A Quick Thought

The irony of my title is not lost on me. But maybe “a quick thought” will challenge you to read these few words. I read this and wanted to pass it along. It was an “ouch” and “amen” moment.

“Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. For most of us, the danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. Hurry will destroy your soul. It will keep you from life. Depth always comes slowly; this is simply a truth about human formation. You cannot microwave maturity.

… Following Jesus cannot be done at a sprint. If you want to follow someone, you can’t go faster than the one who is leading.”

-John Ortberg, Laurie Pederson, Judson Poling-Pursuing Spiritual Transformation -Growth training vs trying

A Manifesto on Engagement (Updated)

There is a recurring theme that I find as I travel to churches around the country. The church seems to be missing the life of engagement. I looked online and according to Merriam Webster here are a couple definitions of engagement:

  1. emotional involvement or commitment
  2. the state of being in gear

It seems like so many Christians are simply going through the motions. They are not “bad” people, but their journey has become a routine. Dare I say their faith has become boring? They come to church on Sunday; they give in the offering, and may even read their Bible every day. But something is missing. Sticking with the idea of engagement is seems like the church may be dating Jesus, but have refused his requests to get married.

There are two things that are connected that appear to have caused this. Imagine one of those hand cars that go down a railroad tracks. When you push on one side the other side goes up. One side of this car is prayer and the other side is mission. One leads to the other.

Being a prayer guy you would expect me to say that one side is prayer. But what you might not expect is that one of the reasons I challenge people to pray is because I know that it results in mission. As you see in the Bible, when people came into the presence of God they were draw into some mission that God had for them.

The flip side is true as well. As you engage in the mission that God has for you it become obvious that you cannot do this with your own power. It requires the power of God. This will drive you into the presence of God in prayer. And the cycle will continue. Now when I am talking about mission I mean this in two ways-the broader sense of God’s activity for us and more narrowly the cross cultural calling to new people.

I have found an interesting thing happens when I push the levers of prayer and mission in my own life. It begins me moving down the tracks. And very importantly is where it takes me. It takes me to the heart of God.

But my passion is not enough. What about your engagement? Are you moving down the track? Which side do you need to move down the field? God needs you!

Quick Favor

 

If you have read my first book Enjoying Prayer could you take a moment to review it on Amazon. Thanks! (If you haven’t, maybe you could order your copy today) 🙂

 

Keep praying! This verse encouraged me today:

In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out. (Ephesians 6:18 MSG)

6 Ways To Find More Time To Pray (Updated)

One of the standard things that people say is, “I am too busy to pray.” In some of the recent messages I have been challenging people to think differently about this. (If you have never heard me speak you can check out a couple samples here.) I challenge people to do the math on an average week of media consumption. Simple math like

1. How much time do you watch TV shows and movies?

2. How much time do you spend with social media?

3. How much new consumption do you do?

4. How much radio/podcast do you listen to on your commute?

5. Other media: newspapers, books, magazines?

Then I challenge them to add that up and then answer the question, “Could I give God 10% of my media time?”

Here is a short video I made to give you some more ideas:

How to see more answers to prayer

I made a less than 2 minute video to give you a thought on how to see more answers to prayer. This may be one simple way to see more of the activity of God in your life. Seeing more of God creates an adventure that we were all designed to live.