Simon Honours

Chapter 1 Give Me One I want to talk to you about Pray for One, and why it is important to your faith. Pray to One is not an evangelistic program, or some trendy way to church growth Most of us have had enough of those, we want something real, something tangible That is exactly what Pray to One is, something very different, a practical way to connect to God, to others, and to the mission of Jesus it’s awesome, and its purposeful, and it is for everyone. At its heart, Pray for One encourages us to become like Jesus, and thus do what he would do What does that mean though? It means understanding what Jesus was like, what motivated Him, and trying to follow that path at all times. To understand what is inside His heart, think about what Jesus taught us about the shepherd and his sheep. If a shepherd has 100 sheep and One of them wanders away, he will leave the 99 to look for the One That is Jesus, and he was passionate about finding the One. As true followers of Jesus, that must be our mission too. Not just our mission, but our passion, to continue Jesus’ work to find the One. This mission does not have to be complicated, in fact it shouldn’t be complicated, it should be our passion to follow. We can do that by asking God to give us One person, just One, to share His love with. When we Pray for One we are asking God to place someone, anyone in our paths to share the gospel with. Each time we pray, we pray for One, instead of focusing on ourselves during prayer, we focus on the One. Know that you are requesting the expressed will of Christ as you pray for One. What this actually is, is repentance in its purest form. This means to adopt a new world view. As you see everything through the eyes of Jesus and His mission, to seek and save the lost, that worldview will change. As Scripture tells us, offering our bodies to the Lord will allow us to be transformed with the renewing of our minds. That is Pray for One. It will change the very core of your purpose for living, because when you truly want what Jesus wants, life finally makes sense. No day is wasted, because we arise in the morning with a true sense of mission and purpose. To find the One. Because we never know where the One will be, it causes us to engage with everyone, look them in the eye, treat everyone as Jesus would, because that next person could be the One. Pray for One puts us in the right place to be fully used by God, and His Kingdom will grow exponentially. One becomes two, two becomes four, four becomes eight, eight becomes sixteen, and so on, as each of your Ones begins to pray for One too. We can start right now, Let’s Pray. “Give me One” Chapter 2 Once You Name It…You Are Responsible for It Praying for One is simple, direct and has a wonderful effect on your life, so it’s time to get started, right? The thing is, it really is simple, we mean it, Pray for One is for everyone We can begin to Pray for One with a simple, general prayer. Just pray and ask God to give you One person to share His love with. Who it is doesn’t matter, it could be anyone, that is the beauty of Praying for One. This kind of prayer, and that change in attitude that makes you open to everyone, because everyone can be the One. It makes you evangelistically available all the time, like never before. You will take an interest in everyone, looking for opportunity to share your love of Jesus like never before. The passion of His mission will fill you, drive you on, and you will be amazed the way people open up to the story of Christ and His love in response. What is thrilling is that sometimes, you can Pray for One and God will lay a specific name on your heart. It could be anyone, family, friend, co-worker, who do not yet know Jesus. But when you have that name, it is your responsibility to share God’s love with them. Once you name something, you are responsible for it. Pray for that person, by name, every day, and you will look at them differently, they will become your One. Praying will not be enough, you will be compelled to take action, ask God to use you to share His love with them. You feel responsible for them, and it feels good. It feels good because you are now more than a recipient of Christ’s Kingdom, you are not actively building His Kingdom, what better place is there to be? That passionate responsibility transforms your life with new meaning, love will flow through you like never before. You will plead for the One with passion, you will be responsible for them, as Jesus reveals Himself through you. We are each responsible for our One, and there are so many out there. So many who have yet to find the way, lost, instead of safe with Jesus. And we are responsible. Praying for One brings the reality of Christ’s mission to you, and gives you the love, passion and drive to give yourself to completing that mission every day. Praying for One allows you to be consumed with sharing God’s love, and you plead with the Father for the lost to be found. That responsibility cannot be rationalized away, your life will have purpose, no more excuses. You Pray for One, and then you go get that One. Chapter 3 Expertly Complicated Faith is a wonderful gift, we all know it, we all experience it. But how has Christianity become so complicated? In the beginning, Jesus