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Category: Prayer (Page 22 of 30)

Awakening the Depths

February 4, 2010 / / 1 Comment

Awakening the depthsChurch business is busy. Kingdom busy-ness can be overwhelming. Sermons and classes. Emails and texts and blogs. Counseling. Programs and people and prayers and planning. Reports and committees and meetings and talks in the foyer. Hospital visits.

Ministry is never-ending. I never once get home at the end of the day and feel like I accomplished every thing I had intended. It doesn’t stop.

And I have to be very, very, very careful to maintain my focus. I have to be disciplined. Deliberate. I must continually guard against being driven and motivated by people’s expectations and my own sense of worth. I have to be driven and motivated by the Holy Spirit of God who resides inside me. I must be moved by my Father’s love for me, by his plans for me. It’s bigger than me. It’s higher than me. I can’t be directed by what I want to do. I must be directed by what God wants me to do.

Romano Guardini (1885-1968), a long-time professor of philosophy and theology at the University of Munich, wrote about this focused-following in his book Power and Responsibility:

“All around us we see activity, organization, operations of every possible type; but what directs them? An inwardness no longer really at home within itself: which thinks, judges, acts from the surface, guided by mere intellect, utility, and the impulses of power, property, and pleasure.

Man’s depths must be reawakened. His life must again include times, his day moments of stillness in which he collects himself, spreads out before his heart the problems which have stirred him during the day. In a word, man must learn again to meditate and to pray.”

It’s said that John Wesley spent the first five minutes of every single waking hour deliberately reflecting on the hour just passed — what opportunity did God give me, did I respond in a Christ-like manner, what should I have done differently to better reflect his glory?

Spending the first hour of every morning in Scripture and prayer, communing with our Triune God in holy relationship, is the most important thing I do. It reawakens my depths. It compels me to spread my heart out to my Father in confession and dependence. It convicts me. It challenges me. It reminds me that I’m not in any of this for myself. Not even for my family or my church. Not even for others. Not as much as I’m in it for the God who calls me and saves me and equips me to join him in redeeming the world.

Peace,

Allan

In Praise of Elders

January 21, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Servant LeadershipAll of the really great preachers in Churches of Christ from the really great congregations in our fellowship — the churches that are really dynamic and moving and making a difference in the world and in the Kingdom — all tell a similar story. Jeff Walling, Terry Rush, Patrick Mead, Rick Atchley, Lynn Anderson, Don McLaughlin, Mike Cope and others all say the same thing.

“The day our elders decided to let go, to stop focusing on administration and decision-making and start working on prayer and teaching and relationships, is the day our church really took off. Our church just exploded the day our elders changed the way they lead.”

They all say the same thing.

That’s when churches thrive. That’s when churches begin to breathe and grow and mature. When the elders decide to equip and release.

Let the deacons handle coke machines and paint colors and display stands in the foyer. Let the staff deal with bulletins and office supplies and rules for the gym. Let ministry leaders take care of programs and mission trips, casseroles and camps. Free the members to worship and serve and evangelize and work and fellowship.

Our elders here at Legacy are doing that. In what has been termed a “transition” year for us, our shepherds have decided that their leadership must be re-envisioned from within. Their role as shepherds is not primarily to make decisions. Their role is to spiritually guide our people. To pray. To study. To serve. To walk alongside us. To mentor. To lead from a relational standpoint, not a positional standpoint.

Our Legacy shepherds have been taking bigger steps in this direction for a while now. And the congregation’s been blessed. Our elders and ministers are up here every weekday morning from 7:00 – 8:00 praying over the needs of this church and this community, praying with people, consoling people, loving people. They’re attending and shepherding our Sunday evening Small Groups Churches, getting in the living rooms and kitchens of our brothers and sisters, holding babies and making peanut butter sandwiches and hugging the hurting. There are more Bible studies, more benevolent works, and more counseling.

And now this:

Our shepherds have been meeting twice a month for as long as anybody can remember. For the past two-and-a-half years it’s been the first and third Thursday evenings. Not anymore. Starting this month, our elders are meeting on that first Thursday to vote and make decisions and do whatever else they absolutely have to do. Yes, we’ll still pray and attend to the needs of the flock as they come up in that first meeting. But on that third Thursday, beginning tonight, we’ll gather only to get our visitation assignments. And then we’ll hit the streets.

