I recently received an email message from one of my students who attended the CMF School of Urban Missions in 1998. He wrote, ‘I saw your article on the Harvest times and your website as well. Reading through your articles brought back good and great memories from those wonderful times spent at the Harbour Centre.” That was a great encouragement to me, but what really touched my heart was the next thing he wrote. It was only one word, and this is how he wrote it. “INCREASE!!!!” Let me explain. Every day, during the years I taught at the School of Urban Missions, I began by writing “INCREASE” on the whiteboard. It occupied a place of prominence and remained on the whiteboard, regardless of whatever else was written there. It was intended to be a continuous message to the students from Colossians 1:10, which is part of the Apostle Paul’s prayer for the church. The latter part of his prayer in Colossians 1:10 speaks of “increasing in the knowledge of God.” This was my prayer for my students. It defined all that I tried to do to help them become the people God designed them to be. I would like to give you some insight into it, so it might motivate and encourage you to become all God has designed you to be.
To “INCREASE” meant many things to me during those days in the School of Urban Missions. Its meaning has not changed. As I continue to train leaders today, I still write the word
“INCREASE” on the whiteboards wherever I teach. I invite you to meditate on my words below. Let the Holy Spirit draw you into a time of prayer and consideration over the three points I will make concerning this idea of “INCREASE.”
First, “INCREASE” meant my desire for the Urban Missions students was that they would not stay where they were in life. They would become progressively more aware of God’s will and His ways. This does not happen automatically. It takes deliberate daily action. It must be powered by a personal holy hunger within to learn and grow. As you read this, look in the mirror of your life and consider where your heart is today. Do you have a firm expectation that you can,
and will increase in your awareness of God’s will and His ways?
What would you say is the will of God for you? Go ahead and try to define it. How many of the details are clear to you? Like all of us, you may have some idea of His will, but will not know all the details. Only God knows and sees the beginning from the end. However, He does give us guidance in His Word. For example, He says in 1 Peter 1:15 (NKJV), “but as He who called you is holy you also be holy in all your conduct.” Whatever you do, be sure it happens within the boundaries of personal holiness. Micah 6:8 (NKJV) tells us that you are “to do justly” (do the right thing); “to love mercy” and “to walk humbly with your God.” If you will receive these as commandments and not suggestions, you will find a progressive “INCREASE” in your ability to know the details of God’s will for you. When you apply these and other Scriptures that personally relate to God’s will for your life, you will find that you can “just relax” (as Pastor Suli says), and watch God direct your steps.
Second, “INCREASE” meant that, as the students became aware of God’s will and His ways for their individual paths through life, they would be encouraged and prompted to step out in faith. They would become fearless in embracing all that was before them. Their expectation of “INCREASE” would be the first of countless open doors to their destiny.
What would you say is the path for your life to take? Is it illuminated by the expectation that God has so much more for you? Proverbs 4:18 (Amplified Bible) says, “But the path of the just and righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines more and more (brighter and clearer) until [it reaches its full strength and glory in] the perfect day…” Will you make the decision to remain uncompromisingly just and righteous in your approach to life? If you demand “INCREASE” of yourself, then stepping out in faith becomes the abiding, uncompromisingly clear motivation for your actions. The result will be a path of personal success and greatly fruitful significance.
Third, “INCREASE” meant the Urban Missions students would grow closer to God as they went far beyond simply knowing more about Him. They would find themselves knowing Him increasingly more as a real Person. Their relationships with Him would become profoundly more intimate. Every day, they would be drawn into holy encounters that took them deeper into places with God they had never been. Their relationships with Him would become more personal, intense and meaningful each day and in every way. This “INCREASE” would be a pattern for them throughout their lives. Perhaps more importantly, they would be instrumental in others who
saw the value of this pattern and took it for their own.
When you make growing closer to God a pattern for your life, you become contagious. Those around you, and those who God sends you to, cannot help but catching it. What am I talking about? I am sure you have guessed. You become contagious with the loving presence of the
Good Shepherd. Jesus said, in John 15:15-17 (NKJV)
“No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I
heard from My Father I have made known to you. {16} You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. {17} These things I command you, that you love one another.”
I highly recommend that you honor the Lord’s words and “love one another” with a love that is so contagious it drives away all darkness and brings in the incredible, awesome and eternally loving presence of God.
If what I have shared encourages you, please take this to your family, friends and the mission field. God is the answer, and He is freely available to “whosoever calls on the name of the Lord.” For each of us, this is the foundation of our call, our duty and our opportunity. Do not miss the chance to experience the joy of answering the call and the chance to fulfill the duty. The divinely given opportunity to “INCREASE” will be worth every moment and every sacrifice.