So the past week or so has been kind of hard for me...I've been really stressed out with trying to balance working full time while still going to school full time as well as trying to deal with certain circumstances. I admit I was starting to get discouraged. However, the Lord came through in a huge way I had a good conversation with a friend and then I went to the Winter Jam concert with two of my awesome friends, this was so amazing and so encouraging and uplifting. Music like what I heard at the concert does wonders for my soul.
So on Sunday I went to Winter Jam which is a concert with a ton of Christian bands and its only ten dollars. This year the line up was Revive, Robert Pierre, Newsong, Sidewalk Prophets, Fireflight, Newsboys, Tenth Avenue North and Third Day. This concert was AMAZING! I had since Tenth Avenue North two other times in concert, so I knew if it would have just been them it would have been amazing. All the bands were good but I have to say that Tenth Avenue North and the Newsboys were my favorites by far. I just love their music. Again Tenth Avenue North's music is SO good and is filled with SO much truth. There is so much truth in their music and I can relate to their lyrics so closely, and it really just speaks to me and at times comforts me so very much, I wish there where words. One sweet thing is that tenth avenue north played one of their new songs that will be on their new album and it was amazing and seriously the lyrics speak to me so clearly. Here is a little clip of it...I can't wait to get their new album...its going to be AMAZING!!!
I hope you enjoyed that song!! I was very impressed with the concert and amazed at the impact that it did to help encourage me.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
All I Know
This song was a song that Steele Croswhite wrote for faithwalkers and its absoultely AMAZING. It's a song that hits so close to my heart and how I have felt a lot lately. I really encourage you to listen to the words of this song they are so very powerful.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Faithwalkers
Encouraged, inspired, convicted, changed....this is the best way that I can describe faithwalkers this year...it was absolutely amazing!
This year faithwalkers was different for me than the past couple of years that I have gone to faithwalkers. If I'm to be humbly honest with you, I had a lot of reservations about going to faithwalkers this year...in light of what has been going on in my life, but the LORD urged me to go so I did. I'm so happy that I did because I came away from this conference changed.
My heart was very heavy going to faithwalkers and the first night and into the first full day, I was in protection mode...in order to protect my heart from possible hurt and that is when the Lord broke into my heart and brought me to my knees. The first full day that we were at the conference...the LORD spoke to me so much...one question that the Lord has been pressing me to answer the day before faithwalkers was " Alyssa, are willing/ready to give up this situation up to me and to just trust me?", during the day when I went to the seminars "Your knight in shining Armor"...this seminar pretty much summarized the story of my life relating to a lot of my struggles and "Are you Brave Enough?" and through these seminars,the Lord really spoke to my heart and after the last seminar I went off by myself and broke down and surrendered that certain situation up to the Lord and i for the first time really truly meant it...it was SO freeing...I wish I had more words to describe how amazing this was just to surrender this to the Lord and trust Him...its amazing how simple this sounds but its so hard to do at times so this was such an amazing experience to just trust the LORD and give this to Him. This brought me to tears and humbled me so much and I thank God so much for this!
There is SO much that I learned at this conference and I am seriously inspired, encouraged and changed. So here are some of the very critical points that I got out of the conference. There is SO much that I learned these are just a few glimpses of what I learned and if you want to hear more ask me and I'll tell you.
One of the first points I got out of the conference was to stop pleasing people and letting what they say about me, define me. I have struggled with this my whole life, especially the past year or so. I was very convicted on this. I learned that God is NOT pleased when we work to just please others to gain acceptance. It is JESUS CHRIST who defines me NOT people. This is something I'm really going to work on. The verse that really hits me regarding this is Galatians 1:10: " Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
The second main point I got out of faithwalkers was from Andy Gray's seminar "Are you brave enough?" and that I need to take risks and stop being SO fearful of all things especially rejection and getting out of my comfort zone. This really hit me cause I have not been the person who normally takes risks and this is actually really self centered. One thing that really hit me was that Andy said Every spiritual blessing has been given to us through Christ, we have all the tools we need to get through situations. I loved how he related it to this situation where this man was a photographer and took a picture of this women and how she feel into a disaster and how he had the chance to save her but chose not to. So the thing that really convicted me was that I've had to ask myself if there is someone who is drowning would I be brave enough to jump in and save them, even if they have a wave of chaos coming in behind them. I really was convicted on this and about taking risks. The last question that he posed to us and the one I leave for you to think about is " Are you brave enough to love?"
