Monday, April 18, 2011

Terry's blog has moved.                  http://tbaughman1.blogspot.com

Monday, March 14, 2011

The Power of a Whisper

I know it has been a really long time since I lasted wrote on my blog.  I just felt like I needed some time off from writing to refocus on God.  I'm gonna let God lead my thoughts... 

A whisper can be very powerful.  We whisper things when we want people to really listen closely.  I know that God has used the whisper to speak to me and I'm sure He was done the same for you. I’ve tried many times to listen for the whispers of God in my life and in my ministry. I didn’t do it well enough in the beginning, but as I learned to listen for God’s prompting, I must say, he hasn’t let me down yet. That isn’t to say that at times what he told me was easy. No, there have been many times when it was difficult to hear what God was prompting me to do. In the end, the rewards have far outweighed the tough times. And why not put my whole life in God’s hands? Why not trust him fully? “I challenge you to give him full clearance to lead your life, every area of your life, until the point that he proves himself untrustworthy.” Those were the words of a friend of mine who said that to me at a point in my ministry when I was doubting things. God’s whispers can even come from people who are around you. And there will be times when a certain number of whispers that come our way will drive us to our knees and stretch our faith, but so be it. I enjoy hearing people’s stories of God’s whispers in their life. I love know that God is speaking and we, all of us, need to lean in and really listen.  He is talking...are we listening?  What is your whisper story?

Sunday, January 2, 2011

God Longs for More

I've been told to read a book called "Crazy Love".  So I saw the book in a bookstore and opened it up to see what it was about.  This is what I read..."To just read the Bible, attend church, and avoid "big" sins- is this passionate, wholehearted love for God?"  Yeah, that’s the first quote that I got greeted with when I opened up the book, and it’s not even in the first chapter; it’s in the preface. I very rarely read a preface.  I didn’t think there was ever any good stuff in the preface!
Well, what do you think? Is that all there is? I believe if we are truthful, most of us think that’s all there is to this walk OR, are you like me and feel as though something is wrong? How many of you have read the New Testament and wondered if sometimes we in the church are missing it? I hope I’m not the only one, then I will think I’m really crazy! I believe God longs for more from the church. I think many of us, if we were truthful with ourselves would admit that the church as an establishment could do a better job. There’s a whole generation out there that loves Jesus, but not the church. I get an awful feeling deep down in my stomach when I think of how we are missing out on all that God wants for the people God loved enough to die for. Do you? I don’t know about you but I agree that we need to stop giving people excuses not to believe in God! Another way of putting it is this- let’s be known for what we are for rather than what we are against. We just celebrated the birth of Jesus. He was born into this world to be a humble servant, but Jesus never begs us to give Him some small part of ourselves. He actually commands everything from his followers. So, where do we go from here? Do we adjust how we live daily, or do we stay the same?  I can't wait to dig deeper into the book.