imjustaskin
11-09-2009, 05:03 PM
We just had a our special assembly day "The Time Left is Reduced". Alot of it was the "usual" but we had two talks by a visitor from Bethel, Bro. Griffin, and I wanted to share some because they were so encouraging. Bro. Griffin is clearly one of the good ones left at Bethel.
The first thing that got me was some comments about "fully accomplishing your ministry". Normally this means "if you are not pioneering you are not fully accomplishing!" He said, "Brothers, this is not talking about field service. This is talking about all of your ministry, all of the ways you serve Jehovah. And notice that this did not say THE MINISTRY, it said YOUR MINISTRY, meaning not anyone else's ministry, but YOUR MINISTRY." Starting out with that, everything afterward about how to keep holding on was so much more meaningful, as I was not trying to apply it to "field service" but to my whole life of serving Jehovah. Awesome!
He also went over a the scripture about "holy acts of conduct" and "deeds of godly devotion". Under holy acts of conduct, he covered maintaining a clean conscience, showing genuine love for others (didn't mention field service here at all), and maintaining high moral standards by not being compromised by the world. Deeds of godly devotion (getting ready, ok here comes field service...maybe not???) Prayer, daily Bible reading, and family worship. He went into depth on each of these. Fantastic!
Prayer, how the quality of our prayer reflects the quality of our relationship with Jehovah. (Amen to that!)
Daily Bible reading. Told the funniest story about starting out with Genesis 1,2,3,4,5,6,7....get distracted....where was I?....May as well just start over....he said, "Brothers, by this time, I've probably read Genesis 10 times more than any other book in the Bible!" He was just saying no matter who you are, it's hard, doesn't matter if you're an elder, at Bethel, whatever, it's hard. But KEEP TRYING, KEEP WORKING ON IT because it is one of the most important things we do.
Family Worship - Now what he said here may or may not be true, but if it isn't true, IT SHOULD BE. He said when the society decided to drop the book study, the primary reason was to make it easier for families to get more personal study time in together. He said as we get closer to the end, studying together, being able to really build up our household, is one of the most important things we can do. He said, if this is important enough to sacrifice one whole meeting of us gathering together, can't we see how important it is? Don't shortchange it. Really focus on it, use the time to build up our household.
He also gave an illustration that really touched me. He was talking about how we struggle with our weaknesses, and it can be so disheartening. He said you know how when you do a puzzle, you have the box there to look at, so you can see what the whole picture is supposed to be. Well, we are like a puzzle, and imperfection broke us into tiny pieces scattered all over. And when we look at those pieces of ourselves, we think, what a mess! And the bad thing is, WE DON'T EVEN HAVE THE PICTURE TO LOOK AT. WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE. Only here's the thing. Jehovah knows. Jehovah knows what that picture looks like, when we are clean and whole the way we were meant to be. And when Jehovah looks at us, that's what he sees.
It brought me to tears. I just really needed that at this point in my life. Anyway, this brother's talks were so encouraging, I found myself wishing all of you here could have been there. There are still some gems to be found.
PS. My posting here may be sporadic - I have a lot going on right now, but I promise I am not ignoring anyone! Love and miss all you guys.
The first thing that got me was some comments about "fully accomplishing your ministry". Normally this means "if you are not pioneering you are not fully accomplishing!" He said, "Brothers, this is not talking about field service. This is talking about all of your ministry, all of the ways you serve Jehovah. And notice that this did not say THE MINISTRY, it said YOUR MINISTRY, meaning not anyone else's ministry, but YOUR MINISTRY." Starting out with that, everything afterward about how to keep holding on was so much more meaningful, as I was not trying to apply it to "field service" but to my whole life of serving Jehovah. Awesome!
He also went over a the scripture about "holy acts of conduct" and "deeds of godly devotion". Under holy acts of conduct, he covered maintaining a clean conscience, showing genuine love for others (didn't mention field service here at all), and maintaining high moral standards by not being compromised by the world. Deeds of godly devotion (getting ready, ok here comes field service...maybe not???) Prayer, daily Bible reading, and family worship. He went into depth on each of these. Fantastic!
Prayer, how the quality of our prayer reflects the quality of our relationship with Jehovah. (Amen to that!)
Daily Bible reading. Told the funniest story about starting out with Genesis 1,2,3,4,5,6,7....get distracted....where was I?....May as well just start over....he said, "Brothers, by this time, I've probably read Genesis 10 times more than any other book in the Bible!" He was just saying no matter who you are, it's hard, doesn't matter if you're an elder, at Bethel, whatever, it's hard. But KEEP TRYING, KEEP WORKING ON IT because it is one of the most important things we do.
Family Worship - Now what he said here may or may not be true, but if it isn't true, IT SHOULD BE. He said when the society decided to drop the book study, the primary reason was to make it easier for families to get more personal study time in together. He said as we get closer to the end, studying together, being able to really build up our household, is one of the most important things we can do. He said, if this is important enough to sacrifice one whole meeting of us gathering together, can't we see how important it is? Don't shortchange it. Really focus on it, use the time to build up our household.
He also gave an illustration that really touched me. He was talking about how we struggle with our weaknesses, and it can be so disheartening. He said you know how when you do a puzzle, you have the box there to look at, so you can see what the whole picture is supposed to be. Well, we are like a puzzle, and imperfection broke us into tiny pieces scattered all over. And when we look at those pieces of ourselves, we think, what a mess! And the bad thing is, WE DON'T EVEN HAVE THE PICTURE TO LOOK AT. WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE. Only here's the thing. Jehovah knows. Jehovah knows what that picture looks like, when we are clean and whole the way we were meant to be. And when Jehovah looks at us, that's what he sees.
It brought me to tears. I just really needed that at this point in my life. Anyway, this brother's talks were so encouraging, I found myself wishing all of you here could have been there. There are still some gems to be found.
PS. My posting here may be sporadic - I have a lot going on right now, but I promise I am not ignoring anyone! Love and miss all you guys.