Remembering the Good Stuff

My heart is to let you know in this post all the wonderful things we learned and experienced while we were in our CLB. It would be wrong to start with all that is wrong. It would be wrong because, in so many ways, our body here gave us life. I will list them in bullet points as strengths.

- We were taught that we have a very big God, a very big Jesus and a very big Holy Spirit. They are each distinct and yet each very much the same. God is loving, kind, full of grace and mercy. He is not mad at you. We were made to be loved by Him - not just to love him or serve him. Jesus is amazing, someone to be loved and worshiped. He loves us unconditionally and has given us the example of how to live. The Holy Spirit is Jesus in us. He is able to be heard, understood and experienced. We live and move and have our being in all three.

- We were taught that God is doing a mighty work in the earth today. He is not finished with his bride. He is bringing her to maturity to be pure and spotless. There is a great harvest ahead. We need to ready the Church for this harvest.

- We were introduced to many, many men and women of God from all over the world. They filled our pulpits, ate with us and were in covenant with us. We learned to appreciate the gifting in each one, no matter if we had the same gifting or not.

- We were taught to look at the world. We saw a need, tried to find a man or woman who had a vision for their country and situation and come behind their vision. Our focus was continually drawn outside our body.

- We were taught to give generously. I have never seen a church who gave away as much money as our church did.

- We were taught to raise our children with the expectation that at a young age, they were to become disciples of Jesus and not just another youth group.- We were taught not to have our own agenda when it came to our lives, our worship, or even our services. God was allowed to "wreck" our plans with what seemed to be His plan. If the Holy Spirit seemed to say something, we quickly obeyed.

- We were taught to worship. We became practiced at being at His feet, dancing before him, weeping, shouting and corporately bringing a sacrifice of praise, thanksgiving and worship before him.

- We were taught that our worship before him did not end with Sunday morning but was to be lived out daily in our lives. Our jobs were designed by Him to bring his presence into the world. We were to use the gifts given to the believers to prosper in the workplace, all the while loving those around us.

- We were taught to pray through the night accompanied by praise and thanksgiving. We were taught that God is anxious to answer our prayers and heard them. We did not have to beg Him to act.

- We were taught that we were important in the scheme of bringing the Kingdom of God to earth. That what we did as "little people" was significant.

- We were taught to speak good things over our lives. That as we spoke these things, the faith involved in speaking would be translated into being and action.