Friday, September 18, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The Birth Pains of Creation
It has been quite a struggle for me to convey the conviction of my heart to others regarding my stance on politics and the state of the world. “Why fret about it?” I say quite regularly as it seems that almost everyone around me gets so lost in the frustration of it all and in turn loses sight of what is really important. “We’re all doomed…” seems to be the general feeling of fear represented in their arguments—and not really just of my peers, but of the creation as a whole. It seems that we’re all screaming about the state of affairs rather than looking at the context or searching for meaning of it all. Everyone seems to assume that a corrupt and blinded government is to blame and that if people would just get their acts together, things could change drastically. Although I do believe that an overhaul could make a huge impact, I do not believe that it will answer the state of our world.
All around us the world seems to be falling apart. People are becoming more and more calloused every day, and as each shift of the second hand progresses more and more people are dying. Dying not of what is natural but of what is unnatural, unfathomable, unhuman. The only sense of peace in a country now-a-days lies in whether or not they hold tools of mass-destruction at their fingertips. Peace has become a blurry distortion of power. And I have to wonder if we even really remember what peace is, what is looks like, how it feels. Peace – can it thrive in our world? Or would it simply dissipate within any occurrence in which it tried to spread?
There seems to be more ridiculous decisions made each day by those in leadership. Most of us are wondering, “Where have all the true leaders gone?” We laugh condescendingly at their confused efforts at leading us, but deep down inside aren’t we all just scared that this person, who in all reality we know hardly anything about, might be leading us all into peril and destruction rather than progression? Fear. It’s what unfortunately drives us all—into conforming, into resenting, into uprisings, into seclusion, into blindness.
So what do we do about all this fear? It seems to be at the core of everything in our world today. Fear can lead to action – it’s up to us to decide whether or not that action is for good or for evil.
There is a war going on right now. Most of us have forgotten about that. This war is unlike any we have entered into in the history of the world. We fight against an enemy who attacks us blindly. We fight everyday overseas, yet have no comfort that we won’t be caught off-guard in our own territory. All the while, we go about our day to day lives as if nothing has changed. How dare a silly “war” interfere with our routine! We get enraged about the state of our government’s misgivings, and we run out of mental space to remember the things that matter most. When was the last time we really thought about those giving their lives for our “freedom”? People are dying. Lots of them. Why isn’t anyone paying attention? We surely wouldn’t want to miss our beloved “American Idol” for an update on the war. Maybe there’s a great symbolism to our most beloved show – maybe we’re idolizing more than we realize.
So, to me, there are things more important than the actual state of things themselves. You see, the one thing underlying every new crack and crumbling of this world and its systems is the growing apathy of creation. Have we become so numb that we can’t capacitate care and concern? Do we realize how blinded we have become?
The movie Matrix is the best representation of a distorted reality and its implications. I wonder, when will we begin caring more about unplugging those around us to the real reality? We wage a war not of flesh and blood (though that is rampant in society) but of spirit, of darkness and of light. And the most frightening thing is that people are becoming so entranced in the darkness that they can hardly even recognize the light anymore. We’ve got to unplug them from the Matrix of the enemy’s lies. Otherwise, the problems of this world will continue to grow, as they are destined to do, only we will stand alone on the day of reckoning and wonder how we became so misled as to leave the rest of the population behind.
We hold a light and a truth that the rest of the world needs.
That is far more important and pressing than whether or not our government made a manipulative or conniving decision. Deception is all around us. We live in a fallen world. There’s no stopping it. All we can do is make a decision to not allow ourselves to fall prey any longer.
So what do we do then about the devastation around us? Why should we have any hope in a world that is so full of evil and destruction? Is there a purpose?
Yes.
