“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.” (Proverbs 9:10 – 11)
The first lesson I think we need to learn in order to run well and steadily the marathon courses God has each of us on is to learn how to run. Learning is quite exalted in all the cultures we’ve lived among – for example, in each place, earning a university degree is held in high esteem both personally and professionally. I am all about books and learning – my mother was a librarian and my father was a professor, and I gladly embraced the plethora of learning experiences that regularly came my way. I practically grew up in libraries and laboratories. I literally read encyclopedias and dictionaries for fun. But the Bible tells us that wisdom is the thing we should strive for, not just more information. I’m appreciating that more and more as our information age continues to explode. There are so many things I wish I didn’t know – information I’ve learned that I wish I could unlearn (e.g. voyeuristic news stories containing gory details of someone’s sin with no redemptive purpose in the telling of it).
So how do we learn how to run? We can read books about the Christian life; we can listen to sermons and testimonies; we can attend conferences; we can discuss things live or online; and all these things can be beneficial . . . but if that is all we do, it’s like eating the appetizers and missing the main course; it’s like watching the previews and missing the movie; it’s like climbing the mountain and missing the view; it’s like learning the drills and missing the game! The most important thing we need is to learn from the ultimate expert, God Himself. We need to know Him in order to gain understanding. We need to know what He is like, which results in a healthy fear or reverence of Him, in order to gain wisdom. We know Him by spending time with Him in prayer (conversation) and in reading His word (the Bible). We know what He is like by studying His word. Without wisdom and understanding, our lives will fall far short of the beautiful plans that God has for each of us. Proverbs 9:11 in The Message says, “It's through me, Lady Wisdom, that your life deepens, and the years of your life ripen.”
Knowing God. What a beautiful privilege to be invited into an intimate and ever-deepening relationship with our Creator, the One Who Sees Us, the Savior and Lover of our souls. Just as we seek God because He is worthy to be sought, let’s know God because He is worthy to be known.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
it's a marathon
Over the years, the Lord has taught me many things about how to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1). A lot of these lessons were come by the hard way, by living them out and learning as I went, often as a result of making mistakes. Others were gleaned from mentors in the body of Christ, whether friends, authors, or teachers. Others were gracelets dropped from heaven for no apparent reason other than the Father’s great love. But I treasure each lesson learned and want to freely give what I have received.
Thinking about Hebrews 12:1, for some of us, the word “run” stands out, and we approach everything we do as something to conquer as quickly as we can. For others of us, the word “race” stands out, and we do whatever we can to achieve superiority amidst a field of competitors. For others, the phrase “marked out” stands out, and we seek the precise formula that will get us to where we’re supposed to go. As long as they’re not taken to extremes, each of these facets of living the Christian life is necessary and important. We definitely need to consider each one and integrate them in a balanced way into the way we live.
But I think a word many of us skip over is “perseverance” – defined as “steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.” The reality is that the race that God has marked out for us is not the sprint that we often wish it was, learning simple lessons at record speed, getting it over and done with in plenty of time for morning tea! Our race more closely resembles a marathon, or these days, an ultra-marathon – something that the vast majority of us wouldn’t even consider being within our reach, let alone something we would cheerfully set out to do in our right minds (with apologies to Kevin & Kathy who are definitely in their right minds and cheerful as they do this astounding feat on a regular basis J). About six or seven years ago, I interviewed one of my favorite marathon runners, a.k.a. my friend and pastor Johnny, and developed some principles we can live by in order to run our races well. Over the coming months, I want to share what I’ve learned with you, and hopefully we will spur one another on in the process. May each of us run with steady persistence the course that God has hand-designed for each of us, especially in spite of the inevitable difficulties, obstacles, and discouragements that will crop up along the way! To God be all the glory in our lives!
Thinking about Hebrews 12:1, for some of us, the word “run” stands out, and we approach everything we do as something to conquer as quickly as we can. For others of us, the word “race” stands out, and we do whatever we can to achieve superiority amidst a field of competitors. For others, the phrase “marked out” stands out, and we seek the precise formula that will get us to where we’re supposed to go. As long as they’re not taken to extremes, each of these facets of living the Christian life is necessary and important. We definitely need to consider each one and integrate them in a balanced way into the way we live.
