Stage One of Calling.

A Sore Heart that won't go away.

Nehemiah had an emotional breakdown upon hearing the news of Jerusalem and the condition of the walls. The bible says he 'sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.'

I don't know what makes you break down and fast and call out to God in this way; it must be something big to provoke such a reaction.

The interesting thing is this feeling didn't leave Nehemiah.

We all get emotionally charged during a television 'charityathon' but rarely am I still moved after I switch off. If a cause lingers in me, the feeling prods me into doing more about it.

Is there anything, anyone or anywhere that gives you a sore heart and will not go away? It might not be such a strong emotion as the one felt by Nehemiah, but nevertheless it's real and it's lingering.

Listen up: God is calling.

I'm reading a book by Len Sweet called Aqua Church 2.0.

He talks about content and containers; the church can keep the content but should consider changing the container from which the content is delivered.

This might mean the building type, the time and day church happens, the service format whatever.

What are your thoughts about the types of 'container' the church might consider as we share our content with the world?

Should we look for a night club type of container; is a better container a Saturday night event? Think outside the box and let me hear from you.

Greetings to you all, I am going to post about Nehemiah for a day or two.

The first few bits in this great book deal mainly with calling, at least that's how it looks to me.

How do you know what God is calling you to do?

The lesson chapter 1 of Nehemiah teaches us is this: 'Its not that which warms your heart but that which breaks your heart which reveals the way God is asking you to go.'

Nehemiah has never been to the 'homeland,' much less it's capital city. He hears that the city and it's walls are in ruins and becomes very distressed at the news - to the point of birthing an ambitious plan to rebuild the city beginning with it's walls.

What moves you to the point of action? What lights the fire deep in your belly as you dream about doing dangerous things for God? You might not become distressed about an issue, but you will certainly experience strong emotions which force you to act. THIS - is where God is calling you to move, change, develop and live.

Put on hold the things you enjoy and stop wondering if God wants you to do what you enjoy; think about what stirs your emotions, what breaks your heart, what drives your life and then consider if God is asking you something.

I was talking with my Dad on Friday night about the name of our church, Cornerstone.

My father, the sage, advised me the corner stone of an old dry stone building was the most important stone of all. Not because of it's foundational quality but that this stone was the largest stone used above the surface.

The reason?

If you didn't pay your rent, the landlord would come along, remove the corner stone and your house would fall down!

No wonder Christ referred to himself as the Cornerstone of our lives. Remove him and guess what?