Growing in Health and Wholeness is Not an Option in the ARC

During our ARC Midwest Gathering, speaker Lee Grady asked us, “Have you ever moved after twenty years or more, and in the process, pulled your refrigerator out? When you did, were you shocked when you saw all the gunk that was back there?” I have, and yes, there was a lot of gunk back there. And yes, I agree with Lee’s point that our lives can be like the gunk behind that refrigerator.

There can be old emotional pus wounds from the past that are influencing our present in unhelpful ways. There can be old defense mechanisms that once may have helped us survive but now need to be released. There may be strongholds, patterns of acting and reacting, that we run to when life gets stressful rather than running to Jesus. There may be unhelpful beliefs, even lies, which we have rationalized and justified with spiritual sounding language. Whatever it is, we need God’s transforming power to clean it out of our lives.

“Prayer will keep changing your life.” So said the words I read during my coffeetime with Jesus. Words penned by R.T. Kendall in his book, Did You Think to Pray?

“The Christian faith is the beginning not only of a relationship with God but also of an ongoing changing of your life. Paul calls it being changed from “glory to glory” (2 Cor 3:18, KJV) which means being transformed into Christ’s image “from one degree of glory to another” (ESV). I am seventy-two years old as I write, and I would blush to tell you how much changing I am still having to do. It is embarrassingly wonderful. My first reaction is, ‘Lord, why didn’t You show me this before?’ or ‘Lord, how could You keep loving me so much when You knew all the time what horrible faults I have?’

When I retired from Westminster Chapel in 2002 at the age of sixty-six, I was not prepared for how much I would learn about God and myself in what is supposed to be my ‘retirement’ years. We never stop learning, and we never stop growing” (Kendall, pg. 31).

I want to be like R.T. Kendall when I grow up. I want to be that humble, that vulnerable, that teachable, that mold-able before the Lord. If R.T. Kendall realizes he still has changing to do, how much more do I? How much more do you? However, will we be as courageous as R.T.? Will we dare to admit that we still have changing to do, seek out safe place relationships, and with those friends, intentionally cooperate with the Lord so He can heal us, free us, and transform us by the power of Holy Spirit?

In the ARC, growing in relational, emotional and spiritual health and wholeness is not an option, Beloved; it is a must. It is a must because the people we have been called to lead and serve will catch more from who we are than what we have to say or teach.

Keep growing in health and wholeness. Don’t stop, don’t settle for less. The more healthy and whole we become the more we will speak, think, act, and lead like Jesus.

God bless you as you invite the Lord to work in your hearts; and as you cooperate with Him that we might be transformed more and more into the image of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen!

Spending Time with God Will Help Us Know Him and His Ways

Prayer helps us to get to know the true God. Moses said to God, “If you are pleased with me, teach me Your ways” (Ex 33:13).

R.T. Kendall writes: “My wife knows my ways. She frequently knows whether I will like a particular film, TV program, book, or person. She often knows how I will answer most questions put to me. She knows my ways. The main reason Louise knows my ways is because of the time we have spent together. We know each other’s ways. When you spend time with a person, you get to know them” (Kendall, Did You Think To Pray, p. 29).

God wants you and me to know His ways (see Josh 22:5; Isaiah 55:8-9); not the world’s ways, not the latest marketing technique ways, not the latest church fad - His ways. God wants us to know His ways and in knowing His ways, make decisions and take action out of revelation from Him; and that revelation may or may not reflect the latest hot fad in the world or the body of Christ today. But moving out of His revelation will keep us in step with God and His purposes being accomplished in and through us by His might, His Spirit.

The world’s ways and the latest marketing techniques often seem to produce fruit quickly. But will it be fruit that lasts? Will it be fruit that pleases Father? Will it be fruit that brings glory to Him? The world’s ways and the latest marketing techniques often seem to bring glory to us more quickly than they do to Father. In the ARC, there is only one person we want the glory to go to and that’s the Lord. In the ARC there is only one person we want getting the acclaim and the credit to go to, and that’s the Lord. In the ARC we want to be bragging on only one person, and that’s the Lord!

So, brothers and sisters, let’s be intentional about making time to be with the Lord. Maybe that’s your (or my) growing edge this year. Maybe that’s where God wants to be working in our lives right now. Maybe that’s where He wants to be helping us to reorder our priorities and schedules. If so, I urge us all to cooperate with Him.

I love spending time with my wife, Debi. I don’t have to force myself to make time for her. May that be the way it is with us, and the Lord; may it not be something we have to do, but want, long, crave, desire, to do.

Holy Spirit come and do whatever You need to do in us so that spending time with you, Jesus, and Father is something we want, long, crave and desire to do this year. And Lord, if it is true that you look favorably on us, let us know your ways so we may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen!

