what I think I thought…

So I have been a little lacks on my updates…not as if anyone has really noticed…

But for those of you who have nothing better to do than read my thoughts let me share a verse God opened up to me today.

Over the past few weeks our staff has been reading through the book UnChristian…it is a book on how outsiders…people who aren’t Christians…perceive Christians, Christianity, and the Church. It is a frighteningly insightful book. So for the last month and a half we have been reading through it wondering what we are going to do to change the perception.

With that as a backdrop in my mind I started reading through Zechariah today and came across a famous verse…”Not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the Lord Almighty.” It is a cool verse that everyone has heard but I didn’t really put into context until to today. This is what God said to a man named Zerubbabel when he set out to rebuild the Temple. It had been destroyed and he was trying to figure out how to put it back together again.

And God basically said to him…”you don’t have the might of David or the Wealth of Soloman. You don’t posses their wisdom or power…but the good thing is, you don’t need it. This Temple is going to be put back together again…but not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the Lord Almighty”

I am not saying the church has been destroyed…it hasn’t it is the bride of Christ and the gates of hell can’t prevail against it. But there are a lot of repairs that need to be done. And this verse today reminded me…the weight of that isn’t on my shoulders. My strength isn’t what is needed. My might isn’t going to make it happen. My power isn’t enough. What we need a group of people who are on their face asking for the Spirit of God to move among us in a way we have never experienced before. That is how the Kingdom of God is going to…as Jesus said…forcefully advance.

What do you say we start praying…”Not by our might, nor by our power, but by your Spirit, Lord Almighty”

I just had a man stop by my office…

He is new to the faith and new to the church. He has been coming to the church for the last two weeks…and as we have been talking about money…god has been working on him. I won’t get into all the details…but after listening to the sermon Sunday he said he had $500…and when the offering time came to took $100 and put it in the plate…even though it was all he had.

Monday when he went to his mailbox he found an envelope…and in it was a check. Unbeknownst to him his grandmother had sent him a $1000 and it just happened to arrive on Monday. (sidebar: he came in and me what the rule was on this money…should he give 10% of that too? “I want to make sure I’m doing this right!”)

Tuesday he received a call from a family he had quoted a job for in September…he had forgotten about it, thinking they were not going to do it…the signed the papers…and the $2300 job is now his. Some might say those things are just coincidence…he and I see it as the hand of God.

I wish I could adequately describe the joy on his face as he sees God moving. I wish I could put into words the joy I feel seeing people trust in God and watching him come through.

There are a lot of meetings I have to sit through that suck the life right out of me…but right now I am sitting on cloud 9…

“In God We Trust”