the Spirit of God. Foremost it will require “the fruit of the Spirit.”
The Apostle credits his supernatural endurance to work hard to the grace-power of God.
Paul’s spiritual gifts gave him his specific passions for ministry, the power to pursue those passions.

Our Prayer

In addition to a divine expectation to create something God-glorifying with our life, we have a divine invitation (even command) to “ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15:7). Of course there are conditions on this amazing promise, particularly that it be within God’s will. But do not ignore the incredible opportunity that the Ruler and Creator of the Universe grants us in prayer- “ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15:7). Think about how different your life can be by tapping into the potential of God’s miraculous intervention.

Any visionary faith that is worthy of glorifying God must be prayed for. It is a reminder of the need for prayer with which the Apostle begins his exhortation to the Thessalonians regarding visionary faith:

Because of the return of Christ, we always pray that God will think you have lived up to His commanding invitation to experience your special privilege and responsibility as a Christian. We pray that through His power you will accomplish any passionate resolve to do good, and every action prompted your faith. Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of you, and you will be honored along with Him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thess 1:11-12)

Our burden and even desperation to see our visionary faith fulfilled is the fuel of prayer. And prayer is the stimulus for the divine intervention we need to accomplish our visionary faith. If we are not praying for it, we do not want it badly enough. If we are not praying for it, we have far too much confidence in ourselves. If we are not praying for our visionary faith it is perhaps because it is not challenging enough. Take full advantage of the invitation to prayer that God gives us. “You do not have, because you do not ask God” (Jms 4:2).

B) God With Us

Our text says: We pray that through His power you will accomplish any passionate resolve to do good, and every action prompted your faith” (2 Thess 1:11). The Apostle implies here that in order to “accomplish” our visionary faith God’s “power” will be necessary. Obviously, a visionary faith capable of glorifying God will be considerably beyond our abilities and will require divine involvement and intervention. This is precisely why the Apostle began his exhortation to visionary faith with, “we always pray” We need people praying for us because we will need God supernaturally working with, for, in, and around us and others.

Thank God then for His wonderful promise to all of those with a visionary faith that involves some aspect of Christ’s Great Commission. Jesus said:

“All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make followers of Me in all the nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.” (Matt 28:18-20)

“I am with you always.” Of course, this is a general promise for all believers (cf. John 14:18-23). Accordingly, several NT documents end with something like: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor 13:14; cf. Gal 6:18; 1 Thess 5:28; Rev 22:21). This is simply another way of describing God being with us. But in the Great Commission, there is a specific promise to those who are pursuing the supernatural task of making and teaching followers of Jesus Christ. God will be with them in a special way, helping them in this task.

“I am with you always.” This is the same promise He gave His servants Joshua (Josh 1:5), Isaac (Gen 26:3), Jacob (Gen 31:3), Joseph (Gen 48:21; 39:2-3, 21), Moses (Exod 3:12), and Paul (Act 18:10; 2 Tim 4:17-18). It seems to be the special promise God gives to anyone attempting to serve Him.

“I am with you always.” He does not tell us specifically how or what He means. But it is the all-inclusive nature of the promise that makes it so wonderful. He will simply be “with” us, and that reminds one of the proverbial blank check. He will be with us to provide whatever we need in order to fulfill the part of the Great Commission we are pursuing. It means God will help us do what we cannot do.

There are at least five vital things that we need from God in order to accomplish our visionary faith: protection, provision, power, opportunity, and people.

C) God’s Protection

There are a myriad of things that can prohibit us from pursuing, let alone accomplishing our visionary faith. Serious illness or extraordinary needs in our family are examples. It is difficult, if not impossible, to serve God much if we are not physically healthy. And while we have a responsibility in this area, we also need God to protect us from ailments that will keep us from accomplishing what we want to do for Him.

Difficult personal trials in our lives, or the lives of those we are responsible for, can also be a hindrance to the work we want to do for God. We must be asking God to protect and bless them as well so that we have the freedom to serve God beyond our responsibility to our family and others.

We also need protection from evil people that would hinder God’s work. Paul writes: “Alexander the metalworker harmed me a lot” (2 Tim 4:14). And satan will surely raise up servants of his own to oppose us. In some countries, such opposition can include imprisonment and even death. Nonetheless, in Paul’s case, God did not allow the harm caused by “Alexander” to thwart the Apostle’s work, as he writes: “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the Gospel would be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it” (v. 17). His mission was accomplished in spite of “Alexander.” And we can trust that our visionary faith will be accomplished in spite of our own Alexanders.