Have you ever had the opportunity to experience the journey of a wife, sister, or friend moving through the process of pregnancy and delivery? It changes them. No matter how bad you want to have a baby, once you are in fact pregnant, your mind goes through an array of emotions – and fears. What will the birth process be like? We all know that it will hurt. There’s no avoiding it. We can medicate and numb ourselves, but the pain still emerges. It must happen in order for the miracle of new life to complete itself. And there will be other, smaller yet still significant pains throughout the pregnancy. Whatever the circumstances, once you become pregnant there is no avoiding what will take place in the woman’s body. It is the natural process. As is the process that creation is experiencing even now:
“All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.” Romans 8:22-25
We can have hope in the pains of the world because they are the inevitable pains of the birthing process. We are a pregnant creation. God is enlarging within us his Kingdom. He’s preparing us – and everyone we can gather to come along – for the new place he’s prepared. And we must decide whether to turn our eyes toward that promise as fuel to spread his Kingdom or to remain stagnant, drowning in the despair of this passing world.
“That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead.” Romans 8:18-21
As soon as we reach all that can receive the Kingdom and salvation, God will arrive right on time.
It’s time we stopped fretting about the devastating events themselves, paralyzed, and begin realizing that they are necessary birth pangs – and begin to really work at preparing creation for the arrival of true change. Seek out the lost, the broken, the down-trodden, the desperate, the weak, and the forgotten and pull the cord from the enemy’s Matrix.
But don’t give up in the midst of seeing such evil in the world.
God is on his way.
And the enemy knows it.
All around us the world seems to be falling apart. People are becoming more and more calloused every day, and as each shift of the second hand progresses more and more people are dying. Dying not of what is natural but of what is unnatural, unfathomable, unhuman. The only sense of peace in a country now-a-days lies in whether or not they hold tools of mass-destruction at their fingertips. Peace has become a blurry distortion of power. And I have to wonder if we even really remember what peace is, what is looks like, how it feels. Peace – can it thrive in our world? Or would it simply dissipate within any occurrence in which it tried to spread?
There seems to be more ridiculous decisions made each day by those in leadership. Most of us are wondering, “Where have all the true leaders gone?” We laugh condescendingly at their confused efforts at leading us, but deep down inside aren’t we all just scared that this person, who in all reality we know hardly anything about, might be leading us all into peril and destruction rather than progression? Fear. It’s what unfortunately drives us all—into conforming, into resenting, into uprisings, into seclusion, into blindness.
So what do we do about all this fear? It seems to be at the core of everything in our world today. Fear can lead to action – it’s up to us to decide whether or not that action is for good or for evil.
There is a war going on right now. Most of us have forgotten about that. This war is unlike any we have entered into in the history of the world. We fight against an enemy who attacks us blindly. We fight everyday overseas, yet have no comfort that we won’t be caught off-guard in our own territory. All the while, we go about our day to day lives as if nothing has changed. How dare a silly “war” interfere with our routine! We get enraged about the state of our government’s misgivings, and we run out of mental space to remember the things that matter most. When was the last time we really thought about those giving their lives for our “freedom”? People are dying. Lots of them. Why isn’t anyone paying attention? We surely wouldn’t want to miss our beloved “American Idol” for an update on the war. Maybe there’s a great symbolism to our most beloved show – maybe we’re idolizing more than we realize.
So, to me, there are things more important than the actual state of things themselves. You see, the one thing underlying every new crack and crumbling of this world and its systems is the growing apathy of creation. Have we become so numb that we can’t capacitate care and concern? Do we realize how blinded we have become?
The movie Matrix is the best representation of a distorted reality and its implications. I wonder, when will we begin caring more about unplugging those around us to the real reality? We wage a war not of flesh and blood (though that is rampant in society) but of spirit, of darkness and of light. And the most frightening thing is that people are becoming so entranced in the darkness that they can hardly even recognize the light anymore. We’ve got to unplug them from the Matrix of the enemy’s lies. Otherwise, the problems of this world will continue to grow, as they are destined to do, only we will stand alone on the day of reckoning and wonder how we became so misled as to leave the rest of the population behind.
We hold a light and a truth that the rest of the world needs.
