Monday, July 3

What God is teaching me these days... (Pt 3 of 4)

2. We don't take God into the world; He is already out there busy at work in people's lives before our arrival. Our job is not to go out and tell people they need God in their lives. This supposes our contact with them is their first encounter with spiritual matters. Not so.

Instead our task is to DISCOVER what spiritual activity God has been doing in their lives and begin there. There are plenty of Biblical references to back this up: Philip and the eunuch, Jesus and Zaccheus, Jesus and the Samaritan woman, Jesus sending out the 70 to find "men of peace" (discover where God is spiritually working in their lives and stay there.)

Reviewing Henry Blackaby's "Experiencing God" has been most helpful for both this point and #4 below.

Lesson number 1 coming up...

7 comments:

J. Guy Muse said...

10/40,

We too have found EG to be a tremendious blessing not only to our people, but to assist us as M in our strategy.

El Perro said...

Este artículo en serie me ha sido de mucha bendición, realmente son aspectos que Dios con cada uno de nosotros tarde o temprano (aunque a algunos le pase de noche). Espero pronto el ¿Número 1? Je!

Anonymous said...

We had a bittersweet experience with Experiencing God. We found the book to be very liberating and encouraging. Unfortunately, we studied it in a church setting that was very dictatorial. This lead to much confusion and frustration among the members of our small group. I recommend it, but only to those churches/groups that are truly open to dealing with the ramifications of doing the study.

Coloradonegrito said...

I agree with the dog. Looking forward to seeing you back tomorrow.

Tim Patterson said...

Thanks Guy. This has been our experience as well. The Holy Spirit precedes and prepares people. God is already in conversation with people through creation, circumstances, crisis and other means even before they hear the good news.

Royce Ogle said...

If you ever have an opportunity to hear Henry preach don't pass it up.

He is being used of God in an unusual way. His ministry to churches and pastors and to the CEO's of major companies across the U.S. is remarkable.

I am thankful that God has given our generation Henry Blackaby and his sons Richard, Mel, and Richard.

Royce Ogle

J. Guy Muse said...

amigos and friends,

thanks for the good input and your observations shared about EG...as others have shared, it has indeed been a blessing for our people...we look forward to seeing God's hand at work in our midst in the days to come.