A Prayer of Revolution and Hope

In all this talk of "postmodernity" and "we have to do church differently" today, I fear we sometimes throw the baby out with the bathwater. With little or no reflection we turn our back on anchors of the faith that have served the Church well for centuries. For instance, with little or no reflective thought, some criticize the praying of the Lord's Prayer in our worship services, calling it merely vain repetition. Can it be that? Sure it can. But it doesn't have to be. Praying the "Our Father" can be a prayer of intentional warfare, a prayer of revolution, and a prayer of hope.

As I had my coffeetime with Jesus this morning, here are a few thoughts I read from N.T. Wright that may help breathe some freshness into praying the Lord's Prayer in your worship services this week:

The first occurrence in the Hebrew Bible of the idea of God as the Father comes when Moses marches in boldly to stand before Pharaoh, and says: Thus says the Lord: Israel is my first son, my firstborn; let my people go, that they may serve me (Ex 4:22-23). For Israel to call God “Father,” then, was to hold on to the hope of liberty. The slaves were called to be sons.

When Jesus tells His disciples to call God “Father,” those with ears to hear will understand. He wants us to get ready for the new Exodus. We are going to be free at last. This is the Advent hope, the hope of the coming of the Kingdom of God. The tyrant’s grip is going to be broken, and we shall be free. The very first word of the Lord’s Prayer, therefore (in Greek or Aramaic, “Father” would come first), contains within it not just intimacy, but revolution. Not just familiarity; but hope.

The national hope seemed to have slipped away for Israel; yet they clung on to the fact that God had said He would set them, His first born son, free. Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Egypt, Syria, and now Rome; when would the tyranny of evil end? When would Israel be free? The very first word of the Lord’s Prayer says: Let it be now; and let it be us. Father…Our Father…

The word “Father” concentrates our attention on the revolutionary message and mission of Jesus. It is the Exodus-message, the message that tyrants and oppressors rightly fear. But it isn’t a message of simple human revolution. Most revolutions breed new tyrannies; not this one. This is the Father’s revolution. It comes through the suffering and death of the Son. This revolution comes about through the Messiah, and His people, sharing and bearing the pain of the world, that the world may be healed.

At the end of John’s Gospel, Jesus says to His followers: As the Father sent me, so I send you (John 20:21). We live between Advent and Advent; between the first great Advent, the coming of the Son into the world, and the second Advent, when He shall come again in power and glory to judge the living and the dead. The first and second Advents are actually what Christianity is all about: celebrating the decisive victory of God, in Jesus Christ, over Pharaoh and the Red Sea, over sin and death – and looking for, and working for, and longing for, and praying for, the full implementation of that decisive victory.

Beloved, to pray the Lord’s Prayer in integrity, is not only a prayer of intimacy, it is a prayer of intentional warfare. To pray the “Our Father” is to be kicking at the darkness until it bleeds daylight. Let us join with millions upon millions of Christians around the world this week and pray this prayer of warfare. Let us recapture this anchor of our faith, breathe new life into it and continue to pass it on to new generations to come that we all may increasingly experience now between the Advents the benefits of God's Kingdom way of living life.

No Place for Narcissism

I am meeting with the Lord in the Gospel of Mark these days, and as Jesus and I were having coffee this morning my attention was arrested by the words of one commentator regarding John the Baptist in the opening verses of Mark, chapter one:

"Most of us find it difficult to identify with John the Baptist. He cuts directly across the grain of self-interest and the glamor of being Number One that continues to plague us. Think of it. If you were asked to choose the dominant symbol of our generation, what would it be? A flag, a cross, a missile, a television antenna, a dollar sign, a test tube, an oil barrel, a bloated belly, a handgun, an automobile, a peace symbol? My choice would be the sight of a forefinger pointed into the air and accompanied by the chant, 'We're number one.' The symbol, of course, comes from the world of sports, where winning has come dangerously close to being everything. More than a game is at stake in the symbol. Number One has come to symbolize the personal and national self-interest of the 'me' generation. Christopher Lasch sees these tendencies as self-destructive in his book, The Cult of Narcissism."

Oh Beloved, let us not allow any hint of narcissism to worm its way into our lives or ministries. Let us ask God to give us His grace and His healing that we might be so whole and holy that like John the Baptist the only One we point people to is Jesus Christ. Let Jesus be the only One we draw attention to in the ARC and at The Master's Institute; and let us be courageous enough to acknowledge where we need God's healing touch in our lives so that we are free of any need to draw attention to ourselves whatsoever. Let us refuse to rationalize and justify with spiritual words, a hidden desire to be the one to whom others are drawn to. Where we have an unwholesome, unmet need for validation, affirmation, and significance, let us ask God to bring healing and freedom so we are whole and holy enough to point other people to the One who can truly set them free - Jesus Christ.

There is no room in the ARC or in The Master's Institute for anything less. So, Beloved, have the courage today to pray the prayer David prayed in Psalm 139:23-24, and wherever God may show you some "grievous way" in you, find someone you trust, find someone who for you is a "safe place," find someone who will give you mature, godly counsel, not counsel that calms your itching ears, so that you can submit yourself to a work of God in you that brings healing, freedom and further maturity in your life.

