Pray for others

Since the day we heard these things about you, we have continued praying for you. This is what we pray: that God will make you completely sure of what he wants by giving you all the wisdom and spiritual understanding you need; that this will help you live in a way that brings honor to the Lord and pleases him in every way; that your life will produce good works of every kind and that you will grow in your knowledge of God; that God will strengthen you with his own great power, so that you will be patient and not give up when troubles come. (Colossians 1:9-11)

It is good to hear that someone is praying for us, isn't it? If we are struggling with even the simplest of things, we want that support behind us. We also want someone to be lifting us before the throne of God when it comes to our spiritual growth. We want to know that no matter how much the trials and temptations come against us, we have an advocate lifting us up over and over again, don't we? God listens for those prayers with an intense desire to answer each of them!

How should we be praying for each other? 

• With continual focus - never giving up on lifting that individual up in prayer, even when we don't see change.
• Seeking God for them to have spiritual confidence - in other words, that their faith would become certain, well-grounded, and not easily swayed
• Asking him to give them wisdom and spiritual understanding that is beyond their present understanding, opening the scriptures to them where it has been hard for them to understand them before, and to build upon past learning until one precept is laid upon another
• With a hope that God will create a desire deep within their hearts for more of his grace, power that is beyond their own abilities to overcome even the hardest of life's habits, and that life change would occur that brings about a living life testimony that honors God in every way
• Continually lifting them when we see troubles surrounding them, and even when we don't see those troubles plainly, so they will be covered with a hedge of protection much like a hedge of thorns kept out the wolves from the shepherd's flock at night

We may not realize how much our prayers on behalf of another can help them not only get out of troubles but avoid them entirely. We might find it easy to pray these things for ourselves, but never forget that God wants us to pray them for each other, as well! Just sayin!

    

No two pots alike

In the field of medicine, we often use the phrase, "See one. Do one. Teach one." It describes the process of not only being told "how" to do something, but demonstrating you are going to do it with consistency each time. The other night, I made mom a pot of soup as she had been saying she fancied homemade soup. I had lots of ingredients for the vegetable dense soup, complete with 97% fat free ground beef with which I created a multitude of tiny meatballs to add the mix. She loved it. After it was all gone, she asked if I'd make another pot, but if you know how I make soups, you will quickly know that no two pots turn out exactly the same! I add a little of this, that, and the next thing until I reach the taste I am looking for with whatever ingredients are available at the time. Needless to say, she ate it and enjoyed it very much, but as she said, "It wasn't quite the same." The consistency was not there between the two pots of soup because there was no set recipe I followed and that made the 'experience' of the soup different each time. In our walk with Christ, there is room for unique experiences, but there is great value in developing consistency!

We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.  (I John 1:3)

Fellowship is more than an acquaintance with someone. It is a closeness of relationship that involves companionship - that type of relationship that is comfortable. For many people, fellowship with a holy God is a scary and overwhelming thing. There is a fear of entering into fellowship, finding they are getting too close to God for comfort, because God is good and we are not. Communion, or fellowship, speaks of a degree of intimacy that is not easily "faked". It must be genuine - developing over perhaps years - and is not easily broken. Our communion with God is the same. There are no short-cuts into fellowship with God. If we have fellowship with God, we have fellowship with one another - a condition that will definitely encourage our growth and development. If we have been affected by the blood of Christ, we are on a pathway of being purified from all sin.

That should give us encouragement that we are able to approach a holy God - it should also give us hope that we can develop this type of intimacy with him. God knows that we are "visual" people - we often need to see something to fully understand it. So, in his love for us, he gives us each other - in order that we might learn the principles of fellowship (communion, intimacy). The next time you look at a close friend, or even a budding acquaintance, rest assured that he/she is placed in your life to teach you some of the principles of true fellowship. They are also there to help us learn the 'consistency' of fellowship and communion - a type of "life-line" for our continued growth and development.

There are all kinds of reality shows these days where folks are left on islands, devoid of the trappings of home, and often devoid of other human contact. The 'alone' experience is not all that some think it will be - they absolutely cannot live without that human contact. Some have said that companionship (fellowship) is a basic need for humans - without it, we wither up and are not able to meet our full potential. We are created as social beings. Love is something we both need and are required to give away. It is a two-way street. We crave relationship on one hand, yet fear it on the other. The neat thing about God's plan is that he always brings someone across our path that will help us learn to love. We often find ourselves gravitating toward someone who has learned to love well - thereby learning how to love well in return - becoming more and more consistent in our love. We are looking for models all around us - we are imitators of what we see, hear, and experience.

