The Father's Business

Ruach Journey Announcement

at the end of this devotional

 

Be Enlarged With Loving Community

Ephesians 3:16-19

 
      Listen to Paul's prayer for his friends in Ephesians 3:16-19. 
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being...that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

     Be blessed with being enlarged in a community of saints. Although God loves you singly and individually, you grasp the love of God with others in a way that you cannot grasp it alone. Be blessed with strength through his Spirit so that Christ may dwell presently and richly in you to root and establish you in love in community. Be blessed to feel God's love in the greatest dimension of its great depth, and length, and height, and width. How deep, and long, and high, and wide is God? Infinite! It is not about how much you know about his love but how much you receive his love. Be blessed with the love of God which surpasses knowledge through the Spirit of God. You can never understand it with your mind. Your soul cannot comprehend or receive it, but be blessed in your spirit with being filled to the measure of all the fullness of the love of God.

     Be blessed with Spirit-ordained covenants of love in mutual commitment with other Christians of like spirit. Thank God for those who remind you of your deepest identity and legitimacy. Be blessed to reach out and meet others with joy, because both of you will be changed for the better. As the community of spirit is synergistic, the whole is greater than the parts.

     Be blessed with a loving network of mutual support, affection, and loyalty. Be blessed with those who care greatly and intimately, so that you face nothing alone. Be blessed with awareness of the life and reality in community and its power to unlock hidden capabilities and joys in yourself and others. Be blessed with coming out of isolation into a safe place where God's love prevails.

     Acts of goodness and generosity to others align you with God and bring out the best in you and others. Acts of bitterness, pettiness, and anger put you at cross purposes with God and diminish you and others. As others express confidence in you, it builds you up and strengthens you. As others bless you, God calls forth passion, warmth, and life from you that are contagious. Spirit, be blessed to stay aligned with God in community to receive life and be proactive in giving life. 

Be blessed in the name of the Father from whom his whole family
in heaven and on earth derives its name (Ephesians 3:15).


Taken from You Are Blessed, page 93, blessing # 51 © 2008 by Sylvia Gunter. Available at www.thefathersbusiness.com.

 

An archive of past devotionals is available on the website.

I Have A Voice!

 

      "[So I went with him, and when we climbing the rocky steps up the hillside, my beloved shepherd said to me] O my dove, [while you are there] in the seclusion of the clefts in the solid rock, in the sheltered and secret place of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely." Song of Solomon 2:14 The Amplified Bible.

 

     The King's Speech portrays King George VI of England as he struggled to overcome a speech impediment to be the voice of reassurance to his people during World War II. In a moment of frustration he exclaims, "I HAVE A VOICE!" and something deep inside of me resonated with a big YES!

 

     Why? Because I have a voice. We each do. Song of Solomon 2:14 says our voice is unique and it is sweet to God's ears. Our Beloved longs for us to live out of the spirit and heart that he gave us to be a reflection of Him. He desires that we express the uniqueness of who He created us to be.

 

            Sadly, most of the time we don't share the same opinion about our voice and uniqueness. We have been told by others that our voice is not lovely or wanted, so we try to avoid unwanted criticism. We may have believed the lie that another's voice is more valid or desired, so we may have spent our lives trying to change our voice to sound like someone else, only to wind up frustrated and feeling empty. And yet our spirit exclaims, "I HAVE A VOICE!"

 

     At Ruach Journey, women begin to discover the richness of the voice the Creator has put in them. Ruach Journey is an interactive time of teaching, prayer, and personal listening with the One who longs for you to discover its power and beauty, so you can began to use it for His Kingdom purposes and reveal more of His glory.

 

     Registration is now open for the fall conference. Please register soon, as spaces will go quickly. Registration will close when all places are taken.

 

Ruach Journey 1

 

October 26- 28, 2011

 

Calvin Center in Hampton, GA

south of Atlanta

 

For more information and to register,

visit the website at www.ruachjourney.com