Well, today marks our day of rest as Camp Highland staff after two weeks of staff training. It's been intense, deep, challenging, and of course a lot of fun. This summer has a lot of new things in store for the campers who will be coming, and it has been a cool opportunity to take part in making these new things possible. After two weeks, we're finally ready to welcome the kids to camp tomorrow morning. And even after only two weeks, the Lord has done countless wonders and taught innumerable valuable lessons that I'm going to try to remember so I can share them.
As soon as I drove through the front gate, everything felt surreal. It can't really be true that it's been a whole year since last summer. It felt as if it had only been a few weeks. As the staff began to trickle in Monday morning, I started to get more and more excited for training to start and for the campers to get here, as I saw just how many staff we have returning from last year and just how incredible all the new staff are. And to top it off, my friend Johnny from Journey showed up! Journey/Choose to Invest is a group that partners with Camp Highland to send a team of college students on a 6-8-week mission trip in Kenya every summer. Johnny was one of the team members that I connected with, and we kept each other updated on the happenings at camp and in Kenya throughout the summer. This year Johnny is one of the team leaders, so it was awesome to see how God orchestrated everything so that we would both end up camp again this week so that we could reconnect.
For me the biggest thing God has been doing in me has been constantly immersing me in His Spirit. Usually when I think of experiencing God's presence, I think of big emotional experiences that produce spiritual highs. Although I did experience a spiritual high during the first week of training, the Lord has been teaching me to seek Him in other ways, especially when I don't feel Him. The first week involved a lot of huge revelations for all of the staff, as well as a rapid development of openness with each other. Prophetic encouragement led to people realizing their purpose for being here at camp. Testimonies of strengthened faith through hardships, especially a very recent death of a close loved one, shook all of us up and stirred us up to pursue the Lord in greater faith. The "camp bubble" atmosphere of freedom from the darkness and chaos of the outside world has been growing me in making me more comfortable with allowing the Lord to speak through me whenever He wants to, and He has been teaching me to simply open my mouth and let Him speak.
The second week, however, took a different turn. While praying at the end of the first week, thanking God for just how encouraging the first week had been, He quietly warned me that the following week would not be the same as the first. This week would be filled with difficulties and tests of faith and patience. And I'm glad He told me that, because I'm not sure I would have made it through the week in one piece (mentally and spiritually) if I had simply been thrown into it. I tend to be very idealistic, and it's very easy for me to be disappointed when someone I look up to fails to meet my expectations. That happened a few times this week, and I began to become impatient, though it might not have been apparent outwardly. But last night God had to correct me, not for being impatient, but for misunderstanding what true impatience is. (In fact, these last two weeks have involved a lot of redefining of terms, specifically humility and pride.) He reassured me that the "impatience" I was experiencing was actually justified indignation at what displeases Him. He has given me the same righteous anger He has about the things that defy Him. But He also reminded me that vengeance is His to repay. He told me to welcome what I have termed "impatience" because it is a sign of His just character, but to outwardly demonstrate patience and love, and to not foster impatience and anger, lest it grow to become hatred not of sin but of the sinner.
The biggest truth the Lord revealed to me this week came while I was praying one day. My allergies have been plaguing me incessantly, and I think it actually developed into a minor cold/fever after I got a little sunburned, so my morning TAG time (Time Alone with God) for several days was spent going in and out of the bathroom to blow my nose, which kept me from getting very deep into my reading. Instead, my time was spent praying and listening. Finally, I was tired of not being able to read for longer than three minutes at a time, so one night during some down time, I sat down and read some, then returned to praying. While I prayed, I started to complain to God, "Why do I feel so disconnected from You?" He said, "You're not." At first, that was reassuring and gave me a sense of peace. He was telling me that despite my sense of being distant from Him, my feelings were deceiving me, and He was, in fact, near and using all things to grow me. But I took His response as a correction to my question. But after deeper searching later that night, the Lord revealed that His response was actually His answer to my question. I feel disconnected from Him because I am securely connected to Him. At camp, our mission is "to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ through the use of high adventure," which means that, naturally, high ropes courses, climbing walls, and enormous swings are heavily used and always related to a spiritual concept that can be put to practical use. So naturally God related His answer of security to the use of a harness. When climbing a rock wall or walking through a high ropes course, a harness is a necessity for safety. Of course you feel the harness when you first put it on, and you can always tell that it is on securely as you progress through your task, but do you really feel it all the way through the course or all the way up the tower? Is your attention on the harness and the belay rope, or is it on your next handhold or your next step across a rickety rope bridge with loose boards? While you know that your harness is keeping you safe, your attention should be on the task at hand. If your sense of the harness overwhelms your sense of accomplishing a task, then it must be uncomfortable and something must be wrong with the harness. Not very reassuring. A true sense of security is evidenced by a tendency to forget about the harness while performing a task. A more personal analogy that I feel conveys the message more clearly is the way that I cannot feel the infusion site of my insulin pump once it has been inserted correctly. The concept of an infusion site is similar to an IV that you might get at the hospital. Once it's in, yes, you know it's there, but if it has been inserted properly, you should have very little physical sensation of it being there. Any feeling stimulated by the infusion site or IV is evidence that it is uncomfortable, giving reason to adjust it or change it completely. When I go through my day-to-day life, I don't feel my infusion site at all. And that is the proof that it is working well. Likewise, because I didn't feel God as strongly this week, I had reason to believe that God was entrusting me with more of Himself because I no longer need constant emotional experiences to prove to me that God is real. I felt disconnected from God because He is closer to me now than ever before. Needless to say, that was an exciting discovery!
