Praying the Word 8.29.11

God, we are needy. Desperate. Hungry. Tired. Dirty. Poor.

We need You. To meet our needs. To give us hope. To feed us. To revive us. To cleanse us. To give us the riches in Christ.

But more than that, we need You to show Yourself to us. Show us Your glory! Show us Your character, Your grace, Your mercy. Reveal Yourself to us, Oh God.

Show us Yours...Your hurting people, Your needy people, Your suffering people. Show us who we can touch, minister to, comfort, encourage.

Thank You, that You are a God Who saves. A God Who heals. A God Who loves. A God Who was...and is...and is to come. Thank You, God, oh, thank You!

Praying the Word 8.15.11

Father, thank You for Your Word.  For Your promises...that You keep them every.single.time.  That Your Word is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path.  Forgive us, Lord.  Forgive us for not obeying Your Word.  Forgive us for hearing You clearly and choosing to disobey.  Forgive us for turning a deaf ear to Your patient instruction.  Forgive our unwillingness.  Help us to be doers of Your Word, and not hearers only.  We need Your help to be obedient.  We cannot obey without Your Spirit moving within us.  Thank You for the lesson of the rich, young ruler.  Help us to be willing to give all....everything we have...to You for Your glory, for Your purposes.  Thank You for loving us....for loving us in ways that we can understand and see, and ways that we cannot begin to comprehend.  Help us to live for You...In Jesus' Name, Amen.  

Prayer--Are we committed to it?

I recently had the urge to pray for the women of Calvary Chapel. I originally wanted to let these women know that they were being prayed for, so I quickly wrote a blog post wanting to share this. I discussed it with a woman in our body and she said we need to be committed to praying for the women of Calvary Chapel. This hit hard. Truth be told, I am not a committed praying person. I want to be but sometimes I forget and I let the world come in and take over. So how do I become committed to praying for the women of Calvary Chapel? I have to go to God. I have to ask God to give me the desire, the remembrance and the opportunities to lift up my sisters in Christ.

You know what? Even though I may fail there are women of Calvary Chapel who are committed to pray right now and the women of Crawfordsville Calvary Chapel are being prayed for. The specific needs, cares, and hurts may not be known, but you know what else? God knows them. And when God is asked to mend hearts, heal wounds, tend to the women of CCC, He knows exactly what to do, when to do it and where.

So, yes, you are being prayed for! I am being prayed for! That is huge. That is big. That is something to embrace. We are being lifted up to the Father, our Father who created us, who knew us before we were formed, who loves us. Who loves you.

That my friend, is something to rest in. Think about it. He loves you. He sees your hurt and your struggle. He sees it. He sees you. Trust that. Don't rely on your experiences with people - because people are human. They make mistakes. They forget to pray! They fumble and tumble through life. They are as human as you are. That helps me to know that whatever "stage" of life we are in, we are equals in the sight of the Lord and He gives us grace. He picks us up after we have faltered and gives us new mercies.

Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23

So let's learn to be committed to prayer specifically for each other. Let's bring it to the Father who wants to hear from us and who rejoices in seeing us love one another.

~Nina

**If you feel led to pray, want to learn to pray, NEED to pray, please join us on Saturday mornings at the Women's Prayer Meeting. 10 AM in the sanctuary. Come and go as your schedule permits. Lord, teach us to pray...**

2 Corinthians 3:1-6...Notes from Pam Markey's Excellent Teaching

2 Corinthians 3:1-6

1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? 2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit;[a] for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Last night, we were treated to the excellent teaching of Pam Markey. If you don't know Pam (and I really don't, other than the few times she's taught at Calvary over the last 10 years), she is a real joy to be around. Raised on the mission field (Africa, to be exact), she and her husband George served Calvary Chapel and the Crawfordsville community for several years before being called into the mission field. They and their nine children served (and still serve!) in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan until George's death a few years ago. Now, Pam serves as a teacher at the Bible college in Hungary.

We opened with worship and Pam launched into 2 Corinthians 3. We only got through the first six verses, but the teaching was so impacting! Pam rounded out each section of scripture with a series of questions and I've listed them, along with the corresponding scripture and my notes, for you to use in your own personal study and reflection.

Question #1: What were the Corinthians demanding from Paul? Do we begin again to commend ourselves?
Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? (v.1)
Personal Application: What do I feel is demanded of me to be involved in ministry?

Question #2: What does Paul cite as his credentials?
You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. (v. 2-3)
Personal Application: What qualifies me to do the ministry I am called to? Who has qualified me? (see Colossians 1:12)

Questions #3: What would I like others to read in me as an epistle? (remember that "epistle" means "letter" or "missive," and can refer to a public or private directive or teaching...so 'others' can be a multitude of people or just one other person)

Question #4: How does Paul reassure the church of Corinth of their ability to minister?
And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (v. 4-6)
Personal Application: In what ways have I felt unfit, unworthy to be a minister of the Gospel? Have I acknowledged and identified that feeling? Fill in the blank: I can't minister because:___________.

My Notes:
My weaknesses are God's strengths.
Could my weakness be the very thing that ministers to another person's heart? Brings healing, restoration?
What do I have in my hand (think of Moses at the burning bush...he held a staff in his hand, a symbol of his failure)? Am I willing to give over whatever is in my hand (my weaknesses, my failures) to Jesus and let Him do mighty things with whatever is in my hand?

*Offer my weakness as a GLAD sacrifice...to be burned up. Receive what God offers in exchange.*