Who's Your Source

During my recent trip to Pakistan the Lord really spoke to me afresh and new out of what was for me a familiar verse. I was reminded again that the word of God is truly living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:11, "For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." This verse hit me as I sat in my room after several days of intense ministry and cultural experiences. With my physical body tired and exhausted due to extremely hot temperatures and high humidity, I was calling out to the Lord to strengthen me and help me to persevere through my circumstances. And, as so many times in the past, I realized again in a wonderful way that my prayers were misdirected. Here is what the Lord spoke to me through this powerful verse -- "I do not want to help you by strengthening you, I want to be your source!" Wow! Jesus wants to manifest His life in my mortal flesh. How is it possible? What does it really mean? How does it happen?

The first thing we must realize is that the Lord wants us to die! (See also Gal. 2:20) Yes, that's right, you heard me correctly. He says clearly that those of us who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake. In all our circumstances in life God says we are being delivered over to death. In other words, our lives do not matter. So whatever we are facing, the solution is to just die. What type of death is He talking about? Whenever we approach our circumstances with ourselves as the center of our attention and prayers, we are still alive. When we can come to the point where we are no longer the center and only He is our focus, we are learning to die. When we are able to accept by faith that we are dead and our lives are only for the glory of God, then we can deliver ourselves over to death for Jesus' sake. Notice it is for Jesus' sake and not ours. That's right, it is all about Him and not us. So far, that is what I consider the hard part. But once we cross this vital point by faith, we encounter one of the most significant realities -- Jesus begins to manifest His life in our mortal flesh.

Do not miss the language here. Holy Spirit makes no mistakes. He says Jesus' life is manifested in our mortal flesh. That means our physical bodies. What a truth. Jesus actually wants to manifest His life in my physical body and be my source in all things. He is perfect in everything. He is unlimited in His ability and He wants to be all that in my physical body. So I was faced with the Truth and I knew that the Truth was going to set me free. If I would accept by faith what God was saying to me, I knew something wonderful must happen in my tired and exhausted body, and it did.

I am convinced more than ever that Jesus wants to move us to a level of personal experience with Him that far exceeds any theological doctrine or theory that we may possess in our minds. He wants to break through to our very existence on a practical and natural level. The only way we can receive this wonderful truth is the same way we receive anything from God -- by faith. As we believe God and take Him at His word, despite what we may feel, He will be faithful and true and we will receive.

His life as my source. Not Him helping me to do the Christian thing. His life being manifested in me. Not Him helping me to be like Him. We need the Lord to renew us in this truth. Who is your source today? Pray and ask the Lord to reveal this wonderful truth to you so that you can experience Him as your source today. There is nothing more liberating than coming to the point that we realize there is no other source, including ourselves, worth drawing from. Jesus is all we need!


Pakistan Ministry Update

As many of you know, I recently traveled to Pakistan to minister in a leadership conference. I am excited to report to you that the church is very strong and alive in Pakistan. Before sharing the details of the trip, I want to tell you about how the Lord worked to make this trip possible and how we believe it fits into our calling. Several months ago I was contacted by a young man named Amir. He is Pakistani man who has been serving the Lord in ministry for the past eight years. He implored me to consider coming to Pakistan to help equip the saints there. Despite the unorthodox method of developing this contact, Stephanie and I felt an immediate witness in our spirits that this was from the Lord. So I began to develop a relationship with Amir through emails and phone calls. The more we related, the more I saw the hand of the Lord in it all. There were many divine confirmations which the Lord used to give us the confidence to take this step of faith to labor in Pakistan for His glory. Some of you may be asking how this type of outreach fits into our ministry here in Africa, and that is a good question. We have felt for a long time that God was going to begin to increase my sphere in ministry. We did not know exactly how that was going to happen so we continued to pray and trust the Lord. We did not have any expectations as to how or when this would happen. However, we felt strongly that I would begin to minister outside of Africa as well as continue to equip the church throughout Africa. So we are confident that this new development in our ministry is from the Lord and we are excited more than ever about the future and God's plan for our lives. We do not have any plans to leave South Africa and I will continue the ministry into African countries. We believe that we are to remain here and conduct our outreach to the church from here as a home base.

On August 8th I departed for Pakistan where I was scheduled to spend eight days teaching, ministering and encouraging the believers there. Amir and his team (Qaisar, Salman, Faisal, & Naeem) worked diligently to make all the preparations for my arrival. What I found in Pakistan far exceeded any expectations I ever had. I want to try to put into words what I experienced, though this will not be easy. I want to start by saying that this trip marks one of the most significant experiences that I have had in my life in ministry. While there were many things that happened in ministry during my time in Pakistan, there are things that happened inside of me that I did not expect and these will be hard to put into words.

The most impactful thing about this trip was the lives of the wonderful children of God in Pakistan. I found a people there who loved God with a passion and commitment that I have never found anywhere else in my lifetime. Their love for God and their desire to live for His glory humbled me in many ways and served to inspire me deeply in my own relationship with Jesus. I found a people who valued relationship and community more than any I had ever met. They are an affectionate and sacrificially giving people who live in the most challenging circumstances while maintaining a deep, abiding joy in the Lord. All this God used to touch my life profoundly and I will spend much time processing this experience in the coming days.

I was hosted by a family who have been Christians for many years, thankfully they all spoke english. The father of the house died three years ago with a liver disease. The mother ("Mom" as I called her) and her son, Salman; his wife, Nosheen; and her two daughters, Sobel and Sajal hosted me in their home during my stay in Pakistan. I was deeply blessed by their wonderful hospitality and experienced a rare fellowship in the Spirit with them immediately upon my arrival.

Amir and his team had planned a believers/leaders equipping conference in which I would teach and minister. The conference was very well attended with an average of 250-300 attendants in each meeting. The meetings were very encouraging and the believers received the word of God with hungry hearts to learn and grow. Their worship was exuberant and very inspiring. One thing that was really encouraging for me was that western praise and worship had not influenced their style of worship. They still worship in their native language and with their own cultural style. While I could not understand the worship I sensed the Spirit's presence strongly. During one song in which it was evident the people were joyfully celebrating, Amir leaned over to me and told me what the people were singing. He said they were singing about how they would gladly give their lives for the Lord and would consider it an honor to be persecuted for His name sake! Needless to say I was deeply impacted by this. I could only cry out in my spirit to the Lord that He would awaken the church throughout the western world to this same passion and commitment. The level of spiritual warfare was also very intense. With the nature of the spiritual condition of Pakistan, you can imagine that any attempt to bring the light and life of Jesus would be met with extreme opposition from the enemy, and it was. I found my time there to be the most demanding yet the most rewarding in this regard. We saw the Lord do amazing things in the lives of people as He showed once again that He has all authority in heaven and on earth!

I trust I have been able to communicate effectively with you in some way the significance this trip to Pakistan had upon my life and its fruitfulness for the kingdom of God. I believe strongly that God has opened a door of great opportunity for the work in Pakistan. We will continue to build upon the relationships we now have there. Amir and his team have a vision to equip leaders throughout Pakistan. We believe that this is possible with God's help and we will press on together to see it happen for His glory.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support during these days. We stand in awe at God's continued faithfulness and face the future with more excitement and expectation in Him than ever before.

God bless you,

Cliff & Stephanie Canipe