A New Start...Between you and God in 2010

Listen to this truth as the beginning of a new year and a new start comes around... " God never created us to live separately and independently of each other. He likes it when His children care for and nurture each other. He is frustrated when we sulk and feel sorry for ourselves, making everyone else responsible for our happiness. He wants us to be active members of the family. He wants us to get our life from Him. An isolated person seeks only his own desire, not God's. He receives no counsel and sets himself up for deception." John Bevere

I KNOW you've been offended by church leadership. I KNOW the church let you down in a time of need. I KNOW they haven't recognized your gifts the way you hoped they would. I KNOW you feel justified to not commit because you have friends you respect that have been offended too, and they don't go. Why do I know? I KNOW, because I've felt the same way more than once over the years. It hasn't been easy for the church to have me in it and it hasn't been easy for me to stay committed to the church. It's been very painful at times. Yes it's true that I am and have been on staff at a church, but believe me when I tell you I have been on both sides of this issue. I've felt justified to feel like I've been kicked when I've been down by the church and it's leadership and it was a deep hurt, and I've also felt some of the deepest love for me when catastrophe has hit me on a personal level, but God is calling you and me to believe and remember that all the people in the church who have let you down or built you up in the past are His servants and not yours. He wants you to trust that He is capable of dealing with them on His own and doesn't need you to act on His behalf. Consider with me when I suggest that God is putting situations and people in your life to test how you will respond?! Will you react to man's in-perfect ways and run by not committing your life and resources to the church because of them, or will you, in spite of their offenses, become stronger and deeper by turning to God for your strength and identity. The latter reaction chooses to love Him and His Bride more than how much you've been offended by all of us less than perfect people?!

I think we erroneously put being committed to the church on the same level as we do our joining a rotary club, our child's travel sports team or a group of friends we run with socially...if somebody does something we don't like we take our ball and go home. We don't participate anymore unless somebody else changes their way of doing things. That same logic doesn't apply to what God expectations are of us in committing to and taking care of His children and His Bride....both of which He is coming back for regardless of how mistreated you think you've been. Woe to those who think that they have the option of disowning the in-perfect church and doing their own thing independent of it because the people, and even the leaders in it didn't do things the way we wanted them to. I hope you haven't fallen into that trap. It is one of Satan's biggest tactics to get us separated from one another so we don't have the power together the way God intended when He built it through his Apostles. Woe to young people in their 20's and 30's who have reduced their logic to a generational gap way of thinking so they don't attend church, and even a bigger woe to the more mature folks who have not respected younger leadership and worship ideas for the same reasons. I think you will be held even more accountable because you should be the wise mature ones who have had more time to interact with our God and realize that it is possible to learn and grow in your relationship to God when being led by younger folks in the church.

If you choose to come back this Sunday or at the beginning of 2010 with a fresh start don't be misled again by Satan into believing that now you are above being offended or the new church you choose to attend won't have some of the same less than perfect people in it because IT WILL! They are all still there. In every church you might consider joining. It hasn't changed because of something I'm writing here. You are the one that will have to change. You'll have to filter injustices and offenses with a different heart. One that let's God do the judging so you can focus on the SERVING of his people and His Bride unconditionally. When you attend and commit to church with this mind and heart set you'll be doing so with joy and not disappointment. You'll be obeying Him because you are in relationship with Him, and in love with Him and the fruit will be that you'll be satisfied with Him while you love His fallen children. He'll use you to make a difference in other people's lives whether anybody pats you on the back or not, and suddenly, that reason, and that reason alone..... will be ENOUGH for you to stay involved when people in the church don't handle you and other circumstances the way you would.

So what do you say friend...Is this the new beginning you've been looking for to be all you and God have wanted you to be in the church He has placed near you? I hope it is. Even if earth doesn't rejoice, I know heaven will! Like the story of the Prodigal son, God is waiting and watching for you. He hasn't given up because He knows you've had to deal with some things in your life (correctly or incorrectly). He's just glad you are coming back, and when he sees you coming down the road he will run to meet you. He's missed you there. He's not promising that your kin and friends and other peers will always see you the way He sees you. This is between you and Him...

Have a blessed 2010! May it be the first year of the best years of your life because finally, you've decided to live it for Him and not for others !

Ray Marsh

How's your F. A. C. ???

In the sport of football there is a statistic that fans don't always find in the program or even on websites, but you better believe that scouts, coaches, general managers and owners are very aware of it. It's called "Yards After Contact" or Y.A.C. This statistic is valuable because it is a telling sign that separates the average players from the tough ones after they have gotten the hand off from the QB or caught the pass from him.
What do you do with the ball after you have it on your possession?

You see, almost anybody can run towards a goal line when nobody is challenging them or catch a pass when they aren't afraid that somebody is going to pop them as soon as the ball gets to them. The really good ones are the ones that aren't easy to bring down. You won't find them running out of bounds when the ball is in their hands. As a matter of fact many of them look forward to contact so they can be the one dishing out the hard hit (See pic of Sweetness...A.K.A. Walter Payton, and Earl Campbell of the Houston Oilers is another guy that comes to mind).

Recently I ran across a quote that drives this point home to us in life..." Opposition is a natural part of life. Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition - such as lifting weights - we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity." -Stephen R. Covey

How silly would it be for us to step onto any competitive field or court and not expect some strong opposition from our opponent? Will we ever get stronger or better at what we are trying to accomplish in life if we don't anticipate opposition or avoid contact with it? Playing it safe because we don't want to work or think harder eventually stunts any growth potential you do have (And God has put that potential in all of us). The people that grow are the people that anticipate, and yes even embrace adversity and challenges in life. It doesn't catch them by surprise. When it comes they don't look at it as an obstacle that can stop them but an opportunity to get better by overcoming it. They don't back down, quit or run out of bounds to avoid it.

How about your faith? When things get tough and the adversity comes, does your faith rise up in you because you know and believe that it's just a test to help you get stronger in your relationship with God or are you looking for the sideline? Like the runner in the open field, or the receiver with no one guarding him, it's easy to just go to church on Sunday and avoid applying your faith in the world Monday - Saturday. Are you running out of bounds during the week or do you believe that God and the Holy Spirit in you is strong enough to allow you to endure the hits and keep moving forward? Anybody can call themselves a Christian, just like anybody can call themselves a running back or a receiver. You're still on the team, but what do you do with the ball (Your faith) when the opposition (Satan and this world) sees you are trying to make progress for the Christian team and attempts to bring you down, discourage you and render you ineffective for the Kingdom? So a better question might be... How's your F.A.C. ??? That's Faith After Contact?

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4