RENEWED INTO...

2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Rom 12:2a (NIV)

What does it be to be re-newed? Some of the definitions in Webster's 1828 dictionary include: to make new, to make again, to restore to a former state, to begin again. That got me thinking...what state were our minds in that we might be made into anew?

In Matthew 18:3 the Lord said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. “ All of us acted like children at one time (we were children, after all...!). We acted that way because we thought that way.

Now I know some of you are already thinking, but Paul said, that he left childish ways behind him as well he (and we) should. But the words of the Lord stand: we must become like little children.... (I believe that the entering into the Kingdom that Jesus was referring to was not only referring to going to heaven when we die. It was talking about experiencing heaven here on earth!)

Think about it: who are the happiest people you know (generally). Isn't it children?! They know and have the least, yet they experience life the most...! Without going into a side path about how possessions don't add to our true lives, I want to mention that I asked a good friend who has a spiritual gift of teaching why is it that we emphasize knowledge so much (does anyone need to be reminded that we live in the “Information Age”). ? This was a genuine question on my part; I wanted to know why I felt it necessary to spend so much of my time learning.... His response surprised me, given his gifting. He agreed that knowledge is overrated. The Word says that Knowledge puffs up while Love builds up. He also noted that much of what we “learn” we soon forget. (In contrast, I'm reminded of the phrase, that a good (i.e. kind) deed is never forgotten...).

Next time I'll share what I think it is about children how children think and act that is so essential in living in God's presence here on earth....

Freedom

“F-R-E-E-D-O-M ! ! !”,

was William Wallace's final word in the movie, Braveheart. Nothing is dearer to many souls than the right to be free. Right now, in many countries of the world, people are rising up and demanding freedom from oppressive regimes.

Every believer has been granted two primary freedoms: freedom from sin and freedom to love (Gal 6:22; 5:13). These are both part of the mystery of God's ways; the natural man thinks of “doing whatever I want” and “treating others however I feel like treating them” as freedom. In His Kingdom, doing what we ought to do for both God and man brings true freedom.

I heard a minister on the radio say, “self deception is the easiest thing to fall into..., and the hardest thing to recognize....”. A well-known believer with a world-wide ministry is said to have found his true calling in his 80's (in ministering to children in Africa...).

After ministering with native ministers in Southern Africa, leading home groups, serving on a church-planting team in Central Asia, and working in the medical field (to name a few), I, too, am finally coming into my calling—to “Lead Groups of Children to Spread Revival”.