Hebrews 10:23 says, "let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." I understand this "hope" to be the relationship we have in Christ which will lead us finally to that time when we "will receive what he has promised" (Heb. 10:36), "a kingdom that cannot be shaken" (Heb. 12:28). Jesus said he was going to the Father's house, in which there were many rooms and that while there, He was going to prepare a place for his people (John 14:1-3). The hope to which we are to "hold unswervingly" is taking us to that place, heaven, the place of promise, the unshakable kingdom, where we will be with Jesus Christ forever.

However, is the Christian life only about tomorrow, and what will be? I think not. Hebrews 13:5 reminds us of the commitment of our God who said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." The fact is "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Heb. 13:8), and as He will be with us on that final day to take us to the heaven He has prepared, He is with us now.

There is a good word in Hebrews 7:25. It says that Jesus "is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." Did you know that Jesus is talking to God about you and that He talks to God as your advocate. Right now, today, in this very world, Jesus stands with you as your saving and interceding Companion. You have no better friend in your life situation than Jesus. He is so powerfully present that who He is in you, you have as "an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Heb. 6:19).

Did you catch it? An anchor for the soul! Right now, in your life, in your work, in your relationships, in your home, in your pain, in your frustrations, in your successes and victories, in your personal world -- an ANCHOR of the soul. Right now! Today! This very moment. Jesus, the HOPE.

There is a wonderful phrase used by the apostle Paul in Galatians 3:28 that is awesome. He speaks there to the church and says, "You are all one in Christ Jesus." The story of every believer is unique because people come from all sorts of backgrounds. In Galatians Paul speaks of the backgrounds of Jewish faith and of Gentiles ~~ You can't get much different than this. Jews came out of a very defined religious structure while many gentiles came out of no faith at all. Now, in the church they connect up as brothers and sisters.

Paul goes further. He says in verse 28, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female…" In Christ Jesus we "are all one."

In the church every one is invited into the place of equality, equality rooted in the life of Jesus. No one is superior and no one is inferior. We are ONE. Wealth doesn't buy power in the church and poverty does not keep one away from the place of authority and influence. We are ONE. Healthy or ill, we are ONE. Red, yellow, black or white, we are ONE. Jesus died for the world and when people step out of the world into the community of Jesus they become "Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise" (vs. 29).

In Christ strangers become friends and enemies become colleagues. Differences become blurred in the church as the life of Jesus blends into and permeates everything. In Christ we become sons and daughter of God. So it is that we become brothers and sisters; we become family. In a grace that will most likely never be fully understood Jesus stepped into our story one day and invited us into a new way of doing and being. He lifted us out of the ways of the world that seem to be so divisive and tribal and hurtful, and cleared a place at His table so that with the family we could draw near to God and find a fellowship that is awesome.

Sound too good to be true? Probably; but it is true. Welcome home.

One of the challenges the early church faced two thousand years ago was what to do with all the gentiles coming to faith. Should they undergo some sort of ceremonial acceptance into Judaism first because the Messiah came through Israel, or did knowing Christ stand on its own merits. There were strong opinions on both sides of the issue.

In the end the church came to agree that knowing Jesus Christ stood on its own merits. He was enough. God had brought forth a new movement, a Church, where all stood equal and all were one in Christ, not Jew and not Gentile, just brothers and sister in the common faith.

Some folks had a more difficult time adjusting than did others. Some believers, when they were in the presence of Jews, acted Jewish. The same people, when they were in the presence of Gentiles, acted in a fashion consistent with being a Gentile. The apostle Paul did not like this arrangement at all, and said so. He was very concerned that some people "were not straightforward about the truth of the Gospel" (Gal. 2:14).

I am intrigued that Paul called the early church to a clear and unambiguous commitment to Jesus as Savior and Lord. No vacillating allowed. Straightforward was the word. He knew that the law could not save but only Jesus could save. He believed God was doing a new thing in history and that what God was doing was realized in Jesus. It wasn't keeping laws that saved. It was knowing Jesus that saved, and so Paul told the folks by way of personal testimony, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20).

It's not rules and regulations we need. It is a personal relationship with God we need. Just be Christian. Nothing to the left and nothing to the right; Jesus only.

