"I Don't Know"

The other day my son and I were playing catch in the front yard, first baseball then we shifted to football. Being my son, and the man of God he is becoming he asked me a great question. He asked, “So what are you learning from God lately?” Again, a great question! We continued tossing the rock a bit and I looked at him and in all sincerity said, “that’s a great question, I don’t know; I will have to get back with you on that.” That morning I had written a long response to my time in Isaiah 37. I enjoyed the chapter, gleaned a fuller perspective of who God is, but I had not processed it enough to communicate it. As you know I like to ask such spiritually probing questions. What I am finding is that many respond as I had to my son. “I really don’t know what God is trying to teach me.” This is the typical answer by the way. I believe this evasive answer is based on the following reasons.

1.    “I don’t know means”… “I am not spending time in the word, nor am I being intentionally attentive to God’s voice.” “My life is busy right now, many things are thrown my way, commitments, meetings, scheduling issues, relational issues, important events, Survivor and American Idol are on…I have too much going on.”

2.    “I don’t know means”… “I am reading my bible every day, praying, attending small group, etc. and yet, I am not hearing anything from the Lord these days.”

3.    “I don’t know means”… “I am simply still processing stuff.” “I am feeding, fellowshipping, serving, and studying, but nothing specific comes to mind at this time.”

We put so much pressure on ourselves to have an “answer” to be able to articulate the fact that God is doing something in our lives to confirm or worse feel like we have to justify the depth of our relationship with Jesus. When you think about it we go through various seasons in our spiritual lives. We have seasons of planting, waiting for something to grow, fruit and then there are times when we are in a sense of winter or seemingly dead season. Our relationship with the Lord is not always thriving, it is not always producing fruit, but it should not always be dead either. We will reap what we sow. If we aren’t sowing anything into our soul from God then we shouldn’t expect to produce much, nor should we expect to be able to pour into the people around us. Our relationship with God isn’t just about Him and us; it also reverberates into our other relationships as well. In other words, when you spend time with Jesus you are also doing it for those around you. What you allow to be poured into you, you end up pouring into others. (Sorry for mixing metaphors)

I haven’t answered my son’s question yet, I don’t know what season I am in spiritually, but I am really enjoying the process and what He is planting in me from Isaiah 40 this morning.

A Thought About the Word

When in heaven I asked Paul about a verse I was focusing on and shared my thoughts. He said, "wow, that was not even close to what I meant when I wrote that." He looks at the English translation then I ask him. "So what was the best translation of the Bible, NIV, KJV, NASB?" He looked at me and said, "the one that a person lived. The incarnate word,  Jesus manifested in and through a life. The word is living and active. You can read it, quote it, refer to it and attempt to explain it, but until you live it...that is where natural turns into supernatural." 

Lord make my life the best translation of your word.

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory, which comes from The Lord, who is Spirit. 2Cor.3:18

A Leaders Prayer for Others

In the book of Colossians Paul expresses his deep love and concern for the church in Colossae so much so that he writes his prayer for them in the letter to that church. This letter serves as both a theological treatise and model of prayer for others.  We often get stuck in our prayers for others. We say a blessing try to cover all known bases but after a while they become stale as the feedback wanes and so does the original motivators. Read the below text and list the various outcomes that Paul desires for the Colossian church.  

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.  And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. Colossians 1:9-12 (NIV)

As your read the book further you will find many words that you can speak into to the lives of those you are praying for in addition to gleaning key theological truths that will expand and enhance your relationship with God.  I believe the more we mine the theological nuggets in scripture the better equipped we are to present others before the Lord so He can move in and through their lives.  A great example of some faith enhancing theological nuggets is seen in verses 15-20 of chapter one.  You might even want to make a list of these truths to further develop them into a study in order to implement them into your life.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1:15-20 (NIV)

I will conclude with two segments that speak to what we desire to see in the lives of those we shepherd and what we as leaders would like to be known for.  We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me. Colossians 1:28-29 and Colossians 4:12-13 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Notice the descriptive language that Paul uses: laboring, struggling, wrestling, and working hard in prayer, encouragement, and equipment, so that they would stand firm and be mature with the full assurance of what they have in Christ. It is to this end we are called as ministers, to help others grow in their relationship with and become more mature in Christ.

Mastered?

 "I have the right to do anything, you say—but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything—but I will not be mastered by anything" ! Cor. 6:12 TNIV

