The Blazing Center of a Missional Christian’s Life

Wednesday is for Prayer

I love New Year’s day.

No one has any expectations for me and I have the whole day to read, and pray, and think, take a walk if I like, get on the treadmill if I like.

It is marvelous.

Today I had five virtually uninterrupted hours at the church as I monitored the building while person after person came in to sustain our 5 days, 24 hour round-the-clock prayer to welcome the New Year.

One of the things that I was able to do was listen to the first lesson in the 10 week DVD curriculum developed by the staff at Desiring God Ministries called The Blazing Center. I have had it on my shelf for 7 years, knew it was gold, but hadn’t mined its treasures as yet. Originally designed for the youth ministry at Bethlehem Baptist, I can’t imagine any small group in any church in America that wouldn’t benefit from this resource. I highly recommend it to church planters and pastors everywhere.

A real and very serious battle is being waged for our eternal destiny. The assault that we face every day is not in the form of bullets, grenades, or poisonous gas. No, the weapons brought against us are more subtle and far more deadly. The evil one attacks us through television and computer screens, in the books we read, in the whispers of our peers, through mirrors, music, and magazines. The lies of the flesh are everywhere and sin’s allurements cannot be totally avoided.

But in the swirl of glitz and flash and skin and swagger and muscle, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 stands unmoved as a beacon of hope: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” God is faithful to his children. He can protect their faith and he can grant them a radical, counter-cultural witness in this generation.

The Blazing Center DVD Study Guide, p. 5
A resource developed by Desiring God

May God give you great grace to pursue the blazing center of a truly missional life. You were made for the glory of God. My prayer for you is that this year finds you running passionately toward the Jesus.