Heavenly Father strengthen us as we pour out so that You can pour in and lead us as we pour forth in Your name. Amen
March 29, 2021
Good Morning Princesses,
Aim and Focus ~ Let's Start With Ezekiel Chapter 36
This week is Holy Week. We not only approach the end of Lent but a monumental event that changed everything. Resurrection Sunday. Thank you, Lord!
What does Resurrection Sunday mean to you? To me, it reinforces our AIM and FOCUS. As you read the GO! Report you will find the following statement in purple repeated four times. This week, journal what this statement means to you and what you can do to walk this statement out.
Aim and Focus not what is on earth, but in Heaven.
Jesus' life, death, and resurrection reinforce this message. As children of the Almighty, our "good shepherd" tells us in 1 Peter 5:4 that
When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with His rule, He’ll see that you’ve done it right and commend you lavishly. 1 Peter 5:4 (MSG)
As "good shepherds" God will commend us and we will receive a crown of "never-ending glory and honor" for our faithful service. [Learning Objective #4 from Time for Teaching (GO! Report, March 4, 2021)]
Aim and Focus not what is on earth, but in Heaven.
Take some time this week to focus on Ezekiel 36. Contained in these thirty-six verses is God's aim and focus that He tells the children of Israel. From God's mouth to His children's ears, God shares both restoration and hope. This same restoration and hope applies to us today. As you read Ezekiel 36, take a particular look at Ezekiel 36 verses 24-28:
24 “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36:24-28)
Aim and Focus not what is on earth, but in Heaven.
To follow our Heavenly Father's good teaching and modeling of "good shepherding" our faithful service is linked to our living hope of who God is, what He continues to do, and His faithful promises from age to age. Hope, yes. Hope beyond hope is our outward focus. Similar to the children of Israel who were exiled in Babylon, the living hope they needed is the same for us today.
The Importance of Hope
The importance of hope is highlighted by C.S. Lewis in his book, Mere Christianity when he writes—
Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.
Aim at Heaven and you will get earth “thrown in”: aim at earth and you will get neither. It seems a strange rule, but something like it can be seen at work in other matters. Health is a great blessing, but the moment you make health one of your main, direct objects you start becoming a crank and imagining there is something wrong with you. You are only likely to get health provided you want other things more—food, games, work, fun, open air. In the same way, we shall never save civilization as long as civilization is our main object. We must learn to want something else even more.
Most of us find it very difficult to want “Heaven” at all—except in so far as “Heaven” means meeting again our friends who have died. One reason for this difficulty is that we have not been trained: our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world. Another reason is that when the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognize it. Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, Harper edition, 2001), pp. 134-135.
Aim and Focus not what is on earth, but in Heaven.
AMEN
Yes, Lord.
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From That Time On...
Ezekiel ~
Prophet of the Spirit
When: Tuesday's from September 15, 2020 (until June 29, 2021)
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Study Source: Your Bible
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Oh, princesses of faith...remember
Prayer “empowers and ‘charges up’ every other piece so they can be used effectively against the enemy. Without prayer… your armor, cannot, will not, be infused with the power that only God’s - Spirit can give."
Closing Thoughts
Know that through the Holy Spirit you can:
do things you couldn't;
feel things you didn't; and
know things you wouldn't.
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Housekeeping:
Next week we'll discuss another love language!
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