Let's Risk the Ocean

Playing it Safe vs  Risking with God

I am reading a book called “Is your church too safe?” by Mark Buchanan. Last night I read a chapter that discussed The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) in a way I have never heard. Mark says this “This parable, I know, is usually cast as a story about stewardship, good and bad. It certainly is that. But just as much, it subverts some of the usual ways we think about stewardship. Stewardship evokes images of prudence, frugality, caution. Tithing off the top. Not buying on credit. Living within my means. Reducing my carbon footprint. These are all excellent things. But the stewardship commended in this story takes us in a whole other direction: it’s rough and tumbles, wild and wooly. Good and faithful servants are those who shoot the moon. They run with scissors. They leap before looking.  The bad servant-the wicked, lazy servant-is the cautious one.” Now this parable has troubled me for some time because I see myself as a very cautious person. Mark goes on to talk about why this wicked servant is so cautious. “The root issue is not the amount. The root issue is this servant’s view of the master. Put bluntly, he sees the master as cheap, so he’s cheap. He sees the master as stingy and hoarding and mean spirited, so he goes and does likewise. In a word this man has bad theology. This is the real point of the story: how you see God affects how you live.”

A final comparison of the wicked servant and the prodigal son drives the point home.

“We’ve seen what the bad servant’s bad theology produces. Not wild living. Not extravagant self indulgence. Not wanton wastefulness. He’s no prodigal son. His bad theology produces extreme caution. Utter passivity. He won’t trust anyone or risk anything. Its not that he misuses what the master entrusts. Prodigals do that, and God has a soft spot for them. No, it’s that he never uses it at all. The master has no soft spot for that. In fact, when we set this story side by side with Jesus’ story of the prodigal son, the conclusion is startling: God would rather we waste his possessions than preserve them intact.”

This teaching is ringing true through my spirit because lately I’ve begun to risk with God, not tons by any means but more and more. In the past I have seen God as a God who expects me to act and perform perfectly and then He will love me. Because of this I am paralyzed with fear to move forward, afraid I’ll fail or disappoint Him. Caution is the name of the game! But over the past few years God has begun to help me KNOW (through experience) how He loves me abundantly and unconditionally. He has showed me numerous pictures with Laney. When she was one and learning to walk, we were walking down a very rocky hill together. She was holding my hand and would stumble all the time. But I was joyous that she was walking! I didn’t expect her to go down this hill alone, and certainly wasn’t expecting her to run a 5K. I was delighted in her tiny baby steps. He told me it’s the same for Him and me, as I learn to step out in faith and walk with Him. Recently, I have been trying to teach Laney. Often she flat shuts down and says, I can’t do that. She won’t even try. And I think, if only she’d try to write a Y, then I’d have something to work with. I would be overjoyed at this step and we’d work to the next. This week she missed out on a fun art project because she said she couldn’t do it and she refused to try. The fun and beauty of creating a picture was lost to her because she wouldn’t risk the try.  And in that moment I heard the Lord’s voice telling me “A try is all I ask of you. Just try sweetheart!”Three years ago I was driven to risk with God by the sheer deadness inside of me. I felt I could not continue on this dead, boring religious road one more step. And when I took that first risk, it was heart pounding, butterflies in the stomach and scary, ahhh but it was LIVING! He’s there! It’s like watching Indiana Jones step out into the empty space only to have his foot meet the invisible path. It’s a crazy adventure to risk with God! So many before me have done it in amazing ways, this spurs me on, but not as much as the tiny risks I take. They result in a closer, more intimate knowledge of my Lord that shows me He is truly the God the scripture says He is! And knowing Him is LIFE to me! Living on the edge with the Lord is exhilarating and fills me with love for Him that I’ve never known. Where’s He calling you to risk with Him for the expansion of His kingdom? Yesterday, my heart pounding out of my ears, I invited someone to the Palm Sunday service. Its almost embaressing to say that was a baby step risk for me…a mission to the Middle East it was not, but it pleased my Abba and it felt sooo good!  Where have you risked in the past and failed? Know that He was delighted with you and is also faithful! I don’t know why sometimes it’s fruitless to our eyes but God does and He is trust worthy. Will you join me? Will you start taking risks? Will you dust yourself off after a risk that seems to have failed and trust your God? After all, its about the relationship with Him and not always the results.

