finding my home in the church life, in the homes! (1 Picture + 1 Experience with the Lord) 30-day challenge

Most people who know me or have met me realise this particular thing about me - and hopefully about the ones I'm hanging out with - My Home is The Church Life, the Homes of the Saints! I'm not originally from the UK, and since I've been here I noticed that, especially in Central London, there's a tendency of being independent, not getting into others' business or home, each one with his own, etc. But I have to say, my pleasure and my salvation is that my home today is the church life! Praise the Lord for the house to house church life He puts us in!

1 Picture for Today - London Underground, inside the London Tube

Since I had to travel a bit by tube these days, here's how London Underground - also called London Tube - looks these days. They have definitely improved the quality of the service, the quality of the trains, the frequency of the trains, etc. The London Underground system is pretty good and always reliable - even when there are some portions close for works and repairs, they provide free bus rides / replacement buses! But even though the 2012 Olympics are not here yet, especially at rush hours, there are way too many people on the underground... :)

1 Experience with the Lord Today - Finding my home in the church life, in the homes!

This is both my experience and my desire. Being a single brother here in London, working, busy, etc - and away from my family back in Romania - I need to find a place I can call home (before I have my own home...). Just like David says in the psalms, I want to find my home in the church, the house of God. It's not that there are so many saints that I just go from home to home, but wherever the homes are, that's where I go! And there's a price I want to cooperate with the Lord to pay so that I would be where He dwells, where He finds His home... The Lord is in our spirit today(2 Tim. 4:22), but He also dwells in the church - in the practical church life, the local church! If you're in the church, you have His presence. If you skip the meetings of the church, no matter how much you think or feel that you enjoy the Lord, there's something really rich, which is on His heart, that you're missing!

It's not that easy when you work to choose to go and meet with the saints after you finish work. Even if you meet only in 2 home meetings per week and one prayer meeting - it's a day to day decision and a continual inward prayer to be strengthened to go to the meeting... But once you are there, if you "bring your bones into the meeting", the Lord's breath of life is there, the fellowship is there, the food (both spiritual and physical) is there, and the building up is there! It's almost as if all you need to do many times is get your body to the meeting - offer up your body as a spiritual sacrifice for the church life, Rom. 12:1 - and the Lord pours out His blessing, He feeds you, nourishes you, and gives your life purpose and meaning! The church life is so rich, the saints are so excellent, and the food is so good!

And the secret is - the homes! It's not the "big meetings", the conferences, etc - it's the homes of the saints where the Lord can perfect us, can nourish us, and can meet our need. We all need to be attached to a home - the children need to grow up in a home, the young people need to have their own home meeting with all the saints, the students are properly growing and flourishing in a home, the young couples need to open their home, the older saints need to be in the homes... All the ages, at any stage in life, need to be in a home meeting which we call "our own assembly". These are "our folks", our "family", and indeed, our home. In the homes of the saints we find our home.

Mmmm... the food is so good when you have it with the saints in the homes! You may cook the exact same food - or you may order it at the restaurant and it may actually properly be cooked, but the best food, the most delicious food, is in the homes of the saints. Even if it's the spagetti or the pizza, or any other small / easy to cook food, as long as you're in the home around the table with the saints, that food is blessed! And it is in this environment that you can open up your situation, you can bring some names of your friends / classmates / workmates that you're burdened for, you can ask questions, etc... The shepherding, the perfecting, the building up, the developing of our function, and the organic gospel preaching is done all here - in the homes!

When you taste this, when you see this, when you're part of this, you will do like Psalm 45 says, forget your father's house and be in this! Yes, you can pray and work with the Lord in bringing your own family into the church life, and bring the church life into your home - but once you see the HOMES, the 80% of our church life where the granular and vital linking / building up / perfecting / shepherding takes place, YOU WILL NEVER LEAVE nor will you choose any other way! Rather, you will find your home in the church life, in the homes! And if you meet someone at school, at work, on the street - you have a home to bring him to.

