I read a wonderful story today in the book of Revelation. It is usually shrouded in mystery, so I was surprised when I saw such a tender story. In the first chapter, John stands in the presence of Jesus Christ. His beauty is too much to tell and His voice was like a trumpet. Not in reverence, but in complete fear he fell before Jesus and would not lift his head. It says then that Jesus placed His right hand on John and said, "Fear not, for I am the first and the last, Amen, and have the keys of death and hell."
I can remember a few occasions that I fell before God. Sometimes it was physically on my knees and sometimes it was in my heart in a crowded room, but I was beneath Him all the same. Sometimes it was in worship at His greatness and sometimes it was in fear because of the wickedness in my life. No matter the reason, He has always kept His promise and has never left me comfortless. It amazes me that a Great and Almighty God, who is the First and the Last, who holds the keys of death and Hell, in whom all things are made and consist, who is the express image of the Father in heaven, in whom all the fullness of God saw fit to inhabit, who was in the beginning and who was the beginning would reach out His hand to someone the likes of me, a sinner by nature and by choice, and place it on my shoulder each and every time I need it as if to say , "I love you and will always sustain you, no matter the situation. Fear not MY CHILD."
Praise You God!!!

Frustrating the Farmer

I heard an intersting analogy today. "You can take a plant and give it water and light, and it will grow. What you can't do is smack the plant around and tell it to grow." It seems that my focus has become to see our church grow, and rightly so. There is nothing wrong with growing, in fact, we must grow to carry on the work of God. The problem arises when church growth is th goal. We, namely I, must worry less about trying to convince the plant to grow and worry more about feeding and watering the plant. If we focus on that, the plant will naturally grow. All that will come of a man telling a plant to grow is frustration. Pray for our church, that our goals will be God's goals, and our growth will be growth given by God. "One plants, one waters, but God give the increase!"