Pray Network Forum

On this 69th Independence Day for Israel, I hear the Lord urging us to press in to FREEDOM! I pray this word will encourage you, too. Click below to read more: 

www.HisInscriptions.com/blog/i-see-a-pot-ready-to-boil

A greeting card is not just a small piece of printed paper; it has got lots of importance in our lives. Greeting cards are the most effective and simple way of expressing your feeling to the person you care. They are made for various occasions and should be selected accordingly. One can even send greeting cards with personalized messages.

You can find handcrafted bespoke greetings cards specially designed for Jehovah’s Witnesses to help them express their feeling and give encouragement to one another during various occasions. There are various types of greeting cards that Jehovah’s Witnesses can give to their loves ones during special celebrations or for encouraging other Jehovah’s Witnesses:

• Wedding anniversary cards: You can give charming scriptural greeting cards having greeting messages and lovely colorful printed flowers. This card will make the wedding celebration of Jehovah’s Witnesses more special and the couple will thank you for sharing the event with them.

• Birthday cards: Make birthdays special with beautiful birthday cards. Share the love of God with your friends and family on their special day. Birthday greeting cards with upbeat birthday messages will help you express your feeling during the special day of your friend or loved one.

• Baptism greeting cards: "Make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them." - Matthew 28:19. Welcome your friend or family member to the worldwide family of Jehovah’s Witnesses by giving him/her a baptism card. Congratulate him/her on the new addition to your family with beautiful biblical greeting card that reads beautiful scriptures from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.

• Scriptural cards: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God kept making it grow.” - Corinthians 3:6. An encouraging scriptural card is the perfect way to encourage someone in their Christian ministry work, thank someone for their hospitality or encouraging someone who is going through hard time.

• Get well soon cards: Send a message of cheer with 'Get Well Soon' cards for Jehovah's Witnesses. These Scripture based cards will help you send warm greetings to your loved one and show them how much you really care.

You can easily get these exclusively designed greeting cards for Jehovah’s Witnesses at reliable online retailers who provide JW field service supplies and greeting cards specifically designed for Jehovah’s Witnesses. Customized personal greeting cards and special scriptural cards are perfect for expressing your love and concern to your loved ones.

A great controversy exists in the church at large today over how we “do” church. Should our worship cater to culture, or do we have a responsibility to remain counter-cultural? Is it acceptable to serve Starbucks and Krispy Kremes during a service or are we drinking disrespectfully? Are live worship bands and drums too noisy? Does God prefer doctrine-rich hymns? Before you pick a side, let’s agree (at least for the length of this article) not to judge, and to take a look at the real issues behind the controversy.

As a longtime Christian and more than an occasional worship leader, I have worshiped and served in denominations on both sides of the fence. I was raised a Presbyterian and worshiped God in a cathedral-style building. The choir numbered hundreds of voices, reverently singing hymns and anthems accompanied by a massive pipe organ. I have sung Negro spirituals with families in fundamental churches. I have had the pleasure of being part of a modern, up-and-coming worship team (yes, with drums!) in what is called, in popular leader Billy Hornsby’s terms, an “attractional” church. And I have taught schoolchildren in Africa to sing simple songs of praise to a God they were just getting to know. 

So who’s right? The answer is: nobody. We’re all got it wrong, and we will continue to have controversies until we find out what it is that God wants. Impossible? No, and it’s actually easier than we think!

The truth is that churches, like individuals, have callings, visions, and purposes in the Kingdom of God. A church in an inner-city slum area is going to have a different mission than the church on suburbia’s main street. Transient campus outreaches will worship differently from wealthy cathedrals. God’s mandate to go and make disciples didn’t include a “style” requirement; it did stress the importance of preaching the Word. We know from the Bible what God wants: He wants His Word to be preached to the ends of the earth through every available voice, instrument, church, and method. The “how” is largely up to us. The elements of a service, while controversial, are largely non-essential. When we focus on the things we don’t like, we sabotage the efforts of the community we are in to do the job they are called to do: preach the Gospel to this community, in this way, with these resources, at this time.

The real question is: where has God called you to be? Not whom has He called you to be, (you should of course know what your own gifts and callings are and be using them), but where has He called you to be spiritually? Discontent, if not discerned, leads to disagreement. When we find ourselves judging others’ methods, there are really only two possible causes: unforgiveness or vision. Both have to do with where we are, or our position in Christ. Let’s look at each of these separately.

Unforgiveness ultimately leads us into making judgments. The most important place God calls us to be is at peace with Him and others. But it’s not easy to stay there! When our superb vocal abilities have been pushed aside to make room for the hip, young worship leader the church just hired, we get offended. And if left to fester, this offense will take root and become bitterness. Once bitterness takes hold, the vine of discontent begins weaving its way out of our heart and mouth and into the congregation, where it poisons and divides. This division is of the enemy, and can only be stopped through the power of forgiveness, which is not just a decision of the heart, but also a spiritual location. Forgiving moves us from a place of opposition back to a place of right-standing with God and man. As the Christian band Point of Grace sings, “there’s a cross to bridge the great divide.”

