Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Day 17: Mission Partners (Matthew 25:39-40)

• Faith Connections, Frederick Rescue Mission, Life Connection Mission, Lee Street Baptist Church, Open Door Baltimore, Shady Grove Pregnancy Center, Katrina relief projects (New Orleans), Germantown Help, and FCA Sports Camp
• Workers and volunteers, funds, responsiveness of those helped

“There’s A Reason For That”

One day, my son Tom called me and asked “mom, are you paying your bills?” I told him yes and asked him why he was asking. He seemed to think I had too much money in my bank account and asked where it came from. I told him “there’s a reason for that.”

One day shortly after, my daughter Patty asked me where I got all the money I had. I gave the same answer – “there’s a reason for that.”

See, I am very frugal and don’t spend a lot; consequently, I am out of debt. What a wonderful feeling that is. I was determined to get out of debt and didn’t want to die in debt. And that could certainly be one reason. But I knew what the real reason was. Several years ago I was thinking about tithing and feeling I should start. That’s the magic word “start.” Just start so you have a reason to finish. I had been considering how tithing would impact my life and knew God would approve so I asked Him if I could afford to tithe. His answer was “give us this day our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11). I realized then that I could trust God to provide for me. All I really need is my daily bread. So I started tithing – giving 10% of my income to the church. Since I began doing that, my bank account has been overflowing. And now my children are seeing the blessings I receive by tithing.

So I encourage you to just start, and imagine what the Spirit can do!

Phil. 4:13: “I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me.”

~Rita Royster

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Day 16: High Seas Expedition (VBS 7/19 - 7/23)

• Children reached for Christ (Ps. 119)
• God's Word is true (v151), comforting (v50), surprising (v18), life-changing (v37), for everyone (v90)
• Leadership team and volunteers

COMMITMENT

Commitment to God and generous giving are closely related... Ex. 35:21

Well doesn’t that in its self speak volumes?

“and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments.”

Commentary Notes:
Those whose hearts were stirred gave cheerfully to the Tent of Meeting (also called the tabernacle). With great enthusiasm they gave because they knew how important their giving was to the completion of God’s house. Airline pilots and computer operators can push test buttons to see if their equipment is functioning properly. God has a quick test button he can push to see the level of our commitment – our pocketbooks. Generous people aren’t necessarily faithful to God. But faithful people are always generous.

Personal Story:
It says “everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the LORD.” In December my heart was moved on several occasions to give, three separate instances were brought to my attention and the Holy Spirit prompted me to give, generously. In each case I used a single bill, sometimes one sometimes more than one. Keep in mind this is Christmas time right, well the amount of money I gave on these three occasions significantly reduced my Christmas budget. But that is ok…. I felt solid about what the Holy Spirit was prompting me to do. Well wouldn’t you know, for Christmas in a card I received the exact amount back that I had given, in the exact number of bills I used. I just LOVE it when God speaks so directly to us, gives us strokes of encouragement and affirmation – which increases our faith. The commentary states “Generous people aren’t necessarily faithful to God. But faithful people are always generous.” We should not forget who the author of our faith is, who increases it and who guides it.

Money is just one small area of our lives that we should trust God and allow him to build our faith.

*Reference taken from my Bible’s index.

~Melissa Dyer

Monday, March 15, 2010

Day 15: Praise the Holy Spirit

• Our Greatest Prayer Warrior! (Rom. 8:26)
• Our prayer life (Psalm 42)
• The Prayer Ministry (Eph. 6:18)

