From the Word:  Seeing clearly (from Matthew 7:1-29)
”You hypocrite, first take the log out of you own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”  (Matthew 7:5 NASB) 

Lord, You say we are not to judge, at least not before we are able to see clearly.  How do I know when the log is out of my own eye?  Is there a log in my eye now, Lord?  I confess to You that I’m not even sure if I know whether or not there is a log in my eye.  What is it that I can’t see, Lord?  O to be able to see clearly, but I have no confidence that I am able to see clearly now.  Give me wisdom to know - what would it take, either for You to finally show me my log, my blindness, my failings, or for You to show me that my logs are gone - obviously I have had logs in the past, and not sure whether or not some are still there. I want my confidence to be based on reality, on how You see things, and not on how I feel, either in my lack of confidence or in a hypocritically higher view of myself.

It is hard for me to identify with you wanting to give me good gifts, Lord (v11)!  I feel as if I’ll never measure up, that I’ll never qualify for the good gifts.  Fact is, I won’t!    I never will, not on my own.  But that is why I need You, and need for You to show me my failings so that I can deal with them.  And I need to get past the false humility of my lack of self-confidence in what You have done in my life.  If there are lingering questions as to the issues in my own life not being resolved, then I will never be able to speak with others about the difficulites they are facing, about the specks they are unable to see.  O  Lord, I open myself to You for Your Spirit show me what I need to know about myself.  Amen.

Please pray with us:
John Mosley is one of our Navigator staff associates who is engaged in ”life on life” discipleship in the city of Philadelphia.  He is not just a theorist, but a practitioner - I have observed him in action on several occasions;  he has a heart to engage people at a personal level and to help them see how to put their faith into action.  John shares his vision and provides training to various churches in the region (given a platform, he enthusiastically promotes the impact of focused and intentional discipleship!).

  He will be speaking at a local church this Sunday presenting the vision of discipleship and the value of life on life.  Please pray with us that the Holy Spirit will guide John’s words and use what he says to help people understand how to live out their faith in practical ways in their own spheres of relationships.