Saturday, January 17, 2009

You can't stay where you are and Go with God... "Be warned, kind of a long blog this time, sorry!

In my quiet time this morning I was impressed with the need to write about our service to the Lord. I have had a lot of you tell me you read the blog and are encouraged by it and the ages of people that do so range from the very young to the much more mature in Christ... Through this blog, I want to be able to speak a clear word about what God is doing in my life that will demonstrate how I communicate with God as well as give insight into how God directs my decisions. So when I write in this blog, it is only because I feel God has laid it on my heart to speak to someone that day...

Today, I'd like to direct these thoughts to the mature in Christ.. Those that have been doing this thing called "Christianity" a long time. I'm talking as long as me or more, like 30 plus years... (oh, my goodness, I've been a Christian 30 years this June!) I can't believe where the time has gone and how fast it has flown..

Well, anyway, back to my thought...

In September-November of 2007, Dana and I went through "Experiencing God" By Henry Blackaby... Great study by the way... and one of the things that Henry said, was... "You can't go with God and stay where you are..." This sentence meant to me that we have to seize opportunity in ministry in order to go to the next level with God...

Let me try to explain this without messing it up... Are you still doing today what you were doing 2 years ago... 4 years ago... 15 years ago... 30 years ago? Are you in your comfort zone as far as service to God is concerned? You know you trust God to meet your needs, but are you trusting God to do more for you than just meet your needs? Are you EXPECTING God to show up in a mighty way and do something spectacular?

I think about the people in the Bible who God allowed to be used for his glory...

Moses.... Only one burning bush to my knowledge and Moses saw it...

The Parting of the Red Sea... Wow, Moses got to experience this too!! Lucky dog...

The Parting of the Jordan River... this seemed similar to the Red Sea, except the priest had to put their feet in the river first before it parted... and it happened in Joshua's time as leader so it is different than Moses experience...

Let's see... Gideon...Wow have you read the life of Gideon? In Judges 6-8... He defeated the whole Midianite Army with just 300 men!! You thought the movie 300 was made up, didn't you? Anyway...my commentary says that Gideon was slow to be convinced, but acted on his convictions... He asked for a sign from God and God did it... He asks for victory and God did it!

There are many other people who God used to do wonderful, exciting things in His name... He took them to places they would never have dreamed of going... All he asked from them was to "Trust and Obey" ... you may have the trust part down to such a close walk with God, but what about the Obey part? Is God asking you to do more for him than you want to right now? Is it because you are comfortable in what you are doing? You may be teaching Sunday School and have been doing so for years, but is that what God wants you to do for him today? He may want you to do a Bible Study with a group of people you don't know and don't feel qualified to teach, but He wants to use YOU to do it! "I'm saying a lot of this to myself, because I've recently volunteered to teach a Beth Moore study on Wednesday nights... and I've opened the college Department up on Thursday nights with a Bible study straight from God's word, so I trust every week for God to give me the material to talk on... It's very exciting right now and opportunity to share with others just seems to crop up all the time.

I would recommend the "Experiencing God" bible study... I learned so much and one of the things I learned was "God is always at work" and he uses his people to accomplish some mighty things in his name...

I just wanted to stretch you a little today and ask you to step outside of your comfort zone, maybe even step down from your comfort zone so God can raise someone else up in their faith, then trust that God has a new and better place for you to serve him.

God is Good, all the time...
I love you!
Lea Anne

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