Tags
God, holy spirit, Jesus, prayer, Religion, spirituality, Surrender
Tomorrow I am preaching on the passage from Jeremiah where Jeremiah is sent forth to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.
These are challenging words for a congregation to hear… because they will require something very difficult.
These are challenging words for us to hear…because they will require something very difficult.
When we accept the challenge that comes with the word of God then we will have to take a good hard look at ourselves and our systems and agree with God that some things will need to be plucked up and other things will need to be pulled down; yet others will need to be destroyed and others will need to be overthrown. Once all that destruction rubble has been cleared away then it will be time to build and to plant.
The real challenge here is that when we heed God’s command that we will need to encounter the hardest word in the English language…..Change. In fact for most of us and for most of our congregations we mistakenly hold the belief that “change” is not included in the dictionary.
Yes we are challenged to change in order to be useful to God. Change is not to be feared, change can actually be a good thing because it will cause us to grow and create not only a new heart within us, but bring us closer to God. Ultimately change is good for us.
Let us pray:
Creater God, come and renew us, give us a new heart
Help us to grasp a new vision and to dream bold dreams
Anoint us with your Spirit
Nudge us onto new pathways
Grant us a new desire to follow you in all things
Energize our faith, that we may be known as the children of God. Amen.