The Quest for Missional: Kingdom Life, part-5-of-5

This is the last of a 5-part blog series on The Quest for Missional--- written to inspire individuals and church bodies to access the power of God at work within them, through the faith life-style of Luke 10:1-9 and Prayer Evangelism.  This is not about implanting another program, but igniting a daily life-style of being missional.  

I have sadly found too many churches that believe and act as if their particular church's mission is to create really good in-house programing--- mostly for the sole benefit of it's own members.  Biblically, the opposite is true: the mission of God has a church for the sake of the outside!  Programs inside a church facility aren't necessarily a bad thing--- but inside programming must create disciples of Jesus for the sake of blessing the outside of the church facility!  Otherwise, the congregants are no longer a church body of a missional God, but an institution that only serves religious goods and services.  After all, God's first love isn't the church, it's the world (so says John 3:16).  But, so the whole world may know His love, God created the church (John 3:17)!

When we pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done," we are asking the Lord of the harvest to include us in what He is doing to bring His kingdom life into our cities.  Our prayer is that kingdom life come through the living Body of Christ--- as God's Church sent into the daily marketplace!

That's why Step-4 of Luke 10:1-9, and Prayer Evangelism, ends with verse 9 as Jesus empowers us to share with others, "The Kingdom of God has drawn near to you."

Before moving forward, though, let's take a second to work backwards in this blog series...
After we pray peace and blessing (Step-1) over spheres of the enemies control (verse 5), God breaks the darkness with His light.  This is God's power through our obedience as we participate in God's kingdom heart to change the spiritual atmosphere of an area.  When that occurs, the cultural climate is being transformed, allowing you to practice with a home field advantage of Step-2, making meaningful and lasting relationships with those around you (verse 7).  From that kind of trust development, comes Step-3 and a doorway to healing (verse 9).

Now...go ahead in the permission and power of Jesus to connect heaven's provision with earth's poverty, praying for people's felt needs (verse 9)!  Let them hear first-hand how you trust God's provision.  Let them receive first-hand how God wants to give them healing: physical, emotional, relational, motivational, material and spiritual healing.  Then, expect God's kingdom to come and His will to be done...somehow, someway.

According to Jesus' evangelistic blueprint of Luke 10:1-9, outsiders will be way more open to knowing the hope you have when they smell freshly baked bread on your life (you're smelling so good because you've been following the one who calls himself the bread of life!).  Be ready, then, to share the hope you have in Jesus.  Tell folks your story of God's grace in your life!  Indeed, the kingdom of God is near and life as God intends it to be is for all who believe and receive what God gives!

Friends: I have personally seen and experienced the power of practicing Prayer Evangelism in my personal life, and in the life of the church I planted.  This is why I advocate for Luke 10's  implementation everywhere I go!  It takes churches away from becoming stagnate, spiritual institutions, and turns them into transformational movements that change cities and beyond.  I've seen first-hand how a city can be totally against an evangelical church, but then be turned completely around when the church decides to follow Jesus' patterns of fighting against the principalities of darkness with Prayer Evangelism.   I pastored that church!  The flesh only creates possible temporary victories....but living in kingdom life ushers-in God's permanent victory in Christ.

With all the divisiveness our nation is experiencing these days as we head into our 239th birthday, can you imagine what practicing Prayer Evangelism might do to bring real healing and hope?

Our Quest for Missional is to be faithful disciples of Jesus.  It's what it means to be a missional church that follows a missional God.  Missional means SENT.  God sends Jesus into us, and Jesus sends us out!  No longer do we have to expect outsiders to press their faces against our windows (from blog-1)...instead, the church has already left the building, and gone to them.