God is up to something!

  There is this wonderful and liberating paradox we run across in the Christian life. First we are to take responsibility for our actions, and we have free will to do so. We can not palm off the blame on the devil as Flip Wilson use to say, "The Devil made me do it". We are decision makers and can choose the path we take. On the other hand we are to be surrendered to God. Our lives are to be totally laid before Him.
   Our lives are to be projected onto the greater backdrop of the Lordship of Jesus. To call Jesus Lord is to state your relinquishing of control to Him.
   When we invite the Holy Spirit to fill us we are no longer calling the shots. Even our self control becomes a product of His work (Galatians 5:22-23) We don't get to be in union with God's Spirit so we can choose the road we will travel. The action of the Holy Spirit is referred to as "like a wind" in the New Testament (John 3, Acts 2); this is not a wind that you can give orders to, you can not command this wind, it "goes where it wills". If you are going to partner with the Holy Spirit you must surrender and align yourself with God's agenda, and I assure you He is up to something.
   We can close ourselves off and go through the motions of being a Christian, impress people, feel good about ourselves, but until we surrender to God we can never be totally a partner with the work of the Holy Spirit; God in you.
   But God's plan is send us out into the world to testify to His great works and love. We can not do this without Him at the wheel. We need to surrender that wheel to him; As you surrender to His Lordship, then the Holy Spirit of God can work through us.

Homecoming

   We bring the Word of God to the world because of what we have seen God do in our own lives; we follow the commands of Jesus to be a witness to the world and makers of disciples. But what is our motivation? What is our true intent?
   First and foremost we should be motivated by our love for God "John 14:21
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”, but what about those we call "the lost", how much do we love them? Are we motivated by the immense and extravagant love that God has for them or are we just trying to fill a pew, or like some evangelist gunslinger, put another notch in our bible for leading someone in "the sinners prayer"?
   I find it interesting that in the descriptions in the bible of when believers gathered there are no alter calls mentioned, no sinners prayer, no evangelism. What is depicted is a community of people getting together to share life, and love, and all the other blessings of God. And when evangelism is portrayed it is out in the streets and homes; wherever life happens, and people are. The community that meets for meals and prayers and teachings also meets in the world.
   When the Church is functioning as God intended, its' power and potential is unlimited. When we break out of the "box" of our beautiful buildings and comfortable pews then we can be examples of the miraculous life God desires for us. We need to become a Church that is "working right". We are the Body of Christ; we are His hands and feet, His voice and eyes, and yes, His love and compassion. We can comfort the grieving and heal the broken. We can build bridges for the one who is seeking and offer truth to the confused. We reach out to the lost, the lonely, the un-loved.
      A friend of mine once stated "I don't understand why people spend so much of their time in bars". I replied "For the same reason we go to church, for fellowship".
     The church is a family, and the world is waiting to be welcomed home.




“When love, acceptance and forgiveness prevail, the church becomes what Jesus was in the world: a center of love, designed for the healing of broken people, and a force for God… One of the greatest services a church can offer a community is to provide a place for people to be brought to wholeness – to be healed physically, spiritually and emotionally… People are fragmented. They are torn. Life doesn’t work for them because they are without Jesus... They need a place to be healed.” (Jerry Cook).

Faith

   Faith is living as if what can not be seen or touched exists - Faith is the relinquishing of control; we give up sensory affirmation of what is true and real; we begin walking in the Kingdom of God.
   Faith is releasing our will to truly accept and receive God's creation. We can no longer configure the world as we would like it, but release to God in a merging of visible and invisible. By faith we embrace life as God's gift and open ourselves not only to God himself but to what He's doing.

Watch, Listen, and Learn.

  On my computer desktop screen is a photo of a person silhouetted against a sunset (maybe sunrise) kneeling in prayer. The caption on the picture says "When life gets to hard to stand... kneel".
   This little slogan was put there to remind me to spend time in prayer as I go through this tough financial season I am experiencing now, but it has come to teach me much more about the truth, depth, and possibilities of my relationship with God.
   As I lift my burden to the Lord I have seen his hand and heart revealed in many ways, restoring joy, hope and peace. The financial barrier has not been removed but I am trusting it will crumble soon and from an unexpected avenue.
   As we read His word, God is revealed in many powerful ways. We are hear how he deeply loves and care for his people and desires the best for their lives.
   So day by day we learn from a God, who by personal revelation, guides us, nurtures us, matures us as we step out of our situation into His Kingdom.