Two-by-two. We’re going to visit those in our church who are sick. In the hospital. Brand new members. Those who’ve recently been baptized. Shut-ins. Families with brand new babies. The goal is to be inside the homes and holding the hands of 30 of our families during that night. No meeting. No decisions. No administrative matters. No motions and seconds. No votes. One of our meetings a month is going to be completely dedicated to praying with our people. Consoling them. Praising God with them. Listening to them. Helping them. Walking alongside them.

The elders here have promised this year to intentionally let go of some things and zero in with greater focus on other things. This is one of those things.

Our shepherds are not divorcing themselves from the administrative needs of the church, but they don’t see them as their primary function, either. They’re working toward a relational leadership style and model that demonstrates holy shepherding. This move communicates clearly that they view visits and prayer and study — spiritual guidance — as more important than the board meetings.

Tonight’s the first night. Pray for our shepherds and ministers as we take this step together. Encourage them as they pursue a more biblical approach to servant-leadership. Thank them for their dedication to the people of this flock. I’m so proud of them. This is huge. I’m honored to serve with them. I can’t wait.

Peace,

Allan

Be Filled With The Spirit

January 12, 2010 / / 1 Comment

Filled with the Spirit 

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” ~Ephesians 5:21

The context in Ephesians 5 is in the corporate worship assembly.

“Be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

Submit to one another. Belong to one another. And, in this corporate worship context, Paul says be filled with the Spirit.

When we come together, it’s the Spirit who not only unites us with one another, he unites us to God. We worship in the Spirit. We submit to one another and speak and sing to one another in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God is who gives the Christian life its energy and enthusiasm and endurance and power!

Be filled with the Spirit.

This is an imperative. It’s a command. So we do take some of the responsibility here. This singing together and submitting to one another is either the means by which we pursue this filling of the Spirit or it’s the result of being filled with the Spirit. Or both. Either way, Paul says when we sing together, when we pray together, when we submit to one another, when we really belong to one another, we are filled with the Spirit.

And that tells me that God is not a spectator when we come together to worship. Audience of one? No! God is not an audience of worship. Our God is an active participant with us — inside us — when we worship him together. God is not just sitting on his heavenly throne and soaking up all the hallelujahs and amens. No. Through the Spirit, the Father and Son are engaged with us. Communing with us. Rejoicing with us. Transforming us. Changing us. Growing us. Shaping us more into the image of Christ.

Be filled with the Spirit.

Encountering God together — in the worship assemblies on Sunday mornings, in our Bible classes on Wednesday nights, in our living rooms on Sunday evenings — being in the presence of God together allows us to recognize our own sinfulness and shortcomings. And that always leads to an acute recognition of his marvelous grace. And the power of God’s grace is not just forgiveness. It’s also transformation. New creature. New creation. Christ formed in you. Being saved. It’s a communal sanctification event. We participate in it and we experience it together. We are filled with the Spirit. Together.

Peace,

Allan

A Prayer for God's Church

January 5, 2010 / / 0 Comments

A Prayer for God’s Church 

From the cowardice that shrinks from new truths,
from the laziness that is content with half-truths,
and from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
O God of Truth, deliver us!

~ Henlee H. Barnette, “The Minister as a Moral Role-Model,” 1989

Thanksgiving for Roadblocks

November 30, 2009 / / 1 Comment

“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth…” ~Matthew 11:25

Thanksgiving for RoadblocksJohn the Baptist is the one who knows more about the coming Messiah than anyone else in the world. He’s been ordained by God, commissioned to prepare the way for the Holy One of Israel. And in Matthew 11, with John in jail and Herod acting more arrogantly and ruling more aggressively than ever, the desert proclaimer begins to doubt. He questions. From his prison cell, through his disciples, he asks Jesus, “So are you the one, or what?”

The people who know Jesus the best, his own family and friends, are ignoring him. The very ones he worshiped with and grew up with and played with and worked with in the villages of Capernaum and Bethsaida and Korazin are not accepting Jesus as Lord. They’re not repenting. They’re not turning to God as a result of Jesus’ teachings and miracles.

