Simple Things- The Journaling Phenomenon

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Romans 15:4 ESV

A journal is something that almost everyone has taken upon themselves to write as they have grown up. How long the commitment was may not have been the best but the idea of writing down your thoughts and experiences is something that many have wondered about, and were most likely forced to do in school.  

Journaling your thoughts on a daily basis can give you something to refer to when difficult times come, as sort of a guide of it’s own. It can show you where you’ve been and give you a clearer picture of what God is trying to reveal to you in your time with.

There have been many times others have been impacted by an entry in their personal journal that was scribbled down several months or even years back.  God has a great way of taking our experiences from the past and bringing back to the forefront of our mind. Having a Journal to refer back to when these times come can be very encouraging.

Today, I still look back on several of my blog posts or “journal entries” and learn something new.  The Bible is the same way. Some of my best ideas come from when I journal about a scripture that has really impacted my life. The result of writing that passage down, along with a few of my thoughts, has birthed most of what I write.

Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room."

"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20

M.J. Elliott

Simple Things- The Ambulance Effect

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

- Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV

 As a child growing up my mother had this little thing she would do every time she heard a siren, hence the name: The Ambulance Effect. She would stop everything she was doing and say a simple prayer, “Lord be with them and keep them in your love and give them understanding. Amen.” Many times us kids would ask why and she’d simply answer, “because Jesus would.”

That answer is the root of everything I hold dear in my life, many who know me know one of my ministry sayings is “Love them Crazy, Just like Jesus.” My mother taught me this and while she never really found out what became of all those she prayed for, it was important that she took the time to stop and do something for someone else, regardless of knowing the outcome.

As an adult, I have continued to follow her lead. I have adapted my prayers a little but still, there is something that clicks in my heart when I embrace an opportunity to help someone else in need, whether it be through these simple prayers or something bigger. So next time you see someone struggling embrace the ambulance effect.

It will do more than change your heart, it will change the hearts of others as well when they see the example you set with whatever assistance you offer those around you. One of the ways I like to keep track of those moments where embracing the ambulance effect really makes a difference is by journaling the events that lead to them.

Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room."

"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20

M.J. Elliott

Simple Things- The Formula

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

- Matthew 7:7-8 NIV

Life is full of it’s ups and downs, God gives us a formula to live by through the scriptures as a way of guiding us towards the patch that we have been called to take.

This formula gives each of us a basic guideline to helping us grow closer to God.  While each of us is given a specific formula for our life all of them come down to simply this, we must ask God to teach us his ways, then we must seek God with all that we are, and then we must knock on the doors he places before us.

With each door that opens, we grow closer to awakening our faith. What matters is how we go about completing that formula.  There is not one specific way that is right or wrong as long as that formula includes all three.  

As you continue to read the next few posts about this project, it is my hope that they will give you ways to combine all three in some form or another. One of the very first things I learned was to Stop and Pray for God to open the doors he has prepared for us to walk through in this life.

This lesson plays a very important role in identifying which formula will work best for you. So, as we will talk about in the next section, make it your choice to go to God in prayer everyday as you seek his guidance in identifying which formula will work best with who you are.

Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room."

"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20

M.J. Elliott

An Introduction to Simple Things P2

When I began to think about a project Love the Saints Ministries could offer to our readers freely, my thoughts were taken back to the original project and then to the sermon series I mentioned earlier.

Our hope with this project is to give the reader a small guide they can look back on to help them when life just simply gets in the way of Awakening your faith.

Now, I’m not suggesting that all it will take to awaken your faith is a little God in your life, it’s not that simple. There are certain things that we must do in order to find ourselves growing closer to God.

There are always going to be struggles and temptations that we have to overcome. What I am suggesting is that even though your life may contain heartache and suffering, YOU have the ability to work through the pains of this life and embrace a joyful heart.

Life has given each of us so much opportunity to embrace a little more joy and the thing we experience, big and small all play a role in forming that desire deep within the confines of our hearts. If personal experience has taught me anything, it is that our experiences do matter and that they can lead us down the path of righteousness or a path of destruction.

So let’s embrace the simple things and start preparing ourselves for an awakening, an awakening of the heart. The journey won’t be as easy as you might think but through Christ and each other we can accomplish the task that has been set before us, to find ways we, as individuals and as believers in the way , the truth and the life, can grow in our walk with God.

There are many different ways a person can do this and as your read the pages of this book you may find some you would like to try and others that you may think are kind of ridiculous. In the end, the important thing is that something begins to awaken, something that will change your life forever.

Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room."

"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20 M.J. Elliott

An Introduction to Simple Things P1

Have you ever wondered about growing closer to God?