This is exactly why God sets us up in the local church - to learn to love as he loves. It is a place of "learning". We "learn" to be companionable creatures - often by trial and error. We "learn" to be truthful and we learn to hold onto a truth that has been shared. In time, we "learn" to trust deeply. God has been providing us with the opportunities to develop intimacy in natural relationship so that we understand the aspects of intimacy with him (fellowship). The invitation is to come into fellowship. The opportunity for fellowship is two-fold: first with God, second with those he puts in our path. We learn to be comfortable in companionship from other "path dwellers" as they serve to drive us deeper into companionship with our God. As we learn to love God, we are also learning to love those individuals along our path. Love is reciprocal - it must be experienced and passed on - it must become consistent.

The more we desire to love God, the more we will desire to love those he places in our path. What are your other "path-dwellers" showing you about God's love, grace, and joy? What are they exposing in you that brings you to your knees? What are you exposing in them that brings them to their knees? Remember...love is experienced in stages - each building upon the other - exponentially. Fellowship with God grows in the same way - one revealed truth after another. Come into communion (fellowship) with God and experience what he has for you today. In time, consistency will develop. Just sayin!

Arms, feet, and warm hugs galore

Unless you were living under a rock back in 2001 when the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon were made the targets of terrorist attacks, you know how this attack on U.S. soil brought a nation together unlike anything else we had seen in days preceding the events and/or what we have seen afterward.  Those affected by the terrorist attacks lost countless lives - moms, dads, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles - all in a moment's time, all without warning.  The senselessness of the attacks sent many wondering if the beginning of something as catastrophic as World War III was about to begin.  One of the trends which was observed in the after-math of these attacks was the sudden "up-surge" in church attendance.  Across America, in large cities and small townships, people flocked to churches - people who hadn't been to church in years, or ever at all. The events caused some to examine their personal commitment to values they had been raised with, while others were seeking some sort of "community" with which to grieve and heal.  Then, almost without anyone noticing, the trend "downward" in church attendance began again.  We have to wonder if this simply represents a nation becoming more comfortable again, kind of drifting into a sense of apathy, or is this part of another shift in our values which has come like many other shifts in the past.  Church attendance is not the sole indicator of a person's "value system", but it does represent a sense of community which is like no other.  There is much we cannot receive alone in our exploration of scripture - it was meant to be shared, chewed on together, and then given out so others can also benefit from it.  Maybe this is what we will miss more in our drift away from church attendance more than anything else we might recognize in this trend.

Choose my instruction instead of silver; choose knowledge rather than the finest gold. (Proverbs 8:10 GNT)

In 2015 it is predicted among those who analyze church attendance and statistics related to what individuals report to hold as "beliefs" that one of the most noticeable "trends" we shall see in this generation is the "pulling away" from church attendance. The ever-increasing options to "attend" church online will present a "different" way to "go to church".  What once was reserved for those who were "shut in" may just become the increasing trend among those who want to "do church" on their schedule rather than the traditional schedule of "Sunday church services" at the local church.  I don't think we fully appreciate what missing out on the "gathering together" may do to us as a nation (and as individuals).  We need something called "fellowship" - the companionship of those who are working through life's challenges just like you are and the learning which comes from walking these paths together.

We are encouraged to choose instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than gold.  Why?  There is more benefit in the purposeful application of truth than in any other pursuit we undertake in life.  Where does this purposeful pursuit begin?  Most of the time it begins when someone else begins to unlock the door to truth we might not have unlocked on our own!  Think about the times when you have heard even one or two lines in a sermon and then had those few thoughts begin to spark new insight in your own life.  The thing happening there was this "unlocking" of the door.  The truth was always there - it just wasn't connected with your lock!  Sometimes we need one another to help us "get the key in the lock", so to speak!

