 Be personal in prayer
By Kadeen Edwards “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” Jeremiah 29:12 Prayer is personal. It is not just something you do because you should. It is something that is a necessity for the person who is in Christ. It becomes a part of you, ingrained into the very fabric of your being. It is needed for life, as breath is needed for air. We don’t just wake up and breathe once, and we have air for the rest of the day. On average, a person takes about 20,000–23,000 breaths per day. If prayer is our lifeline to God and breathing is our lifeline to air and life, how much more important is it that we pray more frequently? Prayer is a powerful thing. It is our connection to God. When prayer becomes personal with our Father, it becomes our connection to the will of him who made us. We are intimate with our Father when we pray without ceasing, which is part of what makes us more like him, shaped in his image daily.  Written by Linda Hokit
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV) It was during the Easter season I made a commitment to fully serve God whatever shape or form that would take. I was fully committed but not yet called to fulltime Christian service. I did not know if I ever would be. What I did know, is God had a plan for me. I did not know what it was or what direction I would go, so one day at a time I pressed on! A few months later, we got a new boss at work who had new ideas that cut me our of a position I was doing quite well. Yet, she had done that job before and wanted it for herself. What an obvious opportunity to let God lead! It was not long before I was standing in a doorway talking to my pastor and his missionary daughter letting them know about a possible open door for a life change. She said there was a need for someone to lead a resident camp for missionary kids in Africa. Wow! That was right up my alley. I had 10 years doing just that! And yet, I did not end up going to Africa because I was too old! However, I was told about another opportunity. So, I pressed on. I applied and made it far enough to be invited to a group interview. When the opportunities list came out, I knew instantly I would either get a particular position or none at all, so I pressed on with the process. During the interviews we had to declare our interest, so I put down my one choice and left the other two lines empty. Of course, I got a visit from one of the selection team members who asked me fill out the this will “just anything”. Then another team member came over and introduced himself. He told me he was going to speak for me during the selection process. I went home and later learned I had been selected to go to Canda. Somone spoke up for me. Someone cheered me to press on toward the goal. Later, after earning the respect of the same people who doubted me, I was asked to cut short my assignment and go to a new location. I said, no! I had made a commitment and was going forward with it. A year later, they came back and asked again. This time, I agreed to interview. The interview team for the new position asked why I wanted the position and I said I did not really want it, but I felt the Lord was leading me to interview. It wasn’t the position I wanted, it was to do God’s will. They hired me! I pressed on toward the goal. Funny enough, years later, those same people were starting a new ministry in Georgia. Again, I said, call me when you get things ready to launch. They did and I was given the opportunity to serve with some amazing men and women who wanted to love their community in God’s name. I pressed on and was able to see God’s Hand at work. And now, years have gone by. Instead of being able to press on physically at the same levels I once did, I find myself having to say “no” to the things I once enjoyed. And yet I press on! When I retired, I discovered I could volunteer! As a volunteer, I can select assignment rather than having them assigned. Even though I need help twisting the top off my water bottle I can still talk up a storm. So, I am a chaplain for two organizations. I can no longer put up cots in the evacuation shelter or type for long hours on a computer, but I can speak with someone who has lost a family member because of a disaster. I may not be able to run a road race anymore, but each year I do a virtual walk for cancer. Actually, I prayer walk, since I have known nearly 15 people who have had breast cancer. The things I do have changed but not my call! Recently, I had an opportunity to go to a weightlifting gym with my senior adult fitness class. Our class got bumped out of our meeting place for the day, so we were invited to our teacher’s gym. It was a new experience for me! However, I knew she had our backs and so I pressed on. At the end, she let us try to lift 90 pounds with our legs. We all did it, so she added 10 more pounds so we could say we pressed 100 pounds! Yes, I did! I tried something new, I was cheered on toward a goal and I made it! We have all sorts of people cheering us as Christians toward the goal of our upward call in Christ. Our job is to press on, step by step toward what God has in mind for us! Our job is to set aside all the self-talk that sometimes convinces us we can’t do things, replacing it with what God says we can do! So, my friends, during this Easter season when we focus on all the ways Christ pressed on toward the cross for our benefit, let us likewise seek him, taking things one step at a time toward the purpose He has for use today, then tomorrow and all the days beyond just one step at a time knowing we have a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on!  By Travis Clements