I awoke with this song in my head:

“It’s your love that we adore

 It’s like a sea without a shore.

We’re lost in You. We’re lost in You.

Just set yourself and risk the oceans.

Show me grace. Let’s risk the ocean.

Where you go we will follow I’m on my knees

where you go we will follow Oh God send me.”

                        Sometimes by David Crowder Band Here for You Passion Album

Rally Point in scripture....

In that day the heir to David's throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to Him, and the land where He lives will be a glorious place.
Isaiah 11:10

Rally Point

Hello friends,
We'd like to share with you the freshly directed vision of our Saturday Morning meetings. Your leadership team spent some time before the Lord at the end of February. During this wonderful time, the Lord directed us into a clearer more defined vision of this special time we are having together. First off, He gave us a name, Rally Point. We are Rally Point, because this is a time to gather around Jesus as our banner and spend time with Him. From this time spent in His Presence flows life, vision, and direction for each of us personally and as a unit for God's glory. With that being said, we'd like to present to you the guidelines for Rally Point.

Goal: To seek God's face and leave having encountered God in a personal way.

"My heart has heard you say, "Come and talk with me." And my heart responds, "LORD, I am coming." Psalm 27:8 NLT

Time:

5:30-7am Personal Seek Time with God

7-8 am Rally Time (time of edification through sharing God's word to us in the Personal Seek Time)

Guidelines:

* Come in a spirit of humility, knowing the purpose of this time is to Seek God's face edifying and strengthening the church in unity.

*Listen well, to God and others. Treat others with honor and respect.

*Practice using your gifting under the Holy Spirit's direction. Offer words of prophecy, exhortation, praise, prayer, and encouragement to others humbly as the Holy Spirit leads, so that the Body is built up and strengthened.

*Rally Time is a time to share the words you heard from the Lord this morning only. Please share other activities of the Lord in your life with all of us through blog posts throughout the week.

http://forhisnamesakeandglory.blogspot.com/

Leadership Team: Please contact us on Facebook with any questions or concerns.

Michelle Bristle                 Andrea Graver                  Jen Giles                              Michelle Clark

We pray that God will call you and place a desire to come enjoy this special time. He is up to big things among us!!

Saturday March 3, 2012

Michelle-
This fear is not from ME. I cover you. I shield you from the enemy, like I hid the Israelites coming out of Egypt. The day will come to fight but my baby, Rally Point, I will guard. I will guard my children.
Abba
* I was sitting in Jen's office and looked up to see the cloud painting one of her girls did on the wall.

Nehemiah: summary titles

1. Grief for exiles and broken down Jerusalem
1. prayers
2. Return to build the wall
3. Work ridiculed
1. discouragement overcome
4. Selling sisters/bros into slavery/debt (holding debt against each other) is abolished
5. Nehemiah's example
6. Enemy's plot
7. Wall finished
8. People and gifts counted
9. Ezra reads law: Feast of booths restored
10. People confess sins
11. A covenant written and signed
12. leadership est.
13. dedication of wall
14.  procedures for the Temple
15. Foreigners excluded
16.  Temple cleansing
17. Tithes restored
18. Sabbath restored

I'm not sure why these jumped out at me (is it ok if I post incomplete thoughts on this site? I think you guys might have the insight to what makes it important and applicable to us but I feel stupid writing things I don't have figured out.)...but I think we may find some similarities in our walk with Rally Point. I need to dwell and ponder on it with the Lord. I think item number 1 was pretty well covered by Jen. How crazy cool!

Obedience: Nehemiah

Friends,
I missed you all last weekend for Rally Point but I had SUCH a wonderful weekend with Chris' family. We were able to visit his sister's church for the first time in a year and the message was so timely for me.  I want to share it with you here...  First of all, Nehemiah is a book that God brought me to at a very sad time when I was in college.  So I've always considered it to be something that's "ours" (mine and His).  On Sunday, we attended Cross Church in Fayetteville - I must say if you're ever in Fayetteville on a Sunday  morning, you definitely want to experience Cross Church!!

