The Name’s Bond, James Bond…
‘James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings…’ (James 1:1 NKJV)
James, the brother of Jesus, refers to himself as a ‘bondservant,’ but he isn’t the only one to do this!
Paul, Timothy, James, Peter and Jude, all describe themselves as ‘Bondservants of Christ’ (Romans 1:1, Philippians 1:1, James 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1, Jude 1:1)
A bondservant is one owned by another. They have nothing of their own – even their time belongs to their master. They wake up each day seeking to know and do the will of their master above all else!
Jesus said; ‘Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant’ (Matthew 20:27)
Believers today should still consider themselves bondservants of Christ. Jesus is our Lord, and our allegiance is due to Him alone. As bondservants, we renounce other masters and give ourselves completely to Him
Consider yourself a Bondservant and you will receive revelation from Jesus concerning the things which must soon take place…
‘The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bondservants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by his angels to His bondservant John’ (Revelation 1:1)
Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept it…
Jesus sent His bondservants on special missions…
The scene in Luke 22:7-13 and Mark 14:13-16 is reminiscent of some kind of spy call-sign in James Bond 007 and Mission Impossible movies.
‘Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem with these instructions: “As you go into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal'”
So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there’
The man carrying the jug of water is a detail full of mystery. Who was this man? Why was he carrying a pitcher of water? How did Jesus know he would be there?
In the gospel of Luke version, the two disciples sent by Jesus are revealed as Peter and John; both who, as we have seen, are identified as bondservants!
Top Secret Intel: For Your Eyes Only…
There were government secrets that Jesus, chose only revealed to his closest disciples, including Peter and John…
‘You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not’ (Matthew 13:11)
The word ‘secrets’ can also be translated as ‘the mysteries’
‘You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables to teach the others so that the scriptures might be fulfilled: “When they look, they won’t really see. When they hear, they won’t really understand” (Luke 8:10)
‘The secrets of the Kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everthing is said in parables’ or ‘You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God, but I use parables for everything I say to outsiders’ (Mark 4:11)
Do you want more intel concerning your mission assignment?
‘To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them’ (Matthew 13:12)
Eavesdropping: A Mysterious Conversation…
Just as I was making notes in my journal concerning this ‘Spy Mission‘ article, it was at this point that a blind man with a guide-dog sat down opposite another man two tables from me. A conversation between them ensued and I overheard one of the men saying this to the blind man;
“In July I’m meeting a spy. Obviously he’s not a spy anymore. He used to work for MI5. Obviously it’s all about resilience”
[When the man said this, I had just finished looking up a glossary of Spy Terminology! What’s the likelihood of that!?]
Special Mission Assignments…
In the past 9 months I’ve been meeting with what has been called a ‘Combination Lock‘ of 5 men…
Sometimes we are sent on a mission impossible assignment as a crack team of 5, and at other times there may be just 3 of us…
Each time we meet for approximately 3 days, and most often, we are not entirely sure what our Kingdom Assignment will be.
We begin with ‘Listening Prayer‘ as we seek to hear how the Holy Spirit is leading us.
Through this listening prayer we’ve been sent to specific cities, streets and even houses and have found people that God has already prepared for us to meet. Not too disimilar from the mission the bondservants Peter and John found themselves on as stated previously with the man with the water jar.
What special mission assignment does King Jesus want to send you on?
Are you available?
Do you humbly accept your status as a bondservant?
Are you ready to step out into the unknown?
