My Finals Week Prayer

"May the Lord give you His perspective, even during finals week!

May His wisdom guide you to study diligently.

May His patience compel you to attend to one thing at a time.

May His peace multiply any rest you receive.

May His food energize you continually.

May His quietness permeate your breaks.

May His calmness reign in your anxiety.

May His love make you smile.

May His grace help you receive your final as a gift.

May His son's humility bring you confidence.

May His Spirit's power bring to your mind all that you have studied.

May the Lord be praised for all He does, even during finals week!"

Spiritual Discernment

"As I become aware of your presence this morning, Lord,

may I promptly respond to your movements with complete trust.

Losing my natural inhibitions that may keep me stagnant in kingdom service,

may your Spirit compel my heart forward with immediacy and sensitivity.

When I am confronted today with a situation needing prompt action,

teach me how to discern well the difference between

my own sound judgment and your own providential desire.

Lead me in the way, Lord. Amen!"

God is Active

Last night I preached at New Waverly. Since I only preach there two times a month, I decided to slowly go through Philippians. So I get up there, begin my lesson, and notice that not a few people are laughing. Almost everyone has a big smile on their face. I knew they weren't laughing at me but at something that I didn't know; it didn't bother me.

So I finish my sermon (which I thought went pretty well), and we sing the invitation song. After this song, the song leader stops and informs me as to why people were laughing: I had just preached a sermon using the exact same text as the preacher in the morning.

They knew I didn't have a clue what was going to be preached on Sunday morning, so God must have been at work! I couldn't believe it! They assured me that the sermons were amazingly pretty different. God's hand is very interesting. I still can't get over something like that happening without any communication ahead of time.

Here is the kicker: there was someone who listened to both sermons that needed those messages. Struggling through many things, this person heard loud and clear that something needed to happen; no longer is sitting idly an option.

I praise God that stuff like this continues to happen! He is active. He does prompt us to do things of which we don't know the implications. As faithful servants we respond to these promptings and get to watch God work.

What are you going to do today, God? May we have the courage to lose ourselves in your movements.

Fruit of the Spirit Suggestions

If you are going to produce a crop of apples, you don’t just go out and make them appear out of nowhere. No…you go and work the ground (till it up)…get the ground ready to receive the seeds…then you plant the seeds (which BTW look nothing like what comes out…i.e. you don’t plant an apple to get apples…you plant an apple seed)…then you water and give it appropriate sunlight…and God amazingly produces the fruit…in time…not immediately.

To produce the heart-level fruit of the Spirit, you will find a similar process with your heart. You work the ground, get it ready to receive the seeds, and you plant seeds that don’t look like what you will end up with (i.e. if you want patience you don’t plant patience...you plant something else). Then you cultivate the environment of your heart.

Constant cultivation of what is planted needs to happen…beware of the hard ground, the rocks, and the weeds that can creep in if we fail to pay attention. Are you cultivating your heart now so that God can produce in you the fruit that he desires of this world? Here are a few suggestions for cultivating the heart for later fruit of the spirit:

To cultivate joy,

• Ask God to show you how good he is
• Meditate on how beautiful his creation is
• Smell the flowers and thank God for them.
• Have a personal worship retreat.
• Sing songs of praise and thanksgiving.
• Pray the scripture, pausing to meditate when the Spirit leads

To cultivate faithfulness and peace in your marriage

• Pray together
  
• Thank each other regularly (write it down every day: record of rights)
  
• Hold each other closely without selfish agendas…just for the sake of affirming the other
  
• Don’t take things so personally (most of the time its not a big deal)
  
• Offer forgiveness
• Ask for forgiveness. Admit when you are wrong quickly.
  
• Smile and laugh at each other.
• Don’t get historical. Remember the time you chose to forget how you've been wronged.
  
• Watch the sun go down together. Just enjoy the beauty of God.
• Tell others that you won't (not "can't") do something because you want to spend good time with your spouse.

To cultivate kindness and goodness at work,

• Ask them what you can pray for (actually pray for them there)
  
• Ask God to show you their strengths
  
• Begin thanking them for things they’ve done (“I overheard your conversation with so-and-so and that really encouraged me”)
  
• Free attention give-away: seriously listen attentively; don’t talk about you
  
• Spend 30 full minutes imagining yourself as another person with whom it is difficult to be kind or good (God will hopefully open your heart toward her or him)

To cultivate gentleness and patience,

• Indirection – stand in longest line at the grocery store
  
• Indirection – go the speed limit (tell yourself…I’m cultivating my heart)
  
• Work with children
  
• Initiate a conversation with someone who doesn’t speak English well
  
• Put yourself in situations where you can cultivate a selfless heart (trust that in time, God will produce his fruit in you)
  
• Confess regularly your own faults (who of us is perfect?)

