To encourage myself to write more, I will post items of personal reflection and study.
What does this mean?
It means I will bring you along with me, allowing you to peer over my shoulder, so to speak, and see what I am studying, praying, learning, and observing.
I also plan on writing book reviews for the books I have been reading, too.
With that in mind, here is my first post of 2024.
Every year my church, True Life Fellowship, kicks off the year with a congregation-wide prayer series.
With that in mind, here is my first post of 2024.
Every year my church, True Life Fellowship, kicks off the year with a congregation-wide prayer series.
This year our church is going through some transitions - pastoral leaders moving into new roles, new pastors and staff coming in, and some staff leaving for new adventures elsewhere. Not unlike some of the changes that maybe your church might be facing in 2024.
This year our 2024 prayer theme is "Transitions" and here is a PDF copy of the booklet.
On Sunday, January 7th, our pastor Sylvia Neusch, delivered a sermon message on the definition of transition and how we can work through it as we kick off 21 days of prayer.
Here is my summary of her sermon message:
2024 is a year of open doors.
Just as Abram left his home country and Moses left the palace and both put their trust in God to show them their next steps, so should we put our trust in God for what's next.
In her message, she recommended several "guardrails" for moving through transition:
- Walk in understanding and wisdom - Proverbs 3:21-22; Proverbs 4:7
- Guard your heart - Proverbs 4:23
- We guard what's valuable
- It's the starting point for everything in life and everything you do flows from your heart.
- We have an enemy that wants to take us down and he will start with our hearts.
- 4 ways to guard your heart:
- Be still and know God
- Take a break - get some sleep, take a nap, honor the sabbath - even Jesus got away for quiet time with the Father.
- Have fun and laugh - the enemy hates it when we laugh - especially at him.
- Nurture authentic relationships and walk in forgiveness
- Avoid dishonest speech and pretentious words. Be free from using perverse words no matter what! - Proverbs 4:24 (TPT)
- Pretentious words are those words that try to appear more important or valuable than is the case.
- Perverse words are crooked or deceitful - Proverbs 8:21 - the power of life and death are in the tongue. James 3:4-14 - the tongue is like the rudder of a ship.
- Set your gaze on the path before you - Proverbs 4:25-27 (TPT)
- We need to know our path (Ken's thought: I feel this is tied to our identity - see my note about understanding your identity, below)
- Proverbs 29:18 - people perish for lack of a vision.
- Get alone with God and listen for what He says your path is (which I also feel will be tied to your identity)
- Watch out for dangerous detours.
You can watch her full message here:
On Saturday morning, January 6th, the True Life men gathered for our monthly session and we heard a teaching from our Senior Leader, Richard Neusch, on our identity and assignment.
It was Richard's opinion that God always speaks identity over you before He gives you an assignment. Because if you don't understand how He sees you and how Heaven sees you, you will struggle with your assignment, mission, or calling.
How to hear your heavenly identity:
- Get alone and quiet with God and ask Him how he sees you.
- If you struggle to hear what God is saying for and about you, just know that we are all hardwired for 2-way communication with God. Seek guidance from a pastor or mature believer.
- Share with other Godly believers who God says you are - they will help to confirm and/or clarify your word.
May God's presence be with each of you this year - 2024.
~~Ken
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