Vision relates to the ability to see. People with “vision” are people who are able to see beyond what exists to what is possible. What is more, they are gripped by those possibilities and devote themselves to seeing them come into being.

 

The Ezra Ministry has a vision. It is the vision of a host of spiritually mature Christian men and women impacting the world for Christ.

Christian Spiritual Life
Christian men and women are meant to be alive to the invisible but real spiritual world. That is because God is a spiritual being and we were created to live in relationship with him. He made us able to know him, communicate with him, and respond to him. He means our lives to be centred in him. The Apostle Paul captured this when he spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ being our “life” (Colossians 3:3), and of living and walking “in the Spirit” (Galatians 5: 16, 25).

 

Such a life is not natural to us. Our natural condition is one of isolation from and antagonism toward God. In that state we are “dead” to God and the powers of his invisible spiritual kingdom (Ephesians 2:1). Only as we are made alive with Christ through the power of God’s Spirit can we begin to interact with him as we were meant to (Ephesians 2:5).

Living interactively with God through Christ by the Spirit is something that we grow in over time. There are degrees in which we experience it – degrees of reality, depth and consistency. The Ezra Ministry is dedicated to assisting the development of spiritual lives that have depth, stability and influence.

Spiritual Maturity
The Apostle Paul speaks of Christians becoming “mature” in Christ, “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). Elsewhere he speaks of his passion to “present everyone perfect in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).

 

Spiritual maturity involves developed understanding, experience and ministry. It requires understanding, firstly, because Christian spiritual life is intelligent – that is, it is based on what we can know. It is not a matter of mere feeling or state of mind. It grows out of knowing the God who reveals himself in what he says and does as that is recorded for us in the Bible. Like all relationships, our relationship with God depends on knowing him well. The better we know him the more deeply we will relate to him.

 

But this knowledge is not simply intellectual, knowing about God. It is also experiential in the sense that it includes personal acquaintance and interaction with him. The God of the Bible is a living God, one who hears, loves, acts, leads, comforts and corrects. Ultimately our relationship with him depends on engaging him in these ways. Christian experience is something far more than emotional feelings. It is the realization of relationship. We experience God as we pray and see him responding to our prayers; when we are enlightened by his Word and Spirit and embrace his promises and instructions; and when we are empowered by his Spirit and given strength to work and witness for him. Intimate, interactive experience based on what we know of God through his Word is essential to a life of spiritual maturity.

Spiritual Impact
People who live in dynamic, interactive relationship with God impact other people. That’s not because of their force of character or talents but because they become channels of God’s work through the Spirit. Writing to a church divided in its allegiance to various Christian leaders, the Apostle Paul could say of himself and Apollos,

 

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow… For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:5-9)

 

All spiritual impact in the end is the effect of the Holy Spirit working. He changes people by enlightening minds, renewing hearts and transforming values. Usually he does this, however, through other people – through those who share, encourage, rebuke and teach in Jesus’ name. As Christians are filled with the Spirit they become agents of influence for Christ in the world.

The OAR Acronym
Spiritually mature Christians, who through knowledge, experience and service have developed an intimate, interactive relationship with God, will be marked by three characteristics summarized in the acronym OAR. They will be people

 

O – Open to God’s personal and practical involvement in their lives

 

A – Alive to God’s activity in, through and around them

 

R – Responsive to God’s leading through prompt, faith-filled obedience.

 

Large numbers of such people scattered throughout different cultures and social groupings have the possibility of redefining Christian spirituality for our age and of radically impacting the world. The Ezra Ministry is dedicated to seeing that vision come to pass.