Be Stiil and Know...

Genesis 26 records a story of Isaac moving away from his home town and finding rest in Beersheba. In his home town, he had been tormented! He was involved in several stupid arguments. There is nothing like little worries, especially when there are many of them. Because of his worries, even after the arguments were over, his home town held bad memories for Isaac. Therefore, Isaac need a change of scenery. So he went far away and set up his new home. That night, God came to him, when there was no inner storm. God could not speak to Isaac when his mind was troubled. God's voice demands silence of the soul. Only in the quiet and stillness of the spirit could Isaac hear the garments of his God brush by him.

"My soul, have you pondered these words: "Be still and know" (Psalm 46:10)? In the hour of distress, you cannot hear the answer to your prayers. How often has the seemed to come much later! The heart heard no reply during the moment of its crying, its thunder, its earthquake, and its fire. But once the crying stopped, once the stillness came, once concern for other lives broke through the tragedy of your own life, the long-awaited reply appeared. You must rest, O soul to receive your heart's desire. Slow the beating of your heart over concerns for your personal care. Place the storm of your individual troubles on God's altar of everyday trials, and the same night, the Lord will appear to you."
-L.B. Cowman

GET REAL!

Question: How do you think the disciples felt when Jesus arose from the dead?

Matthew 28:1-20

Would it surprise you that some of them were flat-out freaked out, to the point of doubting what they were seeing when they looked at Jesus? We never really talk about it much, but we should. It is the second principle of our MUTINY:
Get Real!

The thing we need to get real about is our spiritual condition. The writer Matthew did not white-wash the spiritual conditions of some of the disciples.
No, he just came right out and wrote it in permanent ink: “some doubted.”

But the great part to see here is that in spite of their doubts, they obeyed the commission of Jesus to “Go and make disciples of all nations.” And in spite of their doubts, Jesus used them. Jesus took their little bit of faith and did something big with it. He can do the same with our tiny faith as long as we continue to trust enough to obey Him. Jesus talked once about when we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can move mountains!

But maybe Jesus was not so focused on the size of our faith, but more about God being the object of our faith. We all need to GET REAL about the faith and doubts we all have. They are very different because we all have encountered different situations and problems and temptations. In what scholars call our “post-modern world,” a person does not know if they can be sure about anything. As we continue to walk in our faith, we need to know that it is okay and healthy for us to wrestle through our doubts to our faith, just as the very early disciples did.

I mean think about it. It is really tough not to doubt our faith. Think about some of the major points of Christianity. We believe in a God that we cannot explain, trust in a Savior we’ve never met, and look forward to a heaven that we’ve never seen. It sounds UNBELIVABLE! But that is why it is called Amazing Grace! If it was totally easy to understand, it would be average grace!

So are you wrestling with and doubting your faith? Then I say great! It is okay! But just know this: in the midst of your doubt and wrestling, Jesus can still use you if you continue to trust and obey God in your life.

Whispers of God

If God whispered, what would it sound like? Would you recognize His voice if He was trying to speak to you? I think for most of us, the answer would be NO! This is a shame, because we can hear God’s voice if our lives are in tune with Him. The question then is where are you seeking to find Him? Are you looking in all the wrong channels and places? Let us see what my boy Rob has to say about this!

Follow the link!!! It only takes 10 minutes, but it is pretty powerful!

http://vimeo.com/11397470

You see, God is moving in powerful ways in our lives and the lives of those around us. But most of us are too busy, stubborn, or arrogant to hear it. So instead we choose the big, the loud, lightening, wind, and earthquakes. As a result, we cant hear the whisper.

Think about it. What do we do as soon as we get home and it is really quiet? We crank the radio, the mp3, and the TV. Meanwhile God is whispering. He is moving quietly in and around us, but we cant hear him over the noise of life. We miss God’s subtle movements.

So tell me, how do we go about hearing God’s voice?

Some of you may suggest a daily quiet time with God. And to that I say NO!

A daily quiet time is something we should be doing anyways if we call ourselves faithful and/or Jesus Freaks. However, this time can become mechanical.

But, if by quiet time you mean taking time to read God’s Word, thinking through what God’s Spirit is trying to say, and spending time in silence reflecting on how that applies to your life at that very moment, then my answer is YES!

It is during this kind of time that we can hear the whispers of God.

The first way to begin hearing this whisper though, is to begin in a life long journey with God through Jesus Christ. This is not a call for you to be perfect, Jesus did that for you. This is a call to live a life of progress, reaching to God for your strength and guidance, and changing the world around you because of what God is doing: loving, moving, whispering…