So what do you do anyway?

Todays blog will be from our littlescroll news, sharing a little bit of our journey so far. As many of you may know or have read in previous blogs, our journey to thelittlescroll was not one of choice. Yet when I say that I don't mean I was forced to set up thelittlescroll more that I was made redundant from my previous position forcing me into the place of listening to the small still voice of the Lord.

It is funny how often in scripture and in real life we see people who thought they were doing what the Lord wanted and had to be brought to a point where they cant do anything in order to listen to the Lord. One such character in the bible is Paul. We may all know the story of Saul who persecuted the church believing he was doing the Lord's work until he was blinded on the way to Damascus and became Paul. However that's not the part of Saul's life that i am equating too. That part of Paul's life is more akin to the journey into salvation in Jesus Christ.

The part of Paul's journey which relates to being brought low to hear what the Lord is saying is that of Paul's life between his conversion to Christ and the Holy Spirit calling Barnaba's and Himself to the mission field. If you read those moments you see a Paul failing in his attempt at sharing the gospel message and not being wanted by the other Christians. He is stoned and beaten without any form of reward or measurable achievement. In the end he is forced to step back and we are told in Corinthians that he went out into the wilderness where the Lord taught Him. That may seem quite sad but it was what was needed to get him into the place where he would go on to do exactly what the Lord had planned for Paul since the beginning of time. If you are finding that similar things are happening to you, well I cant pretend to know your circumstances or future, only to say maybe the Lord is getting you to be less busy for Him in the things He doesn't want you to be busy in.

For myself I can resonate with this image. A busy Pastor of a church that was coming back from the ashes we had got to a point of being sustainable again with a congregation that wasnt passive but active. I was not thinking I was going to leave nor did I want to yet the Lord brought me to a position where it was not my own choice. As I went to my mountain place of prayer the Lord talked to me of the ministry and teaching I had brought to the church and how I must bring it to a larger audience. The choice to listen to the Lord was mine but the chance to remain being busy for Jesus where He did not want me was not. I have shared in previous blogs about the challenges of this and even in myself i can say i have swung back and forth in moments of despair and hope.

Now you may rightly say that surely the journey in the will of the Lord should not be such an emotional rollercoaster. This is where todays blog really speaks to. For the main reason for my own back and forth is the fear of going my own way rather than that which i am directed. in fact there are a number of scriptures which speak to the danger of this.

There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end of it is the ways of death. 

Proverbs 14:12

And of course the one where Paul talks about making your own plans rather than enquiring of the Lord and being obedient to His will in James 4. I have previous form for this. Running ahead of the Lord is very dangerous friends and it brings heart ache and pain. Yet this isnt another blog about a guy scared to do the will of the Lord and needing confirmation on every step. Nor will it be an endless series of blogs charting the 'in out and shake it all about' form of stepping out of Faith. In truth the hard part was trying to express what the title of this blog is. what do we do anyway? For although I can testify of the call of God and for that call to be to share the messages shared with the church to a larger audience I found it very hard to answer the specifics of that question. Therefore my own unsteadiness in this area had been to the inability to express in a coherent way what it is I am doing even to myself. Such a position makes you sound like your clinging on to straws and certainly made me feel as such. When you feel like this then you start to search for signs or evidence in the results of your work. Often quite unrealistic ones. Yet for me although I am not seeing large audiences I cannot deny that every message being spoken into my life by people who have no idea of the predicament is that the Lord has called you and to go for it.

Yet to answer the question what is it that thelittlescroll do is an important one. In a time of most churches providing online teaching because that is the only way that they could interact with their church what is it that we add. In marketing terms what is our USP or unique selling point. Not that we are selling the anything of God, something Jesus really only got angry at. What is it that we can offer which supports brothers and sister and does not usurp hardworking church leaders. The answer to this was not allusive. I have even worded it on our website home page as :-

The Little Scroll was founded by a Senior Pastor from a small AOG church. He has a desire to show that we can all fall in love with Jesus and get to know Him intimately through a passionate understanding of the Bible. We know that good works are what we do and that the way we love is how Christ is seen in us, but it is only through the Word of God that we can ever know and have a relationship with Jesus. We want you to have a passionate relationship with Jesus and not a religion. (thelittlescroll home page)

This truly is my passion for all men and women and boys and girls. It was part of the vision of Grace Pentecostal the church I pastored. Yet there was something missing within the idea of what we could offer which supported the work of hardworking Ministers who are doing this too. I knew what I was doing but I could not word it in a way which I felt conveyed the value of the ministry just to myself.

Yet as I pondered what it is that thelittlescroll does the answer became clearer. Which is being a ministry that is encouraging the development of your relationship with Christ into something passionate through exploring Jesus through the bible. The clarity of that vision helped me to understand that the measurable aim is to deepen that relationship with Christ. Although there are a number of ministries which provide devotional series what we at thelittlescroll are committed to is to go beyond the provision and encourage the development. This is a ministry which is committed to developing your passionate relationship with Christ through a deeper understanding of His word. as we have said previously, we are passionate about making your passion for Jesus a truly intense and intimate relationship by helping you to understand His written and spoken Word.

So how will we go about this? well in the next few days you will see on our social media/youtube/website short videos explaining this in more detail. To give you an explanation now as to how we intend to meet our vision and goal we have two aims

1, to teach the meaning of praying without ceasing (learning to talk to the Lord about all of your life on a continual basis)

2, To teach that understanding the bible doesn't have to have a direct application to your current situation but is a way you can get to know Jesus. Thus study can be indirect and based around your interests not your issues.

As you come to learn the Lord is a conversational partner on every subject your faith in His presence in your life will become greater and your belief He truly does love you will grow stronger. When the study of the word becomes less about finding out answers to your issues but exploring who Christ is then you will know Him and how He would wish you to act in life challenges.

When you ask or someone asks you what doe thelittlescroll do anyway this is what you can answer. They teach me how to develop my own relationship with Christ.