A third point that I got out of this conference was a huge one and had a theme through out all of the faithwalkers teachings especially the main teachings.The big thing is reaching out and loving the lost. This hit me SO much, I've had a passion before to reach the lost but this was like a slap in the face and a real wake up call and re- lit this passion in my soul to reach the lost and share truth with them. So Bill Young had some amazing points that really hit me, the first thing he said that hit me was that Bill said " People are dying all around me, what are you doing with your life?" This really convicted me. Another quote that really hit me and was one of the most profound statements that impacted me this faithwalkers and that was " LORD, stamp eternity on my eyes: 'Heaven' on one and 'hell' on the other that I might see every should in light of eternity."- Leonard Ravenhill. WOW is all I can say, this is what I want to do in my life, I want to see people in this view. Another point that Bill brought up was the analogy that if you had the cure for cancer, you would share it wouldn't you? This hit me cause of course we would give them the cure and the thing is that we have a cure and that is Jesus, so think about this statement " If you really believe people are going to hell, and you have the answer, how much do you have to hate them not to tell them." I challenge you to really think about this.
If you want to be involved in changing lives, you have to be changed and be changing. One quote that Rick Whitney shared and that was " If you are not hated by someone then, we don't know enough people, and we don't speak enough truth"-John Piper, this hit me so hard and was a real wake up call and in relation to sharing my faith. Some points that Rick gave were; to pray for the lost everyday, pray for opportunities to be a witness, to pray for courage to speak, look for opportunities to hand out invites to your church. I really want to work to apply these to my life. I also want to share this piece of truth and that is If we open our mouths God will bless it!
Then Pat Sokoll spoke and wow it was AMAZING! He started his talk with a thing that had a counter on it with how many people were born each day in the world, how many people are hearing the gospel and not believing it and then how many people are dying and not hearing the gospel. This really hit me because there were thousands and by the time that he was done speaking over 2300 people died with out hearing the gospel and that really hit me because that was really put in because he was like this whole room plus more has died without hearing the gospel and that was very powerful. The biggest thing that I got out of Pat's message was to just go out and do it and reach out to the lost. I was really encouraged and inspired to share the truth with the lost.
One of the final points that really hit me was John Meyer's message. He stressed the importance of fellowship and loving one another and being Christ to one another. He used the word koinonia which means fellowship, association, community. He gave so many verses like John 13:34-35, 1 Thessalonians 4:9, 1 Thessalonians 3:12, 1 Peter 1:22, 1 John 3:11, 23, 1 John 4:7-8. We are called to love one another. So I ask are you applying obedient faith to that? I know that I have not this past semester and I think that's why this message really hit me. I've been SO selfish and self seeking. This message moved me to tears and had a major impact on me. So I leave you with this last thing I got from John Meyer and that was we love one another as an overflow of our relationship with Christ. Are you pursuing a relationship with Christ? Through the Bible? Through prayer?
This faithwalkers has impacted me SO much and has spurred me to changed quite a few things in my life and with with His help and through His grace I will try and accomplish these things.I was impacted by the life changing teachings and the amazing worship( which is amazing and a little slice of heaven on earth, I can't wait till we're all in heaven and worshiping with the LORD its going to be SO AWESOME, words can not describe). I'm so blessed that the LORD has chosen me as one of His vessels to share truth with others, its truly amazing. I want to live to give glory, honor and praise to Him and see others come to know Him!
I also want to thank Julie Johnson, she is pretty amazing! A true blessing and I was really encouraged by a talk that her and I had. It was SO nice to share a little time with you at faithwalkers.
So I hope that you are encouraged today and I leave you with the song that hits home for me, every time I listen to it and was written by steele croswhite and it is also the inspiration for the title of this blog. Here is Your love remains.
