The New Be Attitudes . . .

Many years ago during one of my prayer times, I apologized to God for asking so many questions.  Immediately, I heard in my mind the following response:  Ask the questions now while you can because before long, you'll be too busy to ask.

Sure enough, not too long after that, our fellowship entered a season of on-the-job-training involving intercession, ministry, and deliverance that occurred almost nightly over the duration of several months.  These months were the best of times and the worst of times, and oh, how I wished I had asked a million more questions than I had.

Many of the prophetic feel that we are about to enter another of those seasons and need to be prepared.  What did we learn from the last season that may fortify us for this coming season?  I Peter 1 expresses some of these attitudes.  I call them the new be-attitudes.

• Be alert and disciplined, thinking clearly and exercising self-control
• Be focused, looking for Christ's kingdom rule and looking forward to His return 
• Be obedient, willing to follow Holy Spirit's lead and to do whatever He asks us to.  We are God's children; He longs for obedient children.
• Be merciful and just and loving and generous in all and to all.  God desires to have sons and daughters just like Himself. 
• Be totally devoted to Him.  He has set us apart for Himself.  We are to be different than the world.
• Be empowered by Holy Spirit.  His current must flow to us and through us to those around us; otherwise, our energies are nothing but wasted wind.
• Be thankful and joyful, grateful for all God is and all He has done and is going to do, and we must be these in both the good times and the bad.  Frances Roberts says that joy is the natural climate of heaven.  (Come Away, My Beloved)
• Be genuine.  God desires honesty in us and with each other.
• Be - lieve!  Period!
• Be receivers.  Leonard Sweet says that from a Biblical perspective, a theology of receiving comes before a theology of giving.   He says that one of the most dangerous spiritual problems anyone can have is to be a better giver than a receiver because God's fundamental category is giver; our fundamental category is receiver.  By being better givers than receivers, we place ourselves in God's category.  He calls this a "God complex".  (Soul Survivor)  There is so much out there that God desires to give us, but we have to be humble enough to receive it and to receive it through any means God so desires to use.
• Be reverent toward Him which simply means to have a healthy respect for Him.  We shouldn't ignore Him or treat Him casually.  He is God, and we are not.
• Be worshippers of the one true God.  We must honor Him with our time, energy, and money.
• Be life-long students of Jesus.  We must know His word.  This is a never-ending task.  There are no graduates in His university.
• Be hopeful, full of Jesus.  Just think, THE Hope of all the world lives inside of us, and He promises that one day, when He appears, we will be like Him.  What a precious promise!
• Finally, Be prayerful.  Perhaps this last attitude is the most important.  We may not make it through the days to come if prayer isn't a priority in our lives.  Watchman Nee says that our weakness is most easily manifested in prayer, that nothing in the spiritual realm reveals our weakness more than this activity or the lack thereof.  (Let Us Pray)

Folks, I write these things not because I've arrived but because I'm lacking in these areas.  I desire these things because God desires theses things and because I believe we are on the verge of something big. I don't know what it is, and I'm not sure if the prophetic knows exactly.  But, that is the glorious mystery of God.  If we knew, we would walk by sight and not by faith.  God desires people who walk by faith.  Faith pleases Him.

Therefore, be encouraged and be diligent.  Now is not the time to sleep.  Now is the time to pray.

If ever we needed to be a people of prayer, now is the time.  If ever our fellowship needed to be a house of prayer, today is the day.  While reading Daniel, I noticed how he prayed three times a day and that his windows were open to Jerusalem.  That made me wonder if my "windows" were open, if I was available to God.  How can I hear what He has to say if I'm not available?

Another passage that caught my attention is in Exodus 17 when Joshua led the army into battle.  As long as Moses held up his hands, the troops held the advantage.  However, Moses' arms grew tired.  When this happened, Aaron and Hur found a rock for him to sit upon while they held up his arms.  Needless to say, the army was victorious.