But I think a word many of us skip over is “perseverance” – defined as “steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.” The reality is that the race that God has marked out for us is not the sprint that we often wish it was, learning simple lessons at record speed, getting it over and done with in plenty of time for morning tea! Our race more closely resembles a marathon, or these days, an ultra-marathon – something that the vast majority of us wouldn’t even consider being within our reach, let alone something we would cheerfully set out to do in our right minds (with apologies to Kevin & Kathy who are definitely in their right minds and cheerful as they do this astounding feat on a regular basis J). About six or seven years ago, I interviewed one of my favorite marathon runners, a.k.a. my friend and pastor Johnny, and developed some principles we can live by in order to run our races well. Over the coming months, I want to share what I’ve learned with you, and hopefully we will spur one another on in the process. May each of us run with steady persistence the course that God has hand-designed for each of us, especially in spite of the inevitable difficulties, obstacles, and discouragements that will crop up along the way! To God be all the glory in our lives!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
moves of God – key to revival #5 – preaching the Gospel
Every historical move of God seems to be followed by a new wave of evangelists and missionaries going out to preach the Good News. Henry Blackaby, a contemporary author and teacher, says that powerful preaching is among the common experience of all true revivals. Messages concerning sin, Christ, and the cross, penetrate the hearts of the saved and lost alike with the realities of eternity.
Without continual fresh preaching of the good news of Jesus Christ, there is no Kingdom advance. We need to guard ourselves and our churches from stagnation, from becoming inward-focused. It is very tempting to spend all of our time with Christians – fellowship with other believers is very sweet. But Jesus has given us a great commission in Matthew 28:19 – these are our marching orders – “go and make disciples of all nations”. Jesus’ command to “go” is not only for those with special gifts or training – all of us have a part to play. We each have a mission field to which the Lord is sending us.
God has convicted me personally many times over recent months and I have been crying out to God for the lost to be saved. I don’t want to be so wrapped up in receiving another blessing from God that I forget that people all around me are facing a Godless eternity without Jesus Christ. I’ve been asking God to break my heart for the things that break His heart. It’s so easy to walk past and ignore the condition of people’s hearts. The needs seem overwhelming and we can easily switch off our hearts because it’s too much for us to bear. But God is greater than our hearts – we need to rely on His wisdom and strength.
In the beautiful restaurant where the Lord has brought us to enjoy a meal with Him . . . may we not forget that there are many others that He wants to dine with . . . He’s asked us to give out the invitations and bring people to the restaurant! We are the ones Jesus has entrusted with the privilege of introducing people to Him.
God promises that if we humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from evil, that He will hear from heaven and forgive our sins and heal our land. Let’s join together and cry out to God today.
Father God, give us hearts like Yours. Penetrate our hearts with the realities of eternity; give us Kingdom eyes to see people as You see them. May we never forget Your instructions to us to both share and demonstrate the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Take away the fears that prevent us from doing all that You want us to do and to go wherever You would have us to go, whether next door, across town, or to another part of the world. May Your Kingdom come in the lives of all those to whom You are sending us. Give us boldness to speak Your word clearly. Thank You that Your word never returns to You empty but will always accomplish what You desire. In Jesus’ name.
Without continual fresh preaching of the good news of Jesus Christ, there is no Kingdom advance. We need to guard ourselves and our churches from stagnation, from becoming inward-focused. It is very tempting to spend all of our time with Christians – fellowship with other believers is very sweet. But Jesus has given us a great commission in Matthew 28:19 – these are our marching orders – “go and make disciples of all nations”. Jesus’ command to “go” is not only for those with special gifts or training – all of us have a part to play. We each have a mission field to which the Lord is sending us.
God has convicted me personally many times over recent months and I have been crying out to God for the lost to be saved. I don’t want to be so wrapped up in receiving another blessing from God that I forget that people all around me are facing a Godless eternity without Jesus Christ. I’ve been asking God to break my heart for the things that break His heart. It’s so easy to walk past and ignore the condition of people’s hearts. The needs seem overwhelming and we can easily switch off our hearts because it’s too much for us to bear. But God is greater than our hearts – we need to rely on His wisdom and strength.
In the beautiful restaurant where the Lord has brought us to enjoy a meal with Him . . . may we not forget that there are many others that He wants to dine with . . . He’s asked us to give out the invitations and bring people to the restaurant! We are the ones Jesus has entrusted with the privilege of introducing people to Him.
God promises that if we humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from evil, that He will hear from heaven and forgive our sins and heal our land. Let’s join together and cry out to God today.
