Don’t Underestimate the Power of Presence and Encouragement

I’m in 1 Samuel 23 this morning as I sit down to have coffee, and meet with the Lord in His word and prayer. In verses 13ff we have the story of David and his men hiding in the wilderness, Saul hot on their trail. David receives word Saul is searching for him in order to kill him.

Then, as I read verses 16 and 17, Holy Spirit caught my attention. These verses tell us something that on the surface might not seem all that important or exciting. It is the simple story of Jonathan coming to be with David. It is a short story of the power of presence and encouragement.

In this technological age, when we can’t physically be with someone, a phone call, email, or skype contact may be better than nothing. However, being personally present is still the most effective means of bringing a needed word of encouragement; and a word of encouragement does just that – it gives and imparts courage at times and in situations where courage is needed.

David is in a place where he needs courage; and Jonathan comes to be present with him and to give him that word. In verse 17 we read Jonathan’s words of encouragement to David: “’Don’t be afraid,’ Jonathan reassured him, ‘My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel, and I will be next to you, as my father, Saul, is well aware’” (1 Sam 23:17, NLT).

Jonathan is not flattering David. He is reminding David of God’s word to him. He is reminding him of a word that is the most true thing; and this is what God’s word, God’s promises are – the most true thing. God’s word and promises are more true and real than the present circumstances we may find ourselves in. And the power of presence is still the best way to deliver those reminders to those in need.

If you can’t physically be present with someone who needs you this month, this Fall, then call them, email them, skype them. But if you can, make the time, take the time to go be present with them. Who do you know who needs you to be their Jonathan?

P.S.: The picture posted above is a good cup of Kenyan coffee and my Bible at the foot of Mt. Kiliminjaro. I recently returned from a trip there with ARC leaders Bob Mabry, his wife Tara, Dawn Lundgren, and my wife and son, Debi and Ben. It was a special blessing to get up each morning for that "coffeetime with Jesus" and look up at such a magnificent portion of God's creation. And this trip was full of the power of presence and encouragement, both for me, and through me. God bless you this Fall as you practice the power of presence and encouragement.

Let's Pray Before We Get There

I am in Huntington Beach, hosting a class being taught by Dave Householder for The Master's Institute Seminary at Robinwood Church. It's good to be here with Dave, with my good friend, Tom Brashears and his family (I'm staying with them), and with so many other friends out this way.

This morning I'm meeting with the Lord in the Gospel of Mark, reflecting on the story in Mark 9 of the father who comes to Jesus to ask healing for his son; the father who famously states, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief." Another friend, Vineyard pastor, Jack Moraine has written a good and helpful book on Christian healing and in his book as he examines this story he notes some interesting things.

First, that Jesus expected his disciples to be able to minister healing and deliverance; expected them to be able to naturally move in God's supernatural power.

Second, that it does not seem to take perfect faith to lay hold of the healing power of Jesus. The father comes, as many of us often do (I sure do) with a mixture of faith and doubt. However, the father does not let the doubt keep him from acting on his faith in coming to Jesus in the first place, believing Jesus has the power to heal his son ("Lord, I believe"). And Jesus responds to this mixture of faith and doubt by healing the son! An imperfect mixture does not keep Jesus from responding. Thank Your, Lord of mercy and grace. Jack notes that faith is not the absence of doubt, but the presence of belief. And the father acts on his belief in Jesus.

What really catches my attention this morning, however, is what Jack notes about Jesus' interesting statement that these demonic forces only come out by prayer. He reminds me in his book that the time to be praying for the sick (and the demonized) is before we come to minister to them. Our moving naturally in the supernatural power of Jesus flows out of an ongoing relationship of intimacy in prayer. The time to pray is before we get there.

So, with that in mind I'd like to ask you to be praying now for the ARC Southwest Gathering on July 13-15 in San Diego, CA. Please join me in praying now, before we get there. Let's be praying now for keynote speakers Pete Greig and Kristi Graner that God would be speaking to them and working in their lives, preparing them for the time they'll be with us. Let's pray now for Danny Mullins who will be our primary worship leader that God be speaking to him and working in his life to prepare him for this time.

And let's be praying now for all who the Lord will draw to be there those days. Let's be praying now that God work in our hearts in such a way that we will be open and receptive to the God breakthroughs He wants to encounter us with, and for the ongoing fruit of these encounters He wants to mark our lives.

Thanks for joining me in praying now, before we get there.

