Updates:
- Vanessa's mother, Ruby, is back home, praise the Lord!
- Mary Williams had another awful week and was unable to attend church. Please keep her in your prayers.
Praise Reports:
- Elaine had a disaster involving warm goat milk, and it was all turned around for good!
- Roy and Shelly have found a house that they like, now they just need wisdom for how to proceed.
Prayer Requests:
- Christin's brother-in-law, Joseph, was in a terrible car accident about a week ago and is still in the hospital. The doctors think he might be having seizures, so please keep him in your prayers.
- June's step-daughter's son committed suicide last week, and Joyce has gone up to St. Louis to be with the family. Pray that she can be a Godly influence in this horrible situation, and may God use all to His glory.
- Hannah was out in the heat too much one day and began having serious contractions. It's under control now, but remember her and the baby in the weeks to come.
- Rod and David both own property that they would love to sell. Please pray that God will provide the perfect buyers at the perfect time.
- Julie Turner needs healing for her arm; she's not sure exactly what is wrong but it may be nerves.
Cleanup Crew:
- On September 5 our helpful cleaners will be the men and boys!
The trappings of western civilization have lulled us into being very un-spiritual people. We should never be spiritual for the sake of being spiritual, but spirituality is a dynamic that we cannot ignore.
We continued to discuss practical ways to connect with our spirit. Remember to always make God the focus!
We need to get out of our comfort zones. Walk into situations where you can rely on nothing but God, where if He doesn't show up we will be failures. Don't prepare or plan, or you won't get the experience--our spirit must see God in action to have a strong faith.
Our mind says that we should learn all that we can about everything in order to be completely prepared, but the apostles were told, "...do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say...." We must go to places where we are stupid so that God can be powerful.
Jesus sent his disciples out with the sketchiest of plans. We can never know enough, human rationality will never convince people. We must rely wholly on the Lord. It is better to be weak in knowledge, in experience, in expertise, so that God can be strong.
The apostles had to go back and report, so they were under pressure to have faith, go out and do it. Jesus was watching them. When you open your mouth, then the Spirit will give you words. The worst that can happen is that we fail. We do that on our own all the time. We have to put God's faithfulness on the line. This is childlike faith. There will be failures, but also great successes.
