6/27/97 Plugged In
Dear Friends:
(If it is welcome and a blessing, send it on to others,Lee)
It is so important to know that you have people to rely on in your life. Many of you are aware that my dad has cancerous tumors in his brain as result of my prayer request. And many of you have responded, to let me know you are tied in with me here. I want you to know that I read every letter that comes here and somedays it is hundreds. I don't always respond to all letters, but each one receives prayer. You are all appreciated.
This is becoming a "family" to me here online. Sometimes I receive prayer requests for a relative or a situation, and I understand the comfort of knowing someone is standing with you in prayer. A few weeks ago I spoke about the need for sharing a problem that it might be halved.
Last night I spent three hours talking to some people who are not plugged in. And what does that mean?
Plugged in means that you have a "family". And these people don't, so that every time a wind comes along with discouragement, they hear the wind and begin to sink. They are wonderful people, who haven't understood that being plugged in somewhere is a Godly thing.
God wants us to be tied together so when a circumstance like my dad comes along, there are more oars in the water. All rowing. When one of us has a difficulty, we are able to pull together. I am not suggesting we carry someone for every little problem. It is a maturity level decision.
What I never understand is how do you function without family. As a non-believer, I tried. I was my own boss, my own security, and my own worst enemy. I stepped into church and two people I had never met came to welcome me(personally I thought they might be concerned for their buiding falling!).
Each one of us is part of the body, and no part of the body has a function independent of the body itself. There are no lone rangers in the body of Christ. Yet this couple thinks that they can float about, ministering here and there, and yet when the winds of discouragement rise up they are the first to be crushed.
James says a double-minded man avails nothing, that he is unstable in all his ways. I know many people who have been hurt by churches and their religious ideas. If it is not in the Bible it doesn't fly. And that is your part, to know the Word of God, and rightly divide it. And there are many who are "plugged in" to multiple churches, and I have yet to see that this works either. I have no problem with any member of a church going to meetings elsewhere, but there needs to be a family somewhere. Those that are in multiple situations find less deep commitments.
There needs to be a body that hugs you, and encourages you, and instills confidence in you. We have to go beyond the shallowness of the world. Many people avoid this because of hurts. We have to go deeper than our hurts or we begin to minister through filters of hurt and pain, clouding our ministry.
Selah.
This computer provides isolation and relationships that many times can't feed our souls. I know. For a year I had the largest internet e-zine in Vermont and quite possibly New England, and I saw my relationships with my wife and children trickle away until I learned discipline. The internet can swallow you.
The relationships I am speaking of are flesh and blood, not behind walls of computers, telephones and television. It is little wonder that Jesus, (quite possibly seeing a vision of a computer), said that there would come a day, when love would grow cold.
Today, go beyond you comfort zone. There may be someone who needs a word of encouragement, a friendly reminder, that there is realness in the person they work with. I heard the other day of a believer who travelled about the world spreading the Gospel, and when another missionary, came to his office they were sharing with the secretary about the salvation that had just come in someone's life she began to cry. On being questioned about what was wrong, her response was that she had wanted to invite Jesus in since she was a child, and she had worked with this man who was an ambassador for the Most High, for 15 years and he had never shared his faith with her. We need real, human, DEEP relationships. The body of Christ needs to stop stumbling along in independent mode and move into BODY mode.
Please let me hear of the results of this day.
Selah.
Shalom.
We pray for you, each and every day. If this is an encouragement to you. Please tell us, and please email it to someone else. If you have a prayer request, please mail it to us. We want to stand with you, battling spiritual wickedness, seeing people made free. We want to serve our brother and sister.
In the Service of Christ for His Glory,
Lee Johndrow
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please mail us at:
154 Paddock Road
Springfield, Vermont 05156
For those who support us in prayer and deed we appreciate it.
Thank you,
Lee & Tina Johndrow
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