Christ Our Rock

A week has passed, and one can only marvel at what God has done in such a short period of time. It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise; after all, he created the world in a mere 6 days.

I suppose its been a good week for most of you. Finally settling down into classes, getting accustomed to the new environment, and feeling the joys of little or no work. A relaxing pace, so far. When we're stressed and busy, we don't have time for God. We'd think that being free would give us more time to spend with God, but we all know that the more time we have, and the more relaxed we are, we tend to stray further from Him. Such is the paradox. We will never seem to have enough time for God.

This probably means we're relying too much on our own strength, when we should be casting all our cares on Him. No burden too small or too big for Him to handle. He wants us to put our faith in Him, and if we follow in His steps, and commit everything to Him, we'll find life a lot smoother. Its ironic, but the less time we have, the more time we should be spending with the Lord. I guess that's what Kenneth wanted the time of fasting for. Fasting isn't just about, as he said, dieting or even just "not eating because". Its the time we sacrifice (you can fast computer games, watching TV, etc.) to spend with God. When we forego a meal to pray, we're basically putting our trust in the Lord, that ordinary food can satisfy temporarily, but God satisfies eternally. And we should aim to reach a state where we just hunger for Him 24/7.

Some of you might find this approach a bit harsh, how some of us have seemed to go all out to pressure everyone to do this and do that, and just be totally radical in our faith in Christ. Maybe so, since some of us come from charismatic churches or backgrounds. Maybe some of you are finding trouble stepping out of your comfort zones, and are just finding the prayer group to be too unconventional in its ways.

Well, it doesn't really matter which approach you take so long as we remember to seek God in everything we do, as Tessa mentioned. That when we seek Him and Him only, everything else will fall into place. Of course, keeping God at the centre of our lives will be difficult. We always talk about how difficult these things are to do and maintain, but that's human nature for you. Our very flesh betrays us. The point is that we try to rely on the Lord always. We make mistakes, we learn from them and move on. His mercy and grace are new every morning, we just need to accept it.

The whole thing requires a degree of commitment and humility. There will always be people who will go one step further than you do. Its about having the courage and boldness to proclaim that you serve the Lord, and you're willing to go all out for Him. Take your time to think over it. How far will you go for Him? Keeping a close personal relationship with Him is a mountainous task in itself; but will you take that further and reach out to others? Spreading His love and warmth to others in the cold?

Ultimately its up to you to decide. We cannot and will not force anyone to do anything against their will. We're just here to support each other, push each other a bit, and encourage each other onward. This group was built in the hope that it would lay on the foundations of love, care and compassion, and of course, Christ our rock. Let us try to keep that in mind. We too are just like you guys, we totally understand how some of you feel, and we probably make mistakes worse than some of you out there.

So, don't come into the mornings so gloomy and weary. Learn to lean upon the Lord, who gives us strength. Look forward to the day, putting your hopes in the Lord. And fellowship with one another, not just your own cliques, all the brothers and sisters in Christ.

Take care and God bless,
- Fabriz