As our airplane raced down the runway at the small international airport in Paraguay I reached for Carol’s hand and whispered a brief prayer. When I opened my eyes and looked out my window, I saw a flash in the engine. The next thing we knew the plane slowed down and came to a stop. During the next thirty minutes a couple of men brought ladders to the engine to take a look. I asked one of the flight attendants if it was a big problem or a little problem. She assured me in a mix of Spanish and English that we had nothing to worry about. It wasn’t long before our flight home to Miami was underway. You guessed it: we REALLY prayed this time. We were not confident that the engine was fixed. We were not comfortable with flying overnight across Brazil and the Caribbean on this airplane. And to be really transparent, we were anxious about flying on a South American airline. All of which intensified my prayer. I can’t remember the exact words, but I know I poured out my heart to God. Fear will do that for you. I was truly afraid that the engine to my left would fail somewhere over the Amazon River. My second prayer of the evening was more intense, more desperate: “Lord, we are completely in your hands tonight. We want to get home to see our boys. We have seen you do great things during the mission trip in Brazil this week. But we are scared that this plane is no longer safe. O God, remind us that you are fully capable of taking care of us and that you are stronger than any of our fears. Help us, protect us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.” I have never forgotten that sense of fear and the realization that His power keeps planes in the air and our lives in his hands.

“A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’ He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.’” Mark 4:37-39 (NIV)

Mighty Lord, master of unexpected waves and storms, remind me of what you did for us that night. And as you do, may I continue to depend on your power for what I will need today.

~Pastor Tim Simpson

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Day 14: C.A.R.E. Ministry (1 John 3:18; Mark 12:29-31)

• Give thanks for volunteers
• Pray for families and individuals served
• Continuing opportunities to share Christ's love with our neighbors

When I woke up on April 16th, 2007, it felt like any other day. I woke up, hopped out of bed, got ready and headed to class. A psychology major with no major responsibilities, I saw the end of the school year in sight and I was looking forward to a summer in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Sitting in class watching a video about the sterilization of the disabled in Lynchburg, Virginia, I wondered, “How many more classes do I have before the end of the year? Maybe 15? I think I can do that.”

Who would have thought that the next 15 minutes would change my life forever. “Stay away from the windows and doors,” shouted my advisor from down the hallway. “Is this really happening?” I thought. In denial, I couldn’t keep the words, “Everything is fine,” from coming out of my mouth. The chaos and confusion enveloped the campus as dorms and academic buildings were locked down. Without any understanding or direction, most of the university sat waiting for the outcome of these few minutes in Norris Hall.

What do you even do in a situation like this? How do you cope? How do you seek understanding? I have never relied on prayer like I did that snowy April day. As all the campus ministries met together that night at the Baptist Collegiate Ministry house about half a mile from the crime scene, I witnessed something I had never seen before. Unity, compassion and love transformed many lives through prayer. The community amongst Christians was unparalleled. I saw Christians from all denominations come together to recognize the evil that is in this world and claim Christ’s power over it. I saw Christians embrace each other with hugs of desperation and comfort. There were no “outsiders” or “loners”, only believers who longed for the day that Jesus returns to take us home.

I truly believe this community was created because of the prayers that were sent up from all around the world. In the weeks after this tragedy, we received letter upon letter of encouragement and love from people who were continually praying for the Virginia Tech community. It was almost as if prayers that were sent up to God were immediately rained down as blessings and comfort to us Hokies.

I know this situation is extreme, but we do not need to wait for tragedy to experience the community explained in Acts 2:42-47. It’s available to those who humble themselves before our Lord and others and seek the face of Jesus as a community. If you are going through a trial right now, which I’m sure many of you are, I would encourage you to find someone within the Greenridge community to share your struggle with and have them pray for you. There is nothing like the bond between believers that comes from seeing prayer answered.

Acts 2:42 - “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

~Julie Harrison

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Day 13: International Missions (2 Tim 4:5; Matt. 28:18-20)

• Amazon Missions Trip (3/21 - 4/1)
• Team's provision/safety; fruitful in winning souls
• Haitian people and relief efforts

Proverbs 16:3 - “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”

Sometimes life doesn’t feel that way. I trust fully that God is sovereign and that He has a perfect plan for me with perfect timing. I’ve quickly been reminded of this fact lately as my husband and I begin the process of buying a house.