This act was an act of intercession; it was something that Moses did on behalf of the nation.  Some may think, "Well, that was his job.  After all, he was their leader."  I beg to differ.  I used to tell my high school students, especially the seniors, that we are all leaders.  They would laugh at me and say, "Mrs. Handy, I'm not a leader."  But I would counter with, "We all lead someone.  There are little eyes watching us all the time imitating what we do and what we say and how we do and say it."  Intercession is not just for the recognized leadership; it's not just their job.  Intercession is all of our jobs.

Jesus' life was one of intercession for us, and today He lives to make intercession for us.  If we desire to do the things that Jesus did and is now currently doing, we will make intercession a priority.  We will be like Daniel and have open windows at all times.

Our intercessions aren't just smoke that eventually vanishes; they are collected and considered precious in heaven.  One day, these prayers will be revealed for all to see.  (Revelation 5:6-8)

 

So, May we have open windows to heaven all the time.

May we be prepared, looking eagerly for Him and His kingdom.

May we be quick to receive from Him and to repent.

May we walk in forgiveness.

May our eyes not be accustomed to the darkness around us but be ever seeking His light.

May our hearts not be entangled in the world.

May we be His faithful witnesses and have our lamps trimmed and ready.

May we not lose the oil of His spirit or the bread of His presence or the wine of His love.

May we burn brightly.

 

 

Burn, Vineyard!  Burn!

 

 

Children of God are not Christian dreamers engaging in idle and wishful thinking.

They know who they are and to whom they belong and where they are going.

Theirs is a forward look in hope and great expectation.

A.W. Tozer

What God Wants Most

The book of Ruth intrigues me because to me it expresses the heart of God.  What God wants most for us today is the same as what He desired for all of the "greats" in the Bible - for us to be His people, His sons and daughters, His family.

Ruth, a stranger in a strange land among a strange people, sums up God's heart's desire in beautiful poetry spoken to her mother-in-law Naomi:  Where you go, I will go.  Where you dwell, I will dwell.  Your people will be my people, and your God, my God.  Nothing but death will separate us.  I know that Ruth is not speaking directly to God here, but her sentiment expresses God's dream - a group of people who love Him enough to forget everything of the world and devotedly follow Him wherever He goes.

What God has done in the past, He does today.  What He does today, He will continue to do in the future.  The past, the present, and the future are all the same to Him.  We have the church today because He is doing as He has always done.  What has He always done?  He invites ordinary people to become part of His extraordinary family and take care of family business, His kingdom.  When we are adopted into His family, we receive the right and the power to take care of business, God's business.

There are no insignificant people in this family.  Each has Jesus and the right to everything He is.  The same is true for fellowships who gather in His name regardless of size.  None of them are insignificant.  True believers everywhere have the right to everything God has to offer.  It has been so in the past, is the same today, and will be so in the future.  What God has done in the past for Moses and David and Isaiah and the disciples and Paul, He does and will continue to do for all of us who truly believe.

A. W. Tozer says, "Each generation has different personnel, but it is the same church coming down in unbroken lineal descent."  The legacy of any church or of any man is never about what the man did or could not do but about what God has done in and through that man.  It is God's work in and through us that is the legacy.  His kingdom is our inheritance.

Just think of all He did in the Bible and of all that He accomplished through the Luthers and Finneys and Wesleys and Billy Grahams and John Wimbers of our world.  What He was able to do in and through them, He is able to do in and through us and the generations to come because HE IS!  As Tozer says, "His fire has not dimmed in glory, and the mighty arm of God's Christ is not a diminished power."

There IS a fountain filled with blood, a covenant that cannot be broken or amended or edited or altered on the computers of our day.  There IS truth and power and promises and gifts and provisions.  If we let Him, He will do in us and through us that which He did in and through others who came before us.  Our legacy to the next generation is to let Him.

Oh, let us humbly say yes to His invitation to come be with Him.  

Where You go, I will go.

Where You dwell, I will dwell.

Your people will be my people,

and You are my ONLY God.

My desire is to be with You no matter the cost.

 

 

Dare we say no?

