hello again!
you guys are awesome. since the last time i blogged, my blog has gotten 160 views! that's incredible. i pray that God will use me to help you in your walk with Him, or to maybe even give you a first glimpse of His love. that's what we believers are here for, no?
so church on sunday was sweet! ashley's friend's parents picked us up and we went to their church. it was HUGE! like 4000 people go there; insanee! the pastor preached a very thought-provoking sermon on how esau and jacob display for us the prototype for wicked men, BUT that jacob saw God's heart and was motivated to do the things he did. he also pointed out that esau did what he did out of a lack of respect for God; out of a complete and utter indifference for God and His plan.
then we went to the people's house for lunch and the afternoon, and they even did our laundry! they are so kind. super cool people too; they were missionaries in brazil before! so awesome :D
our theme for this week is "hearing God's voice", so all of our speakers (and probably worship times too) are focused on learning how to hear God's voice. steve klassen (the author of your ears will hear, remember?) and evy (his wife) are the main speakers this week. logically, seeing as their entire book is written to help others hear God's voice. steve walked with us through scripture a bunch today, and pointed out neat things in different passages that were well-known to me, but not well-studied/examined in my own life.
for example, we went through psalm 23. i know, i know - classic, right? that's what i thought too. but steve put a really cool and slightly unusual spin on it. he pointed out to us that God barely talks about our actions or accomplishments, and almost entirely about His action to us - He comforts, pursues, protects, leads, anoints, restores, guides, honours, prepares, and makes us. woah. all that in 6 verses.
God is good.
then in the afternoon, jp hayashida, a super-awesome, japanese, first generation Christian i.t. guy who is one of our speakers, talked to us about 1 corinthians 2. it was INSANE. he linked so many things that i had never thought about before, and explained to us the role of the Holy Spirit so clearly that i will never again doubt Its (? His? who knows) influence and key role in my life as a believer. pretty much, he explained it like this: our spirit and God's spirit know their respective party entirely. they connect with eachother and that is how we connect with God. through the Holy Spirit, we have total access to God, even the "deepest parts of God" (that's scripture by the way. not me. God said it) - and God also has total access to our deepest parts. that's kinda scary. it scares me a bit, have to say. anyways, our spirit/Holy Spirit and all those connections look sort of like this:
us <-> our spirit <-> the Holy Spirit <-> God
it sounds kind of insane to me too, but if you go read 1 cor 2 then you will see what jp is talking about. it is so marvelous to see all that God promises to us in scripture, but it is also so easy to forget that. so for now, i encourage you to try to dig deep into God's word and see what He has for you - and i am doing the same in my own walk. let's walk together, community-style, because that's how God made us - to be in community.
tomorrow we go to the office and work with the lead staff! i'm quite looking forward to it :)
that's all i have for now.
blessings,
tejal :)
