Tough Decisions

Proverbs 3:21-26 My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble; when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.

Okay, so now that the official word has gotten out, I thought I would share just some of what I learned in making a difficult decision like this (transitioning into planting a church).

I really enjoy my relationship with God. However, in our relationship, God has never really spoken directly and specifically to me and said something like, “Aaron, I want you to do this on this day, at exactly this time.” I hear how for some people He seems to do that, but I can’t say He’s ever done that with me. At the same time though, I’m always concerned to know how I can best be doing His will for in life. So how do I do that? How do I go about understanding God’s will for me when He isn’t directly revealing it to me?

The answer I read over and over in the Bible seems to be…pursue Godly wisdom and your paths will be made straight. If I do everything I can to grow in and act out of proper wisdom and understanding, the promise seems to be that God will sovereignly guide my decisions and my paths according to His good purposes.

So how did I search out wisdom with this decision. Well, for one, I prayed for it. Wisdom is something we always pursue with God’s help. Two, I tried to stay in the Scriptures. There is actually a place where God is speaking quite loudly about what He wants from His people. So I let that shape a bit of my “wisdom”. Three, I talked with a lot of Godly people, people who knew my strengths and weaknesses, who knew the situation I was in, who knew my family, who knew a bit about what all is involved in church planting and even youth ministry. And four, I really had to search and know my own heart. I had to take a hard look at how God had been growing me over the years. I had to evaluate my desires and try to determine which ones were just selfish ones and which were perhaps a bit more “noble” or God-oriented.

Well, you know how the decision turned out. You know what seemed the wisest and most faithful decision for me to make. I won’t go into full detail here on each of those elements of wisdom (that would take up quite a bit of space). I more just wanted to share that with some of you because I know that many of you will be making tough decisions of your own in the coming months/years. Some of you are heading off to college, deciding on majors. Some of you are just wondering what to do with a certain relationship your in, or how you can better be used to serve God’s Kingdom day in and day out, or how to handle a difficult situation your facing. You pray, you worry, you pray some more, you wonder…

I love the book of Proverbs because the writer seems to make it so cut and dry: pursue wisdom as best you can, and God will take care of the rest. No need to worry, no need to second guess, no need to fear screwing things up. Your responsibility is simply to pursue wisdom as best you can. You may not even get the wisdom part “right” all the time…who knows. But as you faithfully search for it, God promises He will worry about the keeping you in line with His will part.

I’m sure my recipe for wisdom hunting isn’t the final word on the matter, but I think its a worthwhile place to start. If you’re wrestling with decisions, big or small, I would encourage you (1) to pray, (2) to let God’s word speak, (3) talk to others you trust and know to be wise, and (4) to see what God’s been up to in your heart and life as best you can. I think as you do these things faithfully, God will be faithful to lead, provide, and make straight the decisions you make.

Prayer – For God’s Sake

The following is from Jon…

Matthew 6:9-13
9Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name. 10Your kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread, 12And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.

We are all familiar with the Lords pray, but do we really know what it’s in the Bible for? It’s there because Jesus was asked how we should pray, so He gave us this prayer as a good example on how our prayer should be, hence the, “Pray then like this”.

Breaking down the Lords pray verse by verse;
Verse 9: …Our Father in heaven,…
Explanation: This is the part of the prayer where we are to greet God however you feel comfortable while still being reverent to Him. Personally I like to greet God like this in my prayers… “Hey God how you doing today?”.
Verse 9: …Hallowed be Your name.
Explanation: This part of the pray is where we are to praise, glorify, and honor God as well as thank him for the wonderful and not so wonderful things in our life and the lives of those around us. Now I’m sure you all are wondering why we should thank God if something not so wonderful happens in our lives like being made fun of or our grandparents dying or even an unsaved person dying. Well, the answer to that is rather simple but at the same time hard to accept at times. We are to praise God for everything that happens in our lives because nothing is outside of His will and everything that happens, happens to bring more honor and glory to His name and kingdom.

Verse 10: Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Explanation: One thing that I really want to stress in this part of the prayer is the “Your will be done”. Too many times have I heard prayers and even prayed myself like this “God, please heal my friend for he is sick and doesn’t know You yet and if he dies he will surely go to hell.” And then we simply move on to our next item to pray about, how selfish of us to pray like this! Now, I’m not saying it’s wrong to ask God for things like this, because we should! But the most important part of that prayer is missing, if we were to follow the example of Jesus’ prayer, the very next thing in that prayer should be something like this “But God, I know that you have a plan that I do not understand, and as much as I want my friend to be healed and saved from hell, please let Your will be done with this…” In everything we ask of God we are to ask that God’s will be done, not ours!