In God's Unshakable and Extravagant Love,

Mike

Father God Wants Us to Know the Joy of Answered Prayer

A dear friend of mine says that faith believes that what God says is the most true thing. Working with this definition might mean other things are true as well but what God says is truer then even them. For instance, if we apply this to the practice of prayer, it is often true that many of our prayers seem to go unanswered or are answered in ways other than we had hoped they’d be. However, approaching the practice of prayer in faith would then mean that what God says is truer than my experience of prayer at times.

Beloved, what God says of prayer in His Word is most certainly truer than our experience and our feelings in prayer at times; perhaps many times, but truer, nonetheless. Let us not dare to settle for anything less than all God longs for us to experience as we re-practice the spiritual habit of prayer because it is true according to God’s Word that or Father God wants us to know the joy of answered prayer.

Jesus came to represent the Father to humanity and as He did He taught on and practiced prayer. In fact, Jesus’ teaching on prayer was one of the most positive areas of His teaching ministry. He tells us things that are truer than our experience sometimes, things such as:

“I tell you, ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or, if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give goods gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:9-13, ESV).”

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it (John 14:12-14, ESV).”

Does your experience of prayer measure up to these verses? Are you receiving, finding, having doors opened, and receiving whatever you ask for in the name of Jesus? To some degree perhaps but not to the degree you’d like to see be your experience? I know that I am not. I want to see more answered prayer in my life, my family’s life, and in the life of the Alliance of Renewal churches network.

In acknowledging my practice of prayer not measuring up to the most true thing God’s Word says about prayer, I refuse to let my lack of experience be the last word on the subject. I refuse to settle for less than all God wants for me, for my family, and for all you in the ARC. I refuse to settle for less than the most true thing God says about prayer. I want His Word, not my experience to be the last word on the subject!

So I am going to re-practice prayer by continuing to preach, teach, and practice God’s Word, not my experience. I am going to continue to pray until there is a breakthrough in my prayer life, in the prayer life of my family, and in the prayer life of the Alliance of Renewal Churches. Will you join me? Will you join me in choosing this year not to settle for less than all God has in store for us as we pray? Will you join me this year in not allowing our experience of prayer, but rather God’s Word concerning prayer to have the last word in our lives, and in the lives of those we pray for?

If we will practice prayer more consistently and intentionally this year, if we will allow ourselves to wrestle with the mystery of prayer more this year and not give up, we will see more God breakthroughs; more God breakthroughs in our lives and in the lives of others.

We cannot experience and live fully into the vision God has given us in the ARC unless we are committed to being a people of prayer and our churches being houses of prayer. That vision, lest we forget is this: To see churches and leaders on the radical edge with God, kicking at the darkness until it bleeds daylight so the people of God live into their destiny as world changers, and the least, the last and the lost are touched by the love of God.

God did not give this sense of vision to us just so we could have a nice sounding vision statement on a piece of paper or on a website. He gave it to us to live into. He gave it to us to grow us and stretch us in our experience of what He can do through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in and through us. Let’s go for it. Let’s not settle for anything less.

Let us ask God to stir us pray more consistently and intentionally this year than ever before, even when our experience may not be resulting in as much answered prayer or prayers answered in the ways we thought they should be. Let us trust that as we make the effort to pray, God will meet us there, teach us there, transform us there, and enable our experience to grow through faith in matching what is most certainly true: Father God wants us to know the joy of answered prayer.

Mike

Leaders Help Others Believe in Themselves

Leaders participate in God’s mission of declaring and demonstrating His Kingdom purposes when they intentionally look around to see others who need someone to believe in them before they even believe in themselves. One of the books I’ve been reading for fun these days (do you read for fun as well as for work?) is the latest book on the life of one of my boyhood heroes, Mickey Mantle. Growing up in Nebraska in the 1950s there was no professional baseball team to root for (there still isn’t today), so you had to look around the country and pick a team. For some reason, I had become spellbound with Mickey Mantle, so I chose the New York Yankees. Playing center field, number 7, Mickey Mantle.

To this day, even though I know of his sin-filled living style, part of me still loves the Mickey Mantle I knew growing up; the one who only played baseball (not the drinker and womanizer I later discovered him to be), the one who played center field with the best combination of speed and power the game has ever witnessed – all on one good leg due to a knee injury suffered during the 1952 World Series and hindered him the rest of his career. Mickey Mantle, number 7. My first and last names have seven letters each, I was born on October 7th, and I’ve always worn number 7 in my sports career (baseball and basketball) whenever I could. Mickey Mantle. Maybe it was ordained that as a young boy I was to fall in love with Mickey Mantle as my boyhood hero.