That is far more important and pressing than whether or not our government made a manipulative or conniving decision. Deception is all around us. We live in a fallen world. There’s no stopping it. All we can do is make a decision to not allow ourselves to fall prey any longer.
So what do we do then about the devastation around us? Why should we have any hope in a world that is so full of evil and destruction? Is there a purpose?
Yes.
Have you ever had the opportunity to experience the journey of a wife, sister, or friend moving through the process of pregnancy and delivery? It changes them. No matter how bad you want to have a baby, once you are in fact pregnant, your mind goes through an array of emotions – and fears. What will the birth process be like? We all know that it will hurt. There’s no avoiding it. We can medicate and numb ourselves, but the pain still emerges. It must happen in order for the miracle of new life to complete itself. And there will be other, smaller yet still significant pains throughout the pregnancy. Whatever the circumstances, once you become pregnant there is no avoiding what will take place in the woman’s body. It is the natural process. As is the process that creation is experiencing even now:
“All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.” Romans 8:22-25
We can have hope in the pains of the world because they are the inevitable pains of the birthing process. We are a pregnant creation. God is enlarging within us his Kingdom. He’s preparing us – and everyone we can gather to come along – for the new place he’s prepared. And we must decide whether to turn our eyes toward that promise as fuel to spread his Kingdom or to remain stagnant, drowning in the despair of this passing world.
“That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead.” Romans 8:18-21
As soon as we reach all that can receive the Kingdom and salvation, God will arrive right on time.
It’s time we stopped fretting about the devastating events themselves, paralyzed, and begin realizing that they are necessary birth pangs – and begin to really work at preparing creation for the arrival of true change. Seek out the lost, the broken, the down-trodden, the desperate, the weak, and the forgotten and pull the cord from the enemy’s Matrix.
But don’t give up in the midst of seeing such evil in the world.
God is on his way.
And the enemy knows it.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Everything
A Prayer.
God is mighty and powerful. The answer to everything.
Flood our lives with your Kingdom light, Father. Help us to know you as you are, not as we think you to be in our feeble attempts at understanding. Overpower the darkness around us.
God, you are grace and mercy. You loved us when we were unlovable. And you love us still even though we are like sheep with no will to live, no natural propensity to do right. Over and over again you rescue us, and over and over again you have to re-explain things to us. Help us to really learn rather than to just experience things.
Make us into the children that you see us as – powerful for you. Unclutter our minds, our hearts. Refresh and replace our focus with your Kingdom purposes. We long to be effective tools in your movement of truth.
Forge us into tempered steel – strong enough to handle every dart of the enemy, strong enough to stand up against accusations, attacks, and doubtful peers. Let us be your voice, your hands in this world. Show us what that means and how to get there.
Make us mighty and powerful in your Kingdom. You are our Everything.
Amen
God is mighty and powerful. The answer to everything.
Flood our lives with your Kingdom light, Father. Help us to know you as you are, not as we think you to be in our feeble attempts at understanding. Overpower the darkness around us.
God, you are grace and mercy. You loved us when we were unlovable. And you love us still even though we are like sheep with no will to live, no natural propensity to do right. Over and over again you rescue us, and over and over again you have to re-explain things to us. Help us to really learn rather than to just experience things.
Make us into the children that you see us as – powerful for you. Unclutter our minds, our hearts. Refresh and replace our focus with your Kingdom purposes. We long to be effective tools in your movement of truth.
Forge us into tempered steel – strong enough to handle every dart of the enemy, strong enough to stand up against accusations, attacks, and doubtful peers. Let us be your voice, your hands in this world. Show us what that means and how to get there.
Make us mighty and powerful in your Kingdom. You are our Everything.
