Good morning all :)
GOD is turning up the heat! ..... calling us away from complacency and indifference.
As I am getting further into Luke I have realised that I have never actually read it before. The line from yesterdays reading that stood out for me was:
"Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division..." (Luke 12:51)
This is a reminder to me that daily life is not peaceful and will not be unless I keep my eyes lifted to 'The Heavenlies'.
To me, this means praying daily for an in-filling of The Holy Spirit .... filling up as I start each day.
When I do this I am reminded to be grateful for the abundant blessings I DO have and to stay focussed on the big picture.
That's me today,
Have a blessed day y'all as you step out and put your faith in action whilst thanking Our Lord for our health, wealth, wisdom, ability to provide roofs over our heads and daily sustenance and the promise of a better life after this one!
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An eight week journey of seeking God as we read.think.pray.live our way through the gospel of John
An Invitation
Please join us during this lead up to Christmas 2009 by doing the four things listed below. Anyone can join at any time throughout this 8 week period although obviously it would be best if you can begin with us on the first of November 2009.
Requirements:
1. Commit to seeking God EVERY DAY in Nov & Dec '09 in a way that is more radical than anything you have ever done before.
2. Read.think.pray.live your way through the Gospel of John in seven weeks (3 chapters each week) and then 1 John, 2 John, 3 John in the final week.
3. Listen to the Holy Spirit and obey whatever he says to do!!
4. Contribute your insights and experiences to this blog.
May we all continue to seek the Kingdom of God before anything else!
Requirements:
1. Commit to seeking God EVERY DAY in Nov & Dec '09 in a way that is more radical than anything you have ever done before.
2. Read.think.pray.live your way through the Gospel of John in seven weeks (3 chapters each week) and then 1 John, 2 John, 3 John in the final week.
3. Listen to the Holy Spirit and obey whatever he says to do!!
4. Contribute your insights and experiences to this blog.
May we all continue to seek the Kingdom of God before anything else!
9 comments:
" 23-27 Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you'll sit down to God's salvation banquet just because you've been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives."
This is pretty confronting for me this morning. Reading, talking, listening to preaching tapes and doing blogs during these 52 days is simply not enough - there must be prayer and a close and developing relationship with God.
"knock and the door will opened for you, seek and you will find"
I'm with you on that Garry!
To me, the challenge in this 52 days is to read the chapters and the blogs and comments with FRESH eyes, to be listening out for GOD and not necc. new information.
I am struggling with this at the moment.
I couldn't agree more Garry & Gemma. My thoughts were that this would be a 52 day journey of "seeking God" which involves prayer, reflection and action, not just reading and writing.
I think one of the greatest struggles for me personally (and perhaps for all of us) is dealing with personal weakness and inadequacy. There is a desire to be strong in myself rather than in humility before God to say "Lord I don't understand, I am wrong here, or I need your help." This issue is something that I find incredibly difficult to express, because I don't like to be emotionally vulnerable and mis-understood.
I believe the mis-understanding lies in the fact that the theology of the cross is not embraced in people's lives. Extremely briefly, what I mean by the theology of the cross is that God is at work in our suffering just as he was at work in the suffering of Christ on the cross. I am presonally thankful that I see less of an "anti" cross attitude amongst people I relate to. The humble comments posted today are evidence of genuine humility and an embracing of the theology of the cross.
This is all a preamble to a testimony that I wanted to share as an encoragement the rest of you. As most of you know, I have been at my current work place for a couple of weeks. There was person I had interactions with the last couple of days who I get the impression does not like me (or thinks I'm stupid or whatever). Whether this is truly the case is not an issue, the point is that I realised that it doesn't matter what she thinks of me. Father loves me - he's shown his love for me through his son. I think it is the first time in my life when I have truly rejoiced when someone thinks less of you (Matt 5:10-12) without thinking that I have to defend, justify or protect my honour. God loves me (even when I don't love him), and I can love my enemies too.
I was just so encouraged, that I wanted to share this with the rest of you.
Thanks so much for sharing that with us Doug!!
Doug - what you wrote "There is a desire to be strong in myself..." just is so spot on for me too. This 'need' to be thought well of in human terms... all nonsense when the only opinion that counts is God's. But its hard to 'live' that, because we are surrounded by people...
Paul encourages us in Colossians:
So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.
"it doesn't matter what she thinks of me."
and
"...without thinking that I have to defend, justify or protect my honour."
Music to my ears:) - Thank you, Doug.
MY earnest, daily prayer is "GOD! Please help me to see myself as you see me and to care only about YOUR expectations, and no-one elses..."
Thanks Doug for your honest, open and encouraging sharing :)
Thanks Doug. May the glory of this world and all it has to offer fade as the brightness of the Father's love for you shines more and more into your life.
This is a big challenge for me - how far are I prepared to go to let go of the things of this world that hold me back. Garry, that verse confronts me too...just hanging around the neighborhood doesn't cut it. I feel the need to get on my face and ask God for the strength to let go....
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