In many ways Saul of Tarsus was a terrorist. He hated Christians, He hated Jesus, and He hated the Church. Because of this he engaged himself in a one-man extermination project, a mission to rid the world of Christians. And, he was good at what he did. Christians feared him, and knew that should their paths cross, Saul would do whatever was necessary to rid the world of that pesky Christian sect. Prison or death, it mattered not to Saul. As long as Christians were silenced the work was worth it.

On the road to Damascus one day to do his work there, Saul made a huge mistake. He stumbled onto Jesus Christ, and Jesus shook the foundation of Saul’s world, lifted him out of his sin and rebellion, transformed him within, and called him to become one of those pesky Christians, whom he used to hate.

One of the next things on Saul’s agenda was to convince the Christian community that his conversion was really real. I mean, can a man really change? Really? Can grace work that kind of miracle? Understandably it took some time for the Church to assess and evaluate and to conclude that something profound and divine, even supernatural, had transpired in Saul’s life. But, God’s grace is amazing and they began to say of Saul, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” Then Saul, who had been given a new name, Paul, said, “They were glorifying God because of me” (Gal. 1:23-24).

Isn’t that a wonderful story; from a hater of Christ to a disciple, a follower of Christ. And, in it all we see that God can break into a life that is hardened and make it soft, tender, and open. This gives me hope. God is all-powerful, and He is at work in the human situation.

How is your story going?

What captivates your imagination? Is there something that has just taken hold of your heart and won't let go? Something deeper and more profound than you ever expected to experience?

In Isaiah chapter six we learn about something that captured the imagination of Isaiah, a prophet of God. It radically altered his world and set his heart on fire with a love and passion for God that rocked his world. What was it that captured his imagination? It was a sense of the presence of God he experienced in a moment when he said, "I saw the Lord" (Is. 6:1).

Isaiah got a glimpse of God in His glory and infinite sovereignty. In the spirit of worship he saw God "sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted" (Is. 6:1). What He saw began a conversation with God that led to a conversion, a God-initiated conversion where Isaiah reaches deep down inside his heart and finds the courage to say to God, "I will live for You. I will do what You want me to do. I will go where You call me to go, and I will be Your prophet."

I have wondered if God doesn't want to give His church today that kind of earth shattering moment where decisions are made and lives are changed and futures are rewritten. I have wondered if in some way in worship the people of God ought to become so aware of the presence of God that it shakes the foundation of their world and changes their outlook and draws them into the very presence of God, setting their hearts on fire with a love and passion for God that rocks their world.

Is this asking too much? Taking into consideration the fact that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, I think not.

One of my favorite devotional writers is John Henry Jowett. His book, My Daily Meditation has touched my heart numerous times over the years. May I share his May 16 reading. I hope it touches you as deeply as it touched me. He calls it, THE DETAILS OF PROVIDENCE and bases it on Matthew 10:30. “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
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“PROVIDENCE goes into details. Sometimes, in our human intercourse, we cannot see the trees for the wood. We cannot see the individual sheep for the flock. We cannot see the personal soul for the masses. We are blinded by the bigness of things; we cannot see the individual blades of grass because of the field.

“Now God’s vision is not general, it is particular. There are no “masses” to the Infinite. “He calls His own sheep by name.” The single one is seen as though he alone possessed the earth. When God looks at the wood He sees every tree. When He looks at the race He sees every man.

“And, therefore, I need not fear that “my way is overlooked by my God.” He knows every turning. He knows just where the strain begins at the hill. He knows the perils of every descent. He knows every happening along the road. He knows every letter that came to me by this morning’s post. He knows every visitor who knocks at the door of my life, whether the visitor come at the high noon or at the midnight. “There is nothing hid.” “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

Israel desperately wanted a king like the other nations around them. They had God as their king, but they wanted a flesh and blood king to lead them. God wasn’t enough. Interestingly, God gave them over to their deep desire to have a king. When He relented and gave them their desire they realized they had acted inappropriately. They went to their prophet, Samuel, and said to him, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king” (I Samuel 12:19).”