Amen
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Weight of Truth
Encouragement in Matthew 10
Stay alert constantly. This is not easy work I’m assigning you – it’s hazardous. You’ll be like a sheep running through a pack of wolves. So be careful not to call attention to yourselves. Be quiet and crafty, gentle and inoffensive. But don’t be naïve. People WILL impugn your motives and smear your reputation just because you believe in me. Don’t lose heart though when they haul you before the authorities. Their intention may be to destroy you, but I’m at work in their treachery. Without even knowing it they’ll have done you – and me – a favor: you’ll have a platform for preaching the Kingdom news to authorities! And don’t worry about what you will say when you get there. The Holy Spirit will supply the right words just when you need them.
When people realize that it’s the LIVING GOD you’re presenting, and not some sounds-good made-up god, they are going to turn on you. Even loved ones. Even your family. But it's only because they don’t understand. They can't see yet.
There is a great irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate. But don’t give up! Don’t crumble! It’s all well worth it in the end. Survival is the goal in these times, not success. Be survivors! Before you know it the Son of Man will have arrived – help is on the way.
Don’t be intimidated. Don’t hesitate to share the Kingdom NOW. Don’t wait.
A time is coming when everything will be perfectly clear, and everyone will know the truth.
Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood.
Tell them that the Kingdom is HERE.
Stay alert constantly. This is not easy work I’m assigning you – it’s hazardous. You’ll be like a sheep running through a pack of wolves. So be careful not to call attention to yourselves. Be quiet and crafty, gentle and inoffensive. But don’t be naïve. People WILL impugn your motives and smear your reputation just because you believe in me. Don’t lose heart though when they haul you before the authorities. Their intention may be to destroy you, but I’m at work in their treachery. Without even knowing it they’ll have done you – and me – a favor: you’ll have a platform for preaching the Kingdom news to authorities! And don’t worry about what you will say when you get there. The Holy Spirit will supply the right words just when you need them.
When people realize that it’s the LIVING GOD you’re presenting, and not some sounds-good made-up god, they are going to turn on you. Even loved ones. Even your family. But it's only because they don’t understand. They can't see yet.
There is a great irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate. But don’t give up! Don’t crumble! It’s all well worth it in the end. Survival is the goal in these times, not success. Be survivors! Before you know it the Son of Man will have arrived – help is on the way.
Don’t be intimidated. Don’t hesitate to share the Kingdom NOW. Don’t wait.
A time is coming when everything will be perfectly clear, and everyone will know the truth.
Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood.
Tell them that the Kingdom is HERE.
"Everyone who calls “Help, God!” gets help.
But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust?
And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted?
And how can they hear if nobody tells them?
And how is anybody going to tell them unless someone is sent to do it?
That’s why Scripture exclaims,
'A Sight to take your breath away!
Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God!'"
From Romans 10, The Message
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Letter to a Friend
November 2007
I hope you don’t mind, but I felt led to share a few things with you. My heart was heavy for you last night as I lifted you in prayer. Do you ever go through certain situations in your life that, when you come through them, you realize that it was so you could help someone else along? I’ve been going through somewhat of a “desert” of my own for a while now, and the things that God has been revealing to me through others are far too important to keep to myself! So, I’m not sure if they’ll speak to anything you’re facing right now, but from the burden my heart is feeling for you, I simply hope they’ll help comfort you—because I know what it is like facing trials.
I have seen the light of Christ shining through you in a radiant way. It’s powerful and empowering. I don’t know if you hear it much, but you truly reveal Christ in all you do. I experience you as a strong woman who is not afraid to hold tight to her faith – you share it freely. (And that is a rare quality.) It’s easy to see that you have a heart for God, and a passion for his people. Thank you for that. It is so encouraging.
Unfortunately though, having a heart full of passion for God’s children means having to face testing and trials, and often persecution – far beyond that of being a quiet believer. Satan hates the pure heart of a woman for it gives life and strength to everyone around. And it pushes him into war with us when we become sold-out for furthering God’s Kingdom. We become a dangerous enemy to him.
You know, I used to think that, because of Satan’s hate for us, any time we faced trials it was his fault. What a horrible thing to give him all the credit! Talk about throwing more fuel into his fire-fight against us! He has no power to create every trial we face. He has power to tempt us and test us, but not to lay every trouble before us. It is God who determines our direction, our experiences! And we get to make the decisions.
