The Journey of the Call

Lately I have been pondering the opening verse from Ephesian chapter 4. There is says, "“Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.” (NLT)

The very first part of that verse caught me. "I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you...." On his journey of faith the apostle Paul was a real go getter, traveling, encouraging, raising up new leaders, and starting new churches. He had a call on his life that seemed to lead him down a certain path on his faith journey with God.

But on the way this ambitious man also had many set backs. He was run out of town, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked, arrested and eventually as the verse says, a "prisoner" for serving the Lord. He faced a many challenges that could have knocked him off the path. Yet, even in prison he realized that he was on a journey, he had a calling, he could make a difference and an impact no matter what his current situation. He stayed on the path, even by all reasonable assessment one would think prison would limit him.

There are times when I impose my own self limits on my journey. I haven't been in prison for my faith, but there are times when we all look at our situation, our emotional state, our spiritual state and think that God can't do anything through us in our current state of being. How often didn't God take the most adverse situations and conditions and turn it around in such a way that those involved were used by God in tremendous ways. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12, "But he (God) said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

On your faith journey, don't be limited or discouraged by the place you find yourself in today. Take the next step of faith on your journey and believe that God has a plan and a purpose in your present place and let God's power keep you on the path.

A Walk Through the Garden

The journey of faith reminds me the the pic on the sidebar of this blog. A journey through a garden, a journey that follows a path, a journey that takes us to a place we might not always see where it ends up, a journey that can be uphill and at times dangerous.

The Bible mentions gardens! The Garden of Eden. In Genesis God creates this garden a place where he created life and allows Adam and Eve to reside and grow there. A place where He walks and fellowships with Adam and Eve. The garden is a place of refreshment and communion with God. That's the garden we all desire whether we fully realize it or not. God created the garden to nurture life and to nurture our connection with Him. This garden is restful, peaceful, and comforting. When God calls us into fellowship with Him and we accept that invitation, we can find ourselves in this oasis of fellowship with Him. God promises this to all who believe and who follow Him in faith. The book of Revelation gives us a picture of a restored garden, a new fellowship, a restored place of rest for all those who believe.

The other garden, is the garden of Gethsemane. This garden is a place where Jesus wrestles with the harsh reality of sacrifice and the cross. He wrestles with walking the path to the cross, the path of suffering, hardship, and death. This is the garden that most of us wish to avoid, the garden of suffering on the path of obedience to God. The garden of Gethsemane symbolizes the path of obedience God is calling each one of us. Jesus never said it would be easy to follow him. When the disciples said they would follow him, he asked if they were willing to drink of the cup of his suffering.

The Christian walk is a journey through both gardens, the garden of sweet fellowship and the garden of obedient suffering. But maybe it's not two gardens, maybe it's one in the same. For in the obedient suffering we find the sweet fellowship with Him.

In following Jesus today, walk the garden path of fellowship with Jesus, whether we feel the sweet communion of fellowship, or the struggle of the cross of obedience. Both places is where God meets us....

The journey of Faith

For many years I have thought of the Christian faith in terms of a "Journey". The Michael Card song, "There is a Joy in the Journey" inspired me in this thought. Too often the journey of faith isn't thought of as a Joy, but as a task to complete, a test to pass, a burden to bear. In my own journey I have experienced the joy of the journey and the burden of it.

My passion is to help discover my own joy in my faith journey and to encourage others to find their joy as well.

I created this blog site to encourage people's spiritual search and discovery of that joy that Jesus promises. I hope that people will log on, read through, interact with this site and with each other on their spiritual journey of discovering Christ and His purpose in their life. I hope people think, challenge, consider what I post and the reflections I give.

I hope that you will also discover the joy of seeking the truth about God and consciously make a decision to grow spiritually.

If there are specific questions that you have, if there are topics you would like to discuss, if there are answers that you desire about God, about the Christian faith, about your personal journey of faith, let me know.

I am not sure how often I will post, because this is a new step for me. My hope is to post at least once a week for now and maybe more in the future.

My hope is that we can take this journey together toward the people God wants us to be.

Dave