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14) When I was about 13 years old, a friend invited me to a youth group event through his church called “Disciple Now.” We went to a youth leader’s house to learn more about God and what it means to be a disciple. I was very new to faith and excited about everything I was learning. I also got a “Disciple Now: Extreme Faith” T-shirt, which I thought was very cool, even though it was a men’s XL and way too big for me. The idea of “extreme faith” made me laugh; it brought forth an image of a snowboarder with a Mountain Dew in one hand, tossing Bibles to onlookers as he performed mid-air tricks. This was the 90s, when extreme sports were surging in popularity, so it was trendy for everything to be “extreme.” I actually still have that shirt! It’s been washed so many times that it’s practically see-through. It’s surprising to me that decades later, I still have both the shirt and the memories of the lessons we were taught that weekend. One lesson in particular has stuck with me more than any other. It was a simple visual demonstration that the youth leader did at his kitchen sink. He turned on the faucet, filled up a cup, and then removed the cup from the flow of water, leaving the faucet running. This cup, he explained, represented each one of us, and the water inside was God’s Holy Spirit. Then, he grabbed an empty cup. This one represented another person: a family member, a friend, or even an enemy. He proceeded to pour our cup into the other person’s cup. When we serve, witness to, or love someone, he said, we are sharing the Holy Spirit of God with them. He kept pouring until most of the water had been transferred. Eventually, our cup gets low and needs to be replenished. Other people can pour their cups into ours, but theirs will eventually empty, too. When our spiritual cups are low, we start to doubt God’s will for our lives. We are more easily tempted by sin. We become spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted. He warned us that when we try to do God’s will on our own strength, we can get burned out and feel empty inside. But if we surrender ourselves to God and let His living water flow through us to others, His water will eternally sustain us. He pointed back to the faucet, which was still running, and said it represented God’s constant, unchanging love. Jesus showed us how we can tap into that love by studying scripture, praying, serving others, and worshiping God through our thoughts and actions. To live as God intended, we have to return to the source: the “faucet” with an endless supply. Our youth leader moved our cup back under the running faucet and tilted it toward the second cup. Very quickly, our cup filled up and overflowed into the other cup. Soon after, the second cup began overflowing as well. While the water continuously poured over the edges of both cups, he reminded us that God is the ultimate source of life and truth. We refill our cups by following Jesus’ example and listening to the Holy Spirit within us. We remain in this flow by reading God’s word, gathering with others at church or in small groups to seek God, giving thanks, worshiping, and praying continuously. God is constant. His living water is always running, always overflowing, and always ready for us to tap into, sustaining us and everyone around us. Looking back on that youth group event, I realize you don’t need to be a snowboarder performing a Backside Double Cork 1080 to have extreme faith (though praying for a safe landing is wise). Faith is about trust, and extreme faith comes when we follow Jesus, trust God fully with our lives, and become completely dependent on His love. This week, I encourage you (and myself) to take a moment and check your spiritual “cup.” If you are feeling exhausted, drained, or empty, do not try to do God’s will on your own strength. Step back under the continuous flow of God's love, let His living water restore you, and watch as it naturally overflows into the lives of everyone around you.  By Peggy Potter-Balaun
