Power with Purpose!

There are times when God moves on people in a powerful and tangible way. Then there are those times when He, to quote a member of the group, "wraps His arms around you, kisses you on the head and says, I love you and it's going to be okay." This was one of those evenings. God's gentle hand and loving Spirit were felt by everyone in the room during yet another powerful prayer session.

Every member of the groups has concerns for one thing or another in their lives. From employment issues, to relationships, to sin, we are all struggling with something. There are times when that struggle can become almost unbearable and I have heard just about everyone say, "If it wasn't for the group..."

Mind you, I am not puffing up our small group or its members. What we are exalting here is the healing power of Jesus. You see, this session dealt with "How to Experience Authentic Community." Romans 12:9-13 tells us that our love for one another needs to be without hypocrisy. That we should be devoted to one another and be diligent in love and friendship to each other. Trust and openness are key factors in participating in an authentic community.

I understand that not everyone in the group is willing to share their most intimate concerns with the entire group however, on occasion this has occurred, and God has blessed us greatly with mercy and grace that abounds much more than judgment and condemnation. What is happening is that; when a member of the group needs to talk with someone or be accountable to someone about the problems and concerns in their life, they are comfortable knowing that they have at least one person in the group that is willing to listen and hold them accountable without unrighteous judgment or criticism. This enables a cycle of trust, mercy, and growth that is exactly what Jesus intended for His people. Lone Ranger Christianity just isn't part of the plan. We belong to each other and we must supply each other with support, love, encouragement, accountability, prayer, and friendship. Yes, there comes a time when we must leave our masks at home.

The love Jesus commanded us to give is meant to be both unconditional, and sacrificial. This means that developing friendships and authentic Christian relationships takes effort. As Chip Ingram says, "The greatest apologetic in the world is Christians loving Christians."

I would say that a close second would be, "Christians trusting Christians." This is something you just don't see in today's American church and the reasons for it are as varied as the colors of the spectrum. However, if we are to be what Jesus intended, then trust is something that must be cultivated at all levels of the Christian community. It starts with examining your motives and your goals. If each of us concentrated on becoming trustworthy and not concern ourselves with someone else's trustworthiness, trust would cease to be an issue and the church would achieve the last day explosion it longs for. Without trust and authenticity the command in John 13 and the prayer of John 17 would never become reality.

Stay tuned for Session 8, part II of this portion of becoming a Romans 12 Christian. As always, thanks to Chip for the resources and thanks too all the group member for your love, steadfastness, and willingness to commit becoming a Christian that truly possesses Power with Purpose.

Session 6 was super-focused! After taking care of some necessary group business, we got down to where the rubber meets the road concerning being sober in our self-assessment (Romans 12:3-8).

Thinking soberly simply means to think accurately about yourself. We must not think too highly (prideful), or too low (inferior) about ourselves. In fact, genuine humility is not thinking of yourself at all (Read “Humility: The Beauty of Holiness”, by Andrew Murray)!

What do we need to think about in our self-assessment? First, we must know where we belong (v. 4-5). We belong to the Body of Christ and we have a role to fulfill in the Body. Next, we need to know what we are gifted to do (v. 6-8). Discussing our spiritual gifts and calling is too large and subjective for discussion here, but we will be tackling that in the future because it is an integral part of being an authentic follower of Jesus.

Finally, never forget who you really are. You are eternally valuable (Ps. 139:3-14), unconditionally accepted (Eph. 3:19-21), and uniquely significant (Eph. 2:10)!

One of the most surprising nuggets of the evening was toward the end of the lesson when we all started going around the room listing something we thought we were good at, and something we thought we were not so good at. “Good at” things included giving, hospitality, counseling, fixing things, and loving people, though there were many more. “Not so good at” things were lack of patience, low self-image, quick to judge, and being lazy. Again there were more, but we'll keep it short for now. I'm even sure you could name a couple yourself!

What was so striking was this: When you take the “good at” and line them up in a column next to the “not good at”, one thing immediately jumped off the page: Virtually all the “good at” was directed outward and upward, while the “not good at” was directed inward! The revelation that came was that negative attitudes always seem to lead a person to being self-centered and sinful. Whereas, the positive, “good at” traits presented an other-centered focus. What a concept! Could it really be that simple? Can you stay free from sin and negativity by setting your mind on Christ and others? I dare anyone to try it. It has worked nearly every time I have, and I have to be honest: I'm just now really getting my mind wrapped around the concept!