I tend to worry about things before I ever need to and so as you can imagine, I began worrying about all the details of this process that I really knew nothing about! Are we going to find a house we really like and not be forced to settle? Can we really afford a mortgage payment!? Will we find a house in time for the tax credit offer? What if someone else beats us to buying the house we want? Worry! The bible is very clear about us humans worrying about anything, yet I still do.

As my thoughts began to get completely overwhelmed with these questions, God loudly reminded me of all the times that He had everything under control and He did something completely unexpected that was above and beyond my worries. He has always trumped my fears with His perfect timing and perfect plan.

And so my thoughts began to change. God has a plan for us. He planned this out for us before the world was in motion. The creator of the universe put the desire in our hearts to begin this process and has lead us to this point. He’s not going to leave us stranded now. God already has our perfect house picked out. He knows about the time crunch in this process (although I still “remind” him sometimes…). He will not lead us into a situation that will cause us financial hardship.

I read Proverbs 16 just a few days after we decided to get this process going. “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” How often I forget to commit WHATEVER I do to the Lord. Although I started praying right when we thought about a house, I immediately saw the big picture for this situation. I must in every day life, but in particular with this huge step in life, commit this to the Lord. My prayer changed. “Father, if we do not commit this decision to you and allow you to completely lead us in this process, may we fail. May nothing go through if we do not commit it to You wholeheartedly.”

This verse didn’t make me change my mindset because it says “and your plans will succeed”. Although I know with God, they will, it is so much more than that. God’s design for my life and my husband’s life and my family’s life is so much bigger than I can ever imagine. I want to experience life the way God designed it because I know it’s better than my own desires. His plan is best and he is always more than enough! We commit whatever we do to the Lord because His way is always best.

~Tia Ryan

Friday, March 12, 2010

Day 12: International Ministry (Rev. 5:9; John 4:35)

• Relationships between students and church family
• More conversation partners
• For positive ways to communicate the gospel to the students

When Tirzah and I moved back to Maryland after seminary we came as CBF missionaries focused on being "advocates to the invisible poor" in the Washington DC/Baltimore corridor. Money was tight but the ministry was very rewarding - each day Tirzah would drive into the city to work first hand with men and women who desperately needed someone to love them in the name of Christ; to pray with them, to feed them, to clothe them, etc. One of the things we would do together was "church training" and many of our weekends were filled with driving to various sites to help other believers understand what it was they could do to help.

Before leaving on a trip to VA while balancing our budget I discovered that we basically had enough money to (a) pay our monthly bills or (b) go on/pay for the weekend retreat. We talked about our options, prayed together, and felt that we ought to still go away to speak at the missions retreat. I sent away our bill payments and right before leaving for VA Tirzah checked our mailbox only to discover a letter with a check from an old friend. A quick calculation showed that the check covered every bit of the "extra" that we needed to fund our missions trip with 4.00 left over. I jokingly told God that he had forgotten to "carry the one" in his own heavenly check book spreadsheet and that "getting the amount within 4.00 wasn't too bad."

Well, the joke ended up being on us…right outside of the missions retreat center we had to drive for a few miles on a toll road…the total cost? 2.00 each way.

God is good, and God has continually shown us that he is faithful. However, there is danger in the mentality that if you tithe you "get more back"…the bible and history rejects such narrow thinking. Tithing is personal, is complicated, and is required, but it never should be viewed as an option that gets a better return than the local bank offers. We should never give to get. We give because in doing so it reminds us that what is "ours" really isn't.

The bigger danger comes when we forget who it is that truly provides. My Wachovia savings account and my Guidestone IRA have nothing, in the grand scheme of things, to do with my security. I, like most of you, am only one medical or personal disaster away from financial ruin. It is God who gives life, God who holds life, and God who takes life. Giving my stuff away - my money, my time, my very life - helps me remember this truth a bit more clearly.

If our God truly owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps 50.10), and if he is concerned with the birds in the fields (Matt 10.29), then we can trust him to take care of us. It is, after all, all about God…and thank God for that.