Matthew 6:31-32 So do not worry saying "What shall we eat?", "What shall we drink?", or "What shall we wear?" for the pagans run after all these things! Your Heavenly Father KNOWS you need them! We live in an advertising world: the latest fashions, diet and drink trends, how much we should weigh and what's the latest workout trends, what's the latest tech marvel we should be carrying in our pockets, etc, etc, etc ! No wonder we are in general suffering low self-esteem, depressed, discouraged and in debt. Why can't we shut our ears and eyes to a world clamoring for our money and attention and simply turn aside to the One who knows and loves us best? The One who sent his only begotten Son to us to deliver us from sin, sickness, and death- as well as point us to the One who loves each of us uniquely and totally. As the old television sitcom was entitled "Father Knows Best", He knows our every need. He also gave each of us our unique giftings to use for His Glory and so that He can love the world through us! He does not want us wishing for or envying someone else's giftings. He made us to exclusively share what we have been given! We bring glory to His Name when we do just that! He wants relationship with each of us. Sadly, some earthly fathers and mothers do not actually love their children as they are. But Father God does! As a young child seeks out his or her own parents for their needs and comfort, so does our Father God await us with open arms of love. Read Luke 15:11-32 about the Prodigal son! Jesus was really demonstrating the real deep and passionate love the father has for his wayward child as an illustration of Father God's deep and passionate love for each one of us! He IS Love! And we should love Him back as well as love our fellow human beings-our neighbors- as ourselves; Mark 12:30-31.  By Rebecca Vickery
Have you ever taken the time to read through the entire Bible? I’ve been told recently that this isn’t something most Christians do. The idea of this fascinates me, because ever since I became a Christian at the age of 16, I have not stopped devouring it. I went through some time where I was reading it less, but I have read through the entire Bible cover to cover multiple times, so the accusation felt incredibly false. We Christians also don’t tend to think about the Old Testament—or so I’m told. It is rife with things that we cannot comprehend. I kind of agree with that last part. It does contain many many things I do not understand. The God of the Old Testament (I know, same God) hands over victories over civilizations that those who dare to judge God will call unreasonable. Of course, if you take the time to read or listen to the Bible in context, He talks to the Israelites about not committing the same crimes as the people who were there before them. The list of offenses is quite impressive, and I find myself aware of the fact that God created the world, and that He has the right to put an end to the horrible offenses that they are committing in whatever way He sees fit. Nevertheless, it is understandable that someone who does not know God would find the God of the Old Testament, well, incomprehensible. And yet, God makes himself knowable. We no longer have to look to prophets to hear from God. Instead, there is a bridge between heaven and earth that happened in the birth of a Savior. The God that we failed to comprehend throughout the Old Testament, the Author of all creation suddenly enters the scene and all of our preconceived notions must be put aside. The unknowable God (who told us he was knowable) is suddenly up close and very much personally in our space—our world. Every question that I have about who God is can be answered in the person of Jesus. When God talked to Abraham in Genesis, I saw his warmth and his compassion. When we see Jesus talking to almost everyone, we see the same thing. Atheists who decry how the God of the Bible is unjust fail to account for Jesus. The same people who take issue with the treatment of women in the Old Testament cannot explain away Jesus’ actions with the woman at the well. Jesus’ behavior and words were revolutionary. He set the standard for everything we know. It is seemingly easy for people to cherry pick verses out of context from a modern standpoint. But where do we get our moral outrage? If we have no basis for right or wrong, how do we declare what is or is not? We falsely assume that the world that we live in provides the proper lens through which we can make our assumptions, but the world we live in has been influenced by Jesus for over 2000 years. Our modern sense of justice is infused by a history of Christian thought. So when we declare that we know better because we’re so beyond Christianity, we’re beyond the need for a Savior, we fail to recognize the redemption that has already taken place by our democracies and our republics because of God’s law, because of Christ’s redemptive work. That is not to say that Christians have always been responsible for faithfully handling God’s ways throughout the past two millennia. Religiosity and disobedience have a way of influencing things that isn’t pretty. Crusades, witch hunting, killing off scientists, fear mongering remains a chief way to influence even the most devout people and setting them on the wrong path. But many of our most revolutionary thinkers were Christians. The abolition of slavery came about with the biblical understanding that loving our neighbors as ourselves