Blog Archives - River of Life Church

Hail and Revival

6/15/2012

Our state (Minnesota) was under a severe thunderstorm warning yesterday. The southern portion of our state had the most activity. My rain gauge showed 6/10” of rainfall, while some southern areas received seven to nine inches of rainfall and hail. We got large raindrops at the office and a person less than a half mile away got hail. Hail or hailstones are produced in strong thunderstorms with intense updrafts. Precipitation is lifted thousands of feet into the cloud, freezes, falls and is lifted up again by the updrafts. This is repeated until the hailstone becomes too heavy or catches a downdraft. Hail can be very spotty and sporadic.

The apparent randomness of hail has similarities to spiritual revival. We have heard revival defined in a variety of ways, so I will use the definition from dictionary.com:
re·viv·al [ri-vahy-vuhl] noun
1. restoration to life, consciousness, vigor, strength, etc.
2. restoration to use, acceptance, or currency: the revival of old customs.
3. a new production of an old play.
4. a showing of an old motion picture.
5. an awakening, in a church or community, of interest in and care for matters relating to personal religion.

There have been notable spiritual revivals in the past such as the Evangelical Revival, the Welsh Revival, and the Hebridean Revival. Each of these lasting one to three years with thousands saved and the characteristics of entire nations transformed. Recent revivals such as the Toronto Blessing, Brownsville Revival/Pensacola Outpouring, Kansas City Revival and Redding Revival have impacted thousands of lives as well.

We are learning more about weather patterns and are better prepared to sense when conditions are present that bring a potential for hail. Is there spiritual weather patterns that allow us to be better prepared to sense when conditions are present for revival?

Unstable atmosphere: conditions in our nation such as intentional harm by another person to a pregnant mother and her unborn baby results in a double charge: mother and unborn baby, but she can legally abort the baby without any charges. There are many double standards such as this that makes for a very unstable atmosphere in our nation.

Intense updrafts: There are more houses of prayer, 24/7 prayer, boiler room places of prayer, and small groups of prayer creating intense updrafts to the LORD. Students gathering before school, families praying around their dining room table, business men and women meeting to pray, and ministry leaders from different denominations cross pollinating for the purpose of prayer.

Do you believe your state and our nation may be under an intense spiritual revival advisory?
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Are You a Vexillologist?

6/14/2012

I am not a vexillologist, nor do I know of any vexillologists, but maybe you are. I discovered the term while reading about the history of Flag Day. Vexillologists are those who study flags.

On this day, June 14 in 1777, the Continental Congress replaced the Grand Union Flag which was the unofficial national flag on July 4, 1776 Independence Day. The Grand Union Flag had 13 red and white stripes representing the original colonies. In the corner where our current flag has stars, this flag had the red cross of St. George of England and the white cross of Andrew of Scotland.

Tradition has Betsy Ross who sewed flags for the Pennsylvania Navy and for President George Washington as the maker of the first US flag. The new flag had 13 white stars in a circle on a field of blue and 13 red and white stripes - one for each state. The number of stars increased as new states entered the union. The number of stripes initially increased, but stopped at 15 and was later returned to 13.

Flag Day is celebrated on the anniversary of this new flag. Flag Day is a day to fly the American flag and reaffirm our belief in liberty, justice and unity for all.

Liberty, justice and unity are attributes of God and are ways He calls us to live individually and as a nation.
Leviticus 25:10
Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan.
Isaiah 56:1
This is what the LORD says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
Ephesians 4:3
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

This Flag Day raise the stars and stripes and continue to proclaim that we are “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Softball and Spiritual Gifts

6/13/2012

Our church has a softball team and after each practice or game a person gives a short talk that helps us grow in our relationship with God. Kendal, our coach, talked about spiritual gifts. He highlighted that a softball team needs all the players performing well at their position. Each position is valuable and dependent on one another. If a player is missing and the position is open or is playing hurt, the whole team suffers. The whole team benefits when a player performs well.

He noted that one of the players has played every softball position over the years of playing competitive softball and on various league teams. Kendal is learning a new position at short-stop this year and doing great. He said that he learns something every game and practice.

He then said that it is the same with spiritual gifts. God gives each Christian spiritual gifts for doing things well as a “team”. Each person is valuable and dependent on one another. The more you use your gift, the more you learn. The more you learn the more proficient you become. There are Christians that God has used in different roles and have functioned in different gifts.

Kendal noted that a letter written to Christians in Rome is included in the Bible, the book of Romans. In Romans chapter 12, the author Paul writes about spiritual gifts.
Romans 12:4-8
4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. 6 In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

What gift or gifts as God given you and what ways does He have you using them?
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Accept the Challenge

6/12/2012

Accept the Challenge was the motto for this year’s Bike MS 150. More than 3800 bikers raised over $3 million dollars helping fund vital MS research, programs and services for more than 17,000 people who live with multiple sclerosis in our area.

