We are all packed up and ready to go. Bill, my husband and I, have been in Pawley's Island, South Carolina for the 3dministries Learning Community that Missio Lux joined last April.
The Learning Community is a relational way to gather as each of us seeks to become the leader and disciple that Jesus calls us to become.
And, relational, it has been. It started out by us coming to the address that we were given, only to discover that four houses were on the property for the address. It was also pitch dark! We finally found the right house and was greeted happily by Wenda, a wonderful woman from Omaha. We were invited to hang out on the deck, so out we went, speaking to people we had never met before -- in the pitch dark, but also being lulled to relaxation by the sound of the ocean.
Going to bed was also interesting. We had single beds that Bill's feet hung way over the end. We didn't have towels either, but that was okay as the shower seemed to have been built before electricity or piped water existed! Actually, all these sacrifices have been more than worth it as we have direct access to one of the finest beaches I have ever set my toes in, and our housemates, once we recognized them in the light, have been delightful.
It's been an interesting journey being the first senior woman pastor to attend a Learning Community. Bill and I found our places in the gender specific huddles rather challenging as we both had a hard time relating to our huddle, as their challenges were more our spouses challenges, rather than our own.
I am so glad to have found 3dministries, however, because in them I have found kindred spirits in terms of the desire to live Jesus' lifestyles that look like his (contextulized for the 21st century), focus on relationships, training on leadership, and missional community structure.
So. we leave in just a few hours, but not until we go for the final session. My experience in the past two Learning Communities is that the last time of being together is one of great spiritual connection and impartation. I look forward to it as I return to Seattle and begin Missio Lux' second ministry year. I anticipate that Jesus is going to do amazing things amongst us as we seek to follow his leadership and model for life.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Barna Survey: How Many People Really Attend a House Church?
Barna's last survey was very interesting. He is focusing quite a bit on house churches in the past couple of years. In fact, he has advocated for a new book called "The House Church Book" which provides a simple but compelling discussion about why house churches are valuable entities in the kingdom of God.
The author, Wolfgang Simson is a German who has tracked the organic church for more than two decades.
He writes, "Church as we know it is preventing church as God wants it" as he discusses the attributes of the New Testament Church in contrast to our current churches.
He writes, "The New Testament Church was made up of small groups, typically between 10 and 15 people. It grew, but not by forming big congregations of three hundred people, rather it multiplied sideways, dividing like organic cells once these groups reached 15 or 20 people. This then made it possible for all Christians to gather in citywide celebrations, which facilitated a greater sense of the Body of Believers in an area as well as dynamic worship and growth experiences."
Simson also said it is important for Christians to "Stop bringing people to church, and start bringing church to people."
However, he is very realistic about the challenges in doing this as it is hardest to be spiritual withthe people who know us the best. All our attempts at creating a good image fall flat as we reveal our true selves. Home, is where everything we do and say is automatically put through a spiritual litmus test against reality, where hypocrisy can be effectively weeded out and authenticity can grow.
Does any of this sound familiar? This is Missio Lux. We are seeking to do the very things that Simson is writing about. It is challenging and messy, but the rewards for sticking with it are very great and much bigger than we can currently see. We are helping pave a path that many others are going to follow in the years to come.
The author, Wolfgang Simson is a German who has tracked the organic church for more than two decades.
He writes, "Church as we know it is preventing church as God wants it" as he discusses the attributes of the New Testament Church in contrast to our current churches.
He writes, "The New Testament Church was made up of small groups, typically between 10 and 15 people. It grew, but not by forming big congregations of three hundred people, rather it multiplied sideways, dividing like organic cells once these groups reached 15 or 20 people. This then made it possible for all Christians to gather in citywide celebrations, which facilitated a greater sense of the Body of Believers in an area as well as dynamic worship and growth experiences."
Simson also said it is important for Christians to "Stop bringing people to church, and start bringing church to people."
However, he is very realistic about the challenges in doing this as it is hardest to be spiritual withthe people who know us the best. All our attempts at creating a good image fall flat as we reveal our true selves. Home, is where everything we do and say is automatically put through a spiritual litmus test against reality, where hypocrisy can be effectively weeded out and authenticity can grow.
