Do you need a “time out”?

“…Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”  Hebrews 13:5b  NIV

This is a verse I have needed these past 2 weeks.  I injured my back and have been diagnosed with sciatica.  Not much that doctors can do, but give me pain medication and prescribe lots of rest.  Well, I have been flat on my back more than any other position for about 12 days. 

When the pain was the worst, I confess that I begged God for relief.  He was always there to reassure me, and He is bringing about healing.  I guess He knew that I needed some time to slow down and spend more time with Him. 

I have been blessed by reading some great books by some of God’s choicest servants.   To my fellow members of NLM, if you haven’t read IN HIS STEPS, what are you waiting for?  This book will provoke you to evaluate your own Christian life and challenge you to walk worthy of the God Who has called you.  Another book I finished is MERE CHRISTIANITY by my favorite author C.S. Lewis.  This one is much more philosophical; it will appeal only to those who wish to dive into Lewis’s voluminous mind.  Lastly, I am reading 2 novels (loaned to me by Kristen Bainbridge) by George McDonald, whom Lewis calls his mentor.  Both novels are rich with examples of common people living out their simple lives as servants of Christ.  They are easy to read, but full of challenges to my own life.

All in all, I know I have benefitted from this “time out” in my life.

Our Careful Unbelief

“…do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.”  Matthew 6:25

This comes again from Oswald Chambers.  It is so good that I am simply copying it here.

“Jesus summed up commonsense carefulness in the life of a disciple as unbelief.  If we have received the Spirit of God, He will squeeze right through our lives, as if to ask, ‘Now where do I come into this relationship, this vacation you have planned, or these new books you want to read?’  And He always presses the point until we learn to make Him our first consideration.  Whenever we put other things first, there is confusion…

Don’t take the pressure of your provision upon yourself.  It is not only wrong to worry, it is unbelief; worrying means we do not believe that God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never anything but those details that worry us.  Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the Word He puts in us?  Is it the devil?  No–’the cares of this world’ (Matthew 13:22)…

The greatest word of Jesus to he disciples is abandon.”

What do I seek first?

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”  Matthew 6:33

In keeping with my last blog about growing spiritually, I think this verse and preceding ones give us much teaching about how we should continue to live/grow in Christ.  Unfortunately, we fall into Satan’s trap of thinking that we must focus on how we are going to take care of ourselves to live, and shortchange our focus on the kingdom of God.    Oswald Chambers says it best in his devotional book, MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST, “Our Lord pointed out that from His standpoint it is absolutely unreasonable for us to be anxious, worrying about how we will live.  Jesus did not say that the person who takes no thought for anything in his life is blessed–no, that person is a fool.  But Jesus did teach that His disciple must make his relationship with God the dominating focus of his life, and to be cautiously carefree about everything else in comparison to that.”

Right now, I am keeping this verse foremost in my mind.  I want God to teach me how to apply it in my own life.  I want to stop worrying and start trusting/seeking Him.  Don’t you?

Desire the Word

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby.”  I Peter 2:2 KJV 

Having just spent 2 weeks with my newborn granddaughter, I know how babies crave milk.  Briella cries quietly at first, but if she is denied for too long, she wales at the top of her lungs until she is fed.  She nurses greedily until her appetite is satisfied.  She won’t accept a substitute, like a pacifier; she wants the real thing from her mama.  After receiving her fill, she is happy until her next hunger pangs hit, and then the process starts all over again. 

I think Peter’s comparison of a baby’s desire for milk to our desire for the Word of God is quite appropriate.  Just as a baby cannot grow without nourishment, we cannot grow spiritually without the Word.  Oh, that we would desire it as much as Briella desires her milk!  In addition, we should accept no substitute and eat until we can hold no more.  We must learn to discern counterfeit teaching from the real thing.  Thank the Lord that we have the privilege of preaching at NLM that is the real thing!

A Special New Life

Please forgive my negligence in blogging the past few weeks.  My only excuse is a 3-week trip half-way around the world to enjoy the birth of my granddaughter.  After a difficult labor and delivery for my daughter, Briella Antenorcruz entered this world on April 21 on the island of Guam.  Fortunately, I was able to step into the delivery room immediately after her birth.  I had the privilege of watching the doctors check her out as she squalled loudly.

“Selling” New Life

As an employee of Sears, I was recently asked to sign a commitment form to do the following:

1.  Smile

2.  Greet every customer who comes within 10′ of you.

3.  Make every customer feel at home.

4.  Share the value of the sales going on in the store.

Hmmmm…….doesn’t that sound like a good commitment for every member of NLM?  At Sears, we do it for an earthly reward, namely money, but at NLM we do it for a heavenly reward.  I challenge every person at NLM, including myself, to make a mental commitment to do the following:

1.  Smile

2.  Greet every guest within your sight.

3.  Be sure that every guest feels the warmth of our fellowship.

4.  Share the love of Christ.

Spectators or Participants?

As New Life Ministries moves from location to location, I believe God is sifting us as a congregation to remove those who are not committed or ready, and as individuals to get our own attitudes in line with His.  We are not just starting a new church; we are truly missionaries to the downtown citizens.  We must have born-again believers who are ready to get involved with the people downtown, not just people who are excited about attending a new, laid-back church in an unusual venue.   Of course, it is not our job to sort that out, God can take care of it quite nicely.    However, I believe He will do it so that He can do His work through us effectively.

To be effective in God’s work downtown, members of NLM must be willing to commit themselves to disciple new believers and persevere in that endeavor even when the results are not what we would have liked.  This will mean giving extensive amounts of time to one person; this could be in Bible study with the person, prayer for the person, or just plain spending time together.   Sometimes, new believers simply need to see how a believer lives out his “normal” life.

Lastly, fervent and prolonged prayer will be needed for every step that we take.  Only God can break down the long-established strongholds of Satan that we are facing.  Only He can give victory in lives that have been shattered by sin.  We can love the people in need, but only God can bring them to salvation.

 In this great endeavor, will you be a spectator or a participant? 

   

Are you showing the love of Christ?

Last week a friend of mine called me in a somewhat desperate state of mind. Unfortunately, she lives 1000 miles away, and I cannot do anything physically to help her. I did pray with her and send her some financial help, but I felt inadequate to meet her pressing needs. I encouraged her to call her pastor and ask for help from the women of her church. She said that wouldn’t help because the people of her church don’t really care about each other. I was aghast. I insisted that she call at least the pastor because he is supposed to help his flock. If he does not respond, he is not worth his salt (pun intended) as a pastor. However, she still refuses. She says that since she and her husband went to the pastor for counseling and he has not followed up to see how they are doing, he must not care anyway.

Would your fellow church members ask you for help? Do they know that you care? Are you leaving that up to your pastor? Whom has God called you to help?