Small Groups 101

In the mid-80s, I was introduced to the philosophy behind small groups, sometimes called kinships.  The core of this philosophy is the belief that ministry should flow out of relationship - relationship with God first. This ministry should also be motivated by love for God and for those with whom we have a connection, believer or not.  Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 that anything not motivated by love is worthless.  "I am bankrupt without love."  [v.7 - Message]

What is a kinship?  A kinship is a small group of people (Twelve to twenty-five is comfortable) who meet together to experience what the New Testament refers to as koinonia, or fellowship.  In essence, the individuals in the small group become almost a second family to each other. They learn how to share their lives with each other.

Small groups have been around for a long time.  Jesus had the twelve.  He shared His life with these guys and the people who traveled around with them.  After Jesus' death, these guys and others began to gather in small groups, usually in homes, to share their lives with each other.  This is how the early church began - small groups who met in homes and shared their lives and goods with each other.

What do modern kinships do?  According to Vineyard's model for small groups, these groups are places where believers can experience any number of things:  They can grow, learn how to minister and how to bring others into the kingdom of God, serve, study the Bible, pray, sing worship songs, try new things and sometimes fail, cry, laugh, share meals, and even play together.  These small groups are "safe" places where one can receive  ministry and encouragement from the members in the group and be healed and enabled to reach out to others.  These groups are places

• where people can develop meaningful relationships with other believers,
• where an environment of nurturing and discipling takes place,
• where those who want to become leaders can practice and develop their leadership skills,
• where people can experience accountability,
• where people can bring their nonbelieving friends and acquaintances who are interested in becoming believers.

These groups can also be event specific.  In other words, one particular group of people might meet for a very specific reason.  For instance, those in recovery might meet with each other.  Women might meet to exercise together and even learn to worship through dance.  Song writers could meet to share material or collaborate on new songs.  People might do a specific Bible study.  The options are endless; however, the results are the same.  These people develop meaningful relationships that strengthen and encourage and provide a means of being accountable to God in this world.  They also provide opportunities of ministry to one another.

What is the leadership structure of a kinship?  The leadership team of a small group is usually (not always) composed of three to six people.

• The host couple or person is the one responsible for opening up the home (or the church) for the small group meeting.  They do the things that a host would do:  welcome everyone, set up the room, make sure that there is toilet paper in the bathroom, make coffee (even snacks), clean up afterwards, and help the other members of the leadership team fulfill their responsibilities.
• The worship leader is in charge of leading worship at the small group.  This could be one person or a very small group of people.  This person chooses the songs, leads the worship time, and provides the group with song sheets/overheads/booklet.  He may also be called upon to train future worship leaders.
• The facilitator is the person or couple who is in charge of directing the meeting.  He makes sure that the sequence of events that comprise the meeting flow smoothly.  He also listens to see what God wants to do in the meeting.

Ideally, people who serve in a leadership capacity in kinships eventually serve the larger fellowship in a leadership capacity.  In other words, small groups are great places to identify and develop future leaders.

Finally, today many people who do not attend church simply cannot be reached in a large church setting.  They can though be reached through relationships, especially the kind of relationships nurtured in a kinship setting.  Many of these people feel safer going to a home meeting or a small meeting and are more willing to try out small groups than to attend a larger church service.  Therefore, small groups are another way of reaching out to and sharing the gospel of Christ with our community.

Speaking from my own experience, small groups have definitely been a positive influence in my own life.  The things I've learned and the relationships I've made in these small groups are priceless and have encouraged me to draw closer and closer to God.  These experiences and these people have positively been the grace of God poured out upon me.

If you are interested in beginning a small group, contact Jim or one of our leaders here at Gadsden Vineyard. 



  

Community:  One of God's Greatest Gifts

God did not call me to a man or to a denomination.  He called me to Himself.  The invitation has always been to have relationship with Him. 

What does this call, this invitation, involve?  Most importantly, this call involves loving Him and all that He is with all that I am and all that I have.  Secondly, it involves loving all that He loves which includes EVERYONE.