Vision: We also know that our spiritual life is a journey, and there are times when God is making us discontent on purpose, like a mother bird trying to cause her baby to fly. It is rare that God will call us to leave a church (although if you are in a place that is abusive or not preaching the Gospel, then by all means get out quickly!). But as we mature, God often calls us to enter new seasons of growth with different visions and possibly a change of position or location. This change might be to something within your current church or to a different location altogether. If you are feeling discontent, take the time to pray and ask whether God is calling you to make a change.

Change doesn’t come easily; in fact, one of our funny expressions (“Get behind me or get out of my way!”) greatly resembles Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:23. Just before Gethsemane, Jesus began casting a new vision for his disciples: one that included violent suffering, death and resurrection. Peter disagreed and rebuked Jesus. This did not match his idea of what a new religious order should look like! Jesus, in effect, said to Peter, “Either get behind Me (My vision) or get out of the way.” Peter was in danger of yielding himself to Satan’s strategy. Thankfully, he repented and was restored to Christ’s purposes in the end. But this would not be the only time he struggled to follow his leader. We need to learn from Peter’s example and get into agreement with our leaders or get out of the way!

For Peter, it was a heart issue that kept him from serving God’s greater vision. We need to check regularly to be sure that we are truly on board with the church’s mission. If we are sowing discontent, God could be calling us to repentance, or He could be asking us to enter into a new season. This is the great thing about God: He’s not upset about the drums being too loud! But He is upset when we disagree with each other. And His heart is for each of us to serve Him to our full potential, not always in areas where we are most gifted or comfortable, but surely with His clear direction and support.

Is this the community you are called to serve at this time in this way? If so, cater to your church’s culture by extending mercy and forgiveness when things upset you. If not, then be counter-cultural! Find out what’s on God’s agenda and ask Him to lead you a place where you can serve wholeheartedly. It’s time to bridge the great divide.

Copyright: Deborah Perkins 2014. You can follow Deborah on Facebook at His Inscriptions for more related articles.

When I recently I hit 20,000 Twitter followers @BestBibleTweets, I started having eerie flashbacks of a conversation last year with a pastor friend named Steve. He had spent a considerable amount of time trying to build a social media “platform” to promote a book he had written. Some marketing guru apparently had told him that if he could gain 20,000 followers on Twitter, it would be a breeze to sell his book.

      It took several years, but finally Steve achieved his Twitter goal and was ready to launch the book. He was so excited. Steve was convinced his book would sweep the country, if not the world.

      Unfortunately, things didn’t work out so well. He had invested most of his life savings to design and print 10,000 books, figuring he could easily recoup his investment when the books sold.

      But within four or five months of launching the book, reality was beginning to set in. Instead of selling thousands of books, he had sold only hundreds. And he found himself giving away many copies of the book for free to friends and relatives.

      Steve was bewildered. He thought he had built a pretty impressive platform. But somehow the response from his Twitter followers and Facebook friends was lukewarm, at best.

      Meanwhile, Steve had withdrawn from most of his pastoral responsibilities so he could go on the road and promote the book. He spoke at some churches, did some book signings, and even was interviewed on a few local radio programs. But despite these noble efforts, he still had over 9,000 books stored in his garage.

      If you are looking for an easy moral to this story, I’m not sure I have one.

      I’ve seen lots of disillusionment over the years from those who sought a higher platform. Some of these people seemed very well-intentioned, with a sincere passion to impact the world with their message. But in other cases, the message seemed to get buried amid narcissism and self-promotion.

      I’m not against platforms. I’m glad to have an ever-growing tribe of followers on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I want to get my messages to an ever-wider audience.

      But I’m still wary of all of the social media hoopla. The Bible is clear that true promotion must come from the Lord, and nowhere else (Psalm 75:6-7). If you are trusting in something else or someone else to give you a platform, you’re likely to be greatly disappointed.

      The more I walk with the Lord, the more it seems like the safest “platform” is the one closest to the ground—where we humble ourselves before others to serve them and wash their feet (John 13). And doesn’t this kind of face-to-face, hands-on, behind-the-scenes ministry bear greater fruit in the long run than any lofty type of platform?

      When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, will He really ask us how big our platform was? Or will He simply want to know whether we faithfully loved and served people with whatever platform we were given?

      Despite the clear words of Jesus, it seems we’re still prone to seek the place of honor at the banqueting table instead of the place of service (Luke 14:7-11). Meanwhile, Jesus’ model of leadership was to build a platform to lift others higher, not ourselves.