Reaching out- through ‘blessing’

FIVE WAYS TO BLESS YOUR NEIGHBOURS

Dave Ferguson shares five ways to bless your neighbors. He says, “From the very beginning, God’s way of reaching and restoring the world has always been through what I would call a blessing strategy”

How do we in a very practical way, that’s theologically grounded, explain to people how they could bless people in places they are incarnating?

He came up with this…
– Begin with prayer. We want you to ask, ‘God how do you want me to bless the people in the places you’ve sent me to?’
L – Listen. Don’t talk, but listen to people, their struggles, their pains, in the places God sent you.
– Eat. You can’t just check this off. It’s not quick. You have to have a meal with people or a cup of coffee. It builds relationships.
S – Serve. If you listen with people and you eat with people they will tell you how to love them and you’ll know how to serve them.
S – Story. When the time is right, now we talk and we share the story of how Jesus changed our life.

Genesis 12:2-3 says, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;  I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earthwill be blessed through you.”

Invest love

Through the life and ministry of Jesus, Jesus invested his life, Jesus invested his love! Rather than moving away from people who were broken and even angry he moved toward them – toward us.

John 12:23-24 tells us he moved toward us willingly, and was completely and unequivocally prepared to die for those he loved. This act is an expression of the Father heart of God toward us. As I have said on this before, God’s actions in and through Jesus was a wilful act of God to deposit life, salvation, healing, strength into us.

God committed himself to us, with the hope that we might commit ourselves to him, that we might commit our lives toward one another. Continue reading “Invest love”

Where am I?

“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:33

If you want to know where you are and where you are going in your spiritual life, listen to your own words. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things” (Matthew12:34-35) . Jesus then adds that, on the day of judgment, we will give an account for every “idle” word we speak (verse 36). The word “treasure” in verse 35 could be translated “deposit;” thus, whatever has been deposited in our lives will come out in words. Our words are powerful forces that not only reveal our spiritual condition, but also dynamically impact our future and that of others. Continue reading “Where am I?”