Saturday: Amazing stories I heard of the Lord moving
I met Esther at the church for prayer meeting on Saturday and Dianne Lloyd. We had a great time singing hymns! I love hymns. And talking about what God did and we were so encouraged – the Lord was there with us.
One of Esther’s stories
Lots of amazing things are always happening to Esther, but here’s one of them.
This past week, she was eating in Folks restaurant and saw a guy putting in a job application – and she felt like the Holy Spirit said to her, that she should ask him to pray for Darryl (her son). And she was like – what? That makes no sense. I should pray for him!
So, she asked him if she could pray for him and he said oh yes, absolutely! It turned out he knew the Lord. So, she did, and she told him about Darryl. She and I pray for Darryl and she and Darryl pray every morning, reading through The Circle Maker, another longer and more detailed book by Batterson. He recently went through a divorce, has a 13-year-old son he’s taking care of, and is having a terrible time making ends meet, but the Lord used it to get his attention and he’s now walking more closely with Him than he has in his whole life, rejoicing in the Lord, and overwhelmed with awe at how good the Lord has been to him, and how he’s brought him to a whole other place, even though things are so hard. The Lord has really provided for him. It would take too long to recount the things I’ve heard happen in his life.
It turned out that this guy Esther was talking to was going through exactly the same kind of situation as Darryl was – he cried, and said he would be happy to pray for him and how glad he was Esther had talked to him, about what the Lord was doing in her son’s life, because he’d needed to hear it. He said, if she came back to this restaurant, look for him there, because he’d be working there! And she said, oh yes, she would.
Dianne’s story about her daughter Melissa
Dianne had great news to relate about Melissa, her daughter, who she has been praying for for many years, and her kids. Melissa said she’s been told by many people that the Lord was going to do something special in her life, but she didn’t believe it and she ignored Him completely for years.
But this past weekend, she went to a Joyce Myer’s conference with Dianne and every single thing Joyce talked about spoke to exactly what she was going through. She decided to come back to the Lord, because she was fed up with how her life was turning out.
Dianne said that it was really a hugely amazing time for both of them – the power of the Lord was just all over the place – and Melissa even ran into an old friend there she hadn’t talked to in a long time, who’d been very important to her.
Ashlyn Murphy, my friend – the Lord is healing her!
I heard about Ashlyn almost as soon as I walked into the church, from Ms. Tingle, who was there to do crotchet with the knitting group. Ashlyn and Josh are my friends who had Sawyer, a baby boy, this past May of this year, born with tetralogy of fallot, a bad heart condition. The doctors did surgery, but couldn’t save him. He lived only twenty-two days. Though she trusted the Lord had a plan, she’s been grieving in so much pain since then. She and Josh are younger than John and I, and I so hurt for them.
Her best friend Claire and her husband Sam just had their baby girl last Friday. She was able to be there for the delivery and hold her – the first baby she’s held since Sawyer died – and she blogged about how the Lord was using it to begin healing her. I cried, reading it. For those of you who might remember my previous posts (here, here and here) about Ashlyn and Josh, here’s a link to her post here.
I think everyone I the church cried with her, reading that post. Ms. Tingle was crying. Dianne cried when I told her. The whole church gathered around Ashlyn and Josh when they were going through all that pain with Sawyer and it’s been a gaping wound in us all. We were all SO overjoyed to hear the Lord moving in her life.
I Corinthians 12:12-14; 26, “12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many. […] And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”
Sunday: Pastor Jeff's sermon and Sonya and Randy Harris Going Away Reception
It’s also the last Sunday that Sonya, our sweet choir and music minister, will be with us. She has been such a wonderful blessing to the church. She has the sweetest spirit and loves worshipping the Lord! Her husband Randy has been in a pillar in our church for years. They’ll always be a part of us.
They said that the Lord has called them to step down and go somewhere else, some place He’d show them, but they didn’t know where that was yet. I admire them so much for taking the step of faith to do what He asked – it’s hard, and we’ll miss them to death – but I have absolutely no doubt the Lord is leading them. He’s evident in everything they do.
I loved the hymns. At the end for the last song, Sonya asked all past and present choir members to come up stage and sing, so I went. I used to be in choir once upon a time – I love singing worship songs – such good times. I just haven’t been able to with scheduling things lately. We sang, “I’ll Fly Away” and a whole medley of others – such a good time – and so sweet to be able to sing with Sonya one more time before she leaves.
Notes on Pastor Jeff’s Sermon
Pastor Jeff is talking about Philippians. We looked at Philippians 1:7-11 today. Here it is:
Philippians 1:6-11, (NIV) “6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God."
God finishes what He starts in our lives.
Paul asks the Lord for the Philippians that …
1. Their love may abound more and more in knowledge and all discernment
Isn’t it interesting that Paul doesn’t tell the Philippians that they need to know more Scripture or to make better moral decisions – no, he focuses on love – the greek word “agape” – or the love of God, that they might exhibit more of it in their lives – a sacrificing, self-giving kind of love – only one person ever lived this kind of love perfectly, Jesus, and He died for us. It’s not a romantic kind, brotherly or familial love or some fuzzy feeling – but a self-sacrificing kind that gives of yourself to others. The words Paul uses literally mean the same thing as he’s wanting this kind of love to be a flood from them, poured into them by the Spirit and out to others.
Knowledge – not just a head knowledge – but having known and experienced God’s love, they would be able to spread that love to others and learn to love the same way Jesus loves, loving with His love in them.
Discernment (NKJV) – or depth of insight (in NIV) – how do we show that love? It’s not always in our capacity to love other people on our own; our love comes up short – we like to say some people are “hard to love.” My problem is my capacity to love – sometimes I’m physically tired, stressed or hurting – and those are the times we must love people with the love of Christ – His love goes through us to love someone else. This can take many forms – encouragement but also – confronting someone who is walking on a self-destructive path. Is it love to allow someone to walk down a path of destruction and say nothing?
