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SVM2 (Student Volunteer Movement 2)
www.svm2.net |
September 2005 |
SVM2 is a grassroots student mission movement calling new message bearers to a life of abandoned devotion to Jesus Christ and the urgent global proclamation of His gospel.
IN BRIEF
1. Abandoned Devotion Reflection by Ryan Shaw
2. Global Proclamation Reflection by Daniel Schneider
3. A Global Prayer Movement among the Younger Generation
4. IGNITE Training Weekends This Month
5. Coming Soon in the Abandoned Times
6. Monthly Day of Prayer and Fasting
7. A Little Prayer with a Lot of Power
8. Are You a Message Bearer?
9. Recommended Books of the Month
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Abandoned Devotion Reflection |
NEW BEGINNINGS
By Ryan Shaw
Ryan is the director of Student Volunteer Movement 2 (SVM2) and is based in Dorchester, Ontario, Canada
A new academic year is upon us. God loves new beginnings. He is the God of new beginnings. It is His passion to open up to us new ideas, new paradigms of understanding, new victories, new freedoms from things which hold us captive, and a whole lot more in this new season. As you begin this academic year it is crucial to ask Him to show you the new beginnings He has ordained for you and what He would have you be about this year. We generally don’t take the time and energy to start fresh each year, but instead lean on what we’ve done in the past, whether or not it has brought about fruit and the purposes that God had for our time in the first place. In new seasons, we need new vision. This is a new season for you and God is waiting to give new vision to those who will seek Him for it and be serious about implementing it.
Is it a new beginning of relationship with Him? Maybe you’ve been involved in blatant sin and have justified it. He wants you to have a new beginning through His forgiveness, as you choose to pursue Him and walk in holiness this coming year. Is it a new beginning of taking His concerns upon yourself? Maybe the heart of your career ambitions haven’t matched up with the Word of God or you found yourself caring about things that had no eternal significance. What a perfect time to cast these off and to take on His yoke, which the Bible tell us are easy and light (Matthew 11:29). Is it a new beginning in relationships? Have you found your standards in dating dropping? Let this be the season where you re-commit yourself to purity and cease to be on the constant lookout for Mr. or Mrs. “Right”. Choose instead to become the future mate that God would have you be in character and spiritual wisdom, leaving the timing and the actualizing of this to Him.
Isaiah 43:18 & 19 declare a startling piece of God’s character. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” God, in essence, says, “I know everything that has gone on in your life, both positive and negative. I’ve seen how you have sought me and persistently followed me and I’ve seen the ways that I have shown myself strong on your behalf in the past. I’ve also seen your lack of diligence at times and your failings. I know everything there is that you think and do. And, in spite of all this I say to you to move on and turn your eyes to the things I have for you very soon. I will do outrageous things in your midst. You have not discerned my activity in your midst and I want you to have spiritual understanding. Commit your all to me and to my purposes in the world today and allow me to do impossible things in you and through you.”
I wonder how many new beginnings and seasons we have missed, because we didn’t discern God’s hand in our midst. So often we operate in the “business as usual” mode. But we are living in different and exciting times in the kingdom of God and if we want to see the outworkings of God in our lives and in the nations we must approach things differently. New things are coming…will we participate with God to receive them?
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Global Proclamation Reflection |
DO YOU BELEVE?
By Daniel Schneider
Daniel is an Area Coordinator with Student Volunteer Movement 2 (SVM2) in the Chicago Area. He is a recent grad of Moody Bible Institute
Do you believe? Do you believe Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole world? Do you believe the God we serve is in the business of doing the impossible? Do you believe Jesus Christ uses poor and broken people to deliver hope to a needy world? Do you believe our world is needy? Do you believe you live in a generation different then any other, a generation on fire to know and understand the heart of God? Do you believe God could use you to be a part of it?
