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What Does God Want for Christmas?

ImageEvery year about this time, the whole country goes gift buying crazy.

That’s the way we do things around here at this time of the year.

I hate going to the mall.

I don’t even like going to the mall when it’s not the Christmas season. I swear, there’s some supernatural life sucking force at the mall. As soon as I get there, all my life force just gets sucked out of me and I have to find a Starbucks and take a seat.

So you can bet that I’ve made a conscious effort not to go anywhere near the mall right now. It’s crawling with crazy people. I know. My wife’s already been out there a couple of times.

She’s not one of the crazy ones. She’s confirmed that everyone else is crazy out there.

And without much thought, most of us Christ-followers follow right along getting busy making lists and making shopping trips.

That’s just the way we do things around here at this time of the year.

I am all for gift giving, because it’s one of the few times during the year where we’re forced to focus on people beyond ourselves, and I think that’s good. But I wonder if, in all our busy-ness, our gift-buying, our list-making, Christmas party attending frenzy, we’ve ever considered what God might want for Christmas? I wonder if that thought has even ever crossed our mind?

What do you think God might want for Christmas?

What is something God might need?

What do you think would make the heart of God leap with joy this Christmas?

If we take this – giving God a gift for Christmas – seriously, it just might totally change how we look at Christmas. It just may totally change our lives and someone else’s life too as we consider what God might want for Christmas.

So before things get much crazier with the shopping and the making of lists, won’t you take some time to sit with God and consider what he might want for Christmas?

It just may make this Christmas the most wonderful Christmas ever.

Merry Christmas Jesus!

If You Don’t Bring It, It Won’t Be Brought

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The devastation of the storms in the Philippines.

The tornado in Illinois.

The crimes in our cities.

The families breaking apart.

The people fighting disease.

Whew! It’s enough to wonder if anyone’s in control. 

Take a moment. Take a deep breath. And remember…God is in control. 

Nothing happening today is catching God off guard.

God is not panicking because of the violence, the broken homes, the broken hearts.

God, in his perfect sovereignty knew at this particular time, our family, our spouse, our children, our church, our community would need God to intervene. So God created you with your exact gifts, your particular talents, your particular abilities and temperament for your particular place in life so that he can meet those needs through you.

Just let that sink in.

Because you and I are uniquely gifted and because we have been uniquely fashioned, there is a ministry and service that only you and I can do with God’s help. Should you or I choose not to serve God, there will be a hole left by our absence that can never be replaced.

Only you can do what you were created to do.

Here’s what this means: The church is only fully vital, fully vigorous when every Christ-follower engages and serves Christ through their lives.

Simply put, if you don’t bring it, it won’t be brought!

Rick Warren, in his book, “Purpose Driven Life” says it like this:

We don’t realize how truly unique each of us is. DNA molecules can unite in an infinite number of ways. The number is 10 to the 2,400,000,000th power. That number is the likelihood that you’d every find somebody just like you. If you were to write that number with each zero being one inch wide, you’d need a strip of paper 37,000 miles long!

When God made you, He broke the mold. There has never been, and never will be, anyone exactly like you.

Christian! Engage! Serve! Give God your service and let God change the world through you!

Now, think on that!

What LCOP Strives to Do and What We Strive to Be?

Screen Shot 2013-11-05 at 2.36.48 PMWhat is the Little Church on the Prairie all about? What is it that we are called to do and be?

Here’s what we strive to do and be…

  • We practice grace. No one’s perfect here. That’s why we all belong here.
  • We’re not building “monuments” to the Little Church. We will invest our money, time, and talents to making a difference in Lakewood and the surrounding areas.
  • We value the intergenerational nature of the Little Church. Families are intergenerational in nature. Therefore, we value doing life together.
  • This is our city. We’re all in this together. That’s why we can all choose to make our city a better place.
  • These are our people. The only requirement that we have for being a part of the Little Church is that you are breathing. If you’re not, we’ll call 911 for you.
  • We are open and will submit to the truths God reveals to us through his Scripture.
  • We appreciate excellence. We will do our best in our service to God, to our community, and to one another.
  • We are all on a journey together to live into God’s best for us. We would love the honor of journeying with you.