Fear is Famine

Greetings, 

Fear is Famine sounds like a strange thing to say doesn't it? I heard this this weekend while I was at a youth rally in Phoenix. I had never really thought of it that way but in makes a lot of since. Think about it for a second or two before we move on...

FEAR IS FAMINE!!!

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I wasn't sure I was going to write about this but after reading a friends blog today and the weekend I had, It seemed more appropriate....

My family and I have a lot of transitions going on right now, and I mean a lot!!  

We have begun laying a foundation for a ministry of our own, we are leaving a place we called home for two years, publishing a book, looking for a new job, preparing my church for transitions of their own, continuously adjusting to raising our two wonderful children (as all parents always should be) and even a few other things.  These transitions have been very stressful for me. (as many of you know, I am really not that good with unknowns and there are a lot of them right now)

This weekend as I spent time listening to and talking with the youth I took on this trip, I found myself pushing these unknowns to the back of my mind. They themselves have been going through a lot on their own and needed someone to be able to listen to them so I did so naturally. The result of this has been, in many ways, an answer to prayer. Instead of focusing so much on what was in front of me in my own life, I was able to help them, at least in a small way, with some pretty serious issues.

Once I got home and was able to seclude myself, I realized that my wife was right when she told me to let go for the weekend, granted she was talking about our upcoming book but the message came across. You see, all of these transitions have weighed heavily upon my heart taking much of my energy and leaving me a bit dry in the spiritual sense. 

Realizing this showed me that in many ways I have been afraid of the transitions taking place in my family right now. This fear had left me in a famine. Just like a drought (or lack of rain) can leave the ground with little energy and dried up, fear can do the same to our spiritual walks. Interesting to think about isn't it.

In the end, I now know that while I may not know the outcome of all of the transitions we are going through, I cannot let them bring fear into my heart. Ultimately if I were to continue on in my present mind set, I would be letting Satan gain spiritual ground in my life and I am not about to let that happen :-).

That's all for now..... 

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

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

M.E.

Memoirs of the Oil Lamp

Greetings Everyone, 

It's been a while since I've done a freestyle post so I thought I'd try to write one before I head of to bed for the night.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the Oil Lamps I have collected over the years trying to decide which one to let go of with the upcoming move. As of yet I haven't been able to let go of any of them, but I have been thinking about them, not in the way you'd expect though. 

For some reason I've been stuck on how they work. I've been stuck on how each component by itself does't make it an oil lamp but when combined we are given this wonderful little invention, that I'm addicted to collecting, LOL.

As I thought about this in more detail, I began to make a connection with it all. I'm sure many have made this connection before but still, it really caught my attention. Each component of the lamp has to be in place for it to work, if even one piece is missing the lamp becomes relatively useless. 

Without the Glass surrounding the flame it cannot be controlled.  Without the lamps base it cannot stand on its own. Without the burner it will never be able to store or control the wick. Without the wick it will never shine. Without the oil it won't light properly. Finally, without the connecting collar from the base to the burner the entire lamp can never be put together in the first place.

You see, all of these things work together to give us light and every part is important in its own special way. They are each quite vital to the function of the lamp.  After I thought about this for a while, my mind began making spiritual connections all over the place.  I can't go through all of them in this post (because that would take too long, LOL) but I think I might make some time to do so down the road. For now I will leave you all with this one...

Just as each component of the oil lamp works together to bring us light, So should we as believers. The world is a very dark place and when we as Christians work together, we bring light into the darkness.

 Here is a scripture for us all to think about "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it." (John 1:5 NLT)

 Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

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

M.E.

Whats new from us!!

Dear Readers,

It has been a while since my last posting hasn't it. Life with two very young children has kept me very busy. Not to mention everything else on my plate. Traci and I are working very hard on getting the book 'Ahavah' Writings for the Journey completed, (It turns out my grammar wasn't the best in the world, LOL). We are making progress though, editing is almost complete so all that will be left is to get a few more proffers to go through it and the forward done.

This is very exciting for me, as many of you know, has always been a dream of mine to write such a book as this. I know in my heart of hearts that this is the beginning of a new phase in my Journey with God and am ready to see what God will do in the coming years.

As far as Ahavah Journey Ministries or AJM we have been putting together our vision for what it will look like and how to pursue it when the time comes. I have to say, WOW!! It's going to be great and I can't wait. We are even more excited about AJM than the book, but as my mother always said, "take it a day at a time my son, a day at a time..." The end result of the thoughts God has placed on our hearts is going to be an amazing journey to embark upon.

