THE PRAYER YOU REFUSE TO PRAY

 

This is an excellent new blog that I have been reading.  Follow the link and if you like what you see, subscribe. It's called REAL LIFE, REAL GOD.  - Steve

The Prayer You Refuse To Pray

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Michael K. Reynolds

Hundreds have subscribed to this Blog. How about you? You'll not only make my day but be among a select few who get all of my articles. Just click on this link to subscribe. Thanks for visiting!

What’s the prayer you refuse to pray?

Nothing comes to mind? Are you sure? It should be pretty obvious.

After all, God has been laying it on your heart, whispering it in your ear, encouraging you to get past this hurdle

It’s been prodding at us. Nagging at us. Still, we cover our eyes with our hands and dig our heels into the sand. We even raise our fist to the Heavens.
 
You didn’t mean THEM…did you?
Yes. That someone who hurt you. Abandoned you or let you down.
Or worse, the one who hurt someone you love.
Did you get ripped off? A raw deal?
Anger. Resentment. These emotions flow easy. But what about prayer. Would you pray for them?
Own a business? Do you pray for your competitors? Buying a house? Do you pray that the sellers will be blessed by the transaction?

You want me to say what?
It’s not just that we pray for them. It’s the heart in which we pray.
Not that they’ll get fixed to our standards. Or that they’ll come around to our way of thinking, crawling to us on their hands and knees, begging for forgiveness.
No. It’s that they’ll see light in their life. That they’ll be richly blessed and will be a blessing to others.

You don’t mean now, do you?
Yes. When it’s most inconvenient. Because God is more interested in our availability than our capability. He’s more interested in our willingness to serve than our capacity to do so.

So that means when that person…yes that person… is coming down the aisle of the airplane and is eyeing our middle seat.

Lord give me an opportunity to brighten their day.

When the phone rings and we’re already running late on our way to the golf course.

Lord let this be an opportunity to serve you.

When we’re cut off on the highway or jumped in front of line. When someone takes credit for our idea. When the neighbor’s dogs bark at midnight. When the most difficult person in our life comes to mind.
That’s the moment. That’s the opportunity. There’s power in that prayer.

Healing. Transforming. The blur of hate subsides and we begin to see people with the understanding of our Creator. With love, compassion and hope. All of this happens through the power of our petitions.

Who has God laid on your heart? What’s the prayer you refuse to pray?

THE SKIT GUYS-GOD'S CHISEL

The ultimate goal of discipleship is to be re-formed into the image of God. The Skis Guys have a classic video that you should have in your library. I encourage you to visit their site for more great videos. VISIT

THIS IS DISCIPLING

THE BIBLE IN COMMUNITY

Jamie Arpin-Ricci with “We Never Come to the Bible Alone” from the blog, THE COST OF COMMUNITY

“We do not come to Scripture alone, but do so with the Holy Spirit who helps us discern God’s truth and will within.  We do so through our brokenness and thus get it wrong time and again, but with humility, chastened certainty and the grace of a forgiving God, we continue to pursue Him.  This isn’t a formula or '5-easy-steps', but it is a path upon which we will discover more of God and His truth. This same Holy Spirit is the Spirit who unites us as One Body in Christ.  Therefore, the Spirit quickens our understanding of Scripture as we seek to discern together as community.  And that communal discernment engages the diversity and multiplicity of gifts within that community without condescending against some strength or privileging others.  We are mutually interdependent on one another through the Spirit.  In many ways, this unity and interdependence should provide an impetus for a humble, yet passionate engagement of mission.  After all, each person who comes into the Body of Christ brings with them absolutely unique expressions of gifting, perspective, etc.  In fact, it is often in those who are most other that bring us the most essential understanding to become more like Christ together.”

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DROP?

BY STEVE DUNN 

I teach a seminar called Bridgebuilders-Helping Traditional Churches Reach Their Unchurched Neighbors. A key to achieving this goal is to see themselves as sent.  The church needs to learn to go rather than to always expect people to come.  Another key is to build redemptive relationships with unchurched people. This means the church needs to take the time to go and build those relationships.

Part of the problem with this is that we still think of going to church instead of being the church.  And what keeps us from going as the church is that we have too many programs or we spend too much time taking care of the church's needs (and each other) that we have little time or energy left to go and make disciples of the nations that have not yet (and may not) come through our front door.

I love this quote on the MAKING DISCIPLES Facebook page. "With a view to making disciples, Jesus dropped his hammer and the disciples dropped their nets. What do you need to drop?"

So here is the challenge.  We need to make a relentless missional inventory and decide what we need to drop.  If the disciples had not dropped their nets, they never would have become fishers of men.  If they had not dropped their nets, the people might have continued to be well fed; but the citizens of Jerusalem, Samaria, and the ends of the earth might have continued dead in their sin--lost people.

 

 

DALLAS WILLARD ON HELPING NEW BELIEVERS

WHAT IS A DISCIPLE?

BY STEPHEN DUNN

About a year ago we made a fundamental shift in the language of the congregation that I serve as Lead Pastor. We began speaking of disciples instead of members.  The latter tends to be an exclusive and organizational word.  And thanks to Mastercard and other marketers, membership has come to connote privileges rather than responsibilities.

Disciple on the other hand is a more organic term and it infers lifestyle and learning.  A disciple has not arrived, they continue to become as they learn to think, act and be like the One of whom they are a disciple.  It was in a Finance Commission meeting where we were discussing how to get members to give their fair share, to measure up to the expectations and needs of the Church.  Tithing, of course, was part of this conversation.  It was then when one of our older members said, "This is not a membership issue, it's a discipleship issue." He went on to note that members think in terms of what is necessary to be in good standing. Disciples give. It is who they are.

Profound, isn't it?

It's more than semantics.  It is a religious world view.

Now at the church we teach discipleship and form groups of people on mission with Jesus.  We have Membership Orientations to describe the formal needs of the organization.

We also use this definition of disciple.

A DISCIPLE IS A PERSON WHO LIVES IN DAILY OBEDIENCE TO THE WILL AND PURPOSE OF GOD, COMMITTED TO BEARING FRUIT FOR THE KINGDOM.

This linguistic change is helping us make a cultural shift from membership to discipleship.  It is moving us beyond maintaining the organization to mobilizing for mission.

(C) 2012 by Stephen L Dunn