Putt-Putt or Vrrrmmmm-Vrrrrmmmm?

Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. (Colossians 1:9)

Be honest here - do you ever feel like the 'power' you are operating under is really not 'power', but more like a 'putt-putt' kind of existence? If you are there, don't fret because we all find ourselves there from time to time. The truth of the matter is that we sometimes launch off in our own 'might' or 'power', not fully understanding the 'umph' behind our actions is really not God's, but our own. It takes a bit to understand how God works through us, but when we discover his power moving through us, something 'clicks' and we begin to appreciate the difference between our 'putt-putt' movements and his mighty power! As this happens, we don't ever want to operate under our own pathetic power any longer!

We all need someone to be praying these words on our behalf, don't we? We all need someone to be praying for our minds to be un-muddled and free of 'cluttering confusion'. We all need our spirits in tune with the Spirit of God moving within us. We all need to learn to work 'smarter', not 'harder'. To operate within our own power is to worker harder - to allow the Spirit of God to 'innervate' our actions is to work 'smarter'. We learn to work 'smarter' as we learn to embrace the prompting of the Holy Spirit within us. I have launched off in so many different directions in my life, only to find at the end of it all I am so tired and frustrated by the results of all that work. Why? I was doing everything under my own power.

How do we learn to 'exchange' our putt-putt power for the dynamo of God's power within us? I think it comes as we begin to learn more and more of how God works. How do we learn this? By listening, paying attention, seeing positive examples of other believers, and getting to know what his Word tells us about how he acts, when he acts, and where he acts. We stop 'putting around' when we begin to understand God's actions aren't always quick - some are methodical, gradual, and taken over time. Others are quick because the action is needed now. It takes time to get to know these things about God, but trust me on this one - getting familiar with how and when and where God moves is the beginning of a new level of 'power' within your life. You will never again settle for the 'putt-putt' power of your own doing! Just sayin!

What did obedience cost Mary and Joseph?

As we have looked at the birth of Christ, we have considered the fact he was born of a virgin, with an earthly father so willing to honor God with his life that he married a woman who was already pregnant. In that day and time, a very taboo thing. We also saw how the mother of Christ was chosen by God and given the dramatic news that she would carry the Son of God. Imagine her awe, but also see her tremendous amount of fear as she would have received this announcement, knowing all she knew about the time in which she lived about how a woman out of wedlock showing up pregnant would be treated. We also explored the lowly birth of Jesus in a stable of sorts, surrounded by animals, visited by shepherds, and then honored by magi from afar. The announcement of his birth was by angels - start to finish. Mary heard from an angel (a messenger from God), while Joseph was set at ease by a messenger from God on another occasion - assuring him the thing he was about to do in marrying Mary wa

A brilliant display indeed

Love from the center of who you are ; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply ; practice playing second fiddle. Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. (Romans 12:9-12) Integrity and Intensity don't seem to fit together all that well, but they are uniquely interwoven traits which actually complement each other. "Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it." God asks for us to have some intensity (fervor) in how we love (from the center of who we are), but he also expects us to have integrity in our love as he asks us to be real in our love (don't fake it). They are indeed integral to each other. At first, we may only think of integrity as honesty - some adherence to a moral code within. I believe there is a little more to integrity than meets the eye. In the most literal sense,

Do me a favor

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. (Philippians 2:1-4) Has God's love made ANY difference in your life? What is that difference? Most of us will likely say that our lives were changed for the good, while others will say there was a dramatic change. Some left behind lifestyles marked by all manner of outward sin - like drug addiction, alcoholism, prostitution, or even thievery. There are many that will admit the things they left behind were just a bit subtler - what we can call inward sin - things like jealousy,

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