To cultivate self-control,

• Ask God to teach you to say no to yourself in small things
  
• Indirection – practice fasting (learn to say no to your own body in eating [a basic need], and you will begin to see self-control in other temptations)
  
• Inconvenience yourself regularly, and take it not as an inconvenience but an wonderful opportunity to learn self-control that you weren’t expecting (act of service)
  
• When someone does something horrible to you, don’t tell anyone about it…ever!!
• When you do something good, don’t tell anyone about it…ever!!
• Limit your speaking for a day...see what you learn about others and yourself
• Don't eat your normal snack or dessert or whatever for a day

To cultivate love,

• Spend time with God just listening…ask him to show you his love
  
• Spend personal time worshipping God in song.
• Read about how God loves horrible people
  
• His love is something hard to understand
  
• No conditions…on his love?
  
• Begin to experiment with how you can practice this love too
  
• Do all these things
  

Remember that all these suggestions are only ways to cultivate your heart. And this is not even close to an exhaustive list. Please feel free to add your own in a comment to this post.

Word of Caution: You could easily turn these suggestions into rules and regulations to be performed, but that again doesn’t work on the heart. You would be doing the very thing that you are trying to avoid. Richard Foster: “The Disciplines of the spiritual life are a means not an end. The end is ‘to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.’ The end is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17).” (Foster, Streams of Living Water, 55)

Christmas Party

Last night our annual Kats for Christ Christmas Party went off without a hitch. It was actually quite surprising! We were working on it all day long. Cleaning, getting supplies together, cooking, cooking some more, running again to get supplies, and all the little details that had to get done. Oh yeah...we also put up all our Christmas decorations yesterday too!! I cant' believe how much stuff we got done yesterday.

This was the first time that I cooked 40 chicken breasts all at once. I was rather proud of that! They all fit on the KFC BBQ pit at once too. I had forgotten a light to see the chicken, so by the end it was hard to see if the chicken was completely done or not. It all worked out fine and we praise God for the fun we had last night.

I wonder how much energy we are going to put into walking with the Lord today. Are we going to think about all the details? How are we going to decorate our lives with Christ today? What supplies do we need to gather? Ask for God's Spirit to guide you closer to him today.

God does what God does

Last Thursday I had a conversation that I have never had before (by choice) and will never have again (again by choice). The conversation was with Daniel, our intern. We had both talked with a student in our ministry, L, earlier that afternoon. She was wondering why things don't go easy for her and was asking for us to pray for her being able to get into a class to graduate on time. Both of us prayed for her.

Daniel mentioned in our conversation that he couldn't help but think about how easy things go for him most of the time. In his transition to another school housing, acceptance, transferring credits, and other little things just took care of themselves without much effort. I anticipate more of the same. As Daniel and I talked, I actually told him something I think fairly regular...I just don't ever say it. I told Daniel that I am not surprised things are going well for him. His life compared to L's is much more focused on God, much more in pursuit of godly endeavors, etc. Of course God is going to make things more easy for him.

Our conversation was much more complex than this. I told him my hesitancy to ever say something like this. I always think of the life of Job in situations like this. That keeps my mouth shut...as it should. Then I began to explore being able to discern God's will. With equal hesitancy I always balk in presuming to know his will for sure. I told Daniel that I think we need to allow the Holy Spirit guide us in times like this. We can know God's will through his Spirit...it just takes a listening heart. And on the conversation went...meddling in the activity of saying how God works in people's lives.

On my way home I picked up some Chili's. It was good. By the end of my meal however, I was having some major indigestion. Then the thought occurred to me that this was the same feeling I had with my kidney stones a while back. I began downing water like a madman.

The rest of the evening was spent in my room, mainly in the bathroom. I threw up my whole meal and more. Four hours of horrible-ness!! I couldn't keep even the water that I continued to drink down. And the pain continued to get worse. Only once I prayed to the Lord to take away my pain (toward the end). I don't know why I didn't cry out to him earlier.