In his response Samuel reminded the people that even though they had rejected God as their king, He had not rejected them as His people. He challenged them to remain faithful to God in this new arrangement, to “serve the Lord with all your heart” (vs. 20). They were still God’s people and He still loved them. Their sin would not separate them from His love.

The counsel of Samuel to the people who would get their king was, “Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart” (vs. 24). He challenged them to ever “consider what great things He has done for you” (vs. 24). Of himself Samuel told them, “Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you” (vs. 23). In this new arrangement Samuel told the people, “I will instruct you in the good and right way” (vs. 23).

We are the people of God regardless as to who our earthly leaders may be. God is still our God regardless of the powers at work in the world. Our allegiance is to the living God. We lift Him up in our lives regardless of the arrangement in which we find ourselves. Leaders come and leaders go but “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29)

Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you” (John 14:27). In saying this He speaks right into the heart of lives. Shortly before His crucifixion Jesus spoke to His disciples about the coming event. He concluded by saying to them, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Some time later, after the birth of Jesus’ Church the apostle Paul called the people to “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” (Col. 3:15).

I am thinking that inner peace might just be the most important condition for which the human heart searches. We talk about peace and we pray about peace and we read books about how to have peace. Perhaps peace doesn’t come through a book. Is it possible that peace comes in a person, and that to know this person is to experience the peace that is unique to Him?

In Luke 2:79 we are told that Jesus would “guide our feet into the way of peace.” Of all the things Jesus came to do in the human situation peace seems to lie at the center of it all. He loves us and in this we discover peace. He forgives us of our sins, and in this we discover peace. He lavishes us with grace and in this we discover peace. He speaks truth to us and in His words we discover peace. He treats us with the respect and dignity of the Creator and in this we discover peace.

Let the peace of Christ rules in your hearts.

I may be more of a mystic than I have allowed myself to admit to, but as a Christian who truly believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I really do believe in dreaming and hoping and visualizing possibilities." It is a mysticism rooted and grounded in Jesus, so much so that if I had a personal creedal statement it would read, "Jesus is Lord, and He is enough."

Jesus said where two or three were gathered in His name that He would be in their midst. This one Biblical truth alone sets my heart to singing, energizes my passion to be faithful to God, and ignites a fire in my soul that ever reminds me that where people gather in the name of Jesus, all the possibilities of God are in that people because Jesus is with that people.

As we seek to be faithful in this place at this time, we have valid reasons to be encouraged for Jesus, the Lord of Lords, is with us.

We have valid reasons to dream dreams beyond ourselves because Jesus, the Lord of Lords, is with us.

We have valid reasons to be optimistic in a pessimistic world because Jesus, the Lord of Lords, is with us.

Second star to the right and
straight on until morning.

He Is Risen

"How long will you keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly," so questioned some Jews during Hanukkah as Jesus strolled through the temple in the Portico of Solomon (John 10:22). Sounds simple enough. Just tell us plainly and we’ll get it; we’ll catch on.

Jesus knew better. Jesus knows our hearts, and our words do not deter or impress Him. So, as was His custom, He got to the heart of the matter. Their problem, He said, had nothing to do with Him speaking “plainly” or keeping them in “suspense.” Their problem had to do with the fact that their hearts were not one with His. “You are not of My sheep,” Jesus told them (John 10:26). He could have spoken plainly all day but if their hearts were not of His heart, it would have been an exercise in futility.

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me," Jesus told the folks (John 10:27). Something was going on that had nothing to do with explanations or intellectual clarity. God was among us, giving eternal life to those who heard His voice (John 10:28).

Some heard and forever their lives were changed. Some would not hear, and they missed the very presence of God as Jesus mingled among them sharing the word, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

Is it really possible to miss the very presence of God in our midst? Indeed, it is. It is not necessary, but it is possible. Can you hear His voice? Does His heart resonate in you? Look at Jesus and watch Him for a while. What do you see? Who do you see? Could it be that the Father is drawing you to Himself? Could Jesus be the greatest gift any of us could ever receive?

