Renewing our mind means

to take off the old and put on the new.  Renewing our mind means to remove our perspective and see His perspective.  It means to see as He sees.  I love getting a fresh perspective.  A new point of view makes it a lot easier to change.  New perspectives create motivation.  Seeing things the way they truly are often times creates energy.  That's why this blog is called Chariots of Fire.  It's about God opening our eyes to help us see where He is, what He is doing and working in our mission.

2 Kings 6:17 (New International Version, ©2010)

 ¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

An irresistible urge to act

One of my cousins emailed me today and stated she had been praying for clarity and direction.  Her email reminded me of a prayer we had recently for clarity, courage and an irresistible urge to act.  Thank God for answering that prayer!

By faith

I read Hebrews 11 last night and was reminded how much God loves faith.   The sixth verse of the first chapter states " ⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

I have heard Andy Stanley ask the following question: "What would someone, who is you, do, if they were 100% confident God was with them?"   Faith is such a wonderful gift.  I think it takes practice to live by faith if we haven't always done so.

Without discomfort we can't

get stronger.  The only way to build strength is to make ourselves uncomfortable.  Before a mission trip to Haiti (when I was in college), our campus pastor told me, "we have to be uncomfortable with our comfortableness."  That quote has stuck with me for quite some time.

As a Physical Therapist, I recognize the need for people to welcome feeling uncomfortable (pain, fatigue, burning, discomfort, dizzy) in order to make progress.  Trials (events that make us uncomfortable) are opportunities to get stronger.

Addicted to comfort

I just read a statement from some friends of ours at livereadynow.com.  They wrote "We all like to be comfortable; in fact, pain is usually an indication that something is wrong. However, we can actually become addicted to comfort, and find ourselves unwilling to live without it.

We can easily begin to make decisions based on the comfort level involved instead of basing them on wisdom. This is dangerous!

Many times in a crisis situation the right decision is not the one that is immediately comfortable. It is a good idea to practice being uncomfortable, and not letting it bother you."

I never thought of the possibility of being addicted to comfort.  I certainly believe it is possible.  Of course, we know, it's not about our comfort, but our character.

Transformation details below:

Here are some links regarding things that happened at our latest Transformation gathering.

Jeremy's Thoughts
Don't forget to pray for the Jason and Melissa family (remember your calendars).
Jonas' Thoughts
Memory Verses (Recommendations)

Toni and Olivia singing

What is the mission statement of Transformation? The Mission Statement of Transformation is to encourage one another to be transformed by the renewing of our minds through sharing with one another in prayer, scripture memorization, reading the bible, accountability, praising God, serving and giving.

What is the vision of Transformation?  The vision of Transformation is that all participants will grow in their God given gifts to be confident workers in their mission fields. 

What is the first goal of Transformation? The first major goal of Transformation is that all attendees, who are old enough (over 5 years old), will have five new bible verses memorized by the end of the year.

Looking forward to the next one!

The truth is, I can't

but He can.  If it's about association and not imitation, then how do we associate?  I love the sound of being "transformed." In Romans, Paul states we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  How does renewing our minds allow us to be transformed?   John 8:31-32 states, ..."if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free."

In his podcast on Character, Andy Stanley states things like attending church and prayer won't set us free.  While those are helpful things to do, He states Jesus said knowing the truth will set us free.  So we have to learn the truth and be able to spit it out when we are in all kinds of circumstances.  Scripture memorization, I think, is a very helpful way to be able to do this.