Wow! Where has the time gone?! Summer is flying by and this has been the longest blogging break I’ve taken in awhile and am eager to get back to it!

Two weeks ago I took some of my leaders for the high school girls to a conference called Women Discipling Women hosted by the Master’s College. It was an incredible time hearing from Martha Peace and Elise Fitzpatrick as well as other speakers on various topics in the seminar times. The focus was for women to be equipped with Scripture so we can be more effective in helping our sisters walk with the Lord. In the main sessions Martha Peace took a Biblical look at the issue of hurt feelings, Elise Fitzpatrick spoke on contentment. I’m sure I will write more on this… If you haven’t already read books by these two ladies I really want to encourage you to check out Peace’s The Excellent Wife and Fitzpatrick’s Idols of the Heart.

Yesterday we returned from 8 days at Lake Isabella where we hosted our first ever youth ministry camp called Revival 07. My role for the week was managing the kitchen which meant I got to oversee the cooking of 3 meals a day, plus a night snack for 150 people. I had a blast working with my team on meals. Pastor Mike spoke each night from Matthew 19 about the Rich Young Ruler challenging students to examine where they stand with God. By the end of the week we had nearly 30 out of 100 students profess faith in Christ. It was an amazing time of God using His Word to work in the hearts of our students. It is truly incredible to witness God’s working among us.

Today the Lord used Bobby to challenge us all to keep the excitement we brought home from being at camp last week. Having a zeal to know God should characterize our everyday lives, not just one week together up at a lake. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 really speaks of not only the things we were diligent to do all week at camp, but also states them as commands. Obeying these three commands would feed a passion for the Lord.

Be joyful always; pray continually;
give thanks in all circumstances,
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

The simple reality is that these three commands are really responses of a truly regenerate heart to God. We will have joy when we know God’s Word and are doing what it says. We will work hard to have a mindset of prayer when we really believe that God is going to do something. And when we experience victory that is in Christ on a daily basis, we will be thankful! How dynamic would we and our churches be if we were characterized by these fruits? We need to live like this.

re·vive

1 : to return to consciousness or life, become active or flourishing again

2 : to restore from a depressed, inactive, or unused state.

Up at the camp I became convicted that I need to spend all my time focused on doing these things–obeying God’s Word and persisting in prayer with thanksgiving–and zero time concerned about myself and what people think about me. Revival 07 was for the junior high and high school students but I know that myself and more than a few of the staff came away with a renewed passion for the Lord. Too often we allow our hearts to grow calloused and lukewarm. But if we are going to be useful to the Lord we need to be humbly asking Him to keep us on fire for Him. I hope that you will consider what there might be in your life that is hindering you from flourishing in your faith and activeness for the Lord, repent of it and ask Him to revive you!

Revive us, O Lord!
Your glory show forth!

Pastor Mike said this sentence this weekend and I was so convicted.

“God will always do more with our obedience than we think we can do with our compromise.”

It is simply put but profound. It is so easy to think that I am getting something done my way, without really considering that it is in fact, compromise. I don’t know how many times I’ve talked myself in to postponing my quiet time to get other things done, and then suffered for it. I compromised my time and didn’t come out winning in the end. If I had just been obedient, He would have used that.

When Pastor Mike said this I thought of the quote, “Delayed obedience is disobedience.” There is no way getting around the fact that God requires our obedience. Anything less is not satisfactory to Him. Too often we think of God as a doting Grandfather who lovingly winks at our laziness and shrugs at our sin. The book of 1 John shows us that God is not like that. (1 John 2:3-5)

After hearing this sermon my heart was heavy because I kept thinking of areas where I compromise. What was discouraging is that they seem so subtle.  In each situation I knew that everything wasn’t right but my conclusion was simply that I needed to work on it, I’m not perfect.  I hadn’t really seen it as compromise, disobedience. I’m glad that the Holy Spirit works to convict us and also enables us to grow. This morning I was so encouraged to read the words of David in Psalm 119:59-60

I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes, O Lord. I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.

This is an awesome prayer and also the encouragement I needed to get working at immediate obedience.

This week things slowed down a little for me. Friday was our 5 year anniversary and it was nice to go out for a long dinner together. All this week, Bobby is down in Mexico with a group of our high school students. They are staying at an orphanage down there and working to proclaim the gospel with the children and families in the area. Poor Tyler misses Bobby so badly. He keeps looking around the house calling his name and even standing at the window saying, “Hi, Da Da!” and then he says, “Da Da all gone?” We will both be glad to have him home Saturday!

Sunday afternoon I drove up the coast to visit my parents, brother and sisters. I hadn’t gone up in awhile so it was good to see them and I think they liked chasing Tyler around. For the 4th of July my sister and her family came down and we joined our church for a BBQ lunch, went swimming in the afternoon and saw fireworks together. To see pictures from our summer so far, click here!