Reflections on Lent: IF

My church has been focusing on I Chronicles 7:14 this Easter season with a sermon series called "IF"

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

It's a time to reflect on NCC's ministry mission and how God is working it out:

Ordinary people, empowered by God’s Spirit, doing what Jesus did, together, wherever they are.
 

NCC and Community

Reflections on Lent: Listen to Him

Yes, this week we can think about what we listen to and what informs us, 

but also, find that rest in the voice of the Lord and truth that comes in there. 

I don't know about you, but sometimes when I spend a lot of time in reflection and a season of conviction, I get weary - weary of being wrecked, humbled, stomped down, and sent down roads I don't understand. 

So take a moment with me to rest and trust in the words of our Fathers and replace them with the hurry scurry of life...
 

The viability of our prayers is not contingent on scrabbling the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet into the right combinations like abracadabra. God already knows the last punctuation make before we pronounce the first syllable. The viability of our prayers has more to do with intensity than vocabulary. This is modeled by the Holy Spirit Himself, who has been intensely and unceasingly interceding for you your entire life.

 

  Psalm 32:7 is a must-circle promise. I like the King James Version: "Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance." [For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory - NLT]

  Long before you woke up this morning and long after you go to sleep tonight, the Spirit of God was circling you with songs of deliverance. He has been circling you since the day you were conceived, and He'll circle you until the day you die. He is praying hard for you with ultrasonic groans that cannot be formulated into words, and those unutterable intercessions should fill you with a unspeakable confidence. God isn't just for you in some passive sense: God is for you in the most active sense imaginable. The Holy Spirit is praying hard for you. And the supernatural sychronicities begin to happen with we tag-team with God and do the same.

 The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson
Dream Big. Pray Hard. Think Long.

"Even now we believe even then" - we are more than conquers.

Reflections on Lent: If Leaders

So when people talk about calling, most times I think of getting the task of leading a movement. But it doesn't have to be that way. Calling maybe a simply call to be obedient as a mother, a wife, a boyfriend, a best friend, a secretary, or a co-worker. It may be to sell all you have and set off for a far away place or it may be as scary as going to your fence and having a conversation with your neighbor.