Gentle Rains

After what seemed like a couple of intense weeks, we settled into more of Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. The emotional intensity in our group the last couple of weeks, like a sudden thunderstorm, can grab your attention and focus you pretty quickly. It’s easy for me to feel God’s presence when the really emotional issues are on the table. That’s when I’m really looking for God’s presence and help. But, like the thunderstorm, you can’t sustain that emotional level for long.
One of the more amazing things about small groups is that it’s also in the quiet moments, the less intense times, that God’s presence can be felt. If you listen carefully. Here’s where we quietly wandered last night:
- Listening to Warren, we all wanted to surrender our lives to Jesus – within reason (and we’d like to decide what “within reason” means)
- We talked about the importance of sharing scripture. One of our guys described how he and his wife spent some time reading Ephesians about not uttering unkind words and then proceeded to melt down with each over their household budget.
- Another guy is assuming a leadership position at Nativity and is feeling a little uneasy about where his faith is and being asked to lead in the Church. I shared a great line Maria has used with ministers: Nativity is a place of sinners for sinners. Guess that includes leadership.
- Warren challenged that transformation comes from transforming our minds and replacing all the lies we’ve been told or tell ourselves with God’s truth.
- The only thing that using will power in our personal transformation does is create tension and stress. God’s word in scripture is more effective and transformative.
- Without personal transformation, religion is like tying apples on a dead branch. Looks good, but it’s still dead.
- Your prayer life is an indicator of what you’re relying on God for – if you’re not praying about it, you’re not depending on God for it.
- The group is a place where you can break the power of sin by speaking your sinfulness and acknowledging your temptations - if you’re willing to use it.
- And right after we finished praying around the circle and were packing up, one of the guys asked for some help defining what “character” means. That one will need some work.
Lots to unpack. No thunderstorms, just some gentle rain filling our hearts. Nice.