Having read most other books on Mantle, I naturally ordered the latest treatment on his life, The Last Boy. The first third of the book is a sad story of Mantle’s trying so hard to live up to the expectations of his dad and his first manger, Casey Stengel. Neither man ever encouraged him or affirmed him to his face; they simply reminded him of his greater potential and how he was not fulfilling it. Then at that 1/3 point in the book comes the story of the new manger for the Yankees in 1961, Ralph Houk. Houk had been a coach for the Yankees so he knew Mantle. And what he did in spring training of 1961 not only changed Mantle, but leaves one wondering what could have been if Houk had been his manager from the start of his career.

Houk saw something in Mantle that Mickey did not see in himself. Mickey had only and ever thought of himself as no one special and as a follower, not a leader. Houk though, saw that the other players would follow Mantle and he believed in Mickey. He called Mickey into his office that spring of 1961 and told number seven he was going to make him the team captain. Houk told Mickey, “You should be the leader of our club because everybody respects you and you don’t like to lose. You just go lead in your own way” (The Last Boy, Kindle edition, 2010). Mantle agreed; and then went out and had the greatest start to any year of his career, even better than his triple-crown winning season of 1956.

The author notes that the biggest difference between the regimes of Stengel and Houk was Houk’s selection of Mantle as team captain because it caused Mickey to rethink himself. Mantle said in an interview, “Ralph is the best thing that ever happened to me in my life.” Imagine, said one teammate who was close to Mantle, what kind of career this one-legged Hall of Famer would have had with two good knees and confidence.

A leader who is intentional about looking around to see who needs someone to believe in them before they believe in themselves can cause someone to rethink him or herself. This in turn, can cause the course of someone’s life to take a turn for the better and lead them further into the purposes of God for their lives.

I had just such a person do that for me. Ralph Houk came into Mickey Mantle’s life; Charles Miller came into mine. Charles is a Lutheran pastor (now retired) who had been commissioned by the LCA to travel and facilitate charismatic renewal in the Church. By God’s grace he became my dear friend and mentor in the early 1990’s. I was privileged to travel nationally and internationally with Charles while I served as a youth pastor in Rapid City, South Dakota. At some point something began to stir in me and I became frustrated with being a youth pastor, which confused me because I had seen myself as a career youth pastor; one who was going to finish strong in what I considered a critically important function of ministry. I was frustrated and confused. Charles wasn’t. He saw something in me that I did not see in myself – that I was being called out of youth ministry into a different function of ministry, which would included equipping and encouraging adults in God’s call on their lives.

So, Charles and I are in Alberta, Canada one year where he was speaking to pastors and seminary students at an event called the Leadership Training Institute (LTI). I was along to play guitar, lead worship and just spend time with Charles. One day during the LTI, the one o’clock afternoon session was to be a workshop on the topic of “Vision.” Charles knew I had been doing quite a bit of reading and writing on this topic, and though the senior pastor of my own church had not initially noticed it nor been willing to make a way for me to put it to use once he did become aware of it, Charles saw something he believed needed to be given a platform. When we came back after lunch for the afternoon session he looked at the gathering and said, “I’m supposed to speak on the topic of vision this afternoon, but there’s someone here who can speak to the issue better than I can. Mike, come up here and speak to us about vision.” I thought Charles was joking and so did everyone else, evidenced by their laughing at Charles’ “joke.” But Charles wasn’t joking. In fact, he was walking toward where I was sitting. He leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Just go share some of the things you’ve been telling me about, with them.” I stood up on shaking knees, walked to the front of the room, stood behind the podium, sheepishly looked out at the startled faces and said, “We’d better pray.” We did, and four hours later, after some sharing from me, some time for discussion, and much prayer ministry between class participants, we were done.

This was my first step out of youth ministry (a ministry I still love and have high regard for) to what I am doing now – serving as the president of a seminary and the director of a church network. All because a leader was intentional about looking around for someone he could believe in before that person even believed in himself.

Who is it around you that God wants you to be intentional about believing in? Who is it you can help “rethink” their own self-talk and sense of identity? Who is it you can create a platform for and help launch into the further purposes of God for their lives? As God shows you who that person is in your sphere of influence already, or who it is as He brings them into your life, please take the time and make the effort Charles did for me. What Ralph Houk did for Mickey Mantle changed his life. What Charles did for me changed mine. What you do for someone who needs you to believe in them will change theirs too.

