Expect More: Drink Wine Instead of Water

It's funny I had gone into this morning's time with the Lord excited about the section on guidance, thinking it just what I needed, personal guidance. I woke hearing Michael Card's "come to this wedding" song regarding Jesus' first miracle, turning the water into wine. I did not realize that both of those details, the section on guidance from CoD and the song, were speaking to each other.

The guidance Foster discussed was intentionally not individual guidance, but the kind of guidance that occurred for the early church Christians, corporate guidance of the Spirit. Much can be said on this topic, but he used as a fulcrum "when two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst" as both declaration of "assurance and authority". "There was assurance that when peoople genuinely gathered in His name, His will could be discerned".

And what of the water to wine miracle? What an odd miracle. With so much terrible going on in the world, this miracle as a first to kick off the Kingdom of God run that would begin with Jesus? But this miracle points out exactly the kind of end game thinking of God, the foreshadowing of things to come. We will be wed to Christ, and the wine will not run out. The wine is indicative of celebration. Lest anyone think that God is a stoic God that doesn't need to have a good time, they only need to look at this miracle. If anyone thinks that God only speaks to individuals and expects excellence in following from them (see "what is it to you, you follow me") then look to this as one of many instances where God says something to a bunch of people all at once. And what He speaks is about abundant life, an abundant life for many.

Lord Jesus, I am curious about what's to come. I long for Your Kingdom on earth, but at the same time I see the ways that I am lacking for the Kingdom's call. Help me continue to come, to taste and see that the Lord is good. Open a new page for me in following in corporate obedience to corporate guidance. Let your abundant life and shalom be the thing that marks our lives.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Whole New Lifestyle

Image
True service is a life-style. It acts from ingrained patterns of living. It springs spontaneously to meet human need. In reading this section on self-righteous service vs true service, I thought, "smug Foster, he probably doesn't really know about true service, just writing about it in the theoretical. How unfair and irresponsible. What a hard and burdensome load he won't lift a finger for" (Matt 23:4). Then I realized that my tinge of disgust might actually be conviction. After which I took notice. This morning sitting down in an over stimulated state (I'm concurrently thinking through how to not feel so pressed for time in the morning and the unwanted side effect of disquiet caused by listening to audio books in the morning) I wondered about if my morning meditations are having any impact. I'm not really giving them a good chance to. Morning meditation is part of the untenable pursuit of arriving to work by 5 if I wake up by 4. It just makes no sense t
Read more

Something that Will Stick

Image
In the spiritual life only one thing will produce genuine joy, and that is obedience. ~ Foster So funny to read that as the first line of CoD this morning. I basically had it exactly backwards. Yesterday I posted about laughter putting us in a celebratory mood, and thus thought there might be something to working from the outside in (celebration->joy->obedience). I still think there is something to working from the outside in, but I have to admit that the results found through that path are fleeting. Foster explains that the firm path to joy in the Lord is flows inward from inner obedience to joy, which then puts us in a spirit of celebration. That sounds more right to me. This morning I was also appreciating the harmony between CoD and Liturgy of the Ordinary. What I read in study in the morning I receive again in a life's memoir about the everydayness of how God's sanctification works out. What does the word mean to me today? Obedience. I think (and pray) it m
Read more

"Follow Me" Crazy Horse Summons Jesus Christ

Listening to an audiobook by Joseph Marshall III, a Native American in story and upbringing. He tells stories of Crazy Horse and his relations that are reminiscent of Jesus. I'd like to share a few of those stories one being about a man who follows the path alone and finds a path of self-discovery found himself in the end but not the beginning. He, in his isolation, was observant about his surroundings; he became the best at knowing the land knowing the ways that you can find shelter. And peace. There came a time when the warriors were away and this man had to be relied on to get the women and the elders to shelter. from that time on he became known as the man who knows the land. There's another story written about Crazy Horse where a man came to him and said I want to join your people your community and Crazy Horse said to him kill your horse and this didn't make sense to the people that he lived with and the community because your horse is your livelihood. What Crazy Ho
Read more