Relationship First!

I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don't tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. But I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen from your first love! Turn back to me again and work as you did at first. If you don't, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. Rev. 2:2-5

All that God has done, He has done with the primary purpose of relationship! He created us for relationship with Him and has redeemed us at great cost to restore that relationship. egn 6/30/2007

I read an article in Christianity Today regarding Pastor John Piper, who is going to take an eight-month leave of absence from public ministry, and I followed the link to his letter regarding the leave. Please take a moment to read his letter at :

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2010/4555_John_Pipers_Upcoming_Leave/

It is so encouraging to find a minister who is willing to step back from a flourishing public ministry to rebuild his relationships with God, his wife, and his children. Too often all of us find ourselves trying to push through when what we really need to do is to step back into the loving arms of our Lord and rediscover our first love and passion.

Love,
Ev

Just a couple of thoughts for today . . .

God is personally involved in even the smallest areas of His creation. He is not an impersonal God stamping out His creation with a mold and an automated press; but He is more like a potter whose hands personally mold and form the clay in intimate, loving contact. With a God who is so intimately and lovingly involved in His creation, we cannot believe He is unaware, unconcerned, nor that He has left us on our own.



It is only when we see God that we can truly see ourselves. When Isaiah saw God, he said, "Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips." Somehow in a revelation of God, we also recognize the truth about ourselves.

Ev

Only a God like You . . .

Only a God like You would want me to keep bugging You for my needs and longings and fears and hurts (persistence); only a God like You would want me to continually be in Your presence, freely and joyfully sharing with You every moment of my life (unceasing); only a God like You would want me to freely and confidently to enter into Your presence (confidence). Prayer is such an awesome privilege, joy and blessing! Teach me to pray!

Flowers along the way

The Lord leads those who seek Him into paths of struggle and rest which lead to a cleansing of the life and to righteousness. What we could not, by self-control and self-will overcome in our live, He leads us to drop from our lives as we follow Him. And what joy to follow, to obey, and to find blessings as flowers all along the way. The funny thing is that these flowers may have once appeared to our 'selfish-self' to be thorns or weeds. They have been unveiled! Struggle and 'discipline' from the Lord's hands are recognized as blessings when the veil of 'self' is removed.

Things to Remember!

Hi! These are just some things that God wants me to remember, and I thought He might just want you to remember some of them as well.

• Pray more than I plan and work. I need to learn to let Him work in and through me rather than me trying to work for Him. Spend more time seeking His will and His ways rather than trying to reason everything out for myself and doing it in my own strength.
• Listen more! Prayer is more than giving God my "wish list" or crying out to Him for my needs. Prayer is two-way communication. I need to spend more time listening for what God wants to say, rather than just talking His head off. Solitude and silence are so important, look for opportunities to find that place where I can hear that still small voice more clearly.
• Time and Focus! I wonder sometimes how God feels as He sees me rushing off to this or that, spending time with this one and that one, while I short-change Him day after day. I need to commit to spending more time drawing apart to meet with Him, to get to know Him through His Word -- where He has chosen to reveal Himself -- to listen to Him, to share my heart with Him. I also need to learn to focus my heart on Him throughout my day. It is so easy to get caught up in the day, but I NEED to remember to keep my focus on Him throughout the day -- to pray without ceasing, carrying on a conversation with Him throughout the day.
• Lordship! Oh, how I need to submit EVERY area of my life to His Lordship -- recognizing that He wants to be Lord over even what I eat and drink, what I buy, what I spend my "free" time doing. EVERYTHING!
• Obey! Simply, just to obey Him!
• Learning to live a God-centered life rather than a self-centered life. Not focusing on "my rights", or "my desires", or "my feelings", but rather learning to look at life from God's perspective. Learning to do things God's way. Learning to love those God loves. Letting go of offenses. Letting go of my agendas. Embracing God's will!
• Praying for my family! Looking to God to meet their needs and to fulfill all His will for their lives. For my unsaved family and loved ones, lifting them up to God and asking Him to initiate a move of His Spirit in their lives.
• Share! I need to be willing to share God's heart with others without fear. God gives each one of us things to share with the body, but sometimes I find it a little scary to share something. God doesn't want me to be shy about sharing His love and His truth.
• Choose faith, hope, and trust! God wants me to learn to put off all the depression and discouragement, and to choose to live by faith, expectant hope, and trust.
• Giving. Tithing teaches me to trust God to provide for my needs, to recognize Him as my Provider. It also teaches me to be thankful for all the blessings that He pours out so lavishly.
• As I see God at work in my life and all around me, I need to remember to magnify Him. Just simply to put a "spotlight" on what He has done and is doing! Sometimes, again, I can be hesitant to share what I see Him doing, but I NEED to learn to magnify Him and praise Him! It encourages me and encourages those who hear it!!
• Rather than trying to "fit in" with those around me, to be acceptable to them, I need to set my heart on shaping myself to the mold of Jesus! Pleasing God should be far and away more important than pleasing those around me.
• Church! I need to remember to pray for my church! I need to be seeking God's will for our church and for the body. I need to be listening for what He has to say regarding our church. And I need to be sharing what I am hearing Him say. I also need to be praying for the greater Body of Christ throughout the world, my brothers and sisters in the Lord. Asking Him for insight and leading and strength for His Body and it faces challenges and opposition. What is the Lord wanting to say to His people. How does He want us to live. I need to be praying that our ears and hearts would be open to His direction.

I am sure that there are so many more things that I need to remember! It just seems that it is so difficult to keep one idea in my head longer than 10 minutes. So, I thought writing them down in this way would help. Hope that one or two will encourage you. Perhaps you could come up with your own list of things that God wants you to remember.

Love,
Ev

The god you serve

Everything in your spiritual life depends on the sort of God you worship. Because the character of the worshipper will always be molded by the character of what he worships. If it is a cruel and revengeful god, the worshipper will be the same, but if it is a loving, tender, forgiving, unselfish God, the worshipper will be transformed slowly, wonderfully, into this likeness. Hannah Whitall Smith

Oh, Lord, that I could more reflect Your likeness! That I could be more as Christ is. And, O what an amazing wonder to know such a God and to serve such a One as You are!! You are so far beyond any god that we could ever imagine or design for ourselves. I love You so much, my Savior, my Lord, my God!!