Pastor Dan's Corner


	First Baptist Church
	First Baptist Church

Pastor's Perspective

Effective ministry flows out of a passionate spirituality. Spiritual intimacy leads to a strong conviction that God will act in powerful ways. A godly vision can only be accomplished through an optimistic faith that view obstacles as opportunities and turns defeats into victories. The important issue here is not the way spirituality is expressed, but the fact that faith is actually lived out with commitment, fire and enthusiasm. The concept of spiritual passion and the widespread notion of the walk of faith as "performing one's duty" seem to be mutually exclusive. A church that lives its faith with a passionate fervor will experience success with many methods.

The nature of this quality characteristic becomes evident by examining the prayer life of the Christians surveyed. While the amount of time a Christian spends in prayer plays only a minor role with regard to the quality and growth of a church, whether prayer is viewed as an "inspiring experience" or not has a significant relationship to the quality and quantity of the church.

Natural Church Development, Christian A. Schwarz

Spiritual intimacy, what does that mean to you? What it means to me is to have a close personal relationship with God. It means that I am growing in my ability to trust God more. It is as Clement of Alexandria spoke of prayer - "keeping company with God"? I picture "keeping company with God" as times of relaxed conversation, or even times of silence. It is a picture of walking along side God as he carries out his creative and redemptive activity. It is listening to his teaching as well as experiencing his power. If this is a good definition of Spiritual intimacy, it seems also true that it would lead to passionate spirituality.

My prayer for all of us is that we will become more spiritually intimate with God. Have you ever or how often do you take time to just sit quietly waiting on God, with no agenda, no prayer list, and in no hurry; only having a desire to experience (to know) His presence?

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known.

Rev. Daniel Siems
Senior Pastor

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