Does any of this sound familiar? This is Missio Lux. We are seeking to do the very things that Simson is writing about. It is challenging and messy, but the rewards for sticking with it are very great and much bigger than we can currently see. We are helping pave a path that many others are going to follow in the years to come.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Alignment, Part 4
Alignment Questions:
Jesus, align my mind with your mind
Jesus, align my emotions with your heart
Jesus, align my will with your will
Jesus, align my life choices with your priorities
Jesus, align my mind with your mind
Jesus, align my emotions with your heart
Jesus, align my will with your will
Jesus, align my life choices with your priorities
Do you remember this rhyme?
“Good girls don’t drink or chew or hang out with boys who do.”
In many ways, this was the theme of the church of yesteryear. It was very concerned with behavior. Judgments were made by the type of lifestyle that one kept: no smoking, drinking, dancing or card playing.
In some ways, the Christian sub-culture hasn’t moved that far away from this type of thinking. Many Christian colleges have students sign lifestyle statements to ensure that their behavior is acceptable. Even the Seattle Pacific University just started holding dances about five years ago because they had a donor base that didn’t approve of it.
But, my belief is that when we focus on behavior, we will only push sin underground and it looks very insidious when it is hidden. The less room for freedom in behavior, the more room for a lifestyle riddled with destructive life tendencies.
It is when we are able to say, “I am a forgiven sinner along with my friends on the journey of life” that we are free to admit our issues and find acceptance. This happens when grace is present and when we have renewed minds through daily seeking to know Jesus and discover his heart for how we are to live.
He taught us how to live a life that pleases him, and it comes first by aligning our souls with his. It is our souls: minds, emotions and will that first must become aligned to his sinless soul.
This is the order in which the three parts of our personhood must line up: spirit, soul and body. Our spirits are where God exists within us. Our spirits are instantly transformed at salvation, becoming just like God because he moved in and took up residence within us.
Our souls: mind, emotions and wills are the part of us that continue to transform as we live a life of discipleship through following Jesus. Finally, our body brings up the rear, deciding to follow wherever our soul directs it to go.
Our body doesn’t have decision making ability, does it? It is our mind and will that separate us from the rest of creation—otherwise we would be just like animals, doing things out of instinct rather than choice.
So, when we focus on behavior first, we are speaking to an area where there is really no ability to choose. We decide to eat that second piece of cake with our will. We decide to work 12 hours a day to please our boss with our mind. We decide to shout at our children in anger out of our emotions. We decide to exercise and eat well with our will. We decide to do everything with our bodies though our soul. So, our focus for living the lifestyle Jesus teaches us comes through our soul, not our bodies.
The Red Bucket speaks to this reality on day 64: “ You are not your thoughts.” Current research on the brain brings this reality to light; that our thoughts don’t define who we are, but rather beliefs that we hold. These beliefs don’t identify our core identity, but they do govern our behavior choices.
One of Missio Lux’ foundational ministries is Recovery, currently Celebrate Recovery. We have this as a foundational ministry because recovery understands and moves out of this principal. Christian Recovery seeks to live a 12 step lifestyle, which in reality is Jesus’ lifestyle. They recognize that our soul must first align with Jesus and then our addictions and our hurts, habits and hang ups will follow and begin to lead our bodies to life giving behavior. 12 Steps gives people the tools to live a satisfying and fulfilling life.
Our fourth alignment question is “Jesus, align my life choices with your priorities.”
What are Jesus’ priorities? We know that he gives us two big priorities and just about everything else he teaches falls into these categories. The first one is called the “Great Commandment.” It is found in Mark 12:30-31: “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Jesus teaches us that love is our highest priority: love first for himself, Father and Holy Spirit. It is through this relationship that we are able to then love ourselves because we begin to look away from our failures, shortcomings and sin, and to look at ourselves with God’s truth about us. This is his truth: Jesus left the comfort of heaven, along with his divine power, and came to earth to become one of us. He pursues us in relationship.
When we are loved well by our perfect heavenly father, we are able to love ourselves, which then leads to the ability to love those around us. Our focus is changed from “How is everyone going to meet my needs?” to “How can I love and serve the people around me unconditionally?” We move from a place of external conditioning to an internal shift of monumental proportion!
The second priority of Jesus is called “The Great Commission.” He tells us in Matthew 28:20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
After we have loved the Father, learned to love ourselves and continue to grow in loving our neighbor, we are to share his love with others. We are not to keep Jesus’ love to ourselves or just our faith community, but we are meant to pass it on. The more we pour it out, the more the Father’s love will be poured back onto us.