Verse 11: Give us this day our daily bread,
Explanation: This is where we simply ask for the necessities of life, such as food, water, clothes, and a roof over our heads. But there is one more thing that needs to be fed daily; can you guess what it is? Our Spirit needs to be fed daily. If you’ve ever seen the “Christian Spiritual Chart” it’s pretty much a chart that has a baby on the very left, next to it is a teen, next to the teen is an adult, and next to the adult is a warrior. This is a good example of how much that person’s Spirit got fed by the Bible. If we read the Bible daily, our Spirit will grow strong like the warrior/adult and when hard times come we will be able to stand our ground. But if we read the bible now and maybe once a week, our Spirit will be as a baby so that when hard times come we will be defeated in seconds and fall to sin. So, here is what this prayer is also talking about. We are to ask God that he would help remind us and give us time to read our Bibles, and that He would to speak to us through His word so that we may understand and apply to our life what He is saying to us.

Verse 12: And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Explanation: This is very simple; ask for God to forgive you for your sins on a daily basis. And ask for courage to forgive those who do wrong against you. In verse 15 it goes on to say that if we forgive others’ debts against us He will forgive our debts, but if we do not forgive others’ debts He will not forgive ours.

Verse 13: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Explanation: This is pretty much where we are to ask that God would help us to not sin and to stay away from things that would grieve His heart.

You don’t have to pray in this exact order every day; it is, however, a good example / outline of how we should pray. When you pray, remember these things: Prayer is all about God and bringing more honor, glory, power, and praise to His name, and furthering His kingdom. It’s not just about us and what we want, it’s all about Him and how we can love and serve Him better.

These Old Feet

The following is from Lori…

I have the ugliest feet in the world. Mark my words – put them next to anyone’s (well, besides my husband’s) and they are the ugliest. Barely any toenails, toes go the wrong way, etc. You get the picture. They don’t look like the pics you see in the magazines with girls with beautiful long toes with perfectly manicured nails. Yet I’ve sung a song at many weddings that says:

“….How beautiful the feet that bring
the sound of good news
and the love of the King….”

Makes me think. Isaiah 52:7 says, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaims peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation….”
And Romans 10:14-15 says: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!”

My feet? Right….. Must mean someone else. No, God’s word says that the feet of those who preach the gospel of Jesus Christ are beautiful (Farrell paraphrase). Makes me do more thinking (ouch). We are about to embark on a journey that will change many lives. Not just those who we are being sent to serve, but our own lives as well. Our feet will be going to the Dominican Republic to help, serve, aid and tell. Since Jerry’s visit, I can’t even stop thinking about what may be in store for all of us as we go to a place God has called us to. We have all probably been called for different reasons. But each of us has a chance to make an incredible difference. To preach the gospel of peace in one way or another. My heart is already so burdened for these children who will need our help in ways we can only imagine. Children and families who have nothing compared to what we have. Mothers who need to know their child is not an outcast. Babies who haven’t been loved because of the way they were conceived. Little boys who can’t throw a baseball because their hands may not be able to grip one. Little girls who have no toenails to even paint…..Yeah. Just a few things going through my mind while I’m trying to sleep at night. I hope so badly that I can wrap my arms around just one suffering individual and just cry with them and let them know HOW MUCH Jesus loves them. Jesus has done SO MUCH for me, the little I can offer to another person is nothing in comparison.

This place has already touched my heart in a way I never felt possible. I’ve never really thought much of missions. I figure I have such a vast mission field in my own neighborhood, I don’t ever need to leave it. But yet God has placed this burden on me, our family, and all of you. We need to be ready.

As we prepare for our trip, the shots, the passports, more shots….let’s not forget what needs to be prepared the most. Our hearts. Our hearts need to be ready for whatever God will have in store for us. Our feet are going to be very busy. My prayer is that my heart is even more so.

Ruth – the Next Chapter

Ruth 2:1-9 Now there was a wealthy and influential man in Bethlehem named Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi’s husband, Elimelech. One day Ruth said to Naomi, “Let me go out into the fields to gather leftover grain behind anyone who will let me do it.” And Naomi said,

“All right, my daughter, go ahead.” So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech. While she was there, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters.

“The LORD be with you!” he said. “The LORD bless you!” the harvesters replied. Then Boaz asked his foreman, “Who is that girl over there?” And the foreman replied, “She is the young woman from Moab who came back with Naomi. She asked me this morning if she could gather grain behind the harvesters. She has been hard at work ever since, except for a few minutes’ rest over there in the shelter.”

Boaz went over and said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Stay right here with us when you gather grain; don’t go to any other fields. Stay right behind the women working in my field. See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them. I have warned the young men not to bother you. And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well.”

Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly. “Why are you being so kind to me?” she asked. “I am only a foreigner.” “Yes, I know,” Boaz replied. “But I also know about the love and kindness you have shown your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to live here among complete strangers. May the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully.”

“I hope I continue to please you, sir,” she replied. “You have comforted me by speaking so kindly to me, even though I am not as worthy as your workers.”

At lunchtime Boaz called to her, “Come over here and help yourself to some of our food. You can dip your bread in the wine if you like.” So she sat with his harvesters, and Boaz gave her food– more than she could eat. When Ruth went back to work again, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her gather grain right among the sheaves without stopping her. And pull out some heads of barley from the bundles and drop them on purpose for her. Let her pick them up, and don’t give her a hard time!”

