When God Answers

When God responds to a prayer it is a gift that we need to honor.  There are three distinct ways that I try to respond to answered prayer.  

1) Give thanks.  Give credit where credit is due.  When you see that God has done something acknowledge it.  Say to God that you realize that it is him at work in your life and you are grateful. 

2)  Tell the story.  When God answers prayer share the story.  The psalms speak repeatedly about praising or thanking God publicly.  When we share stories about what God has done, we strengthen our faith and the faith of others.  When someone asks you how you are, if God has been evidently at work in your life, you can respond I am blessed and tell them how.

3) Be obedient.  Often times answered prayer may have a calling in it.  God may expect something of you.  If so, then be obedient to whatever it is that you sense God is asking of you. Some times the calling is not obvious.  I had a friend who told me about a God-incident where she thought of a women who had not entered her mind in years.  She couldn't shake wondering about her and then the next day a letter came in the mail from this person.  On the envelope she had written, "The Lord told me to write you."  It was all way to improbable to just be coincidence, so she decided it must be God at work some how.  She was a bit at a lost when I told her that she need to do something about it.  I explained that God doesn't do those things so that we can just marvel at the overwhelming improbability of it.  God obviously wanted them to reconnect.  She reinvested in the friendship.  I don't know where it led to, but the need to reconnect was a good way to honor the gift.

I have found honoring God's gifts in these ways strengthens my bond with God.  I have also found that God unfolds the gift even more when I honor it.  I am not sure if my own intentionality around spotting and responding to God's grace allows me to recognize God's activity more or if God sends more my way because I am faithful with what I am given.  I suspect that my increased recognition of God's activity is a little of both.  I am seeing more, but God is also entrusting more.

When you get done reading this, stop and think about how you have seen God at work.  Once you think of something that God seems to have done in your life, then give thanks, consider whom you can tell, and figure out if there is some way you need to respond.  I guarantee that a regular diet of doing these forms of honoring God will enhance your relationship tremendously.  Blessings from The Practical Disciple.

p.s.  I would love hearing your God-incident stories and how you honored the gift.

Discerning God's Will--Part 1

In my prior post I raised questions about understanding or discerning God's responses to our prayers.  Over the next few weeks I am going to post a series of sermon that I hope will give you some practical understanding of discernment.

This first piece addresses obstacles that impede our ability to see or hear God clearly at work.  I liken the task to trying to peer beneath the surface of water.  If the water is calm and clear and we know how to get beneath the surface we can enter a whole new and amazing world.  On the other hand, water that is quickly moving or polluted is nearly impossible to see into.   

We have lots of pollutants in our lives that can obscure our spiritual vision.  Sin is probably the first and foremost pollutant.  Once again, this is why some practice of personal confession is so vital to a healthy spiritual life.  Distractions are another major obstacle.  We have many competing voices pulling for our attention.  Learning to pick out God's voice from the others is an art and a discipline.  Lastly, incomplete business can be another obstacle.  Sometimes God is silent because we have not yet been faithful with what already has been given.

As you listen think about what sin may be unaddressed in your life, what distractions constantly pull y our attention away from God and lastly, those tasks that God has called you to do that you have avoided.  Until these obstacles are removed it is going to be tough discerning God's will. Blessings from the Practical Disciple.

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Do We Honestly Expect God to Answer?

This morning I was reading, Freedom of Simplicity by Richard Foster and I ran across this short paragraph.

"We who line in a world of half-truths and rationalizations and intellectual gymnastics that keep us from hearing and obeying the word of Christ need to hear their witness. Because we live in a different culture, we must once again ask what it means to live faithful lives in our day. But we must ask fully expecting to receive an answer and fully expecting to be given the power to obey the call." (p.66, Foster)

The italic emphasis is mine because those words  brought to mind a significant epiphany.  I realized not to long ago that if I was really honest with myself I wasn't expecting God to respond to my petitions.  You might be wondering why I would say such a thing.  Well, I noticed that I never paused to listen after asking.  For example, if I asked God to guide and lead me around a decision, than it just makes sense that I should stop and listen after the request.  Yet, I never did.  What did this say about how much I honestly believed my own prayers?  What it said to me was, I didn't.

That moment of awareness has since prompted me to actively listen for God speaking.  I now try to quiet my mind before I ask God something and then afterwards, truly listen for a response.  What does that response look like?  Some times when I quiet my mind and listen a person will come to mind.  If I contact that person, often times he or she will share something pertinent to my question.  Some times a memory may pop up or the answer to my question will come to mind.

When I don't receive some immediate response, I now strive to be attentive to how God may be answering me in some other way, such as a dream, turn of events, door opening or closing or some other providential synchronicity.  What I have found is that asking and truly believing, means looking and expecting as well.  

What questions or petitions have you made to God recently?  What have you done to actively discern God's response?  How do you see God speaking to you?  And if God has spoken how have you responded?

Give that some thought.  In a day or two come back and I will be posting a sermon series on Discerning God's will.  I hope it is a blessing to you. 

Expanding your Prayer Vocabulary through Prayer Books

A reader commented on how great the prayer was that I shared in the post, "Eradicating Spiritual Virus." The prayer came from the Book of Common Prayer. Printed prayers used as a guide for our own prayers can be a wonderful way to expand our prayer vocabulary and awareness. I have two particular favorites that have distinct strengths to them.

One is The Book of Common Prayer and its strength is the fact that is "common." It is common in the sense that we hold or share it together. As I use the Book of Common prayer as a guide for my own prayers, I am always mindful of the fact that I am in all probability joining my prayers with countless other people who may be saying those very same prayers at that time. My brother in Christ who is a pastor in Harrison, Arkansas or lay person in another country is very likely reading the same scripture and voicing the same prayers that day. Being invisibly tied to these other faith family members is a powerful thing. I almost feel as if I am attending a worship with my whole family despite being alone as I do it. I will admit that I find the Book of Common Prayer a bit confusing to use at first, but well worth the effort of learning how to navigate it.

Another favorite prayer guide for me is the classic, A Diary of Private Prayer, by John Baillie. For those of you unfamiliar with this little known classic, Baillie lays out a month of morning and evening prayers. The page opposite of each prayer is blank for you to write in your own prayer. What I love about this prayer book is that Baillie thinks to pray about so many things I might never pause to consider. Baillie is compassionately mindful of his community. He is much more selfless in his prayers than I find myself to be. This humility inspires me. The language in places is a bit archaic, but even that I appreciate. The spots of unfamiliarity cause me to pause and really consider the meaning of the words. I have filled out at least three of these diary's over the years and two of them where my anchor during particularly stormy moments of life. For these reasons and many more, A Diary of Private Prayer is my current recommended resource.

Lastly, I find that a prayer book is a tangible trigger that moves me to praying more frequently and for longer periods of time. A prayer book tightens and tames my wandering focus. God deserves my very best in prayer and a prayer book moves me closer to that excellence. Blessings from The Practical Disciple.

Subscribing to The Practical Disciple

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More on Praise

Thank you readers (and now listeners) for the comments on Praise Basics. Back about the time that I originally preached that sermon, I had really gone through a learning curve around praise. I discovered that I was great about saying thanks, but praising God was a very different activity that yielded a very different result. Initially, I struggled to find words to adore God. Then I happened across Psalm 18 and observed David praising God in three ways. He told God he loved Him. He voiced who God was to him. Lastly, he spoke of the many deeds God had done.

Those lessons learned are the inspiration around the March 3rd post from earlier this year. That post sheds more light on the model, but if you really want to understand it better I recommend listening to the sequel sermon More on Praise. I hope this puts some practical teeth to the principles I shared with you in Praise Basics.



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Praise Basics

Increasing the amount of time you spend in prayer simply adoring God can have a transformative effect on your relationship with God and on your daily living. In this podcast, which was originally a sermon that I offered January 13, of 2002, I describe 3 benefits of improved praise and 3 guiding biblical principles for praise. In short, we experience greater intimacy (see March 3 post), peace, and joy. We do so by praising God more frequently, corporately and musically. To listen just click on the embedded player below. You can download a copy of this sermon at my podcast site, http://thepracticaldisciple.podbean.com/ Blessing to you from The Practical Disciple. Approx. run time 23 mins.