We too can claim the Apostle’s promise that “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack” (v. 18). Likewise David learned from experience: “If the LORD delights in a person’s life, He will makes their steps firm. Even if they stumble, they will not fall because the LORD holds them up with His hand” (Ps 37:23).

“Our fight against the devil” to advance God’s Kingdom on Earth “is not against humans. We are fighting against the rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against spiritual powers in this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the spiritual realms” (Eph 6:10). Our “enemy the devil” (1 Pet 5:8) is constantly working to stop and hinder our work for God in all sorts of ways. Accordingly, we must “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (Eph 6:18).

D) God’s Provision

“The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim 6:10). But it sure helps us do God’s work. In fact, doing God’s work on this Earth requires the things money buys. Finances will be necessary to fulfilling your visionary faith in all sorts of ways. Which is why His promises to supply such needs are so valuable. We know them well, but does our worry over the physical provision we need reveal that we really do not believe them?

God wants us to trust Him for these things in our mission for Him. He told His disciples when He sent them out: “Do not take anything for your journey including a staff, bag, bread, money, or extra clothes” (Luke 9:3). Why? Because He wanted to provide for them along the way, particularly through the people they would be ministering to (cf. “Stay in one house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, because the worker deserves their wages” Luke 10:7).

Christ’s well-known instruction regarding provision contains an important command and a wonderful promise:

Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ Unbelievers run after all these things, but your Father in Heaven knows that you need them. Unlike unbelievers, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matt 6:31-33)

The command, of course, is to not worry about the things money buys (cf. Phil 4:6-7). The promise is that God will ensure that we have “all these things” we need if we “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” If we are pursuing the right things in the right way we will have everything we need to accomplish our visionary faith, even if God has to miraculously intervene. And He probably will.

If we are expecting God to be generous to us, we had better be generous to Him. Trusting God with our finances also means giving them sacrificially. Paul’s promises regarding giving money especially apply to those in ministry:

Now the point is this: The one who plants only a little will also reap only a little. The one who plants generously will also reap generously. . . And God is able to abundantly provide every kind of grace to you, so that in everything, at all times, you will have enough of everything you need, so you will have an abundance for every good work. (1 Cor 9:6-8)

There are few divine promises better than that, making our own sacrificial giving essential to doing great things for God.

E) God’s Power

Paul’s statement above that, “the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength” (2 Tim 4:17) is a wonderful description of God being with us. This strength He gives can simply be physical and mental strength beyond our natural abilities.

More importantly, however, it is spiritual power. The Apostle writes:

All glory to God, Who is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ask or imagine through the power at work within us. Glory to the Father in the Church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. (Eph 3:20-21)

This is precisely what we are asking God to do in our visionary faith: “accomplish infinitely more than we would ask or imagine” to bring “glory” to “Christ Jesus” “in the church.” How will that happen? “through the power at work within us.” In other words, God is not going to accomplish our visionary faith apart from us, or merely by working around us, but by working through us. By giving us the power to accomplish things for Him.

Again, the Apostle wrote the Thessalonians: “We pray that through His power you will accomplish any passionate resolve to do good, and every action prompted your faith. (2 Thess 1:11-12)

Of course this power consists of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. First and foremost our visionary faith will require “the effects of the Holy Spirit in our lives” which “is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, reliability, humility, and control over our feelings and actions” (Gal 5:22-23). Without these supernatural powers and virtues, doing anything for God will be impossible, if not damaging to His name. The Apostle speaks of these very powers of the Spirit when he writes the Colossians:

We have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. . . . We . . . pray that you will be strengthened with His glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. (Col 1:9, 11)

The Greek word translated “strengthened” is dunamoumenoi which means “to cause someone to be able to do something, enable.” ^[1] Paul is praying that God would give the Colossians a God-like “glorious power” of supernatural “patience and endurance.” As discussed thoroughly in the previous chapter, such powers are necessary for any visionary faith to be fulfilled. And the reason Paul is praying for them is that they must come from God. We will not have such “patience and endurance” ourselves.

