"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him." 1 John 5:14-15
I've been struggling with these two verses today as I came accross them during my devotions. I'm struggling with them because I'm desperately trying to discover or realize what God's will is so that I can pray accordingly. I long to pray according to his will so that I can do what He wants of me. If we can know that God hears us when we pray according to His will then that is the prayer that I want to pray. Unfortunately, at this exact moment, I have no idea what His will is. It's a frustrating place to be. Have we(I) made God's "will" so hard to discern? Is his will simply to love him and others? Does his will expand beyond that into what we do, where we go etc.? I tend to believe it does. I believe that it matters where we go, what we do and who we minister to. I think those all fall within God's will for our lives, but what do we do when we don't know God's will in those areas of our lives. I have heard from several of you readers who feel the same. We know that God has called us to more, but what is that "more" that He's called us to? Is it more love, more prayer, more service, more worship etc.? We can all live with the guilt of "I could do more" in each of those areas, as well as, in most aspects of our lives. "I should exercise more, watch less tv, etc", but when do we get to a place of, dare I say, contentment, of doing what God has called us to? Contentment has become a bad word, but if we use it in the realm of content in Christ, secure in His prescence, centered in His will, then I think it's ok. I want to be content in knowing that I'm following God's will with my life. Not content that I've done enough, but content knowing that I'm doing what He wants. Phillipians 4:11-12 mentions contentment and that Paul has learned to be content in all situations. Paul, I think discovered that contentment of doing God's will with His life in all his situations. I think it had to do with his purpose. I guess that's what I'm trying to figure out today. What is my purpose today and how does that relate to God's will for my life. How can I find that place of rest, knowing that I'm doing what God wants me to do. Well, if you think about it today, be praying for me(us) as we continue to try and discover God's will for our lives. We'll try and do the same for you.
Blessings!
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Saturday, November 18, 2006
FEELING BETTER
Obviously, I didn't post yesterday but we are definitely on the mend. Dawn and the kids were feeling better by last night, but I have just been feeling kinda nausious still today. I guess that's still better than them since they couldn't keep anything down while I never did loose my lunch. Strange, but true. Maybe my turn is still coming.
Now, on to a subject that makes my stomach turn just about as much...Church.
I mentioned in the last post about the transition that our church is in right now with voting to continue meeting on Sunday mornings in the gymnasium for worship services rather than the sanctuary. Here's a short background. Our sanctuary is typical in shape, long and narrow with pews and stage in front. It holds, if every seat is filled, shoulder to shoulder, around 185. We have been averaging in attendance around 185 including kids thus the sanctuary is probably 85-90% full on a Sunday with the only seats really open are a few scattered and the front pews. During Easter season we had a children's program which we held in the gym on Palm Sunday then Easter the next Sunday. We had around 250 for the kid's program then over 300 for Easter. The board decided to keep the services in the gym for 6 months to "try it out" to provide room for growth and to possibly make the sanctuary into a designated children's area. (We are running over 100 kids on Wednesday nights) Anyway, 6 months now and the board decided to allow the church to vote on it rather than just doing it (which they could have done). After allowing the members and board members of the church to voice their comments at an open mic meeting, the vote passed, but not quite at two-thirds majority which the pastor thought we would need to do, however, majority is all that I thought was needed and since it wasn't laid out prior to the vote, I questioned it because I thought it passed. He called the DS who called KC and I was right. So, now we have people ranting and raving that the pastor manipulated the vote. Some are leaving and at least one called the DS and said "there's a group of us who are going to withold our tithes" if you allow this. Yada, Yada, Yada.
Anyway, there's the background, but what really irritates me was the reasons that some of the people mentioned who were against the move. They mentioned things like, "Where you gonna have my funeral?" or "We built this for wedding receptions" or "we built this for the kids" or "it's too big and we can't get to know everyone". What???? You've got to be kidding me. Personally, I don't care where my funeral will be, I just hope someone cares enough to show up and really that won't bother me then will it. Wedding receptions??? I, personally know no one who has come to the Lord because of a wedding or a reception held at my church. (not saying it doesn't happen, but it's definitely not the premiere method of evangelism. It's for the kids??? We're gonna try and dedicate an entire area of the church for them to use all the time plus they will still get to use the gym whenever they really want since we dismantle the church after each Sunday morning service. We can't get to know everyone??? You don't know everyone now, but that's why we encourage people to be involved in a small group ministry. One other one was it's a lot of work, so why don't we go to 2 services? I've done two services before. That's just as much or more work.
Anyway, I guess this all goes back to one of my questions several weeks ago, would anyone outside of our church care if we closed the doors today? Probably not, we're pretty self absorbed. I don't think we're much different than many other churches, sadly, as I almost daily hear of churches splitting or people leaving their churches for simular reasons. (which is, if we're totally honest, the majority of our attenders came from) Would we, in North America, survive as a church if we weren't allowed to meet publically, or were not allowed to purchase buildings? I know the answer is yes because I believe in the message of Christ, but who would that be made up of? Are these people not Christian because they don't want change? Am I saying they are not Christian? No I'm not, but I wonder what makes us as humans hold onto things like this so tightly. Does it really matter where we meet or if we sit on pews or seats or where we have our weddings or funerals? No it doesn't. What really matters is that if someone who wants or needs to hear the Gospel has a chance to hear it or a seat to sit in if they want to join a group to worship with. Many of you who read this blog know and have experienced with me the opportunity to worship in big, in small, in termite infested, in nice and in run down, in-doors and out, in gyms and in basements and we have been able to be in the presence of the almighty in all those settings. I'm so glad that God decided to leave the temple in Jerusalem and decided to enter into our hearts as we carry Him with us. I've ranted long enough but I leave you with this simple prayer.