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Eradicating Spiritual Virus

This past week I have spent an inordinate amount of time isolating virus's and spyware that have wreaked havoc on my computer. I got lax about security and failed to scan regularly. I found myself saying those huge horrible words, "if only I had..." Fortunately, I lost nothing. I just found my life unnecessarily complicated. The time and productive lost was less than helpful. I find myself wondering after the experience, "How often does this same drama play itself out in my spiritual life?"

Disobedience and neglect of God is like an awful virus slowly creeping into our lives. I am realizing more and more how much I need to spend time in self-examination as a sort of scan of the soul. This past Lent when I used the Book of Common Prayer to help me pray an hour a day, the model included a prayer of confession for each day. I tried to make sure that I did not rush through this. Just the act of saying something like, "I have sinned not only in what I have done, but what I have left undone. In thought, word and deed I have disobeyed You." caused me to slow down and think of the specific ways I had neglected God or my neighbor. The resulting peace I experienced by consistently having this practice in my life is hard to describe. I slept more soundly, functioned better, and most importantly my sense of intimacy with God swelled.

The near crash of my computer system has brought to my awareness my spiritual lack of diligence in consistently bringing before God the many attitudes, actions, and words that are simply wrong. Do you have any type of daily self-examination and confession time that you spend with God? If not, what could it look like? I suggest having something as a structure when you get started. A classic prayer of confession that I frequently prayed during my Lenten discipline went as follows:

Most Merciful God,
I confess that I have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what I have done,
and by what I have left undone.
I have not loved You with my whole heart;
I have not loved my neighbor as myself.
I am truly sorry and I humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on me and forgive me;
that I may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.

The key here is for the prayer to be a guide for holistically considering your faithfulness to God. Do not mindlessly mouth the words like some magic formula. Read the pray one phrase or word at a time pausing frequently. Consider each phrase and how it plays out specifically in your life. For example, what have been the specific thoughts, words, or deeds that you have done or left undone? How have you not loved God with your whole heart?

Self-examination and reflection will shape you. Over time the Holy Spirit will reveal just how great the gaps are in your life and help you through them. If confession like this has not been a regular part of your life, then I encourage you when you finish reading this post to take some time and try it using the above prayer.

Lastly, one benefit of using a form to prompt our reflection is that often times will cause you to reflect on issues you would neglect if you only prayed about whatever came to mind. Blessings to you from the Practical Disciple.

New Recommended Resource

For those of you not using a daily devotional guide I highly recommend, "My Utmost for His Highest." it is a timeless classic and I have added it to The Discipleship Resource Center. Peace.

One Bag Down

"If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for you whole body to go into hell." Matthew 5:29-30. Whoa, isn't this a bit extreme Jesus! is my first reaction when I read these words. Once I get over the extremity of it I realize that its just plain common sense which isn't necessarily so common. Jesus shared this principle of what I will call "dramatic expulsion" in the context of discussing adultery. It is a principle though we can apply throughout our lives of discipleship.



Stop and think about what you need to purge from your life. What do you need to get rid of to stop enabling yourself over and over again in some misguided behavior that you know is wrong. This morning I got rid of my tote bag. That doesn't sound so dramatic, but for me it is. As some of you will have read, my tote bag on Monday was so loaded with junk that it set off my passenger seat belt alarm. My tote bag enables me day in and day out to bring things from work to home and vice versa. These things are like silent burglar's entering our house. In little ways they steal valuable time and attention away from my family or they rob me of my peace. The peace theft is very subtle. Truth be told I actually work on very little out of my bag. That's where the peace thievery comes in. I bring it home self-deluded in thinking I am going to do something with it and then when I inevitably do not, I feel a sense of failure or guilt. The feeling isn't dramatic. I don't flog myself or enter into weeping or gnashing of teeth. Nevertheless, the whole delusional game is wrong.

Today I left my tote bag at home. I don't think my tote bag is going to cause my whole body to be thrown into hell, but it certainly isn't bringing more of heaven into my home. Today I went to work only carrying with me what I could carry in my open hands. I only brought what I knew I absolutely needed to act on. This evening I brought nothing home. The experience was both freeing and uncomfortable.

What is one piece of unnecessary baggage you could shed? What is the hand you need to cut off or the eye you need to remove? Do it. Just do it. Your bag may not be literal. Your bag may not be extraordinary or dramatic. Get rid of it. You may find the experience freeing, but don't be surprised if there is some discomfort as well. Purging involves breaking a relationship. Your connection to what you purged fed or met a need in your life. The withdrawal though is an investment in your relationship to God.

Blessing as you make this important step.

Excess Baggage

Just how much stuff do we need? I keep getting taught over and over that we don't need much. I am not sure though that I am listening to the lesson. When I packed to go to the beach a little over a week ago, I thought I was being consevative. I pack all four of us plus a cooler and some fun gear into the trunk of our Toyota Corolla. I thought I was doing well. Nevertheless, at the end of the week some of the 'fun gear' never left the trunk and about one-third of my clothes never got touched! I was reminded of how little I need and how much I tend to over compensate.

The lesson came home to me again this morning as I transitioned back to work. I wrote a 'to do' list of epic proportions and crammed a tote bag full as I headed off to the office. Something nagged at me about both. It wasn't that I didn't want to do the things on my list. I think my discomfort was more how self-deluded the whole process seemed. Who am I kidding with my massive to-do list other than myself? And what purpose does it really hold?

God-incidentally, as I was driving to work thinking about writing a post on this phenomenon, my seat belt alarm spontaneously went off. The random alarm confused me at first and then I realized that my tote bag was so heavy that the passenger seat thought someone was sitting there. Good grief! Am I really carrying so much stuff it can be confused for another person? The sad answer is 'yes.'

So what to do? First, I am going to toss my to-do list as I currently have it. I am writing down five things that I know require my attention. When I am done with those I will renegotiate a list of three to five new things. I am going to see how that goes. I am thinking it will be very freeing in many ways.

The idea came to me from a new game I learned this past week called bananagrams. It's a game somewhat reminscent of Scrabble in which you race against other people creating crossword puzzles from lettered tiles. One afternoon I decided to make a massive crossword puzzle from all of the tiles. I would have been overwhelmed if I had flipped all of the tiles at once and tried to create the puzzle. Instead I started with a twenty one tiles and once every tile was used, I would draw seven more. If I couldn't figure out how to use a letter I would dump it, but had to draw three in its place. That gives you a high incentive not to dump. This is going to be my new to-do strategy. I will be doing five from my epic list and nothing gets considered until those five are done and then I will draw a new set. My traditional bottomless list that keeps getting re-configure is out of the picture for at least this week.

To me all of this boils down to--How do we practically live out Jesus instruction, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." In a way my truncated list is a one day at a time approach. I am letting go of imposing unrealistic if not impossible expectations.

I would love to hear from any of you who have tamed the to-do list beast. I will report soon on my progress. Until then, I just finished one thing on my list and am moving on to the next. Blessings from The Practical Disciple.

Fighting Depression

A friend of mine recently e-mailed me about being in a depressed state and it reminded me of just how many people are out there fighting depression. Two or three years ago, I too went through a rather significant bought with depression. Several red flags helped me realize that I was not functioning well. So, what did I do?

First, I went to a counselor and he ran me through a diagnostic tool to see just where I ranked in terms of my depression. I was at a moderate to high level of depression. I tend to be a minimalist regarding medications, so I decided to make some lifestyle adjustments before resorting to medication. Although, I will be the first to say that had my depression been any worse I would have immediately sought an antidepressant. Specifically, regarding my lifestyle, I got very intentional about what I have dubbed my 'Core 4'. They are 1) Sleeping 2) Eating 3) Being physically active and 4) protecting significant relationships.

Sleep is a big one for me. It is the first to go if my system is out of whack and it is the one that once its gone precipitates everything else declining. I got very intentional about getting proper sleep. This meant changing some routines and sometimes using melatonin or some other supplement to help me rest.

Eating--I didn't become fanatically about a particular diet. I just increased my intake of water. Limited the amount of processed foods I took in and ate more frequently throughout the day. When depressed I found myself often times going long periods without eating or living out of fast food bags. That had to stop.