When we begin to drift from our commitment to each other in fellowship, we also begin to drift in our commitment to exploration of the truth.  Don't believe me?  Think about it - do you actually get as much from reading the book as you do when you actually get to sit down with the author face-to-face?  I remember the day when I got to spend an entire evening with Corrie Ten Boom.  I was an impressionable teenager, just beginning to find my way in life, forming my own set of values.  Her books were great.  Her stories of surviving the horrific times of Hitler's attack on Jews were riveting.  But...when I got to meet her, touch her hands, see the love deeply ingrained into the lines of her face, and hear the kindness of her words which spoke of God's love and protection, something "clicked" inside me about "who" she loved and "who" loved her.

We don't have times when we get to sit "face-to-face" with God the Father. Sure, we enjoy his presence with us and even get to talk straight with him about matters of our heart.  Yet, he isn't like the guy next to us, with flesh and blood, arms and feet, and the like.  Maybe this is why he gave us each other - so we could relate to him in the small ways each of us reflect him.  When we are with each other, we are really with little bits and pieces of God!  We are seeing, hearing, and feeling him through others.  We cannot neglect the instruction to gather together - it isn't optional!  We need the connection - just sayin!

A culture of love

We encounter Jesus in all different ways, but the "easiest" way to encounter him is through the life of another.  Whenever we see and feel Jesus "lived out" through the life of a human being, we connect to him in a manner which we can really wrap our heads around.  One of the hopes Jesus had when he left his disciples on this earth to go back to living with his Father in heaven was the idea of close, intimate fellowship with other believers.  He knew the power of this closeness - the strength in the "numbers", so to speak.  For this fellowship to be really, really good, we need to remember it involves a couple of things like unity, partnership, and participation.  Try to get anything done where there is a lack of unity, a working in silos, or a simple lack of disregard for another and you don't get very far.  In the most literal sense, Jesus showed his disciples the cycle of believing and belonging.  There is something which stems from our beliefs - it is the ability and willingness to belong. 

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. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do.  (Romans 12:9-18 MSG)

In order for us to get the most out of our times of fellowship with each other, it is essential to create a culture where love is free to grow and have its deepest influence in our lives.  This is the type of culture Jesus tried to create for those who moved into fellowship with him.  It was a culture where people, good and bad alike, were welcomed and felt both comfort and challenge. What are some of the characteristics of this culture of love Jesus created?

- It is a place where people are really loved.  There are a lot of excuses for "love" these days, but when you find a place where love is genuine, from the core of another's being, you know you are loved.  Jesus had a way of making people aware of his love, not by the words he spoke, but by the actions he exhibited.  As it has been said millions of times - words speak, but actions speak louder.

- It is a place where what is truly wrong is really not something we will embrace.  I don't use the "hate" word very often, but in truth, a culture of love hates evil.  There is not desire to embrace even one iota of evil - wrong.  It is not a place of intolerance, but of desire to live untainted by that which takes away from the beauty and wholeness of God's unconditional love.

- It is also a place where we both embrace good and stand up for it.  We all have the ability to embrace good - having the ability and willingness to stand up for it is quite a different matter.  To embrace something requires empty arms - maybe this is the way we really begin to mesh in fellowship with another.  We empty ourselves of all which weighs us down, in order to embrace that which sets us free.  Then we go about sharing what has become the basis of our joy.

- It is a culture of honor.  If you have ever observed a military graduation, with the parading troops, turned out in their adorned uniforms, all spit-shine and glowing, you have seen an element of "honor".  For those who choose the way of military life, there is honor in wearing the uniform of the country they so proudly stand up for.  Honor is both standing up for another and standing in for another.  It is the willingness to lay down your own agenda in respect for the needs of another.

- It is a place were laziness is not a trend, but a rarity.  A culture of love is an active culture - there is continual service toward each other.  There is no shortage of the giving of oneself to meet the needs of another - spoken and unspoken.

- It is a place where blessing, not cursing, becomes the way of communicating.  Most will agree, more is shared in the unspoken communication of love than in the spoken.  Blessing another with your time, talent, and treasure are all ways of where love becomes a means of communicating the grace of God in another's life.

- It is also a place where your life experiences matter.  If you have ever shared your tears with another, you know how much that exchange mattered. There is something powerful in sharing both the joys and sorrows of another. Today, I received news the father of a friend we have been praying for received the news of no active disease (NAD) on his most recent PET scan. The cancer is gone!  This life experience has been something very tough for this family, but when life experiences have been walked together, the journey is made a little lighter.

