Day Eight: A Kingdom Oriented Mission

Hello friends and fam!

I wanted to put this up this beautiful morning! The Lead Pastor at our Church, First Baptist, is doing a 30 days of prayer devotional about becoming a missional body of Christ. So, every morning he sends out a small devotional centered around how to become more mission oriented. I have really enjoyed reading them each morning before I start my routine of life. Anyway, I really enjoyed this from yesterdays devotional. I think that in life we often can easily identify that as a people we are given to be too busy, but I don't think that we often consider the consequences. We just think that we are too busy and as a result we don't give the time that we should over to the Lord. This devotional talks about an abiding prayer life that is the only way to be the presence of the Lord and how busyness is one of the biggest ways that we as a people are kept from being the presence of the Lord.

Anyway, I guess it hit home for me because it seems like no matter how much I study there is always more studying to do, and then I go home at night and there is always more work to do around the house. And I know that it is that way for everyone. But, I think what this is telling me is that there has to be a point where I draw the line and say the house work/studying/whatever will be here when I get back, but if I miss a chance to commune with the Lord today -- I can't make that up, and it will affect my ability to reflect the Lord's character.

So, I enjoyed it and thought that I might put it up for everyone to enjoy!
Also, pictures are coming I PROMISE. My mother has been holding our camera cords hostage, but as soon as we get them from her they will go up! We love you all and hope that you had an Easter filled with Joy in our Lord!!!


“But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The statement found approval with the whole congregation;” (Acts 6:4).

The disciples are seeking to recover that which had characterized the church from its earliest and most formative days, when “they all joined together constantly in prayer.” Enough time has passed from Acts 1 to Acts 6 for pettiness to have already found its way into the life of the church—one group felt they weren’t getting the same attention as another group so a “complaint” arose (Acts 6:1). The apostles recognized that the busyness of “church work” had become a poor substitute and distraction to the accomplishment of Kingdom work; that which is accomplished only by prayer and the ministry of the Word.

If it can happen to the apostles it can happen to us. The mission of the church will be actualized only as it is driven by prayer and the ministry of the word. Yet, busyness is our greatest enemy. We are bombarded with so many things; even good things that choke the preoccupation of prayer from our lives. Consider this; a student with ear buds can hear more composers in a day than Mozart heard in a lifetime. Enter any art museum and you can see more masterpieces in an hour than Rubens saw in a year. When I read the daily paper, I am exposed to more news in an hour than the apostles were exposed to in a year. And as evidenced by the testimony of the apostles even “church work” can strangle prayer out of the life of God’s people

All this exposure and busyness makes me ask, “Am I so busy keeping in touch with all kinds of things, and jumping through so many “hoops” that life is setting before me that I am losing touch with what matters most—an abiding prayer life; the only means by which I have any possible chance of being the presence of Christ in the world God has placed me?”

Prayer Thought: “Father, I pray that you would give to me and to your church the discernment of the apostles to recognize the futility of busyness; that we might recover the priority of prayer, with the understanding that it is the only means by which we can truly be a missional people.”