And there's still more! This week the leadership staff from Stone Mountain Park and Wild Adventure came to camp for their staff training, and we got to train and hang out with them while they were here. It was encouraging to hear how they noticed Christ in us as we demonstrated unity and love for one another and for them. Some of them even came to know Christ in a deeper personal way during their time here, which is really exciting! God moved in them here, and I can't wait to hear how He moves through them as they go back to lead their staff by the power of the Holy Spirit.
But along with all of this encouragement also came some conviction. God called my attention again to my diabetes and revealed to me that I have been a victim of spiritual diabetes. While I receive wisdom and insight from the Lord and continue to seek more from Him, and while I share what He teaches me, very little of what He teaches me comes across in practical application in my everyday life. I ingest spiritual carbohydrates, but I am lacking in spiritual insulin to make my spiritual food useful for action. I want to see this change. Lord, replace my spiritual pancreas with Your Spirit, Your spring of Living Water.
There's still much more that God has been doing, but this is the last thing I'm going to share for now, until next time, because I'm running out of time, and I've already given you enough to read for now. The unity and support our staff have demonstrated in our support for each other has been a huge encouragement to me. A few of us spent one night sharpening each other as iron sharpens iron in a heated debate. All sides of the discussion were passionate about their stance and were fully convinced of the Lord's will in that area, and it was cool to see how the Spirit spoke truth into the situation through so many wise individuals, growing us all to have a united cause: to make the name of Jesus glorified abundantly. Another night was spent being vulnerable in confession and encouraging a brother that God is not finished with His work in him yet. Just hearing his story makes me excited about the ministry opportunity he has, to share the gospel with a unique group of people and to be a like a living stone (1 Peter 2:5), evidence of God's sovereignty and His ability to make good out of the worst of circumstances.
Thank you to everyone who has been praying and supporting me as I prepare to work at camp this summer! I can't fully express how much it means to me that you would set aside part of your day to keep me and our staff in your prayers, and I pray that you would be encouraged to know that God is working because of you. We are fighting for the hearts and souls of the kids who will be coming here, and your prayers strengthen us for the Lord's purposes. Campers arrive tomorrow! To arms, prayer warriors! God bless!
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Friday, May 17, 2013
"God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone."
James 1:13b
This passage has always confused me, and it wasn't until a few months ago that God gave me a little clarity on it. Now I'm finally getting around to writing about it.
So what's the confusion? Of course, we know that God doesn't tempt anyone. That's what Satan does. But why include the statement that God cannot be tempted? What about when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13)? Wasn't God tempted then? And isn't this passage in James talking about the temptation man experiences? What does tempting God have to do with it?
Let's start by defining temptation. We're familiar with the common understanding of what temptation is: a pull toward something that is immoral, unwise or, in other words, contrary to God's will. And, in fact, that may be enough to help us understand this verse. Because God is the One who knows and is in control of His will, nothing can convince Him to take a detour away from His own will. It may appear in certain passages in the Bible that prayer was used to change His mind about something, but the reality is that the end result that came from prayer was actually His plan all along. He simply tested His servants and drove them to earnest prayer by setting in their minds that His current course of action needed to be changed. By convincing them that His plan was unlike Him, He led them to seek Him more passionately in prayer so that He would be glorified more appropriately, and thus He accomplished His will and received greater glory through His servants than He would have if He had simply gone ahead with His will without giving His servants a part in it.
Anyway, let's look at it another way. If I say, "I'm tempted to buy this book," it can be assumed that my original plan was not to buy that book. My original course of action was already set, but temptation came and gave me an alternate route. Sometimes the word temptation can be misused in this case, when buying that book would be a good investment, but buying the book would still be a detour from the original plan. So in this case, "temptation" can convince us that the new course of action is better than the original. God, however, cannot be tempted in this way. He can never be convinced that another way is better than His way. Obviously. You'd think the Creator of the universe and the Orchestrator of all things would know the best way to organize the events of history for the good of His people and for the increase of His glory.
So I think what James is trying to say here is that when God seems to give us clarity on His purposes for our lives, we must test anything that seems to take us on a different path, even if it only delays us in getting to the same destination. God will not tell us to do something one day and the next day say, "Actually, I have a better idea." When God makes His way known and declares His word, His word is set up as a monument of truth for eternity.
"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever." ~ Isaiah 40:8
So what is temptation? Let's call it "anything that tries to convince a child of God to depart, even momentarily, from the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God."
"When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." ~ James 1:13-15
This passage has always confused me, and it wasn't until a few months ago that God gave me a little clarity on it. Now I'm finally getting around to writing about it.
So what's the confusion? Of course, we know that God doesn't tempt anyone. That's what Satan does. But why include the statement that God cannot be tempted? What about when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13)? Wasn't God tempted then? And isn't this passage in James talking about the temptation man experiences? What does tempting God have to do with it?
Let's start by defining temptation. We're familiar with the common understanding of what temptation is: a pull toward something that is immoral, unwise or, in other words, contrary to God's will. And, in fact, that may be enough to help us understand this verse. Because God is the One who knows and is in control of His will, nothing can convince Him to take a detour away from His own will. It may appear in certain passages in the Bible that prayer was used to change His mind about something, but the reality is that the end result that came from prayer was actually His plan all along. He simply tested His servants and drove them to earnest prayer by setting in their minds that His current course of action needed to be changed. By convincing them that His plan was unlike Him, He led them to seek Him more passionately in prayer so that He would be glorified more appropriately, and thus He accomplished His will and received greater glory through His servants than He would have if He had simply gone ahead with His will without giving His servants a part in it.