Jesus commanded us to go and make more disciples. It is through this multiplication effect that the world will begin to realize that our purpose for existence is to be in relationship with the Creator who created us. This is a very high purpose and once our mind aligns with Jesus’ mind, and our emotions begin to align with God’s huge heart for the world, our will begins to move into alignment with God’s will. Even more amazingly, our bodies come into right alignment and become the instrument for us to walk out our faith.
I hope that you have discovered the joy of using the tool of the Alignment Questions to help equip you to walk out your faith as a lifestyle. Remember, the adjustments may be very slight, but in time they will become major adjustments that happened a little bit at a time. The chiropractor doesn’t turn our neck around all at us, it happens one adjustment at a time.
I also want to say that the alignments won’t all happen in the quiet with Jesus. They will take place throughout your day and may be so slight that you can miss them altogether. But, pay attention, because over time you will see growth take place that will encourage you and those around you.
The 30 day challenge is just about over, but don’t stop now! When we make a change and do it for 90 days, it moves from our short term memory and becomes a part of our permanent behavior! Our mind instructs our bodies. . . hmmm, sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Leaving for the Learning Community with 3dMinistries
Bill and I are hopping on a very early morning plane tomorrow and going to South Carolina with the Learning Community with 3dministries. www.3dministries.org
This is a time for senior leaders and their spouses to come and build relationships with others from the Learning Community as well as with each other. It is a privilege to have someone who reaches out to pour into our marriage as ministry often causes extra demands upon the spouse of the pastor!
I am a bit apprehensive as I think that I will be the only woman senior leader, which makes Bill the only male spouse! But, everyone is so friendly, I am sure it will be fine.
This is my fourth trip to South Carolina this year.
I went in early February to check out the Learning Community to see if this was something that would give Missio Lux support and coaching.
I took a team of 5 in early May for the first team gathering where we went through a process of discipleship and developed goals and strategies for implementing them in Missio Lux.
Our theme for this year is "Living Jesus' Lifestyle."
We want to discover how to live like Jesus a couple of thousand years after he walked the earth. How do we take his principles and live them out for the Now of our lives?
I am grateful to everyone, especially our parent church, for making this opportunty a reality. I will let you know how it goes when I get back.
This is a time for senior leaders and their spouses to come and build relationships with others from the Learning Community as well as with each other. It is a privilege to have someone who reaches out to pour into our marriage as ministry often causes extra demands upon the spouse of the pastor!
I am a bit apprehensive as I think that I will be the only woman senior leader, which makes Bill the only male spouse! But, everyone is so friendly, I am sure it will be fine.
This is my fourth trip to South Carolina this year.
I went in early February to check out the Learning Community to see if this was something that would give Missio Lux support and coaching.
I took a team of 5 in early May for the first team gathering where we went through a process of discipleship and developed goals and strategies for implementing them in Missio Lux.
Our theme for this year is "Living Jesus' Lifestyle."
We want to discover how to live like Jesus a couple of thousand years after he walked the earth. How do we take his principles and live them out for the Now of our lives?
I am grateful to everyone, especially our parent church, for making this opportunty a reality. I will let you know how it goes when I get back.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Angie and Arok Come Home from Africa
Angie and Arok, heads of Seeds of Hope, are home from their trip to Africa. They had an amazing trip as they went to do different things: Arok tried to get to his village, Paliu, in Sudan, Angie and Arok observed Kodera, Kenya, a village which is experiencing community tranformation through their partnership with Pine Lake Covenant, but most importantly, to meet the now 39 children in school in Nukuru, Kenya.
Read some of the excerpts from their updates below:
Angie:
Saturday night I returned home from my first trip to Africa. It was a trip filled with adventure, new friends and challenging circumstances.
As an American, I found myself struggling to understand the ways of the Kenyans and the cultural conflicts between them and the Sudanese community living among them who are the beneficiaries of our project, Seeds of Hope.
Seeds of Hope is a non profit project within Missio Lux Covenant Church that seeks to raise awareness and funding to care for and educate orphaned Sudanese children through partnership with Lost Boys from Sudan living in America.
There are thousands of displaced and orphan Sudanese children today due to the decades of ongoing civil war in Sudan. Seeds of Hope is targeting orphans from the Ajuong Community of Southern Sudan and sending them to boarding school in Nakuru Kenya.
