Hope Fellowship Community Church

Where is my life headed? How does my life line up with what God has in mind for me? Am I walking on the path that God wants me to walk?

Our life with God is a journey. A faith walk that requires that we continuously strive to love God and love people and live in obedience to God's word.

Marriage and children are a perfect example. If I am not diligent in caring for my relationship with my wife and my children, it can easily slip beyond where I want it to go. If I am not striving to build those relationships and allow them to grow and flourish then I am stagnant. My relationships stop growing.

I worked in a greenhouse in Indiana. I worked around a lot of plants and I brought a lot of them home sometimes. If I got busy and did not take care of my plants, they stopped growing. The plants lacked the nutrients that they needed and life stopped for them. That is what happens when we neglect our relationship with God.

After the initial first step of accepting Christ and his love and forgiveness, we have to continue on in our journey, following that up with baptism and eventually church membership. Our church has a membership covenant or a covenant for growth. I believe that besides the 3 steps I just mentioned, we have other things that are needed but not necessarily in a certain order. Our covenant for growth covers quite a few of those things.

1. I will assume responsibility for my personal spiritual growth through regular Bible study, mutual accountability, reflection and prayer.

2. I will participate in weekly services on a regular basis.

3. I will respect the worth of all persons as created in the image of God, striving to be free of any activities that defile the mind and harm the body, and being just and honest in all of my relationships.

4. I will participate in a small group or Life Transformation Group to increase my understanding of the Christian faith, to strengthen my relationships with others in the church family and to submit to mutual accountability.

5. I will exercise my spiritual gifts within a specific area of involvement, as well as support the church through prayer.

6. I will consistently honor the Lord through the proportionate giving of my financial resources.

7. I will personally share my faith with those within my sphere of influence, and support others who share the Christian faith with those beyond my sphere of contact.

8. I will respond positively to both the persons and decisions of Hope Fellowship’s leadership.

If you have a relationship with Christ, you should seriously look at these things and where you are in your life. Next steps are very important...what are yours?

We have started our prayer initiative entitled Praying4America. We received over 50 commitment cards to pray everyday for the requests given in the prayer guides.

My hope is that we all realize the true meaning and power of prayer being a channel to allow God's power and Spirit to fill us and work through us in our lives. So many times we use it as a forum to ask God for help, plead with him about our problems and beg him for more chances when we mess up. If we can realize that it is something we use to connect with him and open up the communication lines then we can allow him to permeate our lives and transform us into his image. It is like using a hose to water the garden. It is not the hose that brings the life to the plants but the water from the source that we have allowed to pass through the hose and give the much needed moisture.

I have my map and I will pray for the requests that I have committed to pray for, but my hope is that I am opening myself up to allow God inside to change me and to empower me with his Spirit.

"Prayer is not about the church. The focus must be on seeking God and knowing him, not on seeking what he can do for us."
Daniel Henderson.

Blessings,

Jon