The Context
With a full schedule of workshops planned, we will be extending our program into new VN regions. Something new and something more seems to be the theme burning in my heart that bears not only on what I've just returned from doing in India, but for what lies ahead in Vietnam.
The charge to understand the times and know what to do has long been foundational to the various dimensions of my calling: from intercession to writing; to both the mobilization of the top-down Joseph-Daniel calling and the equipping of the bottom-up community-builders. Likewise, the significance of the Jewish roots to our faith has been key to this equation driving my calling. Another crucial piece of this mosaic has been to reach out to bring transformation to "the least of these our brethren."
An Emerging Strategy for Something More
In the early days of the God's economy program, a time of prayer gave me a glimpse of what I discerned as a strategy of the Lord that would mobilize an overlap of segments between the persecuted church, the oppressed church and the Messianic Jewish community. It seemed to carry the mark of God's hand of simplicity, order and the extraordinary, to spark societal transformation in a time of turmoil.
With these thoughts in mind, there were times during our India quest when spiritually I experienced a sense of almost being overwhelmed, without fully grasping more than the surface-level of what we were walking out. Yet, there seemed an unsuspected dimension being unveiled as we proceeded, of an awareness of the enormous Messianic potential hiding under the ashes left by the inquisition.
There clearly is something more to what I'm walking out. I've come to realize through the three years we've worked in Vietnam, how through simplicity and obedience, that God exceeds our wildest expectations. The God's economy program that was birthed after a heart-cry prayer from my exposure to a group of impoverished Ethiopian believers in 1999 has been the catalyst of a simple, but growing, grass-roots movement within the persecuted church in Vietnam. Despite this significance, the witness of the Spirit is of there still being "something more."
Reaching Beyond the Obvious
Deuteronomy tells us that "the secret (or hidden) things belong to the Lord, but those that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever." Reaching beyond the obvious to understand the times and know what to do places us in the dimension of the generational.
Historically, the 4000 years that the Jewish people have outlived the civilizations they have been a part of is a reflection of how the Jewish community has wielded what has become an historic and remains the prophetic mantle that God gave to Abraham that "through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed."
In short, the Jewish people have consistently operated as "a culture within a culture;" becoming an entrepreneurial middle class in societies without one and serving an integral role of proactive influence in seats of power, especially economically and governmentally, in furthering the positive aims of their host cultures.
"Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare." Jeremiah 29:7
The Something New to the Something More
The God's economy program conforms to this biblical standard and strategy. It begins by making God's people the head and not the tail. It then develops proactive "community builders" who provide practical hope to their community in challenging times. Its mandate coincides to the Jewish strategy of operating as a "culture within a culture," by exercising the charge to Abraham "to be blessed to be a blessing."
Yet the time in India has left me with the brand-mark of there being something more, not only in what we're doing in India, but in Vietnam and beyond.
Could it be possible that the unveiling of the hidden will point to something more in terms of the Jewish roots of our faith? Could it be that the strategy of "a culture within a culture" may bear on this whole issue of transformation at a time when many around the world are losing hope and seeking answers that bears on a people who demonstrate the reality of God in some very practical ways, as the Jewish people have done over the generations.
I seem to have more questions than I have answers as I proceed, but I know that the Lord has been guiding and providing the tools and strategies with which to help those we serve "to be blessed to be a blessing."
Jesus said, "That which is covered will be revealed and that which is hidden will be made known." There's a key that unlocks the hidden and the bondages that have immobilized generations. Indeed, we walk by faith and not by sight as we move toward "something new and something more."
So, despite the already tangible results from these ventures to this point, there seems to be an unveiling, pointing to the overlapping role of segments between the persecuted church, the oppressed church and the Messianic Jewish community. Something beyond the obvious is in motion with these agendas. Something new and something more; something that is clearly beyond me; "something beyond" that is being orchestrated by the Spirit of the Lord.
I can't begin to tell you how much your prayers mean as I head out; and how much I'm depending on them as I impart, equip, mobilize -- and continue this amazing unfolding venture of discovery.
In His love and mine,
Morris Ruddick
Global Initiatives Foundation
http://www.strategic-initiatives.org/
Global Initiatives Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 tax-exempt ministry
Global Initiative Foundation | PO Box 370291 | Denver | CO | 80237
With a full schedule of workshops planned, we will be extending our program into new VN regions. Something new and something more seems to be the theme burning in my heart that bears not only on what I've just returned from doing in India, but for what lies ahead in Vietnam.
