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It appears that September is the month of beginnings. Schools begin a new year, sports teams begin a new season, students begin wearing new clothes, using new materials, meeting new teachers…etc, and at Grace Community Church ministries begin a new adventure.

I have often wondered what new adventures await us both as a church and as individuals as we begin looking ahead to what God has planned. With each new opportunity to minister to people there is a holy friction between the sense of urgency and the need to “wait on the Lord”. I believe there is the urgency to present the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who do not know Him because “Hell is too hot and time is too short”. I also believe the need to “wait on the Lord” is valuable in all our lives so we don’t run ahead nor lag behind the directive hand of God in ministry.

This holy friction is what keeps us both sharp in purpose and prayerful in direction. As we see this month of beginnings start to roll ahead, may all that we do be to the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, it will be a great adventure. Saddle up, hang on, seatbelts are optional.

A while ago, while I was waiting for a train to complete its mission of interruption, the Lord revealed to me something I had never taken the time to notice before. It is like one of those moments I call, “Oh yeah!”

As I was watching the train filter through the crossing I noticed some of the most amazing art work pass before my eyes. Some of the cars were the canvases of creative writing that bore the names of their creators. Artists with names such as, “Ralpheo,” “Cool C” and one of my favorites “King Kong” graced their work to be on display where ever the railroad car would be taken. Each expression of the artist rolled on for miles and probably not many, who had to wait for the train to roll by as they sat in their cars at the railroad crossing, even noticed the color and dimensions of each creation.

My moment of “Oh yeah!” came to me when I began to think about God writing His name on me. For those of us who have trusted Christ, we carry the name of God wherever we go. Whether we are in the checkout line at a store, waiting in traffic at a red light or any such place that would cause us to be on display where people can see us and the actions we reveal. My question to myself was, “do I carry the name of Christ well or am I a nuisance to those who watch me pass by?”

We have a high call to carry the name of Jesus Christ with such passion and power that those who see us would see our creator and begin to wonder who He is. May we display the grace of God in all that we do so that others may have their, “Oh yeah!” moment.

There is a morning chill in the air as I come the office each day. The freshness of the morning dew as it blankets the ground, the sweet smell of the autumn air as it swells the lungs with fresh energy of life and as the hills begin to dance with the vibrancy of color that is yet to make its full entrance, ignite my thoughts to begin to focus on what is yet to come.

Thanksgiving is on the horizon!!! MMMMMM, my senses begin the process of anticipating the celebration of the feast. The smells that will soon fill the house, the laughter that will echo from the family stories being told both old and new and the taste of such delightfully prepared dishes should cause us to remember just how great our God truly is.

With this in mind I thought I would develop an acrostic using the word Thanksgiving that reminds us what it takes to offer God a life of thanksgiving.

T: Trust in the Lord with all your heart (Proverbs 3:5)

H: Have praise in your heart (Ephesians 5:19)

A: Act in love (1 Corinthians 13)

N: Neither give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:27)

K: Know that the Lord, He is God (Psalm 100:3)

S: Seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33)

G: Give God Glory (Revelation 5:12-13)

I: Increase in love for one another (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13)

V: Listen to the voice of God (Psalm 29)

I: With God nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37)

N: Never give up (1 Corinthians 15:58)

G: Grow in Grace (2 Peter 3:18)

“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Colossians 3:17)

His Birth in History. “Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not evolve out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being, He is a Being who cannot be accounted for by the human race at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate, God coming into human flesh, coming into it from outside. His life is the Highest and the Holiest entering in at the Lowliest door. Our Lord’s birth was an advent.

His Birth in Me. “Of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). Just as Our Lord came into human history from the outside, so He must come into me from outside. Have I allowed my personal human life to become a “Bethlehem” for the Son of God? I cannot enter into the realm of the Kingdom of God unless I am born from above by a birth totally unlike natural birth. “Ye must be born again.” This is not a command, it is a foundational fact. The characteristic of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that Christ is formed in me. Immediately Christ is formed in me, His nature begins to work through me.

God manifest in the flesh – that is what is made profoundly possible for you and me by the Redemption.

Article taken from the book “My Utmost for His Highest” by Oswald Chambers.