The concept of being a servant is not highly esteemed today, as we live in an age where our theology in the church at large seems to have focused on personal gain and social gain, power, influence, authority and individual greatness. The Bible says that Jesus took upon Himself the form of a servant and in doing this He teaches us that heaven's order is completely reversed from the world's order. Carter Conlon reminds us that serving Christ and then serving others unlocks power and revelation. You may feel trampled, pounded, unappreciated and passed by, but as a servant you have found the secret of spiritual strength! Take heed — the last will be first and the first will be last!

God is always ready to give us faith for a new thing but are we ready — do we desire it? So many times we hold on to the things of old — the brokenness or blessing of yesterday — but God wants to speak a new thing. To man so much is impossible, but to God all things are possible. There are four convictions that need to take place in us for this faith:

• Conviction with a calling — God is calling our name
• Conviction with a commitment — God’s commitment to us
• Conviction with a choice — What I do affects others
• Conviction with a commission — We are called with our brothers and sisters for a purpose to make Him known

However, a new thing will not take place until we allow the Spirit of God to confront the things that are in our life.

If faith is going to emerge in difficult days we will be invited by Jesus to follow Him into the supernatural. We might not always like these places but if we trust the leading of the Holy Spirit we will be led into situations that will increase our faith. We might not understand all that is going on but we can trust that God knows our future and He has everything under control. In these times we must stand in the presence of God until He gives us what we need for every situation.

Philippi, unlike other cities of that time, didn’t have temples or cultic worship of gods, but instead had a culture of hero worship. It is into this culture of masculinity, dominance, and power that God called Paul — a small frail Jewish man with bad hearing. Amongst these war heroes God started the Philippian church using a woman, a teenage slave girl, and a suicidal jailer. It isn’t by man’s strength that God works, but by grace — a supernatural empowering of willing vessels. We are saints of Christ, called to speak grace into our own lives and the lives of others. Living a grace-filled life brings about the peace of God.

Jesus is reaching out to those who are spiritually dead and offers them supernatural life through the power of the Holy Spirit. There is an emptiness that God has planted in the heart of man that eventually makes us miserable. God will move heaven and earth to save one soul. This life is made available through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son of God! This is all about getting a new life, not about religion. God's mercy reaches out to all those who are dead in their sin.

When we think of the victory of the cross we have to remind ourselves that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all our sins and we are forgiven in Christ. At the cross Jesus bore all our grief and sorrows. All guilt and condemnation is lifted because of His blood. At the cross mercy and peace took on a human face. Jesus Christ made a covenant with His Father and His blood brings us everlasting peace.

In the book of Genesis, Abram (or Abraham) has three encounters with his nephew Lot and the city of Sodom. Each time, he engages in a different type of faith. In one encounter he engages in passive faith — turning the situation over to God and trusting Him and His goodness. On another occasion he engages in prayerful faith — interceding with the belief that prayer can move the heart and hand of God. The final type, and often most difficult to engage in, is active faith — when God calls us to take action and be a part of what He is doing.