Vision...Mine or His?

OK, why is it that when God wants me to do something for Him (apparently pretty urgently), He just comes at me from so many different angles? Am I that thick? Again...apparently. There are times that I get, what I think are, pretty clever ideas. But I always seem to question myself; It goes something like this..."Hey, that's a pretty good idea! But, wait, is this what I want or is this what God wants? Could it be both? I'm sure if God really wants me to move forward He will confirm it some other way...right?" Does this sound familiar to anyone else? Is it just me?

Anyway, the reason I brought this up is our church is starting up a new (for lack of better words) "worship service" on Saturday nights called The Gathering. This idea/vision has been brewing inside of me for better than 5 years and I wasn't quite sure it would ever come to fruition. The Gathering starts up on March 7th and as it gets closer those whispers seem to come back to mess with me..."this is all your idea", "you are doomed to failure", "it will never work", "nobody will come", and on and on it goes. The nice part is God has surrounded me with people who were also given a vision for The Gathering and it is remarkably similar to the vision He gave me. These people literally came at me from every side...people age 18-55...people I had no idea would be interested in something like this! We serve a God that doesn't deal in coincidences. We serve a God who is deliberate and knows what we each need to move forward when He needs us to. Do you believe that? Do I believe that? My actions don't always match my words in that department, but I am learning to lean on Him and trust a little more each day. Remember, the "lanaguage of Fear" has no place in the lives of those who claim the name of Christ. May God help me...and you...to remember that.

Is it a "no" and then "go" or is it a "go" until you get a "no"?

A couple months ago I was working through the book of 1 Samuel and was intrigued with the story of Saul, Jonathan, and Jonathans armor bearer in chapter 14. A small patrol (100-200 soldiers) of Philistines had blocked the Micmash Pass where the Israelites need to go through and had stalled the whole Israelite army. Here's where it got interesting to me...Saul sat down and relaxed under a tree waiting for God to speak to him and show him a way to resolve the situation. Jonathan took matters into his own hands. Jonathan and his armor bearer took on the patrol by believing that God was with them...just the two of them...and won. Sometimes God wants you to wait on Him as He provides a way. Sometimes God wants you to act right away. So do you say no to any action until you have all the facts and info and you feel comfortable in moving ahead, or do you move through open doors as they open and trust that God will take care of you? Well, in this instance, God blessed Jonathans actions that day. Does it always work this way, probably not. Maybe there is a reason I identify with people like David, Jonathan, and Peter...people after Gods heart that despite being a bit impatient and prone to making mistakes also made HUGE contributions to the work of God. May God continue to bless my sometimes feeble efforts to further His work.

Fear

Fear is an interesting and greatly over-used word in American society today. Ever heard some of these phrases..."I'm just afraid that..."; or "My fear is that..."; "It's going well, (knock on wood)"? It is so engrained in our society to "wait for the other shoe to drop" so to speak. I guess the current state of our economy doesn't help the situation much either. But should it be the same for those of us who have chosen to follow Christ? Does fear play a prominent role in your life? Should it? A few verses come to mind right away such as Jeremiah 29:11, 1 John 4:18, and Romans 8:15...look those verses up and make up your own mind. We who follow the words of Jesus and his disciples have a reason for the hope inside us and should NOT fear anything or anyone. God will not give me anything that He and I can not handle together, right(1 Corinthians 10:13)? God is faithful, never leaving us; so why all of the fear in the lives of his followers? My prayer for you (and me) is that our trust is so complete in Christ that words and everyday phrases involving fear are eradicated from our vocabularies.