The "Because" Factor

I was at Riverview Church's Big Weekend this morning (Darlene Zschech was speaking) and God stirred my heart a couple of times with a number of things I'd been praying over this past week. I didn't think I was going to make it, but by divine appointment I did.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because He has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.

Luke 4:18-19

This was the main verse on which Darlene built her message upon, but in essence, she was talking about a person's calling/mission in life, and how we need to seek God for it in order not to be distracted by other seemingly good things. That was my interpretation of what I heard this morning anyways. So, one's personal statement might be, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, BECAUSE.. (fill in the blank with your calling/passion/the thing laid upon your heart by God)."

Another thing that I felt God was speaking to me was about how we need to filter out the good things in life and seek God's best. This could be applicable in many areas of life, like relationships, ministry, etc. One example my pastor gave in church last Sunday was how serving Jesus is good, but better than that is loving Him. This is the second time I'm hearing this statement this week, and it is timely amidst all this thought and prayer going into what God wants me to do next year.

I was also reminded about my holy discontent. About loving orphaned kids who don't have people to pick them up for a cuddle. About being a missionary. Somewhere in the past six months, I've let it slip from my prayers and my plans. I need to be asking myself this : what am I doing and how am I working towards doing something about my holy discontent?

One last thing I found really helpful : use the hard things in life to cement your foundation in Christ.

So what am I going to do in the meantime? I am going to focus on becoming an authentic follower-of-Christ, and trust that in due time, He will reveal it all to me.

If this post seems a little incoherent, too bad, as long as it makes sense to me :) I just needed to "write" it down before I get immersed (not!) in studying for my exams.

I hope there was something in here to remind you of the work God is doing in YOUR own life!