‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” Isaiah 6:1-13

Marie, whose turn it was to facilitate the lesson departed from our normal study for the evening. Six members of our group are leaving on mission trips today --One going to Peru the other five to Haiti. To prepare us spiritually, Marie asked each of us of us to bring a verse or two of Scripture that we could share with the group to help us hear God’s voice more clearly and arm ourselves with the Power of His Word. There were verses to:

Encourage Us

“… be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you where ever you go.” Joshua. 1:8

Protect Us
The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Romans 13:12

Empower and Anoint Us
… because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 1 Thessalonians 1:5
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners… Isaiah 61:1

Strengthen Us

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Isaiah 40:29

Shine for the Lord

God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

Remind us to Love

The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Galatians 5:14

Free Us from Anxiety

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

Marie gave us a card with a message from God reminding us to remember that He will be handling all our problems and concerns. (Philippians 4:6) Liliana chose Isaiah 61: 1-3 and gave each of us a bookmark with that scripture and Jenn gave each of us going out a card with her chosen verses. But whether in a form to carry in our Bibles or written upon our hearts, each woman truly followed Jesus Christ as a model of love and goodness.

Prayer is the most important preparation and support we can give to our mission teams. Marie was well aware of this as she closed our study by leading us in prayer with each of us praying as the Spirit led them. To those following our blog, please pray for our teams and all teams in the field next week. Pray for Genuine love for others, A deeper relationship with God, Spirit controlled lives, Fruit of the Spirit, Wisdom and knowledge, Protection, Receptive hearts, and Health and strength.

A Servant's Heart

In order to help each member grow in their faith, we take turns leading our studies each week. I would love to say that all in the group eagerly leapt at the chance to be the next week’s facilitator. However, even the shyest, most reluctant sisters have led or have committed to lead thus taking this opportunity to push themselves out of their comfort zone and grow in their walk with the Lord. Last night’s sweet sister in Christ, Liliana while approaching her turn with great trepidation, did a great job of leading us through the study: A Servant’s Heart.

This lesson was designed to help us understand what it means to have a true servant’s heart and renew our commitment to serving others. A servant’s heart doesn’t just happen. We need to be willing to set aside our personal agendas and approach service without being driven by ego (the need to impress people) or fear (fear of disappointing people). Through questions and reading of scripture, Liliana guided us to search ourselves and to pray that God will empower us to live with a servant's heart.

At the conclusion of our study Jenn discussed the book The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns CEO of World Vision. In the book Richard tells his story of how he faced his own struggle to obey God whatever the cost, and his passionate call for Christians to change the world by actively living out their faith. The book describes the problems around the world with poverty, aids, and injustice and how most American churches do not support the poor and sick in their own neighborhood, or around the world.

Just as our study did The Hole in Our Gospel challenges all of us to live out 1 John 3:18 as we love, not just with words, “but with actions and in truth.”

Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision, said “Don’t fail to do something just because you can’t do everything.” What can you do?

What can YOU do? Think about it.

God Speaks

How does God speak to you? I think we can all agree He speaks to us through His Word . . .

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1: 1-2

And our thoughts . . . (which I believe is that inner feeling that you get -- that clear message that directs your path).

Through prayer . . .

3 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.' Jeremiah 33: 3

Some receive our messages from God through a dream and for many it is tangible, our daily bread -- —21st century manna

"I have heard the murmurings of the people of Israel; say to them, 'At twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; then you shall know that I am The Lord your God.'" In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning dew lay round about the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as hoarfrost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "It is the bread which The Lord has given you to eat." (Exodus 16:10-15 RSV)

God also speaks to us through life events and circumstances and through people. People who love us and love Jesus, who encourage us, challenge us, shape us.

For some, God speaking is not that still, small voice but an audible voice loud and clear. I used to envy those people to whom God spoke. I desired to "hear" God. I would even ask a friend who heard God to pray for me for those decisions where I needed a clear, divisive answer from God. Since she could hear and I could not (or so I thought) would she get an answer to my prayer, request, or dilemma? Like Mack in the book The Shack I wanted a God to talk to me, walk with me, a Jesus who could hold my hand and the Holy Spirit as my muse.

However, slowly (sometimes God uses a 2x4 – this time he let me wade my way through the mire) I came to realize that I don't have to hear God audibly. God walks and talks with me daily, Jesus does hold my hand, especially in my darkest hours, and the Holy Spirit is indeed my muse. I don’t need to “hear” a voice like Morgan Freeman’s in the movie Bruce Almighty booming from the heavens to hear God. It is enough for God to speak to me through His Word, through prayer, in my quiet time, through people and circumstances He places in my life and, on occasion, on Sunday mornings through a sermon.

Now don’t get me wrong…I love the sermons at our church every Sunday, regardless of which Pastor speaks. But there are times when the words are so directed at your heart, that touch your innermost being that you know that God is directing that discussion to you.

This past Sunday was one of those times. The Big Idea: It’s not about attendance, it’s about attachment. Simple enough – but Pastor Gary’s delivery of that message was to me, brilliant! I got it God – windows rolled down.

17Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17

Developing your SHAPE to Serve Others

The title is the fourth series in the Doing Life Together study. The first lesson in this series, You Are God’s Masterpiece , was beautifully led by Karen. The way you're wired is no accident! God designed your unique mix of gifts, natural abilities, personality, values, and life experiences to play an essential part in his kingdom. The study explored how God has wonderfully made each one of us.

There was a paragraph in the lesson examining the word 'workmanship.' It comes from the Greek word 'poiema' and the word signifies a work of art brought forth by an artisan. Our English word poem and poetry stem from this word.

Just think of it, we are God's poem! An unique work of art produced by the Master Himself! Just as a poem has meter, rhyme, rhythm, beauty and meaning, so our lives are also meant to reflect the beauty of God's love.

The lesson called for an interactive exercise -- give each person a 3x5 card have them write their name in the top left corner then pass the card to the person on the right. Each person was to write one positive comment or phrase about the person whose name was on the card, when finished the cards were passed to the right again and again until your card came back to you. The result being at the end of the evening, each of person had a card filled with positive comments.

Karen took this one step further -- Instead of using 3x5 cards she hand-made a card for each of us, the front said "Celebrate U" embellished with a ribbon, on the inside was a ornate boxed space to write your name. Brilliant!! A loving reminder that we are indeed God's workmanship, fearfully and wonderfully made!

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

Proverbs

Yesterday evening we studied some selected verses from Proverbs. The study gave us a deeper understanding of Proverbs and the relevancy of these verses in our lives today but it also acted as a “springboard” for a deeper understanding of each other. It did so by leading us into “small talk.”

I read in another blog that part of the power of a biblical community comes when we have relationships that include time for “small talk” – you know that superficial conversation that happens when we are just hanging out. Small talk about things that don’t matter opens the door to things that do. While each week some small talk does happen in our group it usually around dinner at the end of the evening, and not everyone is always able to stay until then. We rarely get the opportunity to indulge in spontaneous chit-chat and just hang-out as a complete group, it was nice. So maybe to mix it up a bit, every few weeks or so we have an abbreviated study and devote the remainder of the evening to open those doors just a wee bit wider – what do you think?