Father God, give us hearts like Yours. Penetrate our hearts with the realities of eternity; give us Kingdom eyes to see people as You see them. May we never forget Your instructions to us to both share and demonstrate the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Take away the fears that prevent us from doing all that You want us to do and to go wherever You would have us to go, whether next door, across town, or to another part of the world. May Your Kingdom come in the lives of all those to whom You are sending us. Give us boldness to speak Your word clearly. Thank You that Your word never returns to You empty but will always accomplish what You desire. In Jesus’ name.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
moves of God – key to revival #4 – unity
A true move of God will always transcend man-made barriers in the body of Christ such as denominations, ethnicity, gender, social status, language. God is no respecter of persons, and when He looks at a city or region, He sees one Church. Paul wrote, “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought . . . One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."“ (1 Corinthians 1:10 – 12) He then asks the rhetorical question, “Is Christ divided?” Jesus’ last prayer for us before He went to the cross was that we would be one; that we would be brought to complete unity. The reason He gave? So that the world would believe in Jesus and receive the Father’s love (John 17:20 – 23).
The Lord has given each part of His Church special gifts, which we are to share with one another. We belong to one another, and need one another to be the complete body of Christ. Different parts of the body of Christ need one another. I am so encouraged whenever Christians get together to pray and serve and work together, focusing more on the Kingdom of God than on any individual local congregation or ministry. The word “Kingdom” appears in the New Testament over 130 times; the word “congregation” appears only 3 times. Even when the word “church” is used, it refers to the body of Christ as a whole, or to believers in a city or region. When Paul and I first moved from Australia, a primarily secular nation, to Atlanta, located in an area of the U.S. known as “the Bible belt”, we were shocked by what we saw in the phone book under the word “church”. Being a large city with over 5 million people, Atlanta comes close to having a church on every corner – it is a very religious city! The phone book listed thousands of churches in hundreds of denominations, many of which we had never heard of before. There are reportedly 38,000 Christian denominations in the world. Surely God’s heart breaks when He sees so much fracturing and splitting all across His precious body! Certainly there have been occasions where separation was the appropriate response, but there is no doubt that the body of Christ is in great need of healing!
Our love is inadequate – we need to ask God to give us His love for one another and to see other members of His family with His eyes. We can personally bring unity to the body of Christ by serving one another in love, and praying with and for our brothers and sisters – all who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. “The Message” version of 1 Corinthians 1:10 says that we “must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common.” To cultivate is “to promote or improve the growth of something by labor and attention.” Cultivating speaks of intentional care being given over a period of time, while anticipating a future harvest. May we labor towards unity in the body of Christ and give attention to each part, so that many would believe in Jesus and receive the Father’s love.
Father God, we join in with the prayer of Jesus, to ask You to make us one, that the world may believe in Jesus and receive Your love. Give us hearts of love for each member of the body of Christ, especially those who are hurting. May our words and actions reflect Your heart. Keep us from being judgmental or unforgiving. Help us to build up, encourage, and bless one another, that Your name would be glorified and made famous in the earth. Thank You for every part of Your beautiful family. In Jesus’ name.
The Lord has given each part of His Church special gifts, which we are to share with one another. We belong to one another, and need one another to be the complete body of Christ. Different parts of the body of Christ need one another. I am so encouraged whenever Christians get together to pray and serve and work together, focusing more on the Kingdom of God than on any individual local congregation or ministry. The word “Kingdom” appears in the New Testament over 130 times; the word “congregation” appears only 3 times. Even when the word “church” is used, it refers to the body of Christ as a whole, or to believers in a city or region. When Paul and I first moved from Australia, a primarily secular nation, to Atlanta, located in an area of the U.S. known as “the Bible belt”, we were shocked by what we saw in the phone book under the word “church”. Being a large city with over 5 million people, Atlanta comes close to having a church on every corner – it is a very religious city! The phone book listed thousands of churches in hundreds of denominations, many of which we had never heard of before. There are reportedly 38,000 Christian denominations in the world. Surely God’s heart breaks when He sees so much fracturing and splitting all across His precious body! Certainly there have been occasions where separation was the appropriate response, but there is no doubt that the body of Christ is in great need of healing!
Our love is inadequate – we need to ask God to give us His love for one another and to see other members of His family with His eyes. We can personally bring unity to the body of Christ by serving one another in love, and praying with and for our brothers and sisters – all who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. “The Message” version of 1 Corinthians 1:10 says that we “must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common.” To cultivate is “to promote or improve the growth of something by labor and attention.” Cultivating speaks of intentional care being given over a period of time, while anticipating a future harvest. May we labor towards unity in the body of Christ and give attention to each part, so that many would believe in Jesus and receive the Father’s love.
Father God, we join in with the prayer of Jesus, to ask You to make us one, that the world may believe in Jesus and receive Your love. Give us hearts of love for each member of the body of Christ, especially those who are hurting. May our words and actions reflect Your heart. Keep us from being judgmental or unforgiving. Help us to build up, encourage, and bless one another, that Your name would be glorified and made famous in the earth. Thank You for every part of Your beautiful family. In Jesus’ name.
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