We are also working on some ideas for Kedoshim: The Journey Begins, as well as some other books too. Needless to say, we have plenty of ideas coming our way and not a lot of time to get them going but we are working through it all one day at a time. I would love to share them all with you at some point and as time goes by I plan too but for now I am headed off to bed praying for a restful night.

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

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

M.E.

The Father Revealed- Our Story: Gods Glory

Greetings yet again, 

I have the time so I wanted to post the next part of my the series Our Story: Gods Glory. The third 'conversation' was entitled "Jesus O Jesus" and as you can probably guess It was all about Jesus.  As I began preparing for this 'conversation' I thought about talking about several different aspects of Jesus but came to the conclusion that I wanted to share about who Jesus was as a man. In the end, I received much more insight into the characteristics of Jesus than I ever thought I would...

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As a man, Jesus went through more that we will ever be able to understand.  Just to mention a few... he was arrested, rebuked, beaten, whipped, insulted, scolded, dragged, put on trial, and eventually crucified. I find it hard to imagine going through all of these horrific experiences as Jesus, the man, did. This is the reality that has so often been over looked. In the last 12 hours of his human life every one of the people he loved walked away. Yes, some of them eventually came back but only to watch him die the death of a criminal.  In the end he was completely alone. 

The hardest aspect of the gospel story for me to wrap my mind around has always been these last few moments of his human life.  As he died on the cross every sin, past, present and future that anyone and everyone will ever commit was placed upon his shoulders. In those moments God the Father, whom I imagine wanted nothing more than to be there for his son, couldn't be there. Where sin lies, God the Father cannot…

“Then they (he-Jesus) will cry to the Lord, but he will not answer them (him); he (The Lord) will hide his face from them (him) at that time, because they (mankind) have made their deeds evil.” Micah 3:4 (ESV)

“Your eyes are too pure to approve evil; And You cannot look on wickedness with favor.” Hab. 1:13 (NASB)

Scripture states that if God the Father were to look upon sin HIS light would out shine the darkness and the presence of sin would crumble before HIM. What this means (at least from my perspective) is that If God the Father was to look upon the sins of man that were placed upon Jesus shoulders in those moments, we would not have the freedom in Christ that we have today.  This freedom is what bonds us to the Father. 

John 15:9 (NIV) says “As the Father has loved me, I have loved you, now remain in my love.” There is no clearer example of this love than the moments of the crucifixion. Even though The Father could not be with his son during those moments he revealed this love as the darkness came over the land and as the curtain in the temple tore down the middle. He revealed this love as the rocks split, the earth shook and the tombs broke open. I have often even imagined he revealed this love through his tears as a heavy rain began to fall in the darkness and as the cries of his heart raged through the land as thunder and lightning erupting everywhere. 

This love could not be mistaken for anything else and is the same love that Jesus was offering to us when he shared the words in John 15:9. As I close for now I encourage you, the reader, to think about the Fathers love for Jesus and ask yourself “How can I remain in (or enter into) that love?”…

(“The Father Revealed” is Part 1 of my conversation “Jesus O Jesus” please keep your eyes open for Part 2 in one of my next posts)

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

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

M.E.

New Years Update

Greetings in the New Year, 

It has been almost a month since my last post and I thought with a bit of time over the holiday I would jump in and share some thoughts. It has been a very busy month for my family and I as we have begun learning to adjust to having two children in the house. I have also been putting some finishing touches on a Manuscript I hope to have ready for Self-Publishing through Amazon in the next few months. Right now it is going through some editing. 

The concept of the book is more of a Devotional Manuscript that intertwines letters to the reader, some of the devotionals I have had published on devotional websites (or on here) and some personal reflections that I feel I have received from God. I have titled the Manuscript "Ahavah Writings for the Journey". I will share the story behind how it all came together at a later date. With the book almost ready I have been putting some time into expanding my writing portfolio and trying to publish some of my other devotionals. 

In the midst of all of this I have been very busy with laying the ground work for our ministry idea (which will include the book) and planning for a future in the ministry that I currently serve in. I have also found some riveting new insights from my time with God that I am excited to share with you all in the coming months. Needless to say it has been a very busy month :-).

With all of this said one of the  biggest insights I have received was on the scripture "Be Still and Know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10. I will share more about this insight in one of my next few posts but for now let me leave you with the promise to do so :-). 

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

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

M. E.

Peter Revealed- Our Story: Gods Glory

Greetings again everyone, 

I guess I am taking some time to catch up on my Blog Posts today. 

