Deepening our walk of faith IS NOT based on rocket science: rather it is centered on Obedience. Obedience answers the question ‘HOW do I grow in faith?’
Let me now share some personal reflections on this and where our discipleship group has been lately.
As I continue to lead our discipleship group, I am hard pressed to NOT see striking connections between the stories and prophecies from the Bible and our lives today to such an extent that the promises and warning and commands and exhortations that God declared to His people, to the nations, to individuals are calling me to a deeper walk with Him.
I am humbled by His call. I am incredulous that He still wants me. And, I am joyful to the point of giddiness of the fact that what He is asking of me is what has been a deep seated passion of mine for a long time.
And, when I talk with my brothers and sisters, I hear similar stories.
God is calling his creation to stand up and make a difference in the world.
So, here is what we have brushed up against this past week in our discipleship group:
And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink:
The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,
They are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink;
They reel while having visions,
They totter when rendering judgment.
Here, Isaiah is declaring God’s judgment upon the religious leaders of His people, citing that even when they are doing their religious practices they have NO IDEA or just DON’T CARE that their actions are doing anything but bringing glory to God.
Here is a connection point for us:
Regardless of the ministry/service we are doing, we need to be wary of those situations/people/internal struggles (aka ‘strong drink’) that will too easily pull us away from effectively serving God.
So…do you know the ‘strong drink’ that is tempting you away from ministry?
In closing, let me just share something else with you, something general: when we let God’s word to firstly impact our life with truth, we will have opportunity to become more malleable towards His direction, and more empathetic towards others’ struggles.
And, I think God can use us a bit more like this.
Blessings on your journey
-Michael