November 1, 2009

 2 Corinthians 1: 8-11

  Are You An Airhead?  Trust. 

2 Corinthians

I think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia.  We were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and we thought we would never live through it.  In fact, we expected to die.  But as a result, we learned not to rely on ourselves, but on God who can raise the dead.  And he did deliver us from mortal danger.  And we are confident that he will continue to deliver us.  He will rescue us because you are helping by praying for us.  As a result, many will give thanks to God because so many people's prayers for our safety have been answered.

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Thoughts...

I was getting an ultrasound the other day and talking to the Tech about the fact that I had had a kidney disease that was supposed to kill me before I was 19...I'm 56 now.  I said God had healed me. She snickered and said something about the power of positive thinking.  I had to think but a second.   I said, God healed me.  It was an emphatic statement.  There was no lingering thought, no coursing through my memory for any other answer...I knew...God healed me.

When I was 32, a medical study was done and found no damage to my kidneys, I was told they were perfect and healthy.  And yet at age of about 13, the top half of one was destroyed, as was the third of the other and both were rapidly deteriorating.  I was told, as were my parents, that they cannot regenerate themselves.  I knew I had no recall of specifically praying for that healing, tho' I am sure someone did, whether I did or not.  I remember the pall that encompassed our home for a while...and the tons of pineapple grapefruit juice I had to drink.  When the study was done at age 32, and I given the outcome, I just thought 'oh'.  I was kind of dumbfounded.  I don't ever recall being focused on my 'illness'.  I don't think I ever gave it much thought, after I got out of the hospital,  after having been in a couple days when I was about 13.  I was young, and a boy had called me...me...at the hospital.  A real boy.  Whatever else could possibly have been on my mind at that point?!!!?  I mean...really!!!  At 32, I did not jump up and down praising God.  I was like...ok.  So, I'm not going to die.  Did I ever really think I was?  So, like, I don't even think I ever even considered that I was.  Denial?  Oh, probably!  Or was I just a young kid with an expectant faith?  Did I expect God to just come along and take care of everything?  I think I did.  He had gotten me through 2 older brothers!!  Why wouldn't he get me through this...yet another thing...something else.  Laugh.  

There has never been a moment in my life, that I can recall, when I didn't just expect God to be there...in the trenches and carrying me.  Not that I did not want to pull my own weight...I always have known it is expected of me to step out in faith and fall in....not in the trenches, but in life...step into responsibility.  I have always done everything I can to grow....up, 'fly right', get ahead, love fully, and give graciously.  I have given life...and others...my 'all'.  Life has not always given back in the ways I expected, but I trusted that I would get through...whatever came next.  And I want you to trust, too.

There have been many times I have been 'crushed and completely overwhelmed' thinking, wondering, would I ever live through it.   Yet I have prayed, 'trusting thee with faith sincere', that somehow, someway, everything would work out.  And there have been a couple times when I couldn't pray, couldn't breathe barely for the pain in my soul.  Couldn't even think...there was only air in my head, truly.  Scared and timid, like a dog thrown into the cold.  Scared I would die or live in the streets.  Some pain knows no bounds....some pain can seep through your soul like water through your socks on a rainy mud puddle day.  I couldn't get my head to even reach the clouds.  Yet I wanted to....I wanted to reach the clouds, to heaven, to be heard, to be rescued, to be delivered from what I felt was mortal danger as the scripture says.  

Through it all, even when I could not pray, I knew that God had his hand on me.  I have trusted he would be there.  He was, after all, at my birth...and yours.  'His plans for us are to prosper and give us strength.'  Our goal should be to bring him glory.  Why wouldn't he want us to prosper?!  To not just survive, but live...and live abundantly!  So we MUST hold on to him...GOD...who first loved us.  We must believe that, God is in the trenches when y/our head is in the clouds.  And even when we can't make it that far.  TRUST in the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul.  EXPECT...even if you don't have enough thoughts to believe.  

Are you sick, scared, alone, lonely, empty, financially lost, spiritually cold, jobless, unsure of the security of the roof over your head, concerned about having food in your stomach, the bills paid, utilities on in the cold or heat, worried about your health?  I want you to know I've been there...I am there...with you....in Spirit and in strength.  You are not alone and neither am I.  Most importantly we have God, Jesus and Holy Spirit.  And now we have each other.  Let us pray for one another.  Let us believe as Paul did, as he shared with us in the scriptures.  Let us believe and be confident that God will rescue us and deliver us.  Let us know that our prayers for one another for safety will be answered and will result in many people giving thanks to God.  That we...many...will bring him glory.  That we...many...will trust and expect and believe.  That we all will have life and will be able to live it abundantly!  But just remember, God is in the trenches, when your head is in the clouds...and it's okay to be an airhead.  He loves you anyway...fully....just the way you are.  

Pray for me as I pray for you.            

