Yearning for something fresh
“Have I been seriously and passionately praying for something fresh from God in my life? Have I been praying for a spiritual awakening in our time?”
These and other questions flowed through my mind and heart recently.
I must confess with all our cultural challenges and with our seemingly apathetic attitude toward the things of God, I felt as though I had abandoned my post in praying earnestly for God to do something fresh among us. Evil is having a field day in our world.
The answer is for us to pray earnestly for a fresh wind of God’s Spirit among us. This is not a call for a new program but a plea for us to have extraordinary hunger and thirst for God to move among us.
Let’s make this a priority in our lives. This may be the opportune moment for God to do something fresh in our lives and in the lives of others.
Rick Lance, Executive director
Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions
“This investigation … is not the ending of what we will do regarding sexual abuse; it is the beginning of it.”
Mike Keahbone, SBC Executive Committee member from Oklahoma
“The threat is real, and Satan is not happy with the impact for Christ that they are having and will have,” said Julie Yngsdal, IMB missionary, who serves among refugee communities in Durban, South Africa.
“We don’t ask you to serve because we need you to serve — but because you need to serve. … When we serve we are modeling one of the aspects of Jesus’ character. … I don’t mean always serving at church [during Sunday morning] but in ways where you are called, which could be at church or could be in the community [or both]. Bored Christians tend to be critical Christians. We want to be really careful we are helping people to fulfill the call that God’s placed on their lives,” said Danny Franks, pastor of guest services at The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, on Lifeway’s The Glass House podcast.
“As I thought through the story the Lord had written for my life, I just saw over and over His faithfulness to meet me in my weakness, to grant courage, to grant faith, to not only be able to take next steps but to have joy and to praise Him in it,” said Erica Patrick, missions widow.
“There’s a lot of pressure on students to decide what they’re going to be for the rest of their lives. My job gave me a window into students’ lives,” said Carol Inman, who spent 14 years as a high school counselor and six years as a counselor at the Honors College at Murray State University in Kentucky.
“There is such a spiritual need globally, and we were able to see that. If anybody is ever on the fence about going on mission, they should get off the fence and just go,” said John Walker, a short-term missionary from Columbus State University in Georgia.
“They gave birth to a healthy baby girl, and the mom had her tumor removed six weeks postpartum,” said Elena Brefo, NAMB missionary. She shared about a woman in her church who was advised by doctors to abort her baby after she learned she had a tumor.
“We’re surviving; God’s letting us survive. He’s bringing us through it. I’ve learned there’s a lot of people who are good,” said Sam Hooper, who lost his home to flooding last August in rural Cruso, North Carolina. Biltmore Church reached out to Hooper and his wife, Janice, and bought them a new home.
“God would radically change my heart and mind, because … I was pouring over Scripture trying to find the reason why this entire book was just bunk,” said Stuart Redcay, former atheist who is now associate pastor at Big Woods Bible Church in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.
From the Twitterverse
@dandarling
A little humility in our public discourse would be good. Some evenhandedness, a realization that we may not see the entire picture, that we might be wrong, that we may not be as pure as we think and those who disagree might not be monsters.
@michealpardue
A key element in a pastor’s sermon preparation time is meditation on the question “Am I ready to give an account to the Lord for this message?”
@JackieHillPerry
Prayerlessness has everything to do with humility and if we have enough of it. Humility makes you a realist. Pride makes you delusional. The delusion beneath prayerlessness is that we are sufficient without God. The humble one knows they can do nothing without Him.
@johnnymhunt
When my heart is full of Gratitude I have noticed my life is full of Graciousness. When I reflect on His Grace my attention moves from me to others. Lord, may I be mindful of others.
@Clawlessjr
We believers will not become “error-free” this side of heaven, but we still must continually work at confession, repentance and obedience. And, the closer we get to God, the more apparent our remaining sin becomes.
@drtonyevans
God is looking for servants, not celebrities.
@DrDavidLAllen
Every Christian is the best Christian that somebody knows.
@johnmarkclifton
Making decisions based primarily on not losing members — is a death rattle of a church.
@claysmith79
If you feel like you’re not great at evangelism … well … welcome to evangelism.
@shane_pruitt78
Saying Jesus is the only way to heaven is not hateful. Keeping silent about it is.