My relationship with Him calls me into relationship with those He loves.  Thus, I am called to community.  I was created for community.  I was created to walk and talk and be with Him every day of my life.

After studying Jesus' model of community with His disciples, I realized that there are some lessons that unfortunately cannot be learned at home with family.  Yes, family is extremely important.  And yes, their influence in our lives is profound.  And yes, we are to live as Jesus lived in our homes.  However, there are lessons that we simply learn only among our peers.

Being involved in a community of believers affords me an opportunity to live the way Jesus taught us to live.  There, I see the living, breathing grace and character of God come alive.  If I can live like Jesus there, I can live it anywhere.

Between Jesus' death and the absolute Last Day, we have the opportunity . . . no, the privilege . . . no, the blessing to live in community with other believers.  Sadly, we too often do not recognize this relationship with other believers as what it is - a gift.  More often than not, we take these relationships for granted or deny that we need them.

How blessed it is to sing together.  How blessed it is to pray together.  How blessed it is to support one another.  How blessed it is to share a meal with each other, to laugh with each other, to remember the goodness and faithfulness and miracles and mystery of God.  We just don't know the true value of something or someone until we no longer have it or until he is gone.

Relationship with other believers is the grace of God upon us.  It is one of the ways God strengthens and enables us to stand and be His people.  My brother or sister's whisper of encouragement in my ear is nothing but the sweet breath of God.

Are you looking for the prophetic?  They are those around you and me who speak the precious words of God.  Are you looking for the healers?  They are those sitting around you and me week after week with arms that hug and mouths that pray.  

Yes, Holy Spirit, the breath and soul of Jesus and Father God, does the actual work, but He prefers to use vessels of flesh and blood to make the connection.  We are but His conduits in this world.

Are you looking for a miracle?  What could be more of a miracle than God changing the heart of someone and then transforming that unique individual into someone who becomes a part of a diverse group of people whose lives have been radically changed by His love and who in turn unconditionally embrace all who walk through their doors and those with whom they come in contact?  That ragtag group of people is Christ's living, breathing body.

Today, many people say, "God called me to . . ."  Maybe He did; maybe He didn't.  That's between Him and them.  However, after fifty-something years of being a believer (some years I believed more than others), I cannot escape the thought that our highest call is to love Him with everything we are and have and to love what He loves.

What does God love?  He loves His son, and He loves the world because He sent His son so that the world would no longer be separated from Him but could be saved.  Jesus opened the door so that we could be reconciled to the Father and have relationship with Him.  God also loves what Jesus loves; Jesus loves His bride, His church.  Therefore, I am called to love God, to love Jesus, to love the people in the world, and to love the church, His bride.

I am so thankful that Jesus has a body of believers here in this world.  It is in this community that I learn and am equipped to go out and love the world to Jesus.  It is in this community that I am healed physically and emotionally and strengthened and encouraged to be what He desires me to be.  It is in this community that I feel the safety to try something new because failure is no longer a four-letter word.  In this community, the Beatitudes become alive, and I learn how to show mercy and be humble, how to comfort and rejoice, how to long for justice and purity, how to be a peacemaker.  In this place, I begin to know who I really am and what the purpose of my life really is.  In this place, I know forgiveness, for I am both the forgiven one and the forgiving one.

Thank you, Father God,

for Jesus and for Holy Spirit.

Thank you for Your mercy, love, grace, and patience.

Thank You for those You've placed around me,

family and otherwise,

who love me as You do"just as I am"

and who love me enough to speak Your words of truth into my life.

Thank You for Your gift of community and all the "gracelings" that travel with it.

May I, may we,

never take You or Your community of believers for granted.

May we be the ambassadors of Your kingdom in this world today. 

What's That I See in Your Hands?

Has God ever told you to do something?  Did you hesitate? 

Who me?  Are You sure, Lord?  Could You tell me why?  What if they get mad?  What if they don't listen?  What if they think I am foolish?  What if they think that You couldn't possibly ask me to do that?  What if my family doesn't understand?  It's all I have, so what will I do then?

