June 2010
Counselor
John 16:13
"But when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all
truth…"
Have you ever found yourself wishing the Lord would suddenly appear in your living
room with step-by-step instructions for your life? Perhaps you’ve thought, “If God can
speak directly to Abraham, Moses, Mary, and Paul, why not me?”
Sometimes it’s hard to believe in what cannot be seen. Sometimes it’s hard to trust the
untouchable. We trust that the pew or the chair will not buckle under the weight of
someone sitting on it. Personally, I’ve learned that Christ works in and through me,
guiding my deepest desires and decisions, by the power of the Holy Spirit, which He
promised you and me after His ascension into Heaven.
This counselor is the Spirit of Truth. He makes God’s Word come alive in our hearts. He
helps us put the Word of God to work in our marriages, families, and careers, amongst
other things. All of us have missed His guidance at one time or another by paying no
attention, or down-right defying His guidance. We stomp our foot and defiantly
demand that, “Our will be done!” instead of saying, “Your will be done in my life Lord.”
God’s will is what is best for us—it is His pleasure for our lives. Surrendering to it will be
better than any adventure we could ever imagine. We need to let the gentle Holy Spirit
nurture us in love and truth today and always.
Mind Your Own
John 21:22-23
Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that
to you? You must follow me." Because of this, the rumor spread among
the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that
he would not die; he only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I
return, what is that to you?"
This little conversation is in the Bible to teach you and me a lesson. We don’t need to
look to others and expect them to have our exact experience. There is no need for us to
pattern our lives after that of someone else. Each of us are like everyone else...we are
all unique! God has a unique and personal relationship with each of us because we are
His children. Since we have separate paths to follow, we should not question the reason
He gave this or that person a different path from the one given to us.
Trust
Psalm 9:10
Those who know your name will trust in You, for You, LORD, have never
forsaken those who seek You. Those who know Your name trust in You,
for You, O Lord, have never abandoned anyone who searches for You.
Something is holding us back. Perhaps it is a fear that maybe we are wrong about God.
Maybe we feel presumptuous. It is possible, if we have been disappointed in the past,
that our misunderstanding is haunting us. We hear a voice in the back of our minds that
says, "What if God doesn't come through? What if He makes it more difficult than I can
handle? What if all my hopes are illusions?" So we hesitate to trust God. We pray and
we hope, but faith remains incomplete and doubts linger. We'll ask Him to help us, but
we withhold judgment until we've seen His response.
We are called to believe God with reckless abandon—not just believe that He is there
and that He is involved with us somehow; but that He is actively, personally seeking our
good and answering our prayers. We are to give up our own strategies and ambitions, to
relinquish all ‘Plan Bs,’ to recklessly, irrevocably cast ourselves completely into His arms.
God called Abraham to leave Haran and go to a place to be revealed later. Jesus invited
Peter to step out of the boat and walk on water. That kind of call is scary, though typical
in God's Kingdom. Why is it scary? Where could He lead us that we'd regret? Would He
ever lead us into danger but not out of it?
God calls us to "reckless" trust, the kind that prepares no safety net and reserves
nothing for a spiritually rainy day. Try to find someone God had forsaken, observe His
faithfulness, and ask yourself: "Why wouldn't I trust Him wholeheartedly? Think about
it. Why not?
Trust involves letting go and knowing God will catch you.
James Dobson
Adapted from The One Year® Walk with God Devotional by Chris Tiegreen, Tyndale
House Publishers (2004)
Four Spiritual Laws
1.
God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life. (John 3:16, John 10:10)
-"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
-The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they
may have life, and have it to the full.
2.
Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot know and
experience God's love and plan for his life. (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23)
-for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
-For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
3.
Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin. Through Him you can know and
experience God's love and plan for your life. (Romans 5:8, I Corinthians 15:3-6,
John 14:6)
-But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.
- For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried,
that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that
he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared
to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of
whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
- Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through me.
4.
We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know
and experience God's love and plan for our lives. (John 1:12, Ephesians 2:8,9,
John 3:1-8, Revelation 3:20)
-Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave
the right to become children of God—
-For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
-Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of
the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we
know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could
perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom
of God unless he is born again.”
"How can a man be born when he is
old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he
cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of
God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh,
but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my
saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases.
You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is
going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
-Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and
opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Upcoming Events
Event:
Ladies quilting
Location:
East Brent Baptist Church/4801 North Davis Highway; Pensacola 32503
Date:
Every Tuesday
Time:
9:00 am
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Event:
EscaRosa Coalition on the Homeless "Working To Eliminate
Homelessness"
Location:
Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Parish Hall, 1212 E. Moreno at 12th Avenue
Date:
Tuesdays
Time:
5:30-7:30 pm
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Event:
Women’s Bible Study
Location:
Myrtle Grove Baptist Church/5920 Lillian Hwy; Pensacola 32506 Rm. 119
Date:
2nd & 4th Thursday
Time:
10:00 – 11:30 am
Bring your Own Lunch
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Event:
Beginner-Advanced Crochet Unite
Location:
Myrtle Grove Baptist Church/5920 Lillian Hwy; Pensacola 32506 Rm. 119
Date:
2nd & 4th Thursday
Time:
12:00 – 1:30/2:00 pm
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Event:
Deliver Us Presented by Ballet Magnificat
Location:
Fairhope Civic Center/161 North Section St. Fairhope, AL.
Date:
10 June 2010
Time:
7:00 pm
"Deliver Us" desperation...hope...freedom!
For more information go to: www.EasternShorePCA.org
