Nahum 1 - 3; John 5

They’re back and refreshed at least they were until Jared had to come this morning. He is a new teacher and today is NEW TEACHER orientation….. He will be taking in a TON of information and I just want to be holding him up in prayer……encouraging him to keep the main thing the main thing, to perservere through all this information…..so praying for Jared today……

Our group this morning, talking about repentance ….getting to spend time with Jamie, exploring her heart, her journey…THAT is so invigorating. Coming into contact with someone seeking YOU and open to being explored and accompanied on the journey.

So much in talking about repentance…….I pray today to be SOFT to YOUR leadings when and where I need to repent and to choose THAT path as opposed to the much more traveled one for me of pride and self protection……..

Nahum, the story of a city (Nineveh) broken….given every chance to repent, encouragaged by YOU at every turn to come back and no, no deal……..a city full of consumers……how to break the cycle of consuming?? How to be content with my own efforts at seeking to live less material and not look or preach at and to others to follow…judging others who simply don’t see….. How to see myself as a citizen of Ninevah and not become a prophet of gloom and doom……because I know Christ…..I see a harvest more than hopelessness…….how to live in THAT instead of following down the road of ruin, watching people lost believe in things that will disappear……. how to not be a FREAK but be a light?????? Live focused on You and Your will and not all that is seen......

John 5: 25-27 "It's urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived—I mean right now!—when dead men and women will hear the voice of the Son of God and, hearing, will come alive. Just as the Father has life in himself, he has conferred on the Son life in himself. And he has given him the authority, simply because he is the Son of Man, to decide and carry out matters of Judgment.

Repentance means coming to God, coming to God…accepting my forgiveness in Christ means to come alive…having been dead and coming alive……..hearing the voice of God……can I?? The bible IS YOUR VOICE and reading that I can hear……..

John 5: 39-40 "You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want.
41-44 "I'm not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God's love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God?
45-47 "But don't think I'm going to accuse you before my Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser. If you believed, really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me. If you won't take seriously what he wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?"

All my need for approval……and yet in the wrestling with that, seeing that YOU know it/ knew it all along and that in the wrestling I am giving it more and more to You……I believe…..and in and on the journey, I am coming to know that wanting what YOU want is what and where You want me and why wouldn’t I continue to wrestle with that, knowing like in all my wrestling….. You will win and…..you know what…THAT’S what I want…….today.
The picture, of the sheepdog brings back such memories. Early on in my journey, in struggling to hear from God I was looking always looking for signs. One evening of sleeplessness I caught an old Disney short film about a sheepdog.
It was about this sheepdog and in his working with his shepherd taking care of the sheep. The story was about 3 lost sheep and the shepherd sending the sheepdog out to gather and bring them home. The dog chased and found the sheep and in the telling of the story it came out just how really DUMB sheep are, how dependent they are on the shepherd and in their being lost, well they were totally lost.
Sheep will not even drink running water, the shepherd must find them still waters….the sheepdog did that and led them across that water to the ground, the route home. He did it by chasing and nipping at their heels, relentlessly driving them HOME. And then when he got them there and he did, the shepherd simply patted him on the head……he had done what his master had told him to do and there was no fanfare or reward in that…….just a satisfaction that he had done what the shepherd asked him to do….
I saw myself as the sheepdog…responsible and trustworthy, obedient to the shepherd, wanting to nip at everyone's heels driving them to the shepherd ..... Problem was I hadn’t yet seen myself a SHEEP....a SHEEP desperately in need of a shepherd. I hadn’t seen myself as a sinner…I hadn’t seen myself as needing saving, hadn’t seen myself as desperately ill in need of a Doctor……and now…..I have seen, have wrestled with continue to wrestle with who I am....I KNOW I NEED Jesus….I NEED my shepherd…..but perhaps I am still a bit of a sheepdog????