 A While ago, I put together a sermon series that taught about the simple things in life and how they can help awaken your heart, at the time I never really thought about using what I learned as I put that series together in a small eBook like this.

That’s the beauty of God though. He loves to use the “Simple Things” in life to help us understand the vastness of his great love and of the growth we can have in our own walks with God.

There are big things and small thing that we can do each day to help remind us of what our faith is all about and embrace the opportunity to do these things more in our daily lives, the possibilities are endless.

This little Project is just starting off so we are not really publicizing it just yet, but I needed to post something and this is what's on my heart right now. My hope in sharing this project “Freely” is that it will give you, the reader, a little glimpse into what God can do in your life through the “Simple Things” that we often forget about or pay little attention too as we go about our daily routines.

Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room."

"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20 M.J. Elliott

I Am Sending You

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” - John 20:21 NIV

  It is an interesting thought to believe in a statement such as this. To be truthful we don’t really see things like this in today’s world. I must admit, I miss hearing things like this on a daily basis.  In my college days we heard things like this everyday and we knew that it meant something to be sent by God, into a world or darkness as vessels of light. Our struggles in college were nothing like the struggles that we face today and that was only six years ago. My, how our perspectives change in such a short amount of time. 

  When we were younger things just seemed different, but the reality is that the world is always changing. As we live our lives we encounter many different experiences that impact who we are in that present moment. 

  Those experiences change the way we look at the world and teach us something about ourselves that we would not normally have the opportunity to learn. With each experience comes another step in our journey to becoming the person we were meant to be. I believe that this happens because of bold statements like the scripture passage above.

 

God has given each of us the ability to experience certain moments in life because they are meant to show us something of who we are meant to be. In essence, these experiences ‘send us’ into the world as witnesses of his glory, and soldiers of His heart. 

  As we embrace the experiences we encounter we grow and as we grow in God we become who we are meant to be. The peace that is promised in this passage only comes through the path God has set for us. God sends each and everyone of us into the world to share the wonder of His amazing grace with a broken world.

  God, the Father, sent Jesus into the world so that he could pave the way for us to be sent into all the world as the vessels of this amazing grace. As the vessels God has chosen to share this message, it is our calling to embrace each experience we encounter as a path towards peace, the peace that surpasses all understanding. 

 

This peace is part of our inheritance as the people of God and with it we can go forth into the world leaning on the everlasting power of God’s love. In the end, we are given a foundation of grace, growth, peace and of experience that we can use to spread His love. 

  Even though the world is changing before our eyes and becoming darker everyday, we are changing too. Just as the Father sent His Son, the Son has sent us into the world and given us the foundation to change the world. So, I encourage you today to go forth, embrace your experiences and become the change that truly does make the difference.

Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room."

"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20

M.J. Elliott

A Journey with ACTS 2:1-4

Greetings Readers, 

Here is the first Segment of Chapter 2 on my Journey with Acts. This marks the beginning of an awakening in History and there is so much more to gain from taking a deeper look into what I've been reading. My eyes are open and I can't wait to see what comes next. Please feel free to share your thoughts our this post with someone else.

Blessings, 

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When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongue as the Spirit enabled them.

Acts 2:1-4 NLT

Being together in one place is quite an accomplishment, in spite of everything the disciples and the other followers were going through.  They were being chased all over the city of Jerusalem and even further. Thinking about this certainly makes me wonder a few things about how the disciples and the group that followed them. How bad were things at that point? How many of those that came together had already lost a loved one to the tyranny of Rome? What really drove the believers together? 

These are all great things to wonder about but the reality is that much of the answers to these questions are not found in scripture. The answers are left up to us to imagine. Most of the time I enjoy using a bit of imagination but in this case I’ve always really wanted to know. The fact that scripture says ‘suddenly a violent wind came and filled the house’ and ‘they saw what seemed like tongues of fire that separated’ has always sparked my imagination. Honestly, I’ve watch movies about this passage just to see how someone else would imagine what happened that day.

We know that it had to be pretty amazing but to imagine that day or to wonder about how they all got together has always been a mystery.  This mystery often reminds me just how amazing God’s power truly is. God was with the believers every step of the way, from the beginning when the few were called until the ascension when there were many and even to pentecost when they all seems to do the impossible and become part of the most important aspects of the Christian heritage. 

The amazing thing about all of this is this; God is with us today just as he was for all the believers. Remember that the next time you begin to doubt God’s amazing power. 

6/29/16 9:15pm

Revised 7/14/16

Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room."