And the what if's go on and on and on.  We have all probably questioned God's ideas more often than we would like to admit.  Sadly, many times God has to talk us into obeying Him.

If you find yourself in this situation, take heart.  You are in good company because many of the heroes of the faith asked the same questions.

In Exodus 3-4, God told Moses that He had seen the misery of His people, the Israelites.  I have heard their cries and know their suffering; I will rescue them the bring them to a good place. 

So, God told Moses to go.  I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people out of Egypt.

Moses' first response to God's directive was, "Who am I?"   Who? . . . gulp . . . Me?

God then began the difficult task of convincing Moses that this was His plan, that His plan was a good plan, and that the plan would work.

The dialogue went something like this.

God:  Be encouraged, Moses.  I will be with you. 

 

Moses:  Suppose I go and they ask who sent me?

What will I tell them?

 

God:  Tell them that, "I AM has sent me to you."

 

 

Again, God told Moses to go.  He even told him what to say and how both the Israelites and the Egyptians would react and how the Israelites would eventually plunder Egypt. 

 

Moses:  What if they do not believe me or listen to me?

What if they say that God didn't tell me to do this?

 

At this point, God turns the tables and begins questioning Moses. 

 

God:  What is that in your hand?

 

Moses:  A staff [stick].

 

God:  Throw it on the ground.

 

Hmmmmmm . . . seems simple enough.  So, Moses threw his staff/stick on the ground and it became a snake and Moses ran from it.  I run from snakes too.  God had transformed this ordinary staff/stick into something extraordinary.  Now reach out your hand and take it by the tail.  Since God had said this and had done the extraordinary, Moses had enough faith to do as God had asked.  He stooped and took hold of the snake by the tail.  Immediately, the snake was transformed again back into the staff/stick.  And God said, "This is so that they may believe."  It was also so that Moses would believe.  Now the stick was no longer Moses' stick; it was God's.

 

If you read further, you will find that Moses still wasn't convinced.  Finally, God provided a companion to go along with Moses to help him work the plan.

 

Sometimes, we too struggle with that which God would have us do.  We struggle to obey and question God's judgment.  We ask for confirmation in order to be convinced.  Hopefully, we will become quicker to obey in the future so that our first and only response will be an immediate "Yes, Lord."

 

In our struggle to obey, we need to look carefully at what we have in our hands.  Moses' staff represented who he was - a shepherd.  It also represented his life's work at that moment.  Furthermore, it represented all that he owned.  His identity, his career, his possessions - these were Moses' stick.  God asked for that stick and then transformed it into something extraordinary, something totally different, something that even frightened Moses at first. 

 

We can be encouraged by Moses' story.  We all have a "stick" in our hands - an identity, a career, a dream, possessions, talents, abilities.  God may one day ask all of us to throw down one or all of these things.  Then, in His great mercy, He will graciously transform all that we have given Him into something extraordinary, something that might scare us, too, at first.  

 

Take heart and do not be afraid.  Believe in God's plans, purposes, and goodness and pick it up and go in His grace so that all may believe. 

 

 

While chasing illusive perspective today,

I remembered that THIS IS WAR.

Everything that is is the aftermath of this war.

Do not want to be a deserter.

Do not want to be just a survivor.

Want to help slay the monsters.

Want to be a participant faithfully and passionately standing my ground.

Want to join the ranks of fresh warriors entering the great arena.

Want to hear the cheers of heaven,

the Father's "Well done.  Enter in." 

Want to war with all that opposes God's rule, His divine kingdom.

 

Yes, THIS IS WAR.

Though I am totally unaware most days of the battles raging around me,

still they rage with all of the forces of heaven and hell

glistening with the divine sweat of battle.

 

Holy blood, sweat, and tears -

The blood of Christ,

the sweat of divine angelic muscles,

the tears of the saints -

all holy weapons in this divine war.

 

Oh, for strong hands, heart, mind, and knees,

for the resolve to stay in it,

to finish my course and not quit,

to stand strong in the faith and not stumble

all for the prize -

Christ.