entrusted His Church to ordinary people People who believed in His mission so deeply and completely, they would die for Him They shared the simple gospel to all they could find, and had no time to complicate anything. As they did so, the Lord added to their numbers with those being saved Things have come a long way since then, Christianity has transitioned into a state religion, an organized entity of its own, and it has now become big business. Through all that, and frequent power struggles, the mission was sometimes lost. Through all this, one thing is certain though. Jesus never gave up on His Church. We are his only plan, and despite some failings, the Church still prevails. It is the light of the world. And here we find simplicity again. Light either shines or it does not. The Church is the same. Right now, that light is shining very brightly, with more people knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior than ever before. The question is, are we contributing to that wonderful light? Let us start with religious experts. Think about that label for a moment, a religious expert. What does it even mean? So-called Religious experts seem to be people who overcomplicate the message, making it inaccessible to others. Why would anyone want to do that? There are real religious experts, but you won’t find them writing books or giving pop-culture seminars, you will find them out there, caring for others, spreading the simple message of gospel and showing faith and love for God. Simple is effective, we can move away from the academics of Christianity and become disciples of Jesus, and Church will grow because of it. We Pray for One, we find the One, and they join us. We then Pray for One. The beauty of faith is its simplicity. Faith works, Praying for One works. It works because when any of us finds Jesus immediately wants to share their good news, to spread the word to others. By Praying for One, that is what we do in its purest form. When Church overcomplicates this process, adding other goals, that immediacy and simplicity is lost. We all need to overcome agendas, insecurities and selfishness, focus on His Mission, and share the Love for Him. Church is the body of Christ, we are here to do His work. His work is saving people. Pray for One, and his work will be done. Pray for One can change the modern Church, and we can start right now. “God, please give me One person to share your love with today. Amen.” Chapter 4 The Cost of Free When we think about cost, our thoughts always turn to money. But here is the thing, money is transient, numbers on a computer, they come and go. Identity is the only thing of value that any of us truly possess. Your house, car, clothes, watches, jewelry, all of these have zero eternal value. They will pass away over time. You, your identity, that is of value, because all Jesus wants is you. He wants us all to be His disciples, to be like him. But discipleship is one of things Church likes to complicate, it becomes a process of classes and programs. The idea is that the more we learn, the more we will be like Jesus. Is that really the case? Practical experience tells us no, it does not. Yet we still follow biblical stuffiness instead of Jesus Himself, the mission replaced with the drive to be smarter than everyone else. The Bible itself has become the weapon to turn us away from His mission, distracting us with arguments over the petty nuances of scripture, when we should be building His Kingdom. Never forget, the Bible is fantastic, it contains guidance and inspiration for us all. But we do not worship the Bible, we worship Jesus. Discipleship is not Bible study, it is following Jesus, and we must never replace following Him with following the Bible, else we lose our way. The Bible is a wonderful tool for discipleship, but it must be read through the lens of Jesus to be the aid we all need. That simply means, consider who Jesus is and what His mission is before applying scripture to daily life. Failure to do this means scripture can be taken out of context, and distorted to fit whatever purpose we desire. That should upset us all, and the wasted effort spent on false discipleship should, and does, disturb everyone. It is important to retain clarity, discipleship is nothing other than following Jesus and doing what He did, to carry out His mission for our Salvation. Loving God with everything you have is the key to Salvation, and to do that fully, Peter said we must repent and be baptized. Baptism is the physical experience connected to the emotional and mental surrender to Jesus. It is the core of commitment to discipleship. But Baptism has become a battleground for theology, and the beauty of Baptism, one of Gods greatest gifts to His children, has been lost to many. Embracing Baptism allows us to experience God completely, with our entire being. His salvation, that completely transforms us. Baptism allows us to become God’s mind, body and soul. Salvation is a free gift from God, but it will cost you everything to receive it. Give to Him freely, everything you have. Pray for One is a way to lay down your life every day, taking up the mission of Jesus, and the road to Salvation. Chapter 5 One Prayer Does it All One thing we should all understand about