Church Life - A Word Of Encouragement

   It is a common definition, in our culture, to think of the church as some place you go or something you do once you get there. That in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but where that can cause trouble is when it becomes the only definition. By holding only to that narrow view the church is limited only to the building and the activities that are limited to that building.

   In the truest and most biblical sense we are the church. The church is the body of Christ in the world. So yes on Sundays when we gather at a certain building and do certain things we are doing church, but come Monday we are back to doing "life"? If we are the church, if we are the body of Christ, if we are His disciples, doing His work, should not church life be our life?

   God desires a church that gathers in the everyday places of life. Out in the trenches of life where people struggle and dream. People stepping into life and lifting those who stumble, being the guide for someone who needs a map; living life as a follower of Jesus our Lord, becoming his hands and his voice in a hurting world. We do not "go" to church, we are a church that "goes".

Faith is Just a Leap Away

   I have to admit some of the stuff in the bible does seem pretty far fetched and hard to wrap a puny human mind around. But,through the years and with lots of study, I may not have a full understanding of what the book has to say, but I stand by it as a revelation of the person of God and his magnificent love for us. The bible requires you to think and reason and, yes, sometimes just take a leap of faith.
   When I first came to an awareness of my inadequacies before a holy God and my need for Jesus as my advocate to His father, I thought the bible was just a bunch of stories and pretty sayings. But I heard the truth about my sin nature. I heard about my need to turn from a life ruled by that sin nature. I heard that even though I was a sinner God loved me. I heard that because God loved me Jesus, His son, paid the price of that sin so I could be reconciled to God. I heard that I was now a new creation, a child of God. "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17)
   So how does that happen; that amazing leap from dis-belief to faith? In my case I was obviously open to what I heard, but how did I become open?
   I think that my openness to hearing the gospel was that the ones that were bringing the Word of God to me were doing so mostly with the actions of their lives and not hammering me with what I "needed to do". These people put me at ease by allowing me to be myself, they accepted me for who I was and expressed Gods love for me by their very being and let me "work out my own salvation".
   Most importantly, as they brought the Word of God to me, they were also bringing the Holy Spirit into my life in a new and profound way. As I considered, debated, and wrestled with the Word of God, the Holy Spirit began to reveal himself into that opening heart of mine. So as I heard the Word of God I was also hearing "See how much I love you, see how much you need to come to me. Your way has no map. Follow me."
   Faith does not have to be a big thing at the start, it can be the size of a mustard seed, but with time it will grow. That basic seed of faith is the acceptance of the miracle that God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
   Take the Word of God into the world today with the Holy Spirit as you guide. Be honest, be truly loving; love the way God loves. You are a living letter from God; The Word is in you. Those you come in contact with will have the seed of faith planted in their lives. You may not see it, but have faith. It is there.
   

Alter Call

  
  Brothers and sisters, God has shown you his mercy. So I am asking you to offer up your bodies to him while you are still alive. Your bodies are a holy sacrifice that is pleasing to God. When you offer your bodies to God, you are worshiping him. (Romans 12:1)

Step 1: Build an alter to God.

Step 2: Put your life on it.

Step 3: Wait and see what God does with it.

  We are a part of something so large, so awesome, as we follow Jesus. Sometimes it's hard to comprehend the full magnitude of what we have signed up for when we asked Jesus into our hearts. It's enough though to realize that we are apart of something large and awesome and that God's hand is guiding it all. We can take comfort that our lives lived, offered up to him as a living sacrifice, is all we need to do to be a part of this miraculous adventure that Jesus leads us in.
  As we take God's love that He's given us, and share it with the world, we can rejoice that the largeness and awesomeness of God is being revealed through us.
  Wow! A kind word, a giving act and there is God in our midst. And these are no small miracles. There are no small miracles. A hand held out to help is as powerful as a hand held out to heal if it is done from a heart of love.
  So as we step out today, take God's love into the world and give it as extravagantly as he did toward us. Let the world see what God is doing with your life. In so doing we invite others to experience the miraculous adventure of living in God's kingdom.