What an incredible time together this past weekend with our Fall Renewal. It says a lot about a group of people ready and willing to give up their Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to learn and grow together. If you were present, I have no doubt at all that you got something from this time we had together. Today we are back to work and back to the grind of our day to day and it will be so easy to slip back in to what’s comfortable. I want to encourage you today to write down the things you heard from the Lord this weekend, and spend time in prayer over them the rest of this week and look for opportunities for Him to show you how to apply it in your everyday life. Just like we talked about, an awesome weekend with our church family and the Lord is wonderful, but an experience for our benefit alone is not what we seek. Let’s ask ourselves what the Lord wants to do with it “for the common good” of the body. Maybe you have not been serving and you need to, maybe you have some gifts you were not aware of that you have discovered and need to put to use, maybe you have a call on your life that you are fully aware of but it so easily gets lost in daily tasks and “getting by”. Maybe you have allowed offense to keep you bound and tied up in knots. What now? What are we going to do? Are you going to gain healing and freedom and keep it to ourselves, or are we going to step out and make a difference? Are we going to be bystanders in the Kingdom of God or are we going to be active participants? What is so amazing about God’s kingdom is that He wants us to be a part; He wants to work in us so that He can work through us. Not because He has to but because He wants to! We cannot just receive and get spiritually fed and then do nothing with it. Let us not get busy with the things that keep us worn out and distracted but let’s seek God and be led by the spirit in our daily lives, decisions, and relationships. Let’s look around us and open our eyes to what God is doing. Being led by Him and serving Him is not a burden but where we find fullness of Joy! Let’s put aside our plans and let’s seek His plans. Our plans will wear us out but His plans will bring forth fruit and life! Let us stop asking God to join us on our journey and let’s start joining Him on His. God’s Word will be fulfilled with or without us, that is for sure, but do we want to miss the joy of living life in relationship and participation with our Creator here and now? Let Him not return finding us full to the brim and asleep. What amazing gifts He has given his church! What will we do with them? Look around you today, is there someone that could use a smile? Is there someone that doesn’t know Him? Is there a need that you have the means to meet? Is there a call you know you should make but you keep putting it off? Is there strife where there should be forgiveness? What do we have to fear church? What is stopping us from living out what we experience on Sundays when we are together? Being led by the Holy Spirit and not ourselves changes everything. I don’t know about you, but I sure can exhaust myself! But following His lead accomplishes so much more and gives joy while doing it!
Ok, I am sure you caught on, this was more of a letter than a devotional but I feel pretty full from this weekend and I am sure you are too, so let’s go give it away!
Blessings,
Pastor Ginny
