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Check out this story

http://web.mac.com/kevinplaster/iWeb/Russian%20Missions/Blog/F4B01C64-CC7B-4BC9-8C01-C4B895078411.html

Weary of Misery

Judges 10:16 (HCSB)
16 So they got rid of the foreign gods among them and worshiped the Lord, but He became weary of Israel’s misery.

God called His people out of the Wilderness (spiritual immaturity) to the Promised Land (spiritual maturity) for a purpose. They were to conquer the land, throw down strongholds, and move from dependence on God (manna) to faith in the sustaining Word of God (the food of the land). They were successful for a season. They conquered many people. They saw the demise of entire people groups, but they did not complete the job. There is a common phrase found in the history of Israel: “They did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord”.

How many times they fell away from the Lord and came back I do not know. It would take me too long to count. One thing I do know. God gets tired of it. He is longsuffering with His children, but He is not impractical. Judges 10:16 seems to be the first time in the Promised Land that God became fed up.

One thing strikes me. He was not weary of their sin or their sinfulness. I’m sure He was not a proud Father at that moment, but the scriptures show us an insight into God. He was weary with their MISERY.

How many times do we, as believers who have crossed the Jordan into Spiritual maturity, fall away from God and return to Him in sackcloth and ashes. We have made “rededication” a regular part of Sunday. We seem to live in a constant pattern of Spiritual Mountains and Valleys. I can’t help but think in a mature walk with God, those hills and troughs should even about a bit. Our Spiritual life should, at some point, stop looking like a seismograph during an earthquake and start looking like a steady line pulled tighter by an ongoing pursuit of the Blessed Hope, that Glorious Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have the potential to do great things for God, but we spend our every waking moment realizing our stupidity, worthlessness, and weakness. We have equated Spiritual Brokenness with Spiritual Maturity. It is important to spend a little time in sackcloth and ashes. It is necessary to understand who we are in relation to God. But, it is for freedom we have been set free. We are not conquerors; nay we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us and gave Himself for us.

This theme is found elsewhere in the Scriptures. Misery is being Lukewarm. If you don’t care about your sin, you are cold. If you are on fire, you are hot. If you care about your sin, do nothing about it, and stay miserable all the time, you are lukewarm. Jesus says in Revelation 4 that people who are lukewarm make Him want to puke. Sounds serious, huh??

God hates our sin. It is antithesis to His holiness. Sin does not compute in the mind of our Holy God (if that makes any sense). But, what makes God weary, what makes Him sad, what causes Him to look at His people and want to try something else, is seeing those whom He has given Victory living in defeat. It is time to understand that we have not traded in our shackles for shame. It is time to grow up and JUST STOP SCREWING UP SO MUCH. Why would anyone want to join a miserable group of people led by a miserable pastor that asks those miserable people to admit how miserable they are every Sunday? God’s greater than that! Know therefore that Yahweh your God is THE GOD, the Faithful God, who keeps His gracious covenant loyalty to a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commands. Know your God. Know your Victory. Reading this may make you feel miserable. If it does, good. Feel it for a moment and then leave misery for the devil. He’s gonna need it.

Be the Change

Well, we set the woods on fire this last Sunday. I shared with the church what God has been teaching me about “doing the will of Him that sent me”. We talked about starving for that sustenance from God. There was a great move. Many came to the front to openly admit that they are hungry for the food of the Promised Land and not just manna.

For some reason, I got extremely down after that service. All that I hoped would happen did, but it was not enough. I told them how that I expected the Word of God to start a revival, and it caused more movement than usual, but it was not right. Instead of asking people to come to the front, I wanted to say, “Who’s with me?” and lead a charge right out the back door. Once again tradition wins out. (Stinkin’ tradition).

I had high hopes that this message that truly was from God would spark an unstoppable fire in the hearts of the people. But now, I am reminded of a book Kevin Higgins told me about. It’s about a young boy that decided if modern-day slavery was going to be stopped, he would have to do it. It’s called “Be the Change”.

Fires are not started by words or desires, fires are started by fires. Doug Patterson, the one-liner king, said this: If you want to make change in your life, make change in your life. If there is going to be a revival unbeknownst to Henderson occur at LDMBC, it’s not going to happen because I want it to. It’s only going to happen because I start it. Only Passion is truly passionate. I can’t want passion from my church until I find passion in myself. Passion and hunger feel a lot alike. It’s like when someone is found in the desert. They need to slowly drink room-temperature water, but instead they gorge themselves on ice cold water to the point of sickness. I’ve been in the desert, and I’m thirsty.

Real thirsty.

The End Is Near?

Things to think about:

The Move of World Power to Babylon- http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/needtoknow/2007/04/want_middle_east_stability_mov.html

A One World Financial Organization-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7724298.stm

Even so Come Quickly Lord Jesus

My Spiritual Food

John 4:31-34 (NKJV)
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.

