kingdom travelin'

1. What do my words tell me about the state of my heart?

2. What are the ways that I am training / renewing my mind for God’s use?

3. What to my fears tell me about what I REALLY believe?

4. What are the things in my life that are drawing my strength away from God’s use?

If you have had a conversation with me about prayer in the last six months or so, you know that I have been thinking about and trying to learn how to practice a discipline called “praying into my work” instead of praying about a list of things to do.

I am currently on a trip to our field in Europe and invested the first three weeks of the trip in Ukraine, Serbia and Hungary. I visited partners and friends in Kyiv, Vinnitsya, Vac, Budapest, Szeged and Subotica. On this trip I have been privilaged to speak to churches with hundreds of people and a handful of people and visit a handful of schools that have CEO teachers. That all ended about 11 days ago as Sweet Anna and Becca arrived and family time began just before Christmas. We had a great time in Budapest and had Christmas at Joanna’s place in Budapest, Joanna’s fiancée Will was present too, as well as one of her roommates, Kirsten. Before and after Christmas, we spent our days relaxing and walking around the city. There were many wonderful times together.

Today, Anna is flying home and I have begun a week of intentional prayer. I will not be cloistered in solitude the whole time, but a larger part of time will be given to “praying into” 2011. This is not praying about 2011 so much as it is putting myself into a place of prayer so that I can hear God through Scripture, the still small voice, experiences and the confirming words of others. This process has already begun as I pray to God and listen to Scripture read aloud and memorize Scripture, look at a map of Budapest, a list of names of partners and friends and ideas on serving and as I gaze out onto the apartment buildings of the 3rd district of Budapest and ask God to reach them.

That process has brought me to a prayer and then prayers that pray more specifically into details toward that prayer… it is a process that is general enough for all of us who are followers of Jesus… you can see its current draft HERE.

I wish you a Happy New Year from Budapest. It’s time to look back for just a moment to see what we could have done differently to honor God better. It’s also time to be reminded that following Jesus is all about fresh starts, that’s what Grace is. I’m NOT into resolutions but I am into starting afresh every day with the One who made me and helps me make fresh starts. To help us start each day I suggest turning the Greatest Commandment into four questions about the heart, soul, mind and strength.

Merry Christmas!

For the next 10 or so days we are going to be having some family time here in Budapest. So, the postings may slow down…

Relationships are hard work… every relationship is hard work… especially our relationship with God. Statistics about about people in God’s service failing to spend time with God. I recently read a book what told of a survey that most pastors are so busy that the only time they are in the Bible is when they prepare for preaching. In my travels I ask people about his and I find that more often than not, it is true that we are not investing time. One of my friends does not like to talk on the phone, if you want to talk to him, you must schedule a time to sit down with him to have a talk. Now, this is a bit extreme, but there is an important thing we can learn from this guy, to schedule a time to go for coffee indicates how serious you are about the relationship. Making a quick phone call to see how someone is or ask them for something is fine, but as I think about it, I realize that there needs to be much more if there is to be a good relationship. We need to make time to build relationships.

I know from my own experience that my relationship with God is like this. I can spend my day throwing up quick prayers of need for help or even of thanks, but if I want a relationship with God where I hear from Him, I need to make a time to go for coffee with Him, where He is the sole focus of my attention. This is tough to do sometimes, but the result will be a deeper relationship that will bring peace to our heart. I’m not suggesting that the phone calls are bad, its that they are not enough. So, go for coffee, have a long talk with the Being that knows you best and really does have your best interest in mind.