I was glad my son invited me on this successful ride. My daughter, another son, and his coworker were included in the Radeke Riders team. The weather was hot and the wind strong in our faces both days. Our muscles were sore, our behinders tender, but our spirits were high. We felt we were part of something huge, something that was going to make a difference.

We all want to be part of something that makes a difference in our world. On the MS 150 ride there were people who made a difference by raising thousands of dollars and by those donating dollars. There were volunteers who made a difference by their cheerful service to the bikers. There were people along the route who honked horns, rang cowbells, and cheered those who were pedaling.

You and I have opportunities every day to impact and change our world.

The Bible records an event about a woman who accepted the challenge. She performed a costly, leave nothing behind act which brought criticism from those who saw her actions. The only person which mattered to her was Jesus Christ and her actions brought praise from Him.

Mark 14:3-9 (NLT)
3 Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head.
4 Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. 5 “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!” So they scolded her harshly.
6 But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me?7 You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. 9 I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”

The key to making your mark in the world does not happen by raising support to fight a worthy cause with thousands of others. It begins with accepting the challenge and giving your everything to Jesus Christ every day in every way.

What are ways you will accept the challenge by giving everything to Jesus today?
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What Does God Think About?

6/8/2012

Do you ever think about what God thinks? Not what God thinks about a certain situation or what He thinks about the world today, but what do you think God thinks about when He thinks?

God has no beginning or end. He has always been and always will be. God is able to look forward into time and backwards to the beginning of earth’s time. God is eternal.

God is everywhere at the same time. He is Spirit and not limited by space or location. There is as much God present at this moment in China, Australia, Canada, Venus, and Neptune. God is omnipresent.

God knows everything. He is brilliant, wise, and nothing is a mystery to Him. The most intelligent genius on earth appears foolish alongside of Him. God is omniscient.

God is all-powerful. He created all things out of nothing. God spoke and stars, sky, land, plants, and animals were formed. God is omnipotent.

So, what does God, who is unlimited in every ability and facet, think about? God thinks about His crowning creation the most. He thinks about the generation of boys and girls who are not yet born. God thinks about mothers and fathers, students and teachers, aged and infants who are living now.

God thinks about you. He thinks about plans and purposes He has for you. God is aware of trials and difficulties that you face as a person living in a broken world. He grieves about the pain that comes when you chose a path apart from Him. He thinks about the victories you will have partnering with Him.

What does God think about?
Psalms 139:13-18 NLT
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.
17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.They cannot be numbered!
18 I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
    You are still with me!

Last Day of School

6/7/2012

Today is the last day of school for our community’s public and Christian schools. Many students look forward to summer vacation. Summer is filled with hanging out with friends, summer jobs, family vacation, no homework assignments and a freer schedule. I could not wait for summer vacation to come and never felt it lasted long enough.

During my fourth grade year of school, I came home with C’s and D’s on my report card. My parents made me go to summer school. My summer was stolen from me. All I remember of summer school was trading turtle eggs for Marvel comic books and vowing in my heart to never get poor grades again because of the loss of summer.

There are other students whose homes are unstable and lack love. School is the one place that is consistent, has a regular meal, is a safe place and has adults that are encouraging them. Summer vacation for them means a more hostile environment, lack of purpose and hope.

Communities provide a variety of activities for children and young people during the summer months. Often there is a participation fee and the need of transportation to get them to the activity. There are students that have no ride and have no finances. Churches often are able to offer a type of big brother/big sister mentoring relationship for those who would benefit from ongoing adult support. Local churches also link together with parents offering support in a variety of areas.

The last day of school is a good day to pray for those students who will have more activities than time to choose from and for those students whose summer is uncertain.

What does your church do for students needing role models?
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Bike MS 150

6/6/2012

Many people do something each year for a cause; they donate blood, volunteer, serve, take a missions trip, do a service project, run, walk or bike for an organization. This Saturday and Sunday I will join three of my children and hundreds of others on the Bike MS 150. The 150 mile ride from Duluth to the Twin Cities is the National MS Society’s biggest two-day ride in Minnesota. Donations that are raised through Bike MS directly help people affected by multiple sclerosis. The Upper Midwest Chapter serves more than 17,000 people living with the disease and Bike MS makes a difference to each one. The promo reads: an unforgettable ride, an unbeatable destination, a world free of MS.

Having multiple sclerosis means you can wake up with blurred vision. Or your memory may fail you for no apparent reason. Or that you may not always be able to walk. The symptoms of MS are different for everyone - the only certainty is that it will affect another person every hour of every day. I have a pastor friend who recently performed a funeral for a 43 year old mother who died of MS.

