Knowing God's will = Not that complicated?

"Father, show us your will for our lives...and we will do it," is a phrase we seem to be praying over and over lately. You can imagine our relief/excitement/bewilderment, then, when we came across the following readings in Weeks 7 and 8 in our ever-present devotional guide, A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God:

WEEK 7: Sacred Reading
"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing."
Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

WEEK 8: Affirmation
"If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."
James 1:5-6 (NIV)

WEEK 8: Petition
"Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good spirit guide me on a level path." Psalm 143:10 (NIV, 1984)

WEEK 8: God's Promise
"I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me."
Proverbs 8:17 (NASB)

The moral? As always: God is good. God is at work. And God can be trusted!

Promises, Promises

We're in Year B, Week 7 of the Christian calendar, a chapter in the Green Book called "Dangerous Journey." The suggested Scriptural readings for this week include two passages (and promises) that have been particularly encouraging to me (Aaron) during the past few years:

"But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: 'Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...'"

Isaiah 43:1-3a (NIV)

-AND-

"The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace."

Psalm 29:11

In other words..."God is big. God is good. And God can be trusted."

Amen!!

Tales from the Green Book

As always: we freaking love this book.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

-Galatians 5:22-23

An excerpt from A Guide to Prayer, "Week 6: Reading the Signs."

"The creative venture for your generation is to determine what LOVE means for a nation; what JOY is for our civilization; what the shape of PEACE is among factions of ancient animosity; how PATIENCE is found for the slow processes of justice; what constitutes KINDNESS in helping the weak, poor, and oppressed; how governments can be GENEROUS without being patronizing; how people can be FAITHFUL to their traditions while responsive to changes; how GENTLENESS orders might to combat wrong; and how nations, civilizations, societies, governments, armies, peoples, and factions, as well as yourselves individually can exercise SELF-CONTROL in the face of enormous insecurity and competition."

-Robert Cummings Neville, The God Who Beckons

Amen!

There and Back Again: Spokane, WA & Poland

Hey, some friends of ours from the Spokane, WA, 1st Church of the Nazarene just posted a pretty cool video of their Work & Witness trip to the Poznań and Kraków coffeehouse/house church locations last summer...you can look for us at the 11:25 mark! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyUfO7qOyF8&feature=youtu.be