We got out of the house this weekend to go to the Leaders' Weekend Away with our Church. It was a truly amazing time of meeting with God and getting to know some new friends. Nick Sharp is an ex-con, an ex-paratrooper who met Jesus when he was 30+, as he sat in a jail cell waiting to be tried for assault and other nasty charges. He is someone who really has a grasp of what it means to be "saved". Not saved from some eternal punishment after death, but really and truly saved from a life he didn't want to be living. He talked about encouragement and exhorted all of us as leaders to learn to be encouragers. His basis was that God is absolutely for us and wants us to be encouraged, not only to feel good about who we are but to be spurred on to do the things God has for us with confidence that he has given us everything we need to do them. The Holy Spirit is the Encourager, and when we encourage one another we are doing something that he gets excited about. Encouragement is the key to prophecy and to mobilizing a church. Nick said it all much more clearly than I am summing it up, and his bottom line was this: When we walk into church we should be asking ourselves two questions. "How can I praise God? and Who can I encourage?" What a great posture in which to walk into our meetings.
Besides having great teaching, we had many chances to get out of our heads and let God meet with us at a heart level. There's something about a weekend like that where we spend time praising God with songs and spend lots of time crying out to him, repenting, asking for his presence, asking him for prophecies, asking for anything he wants to give us, that clarifies life. We let go of so many questions and just meet with the living God who cannot be boxed. He comes along and declares that he is the one who made heaven, earth, the sun, moon, and stars. He declares that he is bigger than anything we are facing, and yet small enough that he can come alongside each of us and tenderly care for us. He may not solve all our problems, in fact most likely not, but he makes us forget about them for a little while, and when we get back to life we have a new perspective and zeal, and it is good.
My eyes are red and swollen, but my heart is light, my soul is strong, and I am filled with love and passion and grace and vision. Not bad for a weekend, eh?
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1 comment:
Greta, that sounds wonderful. I'm so glad you had an opportunity to have that sort of experience! I can't imagine it happens terribly often with three precious little daughters to care for. Thanks for sharing and encouraging all of us, too.
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