The situation in Jesus’ Kingdom life is not good. His mission. His calling from God. His whole purpose for coming to earth. Everything Jesus stood for and sacrificed for and was working for. None of it was going very well. He was running into dead ends and roadblocks. Barriers and hard hearts. Misunderstanding and indifference.

And this from the people who all should have known better.

If I’m Jesus — and, yes, I know I’m not; I’m reminded every day —I’m looking at John and these neighbors of mine and I’m maybe beginning to question all of it, too. Maybe I’d better do something different. Maybe they’re right. No crowds. Nobody’s lives are changing. I need to try something else. I need to be bigger and louder and brighter. We need bigger screens. More video. Maybe I should lose the tie. Tell more jokes. Be funnier. We should maybe set up a coffee shop or a book store. I should probably stop saying words like “sin” and “salvation” and “Zion.”

If I were Jesus, I’d look at the misunderstandings and indifference and say, “Why isn’t God helping me here? Why isn’t God doing anything? What’s the deal?”

Instead, Jesus prays thanksgiving to God.

“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”

Jesus knows that God’s way is to work his gracious will, to fulfill his marvelous plans for the universe through the childlike. The simple. The humble. Those who don’t think they are themselves some kind of gods. God works through people who understand very plainly their deep need for him.

The point is this: none of this throws Jesus off. The fact that John misunderstands what’s happening with Jesus doesn’t derail him. Jesus doesn’t slam on the brakes when the villagers reject him. None of this slows our Savior down.

Not so with us. We can get caught up in junk like this. I know I can. I know whole churches that can.

There are so many conditions in God’s Church and in this country and in this world that cause us to wring our hands and gnash our teeth. Oh, the Church is in trouble! Oh, people aren’t captivated by the Bible anymore! Postmoderns won’t ever believe the absolute truth of salvation in God through Christ! And we worry and get anxious and write articles and teach classes and rail against systems and complain about programs. And we get so worked up because God’s not working anymore.

But this prayer from Jesus puts everything in perspective. It brings us back to base.

The powerful and unstoppable energies of the Kingdom of God are always moving, always growing, always surging just beneath the surface. All around us. Huge rivers of prayer and faith and hope and praise and forgiveness and salvation and rescue and holiness flow right by us every day. In every single nook and cranny, hidden in the shadows, overlooked in the crowds, drowned out by the noise, are these humble infants. These little children.

So—thanksgiving.

Not just for the day and the weather and the beauty of nature. Not just for family and friends and food and clothes and shelter. Not just for good things in good circumstances. But, thanksgiving in — yes! — less than ideal situations. Thanksgiving offered in faith that our God is very much alive and active and working in mighty ways that we don’t always see.

Peace,

Allan

Protected By His Name

November 23, 2009 / / 1 Comment

ProtectedWe live in a world not just of disbelief and cynicism. We’re in a truly hostile environment. We’re promised all kinds of trouble as we live for Christ on earth. But we’re also guaranteed great victory by our faith in the One who conquers death. In the meantime, we need strength. We need provision. We need protection to live as Christians here. It’s dangerous. It’s spiritually dangerous to follow Jesus in Texas.

Jesus knows that. It’s why he prays for us the way he does: 

“Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name.” ~John 17:11

“I protected them and kept them safe by that name.” ~John 17:12

“My prayer is…that you protect them from the evil one.” ~John 17:15

Jesus knows that representing God in this world is a call to genuine battle. It’s a war with casualties and injuries and fear and strategies and winners and losers. It’s real. And he knows it. He acknowledges the power of the enemy.

What a blessing to know that our protection and our salvation doesn’t depend on our character or our nature or our conduct. Our protection and salvation is found in the nature and character of our God. Our holiness doesn’t come from our futile attempts to comply with a long list of do’s and don’ts. Our safety doesn’t depend on our ability to not sin. Our salvation is not tied to our good behavior. It all comes from the faithful and loving and forgiving and powerful name of God.

God, by his name, hides our life; he protects it and keeps it. And he promises us that when his Son appears again in glory, we are also going to be appear with him in that same glory.

Peace,

Allan

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