My purpose in going on this trip was to gain perspective and vision for our project and build relationships with our project leaders, all of which I feel was accomplished.
Connecting and spending time with our project leaders and the children in Nakuru was momentous.
Arok Garang, a Lost Boy from Sudan who resides in Denver, Colorado met us in Kisumu and traveled with the team from PLCC to Kodera.
We served this community together for 7 days before going to Nakuru to evaluate the Seeds of Hope project. Arok is a thoughtful man of honor and dignity. At 6'4" his presence can be intimidating, but he leads with a quiet strength. Arok is the leader of the Lost Boys of Sudan from the Ajuong community and serves as our liason between those leading the project onsite in Nakuru and his community leaders back in Sudan.
Arok and I were able to deepen our connection and understanding of each other through our expereinces in Kodera and discussing the onsite issues in Nakuru with our project leader there, Ghak Thiong.
Ghak Thiong, nicknamed Nyerere after a former president of Tanzania, is a deeply compassionate and selfless man with a smile as bright as the sun. He coordinates the boarding school education of the orphaned children and their care when they are on break from school. Spending time with him and witnessing him in action with the children gave me great respect for his heart for his people and the future of his country.
I was also privileged to meet Beatrice, the Head Mistress of Roots Academy boarding school that most of our children attend. Though several of our children have been very challenging for the school, Beatrice maintains a deep concern and compassion for the orphans of Sudan. Many of our kids came to her with virtually no prior schooling and little knowledge, and much to her amazement and delight she has watched many of them them excel academically over the last year to become the top students in their class.
(Arok)
Just wanted to Thank you all for all your prayers for me while I was in Africa. I arrived here on August 24 safely. My trip was a successful one, I was able to meet the kids and Ghak (the Seeds of Hope director in Nakuru).
I was so excited to see the kids, how their lives have improved and also to learned that our kids are the top students in Roots Academy. I proved it when I spoke to them in English. They speak very clear English even those in grade one. The smile in their faces showed me that we have changed their lives.
I was able to go to Sudan and Kakuma Refugee Camp. (although due to bad roads, Arok did not make it to his village.)
Also, I was able to meet Angie and the team from Pine Lake Church and we went to Kodera together. In Kodera, I learned alot about the community there and how they have to build schools, Clinic and clean water for their community.
Back to Nakuru with Angie and Dave from Kodera. We were able to meet the headmistress of the Roots Academy and we toured the school.. Then Angie meet the kids and played some games with them and gave them gifts.
You can read more about Seeds of Hope on Angie's new blog: www.seedsofhopesudan.blogspot.com
Read some of the excerpts from their updates below:
Angie:
Saturday night I returned home from my first trip to Africa. It was a trip filled with adventure, new friends and challenging circumstances.
As an American, I found myself struggling to understand the ways of the Kenyans and the cultural conflicts between them and the Sudanese community living among them who are the beneficiaries of our project, Seeds of Hope.
Seeds of Hope is a non profit project within Missio Lux Covenant Church that seeks to raise awareness and funding to care for and educate orphaned Sudanese children through partnership with Lost Boys from Sudan living in America.
There are thousands of displaced and orphan Sudanese children today due to the decades of ongoing civil war in Sudan. Seeds of Hope is targeting orphans from the Ajuong Community of Southern Sudan and sending them to boarding school in Nakuru Kenya.
My purpose in going on this trip was to gain perspective and vision for our project and build relationships with our project leaders, all of which I feel was accomplished.
Connecting and spending time with our project leaders and the children in Nakuru was momentous.
Arok Garang, a Lost Boy from Sudan who resides in Denver, Colorado met us in Kisumu and traveled with the team from PLCC to Kodera.
We served this community together for 7 days before going to Nakuru to evaluate the Seeds of Hope project. Arok is a thoughtful man of honor and dignity. At 6'4" his presence can be intimidating, but he leads with a quiet strength. Arok is the leader of the Lost Boys of Sudan from the Ajuong community and serves as our liason between those leading the project onsite in Nakuru and his community leaders back in Sudan.
Arok and I were able to deepen our connection and understanding of each other through our expereinces in Kodera and discussing the onsite issues in Nakuru with our project leader there, Ghak Thiong.