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Let Us Pray

"Do Lord, oh do, Lord, oh do y'remember me?"  Sometimes, Lord, I am reminded that I need to remember you...and wonder if you remember me.  But I guess you do.  You were at my birth...you'll hopefully be at my death.  Am I at your living.....?  I think not, and I am sorry, and humbly confess my sins, and ask your forgiveness.  I am grateful that you are willing to forgive me and continue to be waiting for me.  I am glad I have not made a habit of sinning, of being evil.  I would not want to do anything that would keep me from your arms on that last day.  But I know living life is not just about being good.  It's about giving my life to you and making sacrifices.  Like sacrificing being a part of the crowd, when they go places and do things that are not of you...in line with your plans for me...my life, and they are not thinking on things that are pure and right....those things I need to do always.   And standing up and speaking up for you, when people scoff, or laugh, or don't understand.  And it's about trusting you and expecting you to be there for me.  But you expect and trust me to be there for you....so help me.  I'm not perfect at this, although I continue to do for you.  I've always said "'try' is not an action verb", though, I keep trying, while I am doing.  Show me your ways.  Not just how to live life, but how to EXPECT and KNOW you are there in the trenches.  Show me your face.  Send people to surround me with your love and help me, and help all the others I pray for, too, please.  I need you, Lord....they all need you, too.  I don't want my life to be 'somewhere over the rainbow'....I need my life to be abundant now.  So with expectant hope, and trust, as a result of my faith, I will believe that my time to live life is now, my time to prosper in life is now, and I will pray that and believe that for others as well.  So that I, and they, can give you the glory for all our lives.  That others may come to know you...who you are, that you are, and how wonderful you are.  "As a result, many will give thanks to [you] God because so many people's prayers for our safety [will] have been answered."  Thank you, God, Jesus and Holy Spirit for coming to my rescue and those for whom I pray, for delivering me and those I pray for, and bringing me, and all those I pray for, to safety.  And raise me from the dead and others, as I and they come to you, and continue to rely on you, not on myself, nor they rely on themselves.  You are the light of life...lead the way.  Amen. 

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Psalm 139

O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.  You know when I sit down or stand up.  You know my every thought when far away.  You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest.  Eevry moment you know where I am.  You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD.  You both precede and follow me.  You place your had of blessing on my head.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know!  

I can never escape from your spirit!  I can never get away from your presence!  If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there.  If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your stength will support me.  I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night--but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.  To you the night shines as bright as day.  Darkness and light are both alike to you. 

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.  Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  Your workmanship is marvelous--and how well I know it.  You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.  You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. 

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God!  They are inumerable!  I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!  And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me! 

O, God, if only you would destroy the wicked!  Get out of mylife, you murderers!  They blaspheme you; your enemies take your name in vain.  O LORD, shouldn't I hate those who hate you?  Shouldn't I despise those who resist you?  Yes, I hate them with complete hatred for your enemies are my enemies. 

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

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NOTES OF HELP:  Susanna Wesley, Mother of John Wesley, founder of Methodist Church, wrote to her son on June 8, 1725 the following:

"Take this rule:  Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off your relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself." 

Therefore I advise you to "Fix your thoughts on what is true, honorable and right.  Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable, and about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.  Be considerate in all you do.  Always be full of joy...rejoicing!  Philippians 4: 8b, 4.

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 Benediction...Blessing

Let us hear from Paul as he prays:  

When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resouces he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.  And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him.  May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.  Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now glory be to God!  By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.  May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages.  Amen.  Ephesians 3:14-21 NLT         

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Scroll down to read Jesus' Prayer of Thanksgiving...'The Unforced Rythms of Grace'.

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Definition of a Christian:  Anyone who believes in God, Jesus and Holy Spirit, and accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Regardless of church name or religious affiliation.  

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If you feel that the Church of the Holy Spirit has inspired or helped you, we'd like you to prayerfully consider tithing regulary to us or gifting us, so that we can further the work and carry out the will of the Father as proclaimed in Matthew 28:16 NLT

 to

 "Go and make disciples out of all the nations

baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.  And be sure of this:

I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

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  Our NEW Current Cause

My family and I, and the church, are in crisis and could desperately use your prayers and financial support.  Due to medical concerns, employment crisis, and economic devastation,  I do not have funding to meet everyday expenses right now for the church, or family, and home, nor those necessary to keep this website afloat, for those shut-in or needing spiritual support, nor the ability to help others along the way.  But I am confident that, with your help, balance can be achieved.  As God touches your heart, I hope you will pray earnestly for the church, my family and me, and send any amount of money you can to help.  Please note 'Church and Family' on your check, and, I will see that all funds get divided appropriately.  The church, I and my family, as well as to those to whom we reach out, will be sincerely grateful for anything you can do to help.  

Please accept my sincerest thanks....and may God bless you!

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Church of the Holy Spirit

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Church of the Holy Spirit

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Tucson, Arizona

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If you have any questions, we can be reached at:

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As we grow, you will have options for allocating your gifts.

In the meantime, we hope you will trust us to direct them to where the need is the greatest.

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    One last thing....

 Jesus' Prayer of Thanksgiving

'The Unforced Rythms of Grace'

 "Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer:  "Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.  You've concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people.  Yes, Father, that's the way you like to work."

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly.  "The Father has given me all these things to do and say.  This is a unique Father - Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge.  No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does.  But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen."

"Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to me.  Get away with me and you'll recover your life.  I'll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn how to live freely and lightly.

  Matthew 11:  25-30

  The Message

And the people said,

"Amen."

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I now write most prayers in the position of ' I ' (first person) because most people are sitting at their computer alone, not in groups, and it allows those reading and praying to personalize the prayer as coming from them going to God.  Variations may appear on holidays when families may wish to use the prayer provided.

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189.  All rights reserved.

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