Grace for a Season of Waiting

For some time now I have been seeking to hear and know God's will regarding something specific in my life; something which I've been talking with Him about in prayer. So far, no answer. Prayer, but no clear response. Maybe some of you, like me, are in a season of waiting to hear from God, or, you know someone who is. This morning (yes, over some good Sumatra coffee with Jesus), I read the following quote from a particular commentator regarding the testing of Abraham's faith in Genesis 22. Perhaps we can apply what he writes to our season of waiting for God's wisdom and will to be revealed to us.

"Abraham was suddenly confronted with that most awesome of problems - a self-contradictory God. Unbelief stumbles over such problems while mature faith waits to see how the distant recesses of the wisdom of God hidden form human reason and understanding will be made known. But the waiting can be excruciating and many people, rather than bear the pain, simply abandon the faith."

God bless with more of His grace for our season of waiting. He will answer. He will reveal His will and wisdom to us. Let's not settle for anything less than this. God bless you and your families this Advent and Christmas!

In God's Unshakable Love,

Mike

A Vision and Deepening Conviction

As we move into this season of Advent, truly a season of God-breakthrough in this world, I believe I am receiving and experiencing a deepening conviction and vision from God; something not merely for me and my family, but for the ARC, and beyond the ARC, for the body of Christ. It is related to the theme for the 2011 ARC Gatherings - Prayer - Ushering in a Kingdom Uprising.

Here it is: I believe the Lord longs to see an increase in the number of ARC members (and other followers of Jesus in the larger body of Christ) praying consistently and intentionally that we might experience an increase of God breakthroughs and answers, which will pull us, our families and churches, and not-yet Christians further out into the flow of God's purposes for our lives.

The very fact that prayer is the thing we so easily skip over, or limit in some way in our own lives and in our meetings of all sorts, may be a clue to its power; and why the enemy is so afraid of a praying church. For so many of us here in the West, though our words may not say it, our practice does: Prayer is not productive.

Programs, however, are productive - that's what our practice says we truly believe. I am not trying to dump on any of us, of come with some heavy, condemning, critical word. Don't abandon the programs God has called you to implement. But don't abandon prayer either. In fact, let's ratchet up our prayer a few notches. Let's ask God, as the disciples did, "Lord, teach us to pray," and then let's listen to what He says to us - and then let's obey what He says to us.

Prayer, not programs, is going to be the key in the coming years to our being an alliance of like-minded leaders and churches through whom God can think, speak, and act in the world for His Kingdom purposes. God is at work in the world. God is carrying out His mission. Prayer will position us to hear, cooperate, and participate with the Lord in what it is He is doing. Lord, teach us to pray! Lord, teach us to know and exercise in prayer the authority You have given us in the name of Christ!

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.

Repentance, Changed Thinking, and An Upgrade of Faith

So, I’m in Hebrews 11 during my Coffeetime with Jesus this morning. In verses 5-6 I read: “It was by faith Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying – he disappeared because God took him. For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.”

As I read the passage, this thought comes: “At the end of my days I would love to be known as one who pleased God. I would love for others to say, ‘In his life and the way he lived his life, Mike pleased God; he pleased the Lord by not settling for less than all God had for him.’ And in living this way, Mike brought glory to God and connected many people to Him.”

Then I read verses 32-33: “How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice and received what God had promised them.”

Then this thought came: Lord God, by faith these beloved ones were pleasing to You and did not settle for less than all You had for them. I want to live that kind of life, with that kind of faith and I want You to do whatever You need to do in me so that I can.

Come Holy Spirit, and do whatever You need to do in me so You can do whatever You want to do in me. Come Holy Spirit and show me if there is any way I have been settling for less than all Father has for me.

In those places where I have been settling for less, grant me the gift of repentance where I need to repent; I want to repent Lord and strip off the weight of sin that slows me down and trips me up.

I want You to change the way I think where the way I think is not helpful to living a life pleasing to You. Change my thinking in every way where it does not agree with Your thoughts, with Your ways of thinking.

And increase, upgrade my faith that in all the days that are left for me in this world, so I might live a life that is pleasing to You; a life that brings glory to you; a life that does not settle for anything less than all You have for me. In Jesus’ name I pray this from my heart. Amen!

Stuggling in Prayer for Others

During my coffeetime with Jesus this morning I read of a brother in the Lord name Epaphras, a Colossian Christian in prison with the Apostle Paul. I am amazed at what Paul writes about him in Col 4:13. Listen to this:

"Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God."