If you want to sponsor me, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society uses money collected from Bike MS to fund cutting-edge research, drive change through advocacy, facilitate professional education and provide programs and services that help people with MS and their families move their lives forward. Your tax-deductible gift keeps the National MS Society moving toward a world free of multiple sclerosis.

Movement is something many of us take for granted, but for people living with MS, movement isn't a guarantee. Support me, and together we'll move forward on behalf of those who may not be able to do so themselves. Donate online my personal page at the link below.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/MNMBikeEvents?px=10420668&pg=personal&fr_id=17515

A Cemetery Perspective

6/5/2012

I took a fairly long prayer walk in the community this morning. I needed to purchase some supplies for the church, so I walked to the store. While walking, I prayed for my family, the church family and our community. While at the store, I heard good news about a store worker’s son whom I was praying for. On the return walk, I enjoyed more talking and listening to Jesus.

I decided to walk through Union Cemetery partly because I saw it on the news last night. Thieves had taken bronze markers which were on the graves of those who served in the military. The high value of metals is the assumed reason for the thefts. A generous business owner in the community is providing the funding to purchase new markers to replace the ones stolen. During the interview by the reporter, the business owner told that he felt he had been given much and wanted to pass it on.

Even on a beautiful summer morning, walking through a cemetery changes your perspective. It reminds us that we are not here forever.

I am thankful for the spiritual leaders in our community who helped make a special place in the cemetery for those babies that were never born or lived very briefly. There is a large grave stone which reads, “In remembrance of those who were never born.” Babies that miscarried, were aborted, or made such a brief appearance that there was not a service or burial can be grieved for and remembered. Parents have placed gravestones with one date on it, their child’s name, and sometimes a verse or note of love. One family comes on the anniversary of their daughter’s/sister’s birthday and releases balloons into the sky. They wonder what she is experiencing in heaven with Jesus and they look forward to a wonder filled reunion.

There are lots of questions and mystery about life on the other side of eternity that a walk through a cemetery arouses.

1 Corinthians 15:50-57 (NLT)
50 What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.
51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Tell me about your perspective from a recent walk through a cemetery.
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Life Choices and Life Changes

6/4/2012

The graduation ceremony in our high school was yesterday and this morning I saw the bleary eyes of seniors who were just leaving the all-night party at the high school. Today, they begin the biggest changes of their life! Apart from the dramatic physical changes from infant to age five, the next five years for the graduate includes major life choices and changes.

Over the next five years, today’s high school graduate could enter the military, enter the work force, or complete their undergraduate studies at a tech school, community college, or university. They may begin a career and before five years have passed may already change careers. They may marry and begin raising a family. They will likely move from home, stay at a dorm, rent an apartment, buy a home or all of these before their five year high school reunion . Their move from home may bring them to worship at a different church than what they grew up in, cause them to pursue a relationship with Jesus Christ or not go to church at all.

The choices the graduates make over the next five years are major life decisions:
What college should I choose?
What branch of the military do I serve?
What career do I pursue?
Who will I spend the rest of my life with?
Where will I worship?
Who will I worship?

The prayers you and I can offer up for the graduating seniors in our lives are prayers that they would keep their eyes and heart on Jesus.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Tell me about the graduate in your life that you are praying for. Comment here:

A Proverbs A Day........

6/1/2012

Do you have habits or a way of living that you used to do, but for some reason or another you no longer have that as part of your pattern of life?

Have you picked up new habits for your life that you never had before?

Different seasons of your life bring changes to how you do life. Beginning college, marriage, starting a family, career change, military service, an illness or injury can be events and seasons of life that bring changes.

June may be a great month to begin or return to a habit of wisdom. The book of Proverbs in the Bible is a book of wise sayings.

Proverbs 3:5-6 is often memorized because it contains a timeless truth.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and He will make your paths straight.

There are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs and 30 days in the month of June. The habit of wisdom is to read a chapter of Proverbs each day and choose one day to read two chapters. Most chapters can be read in 5-10 minutes. This can be in addition to your regular Bible reading.

You may choose to read your chapter in the morning and see how you can apply God’s wisdom during your day. You may choose to pause at noon and find it helps keep a constant contact with the Lord. Your Proverbs a day may work better for you in the evening, providing an unrushed time to ponder God’s wisdom.

This was a habit I had for perhaps more than a decade of reading through Proverbs twelve times every year. I had let go of that habit and am returning to today. I am convinced that this habit brings God’s wisdom in our decisions, way of living and choices.

What time of the day works for you to read a Proverbs a Day?
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