ignite

Ignite. What a strong word. It is the name of the youth ministry at our church, of which I am a leader--the teacher. Since I became one of the youth leaders, every lesson I teach goes back to getting to know God and studying the Word. It seems I'm always encouraging them to really dig in. Our pastor began a series on obedience; so did we. I really want them to see how important it is to study for themselves what the pastor teaches.

As I was praying just now, I wondered why we chose Ignite as our title, so I did a little research on dictionary.com.

"To cause to burn." "To set fire to."
"To subject to great heat, especially to make luminous by heat."
"To arouse the passions of; excite."
"To begin to burn." "To begin to glow."

Hmmmm...luminous...?

"Emitting light, especially self-generated light."
"Full of light; illuminated." "Easily comprehended; clear."
"Enlightened and intelligent; inspiring."

Wow! Those kids are all of these things! Now, I just need a little salt...

"But John intervened: 'I'm baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I'm a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He's going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He'll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he'll put out with the trash to be burned.'" Luke 3:16 MSG

Ignite the glory of God within you so that it will shine brightly for all the world to experience.

promises.

healing. prosperity.love.companions.children.
spouse.favor.eternity.trust.truth.blessings.forgiveness.selfcontrol.
gentleness.kindness.holyspirit.power.future.hope.morethanmyweelittlebraincouldeverimagine.
all mine...with obedience...

change

change. that is probably the most hated word no matter what language you speak it. i don't mind it, though...well, most of the time.
i made a really tough decision to quit one job and am in the middle of getting into a different one, none of which is the one i really wanted.
but that's not why i'm writing. i recently met a young lady who has experienced a change in plans. many things bombarded her at once, resulting in what seemed like the worst week in her life. she had a purpose, and a plan to go with it, but persevering seemed virtually impossible. it made me think: how would i react if i was that close to going to AFRICA and CHANGE hit me like train?
I know my purpose. I know I could persevere, but it's the plan that gets me. Am I making the right choices? Have I missed the mark somewhere? How do I know that I am in the right place at the right time?
These questions run through my mind a lot but then something awesome, amazing happens...GOD!
He steps in at the right time to reassure me that His plan, His purpose, His perseverance is working in my life. I have this puzzle box with a picture of what all these little pieces will someday be. One by one, they fall into place. Occasionally someone will stop by to help me, to guide me, to distract me, but I know I have all the pieces, even the ones that are no where to be found--because they're under another piece. But they're there.