Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
—Matthew 10:8 KJV
A few weeks ago, I called for The Blogout for the Kingdom, a week devoid of all blogging so that we could put into practice what we have learned through interacting with other believers in the blogosphere. From Sunday, November 20 through Saturday, November 26, I will be hanging up Cerulean Sanctum in order to concentrate on doing the work of the Kingdom instead of merely talking about or commenting on it. I have encouraged others of you to do the same.
My hope is that we will make real in the lives of other people what we already know to be God's truth. This is a call to minister to others in a way that you might not have done before, but have always wanted to try. Pleas consider taking this week to be bold in Christ in ways that are unfamiliar, but are what God has been calling you to do.
Breaking out of our Christian comfort zones is hard. For some other people, it's not so difficult as it is time consuming. How many things we know we should do that we have put off!
So that is what this time is about. For some it may mean serving Thanksgiving meals to the downtrodden. Others may take time given to blogging to create something special for a spouse as a means of showing thankfulness for his/her love and commitment. Or call a missions agency and asking what missionaries are having the hardest time with their support, then decide to support them, even if you don't know them or are not a part of their denomination. Perhaps it means visiting an elderly member of your congregation who may be hospitalized over Thanksgiving. Only the Lord can tell you what you need to do with the time you gain back from blogging and reading blogs. That is the heart and soul of The Blogout for the Kingdom.
As for me, I plan on handwriting letters to folks who have blessed my walk with Christ, thanking them for what they poured into me. I may not have all the addresses, but I plan on finding them. I also plan on taking blog time to write worship music for my church. I've written many songs in my life, but I've only performed them solo, never as a gift of worship for others to sing. In keeping with the week, the theme of those songs will be surrender and thankfulness for what the Lord has done for us all. Even as I'm writing, the Lord is giving me a burden to pray for all the readers of Cerulean Sanctum, so if you have a prayer request, let me know before midnight Saturday and I will lift up your request every day for the week. I intend to spend Saturday praying for other opportunities to minister during the week, too.
Consider withdrawing from the blogosphere for this week. If any of you are like me, writing your blog and reading what other bloggers write consumes more than an hour or two a day. For this week, that time is going back to the Lord for other things.
Bless you all. Thank you for hanging out here at Cerulean Sanctum. Lord willing, I'll be back here after the 26th.
For the King and the Kingdom,
Dan
I will join you.
brad
Yep, let’s get going and do the stuff of the Kingdom.
Good for you, Dan.
I’m going to take a break, too, but not quite so long.
I will be interested to know what treasures and truth you find in this time.
And I would love to know how all of it can fit together for Kingdom living.
i’m in.
With you.
Dan! I’ve missed your blog brother. Very cool idea. I’m in a ministry training program right now and let me tell you, putting this faith into practice is the most exciting (and at times exhausting) thing we can do. But it is oh so worth it.
Brother Dan, I’ll be praying for your mission work. May God bless you in your journey.
I wish I had read this sooner…and that ALL the other godbloggers would have participated—would have spared people a lot of grief.