Being physically active--I didn't enter an exercise routine. That would have been unrealistic. The main thing was not being sedentary. I try to quicken my pace a bit when walking. I parked far away from entrances and started using stairs when I visited the hospital rather than using the elevator. I just made sure that I didn't stay immobolized.

Protecting significant relationship--I let people close to me know what was going on and tried to maintain regular contact. Depressed people often isolate. I didn't shove myself into too many social settings I didn't have to, but I made sure that I wasn't cutting myself off from friends.

God also blessed me with some grace in all of this. About the time I was struggling to figure out what was wrong, I felt called to introduce a recovery ministry to our church. This specific ministry was not limited to those suffering from chemical dependency. It was intended for anyone struggling with life, regardless of their particular hurt, habit or hang-up. This recovery ministry became a place of constant grace.

To all of you out there possibly suffering from depression. Get people praying for you. Let several people know what is going on. Get help if you need it and at the very least attend to your base line health. You are too important to be sucked down by depression. God needs you for other work and you can't do it when you are isolated, tired, and alone. If you are struggling with depression and you just aren't sure where to turn, please feel free to drop me a note on-line.

Blessings to you. God is bigger than any hurt you can have.

blogging from the road

This is bit wild. I am blogging from the back of a car zipping down the highway just outside of Memphis. I am headed to the beach in North Carolina and will be making blog posts most likely from my Amazon Kindle. Expect short and sweet entries. As I think about the beach, it strikes me that my life is a bit like an upside down wave when I am not centered in God. I tend to be all calm looking on the surface, while being all topsy turvy on the inside. Waves tend to be quite the opposite. Isn't it amazing how God can speak to us through such simple metaphors in our lives. What common object near you is your life like right now? Blessings to you from the traveling practical disciple. I am going to quit before my thumbs fall off.

Acts of Kindness

One of the most important aspects as disciples that we should nurture is a Christ-like love for our neighbor. One simple way to nurture this love is by regularly performing unself acts of kindness. following are some suggestions on getting started, as well as some helpful principles. Committing to acts of kindness for 40 days or even just a couple of weeks can slow you down dramatically and cause you to consider the needs of others. So if you want to flex your compassion muscles and get them back into shape here are one dozen suggestions on where to start:

1. Send flowers or a card anonymously
2. Volunteer at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen
3. Seek out a single parent and offer to baby-sit or do errands.
4. Mow your neighbor's lawn when they aren't home or shovel his or her driveway in the winter.
5. Clean up a neglected area in your neighborhood.
6. Call the Church office and volunteer to help with a mailing or answering phones.
7. Next time you go out to eat, ask the waitress for someone else's bill and anonymously buy a stranger's meal.
8. Find a family in need of food and clothing and begin supplying part of that need. (tip...school counselors are often aware of these types of needs)
9. Adopt someone home bound and visit, write, or call regularly.
10. Invite people who are apart from family to be a part of yours on holidays.
11. Volunteer at a community agency or non-profit group.
12. Fix and extra special meal for your family.

You get the idea. Now come up with your own list. Start by listing 10 people who need an act of kindness right now. These can be friends, family members, co-workers, neighbors, or even strangers. You might wonder, "What strangers could I list?" What about people who work late shifts? Imagine the joy it would bring if you brought fresh baked cookies to a third shift in the Emergency room at the hospital or to some fire fighters.

Once you have your list. Schedule when you will do it. Great intentions mean nothing until they become great actions. You may be thinking I will just do random acts when they occur. That is great but you are more likely to achieve more if you have written plan.

Blessings to you as you seek to be a blessing to others.

The PD (practical disciple) is adding audio!

Often times I speak on topics that are posted on my blog. Well now....drum roll please... for any of you audio learners or podcast fans, I will have audio resources for you. When I have a blog that has a related sermon or lecture I will embed a player directly in the post that you can click on to listen to a fuller audio version. It looks like this. Give it a try and click on the player right now.

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For those of you who are audio addicts that may want to download an audio piece to your ipod or mp3 player, you can hop over to http://thepracticaldisciple.podbean.com Eventually, all of my sermons, lectures and audio devotions will be available there. So check it out regularly. Thanks for reading The Practical Disciple and thanks ahead of time to all you listeners. May God bless you as you seek to grow in Christ.

p.s. These are new developing features so if you run into a glitch, please drop me a comment so I can rectify the problem. Thanks.

Another Class of Treasure Hunter

In reviewing my post from July 31 on Treasure Hunting, I noticed that I left out a significant category of treasure hunter. If you visited Crater of Diamonds State Park you will notice mini-monuments erected around the field to great diamond finds. For example, as you enter the field almost immediately to your right you will notice a shovel mounted upright in a slab of concrete with a sign above it declaring that the "Uncle Sam" diamond was found on that spot in 1924 and a brief history of the discovery. I was amazed at how many people would walk by this sign give it a read and then begin digging around the spot immediately. Something in there head said, "Wow this must be a great spot." What they failed to slow down and think about was that for 84 years people have been picking over that same spot just like them.

What's this look like in the church? Some churches will say, "Hey, the Baptist Church added a gymnasium and they grew leaps and bounds." or "The Methodist Church is doing contemporary worship and they are busting out the seams." Then those churches will try to hop on that band wagon of success. If they adopt in early enough that may actually work. Frequently though, the church that took the first leap was responsive to a need that may or may not exist any longer. Or, it's meeting the need and there is not a need for other providers. I initially called these treasure hunters "coat-tailers." I think though that "wave riders" is a better term. They are trying to catch the wave of success, the only problem is waves have a life span. Eventually, a wave makes it to the beach and peters out. Wave riding can work if you catch the wave early enough, but it won't last forever.

Imitation of other people can be a valuable spiritual growth tool if we do it mindfully. Paul encouraged people to imitate his example. (2 Timothy 3:10-15.) The key is imitating the application of timeless principles rather than temporary trends. For example, building a gym in order to offer a basketball program may not be a valuable move if that need is already met in your community. On the other hand, recognizing an authentic need in the community and being responsive to it is a timeless principle.

Links Added

Please note that I have added a "Great Links" component to my site. You can find it near the top of the right column. My first link added is "Green Girl Blog." The author, Courtney Butler is a friend and inspiring activist. She is a Christian who blogs about environmental issues and I would say healthy faithful living. She lives out what she expouses. I recommend to anyone who feels overly busy to check out her blog entry "Inner Simplicity for Type A's" from June 26, 2008. This article addresses in part the issue I raised in an earlier entry regarding priorities. I think you will enjoy her.

Courtney recommends the book "Inner Simplicity" by Elaine St. James. It is now available in The Practical Disciple Resource Center.

Blessings from the Practical Disciple

The Seven Minute Difference

Identifying your purpose can be a tough task. Living into it can be even harder. Allyson Lewis's book "The Seven Minute Difference" provides a road map on how to do both more effectively. This book is not explicitly written as a spiritual growth resource. In fact, it is as readily applicable to your business life, family life, or physical fitness as it is to your spiritual life. I recommend it for several reasons.

First, I know Allyson and trust and admire her work. She is grounded in faith, has a caring heart and a rather amazing mind for how people learn, grow and move forward. She is a gifted financial manager and writer who knows her gifts and limitations. As I met with her this past Friday to discuss some investments I realized that I had really committed an injustice to my readers by not introducing her or her work earlier.

Second, the principles that Allyson explores and expands on are reliably true. If you read many of my blog post part of what you will begin to grasp is that spiritual growth is often best achieve through consistent incremental action--little steps taken repeatedly to enhance your faith. Alisson refines the practice of this principle very clearly in her work. I think you will that many of my suggestions to you hinge upon what Allyson describes as the seven minute difference.

Third, it is just so practical.

Well, check it out when you have a chance. Couple her theory and principles with my some of my suggested practices and you have a formula for incremental yet lasting and significant transformation in your life. God has blessed Allyson with some great insight and she shares the blessing well in The Seven Minute Difference.

So what is this Seven Minute Difference? I don't want to give it all away, but most significant changes aren't the result of radical sweeping actions, but rather they are the result of small decisions and actions repeatedly performed a few minutes here and there.

God's blessing to you as you step forward in faith.