Even harder for me to grasp rightfully reducing Satan to the influencer that he is, was for me to learn that it is God himself who often leads us into pain and uncertainty. I’d never thought much about that until last week. (It’s funny how sometimes we’ll read things hundreds of times in the Bible and still completely miss the thing that God was trying to teach us through it!) I’ve always only chosen to accept those qualities of God that I thought were good, comforting, or easy to grasp. My, oh my, I’ve missed out on so much of His amazing, complete nature in doing this! I’ve loved him for being tender, giving, and nurturing. But somehow skipped-over any efforts to embrace his power, his righteous anger, his jealousy, or his fierce love for us. And because of this I’ve loved a God for years that I’ve hardly chosen to get to know without condition. If I chose to treat my husband, or anyone else in that manner, they’d have left me very quickly! But thanks be to God that he loves me unconditionally and patiently, and always has. (Otherwise I’m positive he would have been rid of me too long ago!)
Last week I learned something so powerful about God, something I’ve always wondered but have been too scared, too worrisome to face. I learned that, often, God himself will lead us into pain – sometimes he will corner us and sometimes he will lead us into that place of desperate need. I’ve always thought “how could a God that loves us so much lead us to a place of such pain…darkness…desperation…?” When all along I should have wondered, “How could He not?” You see, there are so many times that we try to figure things out on our own, to determine our own outcome – and we completely leave God out of it. Even in our best of intentions to do good – like searching for answers in beloved devotionals or self-help books, or trying to pick out a scripture that we think answers our need. But in doing those things, where is the room for God to answer our need? Where is the space for us to hear his voice? We have become so fast-paced, so fix-it-yourself focused that we often kick God out. So he has to lead us to the desert. He has to lead us into pain and uncertainty. Otherwise, we’d forget all about him and never seek his voice.
In Exodus 14, Moses was leading the Israelites through the desert, away from oppressive Egypt. They had lost faith and were not trusting God enough in their hearts, so God stepped in. The Israelites had been in the middle of the desert, following Moses and an angel of the Lord, when God re-directed their path and lead them into a place of uncertainty. They were hemmed in on either side by mountains and were standing before the Red Sea when the fearsome Egyptian army suddenly closed-in behind them. Where would they go? How could they possibly flee the desperate situation with no visible path to freedom around? It seemed as if God had forsaken them. But God, in his sovereignty, quickly showed his love for the Israelites and his purpose in cornering them. When a frightening situation seemed hopeless, God showed his power by supernaturally parting the Red Sea for them to have safe-passage and destroying the Egyptian army as they tried to follow. Not only did he rescue his beloved Israelites, he gave testament to his glory in order that everyone would see and believe in him.
God often leads us into trials that seem so difficult, so dark, that we can’t see a way out in order that we will run to him for deliverance. Sometimes it’s the only way he can get our attention. And other times he leads us into troubles so that others around us will turn to him as well. You never know the impact you have on everyone around you. And sometimes God tests our faith in order that they might see his deliverance through your testimony, and believe.
“We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary – we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit. Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t wait for us to get ready.”
Romans 5:3-6
I hope you don’t mind, but I felt led to share a few things with you. My heart was heavy for you last night as I lifted you in prayer. Do you ever go through certain situations in your life that, when you come through them, you realize that it was so you could help someone else along? I’ve been going through somewhat of a “desert” of my own for a while now, and the things that God has been revealing to me through others are far too important to keep to myself! So, I’m not sure if they’ll speak to anything you’re facing right now, but from the burden my heart is feeling for you, I simply hope they’ll help comfort you—because I know what it is like facing trials.
I have seen the light of Christ shining through you in a radiant way. It’s powerful and empowering. I don’t know if you hear it much, but you truly reveal Christ in all you do. I experience you as a strong woman who is not afraid to hold tight to her faith – you share it freely. (And that is a rare quality.) It’s easy to see that you have a heart for God, and a passion for his people. Thank you for that. It is so encouraging.
