Genesis 12:1-9

This scripture is about God’s call to Abram, for him to step out in faith. This covenant wasn’t about the worthiness of Abram, nor was there any evidence that the things he told Abram would come true. God’s covenant with Abram consisted of three things: First, the gift of land. God promised he would give Abram a Promised Land; Secondly, Abram would become the father of a great nation, and third, all of the nations of the earth would be blessed. These are pretty big promises. However, covenants are about the faithfulness of the one making the promise, and in this case, the Lord fulfilled every promise to Abram. Through different experiences in my own life, when I have stepped out in obedience to God’s call, God has also fulfilled his promises to me. Often though, things did not look the same as I envisioned them, just as I can imagine Abram was thinking that he and his wife would have many children to carry on his name. But, nonetheless, God was glorified regardless of the circumstances. It is no wonder that faith is my strongest spiritual gifting. When you’ve experienced the fulfillment of God’s promises in your own life as I have, it becomes easier and easier to take another step, faithfully trusting that God will keep his promises.

And as I step one foot in front of the other, God is always with me. Praise be to God that these days, I’ve chosen to step out in faith, knowing that he’ll be walking beside me, instead of him dragging me, its a bit less painful now, or, maybe its just easier? Either way, God is good !

Embracing Dark Nights of the Soul by Sally Morgenthaler

In his book, Dark Nights of the Soul, Thomas Moore speaks of both the mystery and necessity of the soul’s darkness. I don’t know about you, but my usual response to the dark is to switch on the biggest spotlight I can find. Yet, Moore reminds us that a life worth living (defined here as one that is changing ever more into the likeness of Christ) is full of barely-lit places. True transformation is nothing less than a deep alchemy, taking place in dim and murky places.

Read only a few of the Psalms, and you see this theme played out: Disorientation and doubt are gestational to faith. We may think that the certainty displayed in “leading the throng to God’s house” is the quintessential picture of conviction. But consider the trust displayed by the downcast and disturbed soul. Enveloped in a seemingly infinite expanse of questions, the uncertain pilgrim stretches forward to know and to see beyond herself. Beyond knowing. Beyond sight. Beyond the tangible. Just as darkness is the womb of being, so it is the beginning of faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

There is a tendency to view spiritual “eclipses” as depression—a kind of moodiness about God that rises and falls with whatever is happening (or not happening). But Moore speaks about something deeper that occurs when we question God and God’s activity (or seeming lack thereof). It’s as if we become aliens to ourselves. We don’t just feel sad or upset about life; we feel completely dislocated inside the familiar. We go through the motions of job, ministry, family activities, and relationships. Almost “out of body,” we observe ourselves doing life as we’ve always done it. Yet now, there is another self in the mix; another persona so far removed from who we have been, we shudder at the disconnect. We wonder what others would think of us if we said what we were really thinking.

You may be in a period of deep questioning right now. A new year is beginning. Perhaps your children are going to be starting school soon. The summer wasn’t near what it could have been, that dream of family closeness never achieved. Perhaps you will be changing jobs or ministry positions. Yet, what should be a time of adventure—of new possibilities—feels oddly leaden and life-less. Maybe you’re in the same old place—in your job, your marriage, as a single parent, or as a single human. The routine has become deafening and stifling, just as God is becoming more distant and unreachable.

If this is your place right now, I grieve with you over the loss of joy or clarity; the inability to make sense of life, or simply the inability to find yourself in the old, familiar places. While we grieve together, I encourage you to embrace your now: this obscure and murky place. Because, in this now, you can live in unprecedented, unfettered honesty. Instead of reaching for the nearest spotlight, reach for your journal and begin saying those things you haven’t even dared whisper. Or, reach for a paintbrush, a sketchpad, the piano, or your camera. Paint, scribble, compose, or picture this strange, new world you inhabit, this landscape in which you feel an utter misfit. This is your time of psalmody, and unless you take it from yourself, it will not be taken from you. It is your gestation into new life.

As a deer thirsts for streams of water,
So my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go to meet with God?
My tears have been my foodDay and night,
While people say to me all day long,“Where is your God?”
These things I rememberAs I pour out my soul:
How I used to go to the house of God
Under the protection of the Mighty One
With shouts of joy and praise
Among the festive throng.
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
For I will yet praise him,
My Savior and my God.
Psalm 42: 1-5 (TNIV)

Seeds of Greatness by Cinde Lucas

Did you know that you are a carrier of greatness? When God created the earth, it contained the seeds that brought forth life. When He spoke and commanded the earth to bring forth plants, it did so because the seed was already there (see Genesis 1). God's Word never returns void. According to Isaiah 55:10-12, God's Word is like the rain and snow that cause the seeds to germinate and spring forth into their destiny. When God spoke, the seeds in the earth sprang to life. When God's Word comes to us, His truth waters our heart and causes the seeds of greatness in us to come to life.

When God created you, He placed seeds of greatness in you. Part of the reason that many of us don't realize that we carry seeds of greatness is because we've had so many negative things happen to us. God's plans and purposes (seeds of greatness) for our lives have become buried and/or they are dormant, waiting for the right Words of Life to germinate them into action.

Before a seed can germinate, the conditions must be exactly right. The temperature has to rise to just the right degree and there has to be sufficient light to beckon the seed to come forth. There is also one more ingredient that must be present to cause the seed to spring forth; WATER! You see water softens the shell that the seed is contained in so that the LIFE within the seed can BREAK OUT. Some seeds even have to be soaked in water before they are planted to insure that they will germinate and grow properly.