God help us to get beyond our pettiness, help us to realize you are not in the place but the person, show us how ugly our selfishness is, help us in this journey you called us to by directing our paths and help us to accept the disipline you administer when we stray. Help us to see the larger picture and remove the blinders that tend to create short-sightedness. And, may your grace be ever true as you know we truly need it.
Blessings
Now, on to a subject that makes my stomach turn just about as much...Church.
I mentioned in the last post about the transition that our church is in right now with voting to continue meeting on Sunday mornings in the gymnasium for worship services rather than the sanctuary. Here's a short background. Our sanctuary is typical in shape, long and narrow with pews and stage in front. It holds, if every seat is filled, shoulder to shoulder, around 185. We have been averaging in attendance around 185 including kids thus the sanctuary is probably 85-90% full on a Sunday with the only seats really open are a few scattered and the front pews. During Easter season we had a children's program which we held in the gym on Palm Sunday then Easter the next Sunday. We had around 250 for the kid's program then over 300 for Easter. The board decided to keep the services in the gym for 6 months to "try it out" to provide room for growth and to possibly make the sanctuary into a designated children's area. (We are running over 100 kids on Wednesday nights) Anyway, 6 months now and the board decided to allow the church to vote on it rather than just doing it (which they could have done). After allowing the members and board members of the church to voice their comments at an open mic meeting, the vote passed, but not quite at two-thirds majority which the pastor thought we would need to do, however, majority is all that I thought was needed and since it wasn't laid out prior to the vote, I questioned it because I thought it passed. He called the DS who called KC and I was right. So, now we have people ranting and raving that the pastor manipulated the vote. Some are leaving and at least one called the DS and said "there's a group of us who are going to withold our tithes" if you allow this. Yada, Yada, Yada.
Anyway, there's the background, but what really irritates me was the reasons that some of the people mentioned who were against the move. They mentioned things like, "Where you gonna have my funeral?" or "We built this for wedding receptions" or "we built this for the kids" or "it's too big and we can't get to know everyone". What???? You've got to be kidding me. Personally, I don't care where my funeral will be, I just hope someone cares enough to show up and really that won't bother me then will it. Wedding receptions??? I, personally know no one who has come to the Lord because of a wedding or a reception held at my church. (not saying it doesn't happen, but it's definitely not the premiere method of evangelism. It's for the kids??? We're gonna try and dedicate an entire area of the church for them to use all the time plus they will still get to use the gym whenever they really want since we dismantle the church after each Sunday morning service. We can't get to know everyone??? You don't know everyone now, but that's why we encourage people to be involved in a small group ministry. One other one was it's a lot of work, so why don't we go to 2 services? I've done two services before. That's just as much or more work.
Anyway, I guess this all goes back to one of my questions several weeks ago, would anyone outside of our church care if we closed the doors today? Probably not, we're pretty self absorbed. I don't think we're much different than many other churches, sadly, as I almost daily hear of churches splitting or people leaving their churches for simular reasons. (which is, if we're totally honest, the majority of our attenders came from) Would we, in North America, survive as a church if we weren't allowed to meet publically, or were not allowed to purchase buildings? I know the answer is yes because I believe in the message of Christ, but who would that be made up of? Are these people not Christian because they don't want change? Am I saying they are not Christian? No I'm not, but I wonder what makes us as humans hold onto things like this so tightly. Does it really matter where we meet or if we sit on pews or seats or where we have our weddings or funerals? No it doesn't. What really matters is that if someone who wants or needs to hear the Gospel has a chance to hear it or a seat to sit in if they want to join a group to worship with. Many of you who read this blog know and have experienced with me the opportunity to worship in big, in small, in termite infested, in nice and in run down, in-doors and out, in gyms and in basements and we have been able to be in the presence of the almighty in all those settings. I'm so glad that God decided to leave the temple in Jerusalem and decided to enter into our hearts as we carry Him with us. I've ranted long enough but I leave you with this simple prayer.
God help us to get beyond our pettiness, help us to realize you are not in the place but the person, show us how ugly our selfishness is, help us in this journey you called us to by directing our paths and help us to accept the disipline you administer when we stray. Help us to see the larger picture and remove the blinders that tend to create short-sightedness. And, may your grace be ever true as you know we truly need it.
Blessings
Thursday, November 16, 2006
UPDATE
It's been a while since I updated this thing so, I thought I'd spend a few moments today. First of all we started out the night with the flu. Reagan had a bad bad night and then it continued this morning with Dawn, then Connor and back to Reagan again. I'm holding down the fort right now and anything I've eaten today, but not sure how much longer that will last. As for other life issues nothing really new. We finished the house we were working on a couple of weeks ago and are praying for it to sell soon. We're heading down south to see my family for Thanksgiving and are really looking forward to that. On the church front, our church decided to start having our services permanently in the gym and to convert the sanctuary into a childrens area. The attitudes of some of the people have been pretty ugly thoughout all of this. I'll discuss this later when I'm feeling better. I've finished my Real Estate classes and have sent in my application to the state so that I can take the state test for licensure. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I know when I can take it.
That's it for now, but I'll try to update tomorrow more if I'm up to it.
Blessings
That's it for now, but I'll try to update tomorrow more if I'm up to it.
Blessings
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