STAY IN THE SHIP!

“But Paul said to the commanding officer and the soldiers, ‘You will all die unless the sailors stay aboard” Acts 27:31.

The background to this story is this, the Apostle Paul was on his way to Rome, a prisoner of the Roman empire, whilst on the journey, a storm developed that threatened the lives of those in the ship, in the midst of the storm the Apostle received a word from God delivered by the mouth of an angel promising him the safety of the lives of all the occupants of the vessel.

But see here, something happened that threatened the fulfillment of that prophetic word, the sailors under the guise of letting down the anchors of the ship were preparing to jump ship, when the Apostle saw this he sounded an alarm, the presence of the sailors in the ship was necessary to safe guard the lives of all the entire occupants of the vessel that was under the threat and the violence of the storm.

As I read these scriptures the Holy Spirit began to show me how the failure or lack of faithfulness of a group of people involved in a common project could jeopardize the entire project and make nonsense of the will of God in that project.

It was clear that God’s plan for Paul and his fellow travelers was the safety of all, it was God’s will that Paul got to Rome alive, storm or no storm, but this will was threatened by the lack of faithfulness of a few sailors, the Apostle knew that though it was the will of God for him to get to Rome, that was in jeopardy by the actions of the fearful sailors.

Dear partners and friends this is what I believe God is showing me, this commission is a ship going on a divine destination, it is God’s will that we take healing power of Jesus Christ to our generation, no matter the storms or challenges we face, we will make it. If …, yes if, all who are involved in the project stay faithful to their assigned responsibilities, for example my responsibility is to hear from God, provide leadership, minister as I am led, while those of our partners is to support this ministry by their prayers and giving as well as in other ways that God may lead them, by the way, I consider all our staff whether volunteers or paid staff as partners.

Too many divine projects have failed because those that God has assigned the burden and responsibility of support have not seen it as a responsibility before God, many times people see partnership as a means of getting their needs met through the principles of sowing, reaping and the prophets rewards, but this is not the true purpose of partnership.

Partnership is God’s way of multiplying resources and influences to fulfill His will, I can’t emphasize this enough, Partnership is not about us it is about the will of God, even those of us who labor in the word are partners with the Lord Jesus or as Paul put it co-laborers with the Lord.

There is a scripture that God once used to illustrate this to me the importance of real bible based partnership, in Exodus Chapter 7, God commanded Moses to lead His people into battle with the Amalekiles.

“Moses commanded Joshua, choose some men to go out and fight the army of Amalek for us. Tomorrow, I will stand at the top of the hill, holding the staff of God in my hand.

So Joshua did what Moses had commanded …

Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron and Hur climbed to the top of a near by hill. As long as Moses held up the staff in His hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. Moses arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold the staff. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands.

So his hands held steady until sunset. As a result Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle.” Exodus 7:9-13.

What a powerful testimony to the victories that can be wrought when God’s support system is in place.

There are a number of important observations to consider here,

Firstly Moses was God’s sent man, he had the rod which was the symbol of his authority or commission, yet He was not the only one involved in the project ‘defeat Amalek’, God brought Aaron, Hur, Joshua and a host of others, each one playing an important part in the success of the project.

Every commission has its Moses, but it also has the other people called and brought in by God to help give the commission expression, those people occur in different capacities, offering support in different ways, God brings these people in in different ways but every one must recognize where he or she has been called to offer support, remembering that the battle is the Lord’s.

Notice that the outcome of the battle was not decided by the visible strength of Joshua and his soldiers, but by the ‘invisible’ support system of Aaron and Hur holding up the hands of Moses.

In a commission like ours it is the unseen faithfulness of our prayer and financial supporters that enable us to accomplish that which we do, no ministry can accomplish much without these God given support systems, Many years ago God opened up my eyes to this, even Jesus had to depend on that support system to be effective in his ministry.

“Soon afterwards Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the good news about the kingdom of God.

He took his twelve disciples with him, along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases… and many others who were contributing their own resources to support Jesus and His disciples.” Luke 8:1-3.

If Jesus needed such a divinely ordained support system, then how much more we today, one of the greatest thrills I get is to hear from one of our friends or partners telling us how they are holding us up in prayer or how they are remembering us in giving for the work we do.

We have an eternal word from above, a commission from the lips of Jesus and we are determined by God’s grace to see it through. We trust God for a great army of partners from every true Christian fellowship forming a giant network of prayer and financial support system as we go from place to place preaching the message of Jesus and taking His healing power to this generation.

Can you sense God speaking to your heart to join up with this commission? If yes do not hesitate.

If you are already involved in supporting God’s work in this commission or in any other as you led, don’t abandon the ship, don’t let the severity of whatever challenges you may face force you to give up on your responsibility before God to stand with His servants in the work of the Gospel, sometimes when we are faced with personal financial crises the first thing that goes out of the window is the support for God’s work, that storm is satan’s attempt to force you to jump ship, to abandon this responsibility so that you may fail in doing God’s will and that God’s work may fail, don’t let the hands of Moses down, stay faithful in your prayers and in your giving, the gospel must be preached in ‘Rome’ also, remember if Amalek wins, all Israel loses, the Lord needs his army of faithful to stay strong, faithful and committed in the battle of the end-time. Amen

God bless you.