Process and Event (3)

Welcome to the PMF Workshop for August 2022. I’m your host, T. M. Moore. Each month we provide teaching, encouragement, activities, and resources to help you in working your Personal Mission Field so that you can become more consistent and effective in realizing the presence, promise, and power of God’s Kingdom in your daily life.

This month’s Workshop is the third of a multi-part workshop entitled, “Process and Event.” This is Part 3, “Tell the Secret.” Our text for this month’s workshop is Daniel 2.47:

The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.”

Ready for launch?
William Wilberforce, that great 19th-century statesman, reformer, and witness for Christ, kept a list of what he called “launchers” – words or ideas that he could use to “launch” a conversation up to a spiritual level, so that he could talk about faith in Jesus. This is a good idea. We can learn to launch conversations or situations or questions into a spiritual stream which can flow to the Gospel in time.

This is what we see Daniel doing with Nebuchadnezzar. Let’s remember two things: First, Nebuchadnezzar was a hard-hearted enemy of God and His people before he met young Daniel. Second, working our Personal Mission Field to help others understand the love of God is a process. It takes time. We need to let the Spirit lead us, and we must practice patience.

Just as we see Daniel and his friends doing in Daniel 1-4.

That being said, Nebuchadnezzar’s response to Daniel is surprising. “God of gods”? “Lord of kings”? And “revealer of secrets”? That sounds a bit out of character for this archenemy of the God of Jerusalem. What’s going on?

We know a secret.
Daniel knew a secret, and he let the king in on it. The secret had to do with Nebuchadnezzar, and it came as a complete surprise to him.

What was that secret?

The secret was that, where Nebuchadnezzar was concerned, God knew, and God cared. He knew all about the king, even what was troubling him most. And He cared enough to speak a word of comfort and encouragement to Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel wasn’t coy about letting the king in on the secret. In verse 28 he said to Nebuchadnezzar, “there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days…”

God knew Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and God cared enough to send Daniel to interpret the dream and to comfort the troubled king.

Daniel knew a secret, and we know a secret about all the lost people in our Personal Mission Field: God knows them, and God cares about them. God knows their fears, their joys, their concerns, their hopes, and all their daily struggles. He knows because He sees them and knows what’s in their hearts (Ps. 33.13-15). And He cares because He provides for them day by day out of the enormity of His common grace (Matt. 5.45-48).

We know this, and knowing this, we are armed with abundant “launchers” that can help us move a casual conversation to a more spiritual level. We can always find something in others that clearly indicates God’s love for them – their health, family, work, enjoyment of life, daily provision – or that can point them to Him in hope. Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, “For Christ plays in ten thousand places,/ Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his/ To the Father through the features of men’s faces.” We can learn to see the love of God for others, even for those who can’t see it themselves. Then it’s just a matter of launching the conversation Godward by saying, “God is really blessing you in this…” or “I can see how much God loves you…” or “Isn’t it great to know that God cares for everything about us?” or any of a dozen more ways of alerting our friend to the fact that God knows and God cares.

Will that lead to their salvation? Not necessarily. Notice the first part of Nebuchadnezzar’s response to Daniel: “Truly your God…” Not “my” God. “Your” God. Nebuchadnezzar had not yet come to faith in God. But he had come to acknowledge God, and for many of the people in our Personal Mission Field, the acknowledgment that God knows and cares for them would be a huge a step in the right direction, just as it was for Nebuchadnezzar.

Evangelism is a process. It takes time. Patience. Loving attentiveness. And a willingness to try and launch everyday opportunities into the Presence of the living God. We can learn to see the many ways “Christ plays” in the lives of the people around us. And then we can look to the Holy Spirit to give us words that will let our friends in on our little secret – God’s everyday love and care for them.

And that might be just enough to help them take a step in the right direction of ultimately believing in the Lord.

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Here are some activities you can practice and some resources to help you in working your Personal Mission Field.

1. First make sure your Personal Mission Field is updated, and you have included in your Personal Mission Field worksheet any new people God has brought into your sphere. Keep your map with you, so you can take it out and pray for the people you’ll be seeing throughout the day.

2. Think of the believers in your Personal Mission Field. Each one is different, and with each one God is doing unique and wonderful things. For each believer you expect to see, come up with a launcher that you can use for the two of you to give thanks to God (2 Cor. 4.15).

3. Pray about the lost people in your Personal Mission Field. Thank God that He knows each one of them. Thank Him specifically for ways it is clear to you He is caring for them. Throughout each day, as you meet with or think about someone in your Personal Mission Field, give thanks to God that He knows and cares for them all. Be specific in your thanksgiving.

4. Pray for an opportunity each day to launch a conversation Godward, first by launching a prayer to the Lord (cf. Neh. 2.1-4), then by listening for a launcher to arise in your conversation with someone in your Personal Mission Field. How should you prepare? What can you pray as you’re in conversation to allow you to let your friend in on your secret? You might want to download a free copy of our ReVision study on “The Art of Christian Conversation” to brush up your conversational skills.

5. Order a copy of our book, Restore Us!, and begin praying daily for revival. The more we are revived, the more we will be gladly submitted to the Lord. Order your free copy of Restore Us! by clicking here. And while you’re at it, order a free copy for your prayer partner, too.

That’s it for this month’s Personal Mission Field Workshop. Until next month, for the Fellowship of Ailbe, this has been T. M. Moore.

We ask the Lord to move and enable many more of our readers to provide for the needs of our ministry. Please seek Him in prayer concerning your part in supporting our work. You can contribute online by using the Contribute button at the website; or you can send a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 360 Zephyr Road, Williston, VT 05495.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.