Highs and Lows (Thirty Days To Greater Fruitfulness, Day 14)
This blog has been temporarily overtaken by my Thirty Days To Greater Fruitfulness Challenge. You can find out more by checking out the Introduction.
Here I am again today listening to Jesus and doing what He says. It’s so very obvious to me that this is both a great exercise and very difficult all at the same time. I have to restrain myself from trying to make things happen by my own power and yet still walk through very high highs and very low lows.
Lets start with the highs. Today it became pretty clear that Jesus is using me to pour into the lives of a few friends. This is just beginning to happen because I’ve been able to listen and obey. I’m finding doors open that weren’t open before. We even had friends randomly stop over with a gift (truly from the Lord) that totally blew our minds.
On the flip side we caught news that some very dear friends are going through a very difficult season. The hardest part about the news (for me, at least) is my total inability to change the situation. Jesus gave me a couple of key pieces of wisdom in my conversation with my friend and my hope is they helped. But now all I can do is trust Him and follow.
So what do you do when you’re following a God who remains present through all of life’s highs and lows, yet transcends them? He weeps over Lazarus but He still waits four days to show up. He’s thrilled over His disciples’ ministry success but still has warnings to give. He’s totally engaged in what is happening yet He sees another level that never lets you quite be comfortable with where you’re at. Through the highs and the lows, He is the constant. Him, and Him alone. I guess in the end that makes Him the only safe place to take refuge.
Has listening and obeying changed how you experience the highs and lows of life? Tell us how in the comment section.
Join us on the “Thirty Days to Greater Fruitfulness” experiment. For the rest of September we are spending 30 minutes in silent prayer listening to Jesus and then acting on what He asks us to do. Then we blog about the changes that are occurring in our lives through the marriage of listening and obedience. It’s not too late. If you’re just checking out that experiment feel free to jump in. And if you want more information, you can check it out here.
Photo Credit: September WallPaper Calendar by DewDreams
Inspired by The Jesus Manifesto, Napoleon on Jesus
Who is Jesus to you? The answer to that question has defined men and changed the course of human history. It’s a serious deal.
Currently I’m listening to Jesus Manifesto, which is written by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola. As I’ve been listening, I’ve been finding myself having a desire to more and more get back to the simplicity of the magnificence of Christ. I want to know who He is to me. And it reminded me of this quote that I read (and love), so I thought I would share. The quote is Napoleon, the nation-conquering French Emporer, talking about Jesus, and who He is to him.
(Quoted from “The Book of Jesus, Edited by Calvin Miller)
“I know men; and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of Empires, and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and whatever other religions the distance of infinity…
Everything in Christ astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and his will confounds me. Between him and whoever else in the world there is no possible term of comparison. He is truly a being by Himself. His ideas and his sentiments, the truth which he announces, his manner of convincing, are not explained either by human organisation or by the nature of things.
The nearer I approach, the more carefully I examine, everything is above me; everything remains grand,—of a grandeur which overpowers. His religion is a revelation from an intelligence which certainly is not that of man. There is there a profound orginality which has created a series of works and of maxims before unknown. Jesus borrowed nothing from our science. Once can absolutely find nowhere, but in him alone, the imitation or the example of his life.
…I search in vain in history to find the similar to Jesus Christ, or anything that can approach the Gospel. Neither history, nor humanity, nor the ages, nor nature, offer me anything with which I am able to compare it or to explain it. Here everything is extraordinary. The more I consider the gospel, the more I am assured that there is nothing there which is not beyond the march of events, and above the human mind.”
Photo Credit: National Art Gallery- Napolean Bonaparte by David Paul Ohmer
Focus (Thirty Days To Greater Fruitfulness, Day 13)
This blog has been temporarily overtaken by my Thirty Days To Greater Fruitfulness Challenge. You can find out more by checking out the Introduction.
Today was another one of those days where there was work going on below the surface. It’s not so much that nothing was going on as much as most of the work was hidden and unseen.
What I can gladly report though is that in my time of waiting to hear what the Lord had to say, Jesus dramatically clarified my week. Instead of the numerous things I would have tried to do this week, I have only a few specific tasks. This is important because I make up a lot of extra work for myself. Having Jesus clarify what is my job over the next week is remarkably freeing. I don’t have to worry about all the things that typically concern me, I just have to be faithful with what I’ve heard.
So for this week, I have to probe into one of the situations that I keep bringing up (which I still have very little clarity on). I also have to prepare for our block party coming up in a few weeks. And then I get to dream with Jesus about what our house church(es?) will look like in the near future. Simple, huh? And there-in lies the beauty of God giving us the things that are His agenda.
How about you? Have you seen the Lord bring focus to your life on this 30 Day challenge? Has that made things easier or more difficult? Leave a comment and let us know.
Join us on the “Thirty Days to Greater Fruitfulness” experiment. For the rest of September we are spending 30 minutes in silent prayer listening to Jesus and then acting on what He asks us to do. Then we blog about the changes that are occurring in our lives through the marriage of listening and obedience. It’s not too late. If you’re just checking out that experiment feel free to jump in. And if you want more information, you can check it out here.
Photo Credit: September WallPaper Calendar by DewDreams
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 