2. so that you may be able to discern what is best
A lot of times, our decisions in life are not so much between GOOD and EVIL as between GOOD and BEST. We must determine what really matters; what we are really willing to aim for, in life – just the good – or the best. We cannot live the Christian life. The Lord has to live it through us, if we are to discern and do His best.
3. and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ
Pure – the greek word for pure is made up of the roots for sunlight and judgment. The idea here is something like this … you know how when the sun shines through your car window, you can suddenly see so much dirt that you didn’t see before? Or windows you just cleaned look dirty when the sun shines directly through them, because it’s reflecting off the specks on the glass that maybe you missed or were invisible before.
As God holds up our character in the light of His judgment and looks through our lives, He sees what’s there. Paul says he prays that they would be found pure – this is something that can only be accomplished in the Lord.
Blameless – this word both suggests stumbling against someone or causing someone to stumble – it can mean both. Paul prays that they are not a stumbling block to others or cause others to stumble, in their walk with the Lord.
4. filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Righteousness always refers to a right relationship with God – the fruit of their relationship with God. Right actions come from a right relationship with the Lord. Our character is being transformed by the Lord and our behavior is a reflection of our character. Being in a right relationship with God leads to doing. You do not do life to be in a relationship with God. You live in relationship with God and He shows you how to live and puts in you the strength and will to do it.
The Lord’s people are to be characterized by His love. This is how we are to be known.
John 13:34-35, “ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
After Service
Afterward, we all ate cake and got to talk with Sonya and Randy who were leaving. I talked to a bunch of people around. I had the most fun talking to Kevin Davenport, Ashlyn’s dad. He’s just such a nice, calm person – not seeming to mind talking or not talking – and we just discussed life – I haven’t talked to him in a while.
He said they’d helped Ashlyn and Josh move this past week into their new house. Ashlyn and Josh have five cats and three dogs! I hope I can have five cats one day. Kevin and Amy have five cats too.
And he said, yes, the older you got and looked back on things, the more you could see that nothing was coincidence. I totally agreed with that!
FIN
I'm trusting the Lord to do all the good that He's doing - and excited to see it, though right now, I'm tired. I know He'll strengthen me. He always does. I listened to this song earlier today and felt like it should go up here. Also, I bought the whole CD on itunes from Phil Wickham who sang "This is the Day," last Sunday. It's awesome! I felt as if some of those should go up here too - I'd put them all up - but that'd be altogether too many.
She was driving last Friday on her way to Cincinnati
On a snow white Christmas Eve
Going home to see her Mama and her Daddy with the baby in the backseat
Fifty miles to go and she was running low on faith and gasoline
It'd been a long hard year
She had a lot on her mind and she didn't pay attention
She was going way too fast
Before she knew it she was spinning on a thin black sheet of glass
She saw both their lives flash before her eyes
She didn't even have time to cry
She was so scared
She threw her hands up in the air
Jesus take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can't do this on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
Save me from this road I'm on
Jesus take the wheel
It was still getting colder when she made it to the shoulder
And the car came to a stop
She cried when she saw that baby in the backseat sleeping like a rock
And for the first time in a long time
She bowed her head to pray
She said I'm sorry for the way
I've been living my life
I know I've got to change
So from now on tonight
Jesus take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can't do this on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
Save me from this road I'm on
Oh, Jesus take the wheel
Oh, I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
Save me from this road I'm on
From this road I'm on
Jesus take the wheel
Come and see His glory
Come just as you are
Come and hear the story of His heart
God so loved His children
He gave His only Son
That we might be forgiven,
death has been overcome
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
You are the God of our salvation
You have conquered
You have risen
You are the God of our salvation
Come you tired and weary
Come just as you are
Come and let His mercy heal your heart
For God so loved children
That He gave His only Son
That we might be forgiven,
death has been overcome
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
You are the God of our salvation
You have conquered
You have risen
You are the God of our salvation
Holy Holy Holy
is the Lord our God
Mighty King of Glory,
You have rescued us
Holy Holy Holy
is the Lord our God
Mighty King of Glory,
You have rescued us
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
You are the God of our salvation
You have conquered
You have risen
You are the God of our salvation
[VERSE 1:]
If you are the sun
then I wanna be the moon
I wanna reflect the light that shines from you
And if this is war
Then I'm gonna draw my sword
This time I know what I am fighting for
[PRE-CHORUS:]
God I wanna let you know
I want everything you are
I'm waiting for the morning light to show
a fire in the dark
[CHORUS:]
Shine your light, I wanna feel you now
God I need a miracle
Take my heart, make it glow
Shine your light from the inside out
I wanna be more like you
If you are the sun, I wanna be the moon
I wanna be the moon
[VERSE 2:]
If love is a choice
Then I need you to hear my voice
I'm the one knocking on your door making all this noise
Whatever it takes
I give it all away
I wanna show my love in a thousand ways
[PRE-CHORUS:]
God I wanna let you know
I love everything you are
I'm waiting for the morning light to show
a fire in the dark
[CHORUS:]
Shine your light, I wanna feel you now
God I need a miracle
Take my heart, make it glow
Shine your light from the inside out
I wanna be more like you
If you are the sun, I wanna be the moon
[BRIDGE:]
I can't live a single day without you
I don't even want to try
And I won't take another step without your light
I need your light
[CHORUS:]
Shine your light, I wanna feel you now
God I need a miracle
Take my heart, make it glow
Shine your light from the inside out
I wanna be more like you
If you are the sun, I wanna be the moon
[OUTRO:]
If you are the sun
then I wanna be the moon
I wanna reflect the light that shines from you