"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20

M.J. Elliott

A Journey with ACTS 1:23-26

Greetings Everyone,

Here is the next segment of my Journey with ACTS. I know I haven't been here for a while, so we are going to be making up for lost time. This is the last few verses of Chapter 1 on our Journey. Look for Chapter 2 coming soon.

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“So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they all prayed, “O Lord, you know every heart. Show us which of these men you have chosen as an apostle to replace Judas in this ministry, for he has deserted us and gone where he belongs.” Then they cast lots, and Matthias was selected to become an apostle with the other eleven.” - Acts 1:23-26 NLT

They Nominated two men and then they prayed. My question is why didn’t they pray from the beginning? Did they feel like they knew everything they needed to know before choosing the candidates through prayer? If that’s not enough they then proceed to cast lots. It almost seems like they are running the show on their own. Whatever happened to waiting on God when it came to making big choices for our future?

That’s the problem in today’s world as well.  We tend to forget that God doesn’t work on our time. He works on His time. God’s timing really is perfect and if we mess with that, everything we’ve worked for would have fallen apart. We need to make sure we are, indeed, waiting on God but we also need to be aware of the conscious effort that needed as we grow in God.

Sometimes God has something planned for us and we just need be patient and wait upon Him. In the midst of it all through,we must remember that if concerns and worries to the doctor things may just turn out a bit differently that you might think, but in a good way. Make it a point to actively seek God.

6/29/16

Blessings in Christ and thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room,"

Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you... (2 Thes. 2:15b NCV)

M. J. Elliott

A Journey with ACTS 1:20-22

Greetings Everyone,

Here is the next segment of my Journey with ACTS, I know it's been a while since my last post and I am sorry for those of you that were on the edge of your seat waiting to see what I find next. I've been in a bit of a loll recently, but more on that another time. Feel free to share your thoughts.

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Peter continued, “This was written in the book of Psalms, where it says, ‘Let his home become desolate, with no one living in it.’ It also says, ‘Let someone else take his position. “So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were traveling with the Lord Jesus— from the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us. Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus’ resurrection.” - Acts 1:20-22 NLT

Peter had moved to replace the one that had betrayed them. He saw that everyone was in need of something to do and gave them a task to complete. Was it from God? We don’t really know but he used some compelling proof and it worked. The believers were reassured so much so that they felt this was indeed the next step. Replacing the betrayer was a reasonable step to take in preparation for what was to come.

Together, they outline a criteria for this replacement and then begin to make their way through the candidates. In modern terms, they were interviewing and narrowing down their search. All the while hoping that God would lead them to the right person. If you think about it, this is a great example of how to proceed when we aren’t really sure what’s next.

I’d like to think this would help us determine what God’s is when we are unsure. Peter does this quite well and we can learn from his example, but we must always remember to seek guidance when we find ourselves in such a scenario.  God’s plan may not always be clear to us, as it was in this instance for Peter and the others, but they are there. It’s usually just a matter of narrowing down the possibilities.

We are never promised that His will just be revealed to us, but we are promised that if we seek him, we will indeed find him. Now is the time for us to step out and do so.

Yes, Judas had betrayed them and yes, there was a need to bring someone new into the fold, so to speak. But there is a time and a place for that. Peter may have thought that the present moment was the right time for that, and it may have been, but there is also the possibility that it wasn’t. No one truly knows, what the next step was meant to be.

I would like to believe that replacing Judas was God’s will at this point for the disciples but something tells me, He had something else in mind.

5/23/16

Revised 6/24/16

Blessings in Christ and thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room,"

Stand Strong and continue to beleive the teachings given to you...(2 Thes. 2:15b NCV)

M.J. Elliott

A Journey with ACTS 1:16-19

Greetings Everyone, 

Here is the next segment in my Journey with ACTS.  This one was a pretty big eye opener for me and I'm really excited to share it with you all.  It may be a bit unconventional but, it's what I feel was placed upon my heart to write. One thing I'd like to remind everyone at this point is that everything posted here will be a rough draft and has not been edited as thoroughly as it probably should be. With that in mind feel free to share your comments and suggestions in the comments below.

Blessings, 

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Brothers,” he said, “the Scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Judas, who guided those who arrested Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit, speaking through King David. Judas was one of us and shared in the ministry with us. (Judas had bought a field with the money he received for his treachery. Falling headfirst there, his body split open, spilling out all his intestines. The news of his death spread to all the people of Jerusalem, and they gave the place the Aramaic name Akeldama, which means “Field of Blood.”)” -Acts 1:16-19 NLT

Often we take the mistakes of the past and turn them into something they are not meant to be. We see that something needs to be done and despite what we may be feeling on the inside, we act. This is what I believe Peter was doing in this instance. God had promised him and everyone else that he would sent another and instead of waiting for whomever was to come, The Holy Spirit, he moves, he acts, and he may actually have been making another mistake. But we’ll get to that in a few moments…

For now let’s direct our focus back to Judas, he is after all the one who betrayed Jesus and for all intensive purposes, Peter and the other disciples. The passage above is a pretty crude sight to think about but it can serve as a reminder of how horrible Judas’ act was and teach us that there are consequences for our actions.

