Grace...Faith...Prayer

Our pastor said yesterday, "If revival comes will you rejoice, resist, or fail to show up?"

I left church yesterday ready to start praying...BIG prayers. Why am I not asking God for revival in MY community...for our household...for the people who live on Oakland Road? Why do I think its okay to think negatively about the future saying things are bad and they're only going to get worse. I won't argue the biblical truth that wickedness will increase more and more until Jesus returns...BUT THE GOSPEL WILL INCREASE TOO! And the gates of hell will not prevail against it...

Honestly, I've been in a season (for the past month or so) where I'm prone to discouragement. I think it's my perfectionism (sin nature) kicking in...again. I'll leave it at that. Except for this...discouragement can lead to despair. There are three life-breathing words that God is speaking into my life which lift me up. He's reviving me personally and I'm reminded to dream big...revival can happen.  

These three words...
Grace, Faith, and Prayer...

Sometimes my discouragement comes from shame. Sometimes my discouragement comes from forgetting these three words in my relationship with Jesus.

I have a job to do here. It seems like everytime I stand to do my Kingdom job...I stumble over the sight of my shortcomings. I don't deserve to do Kingdom work. I could spend so much time going into detail...

I want to be a good Jesus follower...mom...wife...friend. But I fail (sometimes big-time). So here I am publically proclaiming...again...that I belong to Jesus. HERE I STAND PROCLAIMING I BELIEVE YOU LORD...help me in my unbelief. In response to what God's teaching me through yesterday's sermon and personal Bible study, I've been asking myself some questions. What if revival is on its way?

• What if I turn my fear into prayer? Isn't that exactly what Peter and Paul tell me to do? Don't be anxious...pray with thanksgiving and present requests to Him. AND HE WILL GIVE PEACE! Cast cares on Him because He cares...Jesus will lift up the humble...(1 Peter 5:7; Philippians 4:6
• What if I ask Jesus to show me my sin?
• What if I receive Jesus' forgiveness for the sin He exposed? And what if I embrace forgiving...even forgiving myself?
• What if I choose to believe that God will do something great with my obedience...IN DUE TIME? Afterall...part of faith is choosing to believe that God has/is/and will work beyond what I can realize with my senses. This is a big deal! I'm very impatient and want to see immediate results from a conversation with God or an act of obedience. Sometimes when God doesn't answer me immediately I act as if He's "giving me the cold shoulder." After all that's the least I deserve...I am a sinner. But there's those three words again...grace (He does love me...He will not let go of me), faith (I choose to believe that He's not finished with me), and prayer (I have the gift of a relationship with Jesus...He will never be too busy)...
• What if I choose to delight in His gift of grace? Specifically, what if I choose to see every moment as an opportunity?

Speaking of opportunity, I can't forget to give a little family update as well...

• Joshua is crawling. He says ba ba, ma ma. He makes new expressions each day. He LOVES the picture of Jesus on the cover of his storybook Bible. He flips the book over as we read it and points to His face...over and over. Yes!
• We begin our home study for adoption Tuesday, March 5th...Thompson Baby...we're praying for you!