Quick 'trigger' suggestion

I frequently use 'triggers' to prompt me in prayer and memorization of scripture. A trigger is some physical reminder to be aware, such as, praying every time a phone rings or reciting a verse when you pull keys from your pocket. I hit on one yesterday that I am going to use for a week or two. A friend of mine had her birthday yesterday (8-02) and I feel like she is in need of prayer, so I am setting an alarm on my phone for 8:02 p.m. and a.m. Whenever it goes off I will pause and pray for her. Once I get in a habit of praying for her I will probably stop, but until then my phone alarm set to her birth day digits will serve as a prompt. Just thought this tid bit of suggestion might come in handy for you. Peace to you from the Practical Disciple.

Treasure Hunting

This past weekend I went to Crater of Diamonds State Park and got to hunt for diamonds. God-incidentally, the text for this Sunday was about a man who found a priceless treasure in a field and he sold everything so that he might possess it and another short parable like it regarding a merchant and a pearl. I noticed a spectrum of different treasurer seekers at the state park and there are some obvious parallels for the church.

First, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfressboro, for a slight admission you enter the park, rent equipment and become a diamond miner. It's a bit like paying to pan for gold out west if you have ever done that. Anyways, getting to the parallels. I noticed that there are a spectrum of treasurer hunters. There are:

Dreamers--One woman picked around in the dirt for a bit and then laid down. Rightfully so. It was hot. Her daughter came along and asked her, "What'cha doin' mama?" Mama says without sitting up and with some laughter, "I am huntin' diamonds. I'ma gunna lay here. Fall asleep and dream about diamonds. Then I'ma gunna wake up and find them layin' in the dirt around me." She laughed and was very jovial about it all. Some in the church are dreamers. They show up hoping to find God. They will laugh and have a good time with friends and family. They aren't likely to invest much effort. Once the experience grows old, if they haven't found what they are looking for they will move on.

Pickers. Most the pickers where novice folks like me. They rent a shovel, bucket and some screens for sifting dirt. They don't really know what to do with the equipment, but mimic what they see or ask questions until they get it. They pick away at the dirt literally and figuratively. Their is a fair bit of camaraderie among pickers. They share collective bits of wisdom that may or may not be true. They lack much experience of their own, but are a bit more committed to searching than dreamers. They will rent the equipment, but are not likely to buy it. So they have limited investment but do put out some effort. They are in the church to.o They may attend Sunday School class or hit a retreat or two. They may do some service work to the church. But its not necessarily a big priority. They pick a good likely spot and give it a good try, but if something conflicts too heavily they are probably out of the picture.

Trawlers. These are the folks who walked up and down rows of ploughed field in the hope of finding a diamond lieing on the surface. They may pause momentarily to look at a clump of dirt like a likley suspect, but the never dig beneath the surface. Their strategy is to hopefully cover enough ground to happen across a diamond. In the church, trawlers bounce from activity to activity without ever really investing into anything to any depth. They are often times people who read alot, but don't necessarily apply what they learn. They jump from group to group and activity to activity hoping to stumble into a blessing.

The Serious Hobbiest. These people are invested. They own their own equipment and visit the park regularly. They have techniques for how they do what they do. They are head smart on diamonds and may even have experience finding some. Some of these folks know just enough to be annoying. Those serious hobbiest who do can even get a bit stand-offish to new people. Novices don't always take it as seriously in their eyes as they should.

Lastly are the Lifers. As you walk toward the field from the visitor center at the park on your left is a large plague in honor of a man named James Avers. Don't miss it. James when he retired spent six days a week mining diamonds. He worked at it for over 30 years. He loved it. It was his passion. He enthusiastically and generiously shared with anyone with half an interest. He was beloved and his face and name became nearly synonomous with diamond mining in Murfreesboro. Diamond mining was not something James did, it was who he was. He was a diamond miner. He found over 5000 diamonds and put his kids through college on those diamonds. Diamond mining was his life.

There are Christians like James. Their faith is not a casual interest or serious hobby. It is who they are. Their faith is their life. Their faith effects everything in their life. They are filled with Joy about it. They do not regret or begrudge a moment of time spent on it. They want others to share that joy.

I discovered something my day in the field. Treasure hunting is not a rational task. Expending your life treasure hunting is irrational. A merchant selling everything for a pearl is irrational. A man selling all he owns to own a field with a hidden treasure is not rational behavior. But to those who do it, there are no regrets and they could not imagine life any richer.

What kind of treasure hunter are you?

God Check

This past week at church we looked at the story of Jacob's ladder. For those of you who don't remember it. In short, Jacob after having tricked his father out of a blessing that should have rightfully gone to his brother, finds himself on the run. He leaves his immediate family and is headed to some extended family. He is alone somewhere in between those places when he lies down to sleep and has a dream of a ladder stretching up into heaven. Angels are traveling up and down the ladder. He encounters God through this dream and is reminder of the promises made by God to his grandfather Abraham. When Jacob awakes he declares, "Surely, God is in this place and I did not know it." He makes some pledges to God and commemorates the experience by marking the place with the rock that had been beneath his head and names the place Bethel (house of God).

Every time I read this story the words, "Surely God is in this place and I did not know" arrest my attention. I love sharing God-incident story. You know those stories of events that unfold that are too remarkable and coincidental to be attributed to anything but God's handiwork. But I have noticed that I recognize most God-incidents though only in my rear view mirror. In other words, I can reflect on the past and see God's handiwork, but I often miss it as it is occurring. Jacob had one of those wonderful incidents where in the moment he was fully aware that what was occurring was God at work and he took time to acknowledge it as such.

I would love to transition my awareness of God to the 'here and now'. Intellectually, I know that God is omnipresent. That is to say God is everywhere. I know that God is always present, but how often have I wondered, "Where is God right now?" I realize that if I want to get to a place of God in the here and now, I need to radically revise my question. I need to assume the presence of God and start regularly asking, "How is God here right now?"

In order to do this I have randomly started saying to my family, "God check." That's a call to all of us to take a moment and consider how God is there in that moment right then. I am really enjoying this. A lot of peace seems to flow in those moments. I am curious how regular God checks are going to affect my awareness when applied over time. I would love to find myself regularly saying, "Surely God is in this place, and I know it!"

Blessings to you for greater awareness of God's awesome presence. Peace from the Practical Disciple.

Identify your God given purpose

Regarding purpose--here are a couple of cues to discerning yours:

What skills, gifts, are knowledge do you have that would be beneficial to others? Think about it. When God made you, God gave you a tool box. That tool box wasn't given to you just so you could feel good about the amazing things you could do. The gifts you have been given are given so you can bless the body. By body, I am talking about the body of Christ. Beyond that body, you are intended and equipped to touch the world.

Ask other people what they think you are gifted at. I am not saying that so that you can pick up a few good strokes from others. Often times a person's true gift is something he or she doesn't even recognize. The skill or knowledge comes so easily, it's just assumed everyone can do it. Often times it takes others saying, "No, not everyone can do that. You are gifted.", for that person to recognize how extraordinary he is at somthing. I can't tell you how many pastors I know who were gifted for ministry but it took multiple people nudging them repeatedly for them to recognize the call in their life. That was definitely the case for me.

Lastly, where is the fruit in your life? I was in a church where a woman thought she was a gifted teacher yet she could eliminate a Sunday School class quicker than anyone I knew. She was completely deluded about her "gift." Looking for fruit though isn't always a sure fire litmus test. Sometimes you are in a context where your gift can't be utilized to it's best ability. Jesus left a town once because he was unable to miracles there because of the lack of belief of the people. I hardly doubt we would want to conclude from that experience that Jesus wasn't gifted at healing.

Okay one more lastly, don't forget to pray about what your purpose is. In fact, do prayer first. Ask God to reveal purpose. Ask for people to voice it to you. Ask for doors and opportunities to open. Ask God to speak to you in a way that will give you clarity. As you do that spend time in the Word and journal. The discernment process may take awhile and you may need to experiment a bit, but over time you can clarify your purpose. When you do, knowing your purpose can be very freeing.

