You Are Known
I often think about how I pray and realize how often I treat God in my prayers as if he is my earthly Dad or a best friend. The danger is that I can tend to "humanize" God a little to much. I forget that he is my creator and knows better than Iever will.
Psalm 139:1 "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me."
God is never fooled by my justifications or excuses and yet he still loves and cares. He is patient with my pride and selfishenss, but sometimes I have to answer for it.
Just remember that if King David, the adulterer/murder could still take comfort that God knows and love him, than we can too.
Our all-knowning God is all for us, so why not seek Him and trust Him more?
Dear God,
Thank you for your patience with me and for your unconditional love. Remind me that because you know my heart and everything about me...that it just makes sense to trust in your leading. Help me to be obeident to your words even when they don't make sense to me.
Pray without ceasing
In our TOAG group, we are constantly wrestling with how, as followers of Jesus,we can be catalysts for transforming individuals, hearts, families, and communities. Proclaiming the Good News can be a challenge, particularly when working with refugees, because they often have limited English skills due to many challenges they face here in the U.S. However, we know that God is gracious and that He desires for this Clarkston refugee community to be changed by His love and grace. Many of the refugees have fled from places where they have never heard of the truth about Jesus and have experienced extreme trauma and loss. But I believe that by His Grace He has brought them here so they can hear the Truth. So as we have wrestled with this, we have all agreed on one thing: prayer is the key. God hears our prayers and responds (1 John 5:14-15). We want all of our friends, families, and churches to be begging for God to pour out His Spirit in Clarkston. Would you join us in praying?
-Pray as Jesus taught us to pray. God, Your will be done on earth (in Clarkston) as it is in heaven!
-There are many believers among different ethnic groups. There are Arabic, Nepali, Burmese, Kirundi, Amharic, Tigrinya speakers who love Jesus. Pray they'd develop a passion to reach their own people.
-Pray that those working in this community would continue to obediently sow seeds and that yes, they would reap a harvest, too!
Posted by: Wendi :)
National Human Trafficking Awareness Day 1/11
For those of you who have not heard. OM has started a grass roots movement called
THE FREEDOM CLIMB.
Women from across the globe will begin their ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania on January 11, 2012, the National Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the U.S. Climbers will be raising awareness, prayers, and finances for women and children being oppressed, enslaved, exploited and trafficked. The Freedom Climb goal for 2012 is to affect the lives of 10,000 women through projects that break the cycles of poverty, shame, slavery, and despair. These projects include micro-loans, education, skills training, and protection from exploitation.
Here is the website where you can get involved. www.thefreedomclimb.net
Wine Skins
Matthew 9:17
"Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
In ancient times goatskins were used to hold wine. As the fresh grape juice fermented, the wine would expand, adn the new wineskin would stretch. But a used skin, already stretched, would break. Jesus brings a newness that cannot be confined within the old forms.
The sin of Judas or Peter?
JUDAS - Realized that he had sined and felt guilty but never repented.
John 12:12-19
Judas was being caled out by Jesus as his betrayer.
Matthew 2:14-16
Judas went to the preists to plan Jesus's betrayal
Matthew 27:3
Judas hangs himself realizing his guilt.
PETER - Realized that he had sined and felt broken and humbled and repented.
John 3:36
Jesus tells Peter that he will deny him three times.
Matthew 26:31
Peter protests and says he will never deny Jesus, but Jesus is like...yeah you will.
Matthew 26:69
Here is the detail account of Peter denying Jesus three times.
Luke 22:28-34
Jesus prayed for Peter's faith
HERE IS THE TAKEAWAY:
When you come to Jesus...are you coming just feeling guilty or are you coming to Him broken and humbled, realizing that there is nothing you can humanly do?
There must be a realization that only the Holy Spirit can change us. We have to stop trying to prove ourselves and let go of our pride that we so often hang onto in our relationship with Christ. There seems to be a feeling of superiority in our identitiy in Christ which is the opposite of what He teaches. We have to humble ourseves with the reality of our constant sin, but with the saving knowlege of God's grace and mercy that we don't deserve. Agape Love.
My challenge to you is to pray about who you relate to more. Judas who feels guilty but not broken in his sin. Or Peter who acknowledges his feelings, but comes broken and humbled before God because of his sin.
