God-Sightings at Church

A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of attending a half-day prayer retreat with the leadership of our church.  One of the opening activities was an exercise in which everyone contributed short statements of praise and thanksgiving to God for ways they had seen Him at work in our church recently.  Afterward, I felt like there was SO much more to say (and I'm sure that more would have been said had there been more time allotted for the activity).  Since then, I’ve wanted to put words to what I see God doing among our little family of disciples.

Since returning from Peru two years ago, I have witnessed so much spiritual growth and movement of the Spirit at our church.  I feel like I've had a unique glimpse of it too, having recently arrived after a long time away. 

I see our church growing in prayer initiatives on the part of our leaders, and in boldness to jump into prayer and try new ways of prayer on the part of lay people—trends which speak loudly of the Holy Spirit’s work among us.

-       Leaders are gathering for prayer each Sunday before worship.

-       Ladies in Bible study are becoming bold to pray out loud in response to the things they are learning and articulating their own affection for God and His work in their lives even in a large-group setting.

-       Several regular prayer meetings are happening among different women--meetings which were completely initiated by those women as a result of the Spirit's prodding on their hearts.

-       Our church recently hosted an all-day prayer room for world missions and many people signed up and came and prayed together, and many fasted.

-       Quite a few leaders gathered for prayer before sending a team to India.

-       Our leaders recently gathered for a half day of prayer together.

-       I see evidence that several who have not felt strong in prayer are pursuing it in new ways and willing to jump into prayer activities that would have previously have been uncomfortable to them.

 

I’ve noticed new levels of vulnerability demonstrated in our people.  People are more and more willing to share the Word's impact in their own lives, and learning to share not only their weakness but their delight in the growth God is providing.  I believe this is becoming one of our church’s greatest strengths.  

-       Leaders regularly share from their heart quite honestly about how a call to confession convicted them, as they lead on Sunday mornings.

-       At women’s Bible studies women are sharing more personally in their comments and also in their prayers.

-       In Sunday School people are weekly expressing their own particular struggles, desires for growth, experiences with the Lord, etc.

-       A new men’s group began meeting weekly for accountability, mutual sharpening, and prayer.

-       Several women have been willing to share testimonies of their own spiritual journey publicly in Bible study announcements and missions announcements.

-       Quite a few adults and recently some youth have been sharing the works of God in their lives in Middle School and Youth meetings.

-       People are impromptu sharing ways that the Sunday sermon and Sunday School lessons are striking a chord with them and causing them to meditate mid-week.

 

I see people becoming comfortable with the idea that God INTERACTS with His people to this day, providing timely direction, encouragement, and circumstances in response to our pursuit of Him.  I even see people becoming expectant to hear about those sorts of God-sightings in each other’s lives.

-       People are beginning to ask each other informally about how they’ve seen God at work or what He’s been teaching them.

-       People are texting each other mid-week about ways God has shown up in their lives.

-       Even long-time Christians are becoming bold enough to ask questions about how they can experience God in new ways.

 

I see people humbly stepping into new leadership roles in the church.

-       Several new couples are volunteering to lead at different times in the Middle school ministry.

-       New volunteers are helping with local community outreach ministries.

-       New people are stepping into leadership of the missions committee.

-       God provided two new staff members with a real heart for youth ministry.

-       God recently called both a new elder and a new deacon into ministry.

-       A new women’s ministry leader has stepped into leadership as well as a returning one.

-       I see new people volunteering in Children’s ministry.

-       There are also other things in the works which I won't mention, but suffice to say that God is prodding still others toward new levels of involvement and leadership in the near future.

 

I see people eagerly responding in practical ways to the teaching they receive at church.

-       When there is an opportunity to physically respond in a worship service, MANY do so—even though it’s a practice outside our norm.

-       When asked to share how they applied last week’s Sunday School lesson, several share personal testimonies to that effect.

-       When resources for spiritual growth are shared, there are always people who hunt down those resources and even talk them up to others.

 

I see relationships at church going deep.  As people grow in boldness to pray out loud, share from their heart in group settings, ask genuine questions, and try out new things, they become more and more known and cherished by the others around them.  This, in and of itself, yields additional intercession and spiritual growth mid-week, because as we know each other more deeply, we are moved to pray for one another more often, and to spur one another on in the faith more regularly.

 

What a delight it's been to watch the Lord at work these past two years at our home church, and to partake in the growth with them!  And to see very specific answers to requests that I (along with many others) have been presenting before the Lord for our congregation, is such a joyous privilege.  

He is truly ON THE MOVE.

 

My Top 5 Reads of 2023

 I wasn’t thinking I would write about my top 5 reads this year, partially because I wasn’t sure that there were that many I would want to rave about publicly, but at 4:30 this morning when I found myself fully awake in bed, it became clear to me that there were five, and that was my divinely orchestrated moment to write about them.  So here you go.