Blessings from the Practical Disciple

Pains of Spiritual Growth

My apologies to anyone stopping by and finding minimal posts. A couple of weeks ago I tried to learn how to use a circus balance board and took a dive and hurt my arm. Typing has been do-able but uncomfortable to painful, so I have avoided the keyboard (and the balance board). Speaking of aches and pains, I have a pet peave about many spiritual growth programs and books, particularly the ones that are effective. Now that may sound odd, but here is my peave. Few spiritual growth books warn you that there is a stage of growth that can be painful, particularly if you go through rapid profound growth quickly.

I was reminded of this recently when I spent a week of training boy scouts in wilderness observation and survival skills. Inevitably when I do this, people find themselves going through some very uncomfortable stages filled with mixed emotion. A typically learning cycle whether it be of nature, prayer, bible study or evening learning a skill, begins with inspiration, moves onto a period of curiosity and exploration. Then a person enters into a time of focused work. In animal tracking we call it dirt time. In learning a musical instrument this might be when you start learning scales, going to lessons, absorbing theory, and spending hours practicing. In something like prayer, the focus work time might be joining a prayer group, taking on a daily devotional practice, or keeping a prayer journal.

After a period of focused work people sometimes can go through a phase of confidence even arrogance. They learn just enough to think they know a whole lot. They know the jargon of the discipline. They have had some experiences they can share. They probably know the authorities of their area of study and they have all the books and paraphenalia associated with what they are learning. We all know though that pride proceeds a fall.

There comes a point in your learning curve where you learn enough to realize that you really know very little. In fact, you may start to question every thing you have learned. You may go through a period of extreme confusion and even begin to isolate yourself. You have a sense that no one really understands what you have seen and experienced. This is the uncomfortable and disorienting phase of growth that I find few materials prepare us for.

I mentored a friend in prayer over a couple of year period. I distinctly remember when he hit this phase of growth. He had gone from being skeptical of prayer to avidly investing himself in prayer. Then something shifted. He wondered how he had grown up in the church and never been taught these lessons of the spirit. He felt like so many people just really didn't get "it." The church in many ways seemed like a shallow misguided bunch of folks. He seriously considered switching denominations. He was filled with anger.

The desire to change jobs, spouse, mentors, and/or locations is not unusual. I was talking to a pastor once about this phase of spiritual growth and she said, "Oh my gosh, I had someone come in my office this week going through this very thing." Her parishioner had become involved in a rather indepth Bible study. The woman had never studied the Bible before. The study shook up her understanding of not only the Bible but of God as well. She was in an anxious place of confusion. She was coming to a greater understanding of truth which was great. However, the shift left her questioning everything that had been normative, so she felt very lost. She actually thought she was going crazy. I asked my friend, "So is she getting divorced, quitting her job or moving." She said, "She is getting a divorce."

Now that may sound crazy. How would Bible study and a greater understanding of truth lead her to wanting her to quit her marriage? It wasn't that the study had lead her to leave. Instead, when someone goes through radical transformative change that hasn't been fully integrated into his or her life, he or she feels the discomfort of the war going on inside of them and they look for an external fix. I call this "if-only-itis." A person rationalizes thinking, "I would feel better if only I had...a better job...a better spouse...a better place to live...a better church...etc." Ironically but not surprisingly, if they change a job or spouse, they find themselves 6 months later saying, "This job/spouse is just like the last one." Duh, the job or the spouse wasn't the problem.

A number of other symptoms can be experienced at stage of growth. Symptoms such as, plunging into addictive behaviors, isolating, become to stagnant to manage normal affairs of life, and more. It can lead to depression or someone completely stepping away from what they were learning. During this phase of growth some pain is probably unavoidable as you seek to integrate what you have been and have known with your new experiences. Suffering is optional and mostly avoidable, but not if you aren't aware that what you are going through are very normative growing pains.

That's enough for now. A friend of mine calls this phase of growth hitting your walls of grief. It is a time of integration. There are tools that we can use to help with that integration, but that's whole 'nother conversation.

This may seem like a big leap from purpose, priorities and principles, but I haven't forgotten about those things. Truth be told, if you head down a path of pursuing purpose, growth and change will be inevitable. You will find hitting these walls soon enough. I'll revisit the three p's soon and how we integrate change. They are lessons well worth learning together.

Peace to you from The Practical Disciple

God-sized purpose

I was out this morning hanging a load of laundry on my clothes line and thinking about my purpose. That whole--who am I and why did God make me thing. For about two years my the thing that keeps coming to me is that I have blessed to be a blessing. That is probably true for all of us. In my own particular case, I have had a wonderful cadre of mentors from diverse backgrounds who have all fed me in terms of experiencing God and growing in greater awareness of God. More and more I feel the calling to use each waking moment to be a blessing with those lessons.

What has God given you? What are your gifts and experiences? How do these things equip you or tug on you to be able to serve other people? These characteristics are hints at the reason God has crafted you to be you! You are called one way or another to make an exceptional difference in the lives of people around you. Our spiritual gifts are given to us to encourage and build the body of Christ.

Most of us probably believe too little, too much. We shirk from God size tasks. We only see our limitations. That is okay at one level. We are limited. We are inadequate. That is to say, if we are left to our own resources. Yet God, is so much bigger than our limitations. God's ways are not our ways. What is a God size task sitting on your front porch, may be literally?

Sometimes it takes someone outside of us to see the God size task and our calling in it. I happen to watch a few minutes of a new show on television about models over 30 years old. It's called something like "She's got the Look." I don't recall exactly because I haven't seen it before. All that aside, this evening as I am watching, Daisy Fuentes, spoke about how far she has exceeded what she ever anticipated acheiving. She spoke about how others out there saw a bigger possibility than she did in her. Lastly, she encouraged the models to be open to something greater that others might see for them.

I thought of God looking at each one of us. I thought of how God not only sees our limitations, but how He sees his Son in us. He sees Jesus Christ in us. God sees how we have been created in His image. We layer so many things over that image--fear, anger, hurts, jealousies, desires, habits, and so much more. He sees through all of the layers. God sends messagers trying to get us to shed those layers. God sends strength for us to step right out of the layers. He actually removes the layers.

Let us stop believing too little, too much. The world needs to see God reflected in us. The world needs to see God-sized love, God-sized forgiveness, God-sized joy, compassion, laughter, tenacity, justice and perseverence. Let us shed the layers we cling to even as God strips them away. Let us shed these layers like Lazarus shedding grave clothes.

Live into who God has called you to be. You are God's child. Live as such.

Peace and encouragement from The Practical Disciple

Purpose, Priorities, and Principles

I have been gone for the last week in northwest Arkansas mentoring boy scouts in wilderness survival skills. What a fantastic week it was. I love working on survival skills. Each time I do I am profoundly aware of the distinction between what is truly necessary in life and what is desireable. I value both all the more for it. Survival is all about meeting the need. When you reduce your purpose down to a central purpose like survival so many other things become clear.

Similarly, I am reminded of the importance of knowing and keeping clear priorities. The frequent answer to most questions was, "What are the survival priorities and where does what your asking about fit within that?" Often times the answer was inheritantly obvious in just being reminded of the priorities.

Lastly, survival principles drove the answer to many questions. In survival, conservation of energy is a must. For ever ounce of energy expent, energy needs to be reclaimed in some fashion. Frequently, when asked "why?" our response was, "conservation of energy."

I wonder what those lessons of purpose, priorities and principles would look like when translated to our faith. Life would be so much easier and manageable if we could maintain clarity on these three things. I have some thoughts on what this would look like, but I don't want to jump to those answers to readily. Give it some thought. I will be back in a day ot two with my perspective.

Blessings from The Practical Disciple.

Regarding My Clothes Line

Someone asked me specifically about what kind of clothes line I am using. Mine is what I would describe as an umbrella style line. It stands on a single pole and opens like an umbrella and has 30 parallel lines along it, so you can hang an immense amount of laundry in a small space. The whole thing stands in a plastic sleeve place in the ground, so you can lift it out, fold it up and stowed if need be. I placed it and a similar line like it in the Practical Disciple Resource Center for those interested in seeing what I use or purchasing one. When you enter the resource center click on the "Other Resources" link. I also got a cloth bag that hangs from the line to hold clothes pens. Very handy. Of course you can always just string a line, but I really love being able to hang a couple of loads in one small space. I also take some clothes and hang them on hangers on the support poles on the end which is extremely convenient. Once again--love it, am saving energy using it and experiencing all the other benefits noted in my previous post. Hope you will give it a try.