Anyway, let's look at it another way. If I say, "I'm tempted to buy this book," it can be assumed that my original plan was not to buy that book. My original course of action was already set, but temptation came and gave me an alternate route. Sometimes the word temptation can be misused in this case, when buying that book would be a good investment, but buying the book would still be a detour from the original plan. So in this case, "temptation" can convince us that the new course of action is better than the original. God, however, cannot be tempted in this way. He can never be convinced that another way is better than His way. Obviously. You'd think the Creator of the universe and the Orchestrator of all things would know the best way to organize the events of history for the good of His people and for the increase of His glory.
So I think what James is trying to say here is that when God seems to give us clarity on His purposes for our lives, we must test anything that seems to take us on a different path, even if it only delays us in getting to the same destination. God will not tell us to do something one day and the next day say, "Actually, I have a better idea." When God makes His way known and declares His word, His word is set up as a monument of truth for eternity.
"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever." ~ Isaiah 40:8
So what is temptation? Let's call it "anything that tries to convince a child of God to depart, even momentarily, from the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God."
"When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." ~ James 1:13-15
Paraphrased:
"When you have been clearly given a plan by God, do not question His way when something pops up that may give you a logical reason to take a different path. Just because you heard God's voice in a certain way, do not immediately assume that it is His voice again when you hear it the same way again, especially if it contradicts what He first told you. It is not God telling you to disregard His original plan; it is your own natural inclination toward reason and safety. Any attempt to preserve your life or dignity that strays from God's will will only result in your eternal harm. God knows what He is doing, and He will not change His mind once He has told you His plan for you. Keep your ears open and your mind clear so that you can know when you have accurately heard the voice of the Lord; then stand firm in what He has told you."
Monday, May 13, 2013
Prayer as Prophecy
Did you know that prayer can be spoken as prophecy? I didn't either until God told me earlier today.
If you've been following my blog for a while, you've probably noticed that I've written a few times about prayer and prophecy, sometimes individually and sometimes together. Well, I'm going to add to that collection.
Another school year has gone by, and now I'm back at home. My brother is finishing up his first year of college, and my parents are on their way up to Indiana now to pick him up later this week. So it's just me and my grandma left in the house, which, even though one day isn't much to go by, has been great! I usually don't spend a whole lot of time talking with my grandma because of the language barrier, but we worked through it with some broken Japanese on my part and some broken English on her part. But that's not the only thing that I've gotten to enjoy since being home. With a quiet, almost empty house, I was able to enjoy some time reading and praying. In fact, I plan on continuing that prayer time after I finish typing. Anyway, in the middle of reading, I couldn't stay focused on my reading because God was putting too much on my mind that He wanted me to pray for. So I prayed then went back to my book, then got distracted again, so I prayed and went back to my book. Eventually, I decided to just go on a prayer walk with my dog.
As I was praying, the Holy Spirit started speaking through me in a powerful way that I had never recognized or understood before. I had felt that kind of authority in prayer before, but I had never been able to put a name to that kind of confident praying. He had me praying for things I wouldn't normally think of to pray. And He had me praying with such confidence and assurance of His promises that I knew that what He had me praying for would come true. Then the Lord planted the thought of prophecy in my mind, and I understood. The kind of strength I felt while praying earlier was the same feeling of authority that comes from prophecy and the understanding of visions. Because the Holy Spirit is the One giving the prophecy or vision, the prophecy or vision can be trusted to be true and to be fulfilled. In the same way, because the Holy Spirit is the One who prays for us, we can trust Him to fulfill our prayers because the Spirit only prays what the Lord wants and what He intends to fulfill. When we pray authentic prayers guided by the Spirit, we are not merely expressing our desires; we are prophesying! That's why Paul encourages the Corinthians to desire the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1): he wants them to learn to be in such close contact with the Lord that His desires are deeply known to us so that we may speak them into being with His life-giving breath. We are called to delight in the Lord so that we may want what He wants, and thus our desires, which are God's desires, would be fulfilled (Psalm 37:4). And when we pray in the Spirit (Romans 8:26-27), we welcome and ask for the fulfillment of those desires.
This is also why God told Ezekiel to prophecy to the dry bones in the valley (Ezekiel 37). Rather than pray that the bones would receive new life, Ezekiel was told to prophecy to the bones, implying a certain level of assurance that the words spoken will indeed become truth.
Maybe this doesn't change all that much, but it's still a cool thought. When you're praying, instead of just rattling off a list of wants and needs and hopes and thanks (thanksgiving is essential), allow the Spirit to pray through you as if He is prophesying through you. See what happens to your faith as a result, and what happens in actuality.
If you've been following my blog for a while, you've probably noticed that I've written a few times about prayer and prophecy, sometimes individually and sometimes together. Well, I'm going to add to that collection.
Another school year has gone by, and now I'm back at home. My brother is finishing up his first year of college, and my parents are on their way up to Indiana now to pick him up later this week. So it's just me and my grandma left in the house, which, even though one day isn't much to go by, has been great! I usually don't spend a whole lot of time talking with my grandma because of the language barrier, but we worked through it with some broken Japanese on my part and some broken English on her part. But that's not the only thing that I've gotten to enjoy since being home. With a quiet, almost empty house, I was able to enjoy some time reading and praying. In fact, I plan on continuing that prayer time after I finish typing. Anyway, in the middle of reading, I couldn't stay focused on my reading because God was putting too much on my mind that He wanted me to pray for. So I prayed then went back to my book, then got distracted again, so I prayed and went back to my book. Eventually, I decided to just go on a prayer walk with my dog.