PS: I know that many of you don't read this blog and many will not ever know that this is on here, but I just want to thank SO many of you who have been in my life this past year, you all have truly impacted me more than you know and I thank God SO much for you and you all have been such a blessing to me and I'm truly honored to know you and to get to share life with you. So I would just like to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. Tess, wow you have been absolutely amazing! I'm pretty sure I would have gone insane without you, thanks for always being there even when I have been extremely stubborn and for always encouraging me and loving me. Craig, you have been a huge blessing to my life and have helped me SO much. Your wisdom and guidance has helped me SO much. Thanks for being there for me. Alexa, wow, girl you have been AMAZING and I'm SO incredibly thankful. Thank you for loving me and encouraging me and just being there for me. Words can not describe how blessed I am to have you in my life. Sarah, you are SO amazing. You have had a profound impact on my life and I have been very blessed by having you in my life. God has worked through you SO many times to reveal truth to me and I'm SO thankful for that. I love you and you are very dear to me. I have SO many others that have impacted me so much and I love you all and I'm truly blessed and honored to share life with you.
This year faithwalkers was different for me than the past couple of years that I have gone to faithwalkers. If I'm to be humbly honest with you, I had a lot of reservations about going to faithwalkers this year...in light of what has been going on in my life, but the LORD urged me to go so I did. I'm so happy that I did because I came away from this conference changed.
My heart was very heavy going to faithwalkers and the first night and into the first full day, I was in protection mode...in order to protect my heart from possible hurt and that is when the Lord broke into my heart and brought me to my knees. The first full day that we were at the conference...the LORD spoke to me so much...one question that the Lord has been pressing me to answer the day before faithwalkers was " Alyssa, are willing/ready to give up this situation up to me and to just trust me?", during the day when I went to the seminars "Your knight in shining Armor"...this seminar pretty much summarized the story of my life relating to a lot of my struggles and "Are you Brave Enough?" and through these seminars,the Lord really spoke to my heart and after the last seminar I went off by myself and broke down and surrendered that certain situation up to the Lord and i for the first time really truly meant it...it was SO freeing...I wish I had more words to describe how amazing this was just to surrender this to the Lord and trust Him...its amazing how simple this sounds but its so hard to do at times so this was such an amazing experience to just trust the LORD and give this to Him. This brought me to tears and humbled me so much and I thank God so much for this!
There is SO much that I learned at this conference and I am seriously inspired, encouraged and changed. So here are some of the very critical points that I got out of the conference. There is SO much that I learned these are just a few glimpses of what I learned and if you want to hear more ask me and I'll tell you.
One of the first points I got out of the conference was to stop pleasing people and letting what they say about me, define me. I have struggled with this my whole life, especially the past year or so. I was very convicted on this. I learned that God is NOT pleased when we work to just please others to gain acceptance. It is JESUS CHRIST who defines me NOT people. This is something I'm really going to work on. The verse that really hits me regarding this is Galatians 1:10: " Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
The second main point I got out of faithwalkers was from Andy Gray's seminar "Are you brave enough?" and that I need to take risks and stop being SO fearful of all things especially rejection and getting out of my comfort zone. This really hit me cause I have not been the person who normally takes risks and this is actually really self centered. One thing that really hit me was that Andy said Every spiritual blessing has been given to us through Christ, we have all the tools we need to get through situations. I loved how he related it to this situation where this man was a photographer and took a picture of this women and how she feel into a disaster and how he had the chance to save her but chose not to. So the thing that really convicted me was that I've had to ask myself if there is someone who is drowning would I be brave enough to jump in and save them, even if they have a wave of chaos coming in behind them. I really was convicted on this and about taking risks. The last question that he posed to us and the one I leave for you to think about is " Are you brave enough to love?"