Walking with God through His Son, Jesus, and filled daily by the empowering presence of His Holy Spirit is surely grace at its highest possible level of expression. This is truly amazing when compared with the fact that the Bible says we've all sinned against God and fallen short of his glory (Rom. 3:23).

Why would an offended God respond to the offenders in grace and love, when the natural response to them is an "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise" (Exodus 21:24). At least on the human level this seems to be a natural response. Revenge. Retaliation. Vengeance. Retribution. Reprisal. These seem to be the natural, unrehearsed response of persons to persons. Legal systems are set up to see to it that these are not the context in which judgment is handed down, yet, they still seem to be the spirit and attitude of so many people around the world.

But God does not come in revenge. Retaliation is far from Him. Vengeance is not the issue with God. Retribution is not a part of His way of doing things. Reprisal is unthinkable to Him. The way of God is the way of grace, so much so that the Bible reveals this amazing thought: "The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

God is about life. God is about love. God is about hope. God is about renewal and new beginnings. Jesus said it was "the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy" [and how acquainted with his ways we are] but He also said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). That is grace --- Life to the full when your sins say you deserve death.

What is grace? It is God including us in when He could have written us off.

EASTER REFLECTION

We Christians believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is central to all we believe and it stands as the defining event in all history. We live in a world where Jesus has been raised from the dead. The world has a Redeemer, a Savior, a Friend. You have a Redeemer, a Savior, a Friend. None of us can say, “Nobody cares.” In fact, Somebody does care, and gave His life as an expression of the depth of His concern.

In the living Christ God brings His life into our lives and fills us with what it means for God to be God ~ Love, Forgiveness, Truth, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control, just to name a few realities of His life in us.

Jesus takes out of us things like “anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech, greed, falsehood, bitterness.” He fills us with the capacity to “be kind to one another,” to be “tenderhearted,” and to be able to “forgive each other, just as,” Paul says, “God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

In the living Christ, our lives are made whole; that’s the pragmatic issue before us. In Jesus God lavishes His grace on people. He does not force Himself on people but to those who come to Christ and who believe in Him, they are lavished with His grace, awestruck by His kindness, and awed by His goodness.

Because Jesus lives, we live free and forgiven and whole. We live within the embrace of God whose very life pulsates through our lives.

He is risen! He is risen, indeed.

In Colossians 3:1-4 the Bible calls us to set our minds on the things of God. That’s a real challenge in the active, aggressive, loud, fast, and distracting age in which we find ourselves. The call reminds me of how intentional we must be if we are going to seriously follow Jesus. It is too easy to drift and to go with the flow and to get lost in the crowd, to hand our spirituality over to chance or circumstances or probability or possibility.

“Keep seeking the things above, where Christ is,” Paul says (vs. 1). No meandering here but real seeking, the kind of seeking that draws one to commitment and loyalty and priority. It is the kind of seeking where one ceases to allow anyone or anything to trump the seeking. Paul speaks of it as having “died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (vs. 3).

It makes me think that knowing Christ ought to be the number one priority of a person’s life. Knowing Jesus is the kind of thing that trumps everything else. This is life at its best. In fact, Paul comes out and says boldly that Christ “is our life” (vs. 4). “In Him we live and move and exist” (Acts. 17:28), not simply in some sort of cause and effect way but in a way that defines us as Children of God” (Acts. 17:29).

Jesus has changed our lives and has made such an impact upon us that the deepest joy of our lives is to ‘keep seeking the things above where Christ is” and to focus our minds “on the things above” because in the most real of ways our very lives are “hidden with Christ in God.”

In the words of the popular chorus, “Because He lives we can face tomorrow.” Amen. It doesn’t get any better than this.

He Lives. JESUS CHRIST IS LORD.

Talk about credentials; the apostle Paul had them. He had climbed the ranks of Judaism, and had reached the ranks of respect and honor. In the religious tradition of which he was a part he was one of the top dogs. According to his own testimony he was "a Hebrew of Hebrews…a Pharisee …as to zeal, a persecutor of the church…as to the righteousness which comes in the law, found blameless" (Phil. 3:5-6)

Yet, there came a moment when he realized it all meant nothing. For him, it was empty, shallow, unfulfilling, and meaningless. So, he took his past, laid it on the altar, let God have it all, and he took upon himself the life of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Everything else he considered as "rubbish." He knew he hadn't arrived spiritually but he also knew that for him there was no turning back. He threw himself into the life of Jesus hook, line, and sinker. Then, for the rest of his life, he lived the testimony, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14).