Happy Laundry Days to you from the Practical Disciple

Sharing God-Incidents with Children

In my prior post, Responding to God-incidents, I noted the need for us to tell others about what God has done. Recently, as I was reseaching this topic biblically I was not surprised to see that repeatedly, particularly in the Psalms, scriptures speaks of telling or singing about God's mighty deeds. I was surprised to find though that frequently we are encouraged to do so with a specific audience--the next generation. For example, Psalm 78:3-4 says, "What we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done."

When I recognized this instruction I was reminded of a study I read a number of years ago. I read a study focused on finding what made the difference between children who continued to be active in their faith as adults versus those who did not. The study concluded that a key factor in the lives of children who remained active was that God was spoken about conversationally in the home. As pastors we spend a lot of time talking about God in our home already, nevertheless I am consciously working to just periodically say things like, "You know we are really blessed. God has..." or "What a beautiful day God has given us." We tell lots of God-incident stories in our home but I really want to begin acknowledging the goodness of God to my children even more.

How are you speaking of God's praiseworthy deeds to the next generation? Even if you do not have children, who could you speak to? What is God doing in your life that needs acknowledgement? Pray about it. Think it. Set a goal for it. Do it.
Peace from the Practical Disciple

Back to Basics--my solar and wind powered dryer

I recently read "Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action" by J. Matthew Seeth. Seeth has practical wisdom regarding stewardship of resources. I found myself both challenged and informed about taking some steps to reduce. One thing that stood out in my mind was the irony inherit in our desire to limit labor in our lives. We pursue labor saving devices to the point that we become sedentary and unhealthy. Then we have to build physical activity into our lives like running or going to the gym. We have to work more to earn the money to pay for the labor saving devices and gym memberships. Only to find ourselves then lacking time. Way an insane cycles.

In response I have made a couple simple steps. First, I went through and eliminated nearly all our incandescent bulbs and replaced them with energy efficient compact flourescent bulbs. More significantly, I installed a solar and wind powered clothes dryer commonly known as a clothes line. I am finding that I absolutely love the clothes line. As I am out hanging clothes, I frequently pray. I find myself slowing down externally and internally. It brings a certain does of peace to me.

My clothes line is also reacclimating my awareness to other rhythms of life. I look, listen, feel and sense what's happening in nature during the time I am out there. I am monitoring birds, sun, breezes and other natural activity. I find myself more sharply attuned to nuances in the weather, lest my laundry get a second rinse cycle. My little laundry line has become a tiny window back into the world that I tend to rush by. Lastly, there isn't a fragrance ball or fabric softener that can even come close to the chemical free fresh scent of line dried clothing. I can't encourage someone enough to install one. All these little blessings and I am saving energy at the same time. Who would of thought?

Lastly, my current recommended resource is Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action by J. Michael Seeth. It is available in the Practical Disciple Resource Center. Or go green and buy the Kindle version from the resource center. Unfamiliar with an Amazon Kindle, check it out as well in the resource center.

Blessings from the Practical Disciple

Limiting Distraction--Unfinished Business

Some times we struggle to hear God's voice because we have failed to do something that He has told us. We don't hear God because He is not giving us anymore direction until we act on what has already been given. I am reminded of the story of the pastor who came to a congregation and his first sermon was wonderful. The only problem was that he just continued to preach the same sermon over and over, week after week. Eventually, the Elders of the church came to him and said, "We love your preaching, but when are you going to preach something new?" He replied, "When you start doing this one, I will give you another."

I have found that God seems strangely silent sometimes because I have been given direction but I am dragging my feet on following it. These are great learning moments. When we fail to heed God's direction or resist, we have a wonderful opportunity to examine what we are placing in higher priority to God--maybe fear, comfort, convenience, immediate gratification or a host of other motivators.

What unfinshed business do you have right now that may be causing a gap in your relationship with God? Is there anything you feel lead to do, but are resisting? It may help to identify whatever the block is, but regardless of whether or not you identify the obstacle, move. The most basic movement often times is all we need. Peace from the Practical Disciple.

Limiting Distractions--clutter

So much of hearing God's voice is just slowing down which for most of us involves simplifying our lives. One way to isolate God's voice is just to limit the many other voices speaking to us. Two years ago during Lent I decided that I want to work on simplicity. I did so by ruthlessly attacking clutter and excess in my life. Specifically, I set aside 40 grocery sacks in my closet and every day for 40 days, I filled and got rid of a sack. Many sacks went to the thrift shop in our church, some went to people I knew, and a surprising number were just trash.

I learned a host of discipleship lessons during this discipline. One of the most profound was that everything we own, owns a little bit of us. Each item is calling to us in some way--"Keep me, store me, use me, clean me, etc." Perhaps, that's why Jesus told the disciples to bring so little with them on missionary journeys. Every item you have can be a demanding distraction. So, one simple way to begin to clear the air to hear God's voice is to simply purge junk in your life.

I encourage you to reflect on just how often you find yourself pondering what you need to do with stuff in your life. How much time and space in your life is consumed by stuff? How and what could you realistically eliminate? Blessings from The Practical Disciple

Isolating God's Voice

I had in a prior post written about having a basic daily devotional time with God. There is a lot of value in doing this in terms of honing your awareness of God's voice in your daily life. When I say voice, I mean it in a broad sense of God expressing Himself through any number of ways. This could be a synchronicity, a person sharing a right word at a right time, a hymn or song on the radio, a strong intuition, a dream, vision, or insight through the Word, etc.

What I have noticed is that when we step apart from our daily activity and seek to observe God's activity in our life, then we learn to discern God's activity from other activity. Imagine if I were to bring you to a symphony and asked you to tell me when you heard the French Horn. If you didn't have much classical instrument background you might be able to rightly pick it's voice out here and there. But lets pretend that I send you home with a couple of cd's of French Horn parts to listen to. You sit down each evening for a few minutes listening. The next time I bring you to the symphony, not only do you hear the French Horn, but you can track it with a high degree of success throughout the symphony. A daily devotional time, particularly with time in the Word, serves as that experience of isolating the 'voice'. It develops your ear so that you can hear God's voice in the clamoring noise of other voices.

Learning to be still before God through a similar practice of quieting your mind and sitting with a passage from scripture can also really help you hear God's voice. If nothing else it helps you filter out unwanted verbage of the world.

Blessings from The Practical Disciple

More on God-incidents

My most recent post drew a couple of comments and a few direct contacts regarding God-incidents. It obviously struck a chord with some folks, so it seems worthy of more attention. My prior post was about responding to God-incidents. I feel the need to back up and address recognizing God incidents.

When I say God incident I am referring to those revelatory moments when we recognize what could be considered random events as actually God's activity in our lives. We can actively hone our awareness of these moments. The first step in recognizing something is knowing what you are looking for specifically. That may sound simplistic, but how often do we put things before God that are so broad and generic that even if God responds, we may not be able to recognize the answer. We say something like "God what do you want me to do with my life?" or "God help me find a spouse?" Learning to be more specific in our conversation with God is one helpful key in moving toward greater discernment. Get more specific with questions like, "God could you give me some indication of whether or not I need to stay in my current job?" or even, "God indicate or open some doors for me to move through, if it is your desire for me to shift away from what I am doing now."

A second key to this whole discernment process is being very open to whatever response God may give you. I call this holding a pray in an open hand. What I mean by an open hand is that you don't cling to an expected response. You lift upto God your desire or question, but you don't cling to some fore drawn conclusion. When we lift up very specific requests, I find that some times we already know what we want as God's response, so we are only looking for our expectation. God seems to frequently exceed my expectation or at least respond in some oblique way I never anticipated. Trust is necessary. To me the perfect biblical example of this is Jesus in the Garden of Gethesemane. He comes before God with a very specific request--"Let this cup pass from me." But he holds it in a open hand, "Not my will be done, but thine."

