PJ's January 2014 Blog

Dear Friends, January 1, 2014 Greetings to you in the powerful name of Jesus the Christ!! What an amazing journey it has been to walk through the Unbinding the Heart and Soul with members of Atonement by e-mail and facebook! I am certain that as we dream about the future of Atonement and the ministry God is calling us to be about we must be a prayerful people!! Let me share with you one of the devotions written by Martha Reese in Unbinding The Heart called – An Hour for the Spirit. It is based on John 14: 16-26. “When you think of God, do you think first of the HUGE God who created the universe, the God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the God “Out There?” I think many people think fist of the majesty and mystery, of awe and power, the transcendent God. But we also talk about the “immanent” God who’s right here with us, in the middle of groups of us, inside each one of us. That’s “God with us.” Jesus in the manger, Jesus who walked on earth, Jesus who is risen and walks beside us, and also the Holy Spirit. Read John 14: 16-26. Jesus was preparing his disciples for his death and resurrection. He told them he would be with them in a different way after his death. God would send the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is available to us, because we’re Jesus’ disciples too. Jesus offers us guidance, power, minute-to-minute connection with God. This isn’t some nice little metaphor. Life in the Spirit is more like plugging into an electric current! Powerful Christians, mystics, prophets and missionaries have sensed the power and subtle leading of the Holy Spirit for thousands of years now. Too many of us leave God at arm’s length, “up in the sky,” a vaguely comforting idea, but not to real. Would you be willing to try an experiment? The intent of this isn’t to minimize the majesty of God, but to help us see that we can turn to God every moment of the day. The Spirit is with us! Experiment: Choose an hour of your day today when you’re going to offer every choice to God. Each minute of this hour, ask God what you’re supposed to be seeing, what you’re supposed to do next. It could be an hour at the office-should you talk with someone? Make a phone call? Sort those papers? Bless the lunch room? Ask the Spirit to guide your decisions. If it’s the first hour of the day, which side of the bed should you get out of? Should you wash your face or brush your teeth first? Ask which child you should kiss first. Before you open your mouth to speak, ask the Spirit to give you the words to say. This is about the cosmic importance of what God can do with us if we learn to offer the daily stuff to God. ASK! THEN DO IT! WHAT HAPPENED?” In the New Year I will be sending out an invitation to join me on another Unbinding the Soul or Heart Adventure! Join me and others as we explore and discover what God is doing now in our lives and in the church! God Is With Us!! In the Spirit, Pastor Jim (P.J.