discipleship, is that it is not a linear process, it is an organic, evolving experience different for each of us. That has not stopped attempts to regiment it though, courses with a list of instructions and classes to take, and suddenly, at the end you are a bona fide follower of Jesus. This is a problem, how many have completed these courses and reached the end, with no real idea what comes next. This is the problem, when you are taught to follow a process, not Jesus, what happens when the process ends? We do not need systems, hurdles to jump to say we are disciples, we just need Jesus, and for His love to flow through us. Followers of Jesus do three great things, love God, love people, and make more disciples. That is all we need. To Pray for One with genuine intent is to carry out all three at once. By asking God to give us One person to share His love with, we are connecting deeply with Jesus, carrying out His mission. That connection ensures we love Him with unparalleled passion. Most prayers are attempts to convince God to do our will. To place ourselves at the center of the universe and for God to obey us. But it is impossible to truly follow Jesus if our primary concern is with our own needs. Prosperity preaching in any form is an abomination and disregard for His message and His mission. Some are obvious, the TV ‘give to get’ crowd, we may even laugh at them, but there are less obvious, far more dangerous versions that can fool us all if we are not careful. Found within mainstream Christianity is the idea that following Jesus is a path to prosperity, health and the American Dream. This twisting of the idea of building God’s Kingdom into the idea of enhancing each individual’s kingdom is subtler than the TV evangelists, but because of that, it is perhaps more dangerous. When the focus is on how we personally benefit from following Jesus, then the true function of disciples, to create more disciples, is lost. Without more disciples being created, there are no disciples at all. Jesus did not die so that His Church could turn inwards and compare scripture knowledge, lifestyles and happiness. His chief concern is to seek and save the lost. That is our mission, to do anything else is to do something other than follow Jesus. This is why Pray for One is so important. Pray for One means people will be saved. God will answer, and His Kingdom will grow. Pray for One means fulfilling God’s will, to carry on His mission, to respond to the calling of Jesus Pray for One means we engage with everyone we meet, because they could all be the One. Pray for One, and we are true disciples of Jesus. Chapter 7 Why Not Double? Imagine day one of Pentecost. The Lord added 3,000 people to the Church’s number. How did those Church leaders manage such instant growth? The truth is they didn’t manage it, in fact not managing it, but simply letting growth happen, was key to the rapid spread of the gospel. They did not give much through to infrastructure, they focused on the fact there were more people in the Kingdom of Heaven, and that Jesus would return at any moment. That day is not the only time the Church has received a huge growth in numbers, God always delivers when the Church needs Him. The Holy Spirit stirs within the hearts of believers and they become completely unsatisfied with anything less than God’s best. They begin to question. They start to pray expectantly. They visualize lost people being saved God helps, and the harvest is plentiful Praying for One triggers a release of evangelical energy too. As one becomes two, and two become four, Praying for One is a demand for exponential growth. That growth is absorbing, it enthralls us, and soon life is no longer about building personal kingdoms, but the real mission, to build Christ’s Kingdom, is dominant. This can be scary for some, those who love to keep control of their world will struggle, wondering how to contain such growth. Some may feel insignificant in the growing numbers. Others may have real problems as they finally realize that the church is not all about them. Some may even voice complaints, that there is too much focus on finding the lost. If you are confronted with these views, remember this. The Church’s mission is His mission. And His mission is to seek and save the lost. There can never be too much focus on the lost, because they ARE the mission. For some, who have been told for so long that church was about them, the change in aim can be too much to comprehend. And that is why Pray for One is so crucial. Pray for One brings everyone together, a unified mission. It provides everyone with a focus, and connects us with God. God shifts the focus of all who Pray for One, it helps that transition for those who would otherwise struggle, God helps us through Pray for One. If we pray for One and make a way for One, then there will be more people in the Kingdom of Heaven. Each time we Pray for One, we double the numbers in His Kingdom. We should never settle for less, and if Christians would just keep doubling, then soon the world will be within reach of the love of Jesus. Chapter 8 Risky Business Praying for One is incredible, but it is not safe, it is not cheap, it is risky, because it leads you to a new place, beyond your established limits. Praying