Mission Accomplished

1/11/2023

Written By: Frieda Dowler

I’m a fan of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series. I like it because a complex plan comes together against the odds. In December, season three was released, binge worthy streaming during the holidays.

The successful outcome of Ryan’s mission depended on cooperation and trust among his comrades working with the CIA. One second of hesitation would have resulted in WWIII. But the intelligence network was committed to the mission, and the mission was keeping peace among nations. The enemy’s agenda was war. Each person involved fulfilled his assignment and accomplished the mission.

After watching the last episode, an analogy came to me of how the Holy Spirit operates. God is head of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Holy Spirit is the head of God’s intelligence network. We in the church are comrades who carry out God’s mission of peace. The word peace in Hebrew is shalom, and we learned a few weeks ago from Pastor Josh that means wholeness.

The Holy Spirit communicates to each an assignment for the mission. Then it is up to us to fulfill our part. But also to trust our comrades to fulfill their part without concerning ourselves over whether they will do what they are supposed to do. The mission will not be accomplished without the help of others. Learning to trust the Holy Spirit’s personal promptings and learning to trust the Holy Spirit’s promptings in our family [of God] members is key to accomplishing the mission.

God has an assignment for each in fulfilling His mission. Without each of us cooperating in the way we should, the mission is likely to fail. We get to be a part of accomplishing His mission on a smaller scale at Victory. We have a mission of shalom to bring to our community. When we each take part, we will bring light into the darkness. The Bible says this:

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all.
There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.
God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
To one person, the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another, the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.
The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else, the one Spirit gives the gift of healing.
He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still, another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.
It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. - I Cor. 12:4 - 12 NIV.

But we have an enemy trying to sabotage these peaceful efforts. Satan will plant seeds of doubt that we don’t matter or we can’t make a difference. He will challenge us to stay

independent and not cooperate with others in bringing about this mission. He will say we are not good enough. Satan is continually trying to make war against the saints by causing doubt. But he is a liar.

Like Jack Ryan, we are seeking peace amid a warring nation. We must depend on God’s head of intelligence, the Holy Spirit, in order to navigate our way. But also, we must depend on each other’s commitment to fulfill their assignment.

God’s mission is shalom in our lives, our relationships, our church, and our community. Jesus, Prince of Peace, came to show peace to the world. When He returned to the father, He left the Holy Spirit to help accomplish this mission through individuals, against the odds.

If you want to know what your assignment is, pray and ask God. You may already know your assignment, but if not, go to the Victory App. Tap the Next Steps box and scroll to Gifts. Tap the Learn More button. Then tap the Take an Assessment button. It will open to Take Gifts Assessment, where you will find a questionnaire that requires about 20 minutes. It will help determine your strong serving gift and the DISC Assessment will help predict your strengths and weaknesses in your serving capacity.

For further study, read the entire chapter of 1 Cor. 12.