Are You Someone that Others Want to be Like?

This is a great blog entry by Blake Coffee. Check it out:


http://churchwhisperer.com/2010/04/20/making-new-friendsare-we-ready-for-that/

What a powerful thought.

Anticipation

Have you ever looked forward to an event, a place, a family gathering, a vacation, or just something you anticipate is going to be incredible? What do you do to prepare for it? I'm one that really likes to plan ahead. I'll start setting stuff aside to pack a couple of weeks out (until Amber makes me put it back and wait!!) and then run a checklist in my mind daily of all the stuff I don't want to forget. The only problem is that I tend to overlook the things I need to get done then that will affect the trip if I have to stay and get them done.
I hope you have a huge expectation of what God is doing in our church; however, there are things we have to plant today if we want to harvest them tomorrow. Be faithful to plants the seeds of invitations, the gospel, kindness, compassion, etc. so that you can harvest a spiritual bounty the days ahead. Don't look back and wish you had done today what you desire God to do tomorrow!!

Interceding for Our 4xFour

What have you been praying for in the lives of the people you have identified on your 4xFour list? One of the easiest ways to pray if you have not recieved a specific request from your friend is imagining better circumstances for them. For example, if their marriage is struggling, begin imagining what a better marriage would look like and then pray towards that. Its amazing how our imagination can be a useful tool in praying towards God's will.

Praying in Participation with God

Our college group studied Numbers 14 Monday night and tried to wrestle with the implied/suggested thought that Moses was able to change God's mind. I don't want to get into the whole Open Theism discussion because I firmly believe the transcendent God knows all things from beginning to end. But, you have to wrestle with what is the purpose of Numbers 14?
Throughout the New Testament, we are called God's fellow workers. What does this mean for our prayers? Jesus told us that we are to pray for God's will to be done. Since God allows us to work alongside him in bringing about his kingdom and will, shouldn't our prayers also be in participation with what he is doing? Mose's prayed toward God's intended & original purpose with the Israelites...God wanted to make them a great nation by his power and might and let it be a declaration of his glory and power. Praying in participation with God is praying toward God's intended purpose & glory.

To pray is to change.

Richard Foster in his book Celebration of Discipline states that "to pray is to change." What does he mean? In short, when we pray, we should become so attuned to what God wants that it changes our desires, passions, and plans towards God's will. The best example I can think of is when Jesus was praying in the Garden before his arrest. He asked God if there was another way, another plan that would accomplish God's glory and renown. Yet, in the end analysis, Jesus changed his mind to God's plan. Do your prayers change you?