A third point that I got out of this conference was a huge one and had a theme through out all of the faithwalkers teachings especially the main teachings.The big thing is reaching out and loving the lost. This hit me SO much, I've had a passion before to reach the lost but this was like a slap in the face and a real wake up call and re- lit this passion in my soul to reach the lost and share truth with them. So Bill Young had some amazing points that really hit me, the first thing he said that hit me was that Bill said " People are dying all around me, what are you doing with your life?" This really convicted me. Another quote that really hit me and was one of the most profound statements that impacted me this faithwalkers and that was " LORD, stamp eternity on my eyes: 'Heaven' on one and 'hell' on the other that I might see every should in light of eternity."- Leonard Ravenhill. WOW is all I can say, this is what I want to do in my life, I want to see people in this view. Another point that Bill brought up was the analogy that if you had the cure for cancer, you would share it wouldn't you? This hit me cause of course we would give them the cure and the thing is that we have a cure and that is Jesus, so think about this statement " If you really believe people are going to hell, and you have the answer, how much do you have to hate them not to tell them." I challenge you to really think about this.
If you want to be involved in changing lives, you have to be changed and be changing. One quote that Rick Whitney shared and that was " If you are not hated by someone then, we don't know enough people, and we don't speak enough truth"-John Piper, this hit me so hard and was a real wake up call and in relation to sharing my faith. Some points that Rick gave were; to pray for the lost everyday, pray for opportunities to be a witness, to pray for courage to speak, look for opportunities to hand out invites to your church. I really want to work to apply these to my life. I also want to share this piece of truth and that is If we open our mouths God will bless it!
Then Pat Sokoll spoke and wow it was AMAZING! He started his talk with a thing that had a counter on it with how many people were born each day in the world, how many people are hearing the gospel and not believing it and then how many people are dying and not hearing the gospel. This really hit me because there were thousands and by the time that he was done speaking over 2300 people died with out hearing the gospel and that really hit me because that was really put in because he was like this whole room plus more has died without hearing the gospel and that was very powerful. The biggest thing that I got out of Pat's message was to just go out and do it and reach out to the lost. I was really encouraged and inspired to share the truth with the lost.
One of the final points that really hit me was John Meyer's message. He stressed the importance of fellowship and loving one another and being Christ to one another. He used the word koinonia which means fellowship, association, community. He gave so many verses like John 13:34-35, 1 Thessalonians 4:9, 1 Thessalonians 3:12, 1 Peter 1:22, 1 John 3:11, 23, 1 John 4:7-8. We are called to love one another. So I ask are you applying obedient faith to that? I know that I have not this past semester and I think that's why this message really hit me. I've been SO selfish and self seeking. This message moved me to tears and had a major impact on me. So I leave you with this last thing I got from John Meyer and that was we love one another as an overflow of our relationship with Christ. Are you pursuing a relationship with Christ? Through the Bible? Through prayer?
This faithwalkers has impacted me SO much and has spurred me to changed quite a few things in my life and with with His help and through His grace I will try and accomplish these things.I was impacted by the life changing teachings and the amazing worship( which is amazing and a little slice of heaven on earth, I can't wait till we're all in heaven and worshiping with the LORD its going to be SO AWESOME, words can not describe). I'm so blessed that the LORD has chosen me as one of His vessels to share truth with others, its truly amazing. I want to live to give glory, honor and praise to Him and see others come to know Him!
I also want to thank Julie Johnson, she is pretty amazing! A true blessing and I was really encouraged by a talk that her and I had. It was SO nice to share a little time with you at faithwalkers.
So I hope that you are encouraged today and I leave you with the song that hits home for me, every time I listen to it and was written by steele croswhite and it is also the inspiration for the title of this blog. Here is Your love remains.
PS: I know that many of you don't read this blog and many will not ever know that this is on here, but I just want to thank SO many of you who have been in my life this past year, you all have truly impacted me more than you know and I thank God SO much for you and you all have been such a blessing to me and I'm truly honored to know you and to get to share life with you. So I would just like to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. Tess, wow you have been absolutely amazing! I'm pretty sure I would have gone insane without you, thanks for always being there even when I have been extremely stubborn and for always encouraging me and loving me. Craig, you have been a huge blessing to my life and have helped me SO much. Your wisdom and guidance has helped me SO much. Thanks for being there for me. Alexa, wow, girl you have been AMAZING and I'm SO incredibly thankful. Thank you for loving me and encouraging me and just being there for me. Words can not describe how blessed I am to have you in my life. Sarah, you are SO amazing. You have had a profound impact on my life and I have been very blessed by having you in my life. God has worked through you SO many times to reveal truth to me and I'm SO thankful for that. I love you and you are very dear to me. I have SO many others that have impacted me so much and I love you all and I'm truly blessed and honored to share life with you.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Christmas
Merry Christmas!!!!!
