ANAIDEA

Scripture: Luke 11: 8

Topic: Anaidea

“ I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs..”

Luke 11:8  

In Luke 11, Jesus told us of a man who needed three loaves of bread. This man buried his shame and embarrassment and went to his friend’s house at a very odd hour. The master of the house was woken up.
The lack of shame and embarrassment is the Greek noun ‘Anaidea”.

He might have shouted, “What is happening? Are there some armed robbers here? Is there a fire? What is going on outside?” The servant of the house probably replied, “It’s the neighbor. He says he wants some bread for his visitors.”

Dear Christian friend, most of us would not disturb even our best friend at midnight. How much more to ask for something trivial like bread!

But Jesus’ message here is very simple. If you are ashamed to press for certain things, you will never achieve them. If you are shameless in trying to achieve church growth you will accomplish things that others will only dream about! God has shown me that people who are very concerned about their public image cannot achieve much for God.

It takes anaidea, shamelessness, to start a church. When I discussed with my friend the idea of starting a church, I remember he looked at me in amazement. He said, “what if people don’t come to the church? We will be so embarrassed. People in town will hear that we tried to start a church that didn’t work.”
By starting a church, I don’t mean to break away with a large segment of someone else’s ministry. I am talking about moving into a room that has two or three people and preaching to them. It takes shamelessness to tell these few people that they are now in a great church. If you are not prepared to go through the shame and ridicule of standing in an empty room and looking odd, you will never achieve great things for God.

One pastor told me that he was afraid to do an altar call (inviting people to give their life to Christ). What if no one responds? Would you not feel ashamed? People will think that you are not anointed and that your message was not powerful enough. It is this very train of thought that keeps people away from powerful ministry.

One of my elders called and told me that for the first time someone in the church had responded to her altar call. You see, she had been shamelessly doing altar calls with no one responding. But with 'anaidea' (shamelessness and persistence) she eventually had results!

Child of God, is your lack of 'anaidea' keep you back from doing exploits for God? Is your fear of people your main obstacle? 
 
Credits: Excerpts from
Anagkazo
Bishop Dag Heward-Mills