Hungry

Jesus said during the sermon on the mount: (Matthew 5:6) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

I often wonder why I have days when I can't wait to spend time with God and then there are days when it seems like it is work to spend time with God?  Why is my hunger level for God sometime really high and sometimes not so high?  I use to worry about it and want to always be on that mountain top!  Trying to do more and more to get the feeling I was wanting from God.  But I think I am learning that God is always there even when I don't feel like spending time with Him.  He is always communicating with me, even when I am not listening.  He is always consistent even when it feels like He is a million miles away.  I believe sometimes when God feels distant He is trying to help me develop more of a hunger for Him and His presence in my life!  

I want to encourage you to spend some time this month fasting and praying that God would help you to STAY HUNGRY for God's Holy Presence in your life.  Fasting is such a great way to stay HUNGRY spiritually.  

The Daniel Fast is a great way to get started fasting.  It is healthy both physically and spiritually.  The basic idea is to eat fruits, vegetables and drink water for a period of time.  This change of habit will make you keenly aware of God's presence and voice in your life.  

Stay Hungry, 
Pastor Dale 

Look at the Heart

This Christmas season it is hard not to think of how families of recent violence will be able to celebrate Christ coming to the world, when their lives have been so impacted by violence.  Talk about God must bring very mixed emotions in these days.  

It seems like the talk has turned toward gun control very quickly.  Honestly, I don't have a lot of use for guns personally.  I believe this is not where Christians should be focusing our attention.  It is political and you will definitely find people's opinions when you talk about it, but it misses the point. The problem is not gun control, but rather the hearts of people.  Paul described people with heart issues this way:  Romans 1:28-31 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.  Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. ³⁰ They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents.  They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 

Similarly, I believe the talk about our nation leaving God out of our culture is not the issue we need to talk about.  God tried to develop a Godly nation out of Israel and we can read about that in the Old Testament.  Now God is developing a spiritual Kingdom called the Body of Christ.  We don't need the United State of America to be a Christian Nation, we need the Body of Christ to rise up and be the influence on the world that makes a difference.  Want to change the world?  Change your heart by following Christ completely!  

Dreams and Visions

God is trying to restore in me and belief in His ability to communicate to me and others through dreams and visions.  I think I have thought that vision and dreams where so illogical, I just didn't have a place to put them in my well designed and organized theology.  There was just too much room for false information and false interpretation.
But the reality is that the Christmas story is so reliant on Joseph's dream and realization that he must keep going with his relationship with Mary.  God communicated with Joseph something that was so illogical and so  against the normal way of thinking.  And the Matthew records that Joseph got up and was obedient to what he was told in his dream.
The reality is that Christmas and God are full of mystery!  You can't just logically explain the incarnation. No matter what words you use and how detailed the explanation that Jesus was fully God and fully man; it is still a mystery!
I wonder sometimes how much of God's communication I miss because I fail to take into account my dreams and the reality that God may be trying to communicate with me through them.