Thank GOD I'm Forgiven Friday! Just start with some praise today. Dig out those gratitude lists and sit at Jesus' feet worshiping! Nothing could be finer than to lift some praises in the morning! I'm praising God for the time change which brought me back into normal schedule. I slept 9 hours again and am praying to adjust to His schedule as I feel like I lost half a day getting up so late at 6:30.
Good Morning Children--Children of God---Children of His promise--Gathered and Sent Children of God! Praise and pray into that salutation today that ties to some of our devos for today. God is in the process of raising us as great kids. Are you cooperating? He is sending us to some who will become spiritual children of ours to raise in the faith. Who might your spiritual children be? Ask God how to teach, lead, model, disciple and your part in His Good News and Disciple Making Co. Check out Harvest Prayer's blog below about praying and their prayer starters as you move from worship to hearing, responding and interceding this morning. And check out The Word for You Today about raising great kids. (day 5 of that) Talk to God about how to do your part in being a good child of His and for raising some good spiritual children. This is great advice for those feeling called to lead a small group and applies to leading a church as well. Pray to be a great child of God and an encourager, great mentor and fine example of walking with Jesus and in the joy of your salvation. Ask God to give you His eyes, heart, mind and direction to be His hands and feet and for boldness to go love well in the name of Christ in this Christ-less world.
Our Daily Bread Speaks into sharing our faith and really ties to yesterday's blog and things God is bringing to the forefront for us with living out the purpose of our place. Using what we've been given as we are created and empowered to use to go make disciples is our summer purpose from God. It will require all of us being all in and praying, providing, encouraging and reaching into the places God us sending us to live out our purposes this summer to connect to others and connect them to Him. It is God's will for us for the summer and beyond to move from isolation to distribution. He has made it clear that, like during the Diaspora (when believers in Christ were driven out of Jerusalem after the martyrdom of Stephen and they took the Gospel to the world). And it will involve all of us to go and make disciples as we are commissioned and now sent to do as we move from the isolation of our building to going and distributing as God's sent Good News Delivery Co. and Disciple Making Machine. What's your part? What will you do about it? Start by praying for dreams, visions, and wisdom for where God is sending you/us and for the new people to connect to? And for boldness to share your thoughts and to do your part. Pray for small groups of sent ones to be raised up and ready to mobilize as the Holy Spirit leads.
Haha! I'm a day ahead on ODB. If you have it read tomorrow's God led me there when I asked Him to lead me and write this blog. God doesn't make mistakes. I included today's below as it speaks into the legacy we are building and building on as we build on our strengths, work on our weaknesses, and follow God just as we are to His future for us. Tomorrow's talks about being attuned to and following the Holy Spirit and asks, "Where is God sending you to share your faith? How might He be empowering you to do that today?" Well, how? Because our vision team sought God and His direction and wisdom and maybe unbeknownst at the time when they voted to not AC the Fellowship Hall, opened a door for us to step from isolation to distribution as God is sending us out with His love and Good News for the summer and beyond. PTL! His plans are great, perfect and enacted as we pray, seek, and make ourselves available. He is sending us and you all have a part. It's time to move from adding members to multiplying disciples! Thanks God! (Add that to your gratitude list)
Realizing what was happening has given me peace about no AC. (Thanks God!) It happened as I humbled myself and prayed, not my will Lord, but Yours. Thanks Lord! Send us and raise up harvest workers as you send us to the harvest. Amen! (I really think all of this may be part of a sermon series to come so all of our members can hear and begin processing this and preparing)
Here's where your part in this kicks in. I got nothing. God has only made clear to me His call to leave the building. Not where, how, who, what. He's whispering to me that you all have that part being revealed to you. God probably has already given you some ideas when He stirred in you to vote no to AC. We need you to share your thoughts and ideas and keep praying for God to bring dreams and visions and to bring them alive through a group (groups) of us to enact. He seems to be revealing that this going and distributing is to be by small groups sent to different areas. PLEASE seek God earnestly for this and for your part, your small group, and His plans for you to go love, serve, and make disciples this summer. What's He saying to you? What will you do about it? I am praying for you and all of us. I know God will have me encourage and help you to get your part rolling, but He has made it clear to me that my part is to train and release, not to be part of each sent group. With all the momentum we have going, I can't imagine God shutting us down for the summer! Can you? My summer call is to keep ministering to those coming for bread and preparing you to go. God has whispered the reminder that I can't do it all so stop trying. (That was part of my hospitalization and I will not kill myself anymore to do what others are called to do, by the grace of God). So, what's God's plan for you and your small group? How can I pray, train and help you to get started? He really does have great plans for you and us! PTL! Go love well! Shalom!
