• 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!

Learning what it means to pray to our Father

Posted on May 5, 2014 by wtdavid

The Lord’s Prayer begins in such a simple way that many of us can miss the thrust of what Jesus was teaching us by this prayer: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9).  That small statement: “Our Father”, speaks volumes as to the place where our prayers should begin and end.  The truth expressed in that one statement forms the context of all our prayers and has to be driven home to our hearts each day.our father

Knowing God as my Father means that I understand, I have taken deep into my heart the truth that when God turns His eyes from all His creative activity in the world and he looks at me, He cries out: “Here is one of my beloved children!”

Praying the Gospel begins when I choose to rehearse the Gospel to my heart as I begin my prayers.  Praying the Gospel begins when I choose at times not to move further in my prayers until my heart is settled in the assurance that God is my Father, that I am His beloved, and that as I start, continue or end my day, He is faithful and just to forgive me of all my sins and apply the righteousness of Christ to my life again.

I find for myself that I too quickly move away from “praying the Gospel” to all that weighs on my heart that day.  Certainly, I acknowledge God as the centre of my life, but I don’t always allow that truth to become the context in which I share all that is on my heart with my Father.  We encourage one another by praying that the Gospel will go deep in each of our hearts.

Obviously, I have primarily focused on how “praying the Gospel” impacts my own personal life. However, it should impact our community prayer life as well.  What might that look like?

 

Filed under: Gospel, Prayer | 6 Comments »

Praying the Gospel

Posted on April 30, 2014 by wtdavid

Prayer is fundamental and foundational to the work of calling people into relationship with Jesus, growing them up in Him, and uniting them to transformational communities.  We all know that truth.  We all believe that truth.praying the gospel

However, just looking at the overall time I commit to prayer – actually praying, sharing requests with others, meeting with others for prayer – you might argue that prayer is more an aspirational value than a worked out value in my life.  I’m probably not alone in this.

At least two reasons come quickly to mind for this dissonance between what I say and what I actually do as a worker.

First, I live more as an independent worker than as a dependent worker.  Honestly, I often act as if the ministry actually does depend on me.  Praying the Gospel reminds me that everything flows from the Father’s active work and investment in this world.

Second, when I do pray, it’s a lot about “my stuff” more than it is about God’s desires and His interests.  Praying the Gospel refocuses my heart on what is most important.

So, what do I mean by “praying the Gospel”?  What does that look like for me on a day to day basis?  In other words, how can I move prayer from an aspirational value to one that is part and parcel of my daily walk with Him?

Filed under: Gospel, Prayer | Leave a comment »

It only takes a few

Posted on November 29, 2013 by wtdavid

loadgame_tippingpoint_logoInnovation, the act of bringing creative ideas to life, is one of the pillars of our global vision.  I would love to see groups of WT workers contextualizing innovative approaches to discipling others in Christ.  If a fire could be lit to stir all of us towards innovative, entrepreneurial approaches, just imagine what fruit might be born.

However, trying to move a whole community in this direction at once is tough.  It really only takes a few, who are ‘full on’ in that direction, to inspire and enthuse the rest of us.

Malcolm Gladwell in his classic work, The Tipping Point, relates one of many scenarios where dramatic change was observed: “What happened is that the small number of people in the small number of situations in which the police or the new social forces had some impact started behaving very differently, and that behavior somehow spread …”

Just a few ‘started behaving very differently’ and others were influenced.  A biblical example would be found in Acts 11 where a few started behaving differently by sharing the Gospel with Greek speaking Jews.  They stepped out of their then known cultural context of sharing Christ only with their people to go to a different people group.

We need to give space to ‘a few’ to inspire and motivate us towards more innovative, risk filled ministry.  We need to pray, support and facilitate ‘a few’ so that we can learn from them and be influenced by them.

Maybe you are one of the ‘few’?  Maybe you are one those willing to pray and facilitate ‘the few’?

Filed under: Facilitation, Innovation, Prayer | 2 Comments »

Silence as worship: a practical idea.

Posted on July 9, 2013 by wtdavid

Day aloneWhen I wrote about prayer and worship in one of my recent posts, Linda shared the following thoughts. I found them so helpful; I thought it would be worth passing them along to the larger community:

“I have resonated with your recent “Thoughts Along The Journey.” Your short writings have stimulated some of the very issues that have been tumbling around in my mind and heart lately as I seek to deepen my relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s. To think that we have complete access into the very throne room where our Lord resides; what an immense honor and privilege! I wanted to send along some ideas that have helped me personally as I come and “still” myself before the Lord. Most of the ideas come from the book, Alone With The Lord.