OK here's the lesson, in a nutshell:

Nehemiah 1:1-11
Nehemiah was an Israelite, living in Persia after the Israelites were scattered from their land. He was a cupbearer to the Persian King.  He received devastating news that the walls of his homeland, Jerusalem, had been broken down and the gates had been burned. 

What did Nehemiah do when he received this tragic news?  Did he call his friends and moan?  Did he gather around others who would commiserate with him?  Did he plan a revolution?  NO His response was to immediately sit down, weep, mourn, fast and pray to God for " some days".

Nehemiah knew that whatever situation he faced, God was the solution! The pastor asked these questions: 
Are you now facing tragic, devastating news? 
Or is God asking you to do something that is uncomfortable? 

I personally am facing question #2 in a few areas of my life!  you may be facing question #1. Either way, the lesson that follows applies :)

Then Nehemiah addressed God in this manner:

1) He declared the sovereignty and control of the Lord  ("Oh Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God...")

2) He remembered God's faithfulness to keep His promises  ("...who keeps his covenant of love with those who love Him and obey His commands...")

3) He implored God to listen ("...let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night...")

4) He took personal and national responsibility for the sins of the people and remembered that God is forgiving ("...I confess the sins we Israelites, INCLUDING MYSELF AND MY FATHER'S HOUSE, have committed against you.  We have acted very wickedly toward you.  We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses...")

5)  He reminded God of his promises and he was able to put his faith and trust IN God's promises  ("...Remember your instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying "if you are unfaithful I will  scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name...")

6) He continued reminding God of His promises - I'm placing emphasis on the pronouns b/c the pastor did too and it was powerful!   (..."They are YOUR servants and YOUR people, whom YOU redeemed by YOUR great strength and YOUR mighty hand...")

7)  He asked God for favor  ("...Oh Lord let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name.  Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man...")

I was highly challenged.  I'm going to sit on this for the week and really try to apply this prayer to my life.  I am going to sit before the Lord.  I am going to remind myself of the things He's asked me to do that I haven't been obedient with yet.  I'm going to declare His sovereignty - really let it sink in.  I'm going to remember His faithfulness. I'm going to ask Him to listen to my prayers. I'm going to confess my sin and any collective sins He exposes.  I'm going to remind God (and myself :) ) of His promises. And I'm going to ask God for favor as I REVERE HIM (delight in fearing Him, respond in awe of Him) and OBEY HIM. 

And when I receive tragic news, I'm going to come back to this and practice responding in the right way, again.  I encourage you to do the same! 

Depression with Jesus

I feel compelled to share this with you. In the past few weeks, maybe months, I have felt like I'm in a depressing fog of grey monotony. Where I had life, interest, vitality,  instead I am numb, grey, listless, weary.

I  feel like no one gets me and that I might be insane.

I feel like my friends are annoyed with me and that I'm insecure and needy, when I haven't felt like that in forever.

I worry that I'm being too prideful or bossy or "look at me" when I serve the Lord.

I feel like I don't know anything about the Lord so how dare I try to lead anyone. ie: dgroups, bible study, prayer time

I feel unloved, rejected, hurt and most of it I believe is all in my head bc I can't find a logical place for it to have taken root or its come from a very minor incident that should NOT have that kind of effect.

I am mean and yelling at my kids.

I can't seem to find life.

I read about Muslim women and their black veils and I wish I had one to hide under...instead I use my black hoodie.

I feel like a failure.

I'm striving but I don't even realize it, until I'm exhausted.

If someone tries to bring a message to me that I need to try harder at anything (esp godly living ) I want to kick them in their face.

I feel like I don't care about anything...

 

Yet, there are moments of light. Of great love, and vision from the Lord.

