Melancholy 020214 Faithfulness

Most times all I've got to offer to Him is faithfulness
Obedience
I don't have joy,  exuberant praise, just obedience

And sometimes it's just obedience becasue obedience is expected

I don't believe that faithfulness demands any special "feelings."
I just demands the doing of it.

And our obedience needs to be simple and honest

He calls us to pray - so we pray
We don't have to pray well
We just have to pray
We bring - prayerfully - whatever we've got
But we bring it faithfully

He calls us to study His word
So we do
It may be a little hollow
We may not feel inspired
But we need to obediently feed upon it
So the Hoy Spirit can work it into our minds and hearts

He calls us to worship
Individual and corporate
So we do
However  can
We do

All I have to offer Him
Is a crippled and staggering faithfulness
Sometimes I walk
Sometimes I crawl
In seeking to faithfully follow

Some He  calles to great things (as man estimates them)
Others He calls to small simply things
But He calls all of His
To be faithful
In what he has given them

The widow gave all she had
What do we have to give
Sometimes it's just faithfulness
In the simple and quiet things

Pray to simply be faithful
And then be faithful in those simple things
We're all called to it
Wherever we are
With whatever we have
However we can

In my affliction
All I can offer Him
Is my faithfulness
And sometimes even that is hard
Most times it's all I have

MS

Nothing trivial!

I'm finding myself spending a lot more time in prayer than I have in years.  And I'm beginning to come to a place where I do not think we can ever pray too much and therr is nothing too trivial.

I can remember early in my walk having a smug feeling for folks who prayed for things like parking places, washers, and other common and simple things.  

I've discovered that there is perhaps a bit of, "I don''t need God for this," or "this is too little for God to care about in that old attitude.  Yes, this is a confession that I somehow had it in my head that there was God's sovereignty and providence and then there was ours.  It was an attitude that held that there were just some things God didn't care about - or was too big to exert Himself for.  I've had to examine and evaluate and repent of that - working on it daily.

When Jesus speaks of God's provision and interest in birds and flowers and hairs on our head He makes it plain that nothing is trivial when it comes to His Lordship and love for His creation.  Parking places, cars running well, washers breaking down are perhaps not of as great a concern to Him as they are to us BUT if they can affect His children he is concerned.

I've yet to find a scripture that enjoins me to, "not bother God with this or that."  Indeed, it's quite the opposite.  We are called to take everything --EVERYTHING  - to Him.

Yeah - it may feel silly and we may feel it is a trivial thing but it is the little foxes that spoil the grapes.  It can be the proverbial straw that crushes the camel.  

His love for us is without limit or condition.  His provision for us encompasses everything in our lives, not just what we think of as, "the biggies."  What harm could there be in praying
about everything in our lives.

Just a simple example.  It was a bad day for me  I was struggling.  I was on the way to the 'Bou and began to be bummed that they might be crowded and that parking would be a pain and that I wouldn't get my favorite "spot."  Stupid huh?  Well, I got there and got a good parking place and my "spot" was open.  This was a real "Wow" for me.  I felt blessed.  He heard and said, "Yes."

Am I nutz to think He was acting?  I can't maintain a healthy view of His sovereignty and at the same time engage in considering coincidence.  What may be a small thing in the whole of salvation can be a big thing in the moment.  

Peter writes:

1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Question,  What part of "all" do we not get?  "All," means, "ALL."  Right?  

Are we "bothering" God when we take everything to Him?  OOuch - that's a dangerous idea.    

It may seem odd at first but I encourage you to yield to the impulse or desire to pray no matter what the issue.  Take everything to Him - thank Him for everything whether you "prayed for it or not.  Please don't consign Him to being just "the God of what I can't do."  Please don't make Him the Gd, "who only cares about the big stuff."

Let Him be the Gd who cares so much He doesn't just know how much hair you have but has counted and created each and every one of them.

We sing, "Crown Him Lord of all."  Let's take that to heart and expect Him to be the Lord of all.  Nothing is trivial!

Father - let me open my life to yu.  Protect me from the lie that You're not really interested in parking places or favorite tables or old cars, etc.   Let me let loose of coincidence and acknowledge that You are Lord of all and therefore I should, can and may bring it ALL to you.

Amen 

In search of, well, simplicity?

The Fellowship of Believers
Acts 2
 [42] And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. [43] And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. [44] And all who believed were together and had all things in common. [45] And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. [46] And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, [47] praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

I attended seminary in the hey-day of the "church growth" movement.  Not to bore you with details but the movement was a mix of loose doctrine and a modicum of marketing.  Being the hard-headed sou I am I just couldn't buy it.  Acts 2 just kept getting in the way.  So instead of doing the MDiv. thing I opted for an MA in Church History in a desire to see how the Lord had grown His church through the centuries.

Now I am not proposing some "new" insight or doctrine or method!  God has always had His way of growing His church.  I simply believe we see it simply and clearly in Acts 2.  

Now, order is good.  Our God is a God of order.  The church has her boundaries and expectations laid down in scripture - clearly.  But I can not find in scripture where the church is to be an institution (although it has structure, etc.)  

I believe that regardless of culture or circumstance we can take Acts 2 as the schematic for the church - both in form and function.  Really, it isn't about "the church" as a building, organizations or institution - it is about the church as people - redeemed people serving Him and they serve one another.  Out of this, Acts 2:46&47 we see God adding to the number of the redeemed --  Adding them to the "living breathing body" we see in Acts 2.

This is not some shot at the common church.  But it is a search for a more simple and basic way to be.  This is NOT some anti or pro thought or belief but rather a suggested alternative that is clearly presented in scripture.

I am simple convinced that when the church is the church, God will add to her.  He desires a safe place, a healthy place and perhaps a simple place to plant His baby sheep where they will be cared for and nurtured.  

Yes, in our culture we are very much a "consumer" society and perhaps the church has strayed from what He wants to what we want.  PERHAPS!!!!  

None-the-less I am asking you for your thoughts as they would be invaluable and a blessing.   

For years this passage has haunted me - I'd even say called me to pray for and pray hard for the church and it's members.   We don't need to rediscover or redesign anything - it's done right here in Acts and played out in the epistles.

What are your thoughts?  What are your insights?   Does this passage "touch" something in your heart?  Do you sense a longing for such an association, such a fellowship.  

I'm convinced that God can bring this "model" (?) into being anywhere - even in existing bodies.  It will demand a re-thinking and a re-ordering of priorities and function but would that really be hard but them is it really supposed to be easy?

Again - this is NOT some anti-whatever rant.  Just a suggestion that we consider this passage (and others) as we think  about the church.

PLEASE -even anonimously - let me have your thoughts.  You can even email me at sheepdog.ms@gmail.com

Father, open our hearts and minds to Your word that we might have the courage to look at Your church from Your word.  Make Your Spirit mighty in our lives not to bring criticism but rather a freshness and fearlessness to seek to be, as a body, all You would have us to be - especially that we would desire to become a place where You will add those You are saving.

Amen