What difference does it make to be a Christian? What does our relationship with God mean in the ongoing machinations of life?
For some there might be some expectation that becoming a child of the Living God might mean that He, in His Sovereign power, will construct a wall around all His children, protecting them from anything bad ... after all, He wants to bless us right?
No doubt, the first few weeks of life as a Christian demonstrated that this is not the case, but rather than allow your experience to cause you to doubt His presence use it to drive you further into experiencing His presence in all that you go through.
In Hebrews 4:16 we read "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in times of need" (ESV)
It has been a long time since I have written anything in this blog, and I suppose what has been happening since I last wrote is indication sometimes blogging is not a priority. There are times when ministry (and indeed life in general) goes through a season of such extreme busyness/pressure which sometimes seem all encompassing! However, the point of this blog is not to explain what happened to me, but to try and encourage others who are living in incredibly busy/pressurised times. We all have seasons of life where the demands that come from various quarters seem to cause us to be running at a pace where we wonder how on earth we will get through, and what will be left of us if we do! The summer was a season just like that for me.
At a recent meeting with Leaders I went around the room and asking the question "Do people have too much to do?" It was interesting observing people pondering the difference between 'doing too much' and 'having too much to do' - I leave that leave that for you to ponder!
As I pondered this question myself I find myself asking "What affect does my busyness have on my devotional life?" For me, this is a good indicator of whether I am doing too much, or if I have too much to do. When I was first asked to take on my current role, back in 2006, one of the challenges I felt from the Lord was to consider if my devotional life would sustain the ministry that I was being asked to fulfil. In other words, would my walk with the Lord and the time I devoted to that, be sufficient for all the demands that He knew were coming my way? At that point I had to take a step back and reflect afresh on how I walked with the Lord ... was my ministry an expression of my relationship with God? Was I responding from a place of deep peace, rest, trust and confidence that comes from a close walk with God? Or was I driven by the pressure of deadlines and expectations, whilst running in my own strength?
This summer the demands of ministry increased and I found that when the response and challenge came I had to reflect afresh on my devotional life - for this season it was not sufficient to the demands of ministry and so after taking a step back, rearranging my day, incorporating greater amounts of time for prayer, reflection, reading of scripture and changing the rhythm of the day to adopt new patterns, finding Christ in new ways, allowing Him to express Himself in different ways - in essence, drawing near to His throne of grace and finding that as He promised, He's always there to encourage, to lead, to guide and to give strength for all He has called us into.
So, perhaps if you're feeling pressured it's time to reorder, to ring the changes, to find different ways of walking with God in the different seasons of life.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
For some there might be some expectation that becoming a child of the Living God might mean that He, in His Sovereign power, will construct a wall around all His children, protecting them from anything bad ... after all, He wants to bless us right?
No doubt, the first few weeks of life as a Christian demonstrated that this is not the case, but rather than allow your experience to cause you to doubt His presence use it to drive you further into experiencing His presence in all that you go through.
In Hebrews 4:16 we read "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in times of need" (ESV)
It has been a long time since I have written anything in this blog, and I suppose what has been happening since I last wrote is indication sometimes blogging is not a priority. There are times when ministry (and indeed life in general) goes through a season of such extreme busyness/pressure which sometimes seem all encompassing! However, the point of this blog is not to explain what happened to me, but to try and encourage others who are living in incredibly busy/pressurised times. We all have seasons of life where the demands that come from various quarters seem to cause us to be running at a pace where we wonder how on earth we will get through, and what will be left of us if we do! The summer was a season just like that for me.
At a recent meeting with Leaders I went around the room and asking the question "Do people have too much to do?" It was interesting observing people pondering the difference between 'doing too much' and 'having too much to do' - I leave that leave that for you to ponder!
As I pondered this question myself I find myself asking "What affect does my busyness have on my devotional life?" For me, this is a good indicator of whether I am doing too much, or if I have too much to do. When I was first asked to take on my current role, back in 2006, one of the challenges I felt from the Lord was to consider if my devotional life would sustain the ministry that I was being asked to fulfil. In other words, would my walk with the Lord and the time I devoted to that, be sufficient for all the demands that He knew were coming my way? At that point I had to take a step back and reflect afresh on how I walked with the Lord ... was my ministry an expression of my relationship with God? Was I responding from a place of deep peace, rest, trust and confidence that comes from a close walk with God? Or was I driven by the pressure of deadlines and expectations, whilst running in my own strength?
This summer the demands of ministry increased and I found that when the response and challenge came I had to reflect afresh on my devotional life - for this season it was not sufficient to the demands of ministry and so after taking a step back, rearranging my day, incorporating greater amounts of time for prayer, reflection, reading of scripture and changing the rhythm of the day to adopt new patterns, finding Christ in new ways, allowing Him to express Himself in different ways - in essence, drawing near to His throne of grace and finding that as He promised, He's always there to encourage, to lead, to guide and to give strength for all He has called us into.
So, perhaps if you're feeling pressured it's time to reorder, to ring the changes, to find different ways of walking with God in the different seasons of life.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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