Amazing. Epaphras really believed the power of God could work through prayer. He believed this so much that he was willing to struggle on behalf of others so God's good purposes could be realized in their lives. Epaphras' prayer life was not one merely sweet with the aroma of God's good presence; his prayer life in part at least, was a struggle, a fight. And he was willing to fight on behalf of others so God could do whatever He needed to do them, so He could do whatever He wanted to do through them.

Please join in me in struggling in prayer on behalf of all who will attend the ARC Gathering, "The Empowering Presence." Join me in struggling in prayer so those God wants to attend this gathering - ARC member or guest - will in fact be there and will not give in to any temptation to not attend. Join me in struggling in prayer for those whose intellect may be getting in the way of receiving whatever God wants to do in their lives. Join me in struggling in prayer for those who need God to blow up their God boxes in any way so they can experience more fully who He is. Join me in struggling in prayer for those who need a breakthrough of any sort in their relationship with Holy Spirit. Join me in struggling in prayer for those who need any healing of old wounds that are still impacting their present in unhelpful ways - especially wounds from any charismatic heresy or practice they've experienced in the past.

Please join me in prayer. Let's fight the good fight. Let's be like Epaphras.

Thanks for your gift of time, and your willingness to struggle, on behalf of others (including ourselves) that we might encounter, experience, and receive whatever God has for us during these days we gather in Huntington Beach.

Praying for The ARC Gathering: The Empowering Presence

God's grace and peace to you all,

This morning during my coffeetime with Jesus I found myself moving into prayer for Lee Grady, Dave Householder, and all of our workshop presenters and worship leaders for the ARC Gathering on June 17-19. Please join me in prayer for these brothers and sisters, that they might hear a word of revelation from God as to what it is He wants to speak and do through them during the gathering. And please join me in prayer that God might be preparing our hearts to receive what He has for us.

As we move toward the gathering let us join in the prayer: "Lord, do whatever You need to do in us, so that You can do whatever You want to do through us." We pray for God's Spirit to fall upon us and be stirred up within us these days and to manifest His presence in whatever ways He knows we uniquely need. May He grace some of us with a spirit of repentance that turns us away from pursuits that feed our own ego. May He grace some of us with freedom from besetting sins that we have not been able to shake for years, even decades. May He grace some of us with healing for old wounds of the past that have still been influencing our present in unhealthy ways. May He grace some of us with a stirring up of His presence and power within us to enable us to serve Him even more effectively wherever He chooses to send us. May he nurture the growth of the fruit of His Spirit that we may become more and more like Jesus in who we are, not merely in what we know. Come Holy Spirit, come in power and in freedom and have Your way with us!

Let us pray that we all go home different than when we came. Let's pray that for ourselves and all those from our congregations who attend. Is there someone from your church body the Lord wants you to specifically invite to be there? Listen for the Lord's prompting and as He may bring someone to mind, dare to invite them. This gathering of course will not be the only place someone can have a God encounter. However, it may be God's appointed time and place for some; so, please listen and then act as you're prompted by God's Spirit. I remember experiencing this shortly after I came to The Master's Institute Seminary to join the staff. We were taking students on a missions trip to Mexico and I was prompted by a thought to invite a staff member to join the students on the trip. At the time, I wasn't sure if this was God or not, but the thought would not go away so in the end, I did invite the staff member. That staff person said yes, came on the trip, was powerfully impacted by the Holy Spirit, returned and became a student at MI and this Saturday, will graduate. Is there someone God is bringing to your mind, putting on your heart, to specifically invite and encourage to attend?

It will be fun to see what the Lord says to us, does in us, and then does through us as we go home to continue the ministry of Jesus in the world today through the power of Holy Spirit.

In God's Unshakable and Extravagant Love,

Mike

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).

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.

A Band of Brothers and Sisters Who Refuse To Settle For Less

This is part 2 of answering the question: Why should I attend an ARC Gathering on the Empowering Presence of the Holy Spirit this year? Why should you attend? Why should you be intentional in inviting members of your church to attend? Because there is something powerful about gathering together with a band of brothers and sisters who refuse to settle for less than all God has for them. There is something powerful about gathering together with a band of like-minded brothers and sisters that raises our level of faith and expectancy. There is something freeing about being able to fully be who we really are with a like-minded band and not having to worry about “toning it down” or making apologies or playing theological word games for wanting more.