Have you thrown yourself into the life of Jesus hook, line and sinker? Are you so passionate about Jesus that you have given Him all your rewards and recognition and honors? Does He compete with anything that seeks to hold first place in your life?

Are these questions too strong? I don't think so. The days in which live demand that we answer the questions. This is no time for ambiguity. This is a time for people who love Jesus to come forth throughout our land and proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord of lords and King of kings. This is a time when Christians must throw themselves into the life of Jesus hook, line, and sinker. This is a time when followers of Jesus must take their stand and proclaim, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel" (Romans 1:16).

The life we live ought to reflect the life Of Jesus. Yet, what would that life look like were we to take it seriously? I have been thinking that our lifestyle description is defined for us in the Sermon on the Mount where we are called:

To be "poor in spirit" (Matt. 5:3)

To be broken before God in a spirit of "mourning" and "Meekness" (Matt. 5:4-5)

To reflect the kingdom we represent by hungering and thirsting for the righteousness of God to be revealed in us. (Matt. 5:6)

To be relational by showing mercy to those around us (Matt. 5:7)

To be a fragrance of Christ by living in openness to His purifying presence in us (Matt. 5:8)

To be diplomatic by seeking to live as peacemakers in a world prone to hostility (Matt. 5:9).

To not get offended when we are attacked or misunderstood or hurt because of our
faith (Matt. 5: 10-12)

As God was in Jesus reconciling the world to Himself, so we are in the world seeking to reconcile it to God.

How does one be a RECONCILER? These Three Keys might help.

In the context of living our lifestyle description

Let the Love of Christ control us (II Cor. 5:14) --- and live in that spirit and from that context.

Be a Matthew 6:10 person always praying, "Thy will be done."

Build bridges of love to people and don't hold people's sins against them (II Cor. 5:19).

Go out and, in the words of the apostle Paul, be a fragrant aroma of Christ (2 Cor. 2:15).

In Philippians 4:1 the apostle Paul told the church, “Stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.” However, in I Corinthians 10:12 he wrote, “Let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” Sounds like standing firm has a lot to do with humility and authenticity and honesty and teachableness.

Self-honesty is crucial to a vital and thriving walk with God. No time for games here. No time for pretending that things are what they are not. The ancient Israelites were so blessed by God that it is difficult to grasp fully. Still, many of them just could not allow God to be God in them. Paul says of them that they “all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking for a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ” (I Cor. 10:4).

These people had so much going for them it was incredible. Yet, in verse five we read, “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased.” Why? The bible says they craved things that were not of God, they were idolaters, they acted immorally, they grumbled against God (see I Cor. 10:6-10). Talk about biting the hand that fed them, the people did that and more.

Before we scold them too harshly, though, there are a couple of verses we need to hear. Verse six says, “These things happened as examples for us.” Verse 11 says, “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction.”

The truth of the matter is that we have our own issues. We don’t have the luxury of fixing everybody else. The question is, how are we doing? Are we open to God? Are we in love with God? Are we living For God? Really! If so, then we can stand firm, with confidence.

According to the apostle Paul, there were people in his world whom he considered to be, “enemies of the cross of Christ” (Phil 3:18). This is a fairly descriptive and poignant accusation. Paul said of these people that their god was their appetite and that their glory was in their shame Vs. 19). They had set their hearts and minds on the things of this world, so the cross was a great distraction and inconvenience to them. It challenged their very being and this led them to treat Jesus and the cross so disrespectfully that Paul said they were “enemies of the cross.”

Followers of Jesus embrace the cross and see it as the most incredible expression of love one can image. It is in the cross we see Jesus and it is in Jesus we see the cross. When God chose to enter into His creation it was not with pomp and circumstance; it was with the humility and brokenness of the cross.

