Yearly Archives: 2017

1. No prayer.

2. Infrequent prayer

3. Lack of proper focus on God means when we actually do pray, we’re really talking to ourselves. 

4. Prayer has little effect on our perspective, on our life because it is not toward God but the problem.

Recently I’ve been unwell. I acquired a bug on my travels that I fought from my trip home for about 12 days. It’s worst effect was how it created the ‘woe is me’ mindset. There is a danger of having a spiritual ‘woe is me’ mindset too.

Sitting with some fellow disciples in our regular conversation helped me realize that I had been praying like #4 (above). My focus on the woes of some friends that I had shifted into the ‘woe is me.’

Once I realized it, I prayed properly and my focus in praying for these friends has shifted from the problem to seeing God as the only answer and laying them in His lap.

Proper prayer should take me (us) to the throne and dispel our concerns as we fear God the way Isaiah did (see Is. 6). 

We do this when we enter into prayer having invested time in His words to us, words inspired by His Spirit, words that give life, words that – as Keller taught – give us a language for prayer. 

Sitting (or standing) and slowly reading and rereading a Psalm helps  me ascend the steps of prayer.

Then, having arrived at the throne, I see my Father so clearly, as I have abided in His word, I see His GREATNESS and am able to lay my burdens in His lap.

They are His burdens to carry, not mine.

How we view the world is a critical factor in our decisions and our emotional and spiritual condition. Too often our view of humanity is too high. We overestimate the image of God and underestimate the sin nature. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how poor (unbiblical) theology ruins our personal spiritual development (personal discipleship). There are a ton of reasons for this but one reason I’ve observed is the love of reading people talking about the Bible, or worse, their experience in the Christian endeavor (with little Bible input and lots of experiential anecdotes) more than reading the Bible itself. This is compounded when these authors place too high a value on the abilities of humans.

Our source is God.

When we lose sight of this, we’re on a wrong track.

Consider the psalmist:

“Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.”‭‭ Psalms‬ ‭113:5-8‬ ‭ESV‬‬ http://bible.com/59/psa.113.5-8.esv

Look to God, not man. He lifts us from the ash heap, not we ourselves.

Realize that our sin is a regular part of the battle and that the words of man can only help us as they point to the words of God and to our Father in Heaven. As much as the words of man point us to God, read and heed them in thankfulness for pointing us upwards, beyond the earth and heavens to Him.

All glory and praise to He who died and rose for us.

Now, this is not to say that we mustn’t read non biblical authors at all. There is much to learn from them. There is much to learn from history, biography, politics and even Christian literature.

What I am urging is that we look through God shaped lenses as we train our hearts and minds to know and follow Jesus as His disciple.

Know Him first. He will lift us up.

This email has been years in the making…

I have so much to be thankful for in getting to this point, but most of all I’m thankful for Sweet Anna who pushed me through. I am so blessed with this woman. 

In meeting with fellow disciples, the following 7 questions are often helpful.

About life:

1. What are you thankful for today?

2. What are you struggling with lately? -or- What is causing stress in your life?

Read the passage several time aloud, slowly so that each person reads it aloud. Read it enough time that each persona grasps it. Don’t teach it, as such, but let the scripture teach itself to you through slow repetition. About the Scripture text you’ve read:

3.  What does the text teach us about God and/or His character?

4. What does the text teach us about humanity? What are we really like?

5. How does it apply to me? or What does God need to change IN ME? or “I will…”

6. What should we do together to obey this message from God?

7. Who could you share this story with?

It should be duly noted that these questions are NOT original to me. I learned them from several independent sources. These 7 are an adaptation from what is know as the Disciple Making Movement. It truly is a movement with no head. I tried to find a real original source once to cite, but to no avail. Hence, this blurb of credit to that unknown source.

When we’re struggling, feeling accused, betrayed, we must remind ourselves that as people in Christ we do not stand alone. The psalmist reminds us.

“For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭109:31‬ ‭ESV‬‬http://bible.com/59/psa.109.31.esv

It’s normal to feel these things, but remember God is with us.

The anticipation of Easter is past. Many did without something for the Lenten season. 

Yesterday we greeted one another with the ancient greeting “Christ is risen!” We replied with “Christ is risen indeed!” These are ancient greetings that are frequently used in the Orthodox world, not just at Easter. I wonder if this may be the origin of my Ukrainian partners greeting one another with “Praise God!”

In one church service in which I preached a couple of weeks ago, the pastor encouraged the people to be intentional about saying “Praise God.” Don’t fall into mindless habit was his admonition.

On this Easter +1 day, what are the mindless habits that we need to awaken into intentionality?

Let our yes be yes, let our words be meaningful.

I asked a Hungarian colleague “How are you?” 15 minutes later I had a full report as I listened while sipping coffee. I had learned long ago in that culture to only ask that question when you really mean those words.

Let us, on this Easter +1 ponder and affirm one way that we will be more intentional about our words. Perhaps beginning with the words we speak with God in prayer. 

May the result of Easter be lasting, may it not be just another holiday that has passed. As Peter said:

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1:13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

http://bible.com/59/1pe.1.13.esv