“But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.”
It is easy to lose sight of God's vision for our lives because we tend to see them as mundane and routine. We get lost in the daily challenges and forget to stop and see His greater purposes. I can say that now because our children have grown up and the daily challenges are fewer. Now we get to sit back and reflect (and pray) over what we have learned with God.
As you reflect, you start to see patterns. You start to see the true purposes of God and they really are pretty simple. We are the ones who complicate them. One of God's main goals is for you to live together in harmony as a family. He wants us to raise Godly children and to find peace and safety in one another's arms. God, the father lives as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.That is not just community, that is family!
We believe the church is here to help people "live well". The purpose of the gospel is to help people prosper, and be in health even as our souls prosper. Our souls include our reactions, emotions, and thoughts in daily life, and these determine how well we live. You are not coming to church to check a box, or prove something...you are coming to IMPROVE something and repair things that may have been broken over the generations. Those are vital links to the future, not just things to learn to deal with. Abiding in Christ should help you abide with one another!
So, here is your challenge; ask yourself whether your walk with God is improving your walk with others? Is your family benefiting from your faith? Are you better with your children today than you were yesterday? Is your spouse more blessed by what you are learning to be? You see, if you lose sight of this, you may be simply going through the motions, when God wants to put you in motion...toward more intimacy with Him!
The role of Christian community is to allow the blessings of God to flow down through the generations. He needs your participation in that process and as a church we are here to help. Raising children, living as married couples, learning to heal the generational hurts, are all part of what God wants you to experience in Christian community.
Abiding in Christ should help you abide better with one another!
Our Confession in Prayer!
Join us in the following prayer of unity under God:
"Heavenly Father, we know that you want us to prosper in all of the areas of our lives. You want us to walk in harmony with those we love and in fact to learn to love one another better every day. That is as much our mission as it is to preach the Word of God, and to defend the faith. May we be in balance in each of these areas so our walk and our talk line up.
As we walk through life Lord, let us not miss the lessons we should learn, and let us learn to share the ones we have learned. Lets us renew our minds and our hearts so that love comes from both! God, we need your help in all of this by your Spirit so we can become those perfect men and women that you desire us to be!
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen!"