Building on a firm foundation

 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:9-11

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Please join me this week in praying for the healing and growth of our local churches.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

The Lord's house in ruins

I came across the first chapter of Haggai and immediately thought, "nothing has changed in all these years." Haggai is warning the remnant of Jerusalem that the time is indeed now to restore God's house.  He speaks for the Lord chasting the people for taking care of themselves only;  they are never content and suffer much because of their selfish ways. How true is this even today? Maybe some of this is the underlying truth behind the decline of our churches. People are too busy tending to their own selfish needs and wants instead of building up the church for the Lord (both the physical structure and the whole church body). So, I just want to encourage you to get your priorities straight, just as I am trying to do this year. Put God above all else.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 

You have sown much, and harvested little.

You eat, but you never have enough; 

you drink, but you never have your fill.

You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

"Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.  Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”

Haggai 1:2-11 ESV

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Please join me this week in praying for the healing and growth of our local churches.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Church attendance

4 in 10 people don't attend church because they aren't believers. Of the other 6 in 10 people, 7 out of 10 of them feel affiliated with a religion and 6 out of those 10 consider themselves Christian.  I found this really great article about church attendance (and is where I found the above stats), if you're interested, please give it a read by clicking here.
     I read somewhere else that 42% of Millennials and 54% of Gen-Xers attend church. Honestly, that's a lot better than I expected. While that's still a decline, it doesn't seem hopeless. I've probably already shared this but when I went away to college, there was a church right next to my dorm. I was able to go for Jazzercise classes there, but could never get myself motivated to go there for church services on Sunday mornings. It's so regrettable how much time I wasted back then not serving the Lord. But, that was then and this is now and we should let go of the past and live in the present.
     Let's lift up those who don't attend church and pray for the revitalization of our neighborhood churches.

And I tell you, you are Peter, *

and on this rock I will build my church, 

and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Matthew 16:18 ESV

*Peter, derived from the Greek Petros meaning "stone" was the name Jesus gave to His disciple Simon.

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Please join me this week in praying for the healing and growth of our local churches.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Meet together

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV

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Please join me this week in praying for the healing and growth of our local churches.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Church family

I used to think it was fine to stay home and worship instead of going to church but realized that it was nothing like physically attending church. I would listen to sermons online and even take notes but it wasn't consistent and I couldn't ask questions and of course, I was missing out on that special fellowship a church family has. Whenever I hear of someone who's lonely, I really try to encourage them to start attending church. A church family is extremely special; there's an indescribable bond there that you just don't find anywhere else.
     Some people may leave the church because it's easier to listen to a sermon online or watch a televised service (beware of some of those Pastors, please). Maybe they have health issues (physical, mental, or emotional) that may prevent them from going or feeling able to go. If you know someone who can go but doesn't, please encourage them to attend a physical church. Offer them a ride if necessary. Try to relate to them the spiritual experience of worshipping with other believers.
     If they cannot attend a physical church, please consider visiting with them, maybe listening to an online sermon together. God is with us always. He never leaves us or forsakes us.

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Matthew 18:20 ESV

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Please join me this week in praying for the healing and growth of our local churches.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Using our spiritual gifts

Use your spiritual gifts for the edification of the church body

One of the things God is leading me to do is to write down other women's stories. I'm extremely excited about it especially because I've spent the last nine years working on writing my story and have always felt that it was not what God wanted me to do, so now I get why. ... Okay, so I was going to leave this next part out, but then decided, Nah - so if you want to debate this, go for it, but I don't feel like it - this is just my opinion ... This is how I see free-will versus God's plan. I had the freedom to choose to write my story because it was something I really, really wanted to do, so I did it, feeling that it wasn't part of God's plan for me, so He let me go down that 9-year-long rabbit trail that led nowhere for my own personal satisfaction and then He posted a detour sign that brought me back to His path for me. Isn't that just awesome?!
     I thought about bringing up this new venture in our women's bible study group Sunday morning but then decided against it until I was closer to being ready to start, till I was more organized, etc. In our group we were talking about judgment (Romans) and that we're all sinners and to never forget our own testimonies, our own past and someone said, "We each have a story to tell" and I realized that if that wasn't God telling me to share, then I don't know what else it could've been, so I shared.
     One of the women who I had in mind to interview anyway came up to me after group and said that her brother has been telling her for years that she should write down her story. That about knocked me over and I said "I would love to write it," so that's my first project and I'm super psyched about it! I can't wait to get started!!!
     Then, the sermon started out about we should be for each other, not ourselves (so I took that as writing about others instead of myself - another 'whoa' moment!). Then, the sermon went on to talk about some of the same things we were talking about in women's group even though it was a different subject, it still touched on the same things we were discussing which seems to happen a lot whenever we study, but I guess this is probably enough sharing for today.
     To bring this back around to our topic for this week, our Pastor had a few stories about other churches and it's really heartbreaking, so encouragement, lifting each other up, growing the church through mission work circled back around (in my thought process) to growing, caring, and maintaining the churches we have here at home. So, if you're part of a church that seems to be slipping in attendance, consider praying about how you can use your spiritual gifts to help heal the church body.

What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

1 Corinthians 14:26 ESV

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Please join me this week in praying for the healing and growth of our local churches.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Our ailing churches

I have so much to tell you! Yesterday at church was just one "wow" moment after another! I really wish I would've written this blog post last night, but I didn't and now I feel like I don't have enough time this morning to do it justice, so let me just introduce this week's topic and I'll try to get all of this written down tonight to share tomorrow.
     This week let's pray for all of the local churches that are seeing a decline in attendance. It is kind of a continuance from last week if you think about it. We're praying for healing and we're holding each other up and offering encouragement.
     A healthy church needs the benefit of a congregation who is willing to work together, utilizing their spiritual gifts for the edification of the church body, in such a way that will bring honor and glory to our Lord.

from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Ephesians 4:16 NKJV

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Please join me this week in praying for the healing and growth of our local churches.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power