A while ago we started holding some praise and worship nights. It all started simply as an excuse to get together and enjoy God's presence with a few friends. Somehow a bunch of people came along who had never known Jesus before and they gave their lives over to Him for the first time. Other people had been living away from God and renewed their passion for Jesus at these nights of worship. I hadn't been preaching or doing anything overtly evangelistic. All I'd been doing was lifting Jesus up and people joined in, some of whom had never consciously worshipped Jesus before.
"And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself."
JOHN 12:32 (NLT)
As we lift Jesus Christ up, He draws everyone to Himself. In this verse Jesus was actually getting ready for the Cross. But John recognised the glory of this statement.
This now forms the centre-point of my ministry. I realised that when we exalt Jesus Christ, people's lives come into alignment with His true design as He draws them to Himself. People who already know Jesus are encouraged and become overflowing waterfalls of His love. And people who don't know Jesus are directly ministered to by the Holy Spirit, often dedicating their lives to a life lived with Jesus.
I've since learnt that we need to be prepared to help people process powerful times with God into life-lived discipleship. This often will mean having some prayer counsellors ready to help people understand what God is doing in them.
It is such an honour to be there as God ministers and I hope that one day I'll be able to minister with you to see God lifted up and lives changed forever.
