John Bishop: When God Makes Your Lunch
6 December, 2011
John Bishop is the Senior Pastor of Living Hope Church in Vancouver, Washington. He longs for church to be a place where people live the values Jesus died for, and where lost people will find a safe place to hear a dangerous message. Johns first book ‘Dangerous Church’ was released in April 2011. It unfolds the very personal journey of John, and his entire church, as they walked out their dangerous faith, risking everything to reach the next one person for Christ.
Find out more about this growing ministry at johnbishop.tv
Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/john_bishop
When God Makes Your Lunch
First I want to say thanks to Pastors Brian and Bobbie Houston, Joel and Julia A’Bell and all of the Hillsong staff and leadership. Simply I am better and more devoted in following Jesus because I have been to Hillsong services, conferences, and meetings with so many leaders. I have learned what it means to be Jesus to our world and what it means to dream big and risk big. Thanks for being who you are in the lives of so many….including mine. Brian, God used you to make my lunch that day in Queensland.
It happens to most of us. At some point in ministry, we find ourselves running from God — running from his call on our lives, running from the weight of the serving, and for me running from the responsibility of being a dangerous church. If you haven’t already, you will eventually experience betrayal, failure, burnout, or rejection. You will feel overwhelmed by fear and anxiety. And you will start to wonder, “How did I get here? What do I do now?” Maybe you are there right now.
Many leaders have shared with me how they have had earth- shaking, mountaintop encounters with God only to quickly descend back to the reality of the valley a few days later. Such was literally the case for the Old Testament prophet Elijah.
During his confrontation with the false prophets of Baal, Elijah had his A-game on, physically and spiritually. He had a “mountain top” experience of God’s power, but after clearly winning the battle over his enemies, his Only God confidence quickly turned south as he discovered that Queen Jezebel was not impressed with his recent victory or his God. She had sent a messenger to him with these threatening words: “May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them [the prophets of Baal]” (1 Kings 19:2).
Many of you have likely heard words from others that have caused you to shrink back or perhaps even run from your God-given destiny. Sometimes, when the hurt becomes too much, our faith wavers; fear mounts and we (like Elijah) take a road trip.
Elijah not only ran; he ran as far as he could, in fact geographically to the end of the known world at that time. When he arrived at his destination, he told the Lord that he was done. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors,” he moaned to God" (1 Kings 19:4).
Elijah wasn’t just ready to quit the ministry; the dude was suicidal. How is that even possible? How can our confidence in God be destroyed so quickly with words from one single person?
In some ways, I can relate to Elijah. I had watched as God filled stadiums and blessed us with the launch of multiple campuses. I was confident that we were operating in unprecedented favor and blessing. Then, in just a few short days, I went from a strong confidence in the blessing of God to seriously wishing I had cancer again!
The wounds of betrayal and the words of destruction were very different from my physical battle with cancer. They weren’t as easily treated. They kept opening back up again, and each time they were reopened, it felt like a hopeless pit of despair.
Elijah loved, worshiped, and courageously served God. He was even willing to die for his faith, yet here we find him filled with doubts, on the run, ready to quit and contemplating suicide. Thankfully, God had not abandoned him.
In 1 Kings 19:5-8 we read this wonderful story of God’s loving care and provision for Elijah in the midst of his pain and discouragement: “Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, ‘Get up and eat!’ He looked around and saw some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat some more, for there is a long journey ahead of you.’ So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God.”
Boil it down to a single thought…..God was feeding Elijah. He was making his lunch — baked bread and a jar of water, a meal to nourish and sustain him during his depression, a meal that provided miraculous strength to continue his journey, food to sustain him while he ran away from God. When we are running from God, doubting his plans and ready to quit, God always makes our lunch.
When everything first fell apart at our church, I was in Australia. It was one of the lowest points of faith for me, and I had a few loving friends there with me. I just didn’t have words to speak what I was feeling. I felt afraid, confused, empty, abandoned, and useless to God. But during that time, God fed me. God took care of me, even when I didn’t know what I needed or how to take care of myself.
While I was afraid and filled with doubts, questioning my calling, God brought new friends into my life, including Brian & Bobbie Houston. I had been speaking at a pastors’ conference that day in Queensland, and that night sometime around midnight I ended up alone in the lobby of the hotel. Brian had happened to forget his Bible, was returning to get it, saw me, stopped and talked in what ended up becoming almost two hours.
Most of that time, I simply listened while he spoke incredible wisdom and encouragement into my life and ministry. Looking back, I can now see that God was feeding me lunch, a meal I desperately needed to continue my journey. I can attribute so much of where I am today to the ‘food’ I received that one night. Very literally - God made my lunch.
The depth of God’s love for us is most powerfully felt as He meets us in the deepest pain of our lives. When God makes our lunch, we rediscover the joy of depending on only God to meet our needs, and we relearn the gospel of his unbelievable grace, that the indescribable and incomparable love of God is more than enough for us every day, including that day when you are prone to forget.
My prayer is that today will be "that" day. I pray you will Remember God, you will remember His love for you, you will remember your passion to serve Him, and you will remember the good news of His grace, the grace that is more than enough to provide for you, sustain you, and heal you today. Let God make your lunch. Let him speak into your life through others. Like me, it will make the difference.
John Bishop
(Senior Pastor of Living Hope Church)
Find out more about this growing ministry at johnbishop.tv
Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/john_bishop
For more information on Hillsong Church please visit hillsong.com and follow on facebook.com/hillsongchurch and twitter.com/hillsong
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