At the beginning of September I competed in my 10th
triathlon and it was an exhilarating experience to see that I finished the race
5 minutes faster than my time from 5 years ago!
However, I would never have known that unless I dove in the water and
began the race. Here’s the truth, a lot
of Jesus followers get stuck in the starting blocks. It doesn’t matter how many people are
cheering you on, or how much we believe in each other.
Others can say, GO FOR IT, but we MUST take
the first step
.
Do not despise these
small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin! Zechariah 4:10a
Here’s another truth about our heavenly Father. He doesn’t always give me the entire plan; He
usually just gives me the next step and we need to follow through in obedience.
By faith Abraham, when
called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and
went, even though he did not know where he was going. Hebrews 11:8
At the Manor Church we focused on different ways that we
feel stuck in the starting blocks:
·
stuck in our finances or ongoing debt
·
stuck in a marriage or bad relationship
·
stuck in unforgiveness and past hurts
·
stuck in the enemies lies!
The
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy John 10:10a
“Inaction in one of
the main culprits. Inaction will anchor
you to “too late” every single time.
Fear, disbelief, worry and anxiety will do everything to keep you stuck
in the starting blocks.”
Joyce Meyer
After a time of prayer, participating in communion and focus
on healing our inner self, we then took the time to rip up all those ways that
we get stuck. We also then affirmed each other’s gifts and talents and
focused on the dreams that God has given us.
It was an amazing turnaround.
So, just as we learned in the story of the talents that
Jesus told in Matthew 25:14-30 we came full circle to the huge importance of
investing and focusing on what God has blessed us with. We can either get stuck, sit on our gifts or
worse, bury them like the servant in the story with the single talent (we used
gold chocolate coins J
) who dug a hole and carefully buried his master’s money or we can invest our
lives and talents in others like the other two servants who then were offered
the position of partnering with their master in his business.
The amazing truth is that Jesus is calling us to partner
with Him in Kingdom business… what an AMAZING opportunity.
So to practically work this out, members of our core team
including Kristen and two of her children went to the apartment buildings
behind the Manor. The goal was just to
bless the people living there with little boxes filled with goodies and treats.
However, here’s the thing, they had to be let in first. So, they prayed at the
entrance and no sooner did they finish that a lady from the third floor balcony
yell down, “hey, do you want to get in the building.” It was a great faith
builder!
Another amazing faith builder us at Church at the Manor is
for us to see who God is leading to us.
Here is a note that was shared with Sharon
from a bartender at the Manor.
Hey Sharon just wanted
to share something with you...last night I went to work same as every Sunday
... But this time I had this dancer run up to me just glowing about the
wonderful day she had had at the manor church. She is new to the club and
decided to check out the church anyway she couldn't say enough good things
about you and the church she truly felt she had been sent a message and was
sent to the manor for a bigger reason ...I continued to watch her throughout
the night telling customers about her great experience and about the church. I
just thought you should know what a positive meaningful impact you had on this
young lady. Keep up the good work xo
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