The church in Tanzania, Africa has been going through the fire of persecution and all who serve the Lord, regardless of denomination, are marked men and women by the radical Islamists in the country. Many churches have been burned and there has been much suffering...and the church's love for Jesus is burning white-hot and they do not love their lives but are willing to lay them down for the Name of Jesus and the sake of His Kingdom.

There was a word from the Lord given to a priest in Tanzania several years ago. It was a word of rebuke from the Lord. This word was confirmed by all the leadership of all the Christian denominations in Tanzania. The Lord said that His church was not using the gifts he had given to it to do the work of ministry. Some were using only one, maybe two, but others were ignoring God's gifts of the Spirit. Persecution was going to come so that the church would see clearly its need for all God had provided.

The Lord speaks through the Prophet Joel (Joel 2:23-32) that He will pour out His Spirit on all people, young and old, male and female and that they will receive dreams from Him, prophetic word to speak from Him. They would receive power from on High to to the work of God's Kingdom.

The work of God can only be done by the power of God. We are not sufficient in ourselves to think of anything as "coming from ourselves". Jesus Christ is our sufficiency. God would not pour out His Spirit on the church in power as He did on Pentecost IF the church did not need this anointing to live and continue to do the ministry of Jesus. Peter quotes the Joel passage on the Day of Pentecost. It came to pass. It is here. It is necessary if we are to really follow Jesus.

The Lord would not pour out the power of the Holy Spirit on His church IF we did not need all He had to give to be effective in His Kingdom's mission. God does not give superfluously. He gives with purpose and expects us to join with Him, to receive all He has to give in order to do all He will ask us to cooperate with Him in.

When Jesus rescues a person and makes of them a son or daughter of God, He gives each believer a spiritual gift (Romans 12:6-8). That gift, as we yield to the Holy Spirit and are clothed with power from on High, provides a foundationary motivation, a sense of meaning and purpose in our lives as we follow Jesus.

Being gifted and empowered by God, we can begin to function in ministry (partial list in Ephesians 4:11-13 & 1 Peter 4:10-11)with the expectation that the Holy Spirit WILL manifest Himself through us (1 Corinthians 12:7-11) to meet the ministry need at hand. We see all these things manifested in the life and earthly ministry of Jesus. The mission and ministry that the church has been given is nothing less than the ministry and mission of Jesus. he meant it when He said, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." (John 20:21)

Our call to mission and ministry has everything to do with Jesus. It is not about us, or making a "name" for ourselves. It is about Jesus becoming known through the lives we live and the grace He extends through us in the Holy Spirit's power. We have nothing to boast in, but everything to rejoice in.