Stop Praying and Start Praising
I, like Mark, find myself in prayer patterns asking for the same thing over and over again, trying to take the nagging widow route to God’s ear. But he reminds us in this post that sometimes we just need to be confident that He’s going to provide what we ask for. Enjoy!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Stop Praying and Start Praising
This one is tough to explain, but as I was praying on the rooftop of Ebenezers about some miracles I’m believing God for I heard that still small voice of the Spirit: stop praying for it and start praising Me for it.I think there are moments when you’ve got to stop asking for something and start celebrating what you believe God is going to do as if it has just happened. This isn’t some Jedi mind trick. It’s faith. Faith is able to praise God BEFORE the miracle happens. Why? Because it believes it will happen as much as if it has already happened.
Maybe you need to stop praying and start praising?
Its OK to Say the F-Word
In reflection on Dean’s apology for his use of the s-word in last week’s sermon I couldn’t pass up a little tongue in cheek post. Mike Foster tempted me and I couldn’t refuse with his post today. Enjoy.
ITS OK TO SAY THE F-WORD
April 25th, 2010 8:07:23 pmf-word-grace-people-of-the-second-chance Posted by Mike Foster: Follow Mike On Twitter
The F-word is a dirty word and people don’t like to hear it.
Just understand if you dare mention it, respectable people may not like you.
God help us if we ever say it in church or in staff meetings.
It’s critical that we shield our children from experiencing it.
The F-word is used in the gutter and foul places.
Sometimes it slips out after throwing back a few beers in raw conversations with our friends.
Now I’m not talking about the four letter F-word but the other word we shouldn’t say. The word is….FAILURE.
In our success addicted culture it’s just not cool to bring it up. We dare not say such things.
But I’m not willing to censor my language anymore. And you shouldn’t either.
Just plan on the F-word to pop out when I talk to you.
I’m really sorry if you’re bothered by this but I just can’t help myself.
I curse like a prodigal.
His Bidding
Another classic this week by David Timms, see the Good Friday post for his last bit of insight. Let me also recommend a book we used in his Servant Leadership class that I feel is a must read for every Christian who leads, every staff person, every elder: Uncommon Leadership by Robert Dean Kuest It’s a phenomenal book, not popular, but phenomenal.
Good servants don’t get to do what they want.
In the ancient world, slaves and servants did not enjoy the freedom to pursue personal ambition, vision, or plans. They served their master’s pleasure. The very notion that they might have their own agenda or function autonomously never crossed their minds, except in rebellious moments. Serving their master did not leave room to choose their own career, build their own little kingdoms, or seek power and fame. They lived, humbly, for a single purpose—to do the master’s bidding.
When the apostle Paul described himself as a bondslave of Christ, this model of servitude surely dominated his thinking. He understood very well that the primary task of slavery to Christ is not busyness of our own making or dreams of our own devising but diligent attentiveness to the Master, willingness to do as He requests, and obedient responsiveness.
If Jesus or Paul had spoken of themselves (and us) as team captains, chief strategists, Kingdom CEOs, we might rightly surmise that our job is to take charge. But the words steward, servant, and slave dominate their language.
The servant metaphor underscores a profound spiritual truth. We are not our own. We have been bought with a price. Christ redeemed us (bought as back—a slavery term) by dying on the Cross.
In a church as enamored with power, allusions of grandeur, and visions of personal success as the world, those of us who wear the mantle of leader would do well to replace it in our minds with the biblical image of slavery. When ambition, power, pride, and control intoxicate us and leave us spiritually numbed and stumbling, it might help to revisit some of the oldest Christian ground of all.
“Though Jesus was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant.” (Philippians 2:6-7)
Of course, the call to servanthood extends well beyond those in Christian leadership. It includes all of us who name Christ as Lord.
Whose bidding are we doing this week? Are we attentive and responsive to Him above all else? Or do we remain distracted and devising our own plans? May we increasingly discover true freedom in serving Him.
In HOPE –
David