Before I begin to lay out my thoughts on Peter, you must know that I connect with Peter very deeply. I have never denied Christ by any means but the characteristics and words of Peter have long spoken to my heart and made me the believer that I am today. 

In my 'conversation' with the congregation this summer regarding Peter I highlighted the story of his re-dedication to as the rock Jesus would build the church upon that is found in John chapter 21.  I imagined with the congregation how Peter may have felt in the moments after he denied Christ 3 times. We spoke about how we sometimes feel the same way he did.  

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Peter was a man that had many traits that were good and bad and we could spend all the time in the world going through those things but in spite of all of these things God still used him to do the most amazing things. The message and calling he gave Peter in John 21 comes down to four simple sentences. 

Feed my Lambs. Take care of my sheep.

                                              Feed my sheep. Follow Me.  

In life we have to deal with our personal feelings getting into the way all the time, as we all know, and from Peter we learn that even when hard times creep up on us that they only come to test that our faith is true, as Jesus was testing Peters faith when he asked Him “Do you Love Me”

We are called to love each other deeply by the scriptures that Peter wrote under divine inspiration from God.  We see the world around us and thing what a waste or man I can’t believe that just happened and complain about everything under the sun, and that keeps us from being united in Christ.

Many years after Peter received those instructions from Jesus he wrote the following passage in 1st Peter 4:8-11. He did not share this passage with us to say we are doing things wrong, but to encourage us to live our lives as an offering of GODS GLORY to the world around us. 

The instructions given teach us to seek Gods love above everything else, (this is the offering HE has given us) and all we have to do is give ourselves and our gifts back to HIM who has given them to us. It amazes me to see that when I give everything to HIM how fast it works out and always a lot better than I could even imagine. 

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

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

M.E.

Reflections; Philip Revealed- Our Story: Gods Glory

Greetings Everyone, 

It's been about a month since my last post and boy have a lot of things been happening. I will share some of those things in a later post. For now though I wanted to continue my postings on the series Our Story: Gods Glory.  This post will share some thoughts I had on Phillip. Since I have posted some of these thoughts before I am posting this one as a Reflection. 

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Devotional Reflection

There is a story in Acts chapter 8 that has been on my mind lately. A very powerful story and I really think it can teach us a lot about what we as the church should be doing.

It begins with “a great wave of persecution…sweeping over the church in Jerusalem...” Acts 8:1b. The Believers were forced out of Jerusalem into the regions of Judea and Samaria and a Man named Saul traveled around with one goal in mind, destroy this new church.

Interestingly enough wherever the believers scattered, people heard the news about Jesus and the life he lived. One man named Phillip whom many considered the first evangelist was forced into the city of Samaria and his story is the one I’ve been thinking about lately.

He confidently shared the good news with the people in Samaria and they listened in awe of the stories he was teaching. He performed miracles, healed the sick and drove out many evil spirits. In the end, “there was great Joy in that city,” Acts 8:8.

This one verse made me think, is our church making this kind of impact on the City we live in? The New Testament church impacted people where ever they went and no matter what they were going through, Lives were continually transformed and multitudes were saved on a daily basis.

Here is another question, is this a trend most churches set today? 

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Conversational Notes

Phillip was considered the first Evangelist of the early church aside from Jesus him self of course, we don’t here much about him but he is still pretty important.

When persecution began to sweep the world at a very fast pace he was deep in the middle of it all sweeping through the church in Jerusalem and through to Samaria, he proclaimed the good news to anyone who would listen and is ideally the man that brought some many to Christ before Paul and the Apostles began to preach the message 

He obeyed the holy spirits leading and then seized the day, He was very effective, and kept on going even in spite of all that was going on around him, he was an example to all early Christians and submitted to the Power and guidance of the spirit, and was the first to reach beyond to borders of Judaism.  

We read about him in Acts chapter 8:5-8 (NCV) as well as the rest of the chapter…

Philip went to the city of Samaria and preached about the Christ.When the people there heard Philip and saw the miracles he was doing, they all listened carefully to what he said.Many of these people had evil spirits in them, but Philip made the evil spirits leave. The spirits made a loud noise when they came out. Philip also healed many weak and crippled people there. So the people in that city were very happy.

As we reflect upon our friend Phillip, I encourage you all to remember what he stood for, He was obedient to Gods calling upon his life, and kept Gods word close to his heart, we must also Keep Gods Word Obediently close to our Hearts as well… 

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

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

M.E.