This year Christmas was very different for me but still really good. This year I got stranded in Ames due to the massive winter blizzard that dropped twenty inches of snow up in Minnesota, so I wasn't able to get home for Christmas. At first I was really disappointed that I couldn't be home for Christmas but God really has blessed my Christmas here in Ames. I went to the wonderful Christmas eve service at Stonebrook last night which was awesome! Then afterwards a group of us went to see the movie the blind side...it's such a good movie!!!!
Then today I have been able to just relax and for me this is so nice, to be able to slow down for a bit and just really be able to reflect on what has been going on in my life and also to really just rejoice and reflect on the fact that a couple thousand years ago that God became flesh and came into this world in order to save us. I hope that you all have had a very blessed Christmas and have been reminded what the true meaning of Christmas is!!
Also I watched the nativity story today...I would recommend it to everyone. It's such a powerful depiction of the birth of Jesus!!
So I leave you with a song called "I celebrate the day" by Reliant K, I love this song and its a great testament to what today is all about.
This year Christmas was very different for me but still really good. This year I got stranded in Ames due to the massive winter blizzard that dropped twenty inches of snow up in Minnesota, so I wasn't able to get home for Christmas. At first I was really disappointed that I couldn't be home for Christmas but God really has blessed my Christmas here in Ames. I went to the wonderful Christmas eve service at Stonebrook last night which was awesome! Then afterwards a group of us went to see the movie the blind side...it's such a good movie!!!!
Then today I have been able to just relax and for me this is so nice, to be able to slow down for a bit and just really be able to reflect on what has been going on in my life and also to really just rejoice and reflect on the fact that a couple thousand years ago that God became flesh and came into this world in order to save us. I hope that you all have had a very blessed Christmas and have been reminded what the true meaning of Christmas is!!
Also I watched the nativity story today...I would recommend it to everyone. It's such a powerful depiction of the birth of Jesus!!
So I leave you with a song called "I celebrate the day" by Reliant K, I love this song and its a great testament to what today is all about.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Some nuggets of truth
The following verses are some gems that have really stuck with me and have encouraged and comforted me the past couple weeks or so and I just wanted to share them with you.
"Do NOT be anxious about ANYTHING, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."- Philippians 4:6-7
"you will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you"-Isaiah 26:3
"Wounds from a friend can be trusted but and enemy multiplies kisses."- Proverbs 27:6
"Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today...The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still"-Exodus 14:13-14
" Do NOTHING out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves"-Philippians 2:3
"God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" -1 John 4:16b
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear" -1 John 4:18a
"Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised." -Romans 4:20-21
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything."- James 1:2-4
"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."- Psalm 73:26
"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassion's never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." - Lamentations 3:22-24
Another gem I received a couple weeks ago out of the book David: 90 days with a heart like his was a quote from Beth Moore..."Sometimes we stand to learn the most about God from the situations we understand the least." This was a real comfort to me considering the big trial in my life that I'm going through, and have no real understanding to why so this was a huge comfort to me.
"Do NOT be anxious about ANYTHING, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."- Philippians 4:6-7
"you will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you"-Isaiah 26:3
"Wounds from a friend can be trusted but and enemy multiplies kisses."- Proverbs 27:6
"Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today...The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still"-Exodus 14:13-14
" Do NOTHING out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves"-Philippians 2:3
"God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" -1 John 4:16b
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear" -1 John 4:18a
"Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised." -Romans 4:20-21
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything."- James 1:2-4
"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."- Psalm 73:26
"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassion's never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." - Lamentations 3:22-24
Another gem I received a couple weeks ago out of the book David: 90 days with a heart like his was a quote from Beth Moore..."Sometimes we stand to learn the most about God from the situations we understand the least." This was a real comfort to me considering the big trial in my life that I'm going through, and have no real understanding to why so this was a huge comfort to me.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Spring Break
So I thought I would update you all on something I have really been praying about and that was going on a missions trip this spring break or going to study in Mexico for a couple weeks. Ultimately with a lot of prayer,counsel and the direction of the LORD, I have decided to go with Stonebrook and go on the mission trip to El Salvador this spring.