Ghak Thiong, nicknamed Nyerere after a former president of Tanzania, is a deeply compassionate and selfless man with a smile as bright as the sun. He coordinates the boarding school education of the orphaned children and their care when they are on break from school. Spending time with him and witnessing him in action with the children gave me great respect for his heart for his people and the future of his country.
I was also privileged to meet Beatrice, the Head Mistress of Roots Academy boarding school that most of our children attend. Though several of our children have been very challenging for the school, Beatrice maintains a deep concern and compassion for the orphans of Sudan. Many of our kids came to her with virtually no prior schooling and little knowledge, and much to her amazement and delight she has watched many of them them excel academically over the last year to become the top students in their class.
(Arok)
Just wanted to Thank you all for all your prayers for me while I was in Africa. I arrived here on August 24 safely. My trip was a successful one, I was able to meet the kids and Ghak (the Seeds of Hope director in Nakuru).
I was so excited to see the kids, how their lives have improved and also to learned that our kids are the top students in Roots Academy. I proved it when I spoke to them in English. They speak very clear English even those in grade one. The smile in their faces showed me that we have changed their lives.
I was able to go to Sudan and Kakuma Refugee Camp. (although due to bad roads, Arok did not make it to his village.)
Also, I was able to meet Angie and the team from Pine Lake Church and we went to Kodera together. In Kodera, I learned alot about the community there and how they have to build schools, Clinic and clean water for their community.
Back to Nakuru with Angie and Dave from Kodera. We were able to meet the headmistress of the Roots Academy and we toured the school.. Then Angie meet the kids and played some games with them and gave them gifts.
You can read more about Seeds of Hope on Angie's new blog: www.seedsofhopesudan.blogspot.com
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Huddle Launch
Tonight was our first huddle launch for this new ministry year. Huddle is our leadership equipping structure and our biggest huddle involves the missio community catalysts.
About half were missing due to it being the first week of school, but the other half who were able to come experienced me dropping the plans I had so we could fully devote our time to prayer.
There was a lot to cover, a re-orienting time for where we are going to go this year. But, after a time of reflection on our season of abiding this summer, I knew that the best way we could go for the evening was to lay down our plans and go to prayer, committing our year to Jesus.
We started by praising God for who he is, and then moved to thanking him for who he says we are as his family. We thanked him for answered prayers and promises he has given to us. We moved to Scriptures that had spoken to us through the summer, and then we pressed in for what we desired to see God do in Missio Lux.
At one point, we stopped to pray for one man who has a demanding job on the graveyard shift. We asked God to right his hours and then to heal his body. Love flowed from each person who prayed for his healing.
We continued to bring our missio communities to Jesus, stating our dreams for them and asking God to give us bigger faith for what we wanted him to do. We continued to pray for the Celebration, asking for the Lord to give us his presence in each one and to bring us into a deep place of worship.
We ended, as we always do, with communion. We like to remember that Jesus told his disciples that "he eagerly desired to spend this meal with them." We like that, it reminds us that Jesus feels that way about us too!
Then we bless. We intentionally pick out one person to give a blessing--so that everyone leaves feeling loved and known. Sometimes we bless several people because we are filled so we can build one another up.
It was a good night. I am going to bed happy for how Jesus led us tonight.
About half were missing due to it being the first week of school, but the other half who were able to come experienced me dropping the plans I had so we could fully devote our time to prayer.
There was a lot to cover, a re-orienting time for where we are going to go this year. But, after a time of reflection on our season of abiding this summer, I knew that the best way we could go for the evening was to lay down our plans and go to prayer, committing our year to Jesus.
We started by praising God for who he is, and then moved to thanking him for who he says we are as his family. We thanked him for answered prayers and promises he has given to us. We moved to Scriptures that had spoken to us through the summer, and then we pressed in for what we desired to see God do in Missio Lux.
At one point, we stopped to pray for one man who has a demanding job on the graveyard shift. We asked God to right his hours and then to heal his body. Love flowed from each person who prayed for his healing.
We continued to bring our missio communities to Jesus, stating our dreams for them and asking God to give us bigger faith for what we wanted him to do. We continued to pray for the Celebration, asking for the Lord to give us his presence in each one and to bring us into a deep place of worship.
We ended, as we always do, with communion. We like to remember that Jesus told his disciples that "he eagerly desired to spend this meal with them." We like that, it reminds us that Jesus feels that way about us too!