~Brandon Turner

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Day 11: Friends Unlimited (2 Corinthians 12:9)

• Reach people for Christ and enable them to share Christ with others
• Shleter for sweet fellowship

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
9 Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:
10 If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!
11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

In the summer of 2008 I attended a “Women of Faith” conference, during which one of the speakers challenged all in attendance to go home and pray with our husbands for 40 days. She told us that prayer between a husband and wife was one of the most intimate things a couple can do. After hearing her plea to try this for just 40 days to “see what happens” -- I knew that, although the Lord may have been speaking to many women in the arena, He was definitely speaking to me.

It may seem surprising to some that a Christian couple, nearing their 25th wedding anniversary, did not already have in place the discipline of regular prayer together. It wasn’t that we weren’t praying – we both prayed over meals, we prayed over our children, and we prayed with our friends. We prayed out loud, we prayed silently, and we prayed corporately -- but we did not pray together. We talked about praying together from time to time and how we needed to do it -- but we never got around to making it a regular part of our prayer life.

When I came home from the conference I asked Pat if he would be willing to try praying together for 40 days to see what would happen. He agreed it was long overdue and we began praying together the very next morning. We stuck with it after the 40-day mark and now, a year and a half later, it has become a daily discipline and something we look forward to before we go to work each day.

We have learned firsthand the benefits of praying together as a couple. It is in fact a very intimate act because we are listening to each other open our hearts to God. It has ignited something new in our relationship that is deep and meaningful for both of us. It involves trust on both sides as we are vulnerable about our concerns, fears and needs.

We have celebrated together in prayer over what God has done for us. In fact, we have been celebrating in prayer a lot lately as we thank Him for seeing us through our transition from our former church to our new Greenridge church home. We are thanking God for all of you!

We have prayed through job changes, for dear friends, scary medical tests, aging parent issues, a son’s broken heart, major decisions, and financial struggles. It has not only brought us closer together but it has changed us. We are on the same page. When we pray over a decision, we are more than likely in agreement over God’s direction.

It is easy to go day to day and never know what your spouse is really going through. We pass each other and have so little time to connect with the heart. Through prayer we are open and honest about where we are at and what we are concerned with for the day and beyond. When I pray over Pat for his work day it draws me into his world in ways that I would not know otherwise. The same happens for him when he prays for me. We are able to support each other in specific rather than general ways.

If you are a young couple, please do not wait 25 years to begin praying together! If you are already praying together, then you are way ahead of the game! If this is new to you, as it was to us, then I urge you to take the 40-day challenge!

One of the most precious benefits of a couple praying together is when their children happen to see them holding hands and talking to the Lord. Some of you reading this grew up with this experience and some did not. Pat and I did not, but we want to leave that legacy for our sons. There have been times when they have asked us to pray for them -- especially if there is a big decision looming in some area of their life. Nothing warms our hearts more than to have one of our sons ask us to pray for them.

If I haven’t convinced you yet to try the 40-day challenge for yourself, let me pass on to you statistics I came across recently. Baylor University’s sociology department performed a research study on couples who pray together for about 5 minutes per day versus couples who do not. The results of this study (later matched nearly exactly by a secular Gallup poll) found that when married couples pray together they see an increase in happiness, intimacy, and confidence in the stability of their marriages. The fear of divorce plummets to nearly zero! It is very hard to hold a grudge or keep a wall up for very long when you are praying together!

Can we all agree that one of the greatest gifts we can give our children, our church, and our society is a happy, healthy marriage? We have found (after waiting way too long) that prayer is one of the foundations of health and stability between a husband and wife. While it won’t necessarily make a perfect union, it certainly helps us strive before God to place Him first in all aspects of the relationship. Our marriages can reach the goal that is stated in the scripture above: “A cord of three strands (Pat, me and Jesus) is not quickly broken.”

Give it a try for 40 days…and see what happens!

~Laura (and Pat) Acuña