for One removes all the barriers, all those things you were sure you would never do, even for God. You will have conversations others would shy away from, you will reach out to people other churches would shun, you will throw caution to the wind to meet that One and grown His Kingdom. You will be in the divine flow of the Holy Spirit, and it’s going to get crazy. But that is a good thing, following Jesus is supposed to be crazy, and it should be adventurous. After all, flowers of Christ are strangers on this earth, ambassadors for a better home, for us, this is an out of this world experience. That is all lost if we get too comfortable here in this place. Pray for One reminds us where we belong, lifting us from the Christian clichés, enveloping us in Christ’s love and the will to do what is needed, no matter what it is that is needed, nor how far from our own comfort zones it takes us. Christians are often tempted to sayings that promise safety and control, such as “The safest place in the world to be is at the center of God’s will.” But that is not true really, it is a Good place to be, but safe? There are no promises of personal protection in following Jesus, and some simply cannot cope with that. The idea that God would never let anything “bad” happen to us is a pervading idea throughout Christianity, and it is for one’s own peace of mind it does so, not for any other reason. In fact, this idea that to do God’s will is safe can be reduce the effectiveness of Praying for One. If your main focus is self-preservation, then Praying for One cannot succeed. We cannot save the lost in the dangerous places is we are not willing to go there ourselves. Christians are followers of Christ, we do what he did, and he gave His life in ransom for many. He explicitly told us that that whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Christ’s sake will gain eternity. Those who convince themselves that flowing Christ is a safe path are not listening to the words he said. Praying for One will pull you from that comfort zone, inconvenience you and transform you. You will talk to people who you would perhaps never even acknowledge before, go places you would never go. When you Pray for One Jesus will conquer all your fears, prejudices and insecurities, allowing you to follow His mission. Pray for One and God’s Kingdom will grow. Chapter 9 And then it gets weird Normalcy. When did that become the ultimate goal? You must have heard it often “I just want a normal life”. But think about that for a minute, how do you judge what is ‘normal’? You have to compare yourself to others, and that is the route to envy, coveting, competition and pride. A dark place to go. Jesus tells us to Love our neighbors, and we cannot do that if normalcy is what we seek. To be Christian is to enjoy the love of Christ, an out of this world experience. We can agree, that such an experience is certainly not normal. But that is OK. Christians cannot be normal, the Bible itself tells us this, referring to Christians as strangers and aliens. Being normal is not what we really want, it is what our self-esteem demands of us. Praying for One brings balance, helping you navigate the self-esteem issues that drive the need for normal, and ineffectiveness and purposelessness that go with it. To follow Christ’s command and love your neighbor, you need a godly view of self, that you are connected to God. Praying for One maintains that connection, giving you purpose in the pursuit of His mission. It compels you to take action, to complete His mission wherever it takes you. You will never be normal when Praying for One, and that is. This is where things start to get really weird. Tour prayers for One will be answered by God, sometimes in the craziest of ways, your One will appear in the strangest of places, or the most bizarre circumstances. It could be someone you actively dislike, someone you meet at the gym, someone with views you cannot ever agree with, or someone you would never associate with until you began Praying for One. You may meet your One through a series of events so unlikely that it is barely believable, but it will happen. God will guide you to your One, and it can often be the weirdest way. Weird then, is not to be feared. Weird is good. Praying for One empowers your connection to God, there is no doubt about that connection once you begin Praying for One. Because no human could create what unfolds once that journey begins. Weird works in a world where normal is sin and selfishness. In that world, giving in to His divine nature in the pursuit of Christ can leave us totally dependent of Jesus. But in that beautiful place of submission, there is where we become truly available to God. Becoming His resource to accomplish His will, and people will be saved. Because weird works. Chapter 10 A Tale of Two Kingdoms Each day of our lives, every one of us has a critical choice to make. We can choose to live to build our own personal kingdom, or we can live to build Christ’s eternal Kingdom. If you truly want to build Christ’s Kingdom, that is a choice you must make every single day. The reality is, our default choice is to pursue our own personal kingdom, influenced by our culture, which center around selfishness, greed and self-glorification. That