- It is a culture where diversity is appreciated, not condemned.  We all contribute uniquely in community.  Fellowship with others is a way of learning from the diversity, not setting the diverse apart.  There is so much to be learned when brothers and sisters learn to dwell together in unity, isn't there?

So, how do we get to this place of fellowship?  First, you and I need to individually experience the love of God in our own lives.  It is this love which draws us together and holds us in bonds which are not easily broken.  One thing we learn from God's example of love through is Son is the idea of being loved as we are, not as we could or should be.  Jesus never looked for us to clean up our act so he could love us.  He loved us first, knowing that very love would be what would lead to our desire to be cleaned inside and out.  I think this is why it is so important we experience God's love ourselves - we need to get our priorities straight.  His love is "reaching" - it reaches even the worst of sinners right where they are - not where they should be!

Second, we have to practice God's love.  Nothing good comes naturally in life, have you ever noticed that?  The really good stuff you have to work a little harder to obtain.  You want a nice waistline, you work at it.  You want a better career, you work at it.  In God's family, the same is true.  You want a family where love is modeled and unloving behavior is not the "norm" - you have to work at it.  Practice makes perfect is the old adage - so want to begin to love perfectly?  Then you have to practice love a lot!

Last, but not least, we have to allow God to love others through us.  This may seem like it should go without saying, but in actuality, we sometimes don't want to share ourselves with another.  There is something which transpires within us when we are willing to share in the lives of others - community. God is always more evident in the love which is shared than in the love which is spoken.  Just sayin!

Come into fellowship

We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.

(I John 1:3)

We have been considering the various invitations in scripture this week.  Today, we examine the invitation into fellowship with a holy and righteous God.  Fellowship is more than an acquaintance with someone.  It is a closeness of relationship that involves companionship - that type of relationship that is comfortable.  For many people, fellowship with a holy God is a scary and overwhelming thing.  There is a fear of entering into fellowship, getting too close to God, because God is good and we are not.

Communion, or fellowship, speaks of a degree of intimacy that is not easily "faked".  It must be genuine - developing over perhaps years - and is not easily broken.  Our communion with God is the same.  There are no short-cuts into fellowship with God.  Later in this same chapter, our writer explains that if we have fellowship with God, we have fellowship with one another - a condition that encourages our growth and development.  He further explains that if we have been affected by the blood of Christ, we are on a pathway of being purified from all sin.

That should give us encouragement that we are able to approach a holy God - it should also give us hope that we can develop this type of intimacy with him.  God knows that we are "visual" people - we often need to see something to fully understand it.  So, in his love for us, he gives us each other - in order that we might learn the principles of fellowship (communion, intimacy).  The next time you look at a close friend, or even a budding acquaintance, rest assured that he/she is placed in your life to teach you some of the principles of true fellowship.

Some have said that companionship (fellowship) is a basic need for humans - without it, we wither up and are not able to meet our full potential.  We are created as social beings.  Love is something we both need and are required to give away.  It is a two-way street.  We crave relationship on one hand, yet fear it on the other.  The neat thing about God's plan is that he always brings someone across our path that will help us learn to love.  We often find ourselves gravitating toward someone who has learned to love well - thereby learning how to love in return.  We are looking for models all around us - we are imitators of what we see, hear, and experience.

This is exactly why God sets us up in the local church - to learn to love as he loves.  It is a place of "learning".  We "learn" to be companionable creatures - often by trial and error.  We "learn" to be truthful and we learn to hold onto a truth that has been shared.  In time, we "learn" to trust deeply.  God has been providing us with the opportunities to develop intimacy in natural relationship so that we understand the aspects of intimacy with him (fellowship).  

The invitation today is to come into fellowship.  The opportunity for fellowship is two-fold: first with God, second with those he puts in our path.  We learn to be comfortable in companionship from our "path dwellers" in order to drive us deeper into companionship with our God.  As we learn to love God, we are also learning to love those individuals along our path.  Love is reciprocal - it must be experienced and passed on.  

The more we desire to love God, the more we will desire to love those he places in our path.  What are your "path-dwellers" showing you about God's love, grace, joy?  What are they exposing in you that brings you to your knees?  What are you exposing in them that brings them to their knees?  Remember...love is experienced in stages - each building upon the other - exponentially.  Fellowship with God grows in the same way - one revealed truth after another.  Come into communion (fellowship) with God and experience what he has for you today.