This old rugged cross makes followers of Jesus citizens of another world. The enemies of the cross have fixed their eyes on this world, and are sucking it dry for their own greed and shame. The friends of Jesus have fixed their eyes on their true homeland, heaven. They have their eyes fixed not on shameful appetites but upon “a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).

Jesus is with His disciples everyday in this world, and He is getting them ready for the next world. Somebody once said, “All this and heaven, too?” It’s true. Jesus delivers us from the silliness and destructiveness of shameful appetites, with the understanding that He will at the right moment, “transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory” (Phil. 3:21).

In the mean time the word is, “Stand firm in the Lord, my beloved” (Phil. 4:1).

The Bible says that Jesus "is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him" (Rom. 10:12). And, who is invited to call upon Him? Everyone! Romans 10:13 says, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” And what does it mean to call upon the name of the Lord? It means that we embrace with our lives what it means for Jesus to be Lord and to “believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead” (Rom. 10:9).

What do you really believe? Do your believe Jesus is Lord? Do your believe God raised Jesus from the dead? If you answer YES to these questions, the Bible says you will be saved (Rom. 10:9).

The Bible calls us to two expressions of faith. It calls us to confess with our mouth and it calls us to believe in our heart. The inner world of the spirit meets the outer world of works. We confess with our mouth what we believe in our heart. And, it all comes down to a matter of faith. The Bible tells us that the word of faith is “near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (Rom. 10:8).

Who I am on the inside becomes visible in the outward expressions of my life. My words reveal my character. My deeds reveal my character. Could this be a reason king David prayed, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight” (Ps. 19:14). When the outer and the inner are in balance it makes for one awesome testimony.

When my heart is set on Jesus and is filled with His Spirit, my mouth, my very life, is in a place to reflect the beauty of inward wholeness, a beauty that is made possible because God abounds in riches for all who call on Him” (Rom. 10:12).

In the Gospel of Luke we have a gentile telling the story of Jesus to other gentiles in an effort to let them know that Jesus is the Savior for everyone. In Luke 13:29 we read, "And they will come from east and west and north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God."

So, when we see Jesus in the Gospel we see God working so as to draw people to Himself. It's not so much about what Jesus can do (although, this alone is mind-boggling). It's more about who Jesus is and what God is about in His life. It's about God at work in the world, shaping and forming a people into a people who sincerely, if not desperately, pray, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

Jesus comes into the midst and quietly inundates the situation with the life of God. Has this happened in your life? Somewhere Jesus stepped into your story, and ever since He has been by your side, leading and guiding, shaping and forming, teaching and changing you. In the good and bad times (and you've probably had many of both), on the mountains and in the valleys, in successes and failures, Jesus has been the invisible but very real presence who has held you steady, kept you focused, and filled you with a power that is beyond yourself.

In Him you have found a place of service, of giving, of obedience. Somewhere along the way He took you to a new place, a place where you decided it wasn't about you but that it was about God. Today, you look back on that decision as the single most important decision of your life. You look back amazed that God would dare be so good to you.

I have been praying that God will help us to bring the healing touch of Jesus into our broken world. I find this to be a simple prayer to pray but a mind-boggling undertaking to achieve. If God were to mobilize a people actually to bring the healing touch of Jesus into the world, how might He go about it? God has already given us His grace-filled answer.

Hear the Word of the Lord! "There are varieties of gifts…varieties of ministries…varieties of effects…. God…works all things in all persons…God has placed the members each one of them in the body, just as He desired…I show you a still more excellent way…love" (I Cor. 12:4-6, 18, 31; 13:1).

Do you know the best thing a local Church can do for God is for her people to put into practice whatever talents, gifts, strengths, gifts and abilities they might have, baptize them in the love of God and put into practice what those assets bring to church and community.

Different people will have different gifts that will lead to different ministries that will lead to different effects. As we go out and be who we are, contributing what we are able to contribute, and we go out for no other reason than the love of God fills us to the brim, the power of God's presence sits loose a new level of possibility. In this arrangement the authority of Holy Spirit becomes the one defining factor. In this arrangement the people of God will be in a place to participate in God's work in God's way through God's power and by God's provision.

What can you do for God's church today? Go for it!