Unfortunately though, having a heart full of passion for God’s children means having to face testing and trials, and often persecution – far beyond that of being a quiet believer. Satan hates the pure heart of a woman for it gives life and strength to everyone around. And it pushes him into war with us when we become sold-out for furthering God’s Kingdom. We become a dangerous enemy to him.
You know, I used to think that, because of Satan’s hate for us, any time we faced trials it was his fault. What a horrible thing to give him all the credit! Talk about throwing more fuel into his fire-fight against us! He has no power to create every trial we face. He has power to tempt us and test us, but not to lay every trouble before us. It is God who determines our direction, our experiences! And we get to make the decisions.
Even harder for me to grasp rightfully reducing Satan to the influencer that he is, was for me to learn that it is God himself who often leads us into pain and uncertainty. I’d never thought much about that until last week. (It’s funny how sometimes we’ll read things hundreds of times in the Bible and still completely miss the thing that God was trying to teach us through it!) I’ve always only chosen to accept those qualities of God that I thought were good, comforting, or easy to grasp. My, oh my, I’ve missed out on so much of His amazing, complete nature in doing this! I’ve loved him for being tender, giving, and nurturing. But somehow skipped-over any efforts to embrace his power, his righteous anger, his jealousy, or his fierce love for us. And because of this I’ve loved a God for years that I’ve hardly chosen to get to know without condition. If I chose to treat my husband, or anyone else in that manner, they’d have left me very quickly! But thanks be to God that he loves me unconditionally and patiently, and always has. (Otherwise I’m positive he would have been rid of me too long ago!)
Last week I learned something so powerful about God, something I’ve always wondered but have been too scared, too worrisome to face. I learned that, often, God himself will lead us into pain – sometimes he will corner us and sometimes he will lead us into that place of desperate need. I’ve always thought “how could a God that loves us so much lead us to a place of such pain…darkness…desperation…?” When all along I should have wondered, “How could He not?” You see, there are so many times that we try to figure things out on our own, to determine our own outcome – and we completely leave God out of it. Even in our best of intentions to do good – like searching for answers in beloved devotionals or self-help books, or trying to pick out a scripture that we think answers our need. But in doing those things, where is the room for God to answer our need? Where is the space for us to hear his voice? We have become so fast-paced, so fix-it-yourself focused that we often kick God out. So he has to lead us to the desert. He has to lead us into pain and uncertainty. Otherwise, we’d forget all about him and never seek his voice.
In Exodus 14, Moses was leading the Israelites through the desert, away from oppressive Egypt. They had lost faith and were not trusting God enough in their hearts, so God stepped in. The Israelites had been in the middle of the desert, following Moses and an angel of the Lord, when God re-directed their path and lead them into a place of uncertainty. They were hemmed in on either side by mountains and were standing before the Red Sea when the fearsome Egyptian army suddenly closed-in behind them. Where would they go? How could they possibly flee the desperate situation with no visible path to freedom around? It seemed as if God had forsaken them. But God, in his sovereignty, quickly showed his love for the Israelites and his purpose in cornering them. When a frightening situation seemed hopeless, God showed his power by supernaturally parting the Red Sea for them to have safe-passage and destroying the Egyptian army as they tried to follow. Not only did he rescue his beloved Israelites, he gave testament to his glory in order that everyone would see and believe in him.
God often leads us into trials that seem so difficult, so dark, that we can’t see a way out in order that we will run to him for deliverance. Sometimes it’s the only way he can get our attention. And other times he leads us into troubles so that others around us will turn to him as well. You never know the impact you have on everyone around you. And sometimes God tests our faith in order that they might see his deliverance through your testimony, and believe.
“We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary – we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit. Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t wait for us to get ready.”
Romans 5:3-6
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Time For Change
Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.
Revelation 2:17
Revelation 2:17
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