As I was praying, the Holy Spirit started speaking through me in a powerful way that I had never recognized or understood before. I had felt that kind of authority in prayer before, but I had never been able to put a name to that kind of confident praying. He had me praying for things I wouldn't normally think of to pray. And He had me praying with such confidence and assurance of His promises that I knew that what He had me praying for would come true. Then the Lord planted the thought of prophecy in my mind, and I understood. The kind of strength I felt while praying earlier was the same feeling of authority that comes from prophecy and the understanding of visions. Because the Holy Spirit is the One giving the prophecy or vision, the prophecy or vision can be trusted to be true and to be fulfilled. In the same way, because the Holy Spirit is the One who prays for us, we can trust Him to fulfill our prayers because the Spirit only prays what the Lord wants and what He intends to fulfill. When we pray authentic prayers guided by the Spirit, we are not merely expressing our desires; we are prophesying! That's why Paul encourages the Corinthians to desire the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1): he wants them to learn to be in such close contact with the Lord that His desires are deeply known to us so that we may speak them into being with His life-giving breath. We are called to delight in the Lord so that we may want what He wants, and thus our desires, which are God's desires, would be fulfilled (Psalm 37:4). And when we pray in the Spirit (Romans 8:26-27), we welcome and ask for the fulfillment of those desires.
This is also why God told Ezekiel to prophecy to the dry bones in the valley (Ezekiel 37). Rather than pray that the bones would receive new life, Ezekiel was told to prophecy to the bones, implying a certain level of assurance that the words spoken will indeed become truth.
Maybe this doesn't change all that much, but it's still a cool thought. When you're praying, instead of just rattling off a list of wants and needs and hopes and thanks (thanksgiving is essential), allow the Spirit to pray through you as if He is prophesying through you. See what happens to your faith as a result, and what happens in actuality.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Go, Send, or Disobey
These are John Piper's three behavior categories of Christians when it comes to missions: we can either go serve and take the gospel to Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8); we can support, encourage, pray for, and send others (Acts 13:1-3); or we can disobey the Great Commission entirely and so reject God's grace shown to us.
This past week the Lord has been heavily emphasizing missions in what He has been teaching me. It started with hearing about Athens Launch a couple weeks ago, which is a mission-oriented community group that is being set up here for the upcoming school year. Launch has several sites across the country, and now Athens will be added to that number. The purpose of Launch is largely for networking and encouraging "go-ers" and mobilizers. A go-er is just what it sounds like: they are the people typically identified as missionaries, who go overseas as laborers in the harvest. Mobilizers are those who make people aware of the urgent need for missionaries in all six areas (learning, going, praying, sending, welcoming, and mobilizing) and who spur people on toward action for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.
Anyway, because I won't be doing Wesley leadership next year (God is leading me to start removing myself from the campus ministry setting and more into a church setting, so I plan to get more involved at Watkinsville First Baptist), it seemed like Launch was going to be what I'm supposed to do next year instead. I was wrong. Because of time conflicts with Redcoats, Launch is not for me. But I like several of the ideas behind Launch, like the commitment to meeting with international students regularly, the desire for fellowship not only in a spiritual learning environment but also in a setting that fosters relationship building—specifically, sharing meals together with the intent of carrying that time over into Bible study time. So I want to live out what Launch will be doing without officially being a part of Launch.
Enough about that. Following the whole ordeal with Launch, I went to Perspectives this past Thursday, which drove home the idea of missions even deeper. My friend Jessica had an idea that got us both really excited about the learning and mobilizing areas of missions, and that set the ball rolling for even more ideas. In addition to that, Chris Fitzgerald, the missions director at Watkinsville, spoke at Perspectives and talked about the importance of having a solid home church that will wholeheartedly support missionaries so that they are not cut off from their church family while they are overseas. Then Chris spoke again at church this morning, as well as a couple that will be moving to Boston to minister to college and university faculty.
All of this has culminated for me in the last couple days. What I said earlier was exactly completely true: this didn't really start with Launch. It started with me not going on a mission trip this year, which was a change for me because I've gone to Jamaica over spring break two out of my three years at UGA. Instead, God called me to help send people on mission trips rather than actually going on one myself. So I've been supporting people financially and in prayer this year, which has been an incredible opportunity to see how God uses the people I am investing in. He also showed me how Moses was a mobilizer to Aaron, and because of other similarities I noticed when comparing my own life to the life of Moses, I took that to mean that I'm supposed to be a mobilizer too. So the culmination of all of this came when my friend Shelby shared that she is still raising her last $700 of support for her trip to Southeast Asia through Adventures in Missions (http://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=partFund — choose Passport under Program, and donate to Shelby Burnam), and I wanted to give more, but God gave me a different idea. After hearing Chris speak at Perspectives, the Lord hinted at the idea of setting up an organization, probably starting locally here in Athens but possibly expanding, that would connect go-ers with senders and pray-ers. We hear a lot about people who are raising support to go on mission trips, but what if there was a group of people who know that their calling at this point in time is not to go but to send and pray, and that group was filled with a passion and desperation to support people going on mission trips? What if people began to say, "I wish I knew someone that is going overseas that I could invest in through prayer, encouragement, and financial means"? And what if there was someone that could connect those senders and prayers with the go-ers who are still raising support? This idea is still in the formative stages, but I think this is where God is leading me in the relatively near future.
