GIG286 New Year’s Connection With Our Fellow Workers

Growing In God Podcast

Program Number: GIG #286

Title: New Year’s Connection With Our Fellow Workers

 

Web Description: Elijah stood at the entrance of his cave with his awareness fixed on the Lord to hear how the Lord would direct him. And today we stand at the precipice of a new year, determined to stand before the Lord with an awareness of Him that hears His instructions, understands His directions, and applies them to our lives.

 

Show Notes: In a New Year’s meeting with our Fellow Workers, we review the past year and look to the year ahead. Last year, Hargrave Ministries achieved significant progress in both the ministry of the Word and our outreach to Israel (see Israel Projects). And we are anticipating even greater progress this year. To that end we are updating the website to provide better access to the teaching materials and streamlining the donations to Israel. But in all we do, we want to be those who have the insight, as Daniel prophesied, to instruct people concerning God’s purpose for them in this age.

The story of Elijah on Mount Horeb is a lesson on how to do that. The Lord told Elijah to go to a specific place, and Elijah obeyed. And our first step is to be in the place where the Lord is leading us. Then the story explains how God was not in the various manifestations Elijah witnessed as “the Lord was passing by.” Elijah was not distracted by those things but waited until he received the specific instructions the Lord wanted him to follow. We too can be aware of all that is taking place in the world as the Lord is passing by. But our focus needs to be on the specific instructions the Lord has for us.

 

Like Elijah, we do not want our awareness of things, even if God is in them, to draw our focus away from what the Lord wants us to be aware of. Just as He told Elijah exactly where to go, who to see, and what to minister, we want our teaching material to impart more than a knowledge or understanding of the Bible. We need the insight—knowing both what the Lord wants us to do and how to do it. We have seen the success of this already in our ministry to Israel. And this year we look forward to even greater insight and application of the Word in people’s lives.

 

Key Verses:

 

•       Lamentations 3:22–23. “His compassions never fail. They are new every morning.”

•       1 Kings 19:11–16. “The LORD was not in the wind.”

•       Daniel 12:8–10. “Those who have insight will understand.”

•       Daniel 12:1–4. “Those who have insight will … lead the many to righteousness.”

 

Quotes:

 

•       “Our awareness is something that we have to hold as a tremendous value. And we have to carefully guard it from that which wants to take it off into what God's not really wanting us focused on.”

•       “Our focus on Israel comes out of our understanding of the Word. And what we're doing in Israel is a manifestation of the understanding, the learning, and the insight that we have.”

•       “What do I want out of Hargrave Ministries this year? I want to see the instructors come forth in the earth. I want to see teaching that is the impartation of the how—not just knowledge—but how to move in it, how to do what God wants done in manifesting His Word and His purpose on the earth.”

 

Takeaways:

 

1.    This new year we are believing for awareness: awareness of what God is doing, what He is speaking, and how He is leading us.

2.    This year we are looking for the teaching on our website to be more than knowledge of what the Bible says, but how to enter into what it says, and how to hold an awareness of what God is speaking until the manifestation of that comes in our lives.

3.    A manifestation of this awareness would be those who will be instructors in this age—not instructors of a lot of information and knowledge, but of how to become what God is looking for.

4.    This year our giving to Israel will emphasize the original vision of ministering to Israel as a whole. When you give to Israel through Hargrave Ministries, you will be giving to all of Israel and not just to a specific project.