Our minimum factor according to the Natural Church Development survey is passionate spirituality. I would love to hear any comments about your reaction to this minimum factor. To me at first it was kind of a slap in the face. Who is this survey to say I am not passionate about my spirituality or that the church I serve is not passionate because I see passion there. But after I prayed about it I began to come to terms with the idea that if we do put some effort into that area of our church life we will see some good results.
Today I thought about my personal growth with prayer. My top spiritual gift is faith. It is a blessing and curse. I completely have blind faith in the Lord. No matter what I am facing I believe God is in control and he will bring about his purpose. This is a blessing because I don't let things of this world hold me down. No matter how many times I hear something is not possible I know that with God all things are possible. It is a curse because not everyone sees the world with this faith. Most people without the gift of faith are more cautious and tend to keep their minds closed to the extravagant possibilities of God. So it can be frustrating to always be trying to share this blind faith. It is not something you just give to someone.
Well, that faith was also the enemy of my prayer time when I was new to the Christian life. I felt prayer was about asking God for things and in my faith I knew God already knew what I needed, so why waste my time asking. It was not until I grew in my understanding of prayer and that it is not about asking God for things, but sharing my life with God. I do share with God the wants and desires of my heart, but I also listen to him as he shares with me. I realized prayer is part of building my relationship with God. It is like any relationship, if you do not communicate with another person your relationship will not grow. Your relationship will just stay where it is. It will not get deeper. Prayer helps us grow up in our relationship with the Lord.
I hope everyone will grow in their faith and find a way to build that relationship with God.
MISSION: Discover the best way for you to have 5-10 minutes a day with the Lord and share it with someone else. Also let me know what draws you closer to God in your daily life. Ideas: reading Christian books, Devotionals (www.ginghamsburg.org/tj, www.upperroom.org/daily), Bible reading, Christian music, etc...
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My attempt to connect each day with God and his people.
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About Me
- Pastor James
- I am married to the beautiful and talented Helen. We have two wonderful children that keep us on our toes. Together we pastor St. Paul's UMC in Williamsburg, Iowa, a congregation that is growing and following God's great adventure.
9 comments:
I have many thoughts on the many things you wrote. First I would like to share another website that I really like. www.oneplace.com and on that site I listen to Reading Through the Bible with Dr. McGee. Dr. McGee is a little old school and I have to laugh as he says that rock music in the church is the devil for we all know that music of any kind is worshipping as long as it's for God. Anyway, Dr. McGee reads through the entire bible and goes into GREAT detail explaining EVERYTHING... I believe it's a 5 year series but it's broken down into 20 minute segments that I enjoy sometimes on my lunch breaks when I dine in.
On another subject... James when you talked about having a conversation with God about our lives something really spoke to me that I wanted to share. I have a friend who is very much a talker, I mean it's hard for even me to get a word in! LOL! Well he complains that God doesn't answer his prayers and finally after listening to him go on and on I had to stop him and say... a productive conversation is 50-50. You talk 50% of the time and you listen 50% of the time. So my suggestion to him was to stop talking God's ear off and listen more! Maybe God was trying to talk to him but he couldn't hear him because he was too busy talking. Now this might surprise some of you but I am actually the opposite when it comes to praying... I sit back and listen way more then I do talking which is also not productive so I really appreciate all this talk about prayer because it's really been a help! But if we could all keep the 50-50 rule in mind I think we would all have much better results in our walk with God.
Lastly I want to just say... I would really really like to read other people's comments on this blog spot! I think the more we can share with each the more we can grow together. So PLEASE don't be shy!!! I want to hear from ALL of you! Thanks so much!
Jamie Muse
I had to share the below story from Jeanie.
Not long ago I was a part of a visioning committee at my church. One of the tools used to determine our church’s health was a nationwide survey service. The survey our members participated in told us that our strong points were Leadership and Worship Services. Our lowest score was in Passionate Spirituality. Our committee spent a long time discussing these results and trying to work out a way to improve on our weakness. One suggestion brought to the group was to perhaps invite others than the pastors to offer up prayers during our time of “Joys and Concerns”. Maybe that would help loosen up the congregation and light a fire in them to be more vocal. Later that week I met a friend whose daughter is battling recurrent cancer. We were at a school function but I really wanted to hear how her daughter was doing with the new treatment options. I asked her to come with me to a corner of the room where we could talk more privately. She relayed that the treatment plan was too early in process to know if it would be the one to knock out the cancer, but her daughter was certainly suffering with the drugs being infused to her body. My friend was very distressed and the pain a mother feels for her child was written on her face. Our church committee discussion flashed before me as I reached out and embraced her. I whispered in her ear, “Holy Father, hear our prayer.” I prayed for strength for the entire family, knowledge for the physicians and an understanding of His ways. As we stood there, clinging to each other, I felt the tension ease in her body. At the final “Amen” she kissed my cheek and thanked me. We wiped our tears and turned our attention to the activities around us. I think my spontaneous prayer took my friend off guard but I also feel that it was welcomed. So often in times of trouble people will say “I’ll pray for you”. Not often will they pray with you. My newest challenge is to do just that. There is no time like the present and if someone needs prayer, they need it right now, not tonight or tomorrow morning. They need to feel that sweet release of letting go to God. So be aware, my friends. The next time you need a prayer, I will ask you to pray with me. Right there; right then. It’s my own quest for Passionate Spirituality and you all get to come along.
WOW! How many of you cried on that last one?!!! Just for the record, if any of you do that to me can you please hand me a tissue first?! I'm very emotional, especially these days! Thanks!!! And thanks Mom for sharing that very touching moment with us all!
Love you all!
Jamie
Don't you mean with you and me, Jamie? Where is everyone?? Hel-lo!!
LOL! Yes it does feel like a conversation we could just have at home... people do at least read these blogs though, right? Hello...people, are you out there and reading?
Keep commenting because people enjoy reading it even if they don't join in
I have been reading these blogs since they started byt don't always have a comment or the time to type!
I find the place where I pray and talk to God is during my morning walk/run. It is just me and him and I can tell him anything that is on my heart for the day. I also sometimes read a devotional while I am warming up. John and I also read a devotional each night before bed. Sometimes it is an actual devotional and sometimes it is a chapter in the Bible.
Thanks James for your blogs - I really enjoy checking them out each week!
Glad to hear from more people. Let's keep the conversations going.
That is the most wonderful thing to hear Jennifer! I love hearing about couples that take time to do that kind of thing!!! Thanks for taking the time to share with us!!!
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