Then we bless. We intentionally pick out one person to give a blessing--so that everyone leaves feeling loved and known. Sometimes we bless several people because we are filled so we can build one another up.
It was a good night. I am going to bed happy for how Jesus led us tonight.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Alignment, Part 3
Alignment Questions:
Jesus, align my mind with your mind
Jesus, align my emotions with your heart
Jesus, align my will with your will
Jesus, align my life choices with your priorities.
Jesus, align my mind with your mind
Jesus, align my emotions with your heart
Jesus, align my will with your will
Jesus, align my life choices with your priorities.
I love this quote, “I cannot take from other areas of my life long term; eventually they will need to be paid back.” (the Power of Full Engagement)
You know the reality. You borrow time from your family as you put extra time in that project at work. You borrow time from exercise as you spend more time vegging in front of the television. You borrow time from being with Jesus because you have to get out the door to beat the traffic.
The challenge with the borrowing, however, is when the areas borrowed from get paid back. If the borrowing goes on too long, eventually the bank account is totally empty and the loans have closed up. Suddenly, we are faced with a crisis: a physical illness, a job lost, a spouse fed up. Either we begin to change, or we lose what we had.
Jesus knows this about us as people. But, his heart for us is so big that he teaches us a way to stop borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. Instead, he teaches us, to align our will with his will so that our lives are full of balance, bringing us to a life of fulfillment and freedom.
Consider this story from John 4: Jesus and his disciples are walking through Samaria on their way to Galilee. They all got hungry so the disciples went off to find food, leaving Jesus resting by the village well. They were astonished when they returned and found Jesus speaking to a Samaritan woman. This was a big cultural leap because men didn’t speak to women, and Jews didn’t speak to Samaritans.
But, Jesus knew that his conversation was a heavenly appointment and his earlier hunger was taken care of by aligning himself with God’s will. He tells his disciples when they offer him food, “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.”
Nourishment. This is the area of our lives that we all crave. Our bodies crave nutritious food, our emotions crave nourishment: nurturing. Our spiritual lives cry out for the Lord’s daily manna (bread): his Word.
So, Jesus teaches his disciples, (that’s us too), that we are nourished, nurtured, strengthened, given life fulfillment through doing God’s will.
So, I can hear you asking: that’s great, but how do I know what God’s will is?
Good question!
It starts back with our first alignment question: Jesus, align my mind with your mind. It progresses with the next alignment question: Jesus, align my emotions with your heart. It is only when we are consciously seeking to align our thinking with God and our emotions with his heart that we can be clear that we are aligning our wills with his will.
This is the reality for many of us. We like having Jesus in our lives. We enjoy the process of prayer and worship and like to tell people that we are part of a church. But, Jesus wants more of us than to simply have him in our lives. He wants to be our life!
Jesus created every one of us with a divine purpose. Part of the pursuit of our lives is to discover that divine purpose so we can live it out. We rarely make an intentional decision that we don’t want to know our purpose, in fact, it is much more likely that it is a result of many small choices that lead us in a completely different path than we were originally created to live.
When our mind is misaligned, it is easy to settle for mediocrity or the bigger paycheck or the half hearted relationship. When our emotions are misaligned, it is easy to shy back from a relationship that could be challenging but result in deep intimacy. When we take a small step away from God’s mind, heart and will, we often find ourselves in places that we never dreamed we would experience, almost moving robotically through our days because we experience so little joy.
Not because of big choices, but because of a series of small decisions that set us off in a different direction.
It’s never too late.
God is a God of second chances; this is what the cross is all about. As you begin to press into aligning your mind, emotions and will with the Lord ; Jesus will rise up and bring you right where you long to be.
Do you recognize mind, emotions and will? This is the description of our soul. The challenge of following Jesus is giving our Spirit (the place where God dwells in us) the freedom to lead, intentionally disciplining our soul to follow, and then as we align our souls, our bodies will automatically follow. But, that’s next week’s reflection.
For today, I challenge you to consider where your will is out of alignment with God’s will. I pray that you will spend time reflecting and asking Jesus to show you where you are missing the nourishment of being fed by your connection to him. When he gives you a clue, pursue the clue until you have clarity over what needs to be realigned!
Then you can say, along with Jesus, “My food is to do the will of God and to accomplish his work.” John 4:34
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