Being the Church
For
months people have been asking, “So, what exactly will you be doing in Mexico,
Cambodia, Mozambique, etc.?” And so far my response has been, “Um, I’m not
really sure about that yet.” Hopefully these next two blogs will provide some answers.
We
are learning to be the Church. We are learning to listen for the Lord’s voice
and expect Him to speak to us corporately and individually. We are learning to
lay our lives down before the Lord in worship. We are learning to love God
first.
Each
morning is dedicated to individual time with the Lord. We are learning to love
Him first thing in the morning. I love sitting out with my travel French press
listening to creation’s song of worship. I am developing a deeper desire for
prayer and Bible study. Each morning I am falling more in love with my time
with the Lord.
We
are learning to build one another up by speaking prophetically in to each
other’s lives. The Word says Follow the way of love
and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophesy. Everyone
who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement, and
comfort…he who prophesies edifies the church (1 Cor. 14:1,3-4). We have been desiring and seeking these gifts. We
have been praying together and asking the Lord to speak to us words of
encouragement and challenge for our teammates… and He has, with incredible
intimacy.
We
have also become a community in the truest sense of the word. We have become a
community of vulnerability, healing, truth, and worship. We make it a regular
practice to be vulnerable sharing our struggles and hidden sins with one
another. In the process, we have found healing. We make it a regular practice
to speak the truth of Scripture to combat the lies that our teammates believe.
We come together everyday in worship praising the Lord for His faithfulness.
In
our church we also call one another forth into new areas of spiritual growth. Let us consider how to spur one another on to love and
good deeds (Hebrews 10:24). Each person has much to offer and much to learn. I am about to begin
being mentored on intercession. I want to become a woman of prayer and one of
our intercessors is going to come along side me and teach me. At the same time,
I am mentoring two girls on Scripture learning and how to share the gospel
through Scripture.
I
am blessed to be a part of this amazing family of believers. Pray for us as we
continue to learn how to be the Church. We long to live as the early church in
Acts: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching
and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled
with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All
believers were together and had everything in common. (Acts 2:42-44).
*Check out World Race
Beginnings Part 2 to read about the start of our ministry here in Palenque.
