His Story, Not Ours

"I love to tell the story..." goes the old hymn. Lots of people do love to tell it, and many others love to talk about telling it. Sometimes we worry that we're not telling the story "of Jesus and his love" often enough or to the right people. But really, whose story is

Depth of Ocean, Depth of Love

From Jared C. Wilson's blog, a beautiful picture of the love of God.  This is written by Octavius Winslow.  Worth reading slowly with meditation and prayer.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/gospeldrivenchurch/2014/06/24/what-a-boundless-fathomless-ocean/

Hungry Birds

I was sitting this morning with The Lovely Joanne on our front porch, quietly talking with God, and heard a chirping a few feet away. The birdseed sock on the other end of the porch was being visited by two yellow finches, male and female, and they were happily pecking away at the seed. That humans were so close, and yet they were willing to keep pecking, meant they were hungry enough to risk an encounter with us.

Oh that we were so hungry for God, that we were willing to pour ourselves out for him, eagerly drinking in whatever he gave us and not shrinking back from whatever he asked of us in return! That we would be so hungry for him to move in our hearts and make his love known through us that we would be willing to give up our illusion of control, our desire for safety and predictability, our wish to manipulate the outcome, and simply let God do in us, for us and through us what he wished! What then would be the outcome? Oh, it might be unfamiliar and even uncomfortable at first, but Lord, what results would you create in our lives and in our churches?

Lord, make us hungry. 

Christ in Us: The Holy Spirit

In John 13-17, Jesus still had a lot to tell his followers. John, that wonderful writer of commentary on Jesus' life and ministry, relates to us Jesus' words during and after their Passover meal together. Jesus was departing, but in another way, he really wasn't. There was another way for him to be with them,

"Ministry in the Spirit"

Lately I've seen several large churches advertising a "school of supernatural ministry" -- they even seem to have that exact title everywhere. I know people who have attended them, who report good results in their lives. And since this is Pentecost season, I've been studying and praying over the descriptions in the Bible of the Holy Spirit working in peoples' lives to do God's will. But after reading the life of Jesus and the book of Acts, in particular, I have to ask a question