The last thing the Lord told me yesterday was on the issue of praying for missions. I was reading The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds On Prayer, which I've been reading on and off since summer 2011, and conveniently, the chapter that I had left off on was on Prayer and Missions. The point Bounds made in the chapter was that too often we give financially toward missions but we don't pray. Missionary support without prayer is just like sending someone on a fully funded vacation or community service project. What really sets missions apart is the prayer that goes into it. So God challenged me with a challenge for all go-ers, prayers, and senders. To the senders, pray! Pray first before you donate. And don't let it be just a one-time thing, when you pray for God to bless your donation, and then you give your money. Really pray over an extended period of time. For example, for a week-long mission trip, assuming the one going has given you advance notice, keep the trip in your prayers at least as long as the trip will last before you give any money toward it. If you know for certain that you are supposed to give toward a trip before you pray about it, tell the person, "I'm going to give financially toward your trip, but I want to pray for you and your trip before I give you the money and send you off." And to the go-ers, encourage your supporters to do this. Rather than asking for money right off the bat, if it's early November and your trip is in March, ask your supporters to pray for the entire month of November before sending any money. And when sending updates during the support raising period, remind your supporters to keep praying, an give them something to pray about rather than just giving financial progress reports. Bounds states that too often we ask for money and assume that prayer will inherently be given along with the money. But we need to start thinking the other way around: a spirit of prayer for missions will naturally give rise to a giving spirit. So that's my challenge: In supporting missions, don't give money until you have actively prayed for the trip. A lot of times our prayers regarding missions are confined to the shallow "Should I give, and if so, how much?" kind of prayers. But we need to actually pray for missions, not simply about them. And in seeking support, trust God to give you the money you need when you need it; instead, let your main request be for prayer.
This past week the Lord has been heavily emphasizing missions in what He has been teaching me. It started with hearing about Athens Launch a couple weeks ago, which is a mission-oriented community group that is being set up here for the upcoming school year. Launch has several sites across the country, and now Athens will be added to that number. The purpose of Launch is largely for networking and encouraging "go-ers" and mobilizers. A go-er is just what it sounds like: they are the people typically identified as missionaries, who go overseas as laborers in the harvest. Mobilizers are those who make people aware of the urgent need for missionaries in all six areas (learning, going, praying, sending, welcoming, and mobilizing) and who spur people on toward action for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.
Anyway, because I won't be doing Wesley leadership next year (God is leading me to start removing myself from the campus ministry setting and more into a church setting, so I plan to get more involved at Watkinsville First Baptist), it seemed like Launch was going to be what I'm supposed to do next year instead. I was wrong. Because of time conflicts with Redcoats, Launch is not for me. But I like several of the ideas behind Launch, like the commitment to meeting with international students regularly, the desire for fellowship not only in a spiritual learning environment but also in a setting that fosters relationship building—specifically, sharing meals together with the intent of carrying that time over into Bible study time. So I want to live out what Launch will be doing without officially being a part of Launch.
Enough about that. Following the whole ordeal with Launch, I went to Perspectives this past Thursday, which drove home the idea of missions even deeper. My friend Jessica had an idea that got us both really excited about the learning and mobilizing areas of missions, and that set the ball rolling for even more ideas. In addition to that, Chris Fitzgerald, the missions director at Watkinsville, spoke at Perspectives and talked about the importance of having a solid home church that will wholeheartedly support missionaries so that they are not cut off from their church family while they are overseas. Then Chris spoke again at church this morning, as well as a couple that will be moving to Boston to minister to college and university faculty.
All of this has culminated for me in the last couple days. What I said earlier was exactly completely true: this didn't really start with Launch. It started with me not going on a mission trip this year, which was a change for me because I've gone to Jamaica over spring break two out of my three years at UGA. Instead, God called me to help send people on mission trips rather than actually going on one myself. So I've been supporting people financially and in prayer this year, which has been an incredible opportunity to see how God uses the people I am investing in. He also showed me how Moses was a mobilizer to Aaron, and because of other similarities I noticed when comparing my own life to the life of Moses, I took that to mean that I'm supposed to be a mobilizer too. So the culmination of all of this came when my friend Shelby shared that she is still raising her last $700 of support for her trip to Southeast Asia through Adventures in Missions (http://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=partFund — choose Passport under Program, and donate to Shelby Burnam), and I wanted to give more, but God gave me a different idea. After hearing Chris speak at Perspectives, the Lord hinted at the idea of setting up an organization, probably starting locally here in Athens but possibly expanding, that would connect go-ers with senders and pray-ers. We hear a lot about people who are raising support to go on mission trips, but what if there was a group of people who know that their calling at this point in time is not to go but to send and pray, and that group was filled with a passion and desperation to support people going on mission trips? What if people began to say, "I wish I knew someone that is going overseas that I could invest in through prayer, encouragement, and financial means"? And what if there was someone that could connect those senders and prayers with the go-ers who are still raising support? This idea is still in the formative stages, but I think this is where God is leading me in the relatively near future.
The last thing the Lord told me yesterday was on the issue of praying for missions. I was reading The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds On Prayer, which I've been reading on and off since summer 2011, and conveniently, the chapter that I had left off on was on Prayer and Missions. The point Bounds made in the chapter was that too often we give financially toward missions but we don't pray. Missionary support without prayer is just like sending someone on a fully funded vacation or community service project. What really sets missions apart is the prayer that goes into it. So God challenged me with a challenge for all go-ers, prayers, and senders. To the senders, pray! Pray first before you donate. And don't let it be just a one-time thing, when you pray for God to bless your donation, and then you give your money. Really pray over an extended period of time. For example, for a week-long mission trip, assuming the one going has given you advance notice, keep the trip in your prayers at least as long as the trip will last before you give any money toward it. If you know for certain that you are supposed to give toward a trip before you pray about it, tell the person, "I'm going to give financially toward your trip, but I want to pray for you and your trip before I give you the money and send you off." And to the go-ers, encourage your supporters to do this. Rather than asking for money right off the bat, if it's early November and your trip is in March, ask your supporters to pray for the entire month of November before sending any money. And when sending updates during the support raising period, remind your supporters to keep praying, an give them something to pray about rather than just giving financial progress reports. Bounds states that too often we ask for money and assume that prayer will inherently be given along with the money. But we need to start thinking the other way around: a spirit of prayer for missions will naturally give rise to a giving spirit. So that's my challenge: In supporting missions, don't give money until you have actively prayed for the trip. A lot of times our prayers regarding missions are confined to the shallow "Should I give, and if so, how much?" kind of prayers. But we need to actually pray for missions, not simply about them. And in seeking support, trust God to give you the money you need when you need it; instead, let your main request be for prayer.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Westboro Among Us
It's been a long time since I've written anything, but I've felt like I haven't been retaining much of what I've been learning since I stopped posting in my blog, so I figured what God showed me today was worth posting so that I would remember it and also because it needs to be shared.
