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“My problem with God is, why does He deserve to be first in our lives and be in charge of what we should or shouldn’t do?” Cassandra asked. As Katie and two college students sat in Cassandra’s kitchen, they shared that God is worthy of our worship because He is our perfect Heavenly Father who loves us. Unlike many authority figures in this world who fail us, He never fails. He made us in such a way that we experience the most joy possible when we are in relationship with Him. Cassandra’s eyes widened, “You guys are really answering a lot of my questions.” Although she did not accept Christ that day, it was clear her perception of God as a demanding and undeserving ruler was changing, and she was growing in her desire to know Him.
Katie, Adrienne, and Trevor met Cassandra during the outreach at Campus Crusade’s regional winter conference in Indianapolis. 2,000 students at the conference spread out all over inner-city Indianapolis and partnered with local churches to distribute food care-packages and share about Christ. God did incredible things during our day of outreach! In one day, 1,522 people heard the gospel, and 147 people accepted Christ!
This winter conference, known as IndyCC, included 2,000 college students from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. This year, the theme was “God is Greater Than …” Students were challenged to consider the truth that God is greater than anything else in their lives: their struggles, future, past, sickness, addictions, pride, etc.
There are some non-Christian students who attend the conference each year. During one very powerful evening session, the main speaker, Mike, invited anyone who would like to accept Christ to stand. Standing up in front of 2,000 people to declare anything takes guts; let alone a decision like this. After a few moments of silence, 7 students in the crowd proceeded to stand and declare their decision to accept Jesus! It was incredible to celebrate together and thank God for them!
Katie and I worked on the set-up crew and as greeters (pictured below). Getting to serve at the conference was a blessing to us, and it was great to spend time with students from OU that we will soon be leading and serving.
Thank you for your continued prayer and encouragement; we appreciate you!
Here’s a link to a PDF copy of our January 2012 Prayer Letter
The more we understand (know and feel) our wickedness, the more we can understand (know and feel) grace. But if you’re anything like me, so often it’s hard to believe that my wickedness can be forgiven or healed. Who wants to go through the pain of pondering their sins? But, recognizing the “sting and the sing” of the Gospel, the depths of our sin, and the all-consuming heights of God’s grace is freeing! So often I can back away from grasping the truth that God is not surprised by my sin, and loves me and forgives me more than I ever dared believe. That God is rich in mercy and loved me even when I was dead in my sins and in utter rebellion against Him (Ephesians 2:4-5).
“[The Gospel] tells us that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope – at the same time.”
-Tim Keller
47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Luke 7:36-50
Christians need the Gospel preached to them too. Writing to the Church in Rome, Paul says this to a group of people who are already followers of Christ! (Romans 1:7-8, 12)
“I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”
-Romans 1:14-15
The Gospel is not just a door for “fire insurance” of salvation, but is applicable to all aspects of the Christian’s life. The Gospel includes the entire message about Jesus Christ, how Jesus transforms lives and all of Creation. By faith we receive the message of salvation in Christ alone, but by faith we also live our daily lives after our conversion.
Paul also seems to believe that his preaching the gospel to the Church in Rome and seeing them face to face will be encouraging for not only them, but also for him (Romans 1:12).
Christians need to be reminded of, and live in light of the Gospel everyday.
God’s timing is perfect. Most (all?) people view life through a self-centered lens. As humans, that’s just naturally the way we were designed. “What am I going to do today? How does this make me feel? How does ___ affect me?”
I would imagine very few people are naturally inclined to think about others first. Sure, many people think about others, but probably not first. And for the most part, I think that’s okay. The person I am primarily responsible for is me (We also do need to work on having a healthy concern for looking out for others as well. Certainly we can become too self-focused and simply be selfish).