doesn’t allow for enslaving others. (Yes, I know that the old testament allowed the Israelites to take slaves from conquered nations, but they also had strict rules for care that set them apart from other nations.) Christians were given instructions for how to treat their slaves (most of whom were more like indentured servants who were paying off debts by their servitude). But Christians led the charge on emancipation and freedom for all. Jesus is the driving force behind the good and goodness in our customs, in our marriages, in our homes, etc. Subjugation of women becomes a thing of the past. The Bible tells women to submit to their husbands, but shortly before, it tells us to submit to one another. It tells men to love their wives as Christ loves the Church. It sets the highest standards. Jesus tells us to love our enemies, to bless and not to curse them. It tells us how to treat outsiders. The Samaritans were constantly being looked down upon by the Jews, and yet Jesus speaks to a Samaritan woman and offers her living water—himself—and she goes off and becomes one of the earliest evangelists. He tells one of his followers a story about the Good Samaritan to show that what they think of as their neighbor is too narrow a margin. Revolutionary stuff. Even today, when people see the crazy things happening in the news, they don’t say, “Oh that Jesus, he’s stirring up trouble in his followers again.” They say, You guys aren’t acting enough like Jesus. So many people can take issues with his followers, but with Jesus himself, they need to write him off as a good moral teacher to reconcile their lack of responsibility towards him, but they cannot criticize Him beyond that. Here’s the missing piece. Jesus is God in the flesh. He is the one making the Father known to us. He is the One reminding the prodigal that he can return home and be welcomed. He’s the One reminding us that God is not just the God of the Jews, but the God of the gentiles also. He’s the One telling the prodigal’s brother that he can ask him anything as well. He’s the One chastising and calling out the religious rulers for making it too hard for people to come to know the Father. He’s the One casting out demons and healing people. He’s the One setting the captives free and breaking down barriers to our relationship with God. He breaks the idea that God is unknowable and makes a way for us to know Him personally. He surrenders his place in heaven to step down into a corrupted and broken world to establish his kingdom and to ultimately die on the cross to reconcile us to him. He DID what we could never do. But he also conquered death, rendering it powerless over us. Jesus reconciles that which I do not understand about God from the Old testament in such a way that I can wait to ask him about those things when I meet him face to face. I can reconcile what the Old Testament was not fully able to convey. My hope is in Him. My life is in Him. Jesus said that he IS the way, the truth and the Life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. John 14:6 (paraphrased) All to Jesus I surrender. All to him, I freely give. Whatever I do not understand, I submit to his hands. When politics don’t make sense, when things are not harmonious and righteous, when my friends are arrested without just cause, when there is disunity, I can have peace that passes understanding because I don’t need to know what God is doing in a movement, in an era, because I know Jesus. I know the unknowable God. I know that He is just and that He will bring about justice. And I can rest in this knowing.  By Kadeen Edwards
“Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Romans 8:26-34 NIV No accusations will stand against the finished work of Jesus. Now death, hell, and the grave has no power over us. Jesus sits at the right hand of the throne of God, making intercession. I love that Jesus intercedes for us, (Hebrews 7:25) and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26). I like to think that there’s just one accuser who says we are guilty. However, sometimes I find myself in self-condemnation. I think sometimes our enemy doesn’t have to do anything; just sit back and watch as we tear ourselves down instead of speaking life to ourselves. We speak to ourselves in a manner that we would never speak to anyone else. This is why it’s so important to know the word of God. Because truly our enemy is right, and we are right; that which has been spoken is true; we are guilty, and there’s no way around that. In fact, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So there’s no use arguing with the facts; however, in Christ, there is no condemnation. No longer do we have to sit under the weight of guilt because Jesus paid the price for us that we could walk in freedom. This freedom doesn’t give us the license to sin and do whatever we want. This freedom gives us the ability to choose life and to break free from shame, guilt, fear, anger, and all the other things that keep us separated from God. |
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