Again, I cannot say enough about prayer time. When you let go and let God move through everyone; without hogging all the speaking time for yourself, God takes advantage and works mightily! What was fantastic was this: everyone was praying for one another, and it was decent, and it was in order! It wasn't confusing or self-driven. God was in the house so much so that a haze descending in the room! We new it was His glory because when you looked into the adjacent room, it was clear as a bell.

After we finished, we watched the Shekhinah (שכינה ) slowly lift. I am so thankful for the privilege of worshiping with such believers!

We thought we were going to get out early for a change. I was wrong, but the strength we received from that night carried over throughout the following day of worship and work. God truly supplies power for His purpose!

We have limits. God has no limits. Many times we limit our potential because we will not allow God to work in His limitless way. We do not trust Him. We do not believe He will do what His word says He will do.

So we allow our pride and unbelief to rule us instead of yielding to the One who reserves all power and glory to Himself. We try to become satisfied with our lives based on our limited ability to control them. We waste too much time rationalizing our unbelief.

There will always be a nagging in our consciousness - pushing us to release to God. As long as we refuse we will never reach the heights God intended for us - we will always suffer discontentment.

Until we learn to "let go and let God," we will be miserable. Our pride, jealousy, and selfishness will harden our hearts until at last even sin again becomes justified in our lives.

This is the Christian's road to hell - unless we learn to let go of ourselves.

"...but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." God is there to catch you.

What can I say about Saturday night's meeting? As I tried to explain to a good brother this morning, finding words has proven difficult.

Just when you think, "Wow! How can it get better?" God pushes you just a little more. The fellowship was wonderful as always. We began our lesson which was based in Romans 12:3-8, thinking soberly about yourself and ended by reaffirming each other with words of encouragement and brotherly love.

We must; in every stage of our Christian development, make a sober self-assessment of our walk with Christ and with fellow believers. Too many new to the Christian ways stumble head-long into ministries and helps for which they are thoroughly unprepared, and too many seasoned Christians are happy to sit back on their laurels and claim to the world, "I have arrived," or "I've done enough."

A sober self-assessment will let you know that; no matter where you are in God, you always need Him, and you always need your brothers and sisters. We are all part of one body, fitly joined together. As another good brother put it last night, "If you are the hand, know that it's okay to be the hand. If you are a foot, it's okay to be a foot!" Know who you are in the Lord and find good, trustworthy fellows that will help you discover this.

The unspeakable portion of the meeting came at the end - prayer time. I cannot begin to describe the atmosphere in the house. There were so many needs and requests spoken and God moved on all of them. I can only speak for myself when I say that God has done, is doing, and will continue to do wonderful works in my life. The only thing better than that was to watch Him move on my brothers and sisters in such a dynamic, powerful way. Hearts were torn and hearts were mended. God was truly in the business of tearing down and building up last night. It was a personal privilege to witness the Lord putting power and purpose together in His people. I just can't thank Him enough!

My apologies for the delay in getting this out.
I must say that the balance of our group meetings is definitely swinging toward the spiritual side of things lately. The lesson itself was terrific as we completed our study of Romans 12:2, and being separate from the world system.

I am most exciting about the time a prayer we had afterward! When I looked up and saw everyone praying for each other, it just blew me away. There was power in those prayers that could not be ignored!

Our focus was primarily on the growing number of teenagers that have been coming to the meetings. Our young brothers and sisters are getting so hungry for something that the world and its system obviously cannot provide. They are seeing for themselves how the world is failing to deliver on its promises of health, wealth, and prosperity. In fact, I am pleased to say that their focus is shifting more towards God no matter what their circumstances in those areas seem to be.

We all came to understand that the transformation that Paul writes about is a process: we are not instantly converted into mature Christians! Transformation comes from renewing the mind. The mind, by the way, is a battlefield, and renewing it is a supernatural work of the Spirit. This is one of the practical reasons why the Holy Ghost must dwell in you in a real and substantial way. How do you know if you have it? Read the book of Acts: this is how the New Testament church started and, despite all the many changes man has introduced since the third century, God's word has not. But writing to you about abolishing denominational garbage will have to wait for another time!

The simple fact is this: if you want to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you have to get the Word in your mind! You have to hear it, read it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it. Let it push the old, worldly garbage out and let His love, His word, and His power reside in you today.

That's Power with Purpose!