IBS Application for 2 Timothy 2:2

“...and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”

We, as Class 14 of Ignite, have been truly blessed to be a part of the Lord’s plan to build his kingdom. We’ve not quite finished our training, and the Lord is still working in us, but the reality of what we’re getting ready to do our in the field is setting in. We’re all about to step out into the battlefield, where the real spiritual warfare is happening. And like good soldiers, we need to be able to remain strong and steadfast both in the heat of battle and to not become entangled in the civilian pursuits of the world.

As I write this, we’ve all just received our commission, just last night, in fact. We have the mission to go start making disciples of the nations. That much was stated by Christ prior to His ascension. But what does that mean for us? “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” We’ve been a part of this process, and we’ve been given the charge to entrust what we’ve heard from our teachers to people in our field locations, so that they too might teach those who come after them about the Gospel and disciple them.

We’ve been trained to withstand the battles, but the real test will be in weathering the time in between the fights. 90 percent of what we’re doing out in the field isn’t spent in the fight. And it’s full of distractions and temptations. We must be on guard at all times against the “civilian pursuits” of the world so that when time comes to start fighting against the enemy, we’re all in our proper positions, working together and doing what our team is there to do. This will require that we all keep short accounts with each other as we’re out on the field, asking for constant outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us, spending time in prayer with each other that our hearts might be guarded against these temptations, and having constant vigilance for any wolves that may seek to disrupt the peace of our sheepfolds.

While to the world this all may seem to be too daunting of a task for a group consisting of mostly twenty-something millennials to accomplish. But the God of Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David, Nehemiah, Peter, John, and Paul is our God, too. And He is on our side. He is the strength that is made perfect in our weakness, and oh, how weak we are! He is the God of grace and mercy, who has showered us with His love in such a way that we will not be able to contain it, no matter where we go! His Spirit is upon us all, and He leads us as we are about to embark on this journey. And like good soldiers of the Lord, we will fulfill our mission. Of this, I have no doubt.

My application for this IBS will be to spend time in prayer every day that I am back home that the enemy would not be able to gain an edge in the fights, but that by the grace and power of the Lord, the enemy would be on the run from us out on the field. I will pray for unity amongst our teams, that we would all have the same heart and mind amongst us all, and that we would not forget the love that we all share for each other. I will pray that we all will be increased in our faithfulness to the Lord that we might be faithful to each other in keeping short accounts with each other on the field. And above all else, I will pray that God would be glorified over the next six months through us, and that we would see revival in our field locations!