Good Morning Reconciled, United, Gifted, Loving Servants of God! Oh yes we are! PTL! And we are growing more fruitful in our pursuit of this salutation. Pray it. Pronounce it in faith over you, our Body and those we partner with in ministry. God hears and answers those prayers and we are seeing the fruit of that bud and grow, even as we serve bread today and gather tonight as His extended Body of believers to eat, fellowship, study and pray. Join us at 6 and bring a friend. We will celebrate communion tonight as well as Sunday.
God awoke me very, very early this morning (1:30) and after laying in bed praising and praying for an hour, I decided to come join Him for some quiet time in my prayer closet. What a beautiful time we have had together! Thanks Lord! A lot is heavy on my heart, as is typical this week before the crucifixion. There is so much to prepare and do as well. I feel like Martin Luther who wrote, "I have so much to do today that I needed to get up three hours early to pray and prepare with the Lord." (My paraphrase) I laid in bed wondering how God will sustain me for what will be about 20 hours? But I know He can and does sometimes. He may allow a nap after my 6 am huddle and before I need to head to church at 9. No matter! He is my Lord and I asked Him to be my Lord and Shepherd today and I know He will work all things together according to His plans and sustain and take care of and use me as well. Thanks Lord Come! Write the rest of this blog too. What do you want to share today with our friends? Come! Amen
The salutation above came from our devos. We are, "Reconciled, United, Gifted, Loving Servants of God!" Amen! I always invite God to write these blogs. I try to order our devos how I think He is threading them together and share some of my journal notes. Today's salutation is not in the order that I had them, but seems to be God's order as He speaks to us. Let's see what He is saying to you.
Let's start with "reconciled" through Charles Stanley's "God's Purpose for Your Life" daily devo for today. (below) This whole week is about God fixing the sin issue Adam and Eve ushered in. We are all born sinners, yet God, who is pure and holy and can have no sin or unrighteousness around Him, created us to be in fellowship with Him forever. So, because He loves us so much (John 3:16-17), He sent His Son, Jesus, to die in our place and atone for our sin and now offers us the opportunity to choose to be washed white as snow in the blood of Jesus and be with Him forever. PTL! Just meditate on that a bit today. What love! No matter how much we fail, mess up or sin, we can receive forgiveness and help to repent and get back on track with God. What Good News!
Really spend some time with the Harvest Prayer Connection blog for today. meditate and pray through it for us as Christ's unified Body. God has called us together and placed us in Emmaus for such a time as this. We all have a part to play in His Good News Delivery Co. All parts matter and are of equal importance even if it doesn't seem it or in spite of if you feel useful or not. You matter. Your were created, gifted and placed here to do your part. Let us pray for, encourage and help each other to God's best for each other and as His Body! Amen!
Our Daily Bread speaks into being a fruitful believer. Check out the Mark Passage we will be discussing tonight. Mark 11:12-20 is about Jesus heading into town during this week and cursing the fruitless fig tree. The fig tree often represented Israel and God's people. Think about the heavy burden Jesus was carrying as He neared the day of the cross. Think about how He wept over Jerusalem because the people had gone astray and wandered from God and His ways. Jesus almost seems angry as He curses the tree. It cuts me to the heart to think that He could look at me or the Body I help lead and see fruitlessness. Pray it is never so. PLEASE! And pray to always produce the fruit you are created to produce--good, abundant, lasting fruit. ODB questions, "What fruit do others see in you?" and "How might you be more fruitful?" We always need to be examining ourselves and our ministries and sowing into and pouring ourselves into what God is doing, as we are created and gifted. You are custom made and gifted and gathered here for such a time as this. May we always keep working at being fruitful and multiplying disciples of Jesus!
Being fruitful and multiplying disciples begins with and is built on love as The Word for You Today reminds us. We are friends and family in Christ commanded to and living out the Greatest Commandments--love God, each other, self and others like Jesus. Amen! Thanks Lord! May we always be known for our love and for sharing your love well. Amen! TWFYT sorta speaks into the importance of small group accountability and deep, knowing-each-other-intimately, love. What kind of friend are you? Jesus is a friend of sinners. PTL! He loves us so much that He can't leave us as we are. He sent His Spirit to us to help us be transformed into His image which includes living and loving more and more like Him. Who knows you deeply and loves you well like Jesus? Who do you know and love like that? Talk to God about becoming more intentional, more earnest at loving like Jesus always as you follow Him with some close friends.
And that leads us to he Upper Room's reminder that we are servants of God. How are you/we doing at that? They use our Eph. 2:10 passage we are using as a cornerstone for our fellowship and growth: "You are God's masterpiece, made new in Christ to do all God has planned for you." (My paraphrase). Embrace and meditate on the UR today. Our Bread and clothing servants come to mind. Thank YOU! You represent God and us well and are a model for how several churches can come together to serve! Jesus is our leader and our goal is to live, love, and serve more like Him. But here's the best part, you all have a part custom made for you, just as you are according to your life circumstances. PTL! Right? The pressure is off. Just be you doing what you are made to do with Jesus help, Holy Spirit gifts and power, according to where you are in life. It's such a sweet spot to be in as you embrace who you are in Christ and don His easy yoke. He has great plans for you today and in the years ahead. He has the same for our Body! PTL! Pray for Him to continue to draw new servants, equip and use us well to build each other up and serve those He is sending. Amen!
