• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

Classic Reflections

Posted on December 15, 2010 by wtdavid

From time to time during Advent, I like to read some of the ancient texts which reflect on Christ’s coming.  Here is one from the 5th century that might cause you to marvel again that the Word became flesh for us:

 “Our Saviour, dearly-beloved, was born today: let us be glad. … Let the saint exult in that he draws near to victory. Let the sinner be glad in that he is invited to pardon. Let the Gentile take courage in that he is called to life. For the Son of God in the fullness of time … has taken on him the nature of [humanity], thereby to reconcile it to its Author: in order that the inventor of death, the devil, might be conquered through that which he had conquered. And in this conflict undertaken for us, the fight was fought on great and wondrous principles of fairness; for the Almighty Lord enters the lists with his savage foe not in his own majesty but in our humility, opposing him with the same form and the same nature, which shares indeed our mortality, though it is free from all sin.”

If there is an ancient text that you find helpful in preparing your heart this season, why not share it with us.  Feel free to post it as a comment.

Filed under: Community, Gospel | 1 Comment »

Advent: Preparation Time

Posted on December 14, 2010 by wtdavid

Advent is a time for us to “prepare” our hearts to celebrate the amazing event of the incarnation; an event we would not have anticipated or guessed in some respects. 

Watch this short video (for December 14th) from the UK Christian website, Damaris, which seeks to ready our hearts to consider once again the wonder of our God becoming human:

http://www.damaris.org/christmascountdown/

I am amazed to see how many people around me, here in Europe, can so easily “miss” Jesus as they are preparing for the festivities of this holiday season, just as those in Jesus’ day missed the Messiah.  If I am honest, I can find myself as well swept up by all the activity and “miss” Jesus and the “kind of Messiah God planned to give to the world.”  I can miss taking the long view and forget that the small child in the manger would one day cry out, “It is finished,” giving up His life as an exchange for my freedom, my redemption.

“Time to prepare.”  I need that time at this “time” of the year.  May our preparation time lead us to the manger, to the cross and to the empty tomb.

Filed under: Gospel, Reflection | Leave a comment »

“Come Messy”

Posted on November 15, 2010 by wtdavid

“Jesus does not say, “Come to me, all you who have learned how to concentrate in prayer, whose minds no longer wander, and I will give you rest.”  No, Jesus opens his arms to his needy children and says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28, NASB).  The criteria for coming to Jesus is weariness.  Come overwhelmed with life.  Come with your wandering mind.  Come messy.”

I can relate, as maybe you can, to the struggle that Paul Miller describes here in chapter 3 of what he calls a “wandering mind”.  But as I re-read this chapter, an even earlier statement hit me harder:

“When we slow down to pray, we are immediately confronted with how unspiritual we are, with how difficult it is to concentrate on God.  We don’t know how bad we are until we try to be good.  Nothing exposes our selfishness and spiritual powerlessness like prayer.”

Wait a minute, I thought, how can he talk about selfishness and powerlessness when I am for the most part consistent in my prayer time?  As soon as those thoughts came to mind, I realized I was trying to gain some advantage with God, rather than admitting my neediness to “come messy” to Him. Miller drives the point home even further when he says:  

“Ironically, many attempts to teach people to pray encourage the creation of a split personality.  You’re taught to “do it right.” Instead of a real, messy you meeting God, you try to re-create yourself by becoming spiritual.  No wonder prayer is so unsatisfying.  So instead of being paralyzed by who you are, begin with who you are.  That’s how the gospel works.  God begins with you.  It’s a little scary because you are messed up.”

Now I re-read this part several times as I thought maybe the author (or publisher) missed a word somewhere: “So instead of being paralyzed by who you are, begin with who you are.”  His point is that prayer is about getting our identity straight from the start.  In fact, prayer is probably about our need to get it straight every day.  Maybe that explains the title of this chapter, “Become Like a Little Child.” 

Let’s talk together about these questions:

  • What does “beginning with who you are” look like in practical ways, for you, in your prayer journey?
  • What are some of the ways of “non-personal, nonreal praying that you’ve been taught” that need to be unlearned?

 

 

Filed under: Gospel, Prayer | 3 Comments »

Lessons Learned❹

Posted on November 12, 2010 by wtdavid

Number❶ take-away: Preach, proclaim, and share the Gospel fearlessly. 