Third, we actively intentional look for God's response. How many times have you prayed for God's guidance, but not bothered to then just sit and listen for a response from God? I must confess that too often I will ask for guidance and then just move right on to the next things in my prayer list. Learn to pause and listen. By listen I mean let go of other thoughts tugging at you. Pay attention to the images, memories, events, and/or people that come to mind as you quietly set with God and the concern of your heart. Do those things seem significant to your prayer. If so, how are they significant. Also, learn to look back on a day or week and say, "How do I think God has responded to my prayer?"

These are invaluable skills to help hone your awareness. I will share more in my next blog post so stayed tuned. Thank you, The Practical Disciple, John Arnold

Responding to God-Incidence

Some events occur and the coincidence of it is so unbelievable that it takes greater faith to consider it a coincidence than it does to believe that it is a God incident. I once was trying to find someone's apartment who had an emergency need. My prayer was to find this person quickly and without a conflict with his father who was drunk and in the home. I had never been to his apartment. When a friend of mine and I went to retrieve our friend who was in trouble, we could not find the apartment number he had given us. I began to feel that perhaps my prayers were unheard. I rapidly decided that we shouldn't waste time looking for the apartment. We should just ask someone where it was. My friend who was driving ran upto a random apartment. He came out with our friend. We had coincidentally gone to an apartment he had fled to. The apartment number we had written down did not exist. Coincidence? I don't think so.

How should we respond when a God-incidence occurs?--A chance phone call or acquaintance comes at just the right time of our need, our funds run dry and a check for just the right amount appears unanticipated, etc. I often think of Romans 1:21 "Though they knew God, they neither honored God or gave thanks so he gave them over to futile thinking and the darkness of their minds." I have learned that my immediate response to a God-incidence needs to be to recognize it as a gift from God and give thanks. Give credit where credit is due.

The second thing that I seek to do is to honor God for the gift. We honor God by being obedient. Often times within the event there is some calling. There is a need for us to act. I find that when we are either thankful and/or obedient with what is given, then God seems to unfold the gift even further.

We also can honor a gift by telling others the story of what God has done. Share your story. In the process you may bless someone else. You may become an inspiring God-incident for another person.

Blessings to you as you seek to appreciate and honor all that God does in your life.

Daily Check-up

Before I talk about the value of a "daily check-up", I just want to mention that I will be making podcasts of select sermons available in the next week or so. I have a couple of technical gliches to work out and then I should be good to go. So, stay tuned and check back-in for podcast.

Now regarding daily check-ups--One way to enhance our discipleship progress is by daily evaluating our progress. The key is having a clear criteria for evaluating and allowing a few minutes during a quiet time at the end of the day for reflection. For example, if you are working on being more mindful of God, then reflect daily (preferably journaling briefly) on specifically what that would mean. Such as, how many times can I recall when I specifically paused to think about God or prayer? What God-incidents (synconcities) occurred today that seemed like divine interventions? At what times today do I wish I had been mindful of God? How and when do I hope to be mindful of God tomorrow?

As simple as this may seem, few of us take the time to just be intentional about focusing in on progress in one simple aspect of discipleship. Focused daily reflection like this, with specific criteria or questions for evaluating our efforts, can yield amazing shifts in our faith.

So how do you rate your relationship with God right now on a scale of 1 to 10? What would make it a ten? What specific area of growth would be a step toward ten? How could you work on and daily evaluate your progress in that way?

Start with something small and doable. Build upon the success. God will help you, but you need to be very intentional.

Peace from The Practical Disciple

7 ways to ingest God's Word

1) Listen to it
2) Read it
3) Study it
4) Meditate on it
5) Memorize it
6) Journal it
7) Act on it

How many of these seven are a part of your life right now? Which one could you add right now? Each one enhances our discipleship and our relationship with God in a slightly different way. I would encourage you to experiment. These are not the only ways to take in God's Word. Recently, I was a part of a workshop in which we all created art out of the experience of listening to the creation story both read and sung. Paraphrasing the passage through art really helped me slow down and internalize the text in a whole new way and with a depth I didn't anticipate.

Be creative in your approaches. I had a friend who memorize scripture by laminating verses and hanging them in his shower.

Doing the Do.

One time I was standing in what I would call the "spiritual self-help" section of a seminary bookstore looking for yet another 'how-to prayer' book. As I browsed the numerous options the thought came to me, 'If I applied even ten percent of all of the other books I already have on prayer, then I could probably write my own book. I realized in that moment that I was substituting reading about prayer for praying. I immediately set down whatever book was in my hand and headed for the seminary prayer room. I had a phenomena encounter with God. I realized then how easy it is to talk about God, instead of to God, or to read about prayer, instead of praying.

I am addressing this today because I have added a 'This Week's Recommended Resource' and I now have The Practical Disciple Resource Center as an opportunity for you to purchase resources on spiritual growth. The danger in such resources is that you substitute studying an activity for doing the activity. Little or no growth happens when that is the case. I would encourage you to examine how much you are applying what you learn. Make sure that you are 'doing the do' of whatever area of discipleship you are studying.

So much more learning happens in the doing. Jesus wrapped up the sermon on the mount with a parable that emphasized the need to apply what his listeners heard. He said--

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the stream rose, and the wind blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation upon a rock. But everyone who hears these words of m ine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand, the rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell with a great crash." (Matthew 7:24-27)

A nature mentor I know likes to put it this way, "The knowing is in the doing." So be very conscientious about applying what you learn, even if your application occurs in extremely small increments. With that said, what are you going to do our apply once you log off of this blog? What is one important lesson or life principle you have learned recently and how have you applied it? Blessings to you from The Practical Disciple

Scripture Journaling

Yesterday I shared two approaches to scripture reading--formational and informational reading. To insure a healthy blend of each consider journaling. I have used the following journal model for many years now and it has yielded a constant forward momentum in my discipleship journey. A sample journal based upon the model following that is in bold and italics may look like this---

Date: 6/2/08 Passage: Mark 12:1-12

First Obervation/keywords: vinyard, Son. God goes to any length to care for us, but we don't accept it easily.

Main Idea/meaning: Jesus was explaining to the multitude how great God's love is and how they have rejected it time and time again. Jesus' death is foreshadowed.

This passage make me feel: a need to examine my own life to make sure that I am recognizing Jesus. The multitude rejected him even when they had him physically in their presence and saw many miracles. I wonder how often I push Jesus away.

I don't understand or a question I have is... How we can be so selfish in the face of such overwhelming love.

Right now I believe God wants me to...Be a good steward of the gifts I have so that when his son returns, he will find hospitality and faithfulness rather than hostility and contempt.

Prayer: God, forgive me for the times when I forget that you are the master and I am the servant and that all I have is yours. May i bea great steward. May the Spirit keep me aware of your grace. Amen.

In retrospect, I have come to learn that the questions I have and the completion of the statement "right now I believe God wants me to..." have been the pieces that seem to yield the most fruit in my life. Getting to those pieces without studying or answering the other questions is very limiting.

Getting Started with Studying Scripture

Most approaches to reading scripture can be broadly categorized into essentially two categories, either,"informational" or "formational" reading. You need a healthy mix of both.

When you read scripture "informationally" you are getting to know the text. You are exploring questions like: "What is the story here? Who are the people involved? When and why was it written? Who was the author and what was his concern? Who was the audience? You may dig into historcial questions like "What is a tabernacle?" "What kind offerings did these people do?" "Where is Phillipi?" "What is a samaritan?" Basically, informational reading involves studying the text to get at the story or content. If you have done a good job of informational reading you should be able to confidently put the passage into your own word, share its basic story and structure, and may be answer a few questions about it.

Entering the Bible can be daunting. It can be a bit like visiting a foreign country in which you really don't get the customs. There is a two thousand year gap of history and traditions to overcome as well as cultural differences for most of us. A few guides can be immensely helpful. If you have no study resources, then I highly recommend that the first thing you get after a good Bible is a good Bible dictionary. Two that I use regularly and can recommend without reservation are The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible edited by Henry Snyder Gehman and The Oxford Companion to the Bible, edited by Bruce Metzger and Michael Coogan. Getting into a Bible Study at a church can also be a very helpful way to engage in informational study.

Formational reading addresses the meaning of the text for your life today. When you are formationally reading you meditate or reflect on God's Word to instruct your daily living. "Informational" reading primarily fills you mind with information about the text; whereas, "Formational" reading shapes or forms who you are as a disciple. These types of reading feed one another and are both crucial. You can see a reflection of formational reading in the Psalmist's words "Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers for I meditate on your statutes." (Psalm 119:97-99.)

