If you believe in God, then you have asked yourself some variation of this question: How can I know what God wants for or from me?
Another way the question has been asked is, “Is it possible for me to hear God’s voice today?” The implication being that God no longer speaks with people like he seemingly did in the Bible. I think the short answer to the question is this, God does speak today. We are just don’t know how to hear him.
One of the issues we have when reading the Bible is that we lose the sense of time. The Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years. God was not “talking” every day. This is one of the misconceptions we have to get rid of if we are going to hear from God in our own lives. God’s use of audible declarations were rare occurrences. The problem is not whether God speaks, it’s figuring out if we are tuning into the right station. Some of the assumptions we have about how God communicates have to change if we are going to gain clarity in discerning his presence and will for our lives. Continue reading “Reading as Conversation: Learning to Hear the Voice of God Today (Pt. 1)”
In Part 1 of our search we discussed how spiritual formation should be holistic. What this means, at least for me, is that we talk about human nature and the human experience in a more biblical manner. The Bible assumes the physical and spiritual realities of humanity in a unified, indivisible way; seeing no contradiction between the two. What is even more interesting to me is that in the person of Jesus we are confronted with a divine person who took on flesh and became like created man. The mystery and profundity of this could take an eternity to explore. Continue reading “You are a New Creation: In Search of a Stronger Theology of Spiritual Formation (Part 2)”
More than half of my life has been spent in some form of ministry. I have served a number of churches and have been responsible for a variety of ministry areas. For eight of those years I served as a youth pastor. I will not get into the pros and cons of youth ministry as a whole–that would take far too long. I would like to take a few moments and explore some of the lessons I learned during my time as a pastor to those who were still trying to discover what they believed. I can say without hesitation that my time in youth ministry greatly affected the way that I understand spiritual formation. Continue reading “You are a New Creation: In Search of a Stronger Theology of Spiritual Formation (Part 1)”
I’ve been reading Our Last Great Hope: Awakening the Great Commission by Ronnie Floyd. The author was given the task of leading the task force for the Southern Baptist Convention to revitalize and re-imagine the evangelistic efforts of the Convention. The book chronicles Floyd’s own journey of discovery as he thought deeply and more intentionally on the last thing that Jesus left for the church to do. As Dr. Floyd led the Great Commission Resurgence movement within the Southern Baptist Convention he discovered that he, nor his denomination, had thought deeply enough about the Great Commission even though they were known for their evangelism efforts.
The book is a wonderful reminder that our passion and desire to be a part of God’s work can never be too much. Our love of Jesus and his love for us should provide us who follow him with only motivation we could ever need.
My Thoughts
The book has many ideas that are not new. But, from the outset the way that Floyd framed the motivation that we should all have for evangelism and the Great Commission in particular was thought provoking. The author said that there are three tough questions that we all should be asking ourselves.
Do I know Jesus Intimately?
Do I love Jesus Passionately?
Do I share Jesus Constantly?
Each one of these questions caused me to think more intentionally about my own faith journey. It is not enough to just show up and think that that will be enough. We have to realize that what God is calling us to is far more than many of us is really ready to give. The last word of each question is where the “rubber meets the road.” It’s not just do I know, love and share Jesus. It HOW do I do these things? What Jesus is asking of us is total obedience and surrender.
I found this book to be both enlightening and simple to follow. I found myself agreeing with Floyd’s insistence that the great commission must be the center of our understanding of life and faith. If you are looking for another perspective, another way of looking at what it means to live out the great commission.
Not until that moment this past week have I ever understood the power of interceding for another, nor my own failure to follow through when I offered to pray for someone.
This past week I had an opportunity to pray with a friend. The two of us gathered with another brother in Christ and we spent time before the Lord. In the course of that time, we lifted him up before our heavenly Father and just tried to encourage him and remind him of who is in Jesus. There is nothing better than speaking the truth to another because, in the end, we are speaking the truth to ourselves. However, something happened as we wrapped up our time together that I could not have anticipated. My friend, let’s call him Rafael, said something that just blew me away. Rafael looked at us and said, “Thank you for being my words.”
OK, I have to be honest, I did not know what to make of that statement. I was shocked by it. It had never occurred to me that when I pray for someone I would actually be praying for them. That the person that I am praying for would use my words for their prayer to God. That as I spoke, they were speaking. Not until that moment this past week have I ever understood the power of interceding for another, nor my own failure to follow through when I offered to pray for someone.
I have said, “I’ll pray for you,” and “I’m praying for you,” and just offered one prayer right then because I was thinking about it, but forget about them and their situation until I see them again. Or, “You should pray about that,” and I do not even offer to pray for them right there. Prayer is not our way of feeling better about ourselves or what’s going on around us. Prayer has become therapy rather than trembling; an outlet rather than an opportunity to engage God and allow Him to speak. I wonder sometimes if we see prayer as an option rather than as an act of surrender. Rafael needed someone else to speak for him. His heart had feelings and thoughts that were held captive by pain and confusion; issues that I and the other brother did not have. Look around you. What friend, neighbor, or family member needs your help in expressing what they are feeling, but are unable to articulate? I found the following quote by Richard Foster as I was looking for pictures related to prayer.
Does this reflect your view of intercessory prayer? I cannot say this was me before this event. However, I have found myself praying more this week. Not just because I need to, because I do. I find myself praying for those I have promised or offered to pray for, but have not done so as I should. I have come to realize that when I intercede I am standing in the place of another. The word “inter-cede” literally means to surrender for another. I have not been doing that as I should.
