Living a Transformed Life in Montgomery, AL

Assignment:

Read this chapter in Romans every day. For all the social issues we have in Montgomery, this chapter sums it up and teaches us how to live and act toward our fellow men and women. Ask the Lord to help this chapter sink into your heart.

When you read this, ask the Lord for wisdom on dealing with everything you see and hear that is going on in the Greater Montgomery area. Here, in this chapter, we have a guide on how to respond.

When we get angry at someone or their situation, we need to respond with a "transformed mind" that only a relationship with Christ can provide. It is hard to not let our fleshly mind take control and be judging, be harsh and cruel and be less than Christ-like. But it is possible....through a relationship with Christ.

And before we say, " I can't do all this all the time" OR "You don't know what I have to face with (fill in the blank)" OR "those people don't deserve (fill in the blank)"......remember....God already knows WE CAN'T DO IT OURSELVES, in our own strength, but through Christ we can do ALL THINGS....including loving the unlovely. (Phil 4:13)

Pray this week for our brothers and sisters in Christ in our area-that we will ALL live as God instructs us to live. May God's peace reign in your heart this week and every week till you meet Him face to face!

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A Living Sacrifice
12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Humble Service in the Body of Christ
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,
5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your[a] faith;
7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;
8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.
18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] says the Lord.
20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Easter Reflections

It is Easter Week...we take time to remember what Christ did for all of us during this week so because we acknowledge the death and resurrection of Christ, this should motivate us more than ever to "be on mission" and let Christ infiltrate ALL that we do, say and "live", not just this one week, but every day of our lives.
Questions to ponder for each of us: Is the meaning of Easter reflected in our daily lives--in our actions, our words and our hearts? Does the Easter story mean enough to us that we are willing to change our habits and be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Romans 12:1-2) Are we willing each day to look around this place that we all live and be a reflection of Christ in the way we treat God's ultimate creation-humans? (Romans 12:9-21)

I can't remember where I found this writing but thought it was worth sharing this Easter week. This could truly reflect how we should see the Greater Montgomery area as well.
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I recently returned from a 12-day trip to the Middle East to visit our mission partners. What strikes me is that many of the places that resonate so deeply with us as we unfold the narrative of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection are places I visited for the first time only days ago.
Something else occurs to me: the suffering of the displaced and disheartened is still evident in those places. It is real. It is palpable. It is heartbreaking. But so is hope; and I saw that hope day after day delivered through the hands of our mission partners.
Isaiah 53:3 reads: “He was despised and rejected by others, one of sorrows, intimately familiar with suffering; and like one from whom people hide their faces; and we despised him and did not value him.”
I can’t help but wonder how many today, living in the shadows of the monuments we have built to commemorate the suffering of Jesus, are now the ones from whom we turn our faces.
I saw lines of sorrow and pain etched across the faces of so many.
Whatever hope we have to offer them can’t be reduced to the promise of an eternal life that our faith teaches us is made possible by the resurrection hope of Jesus. That can’t be the only thing we offer to relieve their suffering.
Unknown

Christ in Me...........

This is a prayer for all who call themselves Followers of Christ. Pray this as you go about your week, especially as we prepare for Easter.


Are you willing to lay down your life for others? In "laying down your life", that does not always mean physical death. Are we, as followers of Christ, willing to put aside our habits, our prejudices, our own way of doing life and live to serve others? Not on our time frame...on His!
                                        Prayer for every day living in the Greater Montgomery area:

“Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.”

― St. Patrick

Put on the Clothes of Christ

In light of all that has happened in Montgomery and in our world, thought this was a great scripture to meditate on this week as we go about our lives as followers of Christ. It is not enough to say we love our neighbor. We must show that through our actions as well. Be a peacemaker this week!

Colossians 3:12-14 "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony".