Life-Bridges

Sometimes we come to a place in life that we aren't sure which way to go. We know that there is a bridge to cross, something new, something different, something... But often we aren't even sure which bridge is the right bridge. Ever been there?

My family and I have been walking this out for over a year now. We know the vision God has placed on our hearts for Colorado, or some kind of land that he longs to be a place of recovery for those who serve in his kingdom. But the doors just haven't quite opened the way we hoped.

On the other hand, we love the local church and believe God has planted it deep within our hearts to serve and draw people into close relationship with him. We call that discipleship. But we believe God has "released" us from our current place where we have served for 16 years. 

I also have been working on a Masters degree for 4 years now and the end is in sight. Maybe. I applied for and have been accepted into a Marriage and Family Therapy program starting in August. On the one hand I would love to have the expertise and certification, on the other hand...2 more years of grad school...

So here we are at a bridge, and we're not quite sure what's on the the other side.

Praying. We are praying. We have been praying. We'll continue to pray.

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry." Psalm 40:1

I think the hardest part is praying and waiting for answers. No, I'm not expecting God to have a shining light come down and say "go this way." I don't expect a Bethlehem star to suddenly appear, showing us which way to go. But I long to hear God's voice. I long to see the doors open up that are so obviously his hand that I can't say no. That I wouldn't want to say no.

Maybe your like me, you've come to the proverbial fork in the road, or a bridge that just can't quite see over. Maybe you've asked a cried out to God and he seems silent on your future. Don't give up. Don't quit pressing in. God hasn't abandoned you. He's growing you. He's moving you into maturity.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4 


What are waiting to hear from God about? What can we lift up in your life to our good Father?

Small Groups: #1 Pray

I have recently been asked by a good friend of mine to help him learn how to be a better small group leader. There are many things I have learned over the last 20 years or so about leading a small group, so I will attempt to share them in the next few posts.

As the title suggests first you must Pray. By this I don't mean the little sentence prayers that we do before we eat a meal or before we start a meeting. I mean spend time in your prayer closet.

Confession time: I'm not good at this! This may be the area of faith where God is working on me the most right now. Having time set aside to just sit and soak in the presence of God is difficult for me. I want to go do this or that, the list in my head that needs to get accomplished keeps popping, I know there is one last thing to do...you get the picture. But to really be an effective small group leader we must spend time praying for each member of our group and for your time together. Here are a few specifics to pray through.

1) Pray for the members. Jesus went out and prayed for his disciples before selecting some to be his apostles, ^"In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12). Our constant prayer for those whom we interact with is extremely important. If we are called to lead, we are called to pray for those whom we are to lead.

2) Pray for your time together. I find that very often I forget this in the process of preparation for my small group. I may pray during the week for the individuals and families, but do I spend time praying for our time together? Here the focus is on the presence of the Holy Spirit showing up and guiding discussion.

"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer" (Romans 12:12).

3) Pray over the scripture to be discussed and the discussion surrounding it. Praying through scripture is something that King David practiced as he meditated on God's word. We must let the scripture infiltrate our being, which only happens through the power of the Holy Spirit. We can not teach and discuss something that has not already penetrated our own hearts. "Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!" (Psalm 4:1). 

4) Pray together as a group. When together pray. Pray when you start and when you finish. Pray when answers or needs occur that you don't have. Praying for each other will bring a closeness and intimacy that can not be reached any other way. "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts 2:42).

5) Take the time to lay hands on people and pray about specific needs. It is "easy" at times to just nod and say that you will pray when something specific is spoken during your group time. Don't say you will pray, don't (just) write it down on a list. Pray for the need right then and there. Lay hands on people and pray specifics for their lives. "Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working" (James 5:14-16).

When prayer becomes a cornerstone of your leadership, small group, and life, you give God the place he deserves: Lordship. It is in this determination of his Lordship that we can receive the grace to lead boldly. It is in this place of prayer that God's Spirit can move mightily in our lives and in the lives around us. When we rely on our relationship with God, which is fostered in prayer, rather than relying on ourselves, everything moves as He desires rather than as we desire. Ultimately, He knows what is best, He knows our needs, He wants us to come to Him, that we might know Him more. That is relationship. That is closeness. That is the foundation from which small groups should be built.  

What is a Disciple? : Discipleship #5

We hear the term tossed around, we read it, we see it, but what is it? What is a Disciple? What do they look like, what do they talk like, who do they act like, what do they do? These are all legitimate questions, with real concerns built in. But let me give you the answer most 3rd graders are taught in Sunday School. If you don't know the answer to a question just say "Jesus" and most of the time you'll be right. So what is the answer to the question: Jesus! OK, that may be a little over simplified, but if we don't go back to the God incarnate person of Jesus we will miss the mark on this ever time. 

I can across an article titled "What is a Disciple? here: Discipleship Tools

One of my favorite parts of the whole article is how simply he defines a disciple:  
"A Disciple is one who grows in Christ and in so doing models and teaches Christians the precepts of the Bible, prayer, doctrine, relationship, Christian living, service, and worship, to name the main ones." 

Those are some pretty core concepts, but really the first few words are what top it off, "one who grows in Christ and in so doing models and teaches..."

First one must be growing. We never arrive in our attempt to be like Christ. As long as we are on this earth we will rely upon the ongoing process of transformation into Christ-likeness. Secondly, we must be living and modeling this transformation in every aspect or our lives. No compartmentalization, no two faced living. In every facet, being Christ to those around us. Thirdly, we must be teaching others. Example is a necessary part of this, but expecting those around us to just pick it up via example is giving ourselves and them way too much credit. We don't look at life that way in most of Western culture. We like to learn on our own rather than from others. In the model Christ gave us however, disciples make disciples. Intentional teaching in the context of life together has to be key for discipleship to occur. 

What are your thoughts on these 3 keys of discipleship?

Discipleship Attributes: Discipleship #4

LifeWay Research has put together a great assessment tool for determining what a disciple looks like and who in your midst may be living a life of discipleship. Here are the 8 attributes that they have defined as characterizing a disciple.


What are the eight discipleship attributes?

1. Bible Engagement
2. Obeying God and Denying Self
3. Serving God and Others
4. Sharing Christ
5. Exercising Faith
6. Seeking God
7. Building Relationships
8. Unashamed (Transparency)

Link to article:  http://tda.lifeway.com/what-is-it/faq/

What do you think? Do these attributes hit the mark? What would you add? What takes further definition?

Small Groups

I haven't had much time to write lately...oh the life in grad school. Much of the rest of my life has been taken up by the couple of small groups that I am part of. These groups meet weekly and deeply bless my life through relationships, study, and prayer. I want to take a few posts to look at these areas as difficult and as big of blessing as they maybe.

Then end goal for a small group should always be to help and encourage each member to continually be transformed into the image of Christ. This process of discipleship is ongoing, unending, and has both a personal and communal aspect. We must encourage and challenge each other along the way in order to become disciples of our Lord and not just those who carry the name of Christ. I don't want to be called a Christian if I don't look like Christ. I need the help of those around me that I might have a fighting chance.

How often do you meet with other Christians?  How do you spend your time? Is it primarily for "fellowship"? Sometimes we feed our bodies more than our souls... Is your small group more for knowledge or information transfer? Sometimes we feed our minds more than we might take action with what we already know... Is your group more for prayer? Sometimes we spend more time praying for others around us than we do revealing the real hurt and hindrances that are keeping us from the fullness of Christ and requesting our fellow strugglers to go before God on our behalf. 

Who are you sharing life with? Are they challenging you to be more in your devotion to the Lord? Do you look more like Christ now than you did a year ago?

Fun Run? Fun with God?

A year and a half ago if you had said that Megan and I would go for an evening run together and considered it fun...I might have laughed at you. But the reality is, we have changed our lives and exercise a lot over the last 18 months. This change allows us to go and enjoy this kind of exercise together. And man is it a change for the better! 

Before you start thinking, "you all already were in good shape," we were not as good as we may have appeared. I had never run over a 5k without stopping and Megan had never run 2 miles without stopping.  To go from that to running a half-marathon last March in less than a year is incredible when I sit back and think about it.

Now we enjoy the run. We even crave to go for a run.

I wonder if that's how it is with our spiritual lives. We all go through ups and downs spiritually. Sometimes it seems like I can't get enough of scripture for example. Other times I look at how weak my prayer life is day by day. But as we begin to put priority on our spiritual walk, God shows up. It becomes fun and exciting. You begin to crave it.

Do you crave to spend time with God? Do you desire to read His Word? Is it hard to wait to spend time focusing in prayer? God desires time with us- I dare say it's fun for Him. We should desire to spend time with Him. Do you?

Hebrews 5:11-14

Prayer & Fasting

We talk a lot about prayer in our Christian circles. How often, how to, when to, what way, with what authority...you get the point.

Just because we talk about it often doesn't mean we're good at it, or that we pray often. We'll save that discussion for another time.

But we don't talk much about fasting. Why? What are we so scared of? Is it because we don't do it, or because we don't want others to know about it?

In Matthew 6, Jesus talks about 3 things we shouldn't do just for show: give to the needy, prayer, and fasting. Two of these (giving to the needy and prayer are in the forefront of our post-modern minds) the third...let's not talk about it.

In our over indulgent, self reliant, push until you can't anymore, the fasting needs a quick re-entry into the regular Christian practice. I admit- I'm not very good at it (and even if I was I wouldn't tell you about it right!). But I know there are times I have trouble focusing on my relationship with God. I also know from past experience that fasting allows you specific, set aside time to focus on Him. You may be distracted by the gurgling in your stomach, but can you allow that to put you into stronger communication with Him?

This Sunday we will continue our series on the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus. It is quite possibly the most important teaching in all of Christianity. With in it, we find some of the most difficult teaching in all of Christianity. Prayer and fasting, certainly fall into that category.

More next week on this...after I do some more, study, prayer, fasting, and preaching on it (Sunday @ Grace Crossing).

Discipline: it hurts

Discipline is not everyone's favorite word. For most it seems to conjure up painful memories and thoughts. We see discipline as a negative word, associated with following the rules.

But there is another way to define discipline: activity, exercise or regimen that develops or improves a skill; training. Training, now there's another word that gets a bad wrap regularly. Here's what I know, I may not like discipline or training but that doesn't mean it isn't good for me.

As I prepare to go climb Mt. Whitney in April my physical preparations have begun. It starts out small and will slowly intensify over the next 3 months. This week I started P90X in the evenings. The first night hurt, and so did the second. But although I'm sore today- it's already better than the first day. And that is the way discipline works. When I train my body it goes from painful, to it hurts good, to enjoyable even if it hurts.

Isn't that the way it works spiritually too? I have struggled the last couple of months to spend regular time in The Word and in prayer. But starting Monday, sitting down on my couch in my office I made my self read through the prayer list and read 2 chapters from Matthew. And then I did it the next day. Now today, I knew I was missing something, I hadn't sat down to read & pray.

Discipline the body. Discipline the spirit. How is God showing you the meaning of discipline?