The charge to understand the times and know what to do has long been foundational to the various dimensions of my calling: from intercession to writing; to both the mobilization of the top-down Joseph-Daniel calling and the equipping of the bottom-up community-builders. Likewise, the significance of the Jewish roots to our faith has been key to this equation driving my calling. Another crucial piece of this mosaic has been to reach out to bring transformation to "the least of these our brethren."
An Emerging Strategy for Something More
In the early days of the God's economy program, a time of prayer gave me a glimpse of what I discerned as a strategy of the Lord that would mobilize an overlap of segments between the persecuted church, the oppressed church and the Messianic Jewish community. It seemed to carry the mark of God's hand of simplicity, order and the extraordinary, to spark societal transformation in a time of turmoil.
With these thoughts in mind, there were times during our India quest when spiritually I experienced a sense of almost being overwhelmed, without fully grasping more than the surface-level of what we were walking out. Yet, there seemed an unsuspected dimension being unveiled as we proceeded, of an awareness of the enormous Messianic potential hiding under the ashes left by the inquisition.
There clearly is something more to what I'm walking out. I've come to realize through the three years we've worked in Vietnam, how through simplicity and obedience, that God exceeds our wildest expectations. The God's economy program that was birthed after a heart-cry prayer from my exposure to a group of impoverished Ethiopian believers in 1999 has been the catalyst of a simple, but growing, grass-roots movement within the persecuted church in Vietnam. Despite this significance, the witness of the Spirit is of there still being "something more."
Reaching Beyond the Obvious
Deuteronomy tells us that "the secret (or hidden) things belong to the Lord, but those that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever." Reaching beyond the obvious to understand the times and know what to do places us in the dimension of the generational.
Historically, the 4000 years that the Jewish people have outlived the civilizations they have been a part of is a reflection of how the Jewish community has wielded what has become an historic and remains the prophetic mantle that God gave to Abraham that "through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed."
In short, the Jewish people have consistently operated as "a culture within a culture;" becoming an entrepreneurial middle class in societies without one and serving an integral role of proactive influence in seats of power, especially economically and governmentally, in furthering the positive aims of their host cultures.
"Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare." Jeremiah 29:7
The Something New to the Something More
The God's economy program conforms to this biblical standard and strategy. It begins by making God's people the head and not the tail. It then develops proactive "community builders" who provide practical hope to their community in challenging times. Its mandate coincides to the Jewish strategy of operating as a "culture within a culture," by exercising the charge to Abraham "to be blessed to be a blessing."
Yet the time in India has left me with the brand-mark of there being something more, not only in what we're doing in India, but in Vietnam and beyond.
Could it be possible that the unveiling of the hidden will point to something more in terms of the Jewish roots of our faith? Could it be that the strategy of "a culture within a culture" may bear on this whole issue of transformation at a time when many around the world are losing hope and seeking answers that bears on a people who demonstrate the reality of God in some very practical ways, as the Jewish people have done over the generations.
I seem to have more questions than I have answers as I proceed, but I know that the Lord has been guiding and providing the tools and strategies with which to help those we serve "to be blessed to be a blessing."
Jesus said, "That which is covered will be revealed and that which is hidden will be made known." There's a key that unlocks the hidden and the bondages that have immobilized generations. Indeed, we walk by faith and not by sight as we move toward "something new and something more."
So, despite the already tangible results from these ventures to this point, there seems to be an unveiling, pointing to the overlapping role of segments between the persecuted church, the oppressed church and the Messianic Jewish community. Something beyond the obvious is in motion with these agendas. Something new and something more; something that is clearly beyond me; "something beyond" that is being orchestrated by the Spirit of the Lord.
I can't begin to tell you how much your prayers mean as I head out; and how much I'm depending on them as I impart, equip, mobilize -- and continue this amazing unfolding venture of discovery.
In His love and mine,
Morris Ruddick
Global Initiatives Foundation
http://www.strategic-initiatives.org/
Global Initiatives Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 tax-exempt ministry
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for sharing. Blessings on your head from the Lord Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach.
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People
Charlotte, NC USA