You are now entering the mission field.

Hello Friends,
I hope you are doing well and that God is still your focus. I hope you are still praying for him to show up.
Outside my church is a sign that you see as your drive out that says "you are now entering the mission field." A beautiful sentiment but sometimes I think we need that same sign to be present on the drive in. Many times we assume those around us in the church pews are saved and the sad reality is that is not the case.

Hebrews 10:19-25 says this :  ¹⁹ Therefore, brothers,^[c] since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. 

 A passage that tells us a bit what we are called to do as the church. We need to perservere and not wavor in our faith. We need to sir up good works in one another. We need to meet together. We need to encourage one another and we need to do this with the confidence of blood of Jesus. Don't get complacent friends. It's easy to to put in your hour or so on Sundays to check the box but we are called to BE the church. Not just attend but to truly seek the Lord. Believe it or not the church has a lot of nonbelieving attenders and even  more astonishing is the number of people who call themselves a christian but don't pursue righteousness and don't display fruits of the spirit.

Hebrews 10:26 ²⁶ For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 

We must clean ourselves and pursue righteousness. We will always fall short and we will never be perfect but we must pursue it and persevere. So friends remember. Not only are we entering the mission field of the world but we can't neglect those who stand next to us week after week whether at a prayer meeting, a sunday service, a singles ministry or a bible study. We can't assume that anyone is saved but always be encouraging others to truly pursue Christ.

Congratulations. No matter WHERE you are--- you are in the mission field. 

Perservere

1 Kings 9:1-6 says

When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, ² the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³ The LORD said to him:

   “I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

 ⁴ “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, ⁵ I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’

 ⁶ “But if you^[a] or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you^[b] and go off to serve other gods and worship them, ⁷ then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. ⁸ This temple will become a heap of rubble. All^[c] who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ ⁹ People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the LORD brought all this disaster on them.’” 

Now why did I just copy you those 6 verses? Because it is where Solomon is dedicating the temple to the Lord and the Lord explains to Solomon look I'll be there as long as you don't turn away from me. Wow. Isn't that what He tells us too? That He will be there. If we call He will answer? Such a beautiful promise. I put the next verses about what will happen if we do not keep his word and pursue Him because I think a lot of times we get messages about hte love of God and miss that He is holy and perfect and demands us to live for Him. It's for Him or against Him there is NO in between.

In my own life, I have to remember that and not neglect to spend the time with the Lord that I need to. Some days I need more time with Him than others but there is nothing in this world that is going to satisfy me as all other things will come to pass but the Lord is eternal. The relationship I am building with Him is set to eternity so the time I am investing now will be not be forgotten when I see Him, it will simply be a start to the eternal relationship I will have with Him.

Now I have to make the point with this text that while we are called to holiness the laws this text is referring to were bought by the blood of Jesus. His life, death and resurrection fullfilled the law. We, then, need only to love the Lord and love our neighbor. If we truly love God we will follow the instructions He has given us, and if we truly love our neighbors we will serve and share our joy with them. There are no longer sacrifices that need to be made in the form of animals ect as Jesus was the sacrifice. Now we must invest our lives for the cause and purpose of the Lord. We must not get complacent.

So dear friends. I am still praying for you that you would run after HIm. Don't give up. Perserve until the end. For it is that perserverence til the end that does not earn your salvation, as that is by grace a gift from God, but it affirms your salvation. Once you know Him, truly no Him, there is no way you want to go back to where you were before Him. Not that you won't stumble, because none of us are perfect, but have the general pattern of your life be that you are runnings after God. As you draw near to Him He will draw near to you. Let's walk faithfully with hearts of integrity and uprightness and let's keep His commands as this passage said David did. Let's be like David, and be men and women after God's own heart.

:) God Bless.

Preparation of the Temple.

This morning I start back to school and I had my alarm set for 7 am to have time to read, blog, take care of my dog, and get ready as class doesn't begin until 9 am today. However, I was awakened at 4:45 am this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. Since then I've gotten ready, made an awesome breakfast, listened to two sermons, worked on a woman's bible study i'm starting and now I'm sitting down to blog.

