Mere Missions

70 • M ere M issions : M oving F orward to M ultiply

We have given too much attention to methods and to machinery and to resources, and too little to the Source of Power, the filling with the Holy Spirit. ~ J. Hudson Taylor Until you are filled with the Holy Spirit, don’t go. After you are filled with the Holy Spirit, don’t stay. ~ P. J. Titus

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, The Lord and Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; Who with the Father and Son together Is worshipped and glorified.

~ The 318 Bishops of the Council of Nicea

Absolute surrender to the Holy Spirit is a non-negotiable in missions. He expects and demands all disciples of the Lord Jesus to “count everything as loss” (Phil. 3.8) and to be “crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2.20) so that we no longer live but Jesus lives in us. It’s submitting our will to His will. We follow Christ’s example and humbly submit our looming concerns and fears into our heavenly Father’s secure hands. This is the person whom the Holy Spirit can use. Believers whose wills are fully submitted become Spirit filled and enabled to move forward in missions. They can reproduce the maturity and faithfulness they have in Christ into others. They have pressed on towards maturity (Heb. 6.1-8). They have persisted in watching their own life and doctrine so closely so as not to be disqualified themselves but, in turn apprentice others towards the finish line (1 Tim. 4.16). They are Empowered by the Holy Spirit for missions, the second “E” of our Apostolic Missions Platform .