So Ruth gathered barley there all day, and when she beat out the grain that evening, it came to about half a bushel. The carried it back into town and showed it to her mother-in-law. Ruth also gave her the food that was left over from her lunch. “So much!” Naomi exclaimed. “Where did you gather all this grain today? Where did you work? May the LORD bless the one who helped you!” So Ruth told her mother-in-law about the man in whose field she had worked. And she said, “The man I worked with today is named Boaz.”

“May the LORD bless him!” Naomi told her daughter-in-law. “He is showing his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband. That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers.”

Then Ruth said, “What’s more, Boaz even told me to come back and stay with his harvesters until the entire harvest is completed.”

“This is wonderful!” Naomi exclaimed. “Do as he said. Stay with his workers right through the whole harvest. You will be safe there, unlike in other fields.” So Ruth worked alongside the women in Boaz’s fields and gathered grain with them until the end of the barley harvest. Then she worked with them through the wheat harvest, too. But all the while she lived with her mother-in-law.

I’ll make some comments on this chapter for tomorrow. But in the meantime, what do you think? What are your impressions from the chapter? Why is this chapter or this little story in God’s Bible? What does He want to show you in this story?

God Alone

The following is a post from Lori…

God constantly challenges us with each second of every day. Some get challenged more than others. Sometimes I feel like I’m just a slow learner so God is extra tough on me….but I seriously know that if my life were easy, I would stray away from God very easily and try things on my own, which we all know would be a total disaster for all involved!

Our family deals with a lot of “picky inny” medical issues. Nothing horribly serious, but just pain in the butt stuff. Court is undergoing some tests this week of a not so pleasant nature. Because we used to live in New Jersey, we kept some of our specialists down there so these tests are performed in NJ. The prep for digestive procedures is not fun. In fact, it’s downright gross. Part of God’s funny sense of humor, I think. And yes, God does have a sense of humor. Anybody looked in the mirror today? (just kidding). We had to be in NJ (Ocean City) very early this a.m. We got up at 3:30 a.m. Got down to the hospital, and we were told we were three hours early, which meant, we could have slept a little longer. Ok, wait three more hours. Court goes back and they begin the procedure, which cannot be completed for reasons I will not elaborate on, but a comedy of errors ensued, well maybe it wasn’t comedy, but you get my point. But now she needs to repeat a more vigorous type prep in the next two days and return for the test again on Thursday. Again? Doesn’t God know we are busy? Doesn’t God care that we have a party and a yard sale on Saturday to prepare for? Doesn’t God care that I work ten hours every day? Doesn’t God care that my daughter is going to get really sick from all these preps? Does God have any idea how tired I am?

The awesome answer would be YES, God does care. Matthew 10:29-31 says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” He cares about the sparrows, and even the hairs (or lack of hair) on our heads! He sent His Son to die for all of us. Of course He cares! And we know the standard one, “cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.” It’s easy to get angry and want to blame someone. Sometimes, things just happen for us to stop long enough to remember who is in control of our lives.

God gave us a beautiful day to drive down. He gave us one on one time to talk, laugh, cry, be angry (yes, I’m sorry to say we were). But God is God. He doesn’t need MY permission to change MY plans, which are usually calculated to the second. He is God. Sometimes we forget. One of my favorite songs is by Phillips, Craig & Dean, called “You are God Alone” – my favorite words are the chorus:

You are not a god created by human hands
You are not a god dependant on any mortal man
You are not a god in need of anything we can give
By your plan, that’s just the way it is.

You are God alone, from before time began
You were on your throne, You are God alone.
And right now, in the good times and bad
You are on your throne, you are God alone.

He cares enough that He brought us together to be a team to do a great work for people He cares for in the Dominican Republic. Let’s start now by praying for each other, our ministry and the people we will be ministering too! As a body, we can do much for Him

Enjoying God in the Storm

The following was sent from Nicole. She originally intended it as a comment to the “You’ve Got to Be Kidding” devotional (see below). But there’s so much encouraging stuff in here that it seemed best to make it it’s own posting.

I have been realizing this truth lately in my life…that tough times draw me closer to God than I have ever been before in my life. It is in the times that I feel like I literally cannot go on that I truly truly cry out to God. I may pray to him daily and mean what I pray- but it’s in the most difficult times that I can most clearly see my true need for God.
And it is in those times of desperation that I find Him also. When life feels unbearable, God is there. And it is important to see that he did not intend for us to go through all this pain. Someone recently told me that Christ weeps with me. Anyone who loves you as much as he does hurts with you. When times are so difficult and circumstances are far beyond any of your control, it is easy to get angry with God. Even if you choose to trust God and stay at peace with Him, that still does not always give a “why” for things. I have seen the effects of living in a sinful world- It is painful and I do not always understand why. But I have come to a point (though I don’t always stay at this point) where I just know I must praise God through difficult times. I have realized that no matter what happens- God is with me, and He does not change. He is always loving, merciful, faithful. Circumstances in life change from day to day, but God does not and His truth remains the same.

Matthew 8: 24-27 says this- 24Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.
25The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” 26He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

While any of you may be facing difficult times, know that Christ has performed many miracles. Have faith.
Okay, that’s the end of my rant for today