 

#1 The Exodus You Almost Passed Over by Rabbi David Fohrman 

This is this book I’m most excited to write about from this year—not that I think it’s necessarily the best of the five I’ve listed here, but it was certainly the most surprising thing I’ve read in a long time.  It answered questions for me that I thought unanswerable, and significantly changed my perspective on Romans 9, specifically the part referencing Pharaoh. The writing style was SO engaging, I found myself unable to put it down.  I don’t think I’ve read another nonfiction book that so compellingly kept me coming back for more in a suspenseful sort of way. 

-       It dealt with the “hardening” of Pharaoh’s heart, and what that word, or rather, those words (it turns out there are actually two different distinct words used in the Hebrew which got translated into the singular English word) meant.

-       It tackled several interesting questions about the Exodus story:

o   Why was Moses’ initial message to Pharaoh just a request for 3 days of worship in the wilderness rather than complete freedom for the Israelites?

o   Since God was so keen on getting the Israelites out of Egypt, why didn’t He just have them escape during the plague of darkness while the Egyptians were unable to leave their homes for 3 days straight?

o   How was it loving for God to “harden” Pharaoh’s heart?

o   When God offered Pharaoh the honor of deciding the precise time that the plague of frogs would end, why in the world didn’t Pharaoah say, "right now!??"  Why did he instead respond, "tomorrow?”

-       The book changed my perspective on the Exodus story completely, causing me to see it as an incredible reflection of God’s compassion for Pharaoh and the Egyptian people (and thus, the nations of the world in general) rather than merely one of His wrath.

-       It drew an undeniable and really fascinating connection between the entire exodus story and the story of Jacob’s burial at the end of Genesis, which put the whole story into a context and perspective I never would have picked up on myself.

-       It understandably explained the surprising perspectives of the Jewish sages, or Biblical commentators from ancient times, on the Exodus story—some perspectives that would have been common knowledge to the religious teachers during Jesus’ day.

 

#2 Dirty Glory by Pete Greig

This book I listened to on audio while on a road trip last spring, and so I unfortunately do not have any notes or highlights to go off of as I attempt to recap it for you.  I wish that I did.  At some point I need to go back and read a physical copy.  This book tells the narrative of the birth and growth of the 24-7 prayer movement, and simultaneously presents story after story of God’s miraculous responses to the prayers of His people in the past few centuries.  As such, it compelled me toward prayer and an attitude of pilgrimage with God, not through theological arguments or practical how-to’s, but through story.  It is testimony after testimony of God’s intention toward His people, His eagerness to respond to them, and the incredible delight waiting for us in relationship with our heavenly Father.

 

#3 God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew

This one was another page-turner.  Derek and I actually read this one together, out loud, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.  It’s the story of Brother Andrew’s upbringing in the Netherlands during Nazi Germany’s occupation there, his resistance to and eventual surrender to Christ, and his radical pursuit of God’s direction for his life which led him behind the iron curtain repeatedly to smuggle Bibles to individuals and entire congregations meeting in secrecy without a single copy of God’s word.  It captures so well the thought process and emotional development of brother Andrew through wild and miraculous experience after experience.  SO many times he should have been arrested and His Bibles should have been confiscated, yet God repeatedly stepped in and took the situation into His own capable hands.  This book was just so fun to read, and incredibly faith building at the same time.  I have since found myself searching for other books like it.

 

#4 Living in Christ’s Presence  by Dallas Willard and John Ortberg

This one I’m currently listening through for the 2^nd time (this time with Derek—and the conversations around it have been fantastic).  My first time listening to it while flying to Malasyia, I stopped halfway through, backed up and started over because it was so good I wanted to let the first half sink in better.  So you could almost say I’m on my 3^rd pass through it.  This book is the transcription of a conference in which Dallas Willard and John Ortberg took turns speaking and responding to questions both from one another and the audience.  For those who find Dallas a little dense, John provides a really helpful perspective and his way of relentlessly asking blunt and practical questions of Dallas makes the whole thing more tangible and digestible.  I’ve loved listening to the audio, because you hear the actual authors speaking as they did to the actual audience, and you pick up on engaging nuances of their interaction with one another, but I really want to read through it again as a physical copy so I can take notes for future reference.  In the talks, they give fresh perspective on life with Christ, discipleship, the church, the difference between knowing Christ experientially and knowing a lot about Him, practical ways to use spiritual disciplines for combating specific sin struggles or negative tendencies, and a host of other topics incredibly relevant to life with Jesus Christ as your friend and director.

 

#5 The Princess and the Goblin  by George Maconald

This one I had actually read before as a child, but this year I read it again, this time out loud to Finn.  For one, it’s just a delightfully engaging and fanciful story.  The copy I ordered also has beautiful pictures.  But this time through, I actually found it to be spiritually challenging as I picked up on many metaphorical truth nuggets that George Macdonald worked into the story.  There’s just something so delightful about learning truth for life from a story isn’t there?  Macdonald, who C.S. Lewis regarded as his master teacher, had such a way, like Lewis himself, of capturing spiritual realities through other-worldly stories.  Some of his, I have found a bit too “out there” for me to wrap my mind around, but this one is so engaging and understandable that Finn and I both completely adored it.  I recommend it for kids (maybe age 7 and up?  It might still be a bit wordy for Skye at this point) and adults alike.