This morning I woke up with thoughts of anxiety. Not about school-- because that would be normal-- but about how God is using me in ministry. Clearly spiritual warfare and as I realized this and began to just pray that God close my heart and mind I found that at first more thoughts were flooding my mind but as I called God answered. He didn't let me go back to sleep though, He set me on a mission to understand what He was planning for me. What He was showing me is that there is great preparation to His work.  Of course it's no coincidence that God would have that coincide with my reading this morning in 1 Kings. Solomon here is speaking:

1 Kings 5:3-5  ³ “You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the LORD his God until the LORD put his enemies under his feet. ⁴ But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. ⁵ I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God, as the LORD told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’ 

This passage of 1 Kings 5 is and the verses after it are about the preparation of doing God's work. For Solomon that included understanding that God will clear the path as we see in verse 4.  For David there wasn't a clear path, but for Solomon the Lord had a plan and opened the path for Him to proceed. In 1 Kings 5 He is soliciting the help of Hiram. Note that the bible could have excluded this preparing for building of the temple but it didn't I believe in an effort to explain that just as Solomon who was the most wise man to ever live, needed to prepare. He needed to formulate a plan but most importantly his plan was this: to glorify the Lord. That needs to be our plan too. In all that we are and all that we do we must understand we are called to bring Him glory and honor and praise. How we do that is led by the spirit and the word promises that if you ask for the spirit He will fill you with that spirit and that spirit will lead you to do God's will.

So friends ask yourself: what steps do you need to be taking to prepare you to do God's work? Do you need to give somethign up? Do you need to seek forgiveness? Do you need to illicit help? Do you need to surrender to the spirit? Do you need to accept Christ? Do you need to spend time with the Lord?

Remember "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." (James 5:16b)
Are you walking toward righteousness? Are you pursuing God with all you are? Is Christ and the Glory of God the basis and foundation of everything you are and do?

Let's use this new year to prepare our hearts and ourselves for His work. Remember what you do in private overflows into what you do in public so if you are not spending time with the Lord and you are not in the word then you can't expect God to reveal to you the unknown if you aren't obedient in what He has already told you to do. Pursue Him and everything else will come together for His purpose. It's about Him not you.

Jesus Christ demands, commands and DESERVES every ounce of everything we are. He requires EVERYTHING and anything less than that is not Christianity. We can't deny the power of God and we need to stop hanging on to anything that is leading us away from the cross. Let Him heal you, restore you,and use you. Stop holding on to the past disappointment, hurt, and sin and accept the freedom that Christ alone can give. The grace of God is enough and let Him be EVERYTHING. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. God's willingness and power will intercept that, all you have to do is accept and believe it.

Turn toward Him and let Him guide you. Give Him everything and let Him prepare you.

Friends I'd love to hear what He is preparing you for and how He is growing you. I'm praying for you and though our "challenge" has come to an end know that if you continue to spend that time with God you will continue to see Him.  Solomon gave God everything and it was Solomon God used to build the temple. Let's let God use us for His purpose!I know He is preparing me for something big. I know He is using me with the women around me and using me to start a bible study. I know He is using me in my school. I know He is using me in my friendships to encourage and grow people. I pray that He continue to use me. That He continue to send me on his missions. Not because He needs me because He doesn't-- He is all powerful and all knowing and doesn't need me at all-- but because He is gracious enough to use us. That He is loving enough to allow us to be part of His plan.  I'm a servant of the Lord and my whole desire is that He will use me to serve Him in a greater way. That He will continue to prepare me to build his temple in however He would call me to do so. I can't wait to see how and what but for now I need only focus on the preparation and following the spirit for I know if the spirit leads me then my work will be glorifying and friends know that the word promises the same for you.


Remember when we do work for the Father we are working on eternity. It's a change that happens. Hillsong United does a song"From the Inside Out"

that says

Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise
Everlasting, your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, your glory goes beyond all fame

all of that is truth. We must lose ourselves and put Him first. But most importantly the chorus tells us what we are called to do for that.

In my heart, in my soul
I give you control
Consume me from the inside out
Let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside out

Its from the inside out. Only the spirit can do that. So friends: greatest preparation you can do is surrender to the spirit and let it change you from the inside out.