Love and Humility, Part 4

By Jerolyn Bogear

"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." Romans 12:11

Zeal is not a word we use much in our present-day language. The definition for zeal is: "fervor for a person, cause, or object; eager desire or endeavor; enthusiastic diligence; ardor." Desire is "a strong want;" diligence is "never stopping till you get the object of your desire."

Fervor is another unusual word. It means: "Intense heat."

So according to this verse, we are never to stop diligently pursuing the desire of our heart (the Father) and to maintain a spiritually intense heat in the process of serving our Lord.

In our instant gratification, short-term society, we have a really hard time with long-term commitments. Often we become tired or bored and take our eyes off the goal. If it takes too long to get to the goal, it just doesn't seem to be worth it. Too many other things in our life can be achieved quickly and with less effort..... But those things are empty and worthless.

Serving the Lord -- done with passion for Him and accomplished through His strength -- is the only worthwhile thing we will ever do on this earth. The Master has called us to fight and work and serve and love. Are we going to get tired? Yes. Are there going to be disappointments along the way? Yes. But our goal is not in this life, but the next. We must press on and fight the good fight.

Then Paul uses verses 12-21 to tell us just how to serve the Lord. We serve Him through joy, patience, prayer. We help the needy. We treat our enemies different than the world. We laugh with the happy, and cry with those who are sad. We keep the peace. We live and love in humility.

So march on with zeal and fervor. Never back down from your calling -- a servant of the Almighty!

Spiritual Direction by Eugene Peterson

From Jerolyn Bogear

Ladies,

Here is a wonderful article on Spiritual Direction that reflects a lot of what we are doing in our groups. Just really interesting to read it from a different perspective and learn about how maybe we can improve. Enjoy.

Valuing Your Group - An Article

From Jerolyn Bogear

Hey Ladies,

Here is a great article in steps to value others in your group. Talks about many of the principles that I have referred to as you step out to lead your own group. I don't model all of them well, but continue to work on it. Hope you will, too.

"Adding Value to Your Group Members"

Where is our heart during worship?

by Joanna Clark

I've been thinking and praying a lot lately for our church; in fact, Joe & I both have. Joe has taken some steps of faith in challenging and encouraging other men to be part of the "solution" to the issues and challenges facing our church. It got me thinking, as well as some of the reading I've been doing, about how we even enter into our home church. When we have our own quiet time with God, it usually is a pretty personal experience. I mean, it's just me and God in those moments. I pray that He would guide me, teach me and show me what He's wanting to work on my heart about. BUT...do I pray that before walking in to church on Sunday morning? Do I put that much personal attention into my "Sunday worship experience"? Or, do I instead attend it as if it's me walking in on someone else's worship experience and quiet time with God? Are we attending a "preview" of what the pastor is learning in his quiet time? Is that how God meant our Sunday mornings to be spent? NO, I don't think so at least. So then I asked myself how can we make it more personal, how I can invest and learn from it?

And it takes me to the heart of the issue, which is the heart! Where is my heart at on Sunday morning? Sometimes I feel like it is right where it should be, open and ready for whatever it is that God wants to teach me or have me experience. But, other times sadly to say, it is closed up and wanting to watch and criticize someone else's experience. Well, if my heart is closed to what God may want to teach me that day, then of course I am not going to think it was a great sermon on Sunday morning. And, it may in fact be not a great sermon anyway, but the point is - if your heart is open to what God wants to teach you, then He can in fact teach it to you through anyone or anything. It is our responsibility to make "church" a personal experience. Yes, our pastors are responsible for tending their sheep, but as mature believers, we cannot pretend to be little lambs who can't find their way...it's a balance and takes work on each of our parts. But if we are not doing our best to make every day a day where we strive to honor God and allow Him to speak into our lives, then why are we surprised when we don't feel we are learning anything? Go figure!

And I'm talking about our entire church/worship experience. To me, a "worship service" is whatever your Sunday church experience includes...singing/praising, sermons, serving in nursery, setting up or tearing down. All these things are part of our worship experience because we can worship God in any and all of those aspects of a Sunday morning church experience. So, if we invite God to meet us there, meet us where we are at, He can (and wants to) teach us and use us at each of those experiences.

