How great it is to meet together with other believers and share in fellowship and praise!
Since I have been back in the States I have met with many of my brothers and sisters in Christ.
- On November 12-15 I met with many CSI missionaries, staff, and other members of the CSI family at the CSI Staff Retreat.
- I have met with members of my home church.
- I have met with past team members.
- I have met with future team members.
- I have met with possible future team members.
- I have met with staff at our Muncie office.
- I have met with future CSI Jamaica staff.
- And over the next few days I will be meeting with another future team, a supporting church, and a possible supporting church.
All of these opportunities have been, and will be, times of praise to our Lord. I don't understand how some believers can get together and not enjoy themselves, but it happens. When I get together with other believers I expect Christ to show up; I expect to have a great time of praise, worship and fellowship. Shouldn't we all expect the same when we gather together in His name? (Of course part of the problem could be that too many Christians often fail to meet together in Jesus' name.)
"Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with his godly people." Psalm 111:1 (NLT)
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
It Often Happens
Have you ever had a great God-moment and then come up with a wonderful idea about some ministry you could do or be involved in that would allow you to serve God with all your heart?
Did you then jump into it with both feet, whole-heartedly, with no reservations, with all of your faith, with no plan as to how to carry out that ministry, without seeking God's direction and will, and without asking God if that was what He wanted you to do, but instead asked God to come along on the journey that YOU were starting?
Did it seem to go well at first?
You were excited! You didn't know how God was gonna work it out, but you "knew" He was gonna open some great doors of ministry opportunity!
Others offered words of caution, but you were confident that you were doing what was right!
After a short time you may have started to struggle and wondered why God had not blown the doors wide open for you to be able to succeed in this new ministry that you were so jazzed about starting!
A short time after that you started to realize that you may have allowed your emotions to lead you in a direction that was close to the direction Christ was trying to lead you, but you were now nowhere close to where He wanted you to go.
You knew that you needed to change what you were doing, but didn't know how you could admit to everyone else that you had made a terrible decision and went out to minister in Jesus' name without actually taking Jesus along with you.
IT HAPPENS!
From time to time we, as Christians, experience a great God-moment and get excited about the possibilities!!! But we have to be careful and use the good sense that He has given us. We have to take the time to get on our knees before Him and seek His direction and will for our lives and the ministry He has for us to do. He will give us His vision for His ministry if we will allow Him to lead us instead of allowing our emotions to take control.
"Where there is no vision the people perish." (Prov. 29:18)
Did you then jump into it with both feet, whole-heartedly, with no reservations, with all of your faith, with no plan as to how to carry out that ministry, without seeking God's direction and will, and without asking God if that was what He wanted you to do, but instead asked God to come along on the journey that YOU were starting?
Did it seem to go well at first?
You were excited! You didn't know how God was gonna work it out, but you "knew" He was gonna open some great doors of ministry opportunity!
Others offered words of caution, but you were confident that you were doing what was right!
After a short time you may have started to struggle and wondered why God had not blown the doors wide open for you to be able to succeed in this new ministry that you were so jazzed about starting!
A short time after that you started to realize that you may have allowed your emotions to lead you in a direction that was close to the direction Christ was trying to lead you, but you were now nowhere close to where He wanted you to go.
You knew that you needed to change what you were doing, but didn't know how you could admit to everyone else that you had made a terrible decision and went out to minister in Jesus' name without actually taking Jesus along with you.
IT HAPPENS!
From time to time we, as Christians, experience a great God-moment and get excited about the possibilities!!! But we have to be careful and use the good sense that He has given us. We have to take the time to get on our knees before Him and seek His direction and will for our lives and the ministry He has for us to do. He will give us His vision for His ministry if we will allow Him to lead us instead of allowing our emotions to take control.
"Where there is no vision the people perish." (Prov. 29:18)
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