McGregor Chapel Update

Last Sunday was probably the biggest military church service I have done. About 50 people. It felt like big peoples church. I was proud to have been a part of it.

Most of the technical elements went off on time and the music and power points were well organized. I thank my brothers and sisters at Center Point for teaching me and for suffering through all of my failed attempts of trying to minister in the 21^st century.

This week brought with it another first because I have had a continued increase in counseling among the troops. I have never experienced this much anxiety among troops in the military. I can't imagine what it must have been like when there were daily reports of soldiers dying in the places you were deploying to.

Many, many people come to talk to me. Every day brings new opportunities. Please pray that God would continue to soften and draw people's hearts to Christ. There have been days when every soul that came searching seemed to leave refreshed. I attributed those times to God's will, timing and the Holy Spirit's activity. I have not had that experience consistently though. There have been other times when counseling the troops seem dry and barren. In those times do I bless God and keep on moving? Do I attribute that activity to God's will and the Holy Spirit's lack of presence? I don't; I take it on myself in weird ways. I often feel up when ministry is good and feel down when ministry seems less successful.

I internalize the lack. I really wrestle with these things. What is the difference on a good day verses a bad day of counseling with troops? What impact do I bring into the scenario? Do my prayers or does my holiness impact the outcome of the session? How much? If I believe the affirmative of those questions why am I not constantly on my knees?

In the Old and the New Testaments I believe that there are indicators that lead us to believe that the outcome of our supplication is in part impacted by certain factors that are controlled by the individuals in the texts or situation. Faith and prayer are two elements that continually come into play. Right standing (righteousness) is another factor that needs to be examined.

I am more than willing to accept the fact that God reserves the right to do what he wants to do in any and every situation. That does not conflict with my understanding that occasionally he allows room for prayers influence. Prayer allows his children to experience a foretaste of the power and protection that will someday be ours completely in the next life. It doesn't conflict with the reality thatHe is guiding us, leading us, teaching us to reveal Christ to a watching and waiting world.
I don't want to miss a miracle. I want to be bold but not arrogant. I feel compelled to allow God to clear and clean my heart as much as possible so that I am not hindering what God wants to do in this world in and through me.
If we are not growing in these things. If we are not experiencing more than we expect, dream or imagine hten I think we are at times settling for less than what God wants to do int his world. It should compell us to search for what blocks and not condem us and make us even less effective. Let the word of God and the Spirit of God work together in your life.

Check these passages out…let them soak into your head and heart and flow out of your living…as you learn to run to him…

1 Chronicles 5:20
²⁰ They were helped in fighting them, and God handed the Hagrites and all their allies over to them, because they cried out to him during the battle. He answered their prayers,
because they trusted in him.

1 Peter 3:7
⁷ Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

James 5:16
¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

James 4:2-3
² You want something but don't get it. You do not have, because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.