To Be A Blessing..Be Present

Have you ever had an experience that you knew would take you a while for your mind to process? That’s
what these past two days have been like for me. Speaker after speaker bringing God’s message to all 13000 of us at Catalyst. Talented artistic musicians and even some awesome talent from America’s Got Talent performed. World renowned pastors, authors,leaders, speakers..etc. Shoot, even Jeff Foxworthy spoke!

We heard so many true stories..saw the faces behind the names.We worshipped Father God! We had fellowship with other believers. I made the statement to my friend and another woman that was walking through the crowd.. (13000 People!!), that it sure would be nice if we didn’t have to go back to the real world. Then I said, “but that’s not what we have been called by God to do.” No, we have been called to go into the world..not run away and hide out. We are called to go and tell everyone about Jesus. We are commanded to step out of our comfort zones and help those in need. Let’s be real..we have all been in need at some time or another. Not just financial, but emotional, physical and spiritual needs.

God didn’t say: “Believe in me and confess your sins and then go make yourselves comfy and just chill out until Jesus comes back or until your time on earth is done.” Ummm NO.. God said to go and make disciples of ALL nations. Not just the towns you might like to vacation in. Not just the people that you love to be around. Not the clean and safe and healthy people ONLY. No, He said ALL!

Andy Stanley told us this: ” Do for ONE what you wish you could do for everyone.” Wow! How profound is that?! He says to forget the dumb “adult” saying: “If I do it for you, I will have to do it for everyone.” Something else that he said was : “When you do for one, you end up doing for more than just one.”

Now, here’s the tricky part. Guess what? Just because somebody tells you they NEED you to do some project or something for CHURCH or a GOOD cause, doesn’t necessarily mean God is telling you. Get involved..help out..love others(everyone) and listen to the nudges from the Holy Spirit. They talked a lot to us about BEING PRESENT. We can’t BE PRESENT if we are too busy. Even if it’s GOOD things we are doing, if we are doing them for others or ourselves and not for God, it’s time to re-evaluate. How can we be truly present if our mind can’t even stay on the task at hand for worrying about the next thing we promised to do.

Let’s remember always who God is. Let’s Be Present. Focusing on Him first. Our priorities have to be in the right order. I took away so much from these past two days. One thing that Jim Collins (author of Good to Great and How The Mighty Fall to name a couple) did was to challenge all 13000 of us to turn off all electronic gadgets at least 2 days every 2 weeks. To discipline ourselves, to find times of quiet we may need to try this. Jim said that the gadgets rob us. He means that they rob us of precious moments that we can’t get back…the gift of time.

I must agree..in order to BE PRESENT, we have to disconnect from things that get in the way of our attention. Who hasn’t tried to have a conversation with someone and you could clearly tell that they were half-listening? How did it make you feel? Not very important I imagine. Sad thing is, we are ,every single one of us, guilty of this! I have done it..and I have had it happen to me. Now here is the really sad thing…I know I have done it to God.. God of all people!!!!! However, God has never ever done it to me.

Maybe you will want to try the one day a week electronic device “turn-off” with me….
I am starting mine tomorrow. I look forward to sharing with you again really soon. Boy do I have a lot to share!

Be blessed, but most importantly..be present and be a blessing! Remembering that Father God is THE ONLY one who can meet those needs of others. We are simply His hands and feet. Speaking of feet.. We got the pleasure of hearing Blake Mycoskie ..founder of TOMS, speak. His vision started with hopes of providing shoes for about 250 kids in Argentina. As of now, over 2 million kids have received a pair of shoes. Love that One for One motto. Amazing testimony of wanting to love like Jesus…meeting a need.

TITUS 3:14 (NKJV) ~ And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.

UNTIL NEXT TIME,

Heather Dawkins