inspiration

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

/ joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

This is my first full week back in church and it has been a full one:

The morning started as usual at about 3 A.M. with dog walking and prayer. By 7:30 I was on the road taking Kristine to work, and then Sevii to daycare. Then I was off to a full day of visiting and planning next week’s visitation schedule.

I started at one of our local nursing homes. Then I took Amanda out to an early lunch. After that I was off to a congregant’s house for visitation and healing prayer. I have a sense that visiting and praying for people is going to become an even bigger part of ministry going forward.

Tonight concluded with Joe, Amanda and myself attending A Pastor’s appreciation banquet hosted by The Wachusett Camp of The Gideons.

It was a great day!

NEW KEYS, NEW TIMES, UNEXPECTEDLY WEIRD

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My son and daughter-in-law signed on a new condo yesterday. They got the keys to their new home today. That’s where they are right now, beginning the cleaning process before the big move in. Amanda is at the church preparing youth group. It is quiet.

I do love quiet.

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I have to admit, though, as I sit in this, there is a part of me that has become very unfamiliar with the silence, at least during this part of the day. It feels like there should be pots banging in the kitchen. The smell of Philippine spices should be wafting up into my nose making my mouth water. The TV should be blaring “Mickey Mouse Club House”. My son should be snoring in my recliner after a long day’s work at the middle school. I feel like I should be contending with several distractions to my concentration as I write this . Not having all that is kind of a…. distraction.

Now that is unexpectedly weird

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I know that what I am feeling is just the shifting feeling of another change coming in a season of changes. When Joe, Kristine and Sevii moved in, Mom was still alive. Brenda was home for a big part of their time here with me. The house was bustling. Now Mom is gone, Brenda is back in The Netherlands and by next week it will just be me and Amanda in the house. I think the quiet is going to be a truly new atmosphere and I know I will enjoy it….once I get used to it.

That said, who knows what tomorrow brings? I am learning to hold the future loosely and that is another weirdly unexpected thing for me. But we can talk more about that another day.

HAS ANYTHING WEIRDLY UNEXPECTED HAPPENED TO YOU LATELY?

SABBATICAL’S END: FOUR BODY THINGS

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Sabbatical 2024 is over. I went back in to the office yesterday and began setting in motion some of things that are to begin in 2025 and 2026.

I learned many things during this sabbatical. Many of them were for me and my own personal spiritual growth, but here are four things I learned for the body of Christ.

ETERNAL DEFINITIONS: Our church needs to begin living by God’s definitions of things rather than the world’s definitions of things. We need to bring the definitions of words from eternity into the here and now. We need to begin living by those eternal definitions in the here and now.

CORPORATE SELF-REVELATION: The church needs to have a revelation of itself, a revelation of who we are to Christ, who we are to ourselves and who we are to our communities.

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THE NEED TO SEE:  We need to see what is coming down the road. It feels like threads are coming together and we are beginning to see the tapestry, streams are blending in a divine confluence. We need to understand our own small part of the stream, much depends on it.

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A SEASON OF DELIVERANCE: from OCT. 8….. “The next season will be about deliverance. Like repentance, deliverance is more about what you are moving toward than what you are moving away from. In fact you will never be delivered until you have a firm vision of what you are getting in place of what you are giving up and until you believe that what you are getting is better than what you are leaving behind.”…

From Oct. 28…….”The days ahead are days of supernatural deliverance! The power of the Spirit is going to begin flowing and moving in even more miraculous ways. Generational and ancient strongholds are about to be overthrown, but the ground is going to be hard won. Only the power of the Spirit will avail, no mortal weapons will do in these battles. Yet I counsel you do not look for the dramatic , bombastic, instantaneous deliverances that have characterized the places of so many flashy dreams. Look for the move of small stones. Let there be an embracing of steps that bring compounding glory and progressive deliverance. Expect and do not despise the day of small things. Rejoice in each advance and encourage each other in every setback. Pray the power over each other continually and without ceasing and walk in the Spirit until all that is to be done is done! INch by inch the ground will be won. Do not be afraid!The center will hold until I call you forth.”

I AM VERY EXCITED TO SEE HOW THESE THINGS ARE TO BE BROUGHT ABOUT IN OUR CHURCH.