In the end may it be said of the ARC and of The Master's Institute: They always pointed us toward Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.

Keep on Praying and Don't Lose Heart

I'm in Orange, CA, having my coffeetime with Jesus in the home of good friend, Tom Brashears. Though the coffee I made in a coffee maker with which I'm not familiar was rather weak, Jesus was not offended.

In addition to Scripture, I am reading Pete Grieg's book, God on Mute, these days. In it this morning, I read a passage that took me back to God's word, to the opening lines of chapter 18 in the gospel of Luke: "And he (Jesus) told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart."

Perhaps some of you, like me, are praying for family members or friends and have not yet seen the answers to our prayers. The words of Jesus and Grieg this morning encourage me to keep on praying. I hope they will encourage you to do the same. Grieg writes the following:

"Ultimately, it is the power of influence that shapes and changes lives. When we begin to see prayer-power as a model of relational influence within people's lives rather than an impersonal control-mechanism over them, we begin to sense the importance of perseverance in prayer and of allowing the Holy Spirit to guide the way we pray for a person or community over a protracted period of time.

Some of our prayers aren't yet answered because they are working gradually and not as an impersonal mechanism of forced control.

We can't change people's minds in prayer as if they were remote-control cars or computers waiting to be hacked. But maybe we can influence their circumstances so as to soften their hearts. In prayer, we appeal to the gentleness of Christ's nature as well as His power and engage with the complex free will of people He loves. That's why prayers for people generally work slowly, like water seeping silently into the tiny cracks of a vast boulder. For a long time, nothing may appear to have changed. Our prayers, resembling mere dribbles of water, appear to be of an entirely different nature than the substance of the rock. But then there comes the first great freeze of winter-some circumstance beyond human control-and overnight, as if by magic, as if struck by lightning, that vast boulder splits open.

In prayer, we may partner with God to influence a person's environment and experiences (and if the person's free will is already inclined toward God, our prayers will effect a change much more quickly than in those whose hearts are hard). However, we cannot make a person do anything that he or she doesn't want to do."

Uprising

Are you like me? Do you find it easy to discount the activity of our enemy in this world because you don't want to be "one of those" who see "a demon behind every bush?" I still remember the woman who tried to cast "the demon of sniffles" out of me because I had a cold. I made up my mind right then and there that I didn't want to be like her. And I'm not. However, too often my pendulum may swing too far the other way; so far that I am a little naive to the enemy's role and scheme's in opposing the ways that God is calling me to partner with Him in advancing His Kingdom in the world today. Too often I forget what Bible writers took for granted: We live on a planet ruled by powers intent on blocking and perverting the will of God.

I don't want to be naive in regards to unseen opposition; and I do want to be involved in an uprising for the Kingdom of God in the world today. I really do. Therefore, I must pray. I must pray and ask the Lord to continue teaching me to pray. Karl Barth wrote, "To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world."

Perhaps there is even just one of you out there who like me has been tempted to over-react to someone who saw a demon behind every bush, or, in my case, up your nose. Let's encourage one another not to be naive to the reality that we do have an enemy who is intent on blocking and perverting the will of God in our life, the life of our family, the lives of the leaders and members in our congregation. Let's ask God this year to teach us more about prayer and to infuse us with a desire to actually do that - pray. Let's clasp our hands together and start an uprising for the Kingdom of God.

The Lord bless you (and me) today with a renewed longing to be aware of God's presence with you, to bow your knees and clasp your hands in His presence, and pray.

Dreading Something This Week?

I've been home these days, recovering from a bout with bronchitis (feeling better today). It's made me stay home, rest, and about all I've been able "to do" is read and pray (it's been painful to do that with beautiful days crying out, "this is the day the Lord has made, go forth and golf in it").

Anyway, I'm reading Philip Yancey's book on Prayer and a passage this morning struck a particular chord with me, and perhaps will with you. There have been times in the past when I have wrestled with something I needed to do, or a conversation with someone I needed to have; wrestled with it, and at times, dreaded it. I've used up energy putting off addressing whatever it is, all the while imagining how conversations and encounters would go in my head.

Yancey speaks to that kind of week when he writes:

"If I remember (and I blush at how often I forget), I can commit to God in advance a difficult letter I must answer, a thorny problem I must deal with in my writing, a nagging physical ailment, a phone call to a needy relative, a social engagement I dread. The very process of presenting these requests to God puts me in a different frame of mind before the event. And if I remember to pause afterward and reflect on what happened, often the traces of God appear, seen not by proof but by faith."

Got something this week you're not looking forward to? Dreading? Putting off? In times like these, let's encourage each other to take these things to God in prayer, even if we don't "feel" like it, even if we don't "feel full of faith" as we do so. It'll be interesting to see, looking back, how many "traces of God appear."

Love you all, and praying for you to not miss anything God has for you this week.