I'm really excited!!
I'm really excited!!
Oneness
So this morning at church was Tim's farewell message and although it was extremely long, I got something very critical out of it. One of his main points was on the core value that stonebrook has of oneness (aka. Love and Unity) I recommend that you listen to this part of the message. One thing that really hit me from his message is to be thankful to God for the people who have hurt you. One way to look at it is that even though these people have hurt you God has used it for good to help you grow and mature in Christ, so its going to hinder your walk when you aren't thanking God for these people in your life. Just something to think about that really struck me this morning.
On another note I got this devotional in a email this morning and it really touched me and encouraged me.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Restore broken relationships this Christmas
by Rick Warren
If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you ... agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. (Philip. 2:1-2, Msg)
God sent Jesus into the world so that our relationship with God could be restored. Christmas is about restoring relationships and many of us have relationships that need mending.
God wants us to value relationships and make every effort to maintain them instead of discarding them whenever there is a rift, a hurt or a conflict.
In fact, the Bible tells us that God has given us the ministry of restoring relationships. For this reason a significant amount of the New Testament is devoted to teaching us how to get along with one another.
The Apostle Paul taught that our ability to get along with others is a mark of spiritual maturity. Since Christ wants his family to be known for our love for each other, broken fellowship is a disgraceful testimony to unbelievers. This is why Paul was so embarrassed that the members of the church in Corinth were splitting into warring factions and even taking each other to court.
He wrote, "Shame on you! Surely there is at least one wise person in your fellowship who can settle a dispute between fellow Christians." (1 Cor. 6:5, TEV) He was shocked that no one in the church was mature enough to resolve the conflict peaceably. In the same letter, he said, "I'll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other." (1 Cor. 1:10, Msg)
If you want God's blessing on your life and you want to be known as a child of God, you must learn to be a peacemaker. Jesus said, "God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God." (Matt. 5:9, NLT)
Notice Jesus didn't say, "Blessed are the peace lovers," because everyone loves peace. Neither did he say, "Blessed are the peaceable," who are never disturbed by anything. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who work for peace" - those who actively seek to resolve conflict.
This Christmas is a good time to actively work toward restoring broken relationships.
On another note I got this devotional in a email this morning and it really touched me and encouraged me.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Restore broken relationships this Christmas
by Rick Warren
If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you ... agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. (Philip. 2:1-2, Msg)
God sent Jesus into the world so that our relationship with God could be restored. Christmas is about restoring relationships and many of us have relationships that need mending.
God wants us to value relationships and make every effort to maintain them instead of discarding them whenever there is a rift, a hurt or a conflict.
In fact, the Bible tells us that God has given us the ministry of restoring relationships. For this reason a significant amount of the New Testament is devoted to teaching us how to get along with one another.
The Apostle Paul taught that our ability to get along with others is a mark of spiritual maturity. Since Christ wants his family to be known for our love for each other, broken fellowship is a disgraceful testimony to unbelievers. This is why Paul was so embarrassed that the members of the church in Corinth were splitting into warring factions and even taking each other to court.
He wrote, "Shame on you! Surely there is at least one wise person in your fellowship who can settle a dispute between fellow Christians." (1 Cor. 6:5, TEV) He was shocked that no one in the church was mature enough to resolve the conflict peaceably. In the same letter, he said, "I'll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other." (1 Cor. 1:10, Msg)
If you want God's blessing on your life and you want to be known as a child of God, you must learn to be a peacemaker. Jesus said, "God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God." (Matt. 5:9, NLT)
Notice Jesus didn't say, "Blessed are the peace lovers," because everyone loves peace. Neither did he say, "Blessed are the peaceable," who are never disturbed by anything. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who work for peace" - those who actively seek to resolve conflict.
This Christmas is a good time to actively work toward restoring broken relationships.
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