by Hanna Baker
Not all blog postings will be about Bible Study, I promise!
Our Wednesday night Bible Study started off this week in typical David George fashion - with a movie clip. To everyone's surprise and amusement however, this one wasn't WWII related; instead, we settled in to the opening strains of the LotR - The Fellowship of the Ring (don't worry, we only watched the first few minutes; we try to avoid 5 hour long Bible Studies!).
The correlation David drew was impressive. In Middle Earth, the residents at one time were fully aware of the power that the rings - especially the One Ring - had; that power affected every aspect of their lives. Through a series of events, however, that power was misplaced, lost, and eventually forgotten. A few tales remained as a distant legend, but most people didn't even believe them anymore.
As followers of Christ and beloved children of God, we are intended to have power as well. Jesus told his followers that, "anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these" (John 14:12, NIV). The New Testament contains tale after tale of Jesus & the early church performing incredible miracles, healing sick, raising people from the dead, prophesying, casting out demons, speaking in unknown tongues, and more. We are intended to have and operate in that power!!
Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, the Western church forgot. The stories slipped into history instead of practice, and "some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth." (quote from Galadriel, The Fellowship of the Ring.)
It's time to get back to the truth, and learn how to access the gifts that God intended His church to use - the gifts that allow us to be effective and powerful at communicating and spreading the love of Christ to the hurting world around us.
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