I had the privilege of speaking at Riverside Community Church in Spring Branch, Texas on the National Day of Prayer. What an awesome time in the Lord. I can truly say that Riverside Community Church exhibits community in every way. When one of their members gave her testimony about God’s miraculous healing power in her life I was so encouraged and my faith grew by leaps and bounds…however, the most amazing thing in her testimony was the sense of true community she gave voice to…it seemed every other word she spoke was about someone in their church “community” and how they had been there in her times of need which were many.

Her testimony provoked  me to ponder and reflect on our nation at large—realizing that sometimes I see our  nation in such a negative way and  tend to view it as being too large of a task to overcome the many negative issues at hand in our day and time. After all, the news is full of negative and disparaging reports leaving little hope in their wake.

Being with Riverside helped me to change my perspective and Holy Spirit began to break this “bigger than life” concept I had of our nation down into a much simpler more workable scenario—one called “Community”.

I began to see our nation as a community. Yes, it is larger by far than the community of Spring Branch, Texas, but never the less, it is still a community…though built up of many communities just like the one I was privileged to be a part of on the National Day of Prayer.

After hearing the testimony of healing in the life of a believer, I saw how a local community can be changed by the miraculous power of God in the life of one person. Take this example and multiply it across many more communities like it throughout this nation and you have change.

Seeing our nation as a community helps to scale down the largeness into a more palatable and hopeful scenario worth having faith for. You see, one person in need within one local community who is served by those around them transforms the local community. In turn the local community grows in faith, compassion, and hope. They take this growth and do likewise for the larger community around them such as their city, county, state and so on.

In Genesis we are told to be fruitful and multiply. If you notice fruitful comes first. Riverside Community Church became a Tree of Life for one of their family members and she in turn became a testimony to the community of Spring Branch on the National Day of Prayer. Fruitfulness became multiplication. God is the God of multiplication. He is not satisfied with addition.

Therefore, I challenge you to see your nation as a “Community” and start changing it for the better at the most core unit, your personal family and then at the local church level. From these foundational places change will began to take place and multiply to the point His image…His fingerprint will be impressed upon the Earth. After all, it all starts with one person reaching out to one person. This is true “community”. Let it start with you as you give to the need of another. Who knows where it will lead.

Hats off to the family of Riverside Community Church as their commitment to community and ministry within their own family led to a display of God’s glory and power to the people of Spring Branch, Texas.

Brenda Craig ©2008