| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire” Our Bible verse for today: “You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you …” Jeremiah 29:13-14 Our thought for today: “Relive the moment” Perhaps you’re familiar with the now legendary story of the turning-point moment a young Billy Graham had in his faith and in his ministry when he visited the Forest Home Christian Camp in the southern California mountains in the early 1940s. Billy had just started his career as an evangelist. He was working for YWAM (Youth with A Mission), traveling around the country holding crusades for Christian youth groups. As such, he was the featured speaker for a weekend youth retreat at the Forest Home camp. But Billy was struggling with many questions about his faith, about God and the Bible, and about his future in ministry. One day while at the camp he went off into the woods by himself, put his opened Bible down on a tree stump, knelt down, and prayed for God to speak to him and answer some of his questions and doubts (or to at least give him some peace about it). It was in that moment that the truth of Jeremiah 29:13-14 became a reality in Billy’s life. God spoke to him. God didn’t answer all his questions, but He did give Billy a reassuring sense of peace and assurance. Later, Billy wrote in his journal, “I sensed the presence and power of God as I had not sensed it in months. Not all my questions were answered, but … I knew a spiritual battle in my soul had been fought and won.” It was a pivotal moment for him and it’s one he relived hundreds of times throughout his life in moments when he was struggling and needed fresh wind in his sails and fresh fire in his soul. For many years I lived in California not far from Forest Home and on several occasions, I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time alone at that very spot where Billy had his encounter with God. They’ve built a beautiful little chapel there and it’s a great place to go to do your own business with God. In fact, I’ve resolved some issues of my own in that spot and all these years later (more than 25), I still revisit those times in my mind. Have you had pivotal moments with God like that in your own life? If so, I hope you wrote them down in a journal and I hope you relive them with God from time-to-time. More than just being pleasant memories, reliving such moments serves to remind you of God’s faithfulness in the past and they can serve to open a door for new, fresh encounters with Him in the present. Jeremiah 29:13-14 really is true, “You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you …” God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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