#powerofGod

10 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by Seeking Peace in #powerofGod, missions, Missions Sunday, Son, teenager

It’s a hashtag I used on some of my tweets on Sunday because the power of God and how he uses people began to overwhelm me. var gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”); document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12356560-1”); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}

My friend Rick said some powerful things about grief in class today. More on that another day.

My church family gave over $161,000 for our special mission offering. More on that in a few lines.

Rich Little, a visiting preacher, spoke some powerful words about the power of God to use people. More on that another day too.

Here’s the power of God story for today. I may have shared some of this before – too tired to go back and look right now. Anyhoo…

Several months ago a teenage boy asked me how we came up with our budget for Missions Sunday. Normally it’s around $25-30,000 because that’s what we have “felt” like we could muster and be “successful”. (Notice the words in parenthesis? Those are human concepts.) The teenager asked me why we didn’t set it at $100,000 and see what happened. I didn’t say much at the time but the question wouldn’t leave my mind. He later told me he had heard the question from another adult in a youth class but the question didn’t leave him either. The question and the amount stayed with me until the Sunday when we were setting our missions contribution goal and I told our committee the story and the question. Guess what? We set our goal at $100,000. We have prayed and we have answered questions and we have responded that we couldn’t reach that amount with anything we could reason, it would be a God-thing.

On a weekend where we had seen the first good rain in a long, long time, water wasn’t the only thing that poured down from the heavens. The Spirit of God was at work and our congregation gave $161,000 – over 3 times what we’ve ever given on Missions Sunday and well over 10 times our normal weekly contribution.

I told the teenager and I told members of our youth group that they will never know the power they have to affect generations with the Gospel of Christ. The boy hearing the question and asking the question turned a thought into real dollars and lots of them that will be used to take the Good News around the world and to possibly affect members of families for time eternal. A simple question.

God takes a simple question asked with good intentions and turns it into something no one was prepared for. I stood in a room of men, many with tears in their eyes, as they looked at the numbers on the adding machine because God uses us when we might not expect, might not even know it. It sure makes me want to be open and ready for whatever God has in store because it’s something greater than I’ll come up with on my own.

#powerofGod

Grace and peace to you.

What I Hear

25 Tuesday Jan 2011

Posted by Seeking Peace in abundance, love, overflow, sin, Son

≈ Leave a comment

It’s part odd, part funny sometimes to say something and people hear something different. I look back on a life of hearing what so many people have said and wonder now if I heard what they said or heard something else. Here’s an example. I’ve been going to church all my life, going to Bible classes, listening to sermons and what I have heard most of my life was more about how I needed to avoid sin instead of how I need to love God and be obsessed with living for Him. I wonder if I just heard it all wrong. Regardless, I am finally coming to understand that an obsession with trying to live right kept me focused on my weakness but and obsession with being close to God, soaking up the fact that I am living in His presence, is keeping me focused on His power. It seems like such a small thing in words but in my life it is making a very big difference.

In the old days, when I sinned, I beat myself up and slowly began to convince myself I was just a sinner and would never be more. These days, when I sin, I realize I have only pulled myself away from the Father, I’ve only cheated myself out of being in His presence but it is not who I am, just something I did. Who I am is His son, His loved child who He still desires to be in His presence, soaking up His abundant love.

For years I lived focus on my need for His grace and mercy. While I do need that, God is love and that is what I want to be caught up in because I have found that by living in His love, He gives me all that flows from that (grace, mercy, compassion, etc.) and I am drawn closer to Him and live in the growing understanding that being made in His image means that I too can overflow in love.

My cup overflows when I live in His love.

Grace and peace to you.

The Evil Men (and Women) Do

18 Wednesday Aug 2010

Posted by Seeking Peace in Evil, God, Light, Son

≈ 2 Comments

I removed the gadget on my blog that shows my followers because a naked lady appeared in one. I don’t know how long she was there because I seldom look at it but I do appreciate the reader who told me about (thanks MY!).

It’s sad that something I started to be helpful to me can be turned around and used for evil. The Internet is full of pictures, videos, stories and many other things that are used to draw people in to Satan’s trap. How I know it all too well. It’s bad enough that people start their own porn sites but when they start abusing the space of others who want nothing to do with their mess, it becomes more frustrating.

I had a great lunch today with a new friend and we discussed what must happen to Satan and his forces when people praise the name of God in the midst of their sufferings, how they must be confused and maddened at the same time. My friend went on to say that he also thinks about the heavenly hosts, that they likely stand and salute the one who is praising God’s name in their suffering, how they must shout cheers of victory. When I think about it like that, it makes me want to strive even harder to glorify the name of God in the midst of evil, in the midst of suffering, in the midst of the things that are being done to tear me down.

God, I praise you in this space. I praise you before the people who read this. I praise you before the ones who would try to infest this space with evil. I praise you before the one who wants to fill people with sadness, doubt and to steal their hope. I praise you because you have prepared a banquet for me and for others who use this space and the words here to draw closer to you. I praise you because you are alive in my mind and in my heart and give me words to put in blank places that might touch one heart you know that needs to hear it. I praise you because you love me for all that I am – fallen, sinful, hurting. I praise you because you have a vision of who I will be by following your desire for me – a light in the darkness, a hand to help someone up, a son of yours, a son of the great and almighty God.

Grace and peace to you.