The Alliance of Renewal Churches is like a band of brothers and sisters. We are there to help one another stay focused on the mission at hand. We are there to stand shoulder-to-should, giving courage to one another as we engage in the great cosmic conflict of our age because courage has a relational component to it. We are there to pick one another up and carry each other through seasons of life that are challenging, discouraging, and painful. We are there to not allow one another to settle for less than all God has in store for us. We are there for one another because while alone we may be gifted, together we are a force to be reckoned with.

We can do none of this, however, without the empowering presence of Holy Spirit. He is the One who can transform us to be that band of brothers and sisters. He is the One who can bring healing to the broken parts of us, bringing forth wholeness out of our pain. He is the One who can set us free from strongholds we have run to and hidden in for too long instead of running to and trusting God. He is the One who can strengthen us and encourage us for the works God has called us to put our hands to. He is the One who can give us gifts to accomplish the tasks at hand and the fruit of character that make those gifts taste even sweeter. He is the One who can raise our levels of faith and expectancy. He is the One who can make us truly a team, not just a group of individuals who use team language. He is the One who can stir in us a holy boldness in place of a fleshly arrogance and sinful pride. He is the One who can impart to us a desire to lay down any and all selfish ambitions. He is the One who can stir in us a passion not merely to be leaders, but to be lovers of God who lead.

We need Holy Spirit. We need His empowering presence to have freedom to move in us and through us. This is one reason we will gather for the ARC Southwest (June 17-19) and Midwest (October 21-23) gatherings this year. We will gather to invite Holy Spirit to move in freedom and in power in our lives, in our families, in our congregations, and throughout the ARC. We will gather to invite Holy Spirit to truly make us a band of brothers and sisters who are there for one another, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, not allowing each other to settle for anything less than all Father God has for us. This is why we will gather and we will settle for nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else.

Why Should I Attend an ARC Gathering on the Empowering Presence of the Holy Spirit – Part 1

The theme for the 2010 ARC Southwest (June 17-19) and Midwest (Oct 21-23) Gatherings is: The Empowering Presence. We believe God wants to encounter us as we gather together with an experiential reality of the presence and power of His Holy Spirit. In the coming weeks I intend to write some postings on this blog site responding to the question: Why should I attend an ARC gathering on the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit? Today’s posting is Part 1.

In order to live fully into the destiny God has for us individually and corporately we must be experiencing the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit. I use the word, “experientially” intentionally. While every Christian has the presence of the Holy Spirit within them, not every Christian, not every Christian leader, is living in the power of the Holy Spirit. While we may have a theology of the Spirit, we do not always have an ongoing life experience of Him moving in and through us to continue the ministry of Jesus in the world today.

On the Alliance of Renewal Churches (ARC) website, under the posting of our non-negotiables we state: The ARC is a network in which the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit are celebrated, not merely tolerated. We are committed to fostering a radical dependence upon the Holy Spirit.

I like that statement. However, a statement does not reality make. We cannot settle for merely having a good theology of the Holy Spirit written down on paper or posted on our website. We cannot settle for giving lip service to the personhood and reality of the Holy Spirit; we need a real encounter, and multiple encounters, with Him. Theologian, Gordon Fee, writes:

"If the Church is going to be effective in our postmodern world, we need to stop paying mere lip service to the Spirit and to recapture Paul’s perspective: the Spirit as the experienced, empowered return of God’s own personal presence in and among us, who enables us to live as a radically eschatological people in the present world while we await His return."

Fee also writes, “We too often treat the Spirit as a matter of creed and doctrine, but not as a vital experienced reality in believers’ lives.” Are you experiencing all there is to experience in your relationship with Holy Spirit? Are the leaders and members of your church? Am I? Are we really as fully yielded to God’s will in this aspect of our relationship with Him as we can be, and as He longs for us to be? Are we open to receiving and experiencing whatever He wants to do in us so He can do whatever he wants to do through us?

The stirring up of the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit is not just so we can have a “Holy Ghost feel good” experience. The stirring up of the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit in a follower of Christ is for the purpose of empowering us to continue the ministry of Jesus in the world today. God wants to empower us to continue speaking the words Jesus would speak and doing the things Jesus would do so that people can be saved, healed, set free, and empowered to live fully into their God-given destinies.

So why attend a gathering like the ARC’s this year? It is one way you can be intentional about restoring the power and presence of the Holy Spirit experientially in your life, not settling for merely holding to a theology of it. Coming to one of the ARC gatherings this year and gathering with like-minded brothers and sisters might just be one way you can say to the Lord, “I’m not willing to settle for anything less than all you have in store for me in my relationship with Holy Spirit.”

To register for the ARC Gathering in June, go to: www.robinwoodchurch.com. We'll see you there!