Right before I prayed a dreadful thought occurred to me. I am convinced that the thought (voice?) was from the Lord. The thought was, "Do not presume to know how I work." As I prayed, I asked for relief so that God could be glorified. That is what I am doing now. I am telling you that I believe God caused my pain (in Job-like fashion) to humble my prideful presumptions.

I warn you: do not presume to know how and why God works in people's lives. Let us, however, be the ones God uses to accomplish his will.

The Holy Spirit Preventing

I have always wondered about the following passage in Acts:

"Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and
Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the
province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter
Bythinia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. Do they passed by
Mysia and went down to Troas." Acts 16:6-8

What? Why would God prevent them from preaching the word? I thought we were able to do that wherever we went. At least this is what I tell students! And what is going on with the Spirit of Jesus not allowing them to enter Bythinia? Why would this happen? Basically, I am full of questions concerning this passage.

Not only this, but I have similar questions regarding my recent frustrations with LST in Huntsville. My efforts are going nowhere! Is the Holy Spirit preventing this evangelistic opportunity in Huntsville? I don't know, but why would this happen? Does Friends Speak need to be up and running before LST will have a chance? What is going on?

As of now, it looks like myself and LeeAnn are the ones wanting to go on a project. Even in my commitment, I must wrestle with the familial sacrifices it would take. I don't understand what is happening. All I can do right now is wait...and continue to wrestle with God's will!

Give me understanding, Lord. Let me be patient as I wait on your timing. I am dumbfounded...please enlighten me.

Joseph and God

I am amazed at how God uses Joseph. I wouldn't want his life looking at the things that happen to him. His brothers try to kill him by throwing him into an empty cistern. Then they decide to get something out of it by selling him to Midianite merchants who take him to Egypt. Once there we see that the Lord was with him (Gen 39:2), but someone else is out to get him: a woman. Because of her position with the powers that be, she returned Joseph's refusal to sleep with her with prison time. But, "the Lord was with him" (Gen 39:21, 23). There is more, but this is what I was reading this morning.

When I read this story, I always wonder how Joseph felt during these things. Did he just accept it? Did he lose his cool? Did he try to defend himself? Surely there was some of that...he was human.

I would be bummed about this stuff happening to me. Sure, I would probably get over it and accept it because I couldn't do anything else, but I would still be bummed about it.

This story, however, encourages me to know that God can be with us. In fact, he IS with us if we are Christians. God is not just watching our situation from a distance. He is WITH us in the situation. We have received God's Spirit and he resides in us. Our bodies are his temple (1 Cor 6:19-20). Be encouraged today. God is with you in your trials, not just watching you.

Nice Rain

Last night brought a lot of rain for us. The thunder and lightening woke me up early this morning. We needed it though. Right now the windows are open, and the cool day is very refreshing.

Thank you, Lord, for giving us seasons of heat and seasons of coolness. Even in our own lives we know that the heat will not continue forever. There will be times of refreshing. May we cherish those times as we cherish our own lives. Keep filling us with your Spirit who refreshes our soul. Amen!

Worship Renewal

How many drab, boring worship services have I been to? Well, how long do you have? It seems like church services do not naturally get me going in the morning like a good cup of coffee...or two...or twelve. Why is that? Well, I think I have caught on to something.

The most meaningful services I have been a part of usually come around the time when God seems to be doing something with my life. It is like God is working on me and then...wham!...his presence enters my heart while I am singing songs or listening to the sermon. It is like a light bulb goes off in my life (not my head)...ohh...that is how things should be turning around in my life...that is how I should be living for God...ohh...how could I have not seen this before?

Ever since I have been on the worship committee at church, I have been thinking about how I can bring people to a place where they can truly encounter the living Spirit of God through the worship services. Finally, after reflecting on my own experiences, I have come to a tentative conclusion that people encounter the living Spirit of God in worship services when they are encountering him through the way they live their life.

Worship is not something one does once a week; it is something that one does in every action. Now you can choose to worship in the way you live God or the many other gods this world has to offer. But we are encouraged by the Apostle Paul to not let sin reign in our mortal bodies to obey its evil desires. Rather, we are to offer ourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life. We offer the parts of our body to him as instruments of righteousness.

This speaks to those of us who have disconnected the rest of our lives from our time of worship. How can we expect to have moving worship on Sunday morning if God is not moving us toward righteousness the rest of the week?