In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations...

  - Romans 4.18

So, because of this, today I am ashamed, and agitated with fear, at exposing my lack of education; because I lack the fluency to express myself concisely, as my spirit longs to do and as I try with heart and soul.

  - Patrick, Confession (British, 5th century)

He had run away from slavery, defied parents and bishops in order to go as a missionary to Ireland, itinerated among the wild Celtic peoples of Ireland, escaped slavery again, faced the wrath and skepticism of local kings, and confronted want and death on several occasions.

But what really terrified Patrick was writing his Confession.

After all, he was a high school dropout. He'd never learned to write proper Latin. He knew his Bible well, but he'd never written anything in his life. Now, rather than allow himself to be pulled from his field of endeavor in order to defend himself against spurious charges in Britain, Patrick took pen in hand to explain why he was just too busy to come.

It was perhaps the hardest thing he'd ever done.

But we see in this how faith works. Patrick determined to do something, for the sake of his ministry and the glory of the Lord, which he'd never done before, which he believed God was leading him to do. He determined to go beyond himself and all previous experience to draft a Confession that would have to serve in his absence. It had to be true, accurate, readable, and convincing.

And it is.

God is always calling us to step out beyond ourselves, to believe Him for more of His precious and very great promises, and to act by faith in the direction of those promises, moving step by step toward them, believing that He'll carry us through according to His purposes and plan. This is what Abraham did, and it's what Patrick did as well.

This is how we grow in our faith and extend the ministries God has appointed to us in our Personal Mission Fields. Understanding what God has promised, and longing to realize these promises, we stretch out in the Lord beyond our perception of ourselves and our experience, to move in new and more demanding directions of faith and obedience.

The Lord will meet you when you do this. Don't ever be satisfied with where you are in the Lord. Reach out. Stretch out. Get beyond yourself into Him and His promises. This is where the adventure of faith kicks in.

This is where revivals begin.

T. M. Moore, Principal

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