Lord, I need a mulligan please (yes, another one)

Lord, I need a mulligan please (yes, another one)

 Chapter 1

The last few months have been a struggle on several levels, but one of the big ones is everyone's favorite - financially. Actually "a struggle" would be an upgrade. Just flat been getting my backside kicked. Some (if not most) of the issues are my own fault, but some are not. On Friday I had had enough. I wanted to take the advice of Job's friends and curse God and die (no, really I did). I confess I did curse God, but obviously did not die. So I needed a Plan B - the Word of God.

I had already begun studying Philippians 4 because I felt like I needed to "fight for my joy" as Dr. John Piper would say. "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again - Rejoice". But how? I didn’t have much to rejoice about.  So I looked deeper into Philippians 4.

Philippians 4 has several "nugget" verses that we have all memorized (v.4, 6-7, 8, 13, 19), but I had never pieced them all together before. They all hold keys that allow us to "Rejoice in the Lord always". Let's start at vs. 6,7:

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

 
Anxiety is joy-killer! No mystery there. Some translations use "worry" or "take no thought". When I think of passages about worry the end of Matthew 6 instantly comes to mind. Jesus tells his followers that God feeds the birds and clothes the fields, so why wouldn't he take care of you. You are much more important. Besides, he knows yours needs.

Okay, that sounds good, but now what do I do?

"But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know to God."

Read/quoted that verse 100's of times but the thanksgiving part really grabbed me this time. Thanksgiving is something you do AFTER God answers the prayer, RIGHT? I've heard it preached before that that was just a way of thanking God for however he chooses to answer. Never could buy into that.

Hebrews 4.16 tells us to "approach the throne of God with boldness" or "confidence". I've never been able to reconcile "boldness" with "thanking God for 'whatever'" mentioned in the previous verse; however, we need to look at the end of that verse:

"so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time."

So how does all of this fit together? How does "making our request known to God through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving" cause us to "Rejoice in the Lord always"? The joy comes from knowing (and being thankful) that despite the circumstances of our anxiety we can be confident of these 3 things in regards to those distracting thoughts (Strong’s Definition) know as anxiety:

a) God's Mercy - we will NOT get what we earned. May not be how/when/where/what we want, but it will not be what we deserve. God owes us nothing. Our righteousness is like filthy rags. If we got what we deserved our prayers would never be answered.

          

b) God's Grace - whatever we do get, it will be because of God's grace. It will be because God loves us and wants what is best for his children. (Read Hebrews 4:14-16 - this is shouting ground 101).  We have access to the throne of God. 

c) God's Timing - Think about Mary and Martha at Lazarus' tomb. Think about how low their faith must have been in day 4. "Jesus, you are too late." Now, think about how strong their faith was after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after it was "too late". Now, they had a real story to share. Their faith was that much stronger because of God's timing. 

Next is v. 8 and how it helps us "Rejoice in the Lord always.."

So what are you saying?

"A deliberate time of solitude where you intentionally seek the presence of God through reading of Scripture, meditation, prayer, and praise."'


That's my definition of an "Encounter Time".  So why/how did I come up with this definition?  The answer is simple.  I wanted to address two particular issues: 1) what was wrong with the Quiet Time (at least how I was taught) and 2) what was missing from the Quiet Time.


The 7 main elements of my definition all address one of those  2 issues.  Furthermore, those 2 issues can be summarized into 1 issue -  taking time to commune with our Heavenly Father, not fulfill some religious obligation.


Those 7 items are:

1.  "Deliberate" - that is why it is called a spiritual DISCIPLINE.
2.  "Solitude" - we can't give God quality time if we don't give him the platform
3.  "Intentionally seek the presence of God" -the birthright of every believer (Stephen Eyre, Drawing Close to God)
4. "Scripture" - the Bible, the thing collecting dust on your night stand
5. "Meditation" - its not just for Buddhists
6. "Prayer" - more than just your grocery list for God
7. "Praise" - I can do that at home?      

I will begin addressing each one of those issues in the next few days.  I will start with solitude, and to be honest I think it is the hardest.  Not only is it the hardest, I'm not too sure its not the most important.  It sets the foundation for the others.

So until next time think about this:

 Mark 5.16 - "But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray." NASB

Jesus was busier, doing more important stuff than we will ever do, yet He took time out to spend with His Heavenly Father.  Why don't we?


Wag out!

Outake, Intake, Upkeep, Downfall

I think it is an old Navigators cliche:

"If your outtake exceeds your intake then you upkeep will be your downfall"

Fulls of hooks, but also full of a lot of truth.