Saints, please pray for spiritual eyes, because God is moving. Do you believe? In the past 25 years more Muslims have come to Christ then all of Church history combined. In Iran college students are looking for answers Islam doesn't have. Albania used to be one of the hardest communist countries to get into, now the Albanian Church desires to send its own missionaries. Do you believe? With goals of seeing the Bible translated in every language in the next 20 years, to wars opening up countries that never before were open. Do you believe? In Iraq the new president just told all the Christian workers to keep doing what they are doing, and if he could help with free land for Churches or tax free living to let him know. In the United States God is burdening hearts of students to pray for a movement, causing many Christian leaders to recognize our generation as passionate, reckless, and soft to the things of God's heart. Do you believe? Before September 11th
Afghanistan had a hand full of believers, and now they have reports of Church meetings up to 50 people. The problem is not figuring out if God is moving…the problem is believing!
The question is asked again, do you believe? God desires His people to look to him and believe Him for the impossible. Let's be a generation marked by believing impossible goals. What do we have to lose, if we already have given up everything? Thank you for being sensitive to the heart of God, but let's pray for God to do the impossible. Let's pray for God to penetrate the Muslim world. Let's pray for the greatest missionary movement in history. Let's pray for the fall of communism in North Korea. Let's pray for message bearer leaders out of America's top Ivy League schools. Let's pray for legislation to protect unborn children from being aborted. Let's pray against liberal theologians who tell the Church Jesus Christ is not the only way to God. What ever God burdens your heart for believe him to do the impossible in that arena. We don't need a revolution, we are the revolution!
Do you believe? A.W. Tozer tells us, "Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, 'What comes into your mind when you think about God?' We might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. Were we able to know exactly what our most influential leaders think of God today, we might be able with some precision to fore tell where the Church will stand tomorrow" (A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy). Let's join with our brothers and sisters all over the globe who believe high thoughts of God. Let's believe our God wants our generation to see Him work in ways He never has before in history. The way is suffering, the road is narrow, but the reward is great. Let's keep pressing on and let's join in a corporate vision to see the name of Jesus exalted in every tribe, tongue, and nation in our generation.
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A Global Prayer Movement among the Younger Generation |
God is calling the student generation around the world to engage in extremely practical ways with His throbbing heart for the nations. At the beginning of this new academic year, we want to challenge you to initiate one or numerous Global Prayer Teams on your campus or in your local church college and career fellowship. A Global Prayer Team is a small group of students or young adults praying weekly or more for the people’s of the world to be reached for Christ in our lifetime, local and global revival, and for a powerful increase of global mission vision on their campus on in their local church. We are calling for 50,000 Global Prayer Teams to be raised up around the world to help build spiritual momentum. We have sat on the sideline for too long allowing the youth culture globally to minimize the call of God to
devoted and fervent corporate prayer for God’s kingdom to be established around the world.
For more info and to launch a Global Prayer Team in your community of believers visit www.SVM2.net and join the growing Global Prayer Team network or contact info@SVM2.net. A Global Prayer Team Guide, which envisions, teaches, equips, and gives tons of practical ideas and examples to help anyone launch and sustain a committed, effective, and vibrant Global Prayer Team, is available for a small, suggested donation of $3 including shipping at http://www.svm2.net/page/page/1931236.htm.
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IGNITE Training Weekends this Month |
One of the greatest needs student leaders have is for information and vision for how to effectively mobilize their campuses or local churches for the nations. God has used student mission movements throughout history to bring forth new waves of message bearers who are sent, those who stand behind them in faithful prayer and intercession, and those who commit to support them financially. Currently, there is a void concerning any united mission thrust in the student world. IGNITE training weekends serve to equip, envision, and connect student leaders who have a desire to stir a thriving and deeply impacting student mission movement in their community and be linked with multitudes of other campuses pursuing the same vision. They are being held very early in the academic year purposefully to give student leaders the whole year to influence their communities with the vision and information gleaned. If you are a student leader and have a passion for spreading the vision of reaching the nations in our lifetime, you should attend IGNITE! They will take place in the following cities this month:
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Calgary, Alberta,
Canada (at Rocky Mountain Bible College) – September 23-25
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Los Angeles, California (at Biola University) – September 30 – October 2
Go to http://www.svm2.citymaker.com/page/page/1931229.htm and register to let us know you will be attending and to get detailed info. There is a $50 suggested donation for the weekends due upon arrival at the event.