Number❷ take-away: Recognize that we are living in the 21st century. 

Number❸ take-away: Live out our identity. 

Thinking further, my number❹ take-away would be: We cannot accomplish the task on our own.  Cape Town 2010 made me realize how “small” my world still is, and how great is our need for global church partnerships.  With the dramatic shift of the center of Christianity to the Global South, more than ever we must explore how to work together with other agencies and national churches/associations.

But even more so, when we are faced with the reality of the immense lostness of our world, we recognize how we need one another to fully participate in God’s great mission:

  • 27 million slaves in the world today, with 10-15 million being children
  • One half of the world population lives on less than $2 USD/day
  • There are more than 18 million orphans
  • 3.5 billion people are either Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists
  • There are 640 Unreached People Groups that do not have any worker among them, nor any worker heading to share the message of Jesus Christ with them

I would encourage you to watch Patrick Fung’s presentation (OMF International Director) from the last day of the Lausanne Congress: http://conversation.lausanne.org/en/conversations/detail/11415.  It is hard hitting, but it made me reflect on what I think about partnerships, and how to approach partnerships from a gospel heart.

If partnerships are bathed in trust, what is my (or our) current trust level with others?  And what small step to further build trust should I (we) take today?

Filed under: Cape Town 2010, Gospel, Partnership | Leave a comment »

In The Busyness of Life

Posted on November 8, 2010 by wtdavid

There were several parts in the second chapter of the book, A Praying Life, which caused me to step back and reflect.  One was where Paul Miller commented:

“The quest for the contemplative life can actually be self-absorbed, focused on my quiet and me. If we love people and have the power to help, then we are going to be busy.  Learning to pray doesn’t offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart.  In the midst of outer busyness we can develop an inner quiet.  Because we are less hectic on the inside, we have a greater capacity to love … and thus to be busy, which in turns drives us even more into a life of prayer.”

I would probably have to say that I search for a less busy life rather than a less busy heart leading to a “greater capacity to love.” 

A second thought that struck me, just a few paragraphs later, was where he says:

“As you develop your relationship with your heavenly Father, you’ll change.  You’ll discover nests of cynicism, pride, and self-will in your heart.  You will be unmasked.  None of us likes being exposed.  We have an allergic reaction to dependency, but this is the state of the heart most necessary for a praying life.  A needy heart is a praying heart.  Dependency is the heartbeat of prayer.”

Seeing more of “one’s stuff” is seemingly not a major driver to prayer, and yet somehow it prepares the heart to a “greater capacity to love” God and others.

So, in the busyness of our lives, let’s talk about these questions:

  • Describe what feeds your “busy heart”.  What causes your heart, at times, to be on such an adrenaline rush?
  • Why does repentance, seeing and turning from our own sin, need to be such an important part of our experience and connection with God?

Filed under: Gospel, Humility, Prayer | 2 Comments »

Lessons Learned❶

Posted on October 29, 2010 by wtdavid

I have to be honest and say that I was totally exhausted when I returned home after the Lausanne congress (Oct 16-25).  It will probably take me a number of days to process all that I heard, felt, experienced and took in during the 10 days that I was there.  But let me start to share some of my “take-aways”.

Number❶ take-away: Preach, proclaim, and share the Gospel fearlessly.  This seems so obvious.  Yet in a global context where pluralism (as well as other ‘isms’) contends that there cannot be any ultimate transcendent truth, we can find ourselves being lulled into a more apprehensive and hesitant approach to evangelism.

During my week in Cape Town, I heard from brothers and sisters from around the world whose methodology of church planting was characterized by the simple yet fearless and abundant sharing of the Gospel with others; sometimes at the cost of suffering to themselves and their families. 

A beginning response to this take-away would not be found in feeling “burdened” to share with others, so that our witness flowed out of obligation.  It would be found by sending our roots deeper into the One who is truth, Jesus Christ.  The joy that flows from knowing His great love for us (Ephesians 1) would then become our chief motivation.

Now here’s the hard question: How will you respond to preach, proclaim and share the Gospel fearlessly?

Filed under: Cape Town 2010, Gospel, Sharing the Gospel story | 1 Comment »

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