What an adventure! Learning God's Priorities.

What an intense trip this 40 Days of Personal Revival has been. Thank you Anne Graham Lotz for the amazing structure and your book, I Saw the Lord, which helped to inspire it. In a way, I feel as though we are just on the periphery looking in on the life in Christ that God has for us at Holy Trinity. The more I delve into the Scriptures, experience the depth of my sin and begin to glimpse our awesome God, the more I realize how little I have truly seen. But, I realize now...I needed to leave the Episcopal Church where the Spirit was easily quenched before I/we together could truly grow.

God is calling us as a people to come back to His heart and back to the basics. He is calling us to let Him redesign our church with His priorities.
These are the priorities we keep coming back to:

• Worship is the work of the people. It is both adoration as well as the offering of ourselves to God and within it we begin to experience God's heart. "He inhabits the praises of His people." Worship is deserving work and in order to do it well, we need to prepare throughout the week in prayer and Scripture. When we worship with our whole selves, we are not disappointed! He promises to come in all His fullness.
• The Primacy of Scripture - Scripture is not just a guideline for our lives but the true Word of Christ. Through it the Spirit speaks to the churches and will guide our mission.
• The Importance of Prayer - For some reason God desires to partner with us in prayer and uses our prayer to bring "His Kingdom Come" on earth as it is in heaven. We can no longer live as though prayer is optional. Prayer is both conversation as well as participation with the Ruler of the Universe.
• Stewardship of our Lives. Stewardship is the opposite of greed. King David refused to sacrifice to God with bulls that had been given to him. "I will not give to God that which has cost me nothing." Wow. I feel convicted. Stewardship is worshipping with our lives, worshipping with sincerity.
• The Filling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the breath in our dry bones, the power in our lives and the grace to desire more...more of all of life in God. Our participation in the life of God begins with our acknowledging our inability to even desire to be changed or to come into contact with a Holy God. When we admit our limitations and ask for each step of our lives to be in step with God, the Spirit bestows desire as well as strength for the journey.
• Because of the filling of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts with continue to arise within the body at Holy Trinity. Prophets, healers, teachers and more! Holy Trinity will be the place where unbelievers begin to experience the power of God and hunger for more.

God has so much in store for us...and the adventure has just begun! I can't wait for tomorrow, let alone Sunday!

Mother Summer