Hi all,
In late summer the Father told me “This
fall and winter through spring a lot of different things will happen one
after the other in the world until some people start asking in
weariness, fear, and confusion, ‘Oh what’s next?’ Do not let your heart
be troubled, be at peace, and continue to be about my business and all
will be well.”
That is what He said to me for my life,
but what has He been saying and doing in your life? If He has been
teaching you in an area that teaching will continue no matter what is
swirling around us. Has He been walking you through crisis? He will
continue walking with you unaffected by world events.
Stay in the peace of what He is saying to
you right now, today, for that peace is like a cocoon of safety and
protection. Protect that peace in you. Don’t let the assault from the
world bring it down: Let the peace of God ‘keep’ (Greek: ‘guard’) your
thoughts. Philippians 4:7
We can be like Mary in Luke 2:19 who upon
hearing the Shepherd’s story, and the adoration her new Son was
receiving, it says “But Mary kept these things, and pondered them in her
heart.” We may have questions and normal fears about ‘what’s next’, but
we keep the peace in our spirit as we ponder these things
.
Home for the holidays
When I look at this year I see that when I
add up all the trips and the days after spent recovering or catching up
from jet-lag, I have been gone nearly 4 months. The list of things to
do around the house is long and Barb and I are enjoying just being
together with no trips on the calendar for the rest of the years. There
is a deep lack of tension knowing I'm only home until x trip around the
corner.
But as I reflect on all the people we
visited with and met through all the trips, all the hosting and meeting
of people, we see the Lord walking WITH people through life much more
than we see instant deliverance from circumstance. There are prayers for
deliverance, for healing, for the end of various conflicts, but what we
see is the Lord walking with people through the 'valley' rather than
transporting them out.
He is faithful, and I wonder how people
in the world get through life without Him, without knowing that Presence
in their spirit which exudes peace and safety to our whole being. In my
travels I see people who have dropped the formulas, dropped the systems
designed to get from God something He hasn't been giving them to that
point, and just learning to walk with Him in the midst of close
relationships. That is life in Christ, bother internal life and the
close relationships of others in faith.
Purity of motives
One of the things on my heart is the
purity of motive found in the leaders of the New Testament and how they
conducted their relationships with others without any agenda of their
own. This is reflected in Paul’s heart in Acts 15:36 when he told
Barnabus,
"Let us go again to every city where we preached the Word and see how they are doing."
That’s it – he just wanted to see how
they were doing. Paul didn't say, "Let us go again and have them sign up
as members" or "Let us go again and get them into cell groups" or "Let
us go again and tell them what they should be doing" - they just wanted
to see how they were doing.
This is why Paul told the
Corinthians "Not that we would have dominion over your faith, but are
helpers of your joy, for by (your own) faith you stand" in II
Corinthians 1:24, which is also one of the two foundational verses CWOWI
is built upon for that has always been our heart.
The other being Galatians 2:9, where we
are told Peter, James, and John "perceived the grace" in Paul and
Barnabus. These two verse are key to a healthy and balanced life of
faith and in interpersonal relationships - we don't enter into
relationships with an agenda, but merely perceive the grace in each
other and respond to that, doing our best to be one another's helpers of
joy, for each of us by our own faith, stand.
This ‘no agenda but love’ ministry means
we enter into relationships by first seeing what God is doing in a
person's life, and then responding to it.
In Acts 11:19-30 the Greeks in
Antioch are believing in Jesus and the apostles send Barnabus to see
what God was doing. In verse 23 it says, "Who, when he had arrived and
seen the grace of God, he was glad, and exhorted them all that with
purpose of heart they should cling to the Lord."
Notice - he didn't come with an agenda or
idea of telling them what he thought they should know about God - he
saw the grace of God and was glad. He responded to what God was already
doing. That is our heart, and that is the foundation on Jesus that
relationship based faith, and those who meet in healthy, family based
churches who meet in homes, are all about.
We look at what God is doing, perceiving
the grace present, then rather than try to have dominion over one's
faith, are instead helpers of their joy, teaching them at their pace how
to stand in their own faith.
Look at Peter - in Acts 15:8-10 when
Peter was re-telling his experience in the house of Cornelius, he
commented “And God who knows the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit even as He did us.”
Notice that Peter first saw what God saw
in their hearts, saw that God was bearing witness to their hearts by
giving them the Holy Spirit, and Peter merely responded to that. He
didn't enter the house with the idea of planting a new house church, or
starting a new Bible study on foundations of the faith - he went to
perceive the grace, to see what God was already doing, and then respond
to that.
Our trips
I’ve sometimes questioned myself for all
the trips we take to ‘visit the brethren to see how they do’ as Paul
did. But I have come to realize that is just my heart, just to see how
people are doing in their walk, and respond to what God is doing – I
have no other agenda than that – just to be helpers of your joy as you
stand in your own faith.
We give thanks for you all, and pray
always for those prayer requests you write in on the offering envelopes
an in your online giving notes – thank you for giving into our lives and
being there for us. We are a small ministry and your gifts are
personally felt. Thank you.
Blessings,
John and Barb, and Chris
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