In today's world many people want to be on the Who's Who list. People want to know who is on the Who's Who list. Have you ever wondered about the Who's Who List? The other day I was in a time of personal devotion and I was reading Luke 11:5-8 and the Lord spoke to my heart about a Who's Who list that both you and I are on! It might not be the one that immediately comes to mind....but it is a very different but equally important Who's Who List. Curious? Let's take a look...

Luke 11:5-8 (Amplified Bible)

⁵And He said to them, Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and will say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves [of bread],

    ⁶For a friend of mine who is on a journey has just come, and I have nothing to put before him;

    ⁷And he from within will answer, Do not disturb me; the door is now closed, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and supply you [with anything]?

    ⁸I tell you, although he will not get up and supply him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his shameless persistence and insistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

In this short passage Jesus is speaking about friends like us. You and me are friends right? In this passage the first friend had enough confidence to appear at his friend's door at the midnight hour to ask for resources that were needed! Would you have this kind of confidence in a friend to bang on his door at midnight? The situation was that the first friend had guest who were on a journey and they arrived unexpectedly in his life at a time when it was not convenient, at the midnight hour. What is the midnight hour? It represents the closing of an age or the end of time. The time when all of the signs and words of God confirm that Christ will return soon. This very midnight hour was when the unexpected friends who were on a journey (with God) began to arrive. The first friend perhaps had given all that he had available to him, but it wasn't sufficient to meet the needs, so he boldly went at the midnight hour and knocked on his friend's door to ask for help. He asked for resources to meet the pressing need!  Yet the friend to whom he appeared was not willing to get up to supply him with anything. Why? How could this be? Could this really happen? Yes it could, has and does happen. The friend to whom he appeared for help said, "Don't disturb me", "My door is now closed", "My children and I are in bed", "I cannot get up and supply you with anything". Does that sound familiar to you? Sounds like most of the common excuses from a person who are comfortably wrapped up in their own world and the world of their own family. It sounds like the common excuses of men who have all that is needed to be comfortable in this world, yet are fast asleep concerning the things of God, not realizing that we are quickly passing the midnight hour when the Lord will return.

Jesus clearly says this, "Although he will not get up and supply him anything because he is a friend, yet because of his shameless persistence and insistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs."

So who is it that is on this Who's Who List, friend? "It's you and I".  Now who is who in this story? Allow me to share with you that since the day God called me to found and direct M300 Ministries I have faithfully walked in that calling. It has never been an easy thing and I have not left any of you out including you who are friends. You friend have been a witness to this fact that I have walked faithfully in God's call upon my life for myself and my family. One thing more that God spoke to my heart over these past two years was the following: "Even if they don't give, you still have to give for my glory's sake!" With this we have lived out Isaiah 58 with True Fasting and have poured ourselves out as a drink offering before the Lord. We have given all of our savings and all of our lives walking in this calling, yet our friends have sat idly and comfortably behind their closed doors content and comfortable with their own children and their own lives. 

Will you at least do this for me?

We are not only persistent but we are shamelessly insistent that you recognize exactly Who's Who in this story.  In this instance I am the friend who has many people from the hardest to reach place on earth who are arriving at my doorsteps daily and they are seeking resources to be able to minister effectively in this late hour. I have been banging on your door and the door of other friends who have been too comfortable and self absorbed to answer. I have banged on the doors of well known and well respected pastors and church leaders who have not responded to the plea for help. Are they also too comfortable? God knows right? I have been persistent and I have been shamelessly insistent, yet the doors have not been opened as of yet.

Is it God's fault that the doors have not opened? God teaches us that the central issue is and always has been regarding the willingness of the heart of men for the things of God. In the Old Testament God doesn't even bother with the people who have no willingness to support his ministry. In the Old Testament God always sought out the willing and found pleasure in the willing. God punished the whole nation of Israel and their children because when He sent them to conquer the promise land they wavered in unbelief and instead of moving forward as friends and as a people, they chose to form an exploratory committee of 12 men to go look and see if what God had promised was true or not. This is our typical and wrong response to God. God seek conquerors and not explorers. God told His people to go and conquer the land and it's inhabitants yet they chose to form a "exploratory committee". God punished them and their children with one year for every single day that they wasted in unbelief exploring the land. God said that the whole generation would perish in the desert due to their unbelief and that their children would be shepherds in the desert for 40 years because of the unbelief of their fathers. I desire that your heart and your family be found willing to support the things of God even at this late midnight hour.

Where are you at friend? Wake up and find that God seeks willingness and that God expects for you to be a giver to the things of God. You may not like this message and that is acceptable to me, but I'm still banging on your door and you are still slumbering and unwilling to get up from your comfortable bed to give me anything that is needed for God's ministry. God says that if I will keep banging on your door and screaming at the top of my lungs, that soon and very soon, you will wake up and give me not just what I have been asking for, but rather all that I need for God's ministry.

Friend to friend, my advice is that you need to wake up now, before the midnight hour passes and trim your lamp and make ready your house for the coming of the Lord. It would be a terrible thing if the Lord came and found you all comfy and sleeping with your family caught up in your own comfortable world, unwilling to help with the things of the Lord. It would be equally a terrible thing if He found me outside of your house persistently and intently banging on your door pleading for help for His servants. Let's change this story today among friends who love the Lord.

So Who's Who in this story of Luke 11: 5-8 ? Today I'm outside of your door yet again persistently and intently knocking and banging and making all kinds of loud noises trying to wake you up to the fact that the Lord expects for you to help His servants as they minister in the hardest to reach places on earth at the risk of their own blood. The Lord expects for you to help me, my friend, who He has called to forsake all things for Him and His calling. Will He find you willing or slumbering friend?