To send or not to send…
I am taking a missions class in school and this week’s homework is a forum. It’s a discussion based on the paragraph below. I wanted to get feedback from people about what they thought about the subject. Don’t worry, I am not trying to get you to do my homework, I already turned mine in. 
Our country is in dismay spiritually. Every time you watch the news or read the news paper, another school shooting has occurred, another city has developed a larger population of homosexuality, or another symbol of Christ has been removed from the publics view because it may offend someone. The television shows and music in our society are driven by placing sexual themes in them to lure people to watch or listen. Why should we as a “Christian Nation” send missionaries to other countries when we choose to not be missionaries in our own country? Should we be more focused on being missionaries in the United States, or abroad? Discuss your standpoint on this topic and support your views with scripture references.
Any thoughts? Insights? Speculations? Post your comments…
Hungry?
I have been pondering what my pastor said in church at Wednesday night’s service. His message was on Nehemiah and he was focusing on building spiritual walls. One of the points was, cultivating the right appetite. What are we hungry for? Truly hungry for? We need to be hungry for many things. Three things my pastor shared are these:
1. The Word
2. The presence of God
3. The people of God
We could list hundreds of things but I think these really sum it up. Here is another point that my pastor shared and I think this would have to go down as one of my biggest passions too:
“The focus of our hunger determines the direction or our pursuit.”
Now read it again, slowly. The question again is, what are you hungry for? Where is your focus? If you are having trouble figuring it, here an excercise you can do that will tell you where your focus is:
1. Look in your checkbook (where is your money going)
2. Look at where and how you spend your time (watching TV, shopping, talking on the phone, working out, primping)
Now look at the following:
1. Time you spend reading the Bible
2. Time you spend in prayer
3. Time you spend in God’s house
4. Time you spend serving people
I think I can pretty much say that the first list for most of us drastically outweighs the second list. This isn’t meant to condemn, it is simply a way to look at what our focus is and to challenge us to purpose to change the direction of our focus.
Matthew 5:6, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.
I don’t know about you, but I need all the filling I can get.
The Lord delights in me!
I am teaching a Beth Moore Bible study at church and was working on some homework, which included reading 1 Samuel 12:22. The Lord was pleased to make you His own. I had to stop and really ponder the meaning of that. I know the Lord loves me and that I am crafted in His very image but He is pleased with me as well? Wow. Let that sink in. He is pleased with me. Since I am a word freak I looked up pleased in the dictionary. Check it out, it means to give enjoyment, pleasure, or satisfaction to; make glad or contented. So here is the RRV (Rachel’s revised version) The Lord took great pleasure and satisfaction and was made glad to make me His own! How cool is that?
A little further in the Bible study, I read Psalm 18:19, He brought me out into a spacious place, He rescued me because He delighted in me. Delighted in me! Can you imagine that? He rescued me out of alot of bondages because He simply delighted in me. Anytime I hear the word delight, it always brings me back to Zephaniah 3:17, The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Not only is He pleased with me, He delights in me and sings over me!
What a way to start the day. To know that my Father so delights in me, that I am the apple of His eye is almost too much to comprehend.
Fully Devoted
I will be speaking at our single adult ministry retreat in a few weeks and am preparing my message and thought I would do a little thinking out loud, right here. The theme of the retreat is how to be a fully devoted follower of Christ as a single adult.
I have been kicking around some ideas but every time I put pen to paper, I feel like the Lord is telling me to scrap it. I don’t want to say the same things about how to accomplish this great feat. We already know that we have to read our Bible, pray about everything, stay pure, feed the Spirit, starve the flesh, serve God, etc, etc, etc. How many times do we need to hear it before it actually sinks in?
How can I get the message across that it requires actually pursuing it? How can I challenge everyone in a fresh way to actually purpose to seek Christ? What can I offer that hasn’t already been preached on? What does it take to fan the flame in hearts to get people on fire?
It’s seems so simple but I can count on 2 hands many of my single friends who struggle with this very issue.
What does it take to be Fully Devoted? I looked up the word devotion in the dictionary and it means an ardent, often selfless affection and dedication to something. I guess that’s where the problem lies, the whole selfless affection part. How do we take ourselves out of the picture? How do we die to the flesh and our selfishness and put on Christ daily to walk the walk?
Ok, I am starting to ramble here. If you have any thoughts, post a comment!