Later in Colossians, Paul speaks of this same supernatural, God-given power to work hard for God:

We proclaim Christ, correcting and teaching everyone with all the necessary wisdom. We do this so that when we meet Christ we may present everyone before Him as fully mature Christians. It is for this purpose that I work and struggle with Christ’s energy powerfully working within me. (Col 1:28-29) ^[2]

Likewise, the Apostle credits his supernatural endurance to work hard to the grace-power of God when He writes:

It is because of God’s special grace toward me that I am an Apostle. And I have not wasted the spiritual gift and power God gave me. On the contrary, I have worked harder than all of the other Apostles. But it has not been just me, but the power of God working through me. (1 Cor 15:10)

Indeed, as we have noted in the previous chapter, supernatural hard work and endurance, the kind that was necessary for Noah to build the ark, is necessary for any great and glorious thing to be accomplished for God. But the strength to do this is given by God as His grace works in us in answer to prayer.

There are powers beyond the virtues of the Spirit, and the strength of the Spirit, that are necessary as well. The Scripture refers to these powers as spiritual gifts. As discussed in chapter 1, this aspect of God’s grace manifests itself in unique and supernatural desires and abilities needed to accomplish God’s work. This is another aspect of God’s grace that is supernatural power for serving God. Paul says this very thing when he writes:

To each one of us a special grace power to serve has been given according to the generosity of Christ . . . Christ Himself gave this grace power to people enabling some to be Apostles, some to be Prophets, some to be Evangelists, and some to be Pastors and Teachers.

The purpose of these ministries is to mend and prepare God’s people for works of service so that the local church will be built up. The ultimate goal is for us all to reach unity in the doctrine and knowledge of the Son of God and become spiritually mature to the point of the fullness of Christ. . . .

Through Christ and the ministers He gives the whole local church, joined and held together by every supporting relationship, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Eph 4:11-13, 16) ^[3]

Evidently, nothing significant is accomplished in the Church apart from these grace gifts and ministries of God’s power. It was Paul’s spiritual gifts that not only gave him his specific passions for ministry as discussed in chapter 1, but gave him power to pursue those passions. As he says to the Ephesians: “I became a servant of this Gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of His power” (Eph 3:7). God’s grace-power, particularly through spiritual gifts is the fuel for accomplishing our visionary faith and it again comes only from God, by His grace, through His Spirit, and according to His choosing.

All of the supernatural power and strength we need to accomplish our visionary faith comes from the Spirit of God. Here we are reminded that Jesus told His disciples not to begin their ministry until they had received “power” from the “Holy Spirit” indwelling them (Acts 1:4-8). We now have that power.

Extras & Endnotes

A Devotion to Dad

Our Father in Heaven, thank You that you are eager and willing to provide everything we need to serve You. We commit to seeking first Your kingdom and righteousness in order to experience Your promises to provide.

Gauging Your Grasp

Why do we need to pray for divine involvement in our pursuit of a visionary faith that glorifies God?
What does Christ’s promise: “I am with you always” mean to you?
Why will we need God’s protection as we pursue our visionary faith?
Why will we need God’s provision as we pursue our visionary faith?
What are the various ways that the Holy Spirit empowers us in accomplishing our visionary faith?

Publications & Particulars

BAGD. ↑
“All the necessary wisdom” lit. Eng. “all wisdom”. Paul is combatting “the Colossian heretics who boasted of their superior wisdom” (Peter O’Brien, Colossians, 1982). “When we meet Christ” trans. Eng. “present.” “When the apostle speaks of presenting everyone fully grown in Christ, he has the coming of Christ in mind” (O’Brien). ↑
“Special grace power to serve” reflects that spiritual gifts is the context. “The charis [grace] of God manifests itself in various charismata [spiritual gifts]: Rom 12:6; Eph 4:7; 1 Pet 4:10” (BAGD).

“Mend and prepare” trans. katartismon. In classical Gr. the verb katarizō meant “to put in order, restore, furnish, prepare, equip. Katarsis and katartismon “means restoration.” In Matt 4:21 and Mark 1:19 it is used of repairing fishing nets (NIDNTT). The word was used repeatedly in ancient Gr. to refer to setting a broken bone.

“Local church” trans. Eng. “body of Christ” which is not referring to the universal body of Christ but local church in which these ministries would practically operate and where the saints would serve.

“Doctrine” trans. Eng. “the faith” which is usually understood as the doctrines and beliefs of Christianity. This fits the context of v. 14.

“Relationship” trans Gr. apēs which is best trans. “connection.” NT scholar Harold Hoehner, after a detailed description of the issues writes: “In conclusion, it seems apparent that apēs is best rendered “connection” because this is the predominant meaning of the word in classical Greek and the LXX (Gr. trans. of the OT), and makes the most sense in the present context. . . This supports the concept that as each member utilizes the gifts they makes connections with other members of the body” (Ephesians, 2002). This also fits the fact that Paul says this is all happening “in love”. ↑