Showing posts with label calling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label calling. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Your Opus - By Debra Courtney


Burlington Free Press

 "...your voice is unique, and it is sweet to God's ears." Song of Songs 2:14 


Any woman who has the courage to believe in her music “Opus” (her work) inside her will write the music for her orchestra, but must to turn her back on the audience to conduct the instruments that brings HER VOICE. "Neglect not the gift that is in thee..." 1 Tim. 4:14.
This is really a word that speaks to me and rings true to who those who know who they are and who’s they are and what their “Opus” their work is. But some of us don’t. 2013 was a mixture of breakthroughs, delays and contradictions for many of us. Like the noise of an orchestra tuning up.

 
If we want to orchestrate heavens symphony we must be willing to turn our back on things and some people on the earth. Sometimes God puts His people into a thing called “transition processing.” It is a place where we go into our own “wilderness transition” so we can find GOD’S VOICE and FIND OURS! I have experienced this “transition” even all the while being surrounded by people. Have you?
It takes courage for us to believe in the music, the “Opus” inside us, the instruments that we bring together and surround ourselves with so we can conduct the symphony we need to hear, and to be faithful to write it out accurately so that others can hear it also. 
When we are true to the one thing that we alone were created to do, we tap into an inner strength, not in and of ourselves, but an inner helper, an inner comforter, what could be called a “Spirit of Truth” that we are doing the right thing, even when nobody around us fully understands where we are at. This “place” of being is the most powerful in the world. It is an aspect of “God Speaking” out through the uniqueness of His design as he created us that we are exhibiting.


DESIGNED for PURPOSE and DRIVEN by PASSION
If driven by purpose without passion our work (our Opus) is average and never the best. If driven by passion without purpose, we are pleasure seekers (sensualist). If driven by both, we are a creative force in a uniquely designed universe waiting to cooperate with us and to bring us all into all that we were designed and destined to be.
I like what Steve Jobs said, “To design something you really have to get it! Be passionately committed to thoroughly understand something. The design of the Mac was not in how it looked…it was how it worked.” 
It is not so much what people think about us that matters, it’s what heaven knows about us that matters! Use the criticism to your advantage. In fact get on the positive side of it.

"Poverty and shame shall be to him who refuses instruction and correction, but he that heeds reproof is honored." Prov. 13:18.

The notes erased, marked through or scratched out on the paper of our lives are ugly – however stay with it, because when the 'Opus" is finished the melody is beautiful.
Forgetting those things in the past and pressing onto the greater achievements of the future. The symphony you will conduct with all the different talents of the orchestrate (instruments)that shows up in your life can change everything in your future. It's your choice. It's your "Opus".  Be that instrument in the Redeemer hand.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Focus: Cultivating Relationship ~ by Cheryl Laurenza


Photo by Amelia Grace Photography

FOCUS 

ByCheryl Laurenza

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”   JOHN 14:6


Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.   COLOSSIANS 4:2

I was thinking on these verses as I read Jesus Calling. It reminded me of many times and situations in my life where I so needed to clearly discern His leading and direction in my life. I also came across a quote by O's Guiness: 

“Calling is the most comprehensive reorientation and the most profound motivation in human experience.”

I believe the key is nothing earth shattering, new or different. We need to be following closely in order to hear and sense leading and direction in any area of our lives. I think we are much too busy, consult way too many people, and take no time to sit, listen, and sense the Spirit. I am afraid we pray a quick prayer and then tack 'In Jesus name' on the end and expect not only that He will do what we want but that it would  be easy and pleasant, that we would not have to seek or listen, just keep going at breakneck speed. 

Please do not hear this as legalism or condemnation. I have always been a grace-based person, yet think I know the balance here and am afraid that some of us have lost, or never cultivated a deep abiding love relationship with Jesus. Remember that it is a RELATIONSHIP. How in the world will we be able to stand in tough times if we have never truly struggled and wrestled, hungered and fought through doubts, fears, and heard His voice calling and comforting through it all saying, "This is the way; walk in it." Isa 30:21.  This creates such a thankfulness that 'I get to do this,' not a drudgery. 

My prayer is for all of us as we head into Fall is that we will choose to prioritize our most vital relationship, not in a legalistic "I should do...", but slowing it down enough to put this margin in our lives. 

Loving Him,
Cheryl Laurenza

Cheryl Laurenza, MA, LPC, NCC
CPCS, ACS
The Refuge Counseling Center, LLC
3211 South Cherokee Lane
Suite 640
Woodstock, GA 30188
P: 678 693 2281
F: 888 971 3910

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

When Your Presence is a Ministry - A guest post from @KelliWommack

Photo By Kelli Wommack

When Your Presence is a Ministry 

ByKelli Wommack 


In my role as SERVE minister at Christ Community Church, I have the awesome privilege and responsibility of helping people find their unique ministry within our church and ultimately the Kingdom of God. I explain in classes and in consultations that every Christian has a ministry. Just like our human body, the body of Christ is made up of many parts and each part is necessary for the Body to function properly.

One day, after our church services, a woman walked up to me. This gentle-spirited woman had been through our classes. I had met with her about a year ago and together we discussed how God had created her with certain gifts, talents, and experiences along with a vibrant personality and passion. I had given her several suggestions for ministry placement. She served a trial run in a couple of those ministries and after a time, found that she was still struggling with direction. I told her to continue to pray that God would show her where and how He wanted her to serve.
So, the day she approached me after the service, I noticed that she had a big smile and a feeling of contentment. She said, “I think I have discovered my ministry. But I don ‘t know what to call it. I don’t think there is actually a name for it.”  I was not bothered by the idea of a nameless ministry, but very curious to hear about it. She began to tell me that she had observed when she was most fulfilled, and most fruitful. She felt that her greatest ministry was “just being with people – just listening to them, praying for them, fellowshipping with them, just BEING with them.” I totally agreed with her assessment because I had been one to benefit from this “nameless” ministry of hers. And then I said, “There is actually a name for that...” She was bewildered. “Really?” I replied, “Yes, it is called the MINISTRY OF PRESENCE.”
In the U.S., we have so disciplined ourselves to be taskmasters -- to do, and to check off lists. And sometimes, in fact, many times, God is not calling us to 'do' anything. He is calling us to 'be' there for people. I am much more aware of this when I have traveled to other countries on mission trips. Yes, I may be there to teach at a conference, or to help with an evangelism effort. But when there is nothing on the schedule, there is still something on the schedule. That something is just being with the people – listening to their stories, talking with them, and praying with them.

Do you have people around you that need your 'ministry of presence?' Maybe it is your spouse, your children, your co-worker, or your neighbor? We don’t have to have a task to complete in order to minister to others. Let’s be present and in the moment. Undistracted. Completely focused...on them. Let’s minister with our presence.

Kelli Wommack  Bio info 

Kelli is a motivational speaker, writer, and blogger and loves seeing people reach their full potential in Christ. In her role as Serve Minister at Christ Community Church in Georgia, she has the awesome privilege of rallying others to find their unique place of ministry. Her favorite home team includes her loving, funny, yet quiet husband, and her two loving, funny, and not so quiet children. Connect with Kelli:
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