We are: Reconciled, United, Gifted, Loving Servants of God! PTL! What's God saying to you today and who are you processing with? He loves you beyond measure and has some amazing things to discover and do today. Rejoice! Worship! Pray! Process well! And don that easy yoke as you follow Jesus! Amen! and shalom!
CS:
Harvest Prayer's Daily Connection Devotional:
March 27 - Intercede for the Body of Christ
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For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. (Romans 12:4–5)
How beautiful are the gifts of the Spirit as displayed through the Father’s children! What a treasure we experience every time one of our clay vessels pours forth God’s love in the distinct and personal offering we are privileged to give. The family of God is beautiful! She is black, white, brown, yellow, red—all shades of flesh imaginable. She votes Republican, Democrat, independent—and sometimes refrains from voting at all. She is active and peaceful, boisterous and calm. The body of Christ is alive, diverse and gifted. The unified church is beautifully diverse and eternally powerful. We are, together, his Body, completely different and miraculously united in him. We are one in Jesus.
Instead of quibbling over our differences, judging our uniqueness and debating our distinctions, let’s join together in gratitude and humility for all Jesus has done and what he will do as we unite together in him and for him. He wants to use us all for his glory. He wants to change the world through the power of our unity and our selfless faith. Join me as we celebrate the diversity of our oneness and pray for more of his power in our unified lives.
Dear Father, we are grateful that, in your wisdom, you made us in your image with many gifts, abilities and callings. We are forever united in you and purpose to move and breathe as one for the glory of your name. Please help us to see and appreciate the varieties of gifts you have given us. Show us how to honor one another as more important than ourselves, to make room for one another’s gifts and to encourage one another daily. We ask you to help us lay down our preferences and destroy our prejudices so that the world may see you in us. We want to represent you and welcome many into your family. We want to strengthen the weak and celebrate those who are moving in the strength you provide.
Forgive us for comparison and every type of judgmental measuring. Cleanse us of our need to be right and our desire to win. Help us to lay down our lives for your loved ones and to bear their burdens. We want to see one another through your eyes and hear the longings of our brothers and sisters with your ears. We want to enjoy the diversity you have created and make room for the various expressions of your beauty. Make us one as you and the Father are one, Lord Jesus. Fill us with your Holy Spirit and overwhelm us with love for our God-family as we pursue you together.
--Adapted from Praying God’s Word Over Your City: 40 Days of Prayer for A Transformed Community by Trey and Mary Anne Kent.
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ODB:
Fruitful Believers in Christ
Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. Mark 11:13
READ Mark 11:12–20
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Cindy was excited for her new job in a nonprofit company. What an opportunity to make a difference! She soon discovered her coworkers didn’t share her enthusiasm. They mocked the company’s mission and made excuses for their poor performance as they looked elsewhere for more lucrative positions. Cindy wished she’d never applied for this job. What looked great from afar was disappointing up close.
This was Jesus’ problem with the fig tree mentioned in today’s story (Mark 11:13). It was early in the season, yet the tree’s leaves signaled it might have early figs. Nope. The tree had sprouted leaves, but it hadn’t yet produced fruit. Disappointed, Jesus cursed the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again” (v. 14). By the next morning the tree had entirely withered (v. 20).
Christ once fasted forty days, so He knew how to go without food. Cursing the fig tree was not about His appetite. It was an object lesson. The tree represented Israel, which had the trappings of true religion but had lost the point. They were about to kill their Messiah, the Son of God. How more barren could they be?
We may look good from afar, but Jesus comes near, looking for fruit that only His Spirit can produce. Our fruit need not be spectacular. But it must be supernatural, such as love, joy, and peace in hard times (Galatians 5:22). Relying on the Spirit, we can bear fruit even then for Jesus.
By Mike Wittmer
REFLECT & PRAY
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What fruit do others see in you? How might you be more fruitful?
Holy Spirit, prune me so I might bear more fruit.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The barren and withered fig tree, representing an unfaithful nation soon to be overrun by its enemies, is a common Old Testament image (Isaiah 28:4; 34:4; Jeremiah 8:13; Hosea 2:12; Joel 1:7, 12; Amos 4:9; Nahum 3:12; Habakkuk 3:17). Quite often, the center of Israel’s faithlessness was its abuse of the temple services, and the prophets used a withered fig tree as a warning of the temple’s destruction. In fact, the passage quoted in Mark 11:17 is just such a text. Jesus quotes the prophet Jeremiah who condemns Judah for hypocritically thinking that temple attendance would expunge the guilt of her idolatry (see Jeremiah 7:2–4, 8, 11).
Adapted from Moving Mountains: The Practice of Persistent Prayer.
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TWFYT:
UR: A Servant of God
We are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them. - Ephesians 2:10 (NRSVUE)
I spent many years as a volunteer for a local food program. Each day, we delivered hot meals to folks who were unable to leave home to get their own food. We got to know the people we delivered to quite well, and we always arranged our schedule so that we could spend a few minutes visiting with each person.
One day, a woman to whom I was delivering food told me, “You are truly a servant of God.” I was stunned. I had considered myself a volunteer and nothing more. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I was doing what the Lord asked his followers to do — spending time serving others.
There are many ways to serve God. We help make our world a better place when we live God’s words and do God’s work. Not only do we transform the lives of others but we transform our own lives as well. People often strive to serve and imitate good leaders, and in the Lord we have the best leader of all. We should always try to serve the Lord well.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Dear God, thank you for equipping us and using us to build up others. Guide us to imitate you in all that we do. Amen.
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