I believe that many of the seeds of greatness that God placed within us are awaiting the Water of God's Word of truth to come to them. Psalm 1:1-3 says that those who listen to God's Word and allow His way to lead them shall become like TREES planted beside waters and everything they do shall prosper. Your destiny contains greatness. God designed you that way.

Is your life a reflection of His seeds of greatness in you? Are there still more seeds that God wants to germinate in you? Will you allow Him to break up the hardness of your heart and put aside the cares of the world so that those seeds can bring forth new things in you? Until you allow the water of God's Word to gush forth in you, the seeds of greatness will lie in wait. The world is in desperate need of all the good fruit your life was designed to produce.

Lord, I ask you to give us a revelation of your plans for us. Awaken the dreams within us. Let the Water of Your Spirit flow within us and water the seeds that still have not come to life. Thank you that you have good things stored up, prepared and ready for us. Teach us to walk in Your Ways so that our lives will be like Trees that bear fruit for others to partake of. Thank you for Your mercy and Your grace and especially for Your patience. Let the seeds of greatness that You placed in us bear an abundance of fruit (John 15) that will bring glory and honor to You in the earth.

In Your Greatness,
AMEN!

Cinde Lucas is an ordinary person, who happens to LOVE to encourage and motivate people! She has a passion to share the Love of God with people and to let them know that God is GOOD and He has an AWESOME plan for their lives! Cinde truly desires to lead people into a closer relationship with God through music; her prayer is that the ministry we share will uplift and encourage people to be all that God created them to be. Visit Overflow Ministries at http://www.cindelucas.com/.

Conversations with God

The goal of churches is not to convert people to Christianity. Rather the goal is to "make disciples," (Matt. 28:19 NIV). Accepting Christ as the way to God is only the beginning of a faith that also demands to make a difference. Dr. Kent Hughes, senior pastor of College Church in Wheaton, Ill., and author of numerous books about discipleship, wrote in his book, "Set Apart," that "from the onset God's plan for reaching the world has been to create a people distinct from the world who would then minister to and reach the world."Hughes asserts that the key to that outreach is holiness. "The holiness of God was to be the example and motivation for God's people," Hughes writes.In principle most church leaders may understand this. But in practicality, churches struggle with discipleship. Statistical evidence of the decline of morality and the rejection of absolute truth abound, but none of this cultural shift is of primary concern to church leaders, except as it relates to spiritual teaching in the church. According to a 2005 Lifeway Christian Resources survey that asked some 1,300 evangelical leaders to rank the "Top 10 Issues Facing Today's Church," prayer in both personal and church life was the No. 1 issue, followed by discipleship, or "the need for involvement of every believer in being continually transformed into the image of Christ."The practical problem for churches is that spiritual disciplines don't automatically appear once a person accepts Christ. According to Dr. Thom Rainer, "Realistically, the acquisition of these habits takes time and instruction." He writes in the Church Health Encyclopedia that healthy churches both encourage their members to practice spiritual disciplines and they help them learn how. Classes, Bible studies, Bible reading, devotion and prayer guide resources are all effective ways churches use to teach the disciplines. But seeing is often believing-even in faith communities.ModelingThe best teaching tool for discipline appears to be modeling. According to the Church Health Encyclopedia, church leaders who exhibit a strong prayer life of their own will find church members emulating them. How does a minister or pastor find time each day for spiritual disciplines?According to Dr. Don Whitney, professor of biblical spirituality and author of five books on spiritual disciplines, the "over-busy" American culture makes finding quiet time difficult-especially for ministers."The two most important spiritual disciplines are the intake of the Word and prayer-and in that order," Whitney says.Other personal disciplines are: fasting, study, simplicity, stewardship, solitude, submission and service. Then there are the corporate spiritual disciplines that are practiced within the context of a local congregation: confession, worship, teaching, celebration.While church leaders are ultimately responsible to foster all kinds of spiritual discipline within their congregations, again, it is their own leadership in these areas that often points the way for others. Especially when there is no time, Whitney says, ministers should make time to seek God.Whitney points time-stretched leaders to the example of Christ, who was constantly pulled by his followers and crowds, yet who frequently escaped the pressures of ministry by going off on his own to pray.He told seminary students at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary recently that without the spiritual disciplines of meditation and prayer they would fail in ministry. He quoted H.B. London saying that 1,500 ministers leave the ministry each month. And that on average, half of seminary grads are no longer in the ministry five years after graduation.The stress of the job, or money, sex, power and pride can lead to an exit from ministry. But Whitney says a lack of spiritual discipline is always at the root of a departure. "You are a Christian first, before you are a minister." Whitney says that even if you only have 10 minutes to spend in the Word and in prayer on a given day that this can be extremely profitable if the time is well spent. Bible reading that becomes too habitual and prayers that turn to rote recitations don't hold the power that even a shorter time of meditation can. He says this is often what is missing from most pastors' time alone with God. Yet, he points to passages where other leaders, Joshua and David, for example, prioritized meditation. "These were big civic, military and judicial leaders, meditating day and night," Whitney points out. He says that it is in meditation that the absorption of scripture occurs, and that is what leads to transformation-to the holiness and godliness that can fill up a pastor's soul."You are a well and everyone in the world is a bucket. And they will drain you dry if you are not drawing from the Word," Whitney told seminarians. "Don't let the ministry keep you from Jesus." ~ Rebecca Barnes, editor