Rekindle 🔥 Part 2: Diving Deeper
See Jesus
This Sunday, Pastor Merodee, in dialogue with Brayden and Summer Szakacs, shared a great message about their journey of learning to guard their hearts and their homes.
Starting off, they shared that many of us know that the enemy is bad and we should avoid him, but if we aren't aware of what scripture tells us, it's easy to think we can just "ignore" Satan away.
1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a lion looking for someone to devour."
As Brayden and Summer started a family and began to raise small children, they started to realize that even if they ignored the enemy, the enemy was not ignoring them! Through scripture, experience, and a deepening relationship with the Lord, they began to learn that the enemy is on the hunt for unguarded hearts, to open doors of evil spiritual influence, negative thinking patterns, and chaos. This wasn't just limited to them as adults and parents--if there was an open door, the enemy would go after kids too. To paraphrase Brayden, "you can't expect the devil to fight clean."
Praise Jesus, they told us, God began to reveal to them doors they had opened, knowingly or unknowingly, for spiritual darkness to enter in! God began to show them how to shut these doors, through getting rid of certain tv shows, movies, items, or even ways of thinking. At first it was uncomfortable but, Summer shared, as time went on and they began to see the good fruit of following God's wisdom, they became more and more eager to steward a home that was wholly consecrated to God.
Pastor Merodee, Brayden, and Summer, all shared that a great tool for beginning to guard your home is to anoint your home with oil. When we anoint our homes with oil it doesn't need to be with special oil or fancy words. We can anoint our home by taking cooking oil and praying for God to consecrate the oil for His special anointing purposes. We can walk through every room of our house and anoint each room praying, "Jesus, in your name I anoint this home and consecrate to your purposes."
Another tool for guarding our homes is to worship and pray in our homes. When we worship and pray at home, we welcome Holy Spirit to be present and active in our home life. We deepen in relationship with Him and in sensitivity to what He's saying. We develop a relationship where we can hear God's heart for us, and His will.
One of my favourite things that Brayden and Summer shared was that sometimes even good things need to go, if they're not within the will of God for us. Brayden shared that there were opportunities, or sometimes a desire, to work long, all-consuming hours, and achieve a lot! As we know, work and achievement are not bad things at all. However, God wanted to do something different with their time. Brayden said that in order for God to bring him into His will for his life, he had to give up some of those good things to make room for what God wanted to do. If God tells us to give something up, what He has in store is so much better than the original.
At the end of the message, Summer and Brayden shared something beautiful. Pastor Merodee asked them what advice they would give to a couple who is on different stages on their journey of guarding their homes. They responded: Know that your spouse is not your enemy. You are working on the same team, and whatever you are fighting, you are fighting side by side. They encouraged married couples to pray for one another, encourage one another, and bless one another, even in the midst of God working out what it looks like to steward your home well.
This message brought up powerful questions for me: What am I holding on to that is good, but might not be God's best? What am I holding tight to that God wants me to trust Him with? What areas am I leaning on my own understanding, rather than following Holy Spirit's leading?
Do any of these questions resonate with you? Did different questions spring to mind as you listened? Whatever they are, they are great questions to bring before the Lord and allow His Spirit to speak to!
Know Jesus
This week, you can dive deeper into the message through one or all of the following:
Do a DBS (instructions below) on Psalm 139:23-24
Listen to Sunday's Podcast.
Pray through the prayer prompts listed below.
Share Jesus through the many volunteer opportunities available
Discovery Bible Study
TO BEGIN
Pray and ask Holy Spirit to teach you about God from His word.
Next, read the verse a couple of times.
Now, ask these questions:
What does this tell me about God/Jesus?
What does this tell me about people?
How can I respond to what I just read?
When you’re done asking these questions, it’s a great idea to pray and thank God for teaching you more about who He is and who you are!
Discovery Bible Study (DBS) is a way for anyone, anywhere to read God's word! You can dive deeper into this week's message by doing a DBS one any one or all of these scriptures. DBS is a great tool to use for your own devotions, as a bible study with friends, or as an evangelism tool!
"Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life."
Psalm 139:23-24
Prayer Prompts
Pray that the Lord would rekindle the altar of worship within our homes and that we would grow in maturity and understanding of guarding our homes and hearts.
Pray for those who grieve to be able to grieve with hope.
Pray for the influx of souls into the Kingdom!
Share Jesus
You can share this week's podcast, email, or blog post. Check out volunteer opportunities to get involved in the work of sharing Jesus in our church family and community.
The Food Bank Campaign will be running this Sunday, and again on October 29, and November 5th. We are looking for volunteers to help run the donation table for 20 minutes following service. If you can volunteer for any of those dates please click here to sign up!
Long Term Care is very grateful for any volunteers.
Arena (opening soon, they would be very excited to have some help painting! Talk to Pastor Kevin)
Giving
Baird family assistance (donations can be made through the church, allowing for a tax deductible receipt)
Food Bank - There will be opportunity to give to our Food Bank Campaign this Sunday, and again on October 29th and November 5th following service. We are primarily looking for financial donations for this campaign!
