Monday, March 22, 2010

Grace for Waiting on God Shamelessly, Persistently and Expectantly


“Some in the ARC and some friends of the ARC are in need of my grace for the season of waiting they are in.” This seems to be a thought impressed on my mind this morning as I sit, have coffee with Jesus, and listen to birds in the trees outside my living room window chirping the good news of the coming of Spring.

Some of us are in a season of waiting on the Lord. Waiting on Him to bring the breakthrough we need in our own lives, the live of our families, or in the lives of our congregations. Some of us are still praying for family members we’ve seen no noticeable change in for years and waiting for the answer to those prayers is making us weary. Some of us are praying for people or issues in our congregations and there’s been no breakthrough; and there’s nothing we can see on the horizon that would indicate a breakthrough is imminent. Some of us are still praying for old ways of thinking and old habits that weigh us down to change and we keep falling back into them. Some of us are praying and waiting for words from the Lord that have been spoken over us, family members, or our congregations to finally come true.

I would not attempt in any way to invalidate the weariness, the frustration, the fatigue, and perhaps even the despair you’re feeling. I would not dare try to throw some superficial platitude your way to try to talk you out of how you may be feeling. But for all of us in the ARC, and those of you who are friends of the ARC, who may be in this season of waiting I would say: Please, don’t give up. Please don’t stop waiting with expectancy on the intervention of the Lord. Please, don’t settle for less than all God has for you; don’t settle because you may be in a season of fatigue and frustration. In a book I’m reading these days comes this encouragement for me, and perhaps for some of you:

“Prayer is about being made in the likeness of Christ. Conformed, reformed, transformed. There is simply no substitute for becoming like Christ other than being with Christ, and especially with Him in solitude and suffering and sorrow. And so prayer is about waiting. Prayer is the poetry of waiting. It is the language of those who know that what is now is not what should be and not what will be, if we wait.

Moses, Samuel, Nehemiah, Paul, David, they had to wait. They had to wait for people - stubborn people, lazy people, rebellious people, cowardly people. But mostly they had to wait for God. God, who had made known to them His purposes but was in no apparent hurry to accomplish them. God, who promised a land flowing with milk and honey but could hold up the journey for forty years in a land parched of water and with only one thing on the menu in order to work out some character issues in the people. God, who could depose King Saul and anoint David, but could then watch for the next dozen or more years as Saul clung to this throne and crown and hounded David into beggarliness and vagabondage.”

God’s grace empowers us. Because of God’s grace we are able to do that which we in our strength and abilities cannot do. Some of us may be in need God’s grace for waiting because that is the season we are in. Grace to wait shamelessly, persistently, and expectantly on Father God. That’s what Jesus tells us to be like in Luke 11 when He shares the story of the man who comes knocking on his friend’s door for some bread. The man is shameless in his knocking, he is persistent in his knocking and he is expectant that at some point his friend will arise and answer.

The disciples have asked Jesus to teach them to pray and Jesus gives them a model for prayer in verses 2-4 and then says, when you pray be like this man. Our waiting on the Lord is not merely a passive kind of waiting. Our waiting is an expectant waiting. Our Father is a good father and He will answer our prayer. Because He is a good father we can trust Him for the timing of the answer and the way the prayer is answered. Because He is a good father we can trust that during the season of waiting He may not only be at work in answering our prayer but in transforming us in ways we need to be transformed. He may be changing us in the very process of waiting to think, speak, and act more like Jesus.

Father God, give us Your grace to enable us to keep on praying, to keep on waiting, to keep on being conformed and transformed. In this process of praying and waiting, make us more like Jesus. Transform us to think, speak, and act more like Jesus. Transform our family member, our congregation to think, speak, and act more like Jesus. Then in due season, in the fullness of time, break through, Lord. Do not let us miss this. Do not let us settle in somewhere short of the breakthrough, content with something less than you have for us. Give us, we pray, Your empowering grace to pray, to wait in expectancy and move forward by faith in You, our good Father who does answer prayer and most certainly gives good gifts to His children (Luke 11).

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Part 3 - For Mission, Not Merely Ministry


This is part 3 in answering the question: Why should I attend an ARC Gathering on the Empowering Presence of the Holy Spirit this year? Why should you and I attend? To stir one another to lives of mission, not merely ministry. To be filled afresh with the presence and power of Holy Spirit who can increase our effectiveness for both.

As I write this I am on vacation with my wife, Debi. We’ve been graced with the gift of a condo by some friends from a former parish. It’s on the third floor and overlooks Manzanillo Bay in Mexico. This morning as I have my coffeetime with Jesus, I find myself writing the following in my journal:

“I’m on the balcony in Manzanillo, strong cup of Sumatra coffee on the table beside me. The waves are crashing on the beach below as I read O. Hallesby’s book, Prayer. I find myself beginning to pray Matthew 9:37-38 about sending workers into the harvest based on something Hallesby wrote in his book. I’m praying for God to use the ARC to send workers into the harvest to reach those not yet present. I’m praying that none who are called into the harvest will remain home. I’m praying that God uses the ARC to send us, as lovers of God to intentionally love those not yet present. I’m praying God sends us into the world with a passion for lost souls…

A passion for lost souls. Are we passionate for the salvation of the lost? I am theologically. I used to be practically. Now, most of my time is spent in ministry to those already present. Nothing wrong with that, unless it’s at the expense of rationalizing away reaching out to lost souls. Is there a passion for lost souls within us? Have we settled into caring for those already present at the cost of those not yet present? Oh God, make me, make the ARC passionate for lost souls. Make us passionate for mission, not merely ministry. Give us a longing to go where the lost are already gathered to love them you’re your unshakable and extravagant love. Give us Your heart for those not yet present.

I’m reminded this morning of the words of theologian and friend, Ray Anderson: ‘Those who are gathered around the meal of Christ must arise with the mission of Christ burning in their hearts. We sup with Christ in order to run with Him. The church needs to unleash her members and become a sending church rather than a gathering one.’ I’m reminded of Acts 4:29-32: ‘Now, o Lord, hear their threats, and give us, Your servants, great boldness in preaching Your word. Stretch out Your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of Your holy servant, Jesus.’ After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.’”

Why attend one of the ARC gatherings this year? It may be one place where we can all gather in the same place at the same time as the disciples in Acts 4 were and cry out to God. Cry out for a passion for lost souls. Cry out for a filling of the Holy Spirit that will stir that passion within us. Cry out for a filling of the Holy Spirit that gives us a holy boldness and enables us to proclaim and demonstrate the Word of God with genuine power from on high. Oh God, use us for mission, not merely for ministry. Oh God, cause us to rise from the table with Your mission burning in our hearts so powerfully that we cannot remain within the walls of our churches and homes. Oh God, fill us afresh with Your Spirit. Give us a holy boldness. Impart to us an authentic experience of Your power for mission, not merely ministry.