I was laying in bed last night and couldn't fall asleep and didn't have anything to daydream about. So I pray, "Lord, give me a vision, your people perish without vision, you know!" (He knew I was teasing Him) And then I thought, "For who?" Well for myself of course, isn't that usually my first priority? Then I actually thought, "That is boring, give me Your vision for the world" then I started laughing because aren't I something to ask for that! :)
In our small group we have read from Joshua to almost the end of 1 Samuel and it has been so cool for me to see how God orchestrated all of it. He was there, even if the people didn't see any supernatural evidence. And He had a plan for their generation. The people had to decide if they wanted to live out God's desires or their own. So that ended up being my prayer, "Lord, please give me a vision for what you are desiring for this generation". Now I have no idea if God will answer that prayer or not, it may be none of my business and I am fine with that too. I just want more to daydream and pray about. :)
What do you think He is up to in our generation?
7 comments:
Very cool! Without a lot of thought I would say that as this generation gets more and more depraved we will see from christians John 14:12 "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing, He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 - And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father."
Talking about God bringing everything together for the generations from Joshua to Samuel, you have to check out the movie: Star of Bethlehem. It will blow your mind how God put everything together for that:) Julene
I would like to think He is preparing His bride. Yesterday at the study I realized how far the church has to go to be functioning the way God planned and desires. For everyone to play their part and enjoy the celebration of victory as in the battle with Moses holding his hands up. But really do we, in this generation, need to rally for battle or get ready for a Wedding? So how does a bride prepare for her wedding? The most important element I can think of is radiant love. What kind of wedding would it be if she didn't really anticipate it with great joy and excitement? I pray we are a generation the will grow in great love for our groom and be unified in love for each other.
I completely agree with all of you...as I was pondering what God's vision for His people could be in this generation, I was reminded of a line in a song from a group Erik used to play with there in Oregon...it says, "The harvest is gold, the wheat is ready, but the workers, they are few." It is so clear to us that our time is short here on earth before Jesus comes back, and I believe we do NOT do enough as a church body to "bring in the harvest." When the Master comes, do we want to be found doing His the business He has called us to, or do we want to be found idle? Even just sharing about Him when the opportunity arrives, without drowning the unsaved in things too hard for them, but the simplicity of it all. People know who God is, and who Jesus is, but they have an incredibly distorded view of who the Lord is.
Julene, I was just talking to Kelly about those verses today! All the power we have that we don't know how to use. Probably a good thing, I am guessing it goes with our level of maturity for safety reasons. God is smart like that. :)
Krissi, I love the Radiant Love. That will be stuck in my head for a long time. I like it. Fighting for love works for me. I am too into "fighting the good fight" to give up on that entirely. :)
Andresa, I agree with you too. Sometimes I wonder how many people ask God what He cares about. We are all so focussed on our own concerns (myself included) that we forget to ask Him what He wants and what He is longing for. He longed for the people in the old testiment to seek Him and Jesus longed for the people in Jerusalem to let Him love and protect them. What is He longing for now?
I've loved thinking of this. I think this generation coming up, my kid(s?) are going to have a tough time learning about God because He is being taken out of so many things...the pledge, schools, money etc...I think we as parents have a responsibility like never before of teaching and raising our kids in a God loving/fearing world. It is good for me too because it MAKES me learn more for myself so I can teach and show my daughter more. A constant growth!
What I see in this generation for the church in general (in the US) is a loss of core beliefs and understanding of who God truly is and what His purpose for us would be in this world. I see a lot of emotional reactions to situations or people but not reactions that are based on truth and love. Sometimes things sound good and we as a body jump on the bandwagon, but we have to carefully think through the consequences of some of our beliefs and reactions. I think this generation needs to be more reflective and thoughtful and not so quick to speak or act. I think you are a perfect example of this kind of wisdom and restraint, Tawny. You seem to always question and look deeper at your responses to truly check them against God's Word. It doesn't make life so easy, but it makes it richer.
Thank you Elaine and Angie. I think you are both right in we need to be "deliberate" as Beth Moore said in her Daniel study and not just follow our culture. The world or the church. We have to follow Jesus.
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