To Be Or To Be In? That is the Question
To Be Blessed or To Be In What God is Blessing?
Friday night before going to bed, I purposefully shut off the alarm on the clock by my bed. I always get up early, so I wanted to give myself a chance to sleep in the next morning. My body woke me up at 5:00AM, so I decided that instead of tossing and turning in bed for the next two or three hours I would get up and go to the men’s breakfast at our church.
It never ceases to amaze me how invigorated I feel after attending one of these breakfasts. Besides breakfast sandwiches, fruit, and doughnuts, the morning consisted of interviews and a video highlighting a recent church sponsored trip to Juarez, Mexico to build two homes in partnership with Casas por Cristo. This was followed up by a video of Rick Warren speaking at the 2007 Catalyst leadership conference. Rick, the author of The Purpose Driven Life, shared many interesting insights using the story of Moses and his staff. I think the thing that challenged me the most was a statement he made about how we should be praying.
He said that we should not be praying that God would bless us. Instead, we should be praying that we would be a part of whatever God is blessing.
This is really a radical way to look at how we pray. I think it’s easy to pray for what we want. I know I want to be in control. I want to be blessed. When we pray the way that Rick Warren is suggesting, we give up the control, and we acknowledge that God is in charge and that He wants us to be on board with Him.
So what is it that God is blessing around your life?