I have shared with some about my struggles. And in talking through some of them with a dear friend, I began to see depression in a new "light" (lol). I've always considered depression an attack of the Enemy. When I feel this way, I see it as NOT of God. I treat it as a battle but that hasn't done much good. When you are weary, you don't care to fight, you want to surrender to the darkness. And it feels like you flail around trying to keep the darkness back only to exhaust yourself and it keeps coming. So what if I do stop fighting, striving, what if I sit here quietly in the dark?

 I began to wonder, has God led me into this season of dark/fog for a purpose?

What if He led me into dark foggy places so I can know Him better?

" that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead" Phil 3:10  He was a man of many sorrows, acquainted with grief (Is 53:3)...surely Jesus knew depression. Do you lead me here so you can use my weaknesses for eternal fruit?  (John 15:16)What if there are treasures down here in the darkness that I have to come here to find? "and I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden wealth of secret places, in order that you may know that it is I, The Lord, The God of Israel, who calls you by your name." Is 45:3 What if this dark/fog is a place for me to build up my endurance for things to come? Endure: to hold up under pain or hardship without yielding; synonyms: abide, allow, be patient with, brave,face, hang in, live out, live through, never say die, ride out, stand, take it, be timeless, carry on, persist, wear well, stick to Antonyms: discontinue

 

On Saturday mornings we have talked a lot about light and dark and God being in the darkness. We've also talked about being warriors for Christ and training, boot camp. I read awhile back about a special ops training program where they had to run for miles and miles, through darkness, cold, fog with little food. They were supposed to reach a certain destination in a given time. The exercise was designed to weed out the those who would not endure...to a man those who passed were beyond exhaustion, in pain, physically, mentally, emotionally spent but they pushed on to finish. This was passing the test, finding out if the men had some sort of inner strength to keep going against all reason and odds. Never quit. I propose to you, that we too might be in training with the Lord to strengthen our endurance for times to come. Where its life and death in the Kingdom of God and we must be willing to endure to the end."Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus" 2 tim 2:2-3 " All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. " Heb 12:11 I have always read that word discipline as punishment for sin. Today I saw it in a different light. Here is the definition: regimen, training; synonyms: development, drill, practice, prep. And let me be very clear I believe this endurance is the endurance of seeking God's face. Never never stop coming to Him, clinging to Him in the dark, listening for His voice. Its not about fighting or striving, its about seeking Him through the dark and fog.

 

So now, if I look at depression as a place where Jesus is beside me, revealing Himself in a new way, a place where there are treasures, a training ground, and a place where eternal fruit can be grown, then I'm less depressed already. I don't propose to know much at all about depression, or have all the answers. I just wanted to throw this perspective out there because God has been speaking it to me these past few days. I do think that there is an aspect of battle in depression in that lies of the Enemy are prevalent and we are susceptible. Which is why I chose to list some of the things I've been thinking for you. The more we bring thoughts into the light the more clearly we see what is of God and what is of the Enemy. Lastly for me, I have heard the Lord say this is a season. Surrender to me in this season. He will lead me out at the appointed time. Mean time I have found my way to a resting place of security that Jesus is in this pit of darkness with me and He has purpose for it in my life. And when I begin to doubt that and slip off again, I'll just keep coming back to sit before Him...and endure the quiet numb darkness until I hear Him again.

 

I love you friends (when I'm not numb lol). Let's not hide alone but be united with Christ and each other.

 

The songs "Times" and" By Your Side" by Tenth Avenue North have ministered to me greatly. In case you need some ministering to.

love

mich

Prepared Beforehand

Well its been awhile since I had anything to say. But this...this is a good one. Maybe you can relate with me about the struggle of "doing good works". As I've grown in Christ, I've grown in my understanding of why we do good things. For a long time I was striving to prove I was saved and good enough and that I loved the Lord enough that I would do good things for Him. Thanks be to my Savior who did not let me continue along entrenched in thinking like that. Still, occasionally, I struggle with perfectionist behavior, performance based love, and falling right back into those thoughts. Yesterday morning the Lord spoke to me in Ephesians 2. He tweaked my vision once again and as with everything He does, it brought peace, joy, and delight to my soul!

