From the Heart! -  A. W. Tozer famously said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” This is why it’s important to take time periodically to think about how you picture God. Some people see God as an angry judge, waiting to strike them down whenever they mess up. Others see God more like a jolly old grandpa who just wants us to be happy no matter how we choose to live. But both of those views of God are wildly inaccurate and come from a lack of Biblical knowledge and from a lack of time spent in the presence of our Creator. The Bible gives us a very different picture of God. From Genesis to Revelation we find a Holy and Personal God who created humankind in His image to live in a loving relationship with Him. But after the first human beings rebelled against their Creator, that relationship was severed. A Holy God cannot be united to sin. The rest of the Bible reveals a God who is on a mission to redeem a lost humanity and to restore the original relationship that was lost at the fall. This is described beautifully in Habakkuk 2:14, “For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.” That has been God’s mission since the very beginning. He wants everyone everywhere to see his glory, to worship him, and to discover the joy that’s found only in Him. 

Amazingly, God chooses to use us, the broken people He has redeemed to accomplish that mission. He gives us the privilege of being His ambassadors by carrying His Gospel message to the ends of the earth. In Acts 13:1-3, we see God leading the church to fulfill this call in a very deliberate way. The Holy Spirit calls and sets apart certain believers, sending them out to share the Gospel with the prayers and support of a local church. This will lead us to a powerful truth: If you want to hear from God and know His will for your life, it starts by drawing closer to Him through regular times of fasting, prayer, and worship!

In His Service,

Pastor Steve