I love serving the Lord and I love serving my local church.  I'm currently a deacon, sing in the choir, sing on one of the praise teams, help lead a Home Team, and about to begin teaching 4th through 6th grade boys Sunday School.  And sometimes I sleep.  Sounds like a lot, but I know there are a bunch of church members out there who do just as much if not more.  Honestly I don't think I would have it any other way.  That's just how I roll.

A few years (okay close to 30 years ago) I had the opportunity to spend a weekend studying a book written by a missionary from the Congo.  Outside of the Word of God, this book was the most life changing thing I've ever read.  My whole philosophy of ministry changed.  There were many deep truths.  The most important for me was talking about "overflow".  Ministering from an "abundant life" and "cups that runneth over" (a.k.a, your overflowing intake becomes your outtake). 

So that's why I believe that Christian's who have a heart to serve God in whatever capacity MUST have a consistent Quiet Time, Devotional Time, [insert whatever term here].  We must have more coming in than going out.  Not for more "material", but just in the name of our own spiritual growth.

The problem is that most of us treat our Quiet Time more as an outtake than an intake.  More Martha and not Mary.  So I have made an attempt to redefine it to be more of what I believe it should be.  More like how the devotional masters of old treated it.

So my working definition is as follows - An Encounter Time is "A deliberate time of solitude where you intentionally seek the presence of God through reading of Scripture, meditation, prayer, and praise."


For those of you familiar with Lectio Divina I know this sounds very similar, but I actually had this done before I ever even heard of Lectio Divina...

Dust collector....

Psalms 119:16 (HCSB) -  "I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget [neglect] Your word."

I was recently at a church meeting with about 35 people or so in attendance.  The speaker used Psalms 119.9-16 has his reference.  "How can a young man keep his way pure, by keeping Your Word."  His message was basically about how the Word should be an integral part of our lives as believers.  What was interesting, however, was that only a handful of the people there actually had their bibles.

I must admit at first I found it a little embarrassing, then I got "righteously indignant".  A church meeting, with a guest speaker, and only a few people thought it important to bring their bible?(!)  I couldn't believe it.

As the speaker went through his message he made references to a bible sitting on a shelf or on a night stand somewhere.  Just sitting, never being opened.  It was just sitting there that night, at home, just like every other night - neglected.

Chris Christian was a Christian Artist back in the 70's.  One of his more popular songs was "We've Got to Get Back to the Bible".  The gist of the song was that instead of just reading books about the Bible, we need to "READ THE BIBLE".  What a concept!

So I realized the very first thing to do in "fixing the Quiet Time"....how about "Redefining the Quiet Time"...sounds better....is we have to fall back in love with the Word of God.

That is my prayer tonight....

Wagman out

P. S. - I heard Dr. Tony Evans say one day that "people who have Bibles that are falling apart probably have lives that aren't".

Whatever happened to....

Wow!  I have a blog.  The guy who in high school once got a better grade in Spanish than he did in English.  But here goes anyway....

I got saved at the age of 15.  Didn't go to church a lot before then, but we went occasionally (thank you spell checker) and I had some "religious experiences" before then;  however, at 15 I finally got it.

Pretty much from day one I was blessed with spiritual mentors in my life (John Vermillion, David Ewing, Tim Hall, Tom Hall).  These gentlemen have taught with words and deeds what it means to be a "disciple of Christ".  I guess that is why Christian Discipleship has always been where my heart is.  I understand that means different things to different people, but I hope the goal is the same - "to live a life pleasing to our Heavenly Father".

John and David were my first "Paul's".  They taught me who, what, how, etc. of the Spiritual Disciplines - including the dreaded Quiet Time.  Although I have gone through periods of the last 30+ years where that didn't happen, I have practiced that discipline more than I have not practiced it.  Which leads me to my subject this evening.

In the late 70's and early 80's the Quiet Time was all the rage.  "How was your Quiet Time?" replaced "greeting your brother with a holy kiss" (thankfully).  Then all of a sudden it got hard to do (that is why it is called a discipline), someone decided it was legalistic (which is French for 'I don't want to do it and I don't want to be judge because of it so I will throw out a psuedo spiritual reason'), or I don't have time.  Then it was gone.  Mentioned only a few times a year has part of our daily walk.  So the question is, "Whatever happened to the Quiet Time?"  Does the concept (at least the way I was taught) have issues?  Absolutely!  So instead of fixing it, we have thrown it away!

So my goal is to fix it.....stay tuned......