In the aftermath of IKE
• Prayer Col 1:9-11
9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,
• We ask or spiritual wisdom and understanding… only given and revealed by the Spirit
• Wisdom that sometimes is opposite to the wisdom of the world:
- a. Loose your life to gain it
- b. Humble yourself and you will be exalted
- c. Right things that are no righteous
- a. Lack of services like power, running water, gas
- b. Lack of comfort
- c. Tangible need
• We have been studying 1 Samuel, and so far we may have learned a principle: Sometimes the big movements of God happen in the context of great suffering and sacrifice / see the case of Hanna, Disciples, Prophets… and Christ
• TODAY we need to meditate what God is allowing to happen in our city. It’s the movement of God in this hour and we need to join Him, so we may do things different today.
The right perspective in the storm
We may ask why? We need to remember:
• God is Sovereign & Powerful (Psalm 135:6-7)
6 The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.
7 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
- a. We seek human logic; fairness but we will not find them. God does His will. But we can remember that He has one purpose: reconciliation; redemption and all is a call for that. (Jesus comment about Galileans who died…)
- b. In the storm we can compare the power of God and the power of men (Buildings rising the sky in downtown, falling with the power of God.)
- c. God sovereignty gives us an opportunity to TRUST and develop our FAITH.
• God is Good and Faithful (Psalm 136:1)
1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.
- a. His love endures forever repeats 26 times in 26 verses.
- b. He is a better provider than men; His provision is never interrupted and fills us when we ask for it. Covenant with day and night, life, peace, patience, health, protection, and family. The storm makes us remember some priorities we have.
- c. We don’t appreciate their value until we loose them.
The great opportunity in the storm (John 13:34-35)
34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
• Love. Real love, not Valentines, but the one that cares, serves, helps, ministers those in need. The one that does not complain but produces good, walks the second mile, looks after its own needs to see the needs of others.
- a. When there is a need, there is space for provision
- b. When there is desperation, there is space for peace
- c. Where there is hopeless, there is space for hope
• When trial there are 2 ways:
• Prayer is always needed. But there are times when action is as important as prayer because is the very answer of prayer. Sincere and powerful prayer comes when you are willing to be the answer of it… God knows our hearts. It’s by your deeds that your faith is revealed. (James 2:14-17)
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
The blessing in the storm
The opportunity is already a blessing, but there is more (1 Pet 1:6-9)
…now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
• Is trough friction, tension, pruning, purifying that we are transformed. How can it be if not? As the gold is purified by fire, we are purified by tribulations… This is what Paul refers – I think – as the WHOLE will of God. Not just one-prayer salvation and all comfort in this world but sanctification, holiness, being conformed in the image of Christ
- a. See just our needs and comfort, we complain, there is no time for others, I have my own problems… ANYBODY can do that. A kingdom divided will not prevail.
- b. See ahead my own needs and comfort, don’t complain but fill the space of the need of another in the name of Christ. That is one of the most powerful examples and testimonies of love… LOVE IN ACTION. Jesus is the example, when you see it, you see His reflection.
• Prayer is always needed. But there are times when action is as important as prayer because is the very answer of prayer. Sincere and powerful prayer comes when you are willing to be the answer of it… God knows our hearts. It’s by your deeds that your faith is revealed. (James 2:14-17)
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
The blessing in the storm
The opportunity is already a blessing, but there is more (1 Pet 1:6-9)
…now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
• Is trough friction, tension, pruning, purifying that we are transformed. How can it be if not? As the gold is purified by fire, we are purified by tribulations… This is what Paul refers – I think – as the WHOLE will of God. Not just one-prayer salvation and all comfort in this world but sanctification, holiness, being conformed in the image of Christ
• There are different sins in every land… India, Ecuador, China… The sins of this land I believe are:
- a. Individualism / being independent. My own car, my own room, TV, cell, bathroom… I don’t need other people, I don’t need to know my neighbor; I’m independent. NOT GOD’S MODEL (dependence of God, interdependence with people, community)
- b. Comfort. Everything should be easier, faster, lighter. That robs discipline and produces laziness, weakness and makes us dependant of the wrong things. We judge, become spoiled.
- c. Consumerism / Materialism. It’s another form of idolatry since puts my focus in the wrong things and priorities, seeing what passes away and not what is eternal.
As we have lost much on little, we are together in this city…
• We will not prevail if we are divided, each man for himself
• We will not shine if we focus just on our needs
• We will not be transformed if we don’t let God challenge us
• We will not honor God if our love is like electricity… interrupted
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