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
 and raised us up with Him,
and seated us with Him, in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,
 in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. "

This list of beautiful promises in these verses is amazing! Not just salvation, as if that wasn't beautiful enough, but He makes us alive, raised up with Him, seated WITH HIM, and He brings us there so that He can show us surpassing riches of His grace in KINDNESS!

He is out to show me KINDNESS! He is out to show you KINDNESS and its not because of anything we have done. Just soak in that for a minute!!

ok, it gets better.After that delightful reminder that I can't work to save myself or earn His favor, He says to me, "My Love, works are NOT a requirement, they are My gift once you are Mine. They are MY good works. I prepared them, you just walk in them and enjoy them!!!"  Say what?!

Now that resonates in me, I do LOVE to walk in the works He has prepared for me! Which one of us hasn't experienced that almost unexplainable delight and exhilaration of riding along on the Holy Spirit's work and being a part of something that was a "God thing"? Contrarily, I know the feeling of striving to make a Michelle's good work into a God thing. Its hard, its exhausting, its draining, its bla.

 yesterday morning the Spirit highlighted the word "prepared". When I think of prepared, I think of a substitute teacher having all the lesson plans laid out for her to use with the class and she just walks in and does it. I think of preparing dinner for my husband and kids before I go out for girl's night. I  leave dinner fully cooked, table set, glasses made, all the way down to the scissors laid out for cutting the baby's food. All he has to do is walk in and serve. I looked up prepared/preparation in the dictionary.

Here are some synonyms: made ready, gotten ready, arranged, assembled, built, concocted (love that one), constructive, contrived, cooked up, endowed, fashioned, formulated, furnish, ground work laid, made provision for, outfitted, ready, settled, smooth the way, all systems go, all bases covered, all set, prepped, primed

Antonyms: disorganized, ignore, neglect

Isn't that delightful...Can it be that God has these treasures of "good works" all laid out and preped for me and I just have to walk in them??? I just have to look for them each day because He has done the prep work!? Many of you know that my son is into Mario Kart, much to my annoyance, still the Lord seems to talk with me using it often. ha! I played it with Zach this Saturday. Because I hardly ever play and he plays daily, he is much better than me. As you drive these different courses in race cars you try not to fall off the road and die and avoid evil creatures that will kill you. Conversely, you are also looking for these magic boxes that give you special gifts for your drive, some that help you to win. I kept missing the boxes as I drove. I was so busy trying to go fast, and not die that I wasn't putting driving through the boxes as a high priority. They were there, whether I chose to drive that way or not but I was too busy to try to find them on purpose. At some points I'd hit them accidentally and I was always glad I had. Zach kept saying, "Get the boxes mom!"

 I see these good works God has prepared for me as treasure boxes in my day. Have I been frantically driving through my day just trying to survive and missing His treasure He prepared for me this day!?
In all His power and wisdom and design the most perfect treasure of good works for me to walk in, every day are laid out! The Lord says: Get the box Michelle!

Think God is awesome yet? Well here's one last piece. In the analogy of the sub teacher or my husband feeding the kids dinner, they still have to do the work on their own. But I discovered, that God doesn't work that way, of course.  I looked up "walk" from this verse, in the Greek reference in the back of my bible. I found it means to tread around, walk at large, to live, to deport oneself, follow (as a companion or votary)-go be occupied with , walk about. Since I didn't know what votary meant, and you probably don't either, here are some synonyms: believer, addict, amateur, buff, devotee, enthusiast, disciple, fanatic. So here it is: we are IN Christ doing these good works; not alone, not given the prep work and left but it is done together with Christ as the expert, and me as the amateur devoted disciple! What assurance! If you are a teacher, you've come back to school and found that they sub didn't execute your plan as you prepared it! I've come home to find that Eric added something to the meal or left the table and kitchen a disaster, NOT PART OF THE PLAN. But with God, there's no danger of that because you are in His plan doing it WITH Him! Oh joy and bliss! I'm serious, nothing compares to the fulfillment, purpose, and life that comes from these treasures!

So girls, let's go be treasure hunters for His preped works for us today! Then comment back with what you find!
WHO IS LIKE THE LORD ! love yall!