The path or journey to a saving faith in Christ can be mysterious, it can be so
personal, it can be long or short; however, there is one thing I am sure of, it is a work
of God! I think of 1 Corinthians 3:5-6:
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came
to believe-as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos
watered it, but God has been making it grow.
I know that although my path was over 40 years long there were many seeds along
the way. One of my fondest memories as a kid and definitely a seed was that of my
grandfather reading his Bible. I remember that he took time daily to ready his Bible,
during good times, and troubling times, even when the grandkids were visiting, no
matter what was going on, he made the time.
I also remember that he didn’t seem to mind if I came in his room while he was
reading. I could ask him what he was reading and he would take the time to tell me,
to explain, to plant the seed. Now I will admit it took a bunch of watering along the
way, but God caused the growth according to his timing and his perfect plan.
I am so thankful for that seed (and others) and I have to tell you that now it is
amazing how much I love to read my Bible; how much it means to me to see God
revealed, to see His magnificent and incredible plan of redemption, to see the love of
my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to see the work of the Holy Spirit, to see Grace, to
see the actual and literal Word of God!
As Jesus tells us in Matthew 4:4:
But he answered, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that comes from the mouth of God.” Amen!
Grace and Peace!
Father God, as I was reading this week,
as I prepared to study your most remarkable attributes; I must
confess that I was awestruck by your practically
indescribable power. Father, you literally breathed life into
creation and that just blows my mind. And at the same time
you love us. In fact, John tells us you are love and that too
just is almost too amazing.
Amazing that the ultimate in
power loved us first and loves us still; that our Father in
Heaven loves us and loves us despite our blemishes and
shortcomings. Amazing that your majestic and eternal power contains within it the most wonderful and constant love for us.
Father, You love us so much that by your grace we have been
saved. You love us so much that you would send your Son to
rescue, to secure, to restore us to all eternity.
Father, thank you and we pray that this amazingly good news
would be our first thought, our paradigm, our world-view
and as such would guide our lives, our worship and praise of you. So
Father we do pray that our worship; our praise will always be spirit
filled and full of our love to you.
And Father we pray for our community that
more and more people would come to know your absolute
power and love, and would come to know your tender mercies.
Father, we pray that we will
be a community in awe of your greatness, your grace and
your love and that we would share that good news with
those around us. We pray that we would
welcome all that we encounter, that we would love as you love us.
Finally Father, we thank you for
your God breathed word. We pray your spirit will be with us all. Abba Father, we love you and pray these many things
in the most beautiful name of Jesus...Amen!
The older I get (maybe I should say the more experienced I get) the more I am
astonished by the love of our God, the love of our Lord and Savior! There is a new
(at least new to me) song out by Lauren Daigle called "How Can It Be" and it has this
line... "You gave your life to give me mine...how can it be?"
This thought just grabs me. Jesus gave his life to give me mine. He gives his all for
me such an undeserving one. He gave his life that I might have real life not just a life
of worldly and temporary things. He gave his life that I might experience and know
real love, that I might be restored, renewed, redeemed, re-born, that I might have a
real life for all eternity.
In Mark 10:45 Jesus tells us; "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but
to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Oh, how he loves us (to borrow
from David Crowder). And I guess to keep the musical influence going it brings to
mind a hymn written in the 1700s by Charles Wesley.
The title is "And Can It Be That I Should Gain" and it contains these lyrics...
"And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood! Died he for me?
Who caused his pain! For me? Who him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it
be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love! How can it be that thou,
my God, shouldst die for me? "
Amazing Love Indeed!
Grace and Peace!
As part of our Church plant, we have started new community groups. I must say our
group is really coming together, really starting to care for one another, really
starting to experience what Bridges calls true community. I am so encouraged.
We are in the middle of a study called Gospel Centered Life, the study is one I have
done on several occasions, but each time I get a little more from it. Our group is
really opening up and really sharing and I think that is just wonderful, it is real
growth.
We just completed a discussion of Mission. In the study the author defines mission
as "anything that brings gospel-centered renewal/redemption to people, places and
cultures." Our discussion was wide ranging and we admitted that while some will be
called to missions in far away places, sometimes all our mission requires is for us to
walk across the street.
That lead to a heartfelt discussion on why we hold back. There were reasons,
concerns and they were varied; however, there was one thing everyone could relate
to: fear of rejection. We discussed the real need for building relationship, but the
bottom line was we need to trust Christ more.
It occurred to me that Christ didn’t fear rejection for us and as such we can remain
confident, we can trust, we can be assured that Christ will never reject us. So there
is no reason to fear the rejection of a neighbor, because Christ will never reject
us...He will always be there for us and we should share in that comfort, that love,
that acceptance, that good news.
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for
the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:6
Grace and Peace!