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Coming Soon in the Abandoned Times |
The Abandoned Times will be expanding over the next months. It is our desire to most effectively serve the student world with specific information regarding ways to serve God in the global harvest, in particular with unreached peoples. There are numerous ways to effectively do this and we want to provide you with information necessary related to some central issues for you to go to the next level of understanding different arenas of global ministry. In the coming months, we plan to include blurbs on the following subjects:
I. Justice Issues & Serving Among The Poor
II. Children at Risk
III. Muslim Evangelism
IV. Reaching Unreached University Campuses Globally
V. Cross-Cultural Church Planting
VI.
Using Your Degree in Cross-Cultural Ministry
We will highlight 2 of these per month. Each of these writings will be from an expert in the given arena. This will be a tool and a resource that you do not want to miss!!!!
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Monthly Day of Prayer and Fasting |
As we resume the academic year, we want to commit ourselves afresh to fasting and prayer for the nations to be opened spiritually for millions of people to receive the glorious reality of Jesus into their lives and for our generation to actively respond to God’s beckoning and participate with Him in the global harvest. If you’ve never fasted, there is no time like the present to begin. Fasting doesn’t change God, it changes us to become more sensitive to what God is saying and how to participate with Him in prayer. This is why it should be accompanied (as often as possible) with prayer.
Every 2nd of the month will be devoted to prayer and fasting. Join hundreds of others committed to crying out to God on that day for a mighty and contagious student mission movement to grip this generation and for the way in the nations to be broken wide open for the Word of God to run swiftly. Gather your friends together on campus, in your church, or in your dorm room, and seek His face in prayer and intercession with all your heart! Remember to spend the day fasting from food as well and giving the extra time to seeking God on behalf of the least reached and forgotten around the world.
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A Little Prayer with a Lot of Power |
The following is a short prayer that can be easily recited and easily memorized to continuously put before God, even as the widow continued to hound the unjust judge in Jesus’ parable (Luke 18:1-8). We know this parable is God’s call to us to be relentless in our intercession efforts and to not lose heart but continue pressing in, knowing that there will come a point in time when God says, “Alright, the bowls of heaven are filled up with your prayers, now I am going to answer you with a mighty downpour.” I encourage you to memorize and pray the following on a regular basis, even many times a day.
“Oh Father…Lord of the Nations, raise up 100,000 message bearers who are zealous for Your name, full of humility and of the power of the Holy Spirit, and bring forth a mighty harvest of 10 million souls from the hardest places around the world for your glory.”
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Are You a Message Bearer? |
God is raising up hundreds of people who are committing themselves to the Message Bearer Creed and stating their intentions to do their part in reaching the nations for Christ and spreading the vision of getting involved to their peers while still in college, university, or in their local church. You can do so as well! We want to help you in your journey to the nations and provide resources that may prove
key for you in your process. Go to http://www.svm2.citymaker.com/messagebearers.html and find out more about this challenge and commitment and join what God is doing in this generation!!
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Recommended Books of the Month |
Abandoned Devotion (A book that stirs you deeper in your inner life)
Global Proclamation (A book related to reaching the world for Christ)
SVM2 Abandoned Times
Phone: 519.268.8778 / Fax: 519.268.2787
Email: info@svm2.net / Website: www.SVM2.net
If your are not on our monthly e-news mailing list and would like to be included, contact us at info@svm2.net Any other questions, or to be removed from this mailing, may also be directed to info@svm2.net or simply hit "reply". Thankyou.
SVM2 Team
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