is the message our world projects to us constantly, “look out for number one”. The power of Pray for One is that it makes that choice for us, and causes us to participate in building Christ’s Kingdom. It also makes the phrase “look out for number one” take on a whole new meaning. Each One is one more for the Kingdom of Heaven, one more person Jesus died for. When we look out for number one, the focus is not on ourselves, but on finding One more for Jesus. If we do not Pray for One, then our lives revert to the default, building a worthless, temporary kingdom for ourselves. To avoid this, we need to reevaluate The temptation is always to divide our lives into activates, this is when I work, this is when I serve God, this is when I spend time with family. But what happens if Jesus calls at times allotted for something else? Jesus does not wait, and if we refuse to do His work, the task remains undone. To follow Christ, we cannot compartmentalize in this way, we must be available constantly, whenever He needs us, it is a founding principal for following Christ. You cannot put a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign up for God. We can make the choice to be always available through Praying for One. It places us at the ready for when Jesus calls. When we Pray for One, there is no ‘me time’, just ‘Jesus time’, and we will not fall to the need to divide up our lives. However, Praying for One does not guarantee success. God will answer, and present us with opportunities. God will give you the love in your heart that compels us to seek out the lost, and God will place the lost directly in our paths. But we must still make the choice to share His love with them, to choose which Kingdom you will build. This is a crucial lesson, failure is an option. If we do not follow God’s plan, and not reach out to that One, then they remain lost. We fail. We must all embrace that reality, that we can fail, to ensure that we take action and do not fail. The alternative is to live in a land of make believe where it will all work out no matter what we do. But it will not. We must recognize our own ability to fail, and ensure that we do not. Complacency itself is failure. We must always, always actively choose to build God’s Kingdom through Praying for One. There are two kingdoms to choose from, and in the end, there will be just one. Make the choice to build the Kingdom of Heaven. Chapter 11 I Triple Dog Dare You Easter is a truly special time of celebration, because the resurrection of Jesus is the single greatest event to happen on Planet Earth. It is a holiday of revival, reminding us of the beauty of new life. But for me, the Easter Baskets are the thing I looked forward to most as a child. That exciting search for candy, finding the basket full of fake grass, with plastic eggs crammed with all kinds of treats, and that magnificent chocolate bunny in the middle. I remember the Easter my parents decided I was a little too old for candy eggs, and needed to begin to learn about the meaning of Easter. My basket did not contain the candy, but instead some gardening tools and flower seeds. I did not take the lack of candy very well and proclaimed that Easter was ruined! Later on, as my Mother and Sister went outside to plant her seeds and create a flower garden, I sulked. I didn’t want anything to do with those seeds, and threw them on a shelf in my room. Weeks later, my sister ran through the house looking for the camera, very excited about something in the backyard. Wondering what the fuss was about, I followed my sister and Mother out to the yard, only to see that those seeds she planted at Easter had grown, and now the little flower garden had bloomed and was awash with color. It looked amazing, and all I had was a packet of seeds on a shelf. I realized then, I had missed out on something great. This is something that I return to often, and it is a feeling that many who claim to follow Christ will have at the end. They want to look back and see a flower garden, but just see seeds on a shelf. Jesus calls for us to be part of His mission, to seek out and save the lost. We should be building His Kingdom, not simply be recipients of His Kingdom. We must go out to plant, cultivate and harvest, he tells us in Mathew 28:18-20. When we receive the gift of salvation, we also receive the gift of seeds, to fulfil God’s desire that none shall perish. If we keep those seeds on a shelf, rather than cultivating them, then God’s will cannot be done. In fact, we can celebrate Easter every day by planting those seeds. We can actually witness the resurrection of Christ within new believers. Praying for One empowers this, it makes every single day a seed planting day. By Praying for One, planting seeds, carrying out His mission, we grow His Kingdom every day. Some may look at that and think that it cannot be that simple. Some may struggle with the possibility of rejection, or how they will look to others, worried about looking pushy or too religious. But those are just excuses. Praying for One destroys them, because when you Pray for One God changes your heart, he gives you the strength you need. You should try Praying for One, after all what do you have to lose? Pray for One today. I dare you. I triple dog dare you.