If you read my random ruminations would you pray for me? I desire to be more consistent and faithful to walking and talking with my Lord and Savior Jesus, my heavenly Father, and the great helper, the Holy Spirit. I need to surrender more and more in this area and I need your help.
The process of reading, interpreting and ultimately understanding what the Bible says ought to be the greatest priority of the follower of Jesus.
I am reading through some material that has been sitting on my desk (and floor, for that matter) and interacting with it. I will be doing this more often over the next few weeks. This will give me a way of putting this information on the site and providing a way to search through a lot of material quickly.
I came across this article by R. C. Sproul, Sr., in Tabletalk Magazine. In it Dr. Sproul is looking at how do we interact and interpret the Bible. The following reflections and quotation page numbers are taken from the January 2011 magazine.
Two Principles to Govern Interpretation
1. The Analogy of Faith: This is the idea that scripture is its own interpreter. What this means on a practical level is that a through investigation of what the Bible has to say on a subject should be done before any exploration of other sources.
2. “Sensus literalis“: This does not mean that “every text in the Scriptures is given a “woodenly literal” interpretation, but rather that we must interpret the Bible in the sense in which it is written” (6). What this means is that we do not violate the laws of grammar or genre in order to arrive at an understanding of what the text says. Sproul makes this plainly clear.
“Though the Bible is not like any other book in that is carries with it the authority of divine inspiration, nevertheless, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit over a written text does not turn verbs into nouns or nouns into verbs. No special, secret, arcane, esoteric meaning is pourted into a text simply because it’s divinely inspiried. … No, the Bible is to be interpreted according to the ordinary rules of language.” (6-7)
At the heart of this principle is the idea that we start with what we know and understand and then trying to make sense of those areas that are not as clear. In order to treat the Bible as a cohesive text we have to maintain that sense as we engage it. To do otherwise is to violate the integrity of the message that the bible contains. Sproul provided this clarifying thought. “Though we affirm the basic clarity of the sacred Scripture, we do not at the same time say that all passage are equally clear” (7).
The process of reading, interpreting and ultimately understanding what the Bible says ought to be the greatest priority of the follower of Jesus. These two principles are helpful guides as you study.
As much as I would like to think that I pray as I should, I know it is not the case.
Over the course of my life I have heard people say, “Prayer changes things.” I have to agree. I believe that. The question that has often lingered in my mind though is this: What exactly is being changed? It is very easy to say that prayer changes things, but when you do not know what is being changed how can we benefit.
Because of my pastor’s emphasis on prayer in his current sermon series, I have found myself thinking on this subject regularly. As much as I would like to think that I pray as I should, I know it is not the case. As Pastor David was preaching this past week I wrote down this simple phrase.
Prayer is about Preparation
As I have thought about this over the last several days I have found that prayer does change things. What I have failed to realize is the changes serve a greater purpose than I have ever understood. There are at least three individuals or groups that are changed as we pray. I would like to look at each one of these in order.
1. The Person Praying Needs to be Prepared
Prayer prepares me for what God will do. Whenever I fail to pray through an issue with God I am missing out on what I will need to receive and use what God sends to me when he answers. If there is any one person that needs to change as a result of prayer it is me. One of the most confounding realities that James writes about is the fact that prayers go unanswered, not because God does not what to answer them, but because we are asking for things that do no conform to the plans and purposes of God. When we pray amiss, what we are doing is asking God to accept our petitions as his own. We want God to approve of what we have been doing, instead of asking God to allow us into what he is doing. Continue reading “Prayers Purpose: What Prayer Actually Changes”
I was meeting with a friend this morning. As we ate breakfast we were talking about how we become who God wants us to be. We had been reading through Colossians and we came to the end of chapter three. That is where Paul says this.
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:12-17, ESV)
In verses 12-13 we find the attributes of who we are supposed to be. We cannot just do these things. Something has to change inside of us so that we can become people who live like this. But in the next four verses we find that there are at least four things that can do, that God will use to transform us so we more closely reflect Christ. We have to “put on love,” “be thankful,” “let the word of Christ dwell in [me] richly,” “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.” If we do these things, God promises that we will see a change within us. Continue reading “The Two Questions That Will Destroy Your Faith”
This past week my pastor continued teaching on prayer in the The Circle Maker Series. The subject of this weeks message was “Praying Hard.” The story that he used was that of the persistent widow in Luke 18. The story tells how a widow seeking justice pestered a judge until he caved into the requests of the woman, just to get her off his back. It is an interesting story because she did not wait until her appointed court day. She continued to seek after the judge. The twist in the story is that this is not seen as inappropriate. Jesus seems to imply that God desires this kind of tenacity and stubbornness. Continue reading “UPDATED: How Long Is Long Enough?”
There is nothing more important to the work of the church than to be totally and unashamedly committed to Jesus. Any failure to love God and to love those whom God loves misses the message of Jesus.
The South Georgia Annual Conference met from June 3 – 5, in Macon, Georgia. This meeting takes place once a year and is the time for the conference to handle the business of the church. I was not able to attend, but did watch on the live stream online. One of the wonderful benefits of technology. As the conference drew to a close Bishop King shared some important thoughts with the clergy and lay members of the conference. I would like to share with you these thoughts and some of my own reflections.
Our bishop regularly greets the members of the conference by saying, “Hello beautiful people.” And he does so with such a warm smile it is hard not to smile back, knowing that this is a sincere greeting from him. I hope I never take it for granted. I am always left with the impression that the bishop really means it and he wants us to believe it for ourselves. We are a beautiful people. Not because of anything intrinsic within us, but because of who we have become and are becoming in Jesus.