I haven't been very consistent with attending church this year (I've partially justified it by my attendance and leadership position at Wesley, but I've genuinely missed being at an actual church rather than a campus ministry. The last couple months I've also had several gigs that have interfered with me attending my usual church. But today I finally got to go back, and I was taken aback by just how guarded and borderline critical it seemed, not of me but of other denominations and specific controversial preachers. While I do agree with some of the points made and that the controversial statements of said preachers quite obviously contradicted my own understanding of biblical faith, I felt offended on behalf of the Church as a whole because of the attacks being made against individuals and their followers.
Maybe the criticism stood out to me just because I've been noticing my own tendency to be critical of the majority of Christians. But regardless, I think the overall skeptical nature of this generation has become one of the biggest downfalls of the Church because it has caused us to turn against each other. We put down the teachings and beliefs of other Christians just because we happen to not be learning the same thing at that point in time. We question everything anyone says, and while I admit that we are told to test the spirits and not take everyone at their word, if straightforward skepticism becomes the identifying trait of Christians, then something is wrong. The line of distinction between us and Westboro Baptist Church is starting to fade. We boldly point out the faults of anyone who claims to be Christian but has even one differing opinion from our own, and we pronounce them condemned for it. That may be a harsh way of putting it, but I believe it's true.
Now, I realize that this post is pretty ironic because I'm criticizing the Church's tendency to criticize the Church. But I think it's time for us to focus less on the flaws of the whole Church and turn our examination inward to recognize and correct our own individual flaws. As Alan, my high school small group leader said, part of what goes into fearing God is acknowledging how we have wronged Him throughout our lives so that the wrongs others do to us don't seem like that big of a deal in comparison; and it's time for us to start fearing God. We need to be so repentant of our own sins that we can't help but be forgiving to others because of the forgiveness God has shown us. We need to learn to love despite our disagreements. I need to learn to love. Of course, love does not condone views and actions that are clearly out of line with God's will, but it most definitely is not founded on criticism.
May we learn to be humble in our faith while remaining firmly rooted in the Truth. May we learn to encourage others while not neglecting to promote the Truth and dismiss lies with gentleness and respect. And may the Lord grant me the privilege of being the first to take my own advice and fall in line with His will, to love the Church as He does.
In keeping with seeking humility, I invite anyone who disagrees with me on any point to say so, as well as anyone who would like to comment or who would like me to elaborate. This goes for this post as well as any past and future posts.
I haven't been very consistent with attending church this year (I've partially justified it by my attendance and leadership position at Wesley, but I've genuinely missed being at an actual church rather than a campus ministry. The last couple months I've also had several gigs that have interfered with me attending my usual church. But today I finally got to go back, and I was taken aback by just how guarded and borderline critical it seemed, not of me but of other denominations and specific controversial preachers. While I do agree with some of the points made and that the controversial statements of said preachers quite obviously contradicted my own understanding of biblical faith, I felt offended on behalf of the Church as a whole because of the attacks being made against individuals and their followers.
Maybe the criticism stood out to me just because I've been noticing my own tendency to be critical of the majority of Christians. But regardless, I think the overall skeptical nature of this generation has become one of the biggest downfalls of the Church because it has caused us to turn against each other. We put down the teachings and beliefs of other Christians just because we happen to not be learning the same thing at that point in time. We question everything anyone says, and while I admit that we are told to test the spirits and not take everyone at their word, if straightforward skepticism becomes the identifying trait of Christians, then something is wrong. The line of distinction between us and Westboro Baptist Church is starting to fade. We boldly point out the faults of anyone who claims to be Christian but has even one differing opinion from our own, and we pronounce them condemned for it. That may be a harsh way of putting it, but I believe it's true.
Now, I realize that this post is pretty ironic because I'm criticizing the Church's tendency to criticize the Church. But I think it's time for us to focus less on the flaws of the whole Church and turn our examination inward to recognize and correct our own individual flaws. As Alan, my high school small group leader said, part of what goes into fearing God is acknowledging how we have wronged Him throughout our lives so that the wrongs others do to us don't seem like that big of a deal in comparison; and it's time for us to start fearing God. We need to be so repentant of our own sins that we can't help but be forgiving to others because of the forgiveness God has shown us. We need to learn to love despite our disagreements. I need to learn to love. Of course, love does not condone views and actions that are clearly out of line with God's will, but it most definitely is not founded on criticism.
May we learn to be humble in our faith while remaining firmly rooted in the Truth. May we learn to encourage others while not neglecting to promote the Truth and dismiss lies with gentleness and respect. And may the Lord grant me the privilege of being the first to take my own advice and fall in line with His will, to love the Church as He does.
In keeping with seeking humility, I invite anyone who disagrees with me on any point to say so, as well as anyone who would like to comment or who would like me to elaborate. This goes for this post as well as any past and future posts.
Friday, November 16, 2012
"'Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.'"
