Tag Archives: gather

Two~Five Minute Friday

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“Your Word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” Psalm 119:105 (NLT)

Two or Three or Sixteen

The room set up like this stirs up a myriad of emotions. It excites me, gives me hope, makes me nervous, and reminds me once again how vulnerable I can feel. It’s around these tables where for the last six weeks I’ve gathered with 15 other women to study God’s Word. It’s something I love to do and think is so important. So why the emotional whirlwind? 

“Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.”
1 Corinthians 14:26 (NLT)

Trying to live a life following Jesus can feel lonely. That’s why being with other Christians is vital and why I look forward to being together in study. At the same time, my old habit of perfectionism and those insecurities I seem to carry around as burdens also kick in whenever I think about opening up about my faith challenges with others. What if I don’t have anything to offer that will “strengthen” them all?

“For where two or three gather together as my followers,
 I am there among you.”
Matthew 18:20 (NLT)

As usual, my thoughts are not His thoughts and my ways are not His ways. I forget that it’s not about me but IS about God.  He leads us through His Word and the words He’s given those we study. He leads us through the experiences we’ve had in our walk with Him and then can share with one another. Every week I’ve been reminded that God has brought this particular group together at this particular time because He has something important to teach us individually and collectively, using the unique perspectives we each bring to the table that help make His Word come to life. And guess what?

“So encourage each other and build each other up,
just as you are already doing.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NLT)

Sharing those burdens we carry that the devil likes to use to isolate us and being vulnerable? Turns out God can use those too. Opening up in a trusted group is truly balm for our souls. We find out there are others who feel the same myriad of emotions, face the same weaknesses and challenges, and wonder too, if they have anything to offer. Vulnerability is exactly where God works. Our feebleness is where His strength shines through. And when 2, or 3, or 16 get together? Well, we are exactly where we’re supposed to be!

“And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do,
but encourage one another, especially now that the day of
his return is drawing near.”
Hebrews 10:25 (NLT)

Joining with others to write to the challenging prompt, “Two” this week. To read what they came up with, click over to http://www.fiveminutefriday.com

Avoid ~ Day 16 ~ 31Days2019

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“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,” Acts 2:46 (NIV) / Pixabay

Avoid

There are lots of things we avoid. I would guess that some of the what I avoid, you do too. Things like snakes, bats, closed in spaces, the dentist, and others. Then there are those things that since moving to my rural, farming town I’ve had to learn to avoid the hard way: such as being stuck in a manure pile, an angry rooster, or eating raw ramps. And of course, there are those things I’ve learned to avoid by mistake, specifically swallowing a chicken bone, trusting my GPS, and brightly dying my hair the day before leaving on a trip with my friends.

On the flip side, we all have things we avoid that we shouldn’t. I’m thinking of things such as exercise, a yearly check-up (including the weigh in), ** cleaning out our closets, and getting together more often.

Why is it that most of us don’t make time to gather with friends and family anymore? Yes, we’re busy. But are we really too busy to find time to share a meal, have a game night, sit around and talk with those we care about or do we just no longer make it a priority?  I’m asking myself these same questions. Knowing there’s so much pain and suffering in the world today and time is short, shouldn’t we want to be with each other more rather than less?

“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT)

Just imagine the difference it might make in our lives, our communities, our world if we’d come together more to support and be supported, to inspire and be inspired, to minister to and be ministered to. Or, to simply laugh and have fun. I think it’s about time to make a change. How about you? What if we stop looking at our phones and watching our T.V.’s as much, left work a little earlier, cleared a day on our calendar, and instead shared some of that time with friends and family? Let’s challenge each other starting today, to scratch gathering with one another off our “to avoid” list and begin making it a priority to “not neglect our meeting together”. Are you with me?

Now, who wants play a game of Yahtzee and have some popcorn?

This post is written as part of the 31 Days of Five Minute Friday Free Writes Challenge. You can read posts from other writers on the same topics over at http://www.fiveminutefriday.com I hope you know that I so appreciate you being here! God bless, Cindy

 

 

Gather~Day 8~31Days2019

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“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” 1 John 5:11 (NIV) / Pixabay

 

Gather at the River

A small crowd gathered on the bank of the river this past Sunday to witness the baptism of some young people from our church family. Raindrops fell but spirits could not be dampened. Temperatures dropped but praises were raised. What a joy and a privilege to experience a person coming up out of the water into a new life in Christ!

“For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.” Ephesians 4:4-6 (NLT)

When I was a child, a group gathered with me as I was baptized, too. Water was sprinkled and at the front of the church that morning, through this act, I shared my testimony for the very first time as I confessed my faith in Jesus. Funny, I haven’t thought about that day for a long time so of course it has me pondering…”Glorious hope, one Lord, one faith”…have I continued to share** this testimony with those I gather with?

“And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross-not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony. so we have these three witnesses-the Spirit, the water, and the blood-and all three agree. Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son.” 1 John 5:6-9 (NLT)

Jesus proclaimed God’s love for all people to the crowds who gathered around Him to listen, but He didn’t stop there. His actions on the cross affirmed all He had said. Do my, do our, actions testify as well? Do we:
~Put God’s will and the needs of others above our own? ~Jesus said, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Luke 22:42 (NLT)
~Forgive others? ~Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34a (NLT)
~Care for the grieving and the lonely? ~When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, ‘Dear woman, here is your son.’ ”  John 19:26 (NLT)
~Use the gifts God has given us to complete the plans He has for us, all the way to the end, even if it isn’t easy?~  Jesus said, “It is finished.” John 19:30a (NLT)

Yes, our words and actions should declare the message of eternal life through the truth of the Spirit, the water, and the blood of Jesus to as many as we can, so that one glorious day, we all can gather side by side at the beautiful, beautiful river flowing by the throne of God.

This post is written as part of the 31 Days of Five Minute Friday Free Writes Challenge. You can read posts from other writers on the same topics over at http://www.fiveminutefriday.com I hope you know that I so appreciate you being here! God bless, Cindy