The Fellowship Of Community

This morning at church, Chad Clem spoke about living life alone. As I have struggled with the ups and downs of church life, this reality has become very close to me and important to me.

This life is too hard to do alone. We're not meant to do it alone. It's impossible to do it alone!

For so long we as brothers and sisters have been lame and we say we care, but we never actually engage anyone. But, God is changing our hearts! A lifestyle and a heart style is being released in the earth. We are asking for God's heart and He's giving it to us(ready or not!).

I also love prayer. Especially corporate prayer. One of my newest favorite authors is Henri J M Nouwen. He has this to say about the Community Of Faith:

In the community of faith we can find the climate and the support to sustain and deepen our prayer, and we are enabled to constantly look forward beyond our immediate and often narrowing private needs. The community of faith offers the protective boundaries within we can listen to our deepest longings, not to indulge in morbid introspection, but to find out God to whom they point. In the community of faith, we can listen to our feelings of loneliness, to our desires for an embrace or kiss, to our sexual urges, to our cravings for sympathy, compassion, or just a good word; also to our search for insight and to our hope for companionship and friendship. I the community of faith we can listen to all these longings and find the courage, not to avoid them or cover them up, but confront them in order to discern God's presence in their midst. There we can affirm each other in our waiting and also in the realization that in the center of our waiting the first intimacy with God is found.

Nothing is sweet or easy about community. Community is a fellowship of people who do not hide their joys and sorrows, but make them visible to each other in a gesture of hope. In community we say "Life is full of gains and losses, joys and sorrows, ups and downs-but we do not have to live it alone. We want to drink our cup together and thus celebrate the truth that the wounds of our individual lives which seem intolerable when lived alone, become sources of healing when we live them as part of a fellowship of mutual care."

What do our relationships look like? How do I, how do you, interact with those in the sphere of our lives? Do we really take time to care or do we just pass by? We are all called to be like Jesus. For so long we have just ignored the people crying out "Jesus, have mercy on me, do not pass me by!" We are their Jesus and I fear we have been passing them by.

God will give us the desire of our hearts. Let our hearts desire to have His heart. For with His heart, we will not be able to just pass by. We will be moved to respond. We will be moved to act. Let us bind unto ourselves the mind of Christ, the heart of the Father, and the wisdom of Holy Spirit. For in this revelation we see God move on our behalf in ways that we could never imagine.

J

New England Aflame Conference Part 1

I went to the New England Aflame Conference in November and it was really really great. Since it's really long, I'll break it up into a few different posts. Without further adieu, here's part one:

I was very challenged. Especially in the areas of stepping out and putting yourself in impossible situations. Heidi Baker works in Mozambique, the poorest nation and some of the poorest people on the planet. She has more stories about the miraculous than you could imagine.

She was talking about the story of the five loaves and two fish. But she was focused on Andrew. He was the one who spoke up and brought attention the boy with the food. He has enough faith to mention it, but then not wanting to look dumb and not 100% sure of the outcome, he back pedaled and followed that up with "but what is that among so many". So he had enough faith to know that God COULD do it, but not enough to know that God WOULD do it. Then Jesus goes and does it anyways.

Then Jesus goes and does it anyways

Pretty much He took their little idea box, smattering of thoughts, lack of a plan, worry, and preconceived notions, and said "hmmmm, yeah...check this out".

There was no explanation, no meeting, no "ok guys now this is what we're going to do..."

He just said "scuse me, can I see that lunch for a minute?...yeah that one. I just need it for a second" and did what needed to be done. He knew who He was, He was confident that His Father would meet the need.

Let's ponder that for a moment.

OMG! A post!

So all my friends are consistently posting on their blog and I feel guilty and left out. So perhaps this will motivate me to become more diligent in my postings.

I'm usually right on top of the music scene, especially music related to houses of prayer. However, I've just been a slacker and just recently(gasp!) really had a chance to check out Misty's new album. When I went to IHOP a few years ago, I heard "Servant Of All" and loved it-but it wasn't recorded yet. And now it's on the new CD!!! Love, love, love it.

I wanna be Your lover so show me how to go lower
For in the depths I will find You where You're serving my brother

I wanna be with You where You are I wanna be with You wherever You are
I wanna be with You where You are You're the servant of all

I'm in love with a king who became a slave
I'm in love with a God who is humble
You gotta go down if you wanna go up
And You've gotta go lower if you wanna go higher and higher
Well you've gotta hide and do it in secret if you wanna be seen by God

Cause it's the inside outside upside down kingdom
Where you lose to gain and you die to live

As it is in heaven, may it be on earth-

J