One more thing - the church life and the homes are NOT perfect, but they are genuine, and it is here that the Lord's sweet presence is. Maybe you say that there are not too many homes open, or that you don't know which home to go to... - where there's a will, there's a way. If there are some saints that are in your locality, you can just attach yourself to them and visit them. "The kingdom of God is taken by force" starting with the time of John the Baptist - if you don't have a home you're in now, you'd better find one and be desperate before the Lord until He brings you to one! We all want this, and we all need this - this is the God-ordained way to meet and to serve is in the homes of the saints, in the vital groups. It starts really small, it is so organic, and the increase is slow - at the speed of life. But THIS IS IT - It's the HOMES! Praise the Lord for the homes!

we all know it - now we need to practice it! (1 pic + 1 experience with the Lord) 30 day challenge

Many times people try to encourage us to do something, explaining how good it is to that particular thing, how healthy it is, etc... and you know what, you already KNOW IT! In my case it can be about going to gym and eating properly - not too much, not too little, not too much junk food, not too many sweets, etc... - and I KNOW IT! But now I need to PRACTICE it! ... But before I get into this, here's the,

1 Picture for today - The Grosvenor House in Central London

The above is Grosvenor House - home of JW Marriott Hotel in Park Lane, Central London, very close to the Hyde Park and the US Embassy. Only fancy cars around, and all kinds of stylish events and conferences are being held there. I heard about it "by the hearing of my ear" and I knew it was in London - I KNEW IT! - yet I wanted to see it! So one day I was around on a street called Park Lane, and here it is - the Grosvenor House! Of course, this picture is not a match to the official Pictures of the Grosvenor House, A JQ Marriott Hotel, from their website! [read their website for more info...]

At SparksDirect.co.uk we sell a light fitting called Grosvenor Light and another whole range called, Park Lane Wall Lamps, and recently I have been writing some articles on the NewLights blog to promote and introduce them. I have actually never known that these lamps are named after real streets in London and real buildings in London! One day I heard that there's actually a house called Grosvenor House, and there's a street in London called Park Lane.... - and since then, even though I KNEW where they were, I wanted to go visit them! Yes, we all KNOW it, but now we need to SEE it and PRACTICE IT!

1 Experience with the Lord - we all know it, now we need to practice it!

Just like with many things in life, we may KNOW a lot about the Lord Jesus - especially if you're in the church life practically, or if you're a seeking one pursuing the Lord daily - and about having a personal relationship with Him. We know we need to read the Bible daily, we know we need to confess our sins whenever the Lord shines on us, we know we need to regularly pray daily, we know we have to make it to at least one home meeting per week, we know we need to listen to the Lord's speaking within us... - we know all these things and so much more! Now it is time to practice it!

What use is it for me to know that there's a street in London called Park Lane, and on that street there's a hotel in a house called, Grosvenor House - if I don't go to visit that place EVEN THOUGH I live in the same city with that place?!? It kind of doesn't make sense... In the spiritual life, we don't just need to know things about God, about the Bible, about the church life, or about the saints - we need to be open to the Lord and enter into the life practices that we may OWN these things in our practical living! I need to practice being grouped with the saints to pray together! I need to practice reading the Bible regularly!

This is what I was pondering over today... these last days even the children know a lot of things, and the young people think they know everything. But what about our experience? Lord, I want to really spiritually see the things in the Bible, so that they may become my vision! I want this vision to be inscribed and written into me so that it may be my living, my practice, and even my being! Make me one like Paul who said to the king, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision (Acts 26:19).

... and this is a passive-active matter. It's not "me doing this", neither is it "me waiting for the Lord to do it in me" - it's God mingled with man, man learning to take the initiative and God coming in to fill man, and somehow being open to the Lord that He may do it in us... I hope you get what I'm saying - God will never come to you to force you to do things which you know you should do, but He will come in and strengthen you + be everything to you if you take the initiative to do something in oneness with Him! Lord, may I know You more! May I experience You more! May I practice living one with You more!

One portion of the Bible that sometimes sends chills down my spine when I read it or hear it is where the Lord says, Those who know much and don't do will be punished with more stripes than those who knew little and did something according to what they knew(approx. Luke 12:48). As believers we can't just "know", we need to enter in by practicing these things! Is there a home meeting close to where you live? Don't just KNOW about it, but make sure you pay the saints a visit! Is there a younger one that needs shepherding once or twice a week? Pray about it and the Lord will release your time for this... - the divine life in us is LIVING and ACTIVE, not DEAD and PASSIVE... - that's what I love about it!