Harvest Prayer Blog:
March 15 - Simple, Consistent Prayer
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If you are just starting out on the journey into prayer, don’t be bothered by the length of your prayers. Remember what Jesus said about “babbling” (Matthew 6:7). A sincere, simple prayer, can have as much or even more impact than twenty minutes of rambling.
So What? To begin to grow in prayer, start by picking two or three areas of your life in which you want to see God’s hand at work. Maybe it’s your kids, your relationship with your spouse, a work situation, a character flaw. As you seek to develop your prayer life, simply focus on these things. Don’t worry about how long you pray—just talk to God about what’s on your heart.
Read some Scripture, looking for God to speak to you out of His Word. As you pray, pause to listen from time to time. If a thought on the issue enters your mind, pray about that thought. Ask God to give you a promise from His Word regarding your situation. Then pray over that verse.
You will be surprised how your prayer time grows. Eventually, you will feel confident to add other prayer items to your list, including ones beyond family or personal issues. Perhaps you will begin praying significantly for your pastor or your church, or maybe a neighbor who needs to meet Jesus.
The point is, don’t chide yourself on how little you pray. Just try to develop some consistency with the fact that you do pray. God will do the rest.
Lord God, as You grow my praying life, I ask that You continue to teach and train me from Your powerful word! Help me to connect my heart with Yours as You speak! Draw me closer to Your will for Your kingdom as I listen and then pray obediently. Stretch me so that I will grow deeper and stronger in intercession. Grow my desire for more of Your presence!
--Adapted from The Power of Personal Prayer (Learning to Pray with Faith and Purpose) by Jonathan Graf. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
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- Read Psalm 139 and praise the all-knowing one who perfectly knows you in every action, thought, and word (139:1, 4).
- Thank God for the comforting knowledge that he is with you wherever you go (139:5-6).
- Confess any attempt to flee his all-knowing presence (139:7-12).
- Commit yourself to learning more about these wonderful human bodies he has made (139:13-16).
- Ask him to give you a love for knowing his thoughts (139:17-18), an informed hatred for those he hates (139:19-22), and an “open-book” relationship with him (139:23-24).
- Pray that your nation will repent of willful ignorance of God’s thoughts and ways. Ask that the beauty and purpose of human life be accepted and promoted (Psalm 139:12-16).
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TWFYT:
ODB:
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As Dust Bowl sandstorms ravaged the United States during the Great Depression, John Millburn Davis, a resident of Hiawatha, Kansas, decided to make a name for himself. A self-made millionaire with no children, Davis might have invested in charity or economic development. Instead, at great expense, he commissioned eleven life-size statues of himself and his deceased wife to stand in the local cemetery.
“They hate me in Kansas,” Davis told journalist Ernie Pyle. Local residents wanted him to fund the construction of public facilities like a hospital, swimming pool, or park. Yet all he said was, “It’s my money and I spend it the way I please.”
King Solomon, the wealthiest man of his day, wrote, “Whoever loves money never has enough,” and “as goods increase, so do those who consume them” (Ecclesiastes 5:10–11). Solomon had grown keenly aware of the corrupting tendencies of wealth.
The apostle Paul also understood the temptation of wealth and chose to invest his life in obedience to Jesus. Awaiting execution in a Roman prison, he wrote triumphantly, “I am already being poured out like a drink offering . . . . I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:6–7).
What lasts isn’t what we chisel in stone or hoard for ourselves. It’s what we give out of love for each other and for Him—the One who shows us how to love.
By Tim Gustafson
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What will others remember about you? What changes might you need to make as you ponder your eternal legacy?
Heavenly Father, please help me pour out my life for others in some small way today.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon has a lot to say about material wealth. He also devotes a hundred or so sayings in the book of Proverbs to the subject of riches and money. Material wealth can either be a blessing (Proverbs 10:22) or a curse (30:7-9), depending on how one relates to it (see Deuteronomy 8:7-19). God warns us not to get rich by wrongdoing or unjust means (Proverbs 15:27; 22:16; 22:22-23). We’re to seek wisdom rather than wealth (3:13-15; 8:10-11; 16:16), for the godly life is better than the good life. Right living is better than rich living (15:16; 16:8; 28:6). Money is a fleeting commodity that gives us false security (23:4-5; 27:24; Ecclesiastes 5:10-11). Rather, we need to invest for eternity. Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where . . . thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-20).
K. T. Sim |
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