“A day alone with the Lord enables us to live with integrity in community.” Dietrich Bonheoffer

Silence and Solitude will become the anchor and central feature of your time alone with the Lord. In time you will learn that silence bears fruit; and in silence you will meet and hear Christ, and will attend to the inner witness of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God.

  • You need to find a quiet place to meet God where you will not be distracted or interrupted.
  • You need to avoid the temptation to interact with external interruptions, check your phone, text, or to read other materials.
  • You need to learn to be still even when it does not seem, at least immediately, to be worthwhile.
  • God is in the silence and He speaks in the silence. As you learn to be still you will cultivate the capacity to know and hear the One who loves you.
  • You need to intentionally quiet your heart and mind by gently turning from the noises around you, and the inner voices or “noises” in your heart; and to make a conscious and deliberate choice to be still before the Lord, your Maker and Redeemer.
  • You will need your Bible and a notebook to journal your thoughts as God speaks to you. For some it may be helpful to journal some of your prayers, so that you keep your mind from distraction.

Quite often when we intentionally set aside time to spend before the Lord, the enemy will barrage our mind with things we need to do or other disruptive thoughts. Keep a section in your journal in which you write these thoughts down. Do not engage them. After you have written them down, simply return to your time of quiet before the Lord.”

Filed under: Core Values, Prayer, Worship | 2 Comments »

Silence as worship?

Posted on July 1, 2013 by wtdavid

I was reading through some old journals and came across this statement by Steve Smallman in an article called, “The heart of worship”:

priere_silence“Be still and know … So, while there is indeed singing and praise and expressions of repentance, the essential element of worship was silence and humble submission.  In his book, Reaching Out, Henri Nouwen says that this silence calls for much discipline and the taking of risks.  We always seem to have more important things to do.  “Just sitting there” and “doing nothing” more times than not, disturbs us more than it helps.  But there is no other way. At the heart of all prayer, lies our natural discomfort of being “useless” and silent in the Lord’s presence.  We are told in Psalm 46.10, “Be still and know that I am God.” What encourages me about this command is that although it is very difficult, it is something we can do.  Our worship will only rarely be the result of a dramatic encounter, but learning to be still in the presence of God puts us in the same place as the great worshipers of God in Scripture.”

That small paragraph raised a number of questions in my heart.  Here are two of them:

  • Why do I, why do we often experience this “discomfort of being “useless” and silent in the Lord’s presence”?
  • What would encourage me, what would encourage us to be “still in the presence of God” more often?

 

 

 

Filed under: Core Values, Prayer, Worship | Leave a comment »

Words are important

Posted on June 28, 2013 by wtdavid

The musical score of a song can be pleasing to our ears.  I’ll often catch myself humming a few bars of a song I have recently heard.  Sometimes I might remember the words, but that usually takes longer as I need to hear or sing the song a few times before the words are committed to memory.the-power-of-words

Maybe you have discovered the same reality as I have: that sometimes a melody can be fun to sing, but he words attached to it are rather shallow.

In prayer and worship, I’m recognizing more and more how important are the words we say, we sing and we pray.  Those words need to express the feelings of one’s heart as well as (or more importantly) lift one’s eyes back on God.

The song below is one that was used during a community time Rebecca and I attended in Hong Kong.  It may not be familiar to many, but the words took my heart and mind off of what I needed from God and created a desire to give back to him the adoration He deserves.

We bow our hearts we lift our hands
we turn our eyes to you again
And we surrender to the truth
that all we need is found in You
Receive our adoration
Jesus lamb of God
Receive our adoration
how wonderful you are
We choose to leave it all behind
and turn our eyes towards the prize
the upward call of God in Christ
you have our hearts Lord take our lives
Receive our adoration Jesus lamb of God
Receive our adoration how wonderful you are
Every soul you´ve saved sings out
everything you´ve made resounds
all creation´s standing now
lifting up your name
We´re joining in the angel´s song
we´re gathered to your ancient throne
children in our Father´s arms
shouting out your praise

One possible application: commit to memory the words and melody of a song that draws your heart back to God and use it as part of your individual and community worship.

Filed under: Core Values, Prayer, Worship | 2 Comments »

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