Psalm 110:1b
I was talking with my friend Robby last night, and he asked me what God has been teaching me lately. I caught myself not really being able to think of anything, and I was ready to get down on myself. So I answered by sharing a quick story of a minor event that had some personal significance for me, and I was able to pick out a little bit of a lesson: Pay attention to the little details and be thankful for the ordinary things of life, because God is working in all of it, even in the things you don't notice.
While part of me took that moment as a rebuke, saying, "Great, I haven't been as devoted to the Lord as I would like, and now I have to own up to it; but I just want to make something up to make it sound like I'm still learning something," I just realized that in the back of my mind, something or Someone was saying, "Sure, you haven't been committing yourself fully to the Lord, but that doesn't mean that you aren't learning something. God uses everything, and all it takes is a new perspective to recognize how He is growing you. Just look for it." So He helped me find something, and it turns out that it's a much bigger lesson for me than it originally seemed.
I just opened up my blog and read the first few sentences of my last post, and I realized that had pretty much forgotten about the lesson I was learning just a little over a week ago. I wasn't even finished learning it, because obviously learning to "give thanks in all circumstances" is a lifelong process. So the Spirit convicted me, saying, "Why are you so caught up in learning new things? If I have to always be teaching you something new, when will you ever learn the full extent of what I am teaching you now? Be content to 'sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.'" One cliché I've been taking note of a lot lately is when people say they're resting in a particular truth, and I've never really understood that. But I think I finally get it. I need to be willing to dwell on the truth I am learning long enough for it to sink in, and maybe even a little longer so that I can put it into action. I need to be able to "rest" in the place where I am currently before I can move on to something new. In this way, I think I've been showing myself to be very restless. In fact, now that I think about it, it's been this way not just with specific lessons, but even with sermons and passages of Scripture. If I've heard a message several times before, it's hard for me to listen intently to it again because I feel like I've gotten all that I can out of it. But I know that's not true. This has always been the case for me. I've never been one to reread books over and over again. Even if I loved reading it, when I'm finished with a book, it goes back on the shelf and stays there. So I think God is telling me that it's time to mature and grow out of this part of my personality. It's time for me to be patient and to persevere in sitting at His feet and listening for a while.
Peter says in his second epistle, "Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able to at any time recall these things" (2 Peter 1:10-15). If I have not yet learned the qualities that the Spirit is trying to teach me and grow in me, then it is necessary for me to be reminded of those qualities so that I can continue to grow in them until the Spirit discerns that the fruits being produced in that area are sufficient for the time being, and it is time to move on to another quality. If I do not allow perseverance to finish its work, I will never be mature and complete as the Lord desires for me (James 1:4), and perseverance cannot finish its work if I am constantly wavering between the various truths that I want to focus on. Consistency in learning new things is of little value if I have no consistency in learning each lesson to the fullest extent.
So God's command to me today is this: "Come away by [yourself]... and rest a while" (Mark 6:31). I need to remember the lesson He taught me last night regarding ordinary details and combine it with the lesson of gratitude from my last post, and I intend to "rest in that" for a while.
I was talking with my friend Robby last night, and he asked me what God has been teaching me lately. I caught myself not really being able to think of anything, and I was ready to get down on myself. So I answered by sharing a quick story of a minor event that had some personal significance for me, and I was able to pick out a little bit of a lesson: Pay attention to the little details and be thankful for the ordinary things of life, because God is working in all of it, even in the things you don't notice.
While part of me took that moment as a rebuke, saying, "Great, I haven't been as devoted to the Lord as I would like, and now I have to own up to it; but I just want to make something up to make it sound like I'm still learning something," I just realized that in the back of my mind, something or Someone was saying, "Sure, you haven't been committing yourself fully to the Lord, but that doesn't mean that you aren't learning something. God uses everything, and all it takes is a new perspective to recognize how He is growing you. Just look for it." So He helped me find something, and it turns out that it's a much bigger lesson for me than it originally seemed.
I just opened up my blog and read the first few sentences of my last post, and I realized that had pretty much forgotten about the lesson I was learning just a little over a week ago. I wasn't even finished learning it, because obviously learning to "give thanks in all circumstances" is a lifelong process. So the Spirit convicted me, saying, "Why are you so caught up in learning new things? If I have to always be teaching you something new, when will you ever learn the full extent of what I am teaching you now? Be content to 'sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.'" One cliché I've been taking note of a lot lately is when people say they're resting in a particular truth, and I've never really understood that. But I think I finally get it. I need to be willing to dwell on the truth I am learning long enough for it to sink in, and maybe even a little longer so that I can put it into action. I need to be able to "rest" in the place where I am currently before I can move on to something new. In this way, I think I've been showing myself to be very restless. In fact, now that I think about it, it's been this way not just with specific lessons, but even with sermons and passages of Scripture. If I've heard a message several times before, it's hard for me to listen intently to it again because I feel like I've gotten all that I can out of it. But I know that's not true. This has always been the case for me. I've never been one to reread books over and over again. Even if I loved reading it, when I'm finished with a book, it goes back on the shelf and stays there. So I think God is telling me that it's time to mature and grow out of this part of my personality. It's time for me to be patient and to persevere in sitting at His feet and listening for a while.
Peter says in his second epistle, "Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able to at any time recall these things" (2 Peter 1:10-15). If I have not yet learned the qualities that the Spirit is trying to teach me and grow in me, then it is necessary for me to be reminded of those qualities so that I can continue to grow in them until the Spirit discerns that the fruits being produced in that area are sufficient for the time being, and it is time to move on to another quality. If I do not allow perseverance to finish its work, I will never be mature and complete as the Lord desires for me (James 1:4), and perseverance cannot finish its work if I am constantly wavering between the various truths that I want to focus on. Consistency in learning new things is of little value if I have no consistency in learning each lesson to the fullest extent.