It reminds me of the song, "The Heart of Worship" written by Matt Redman. The story of how and why he wrote the song is great! He was at a church where the pastor felt that the congregation was not where they needed to be and not contributing, so he asked the question "When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?” They got rid of all music and sound system as their church sought God. This led Matt to write the song. It's explained in more detail at http://www.crosswalk.com/1253122/.Some of the lyrics say:

When the music fades, all is stripped away, and I simply come / Longingjust to
bring something that’s of worth that will bless your heart… / I’m comingback to
the heart of worship, and it’s all about You, Jesus...

Is it all about Jesus? Are we there to serve Him, praise Him, learn from Him and grow with others? Or, are we there to seek some kind of feeling induced by someone else's quiet times? Like I wrote earlier, we can view it as a bad sermon or a great sermon, but it's up to us to truly seek God's heart through that message so that it can still speak to us and teach us something. So, as we try to include God in our lives, hopefully daily, we need not forget about Sunday! Just because we go to church doesn't mean we don't need to include Him in that day as well.

Love and Humility, Part 3

by Jerolyn Bogear

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. ~Romans 12:10

When looking up the Greek meaning for "devoted," it is not just a loyalty or friendly kind of action. Rather, a devoted love is like the love of a parent/child or a husband/wife. It is being devoted to one another to the point of sacrifice.

Christ demonstrated his sacrificial love in the greatest form possible and he did it for friend and enemy. How then can we be devoted to one another in our lives on a day-to-day basis? What are our sacrifices?

Probably the greatest sacrifice we can without actually dying is of our time. The most important one is taking the time to pray for one another. Lifting each other up to the Father -- standing in one another's stead petitioning His grace, mercy and guidance for that person. I could ask nothing greater of those who care for me.

But then we can perform acts of devotion in a physical way -- a phone call, and note, running an errand, standing by them in their grief or celebration, offering a smile, a word of support, a listening ear, praying together, sharing God's revelations. Are we taking the time to offer these acts of love?

We can look at this backward too. Devotion and honoring others above ourselves may be through an act of receiving love. It takes humility to let others know we are struggling and need help. Receiving help demonstrates that you love those giving it.

And Again I Say Rejoice

By Joy

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice (Philippians 4:4). God has been weaving this verse into my daily life the past few days, and I absolutely am catching His drift. It seems most of us women in these groups are struggling, and I am in no way insinuating my struggles are greater than those of someone else. Mine pale in comparison to the real struggles that some of my dear friends are having. With my constant prayers being wanting to start a family and wanting to keep my job, God has been reminding me that I am to rejoice in Him no matter what. As Francis Chan stated in Crazy Love, God commanded this twice in the same sentence, just in case we didn't get it the first time. No matter what. Even when the pregnancy test comes back negative again. Even when I have to sub in a scary school with scary kids. I get to praise Him again and again. My life is not about me, even though I certainly act like it is, and I have the honor to exalt Him in all that I do and all that He does. It is a paradigm shift for many of us. Instead of pouting about all that is wrong, praise what is right. Praise the trials. Praise the pain and struggle because we know that God is pruning us to grow more than ever before. I don't know if God will give us our child right now the way we want. But I do know that He has put this passion and desire on my heart, and I do know that He will fulfill His promise. And I rejoice in that.

Love and Humility, Part 2

by Jerolyn Bogear

Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Romans 12:9b

Do I really hate what is evil? The Greek word for "hate" means to abhor or to be in horror of. Does evil horrify me? I think I have become desensitized to the horror of evil. It is so prevalent around me I would either have to walk around with blinders on or move to an isolated property in the mountains to escape it. (Okay, the second option wouldn't be so bad:)

Evil is not going to go away until Christ returns and the enemy is forever cast away. So if I am going to be a follower of Jesus Christ and live with Him as my Lord, then I cannot tolerate the things that are contrary to him to exist within me. And the best way to do that is the second half of the sentence -- cling to what is good. I love the Greek for "cling." To glue together, cement, fasten together. I must grab onto what is good and right with all my might like we are stuck together with glue -- or better yet, cement. I want to be so held together with good that it would take a jackhammer to separate us.

So what things am I to cling to? "Good" things are:

1. of good constitution or nature
2. useful, salutary
3. good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy
4. excellent, distinguished
5. upright, honourable

Today, these are the things I will choose to align my life with. I will sincerely love all PEOPLE, but abhor anything that is EVIL to God and cling with all my might to those things that are HONORABLE and UPRIGHT.

Lord, open my eyes and transform me.