intercession

In my previous article, I sought to establish that Jesus’ Second Coming is, indeed, very relevant to our generation now. I did not, however, provide much application... what does it actually mean for us, here and now, for it to be relevant? In other words... what are we to do, knowing that we are in the beginning of the transition period that will end when Jesus establishes His throne on earth? This is a huge question! One could write a book on this subject and not encapsulate everything. With that in mind, we will be looking at the passage we are already familiar with, which is Matthew 24-25, as Jesus lays out some important principles therein as to what we should expect and how we ought to live our lives in response.

"I have been writing this volume while residing in Germany for a teaching trip. I am humbled by penning these 95 theses in the same country as Martin Luther did many years ago. I submit these to the evangelical church of our day and pray that God would allow anything of truth in these pages to bend and change men's hearts back to God." - Greg Gordon - http://www.sermonindex.net **

“It is useless for large companies of believers to spend long hours begging God to send revival. Unless we intend to reform we may as well not pray. Unless praying men have the insight and faith to amend their whole way of life to conform to the New Testament pattern there can be no true revival.” - A.W. Tozer

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Ahh, I have to watch my heart, friends! In some ways, I feel trapped. I have all these conflicting desires within my heart, and the main bulk of them don't feel relevant to where I am, now. The funny thing is, I want to be a missionary, but more and more I am realising that what I am doing does not seem like missions work... this article I recently posted explains what I have been learning regarding missions. That is not to say what I am doing is not important...

Well... I was writing an email, and this really got stirred up in my heart. Probably partly to do with finishing Tozer's book, too. Anyways... I was sitting in bed and considering the books I've read in the last five years, or so, and two in particular jumped out at me that actually both encourage and sadden me.

So, I've been reading A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit Of God and something really jumped out at me as I was reading, tonight. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="83" caption="The Pursuit Of God"][/caption]

"A Generation of Christians reared among pushbuttons and automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals. We have been trying to apply machine-age methods to our relationship with God. We read our chapter, have our short devotions, and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar." (p. 45)

How true is this? In my own life, I have tried to follow devotional guides, I have tried to read one chapter of my Bible every day. I, on an average day, listen to at least one sermon, sometimes three or four.

Sorry I can't embed this video, it won't fit on this page very well and resizing is a bit shifty. Please check out this video, though... some great words from John Piper. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O68MByaMVdM

Man, I don't even know where to start. The last few days have been interesting. We've gone full-on into the design of another website (this not for us specifically). There are many pros and cons when designing websites, and you kind of have to decide what is and isn't more important, and then make a decision. Then, Dean Sherman has been here teaching about Spiritual Warfare. Which is brilliant, really.

Alright, so while on camping, I had some opportunity to consider where I'm at in life... taking into account my status as a missionary, what I'm doing at Reef To Outback, my heart for prayer, worship & intercession, and my goals and desires in life. I also had a lot of time to play guitar, and am working on two new songs at the moment, which is great. One I co-wrote with Cheri from Youth Street, and the other started out as an anthem I had stuck in my head randomly one night. Throughout the week, I really felt God behind the billows as my desires as far as music ministry were fanned.

Alright, so I was walking down to The Strand (beachfront) this afternoon, and I was just talking to God as made my way down the sidewalk on Ingham Road. Ever since going through and reading the story of Rebekah in Genesis 24 [download id="6"], and seeing how willing and excited both the servant that Abraham sent and how excited Rebekah was, I have been considering this: what does it mean to be servant-hearted?

Well the last little while God has really begun to put it on my heart to start playing a lot more worship, again. I used to play in worship bands quite a bit, singing, playing guitar, playing bass... I still do here on base sometimes, but not much. Today I brought my guitar to our prayer time and we sang worship  and prayed simultaneously... which is not unusual for us... but it was good I just feel like I don't know that many songs. I know a few off by heart pretty easy, but I want to learn way more.