So God's command to me today is this: "Come away by [yourself]... and rest a while" (Mark 6:31). I need to remember the lesson He taught me last night regarding ordinary details and combine it with the lesson of gratitude from my last post, and I intend to "rest in that" for a while.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Apparently, ungratefulness has been a theme in my life lately, and I didn't realize it until just now. I was reading Psalm 106, and when I got to verse 2, the Spirit made a connection from there to my thoughts from my last post.
I've been noticing recently that I become indignant at seeing other people do and say a lot of the things that I do and say toward the Lord. As should be obvious because of the topic of this post, ingratitude is what I noticed, and also a need to make the good deed and the other person's ingratitude known. But then I realized that I do the same thing. If I do something nice or achieve something and I am not recognized or appreciated, I take it personally and try to conjure up appreciation from others. But it shouldn't be about my own reputation of being nice or successful. It should be about doing everything as for the Lord and not for men (Colossians 3:23), and men includes me. I shouldn't do things for the sake of receiving attention, but rather because God told me to do it and in obedience I give Him glory.
But not only am I guilty of seeking unnecessary attention, but I am also guilty of being the ungrateful one who fails to give God the glory He deserves. Psalm 106:2 was a reminder to me this morning that it is impossible to recount all that the Lord has done and give Him enough thanks for all of it. Therefore, there is no reason for me to get so caught up in what I am not (2 Corinthians 8:12). Even if I am not the most desired person to be around or to be like, it doesn't matter as long as who I am leads people to Christ. And if I am not in a position to influence someone in a deep way, then all I can do is pray that someone else is there to be God's light to them. So any time I start to pay too much attention to the lies I'm being convinced of, I need to remember God's goodness and faithfulness and love. Psalm 105:43-45 essentially says that God blesses His people so that we would listen to Him and obey Him, and He has blessed me far beyond earning mere obedience. He deserves my wholehearted, joyful devotion in seeking Him, serving Him, and seeking ways to serve Him without being commanded to do so. (That's not to say that I should look for big ways to glorify Him instead of doing the small things He tells me to do. Whenever He tells me to do something, that's what I need to do. But if I haven't heard a call to do something, then I am to "do all that is in [my] heart, for the Lord is with [me]" (2 Samuel 7:3).) I want to remember every day just how much God has done for me and is currently doing for me, so that I would always be motivated to live to worship Him with my whole life. I cannot thank the Lord enough for bringing me to where I am and for where He is leading me, because I know it will be good. It may be hard and not so enjoyable, but true joy is not based on my circumstances. "Joy is refusing to let what cannot be enjoyed keep me from enjoying all that can be."
So rather than remembering who I am not, I will remember who God is, and I will let that understanding move me to strive to be more like Him without getting discouraged by my faults and failures.
Apparently, ungratefulness has been a theme in my life lately, and I didn't realize it until just now. I was reading Psalm 106, and when I got to verse 2, the Spirit made a connection from there to my thoughts from my last post.
"Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord, or declare all His praise?"The reason I had all the thoughts I was having before is because Satan was putting them in a place in my mind where they didn't belong, and that place had been left open because that was where my praise of God belonged. I was looking for praise for myself in place of the praise I was supposed to be giving God. I had forgotten just how much the Lord has done for me and has been doing for me since before I was born.
I've been noticing recently that I become indignant at seeing other people do and say a lot of the things that I do and say toward the Lord. As should be obvious because of the topic of this post, ingratitude is what I noticed, and also a need to make the good deed and the other person's ingratitude known. But then I realized that I do the same thing. If I do something nice or achieve something and I am not recognized or appreciated, I take it personally and try to conjure up appreciation from others. But it shouldn't be about my own reputation of being nice or successful. It should be about doing everything as for the Lord and not for men (Colossians 3:23), and men includes me. I shouldn't do things for the sake of receiving attention, but rather because God told me to do it and in obedience I give Him glory.
But not only am I guilty of seeking unnecessary attention, but I am also guilty of being the ungrateful one who fails to give God the glory He deserves. Psalm 106:2 was a reminder to me this morning that it is impossible to recount all that the Lord has done and give Him enough thanks for all of it. Therefore, there is no reason for me to get so caught up in what I am not (2 Corinthians 8:12). Even if I am not the most desired person to be around or to be like, it doesn't matter as long as who I am leads people to Christ. And if I am not in a position to influence someone in a deep way, then all I can do is pray that someone else is there to be God's light to them. So any time I start to pay too much attention to the lies I'm being convinced of, I need to remember God's goodness and faithfulness and love. Psalm 105:43-45 essentially says that God blesses His people so that we would listen to Him and obey Him, and He has blessed me far beyond earning mere obedience. He deserves my wholehearted, joyful devotion in seeking Him, serving Him, and seeking ways to serve Him without being commanded to do so. (That's not to say that I should look for big ways to glorify Him instead of doing the small things He tells me to do. Whenever He tells me to do something, that's what I need to do. But if I haven't heard a call to do something, then I am to "do all that is in [my] heart, for the Lord is with [me]" (2 Samuel 7:3).) I want to remember every day just how much God has done for me and is currently doing for me, so that I would always be motivated to live to worship Him with my whole life. I cannot thank the Lord enough for bringing me to where I am and for where He is leading me, because I know it will be good. It may be hard and not so enjoyable, but true joy is not based on my circumstances. "Joy is refusing to let what cannot be enjoyed keep me from enjoying all that can be."
So rather than remembering who I am not, I will remember who God is, and I will let that understanding move me to strive to be more like Him without getting discouraged by my faults and failures.
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