Reinvigorate Their Imaginations

On Saturday I was reading Hannah’s prayer in 1 sam 2…and the phrase that stuck out to me was: “It is not by strength that one prevails” So I meditated on what that meant for my life – how did it connect and what was Jesus inviting me to do?

Looked up a couple other cross references…one of which was in Zechariah about not despising the day of small beginnings. So I sensed the Lord saying to me, “Don’t despise what does not seem “mighty” or “influential.” You look at other ministries with envy…you wish you had started them…you wish you had an influential ministry that you started…but your ministry is not about size – not about your gifts and strengths – not about being “run” in a typical modern methodology and strategy.

Your invitation is to go in the strength you have – as I send you out this summer. Don’t force your ministry.

The introduction to Zechariah (in the Message) says this about Zechariah’s ministry (my paraphrase): “Zech’s job was to help pull people out of preoccupation with self and to get them working together as the people of God. The people had lost their identity as the people of God, the people had been kicked around and abused by world powers – the threat was they’d lose the richness of their heritage – forgetting who and whose they were. Zechariah reinvigorated their imaginations with his visions and messages – the visions provided images of a sovereign God…the messages forged a fresh vocabulary that gave energy and credibility to the long term purposes being worked out in their lives.”

Reinvigorated their imaginations…don’t you like that? It’s like Zech was the prophet to the postmoderns who “no longer had a language for God & the purposes of God.” Our current language of “God” is so muddled by tolerance and the mushy, fickle language of Clintonian postmodernism (It depends upon what the definition of "is" is.)

God’s invitation – to reinvigorate the imaginations of His people…

Praying God’ll give me fresh vocabulary to lend energy and credibility and clarity (as Eugene Peterson says) to people who are forgetting who and whose they are.

I’m being invited to die to my pride that wants the applause of humankind….to not force a “bigger & better” ministry or influence…I’m being invited to pay attention.

Whew – good stuff….

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