"More ready than you realize" 1

I am reading "More ready than you realize". The discussions are structured around the email conversation between the author and a spiritual seeker. The spiritual seeker is a lady who is seeking the one who created everything but isnt a believer yet. I am amazed at how motivated she is to seek .

As I was reading, I felt guilty for being quite defensive.. I do have this "win-lose" mentality when I "discuss"/"argue" with ppl... but JC was big on conversation and questions, it was never about "winning the debate". it was about inspiring ppl with more questions and not answering questions that's not framed in an acceptable/accurate/wise way...

Thinking about myself... I wonder if I am a spiritual seeker like her... do I spend time thinking and talking about things that really matters? coz ppl do want talks about mortality coping/struggle with guilt and goodness.. am i ready to talk about these topics with ppl? what do i reall think about thing that really matters? or do i simply have the "sunday school" answers?? and just take the answers as my own without really thinking?? may be i am having difficulty talking to ppl coz i dont really think about these big topics........

i am not sure if i am very accepting to those who isnt part of the Family yet... may be i am quite proud of my "daughter" identity that i look down on those without the identity... which is so so so bad coz JC used to scold at those ppl who are prideful of their superior identity.....><

...........

Prayer

Finished the section on Prayer.  Prayer is:

the substance behind all miracles
key to fellowship with the Holy Spirit
what births intimacy with Him and sustains our identity in Christ
what the devil hates and what he is most afraid of
changes history
changes you
changes everything
the key to revival
God's secret weapon to transform our generation
instrument to release the sound of revival on our campuses

Without prayer nothing can happen;  With prayer anything can happen

Jaeson describes 5 sequences of prayer:

1. Repentance Prayer
Everything else is just non-sense if we don't first truly repent... to truly repent is a decision, a conscious decision to completely surrender our will and selfish ambition to God, is making Jesus Lord...

2. Holy Spirit Prayer
Praying for the Holy Spirit to continually fill us.  Only the Holy Spirit can fill us with God's intimate presence,  transform our lives, and empowering our lives to be "bold" witnesses.

3. Waiting Prayer
"To wait upon the Lord" prayer.  It is the silent surrendering of the soul to God, a silent trust, a prayer longing for God.  It is to grow intimate.

4. Faith Prayer
James 5:15: "And the prayer offered in faith will make them well;  the Lord will raise them up."
Mark 11:23: "If you say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and do not doubt in your heart but believe that what you say will happen, it will be done for you."
This is a prayer of faith - to believe that God will deliver.

5. Revival Prayer
Praying for revival and awakening.  Historically, all revivals started with concerted, united and sustained prayer.  It is also intercessory prayer, praying for others to be saved, and strategic, by praying specifically, by name, for every person on campus.  24/7, day and night.

He describes, based on these principles, the setting up of 24/7 Campus Houses for Prayer in campuses around the world. See more here:

www.campustransformation.com
www.campusamerica.org
www.ihop.org

Jaeson Ma's Passion for Revival

Jaeson then goes on to share how he discerned his Call, and the Vision God gave him.  It's pretty incredible, even unbelievable... but then again, who am I to say it's impossible...

After an event where he found out he was the only Christian in the class, he began to really yearn for more people to get saved, praying day and night for revival in young people.  A few years later God then gave him 3 dreams, and one after the other, the events unfolded in reality, and he was quite sure that God was saying something.  So he went to his pastor and the pastor interpreted the dreams for him, saying they were about revival and reformation.  The final confirmation call came when he actually met Bob Weiner, whom he dreamed, and he was preaching on the same 3 subjects that had been in his heart since the beginning.

So Jaeson's ministry is about these 3 things (the three 'R's):

1. Revival (campus houses of prayer) - a spiritual awakening starting with revival prayer.  But out of this comes action, which leads to...
2. Reformation of Society (power evangelism) - preaching the gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit in every sphere of society: government, business, education, media, arts, family, etc...  The modern church has been ineffective in this, shown by the fact that divorce, abortions, violence, sexual immorality, materialism, disdain for God has not reduced but increased.  The paradigm of church must shift, thus...
3. Restoration of the New Testament Church (planting simple churches) - empowering every believer to plant relationship-based, student-led house churches, like in Acts.  

These 3 things are what the remainder the book is about.

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So why focus on the Campus?  (as does AFC)

Fact #1:  80% of all high school students who attend church before college do not return to church after college.
Fact #2:  Average of Christians on university campuses is less than 5%.
Fact #3:  Only 4% of young people (born after 1984) believe in the Bible as infallibly true.

So if we don't reach the campus, there will be no Church tomorrow.

And historically, almost all revivals started on campuses, because most people make decision for Christ there, and they are the future leaders who are the influencers of the rest of society and the world.

Revival is...

According to Jaeson Ma, this is what revival looks like (just did this quickly in Keynote):

Anything you would add?

I think this is good, because often times we talk about revival without really expecting what it would look like.  I always thought revival in terms of "people passionate again for God", but haven't thought about it in terms of what would flow out as a result of it, e.g.  social transformations

The Blueprint structure

The book is basically divided into 4 sections:

1. Introduction - this is about Jaeson's discernment of his calling from God about this whole ministry. He also introduces the 3 key elements to the strategy (or "passions" he calls them) :
2. Passion for Prayer (6 chapters)
3. Passion for Power Evangelism (6 chapters)
4. Passion for Planting Simple Churches (5 chapters)

So far I've read the Introduction and a bit of the Prayer.  Summary and thoughts to come... :)

The back cover of The Blueprint

To get you an idea of what the book is about, here's what's at the back:

In The Blueprint, Jaeson Ma offers a powerful vision of what God is radically doing in this generation on campuses across the world. Students are already being set on fire for God, planting missional communities, praying fervently and stepping out in faith to see God move in power to reach the lost. Ma believes it is time to see this manifested on every campus, in every city and in every nation. Through his own personal stories, student testimonies and practical biblical teaching, Ma envisions and practically equips student and staff leaders, just like you, to change themselves and their campuses for Christ. The Blueprint will give you a clear vision for revival and reformation of society, a specific spiritual DNA (passion for prayer, power evangelism and planting simple churches) and practical tools to see the vision for reformation become a reality. That’s the plan. Now to see the revolution unfold!