These past few weeks have brought to light many changes that we are all undergoing in each of our lives and how they impact us individually and in turn communally. I am learning that we must continue to strive, in spite of these changes, only 0n the heart of God. Life can weigh us down and we will burden ourselves with bringing the kingdom of God to our surroundings. We will do this, so often, without first pursuing God then all of what we do becomes efforts of the flesh, and my friends we are not strong enough, eloquent enough, or wise enough to accomplish even one step towards that kingdom. In fact we will fall backwards and do more damage than we could any good. We have to stay focused on seeking and discerning the plan for our lives and building a faith that is sustainable through the mess that we live in. The fact that we choose to live in the messiest parts of this mess carries with it a knowledge that we make life harder for ourselves for the benefit of others. But knowing at any moment we have the means to run away can become a temptation when we are burnt out, tired, betrayed or cold hearted. Sustainable faith is a faith dependent on God and seeking his will not what we imagine his will would be. There is a difference between helping a person because the bible says to help people, and being prompted by the spirit to help someone, or tell someone something, or just listening to someone. The later is much more effective, much more after the heart of God because he knows what each man needs within each moment. That is not to say we should not do work until we "feel God calling us to do work," we are always called to work and live in the mission field, whatever field that may be for you. But I have learned that we must seek God first. We must pray and fast and seek to hear from Him. He is our focus. If we maintain an active pursuit of a vertical faith in God, the horizontal love for each other will come naturally, and as we grow with Him so will we grow with each other. Our love will go beyond the brother in front of you and extend to the one you don't even know. Sustainable faith, dependent on the pursuit of God first will give us the strength to handle the tough changes in life and community. It will also give us direction in the areas we remain stagnant in. He will give us direction.
BTW, I am not sure of the way this conference will use the term sustainable faith, I just really like the term and felt it applied. Even more than that I love the poster itself...Jon D. reppin the Lake House. He tried.
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