Tune back in tomorrow and I will share with you an example of blending informational and formational reading through scripture journaling. Blessings to you from The Practical Disciple.

Core Routines of Faith--Getting started on the Word

Hey readers--I am back from a brief blogging hiatus. I followed my own advice and made some margin in my life last week when I was beset by life. Part of that margin meant not blogging for a bit. That season of hurry has past, so here I am again.

Last week someone asked me what spiritual disciplines I felt were important. The core routines that have helped me most in my walk of faith have been: worship, scripture reading, scripture study, devotional reading, intentional acts of kindness and service, tithing, and keeping a sabbath. If you read that list closely you might note a couple of routines that sound repetitive, but are intentionally different. Specifically, scripture reading vs. scripture study and worship vs. maintaining a sabbath. Though used "vs." these are not opposing practices, but I do want to highlight some distinctions around them. For today I will start with scripture.

My background on my relationship to scripture
I recall a large, black leather bound Bible with a gold zipper in our home when I was a child. I don't ever remember anyone reading it. It was just there. I was always intrigued by it, but wasn't sure how to approach reading the Bible. In late high school, I felt a mix of duty, need, and curiousity about reading the whole Bible. I made several failed efforts. The usual routine was to start in Genesis and have a fantastic time until I got to somewhere in Leviticus or Numbers and then I would die a thousand deaths of misunderstanding and boredom.

That changed for me after I read a short little book called "How to Read the Bible for Yourself". There were a couple of practical principles that helped me prevail then and they have sustained me for over twenty years without fail. Here they are:

Have a plan. Use a reading plan. Preferably something that takes you through the Gospels initially so that you can get in a discipline of reading prior to getting to more difficult text to wade through. I recall reading 1st John each day for a week initially to just get myself in a habit. Then I read the Gospel of John twice and the Gospel of Matthew twice. Read either a certain number of chapters or minutes each day. I read four chapters a day and have for years. It is what works for me. Spending 15 minutes or so is a good start. Just be sure to start with something doable and then build on the success. Don't bite off more than you can chew because of your initial inspiration and then find yourself defeated when the reality of sustaining your practice sets in.

Have a no exceptions policy. Always do your reading no matter how much you do or do not want to. No matter how tired you are or overwhelmed. I have had times where I had to walk and read or stretch and read just to stay awake, but I didn't regret it. I found that whenever I miss in any discipline, it becomes a catalyst for the discipline to potentially fall apart.

If you miss, then don't get in a game of trying to play catch-up. Despite your no exception policy you may fail to maintain your discipline at some point. If that happens, just pick-up where you left off or skip on to what is next and get moving again. I have found that most people get snowballed out of commission with assigned reading if they start saying thing like, "I will just read four chapters tomorrow, since I didn't read two today." Forget four, just get back on track.

Read with a pencil in hand. Jot down thoughts and ideas, verses that grab you, underline, circle, put notes in the margin, etc. Using a pencil will automatically engage you in the text more and protect your from just glossing over the words.

Create a coach. Take a moment right now and think about why you want to grow spiritually. Pretend for a moment that you are struggling with consistently getting into God's Word. If a good frien were encouraging you, what would they say. Right thise down right now. Place the paper as a bookmark in your Bible and read it regularly. It will condition your mind toward consistency.

Link your reading to an already established routine. One woman linked her reading to reading the newspaper every morning. Her policy was, "No bad news, unless I have read the Good News." I read at night for me it's "No bible, no bed." You could link yours to a meal, arriving home from work, or whatever is a daily uncompromising activity for you.

Lastly, strive not to complete the Bible but rather to get in a daily routine of reading. If you can establish a daily routine, then you will find yourself reading the Bible numerous times.

If you are already reading daily then consider where you are on a spectrum of learning. First stage being reading. Second, studying. Third, applying. Fourth, scripture is a part of who you are and you are living out of it. We can approach some of these other practices in future blogs.

Blessings to you who are just beginning this journey of daily reading.

Prayer--Finding the Right Words, or Use No Words

This past week I visited a church and asked the congregation about difficulties they have praying. As usually the first answer offered up regarding an inability to focus. Another answer though came up which is not uncommon. Someone mentioned that they have a difficult time finding the right words. First off, I am not so certain there are "right" words to be found. Lovely and profound words lacking in heart or conviction, I rather suspect are like burnt offering offerings without obedience in the Old Testament.

Speaking from the heart with the best honesty you can muster is the best we can hope for. If you examine the Lord's Prayer that Jesus offered, you will noticed that it is neither lengthy are overly eloquent. I always strive to choose my finest words, but trust that sincerity gives them greater weight with God than perhaps any other characteristic.

If you really want to expand your prayer vocabulary, I strongly recommend getting a book of prayers to use devotionally. A classic old favorite of mine is A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie. The book is roughly a month of morning and evening prayers with a blank opposing page for each where you can write your own prayers. I have filled out a couple of these. The language is a bit archaic, but the depth and breadth of prayer which Baillie offers is rather immense. If take mimic the content that he covers in his prayers but in your own personal style. I think you will find that the scope of what you think about in regards to prayer will broaden and deepen.

If you can't find John Baillie's book, I would still recommend finding a devotional resource that will prompt you to think more broadly when you pray. Either way, seek sincerity and honesty in what you lift before God. If you want to challenge yourself even further, consider praying without words. Take some time to just mentally form as full an image as you possibly can of what you are praying about and lift it upto God. Picture in your mind the full outcome if your prayer were to be answered as you hope. For instance, some times when I preach I pray for the congregation in this way. I don't just imagine them sitting there and soaking in a sermon and being wonderfully connecting. Instead, I picture them at home or work applying whatever I addressed. So, if I preach on forgiveness, I hold up to God an image of people going home and calling someone they are disenfanchised with or offering an apology. If I preach about service, then I picture them moved to help someone else. You get the picture (no pun intended).

Praying in pictures has a couple effects upon you as the prayer. First, it makes you really slow down and consider practical what your prayer would mean. Second, praying in pictures usually causes me to spend much more time on individual prayers than usually. Lastly, while I can't necessarily prove or quantify it, I have a strong sense that when i do this my prayers are frankly far more effective.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes. With gratitude for any who read my blog, The Practical Disciple.

Jesus and Keeping a Rhythm

P.D. Novice commented on how we find images of Jesus in the Gospels withdrawing from the crowds to be in prayer. Coincidentally, or God-incidentally as I like to call it, my wife's bible study class was examining Mark chapter 6 today and noted how Jesus withdrew from the crowds but then they would come to him and he would "look on them with pity" or some translations say "felt compassion" and he would reengage and respond to them. A really wonderful example of this is Mark 6:30-34 which reads as follows...

"The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while. (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves. The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things." (NASB version)

Jesus obviously recognized the need for basic self care as essential to good ministry. He withdrew and sometimes did so by himself. I am convinced that he didn't only do that when at a place of being so burned out or tired that he couldn't do anything else. Jesus had a practice of withdrawing and it seems that he even had at least one particular spot he would go to. In the Gospel of Luke after celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples and before being arrested we are told,

"And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed Him." Luke 22:39.

Apparently, Jesus had done this with some regularity and with the awareness of the disciples. Even God rested, so why should we think that we can avoid a rhythm of restful withdrawal in our lives.

If someone where to look at your life right now and write about it, what text would surround the words, "as was his/her custom?" Would it say, "And he came out from work very late and tried to pray just before sleeping and dozed off as was His custom." Or "And she found herself constantly in a rush while never completing her to do list as was her custom." Or "He slammed more coffee and just kept moving, but could never seem to find any peace or joy as was his custom."

What would it take for someone to write about your lif.e... "And she walked out to the garden to pray as was her custom." Or "And he awoke rested and ready to serve as was his custom." Or "And he simply sat down and took a few breaths to become centered before responding to the request as was his custom."?

Give it some thought and more importantly prayer. We can revisit this again. I look forward to folks comments. Blessing to you as you build good customs for maintaining a Godly rhythm in your life,
The Practical Disciple