Prayer Meditation: Streams of
Grace
Saturday, 1 November 2003
Some of you have heard me state that I have realized that
God's purpose for me is greater than the span of my life. Abraham received
God's promise, but it was not fulfilled for over 400 years. I thought of
that again in regard to the concept of Purpose 2, Fellowship in
God's Family.
Each of us is only an atom of life in the disturbed society of
individualistic America, but each believer becomes part of the unified
continuity of God's great work in history from Creation to Consummation.
Each believer's life is a stream of grace from God's
Spirit. As we find ourselves in one particular place, with one
particular community of faith for a certain time, the individual streams of
grace merge together for a while in our mutual life of Grace.
The glimpses of insight I may gather are greatly enriched by
contributions from other members as their individual streams of
grace enhance mine as part of that eternal Great Stream of
God's grace flowing through history beyond any one
lifetime.
I pray that we will claim the promise of God's grace
gifts, discover and affirm them in each other and encourage the exercise of
those gifts in the service of God's purposes.
The eternalness of God's Spirit working in ours creates a Fellowship
different from any other. Lord, clarify our concepts of
the Church as your Family.
Each moment in each church is a special experience of grace as we realize
God is working in that moment for a purpose beyond our perception and beyond our
life span. The awe of God's holiness sanctifies each
moment that we jointly acknowledge him in the Fellowship of the Church, the
Body of Christ, in the world to express his grace to others.
I pray we will allow his Spirit of Grace to create such a
Fellowship. I pray that our new vision of God's holiness
and good purposes for us will fold our thoughts into oneness in the pursuit of
his intentions.
Many of the prophets expressed a sense of shock in the experience
of their encounter with God and realization of God's call. They were
not ready for their calling.
They were shocked to discover so deeply who God
was and what that required of them. I envision that as we
take the risk to focus on God's purposes, our common experience of awe will
produce in us a profound Holy Shock.
I pray that this Holy Shock of awe will produce a new
awareness of God's person and purpose.
Lord, may the challenges presented in The Purpose
Driven Life shock us out of our boundaries into a deep encounter with you,
and produce a deeper Fellowship in the Family of God.
Lord, let it be.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Orville Boyd Jenkins,
EdD, PhD
Copyright © Orville Boyd Jenkins 2003
Permission granted for free download and transmission for personal or educational use. Other rights reserved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meditation
12
Purpose 2: Fellowship. "We are Formed for God's
Family"