This lens through which we view reality can sometimes cause us to miss out on seeing how God’s hand is weaving our life and story into others’ lives and stories. Because we are not all-knowing, we can’t fully see how every person’s life intersects with the rest of the world. But even though we don’t notice it, it is happening. If we could see how our life is fitting into God’s purposes and plans across the globe and also in our immediate vicinity, we would be less inclined to question why things we want to happen, have not yet happened. We would be less prone to complaining when something that we view as ‘good’ has not yet come about.
God’s timing is perfect.
God may be working in a way in someone else’s life, that will cause what you hope to happen to be more fruitful and even more enjoyable, at a different time than you were originally hoping. God may be doing things that you have no idea about, or are too stubborn to notice, that by waiting, will make things much better.
Our individual lives and stories play just a small role in God’s grand story of the universe. And yet, He cares more about our individual lives and stories than we often care to notice. We’re usually more concerned about why I haven’t had my way, that we don’t appreciate everything that has gone far better than they would have gone if I had my way.
That, and the fact that God is more concerned with our holiness than our happiness.
“And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the Earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him.”
Acts 17:26-27
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
Romans 5:6
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
Galatians 4:4-5
I never get tired of this video.
I found it on Justin Taylor’s blog, “Between Two Worlds” (http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/) some time ago. Still, it comes to mind frequently for me. Amazing discussion at our Bible study tonight brought it to mind for me again. The truth that the day we accepted Christ, we died. We died to ourselves…and with Christ, we were raised into a new life with Him. We have already died, and have eternal life in him. So what do we have to fear?
From Taylor’s blog: “Christian: You have died, you have been raised with Christ, your life is hidden with Christ in God, and your citizenship is in heaven. What can man do to you? (Col. 3:3; Col. 3:1;Phil. 3:20; Heb. 13:6)”
Whining. Complaining. Despairing.
Most of us Christians face it at one time or another. Like the whiny Israelites… we forget the wonders that God has done for us, and fall into despair and lack joy.
Our church is currently doing a study on the Exodus, and it’s been great to get me thinking about my attitude. God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, parted a SEA, He rained down ACTUAL FOOD from the sky, He gave them water from rocks…crazy things. But still, it was not enough. The Israelites continued to whine, forget the wonders God did for them, and turned to idols and themselves for pleasure. Naturally, I (and probably others as well) think to myself, “How can the Israelites forget God’s faithfulness to them? If those things happened to me, no way would I forget.” Yea, right Katie.
Being the broken, sinful person that I am, it is easy to forget the incredible faithfulness of God in the midst of a struggle or a dry time in “the wilderness.”
The pattern can go: 1) God provides or cares for me in an incredible way, 2) I’m thankful and joyous for .02 seconds, 3) a new difficult situation comes up, 4) I throw any memory of how God’s cared for me out the window. I’m guessing I’m not alone in this either. I’ve been praying and thinking about this a lot lately…and I think one of the key things to fighting for joy in the wilderness is to REMEMBER.
Remember the many ways God has been faithful. Remember how He has provided, how He has rescued us in the past, and ultimately, remember His most faithful act – sending Jesus to die on the cross for us. In the Christian life, remembering and clinging to His faithfulness in the past anchors us in the deep, unshakable joy we have in Christ.
All over the Bible, God tells us to remember what He has done. In Psalm 42, the psalm of “spiritual depression” as I call it, the Psalmist speaks of remembering more than once. He remembers the past times when God gave him joy and he remembers God in the midst of his darkness. What happens when we remember the faithfulness of Christ? Out of our sadness and struggle…JOY. Christ is at the bottom of our joy…and it is an all-consuming, glorious joy.
Think about, or even write down a list of the ways God has been faithful to you in the past. Even in the past week. Look at it and remember. Can’t think of anything? Then write down… “Jesus died so I may live.” That is all you need. I pray to be a woman grounded in the joy I have in Christ and to flee from forgetfulness.
By God’s grace…if we can remember what God has done in the past and on the cross…
…we will be equipped with an incredible weapon in the fight for joy in Christ.
***Pictures via Pinterest. I just pick pictures I like:)