From what we can tell in biblical history, Judas thought that Jesus had come to lead a rebellion. When he came offering love instead of war, my guess would be that Judas betrayed him thinking that Jesus would finally act.

Instead of waiting to see what God had planned Judas basically took things into his own hands. His intention may have been to give Jesus a reason to act but that was not what God had already planned. Sometimes we too can take things into our own hands and instead of waiting for God to act, we take it upon ourselves to change the outcome.

We forget all too easily, that our job is to trust in God’s plan and let Him do the heavy lifting. Our job is to embrace God’s plan knowing that we may not always like the direction He takes us.

Judas failed to realize was that God’s plan was bigger than any war that could have been fought. My guess is that Judas didn’t actually realize this until everything had been said and done already. We all make mistakes, if there is anything that can be learned from these few verses, it would be that God’s plan may come into fruition the way we expect it to.

You may also say that all mistakes come with their own consequences, for Judas betraying the savior lead to one of the worst. But I’d like to think that the lesson is more about trusting God with the desires of our heart and understanding that He sees things come a much bigger perspective than we ever will.

5/23/16 1:30am Revised 6/08/16 2:30am

A Journey with ACTS 1:12-15

Greetings,

Here is the next segment of my Journey with ACTS. For me these few verses reminded me of how easily it can be to forget the importance of spending time with our Great God in prayer. Sometimes we just simply get in way deeper that we should without seeking God's direction. Let me know what you think of these few verses. Blessings,

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Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile. When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying.

Here are the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the zealot), and Judas (son of James). They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus. -Acts 1:12-14 NLT

There isn’t much to say about a bunch of names, is there? Well, there is another aspect to these verses though. If you keep reading until verse 14 you see they all continued to meet together and that they were constantly in prayer. This is a great word of encouragement.

Think about the previous verses for a moment, the disciples were distracted by seeing Jesus ascend. Suddenly two angels tell them to get going, so they do. They head right back to the upper room and begin to pray. I’d like to think they went there seeking direction. There wasn't really any real reason to stay close by but they did and they did so by with drawing to a safe place. Sometimes all we can do when it comes to seeking God is withdraw.

We are told in other places in scripture to ‘go into the closet and pray (Mt. 6:6). Scripture doesn't say God runaround like a cry person. It say's pray. That same verse also tells us to seek a quiet place. Finding a quite place can help you find your focus and I'd like to think that is what the disciples were doing in this instance. 

Maybe this is a message about how we should pray today. God has so many wonderful things to offer us and when we get distracted we can lose sight of those things. Finding time to dedicate to praying with God can help bring our lives to where they need to be in order to move forward.

5/15/16 12:45am

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During this time, when about 120 believers were together in one place, Peter stood up and addressed them. - Acts 1:15 NLT

It’s hard to believe that pretty much every time the apostles came together and prayed, they were in the upper room and many times I’d imagine that they were quite crowded. People were looking for a safe place. To be honest, there were still those who sought to hurt those that followed the way of Jesus, but something was coming. 

Here in this passage, we begin to see just what Jesus was saying when he said ‘another is coming.' It was the beginning of one of the most amazing scenes I've ever read about in the scripture. However, something else was coming as well. Something that might even have send the disciples the wrong way.

Now there are times when we are meant to keep praying and there are times when we need to act. I’d like to believe this moment was one of the latter but I’d be wrong. Many believe this instance was meant to be the former. Peter stood up, and on his own addressed the crowd. He knew many felt lost and probably thought to himself, ‘I know let’s act’ when holding off might have been the better thing to do.

Truthfully, these 120 people weren't just sitting there doing nothing. They were acting, through prayer, and maybe just maybe, they needed to act in that fashion a little bit longer. Why? Well, because God doesn't always speak to us right away. Sometimes what he really wants from us is to simply wait. Let's be honest though, if we know anything, we know that as humans we are often impatient and do act on our own. It's part of our sinful nature.

This can often lead to making a few mistakes.

5/22/16 1:05am

Blessings in Christ and thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room" Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you... (2 Thes. 2:15b NCV), M.E