Yes, Paul is talking about sexual immorality and other vices but as I was thinking about this verse I had to stop and look at the areas in my life that master me. Of course the correct Christian answer is "Jesus is my only master" but if you honestly believe that without any self reflection you will find yourself very much deceived. How can I confidently say this? Because I know you all still sin. I know that your sinful nature manifests itself and you become subject to it. Besides the obvious, I also began to change my thinking about God. I find it is easy to be spiritually "stuck" on a particular biblical viewpoint, a Christian saying or mindset. It could be our canned answer for everything, it could be a quote from a famous pastor, or from a book we read. I am not saying that those are wrong, but I question whether or not we truly allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us because we have formed a "box" a "perspective" or mindset that doesn't allow Him to challenge our thinking or to reveal a larger scope of Himself.  We can get to the point that we don't learn anything new. Times in the word all look the same, prayers become repeated, our thoughts and words all sound about the same. A simple example: What characteristic about God do you focus on the most? "God is love", might be your answer. Yes, He is love but there are so many other characteristics that He equally is. (Not one attribute is more than the others by the way) What about He is full of wrath? He is Jealous? He brings Judgement? He is Just? He has a boiling point regarding sin? Just to name a few and really mess up your theological ideology. We can become "mastered" by old or stuck ways of approaching God, thinking about God, speaking, serving, etc. As if there is only one way to do those things. We get mastered or better we box a God who cannot be bound by anything. So I challenge you to open the eyes of your heart and allow the Lord to change the lens that you see life through. Ask Him to show you what you have been missing and what has been mastering you.

Enjoy the journey!

To BE or not to BE...

So often we are defined more so by our "doing" and less by our "being". You are at a gathering and one of the most frequent questions asked, "What do you do for a living, or what kind of work do you do?" "Doing" can easily be measured, doing gets noticed, doing is the physical proof that you are active and accomplishing something. In fact, many worship "doing". The majority of stressors in our lives are based on the need to do more and do it faster and done with the utmost of efficiency. We idolize its directive of performance orientation. Our lives our both motivated by it and consumed by it. With it we are validated in our personal and professional lives and many are  energized by it. To not do something labels us as passive or lazy. Think about the common vernacular that surrounds doing. "workaholic"  "to do lists" "I'm doing my best," "do something!" , etc. We even renamed refuse with it…"do-do". (Ok so the last one is a stretch, but you get the point.) If you listen to most sermons the end result is a call for us to do something. We call it "application" or being "purpose DRIVEN" but it has the tendency to be a doing or works oriented gospel. Now that I have belabored the point or for some have not proven it enough, let me address doing's stereotypical combatant, "Being". 

Shakespeare said it best in his famous playwright Hamlet, "To be, or not to be that is the question". Martha chastised Mary for it. James addressed it in a different way when he stated that faith (being) without works (doing) is dead. "Being" appears to accomplish nothing but a spirit of "slothlessness" or lack of ambition. Being is the ability to soak it all in, to bask in the warmth of mere presence, to steep long so that you become more like the object of your affection. Being is acknowledging that there is a Sabbath's rest and that a "still small voice" longs to be heard. Being exposes our soul and can remove the dross and thus purify our lives. Being is the picture David painted in the 23rd Psalm: "He (our Good Shepherd) leads us to green pastures and still waters.  We know Jesus often removed himself from his busy schedule and spent time in prayer with his heavenly Father.  I decided to pause for a few moments of this writing and allow the Lord to speak to me. You see "being" really is doing something significant because it places us in a position of receiving from our Lord. It slows us down and directs us to listen, dream and see life through a more peaceful lens. Being like Doing takes a great amount of effort and intentionality, but the end result is not always measurable. Results may vary, but unless you recognize your "being time" as an attempt to get one step closer to and one level deeper in the Lord, it will be rendered as useless. Words like "Sabbath", rest, quiet, quiet time, listening, presence, the discipline tandem of silence and solitude help director us towards the concept of Being.   

I don’t know about you, but after a long day, week, or month of sheer "doing" and hardly any "being" I am spent. I am less present in relationships, I tend to be more cynical in my speech, and my attitude is one of selfishness and entitlement.  I can rationalize all this doing by the label of "service" but the reality would probably prove otherwise that I am merely submitting and performing for another god and his name isn't Jesus. So what is the answer to Shakespeare's request? Where is the balance and how can I get there without sabotaging my soul and the relationships around me? I believe life's pendulum is in a constant swinging motion when it comes to "being" and "doing". As leaders we need to be replenished, constantly being filled with God's Spirit and living in His daily renewing mercies in order to affectively minister to those in our care and sphere of influence. It can like the need to charge your mobile phone. Being is the cord that connects us to our Power Source, so stay connected.

Here would be my recommendations of posturing for this spiritual refreshment:

•   Ask yourself how you are doing at being? One way is to look at your stress level, blood pressure, 

      prayer life and how connected are your relationships. Fragmentation is a true sign of dis-ease. 

•   Schedule (yes, mark it as a meeting on your calendar) some quiet time, alone time, listening time without

      any distractions in the presence of God. (Don't even bring a Bible or journal so you are not tempted to fill 

      that time with study and or a "to do" list.)

•   Actually take at least a few hours or half a day in a spiritual Sabbath. (Don't buy the "if you use your

      mental capacities often, you can use your time off doing physical things") I've tried it and it only leaves

      you tired and depleted. Distractions and busy is a tool of Satan. (Tweet that gem of a statement) 

•   Meditation is your friend! Focus your thinking throughout your day (in Sabbath and in work) on a 

      characteristic of God. His holiness, love, peace, restoration, grace, etc.

I look forward to hearing the stories that will come out of your "being times". So hurry up and get going, you have a lot of "being" to catch up on. :-)