So I was walking around in Lowes this morning looking for a part to a toilet for work. I began, as I most often do, perusing the Home décor aisle. It is a common practice of mine to daydream about my future home. You see, I’ve found myself at a place in my life where I want to settle down. I’m ready to own a home, have real furniture, have a TV I can be proud of, etc. My wife and I are committed to living financially according to the scriptures, so it is taking us a little longer. I find myself yearning for these things. A “real home” with a “real family”. It hurts my heart, I want it so bad.

Recently, our small group studied John 4:31-34. This particular verse has spoken to me many times, but it was in Lowes that I understood its true meaning. While dreaming of my front door and my deck, I suddenly became overwhelmed with what felt like shame. I felt as if I had a hole in my chest thinking that my “grown-up life” would never come. Then it hit me: This is what I desire more than anything. I desire a typical American home with all the amenities. I desire something to call my own. I desire a deck, a pool, an enormous grill, a new bedroom suite, a zero-turn lawn mower, and most of all security. I desire a life that is relaxed, filled with consistency and order. The Holy Spirit asked me, “How does this have anything to do with why I called you?”

The truth is that it had nothing to do with it. Somehow my calling had become a calling to preaching once a week, teaching a Sunday school class, and teaching a church to grow. All of these are ok, but they are not the calling of Cory Wayne Page. Any monkey with a church growth book can teach a church to grow. We have had a 15 person increase in Sunday school just by offering breakfast! As of November 10^th, 2008, I lead a very low-impact life. I am ashamed at how much I want worldly security. I am ashamed at the way I’ve turned my back on the God that called to turn the world upside down and settled for a life of comfort. When was the last time I witnessed to someone? When was the last time I wanted to? What am I seeking to fill me? I’m called to be different dangit! I’m called, not because I’m called to preach, to live a life where people look at me and think, “How in the world is he living that way. It doesn’t make sense”. I should live in such a way that I can say, “I have sustenance that you cannot imagine. I am fulfilled by doing the will of Him that sent me. I am called out by the same God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I am called to be as bold as Daniel, and as passionate as Paul.”

I want eyes that desire to see God. I want a heart that desires to know God. I want a stomach that longs to be filled with God. I want hands and feet that long to touch God. I want to be hungry for that food that only comes from Him that sent me. I want to taste that spiritual manna that is as sweet as honey on my tongue. I want, I want, I want, I want, I want……..I guess that was the problem in the first place.

I Need.

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Is God Enough?

We sing songs about how God is more than enough for our every need. We read stories of how God's children trust Him for everything. When it comes down to it, is God really enough?

I've been reading through Job this week...poor guy. If everyone your family suddenly died and all your possessions were taken, would you still trust God to supply for your needs? 

If your dreams were shattered, would God fulfill your yearning? If your spouse stopped loving you, would His love be enough? If the world looked down on you, would esteem in His eyes be enough? 

I'm not sure I have made it to the point in my life where God is truly enough for all of me. I think I still have a "God and..." attitude.

Posted by Jessica Page

A follow up to yesterday's post

I totally agree with the quote I posted yesterday. Our prayers should be gritty and personal and specific. My question, as usual, has to do with the employment of this practice in our everyday lives. 

I can pray with pinpoint precision about my needs because I know them. But, how am I to pray for my brothers and sisters if I don't spend time talking with them about the personal and the gritty? I have to know the gritty needs of others before I can pray specifically for them. 

And that leads to this question: How do you get down to the gritty and personal with a people who are uncomfortable with personal? Everyone I know has "trust issues." 

What can we do to become a church that shares the personal and gritty (what I think a church was intended to be)? 

Praying with Purpose

Check out this quote from Pray Big: The Power of Pinpoint Prayers by Will Davis: 

• Have you ever listened to how we pray? It’s like Christians have developed their own prayer language, and I don’t mean the ecstatic kind. Lord, please bless Bill.What exactly do we mean by that? Do we want God to make Bill more holy or more disciplined? Are we hoping that his business will prosper or that he’ll be a better husband? And why do we ask for blessing when Ephesians 1:3 says that we are already blessed with every spiritual blessing that God can give? God, please be with Joan. God’s already with Joan. His Spirit lives in her, and he promised to never leave for forsake her. What do we really want God to do for Joan? Father, we pray that you give Jack a special anointing. As if there is such a thing as an ordinary anointing. Special anointing is redundant. And, God, we ask that you give Sue and extra helping of your grace. What is that? Does God dole out grace in measured proportions? That prayer makes God seem as if he has a big serving spoon - that he can be either generous or stingy with the helpings of grace he dispenses.
• God wants us to be strategic and focused about what we’re asking him to do. We need to pray for things - very specific things, gritty things, personal things, important things, kingdom things - with the pinpoint precision that Jesus modeled in the Lord’s Prayer.

What should we be specifically praying for this week? 

Posted by Jessica Page