LG July 2 2010, July 11 2010 - Camp bring back part 1

God's promise

This is one of the messages that Jim McMillan shared with the elevate group which I believe is very relevant to most of us right now (myself included).

Deut 1:6 - The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates."

From this passage, we see that God is telling us to take possession of what He has prepared for us. I feel that we as a LG is ready to expand and move onto the next thing God has in store for us. We are blessed to have great people in this LG where we do relate well with one another and can support one another in our life journeys. However, I believe God is telling us that there is a better future in store for us as a LG, not only growth in numbers but also in our faith and the way we exercise our giftings for God's glory.

Make the most of now

From my interpretation of Jim's message, what's standing between the now and the promises is to make the most of now. This simply means making the best of what we have now (what God has put in our hands) to attract a better future that God has for us.

To do so, we need to unhook ourselves from the future to make the most of now. In other words, don't get too caught up in what we want to achieve that we miss God's best for us now. For example saying that I can't be (insert action) now because I want to focus on getting a work promotion/buying a property/prepare for future marriage etc. Not saying that career building, buying property and preparing marriage are bad things, but if it consumes us such that we shut out who God wants us to be then perhaps we should reconsider our priorities.

Instead, we should spend that energy in making the most of the now with what we have in our hands to attract a better future. For example, in contrast to the examples ealier, doing the best we can at work that we gain God's favor in the workplace or being prudent in the way we manage our finances to attract investment opportunities in the future or practice speaking our love languages fluently now so we can build meaningful long-lasting relationships (and possibly find a life time companion in the process as well). A good example of this in the bible is the story of Joseph where he made the most of what he had in every challenging circumstance that eventually saw him promoted to the second in command over Egypt.

More to follow.... I'm excited =D