Recently, I came across this video interview and thought it would be helpful to share with regards to how we are to read God’s Word.
Darrin Patrick, pastor of The Journey Church in St. Louis asks Dr. Bryan Chappell, president of Covenant Theological Seminary, the question: “How can I see the Gospel through the Law?” In other words, “How do I see Jesus being displayed in a commandment like ‘Do not steal’? Is this commandment given to show me primarily what Imust do – or to show me primarily what Jesus has done?”
Though this question is asked in regards to how preachers are to preach God’s Word, it is absolutely helpful in how we approach God’s Word on a daily basis in our devotionals.
“I think a lot of us need to forget about God’s will for my life. God cares more about our response to his Spirit’s leading today, in this moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today’s decisions. It is easy to use the phrase ‘God’s will for my life’ as an excuse for inaction or even disobedience. It’s much less demanding to think about God’s will for your future than it is to ask Him what He wants you to do in the next ten minutes. It’s safer to commit to following him someday instead of this day. To be honest I believe part of the desire to ‘know God’s will for my life’ is birthed in fear and results in paralysis.” (120)
“God wants us to listen to his Spirit on a daily basis, and even throughout the day, as difficult and as stretching moments arise, and in the midst of the mundane. My hope is that instead of searching for ‘God’s will for my life,’ each of us would learn to seek hard after ‘the Spirit’s leading in my life today.’” (120)
“The Spirit who raised Christ from the dead is not someone we can just call on when we want a little extra power in our lives. Jesus Christ did not die in order to follow us. He died and rose again so that we could forget everything else and follow him to the cross, to true Life.” (122)
In what areas of your life right now is it evident that you are not obeying His Spirit? I would encourage us all to write them down and repent and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of those sins, and then asking God to supply you with the strength that only He can supply “in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11).
For those interested in praying with me that God would be gracious in bringing a spiritual awakening to our group (individually and corporately), here’s the prayer that I adapted from the prayer that John Piper promised to pray for his church while he goes on his 8-month sabbatical. I adapted it to be more fitting for our group. Here it is:
Prayer for an Awakening at Ekklesia521
O Lord, as you are often accustomed to do, show your great power in this group. Send a remarkable awakening that results in:
hundreds of people coming to Christ
old animosities being removed
wayward children coming home
long-standing slavery to sin being conquered
spiritual dullness being replaced by vibrant joy
weak faith being replaced by bold witness
disinterest in prayer being replaced by fervent intercession
boring Bible reading being replaced by passion for the Word
disinterest in global missions being replaced by energy for Christ’s name among the nations
and lukewarm worship being replaced by zeal for the greatness of God’s glory
Lord, when Gideon had thousands of men you said, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me’” (Judges 7:2). You stripped his army to 300, and with that you conquered the peoples of the East who covered the ground like locusts and whose camels were like the sand of sea (Judges 7:12).
O Lord, take the mighty “300” of Ekklesia521 and bless this church beyond anything we have ever dreamed. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pray with me as I will pray this (or a form of it) everyday.
Recently, I came across an article on theResurgence that Jonathan Dodson, the pastor of Austin City Life wrote for Boundless webzine. In it, he writes about how the current condition of the Church today in America falls ever so short of what God had originally intended the Church to be. Here’s a quick excerpt from it:
Church is not an event, a place or a plant. It is a family of brothers and sisters united in the Spirit and the Son. The church is a community, people in relationships under grace. So the church is supposed to be a family, but we act more like acquaintances.
Instead of sharing life and truth, joy and pain, meals and mission, we share one, maybe two events a week. Church has been reduced to a spiritual event that happens for an hour or two on weekends, and if you are spiritual, occurs another couple hours during the week in a small group meeting. We spend just enough time “at church” to be religious, but nowhere near enough time to be family.
The dominant metaphor of the church in the New Testament is the metaphor of family. Every one of Paul’s letters opens by addressing the church in familial terms — sisters, brothers, son, and our Father. The use of “brother” is, by far, the most frequent. This sibling emphasis reflects the familial nature of the church. What would happen if we started acting like family?
Here’s the direct link to the entire article. Again, what would happen if we started acting more like family? God, help us.
Hey guys, one last post for today. In a previous post (and at the retreat), I laid out the process that I go through in doing my QTs. First, I pray the I.O.U.S. and then move on to reading a section of the Bible by asking the Four Questions (again, this entire process is laid out in more detail here).
Then, not too long ago, I discovered a Bible-reading plan that John Piper has been using for many years in order to read the Bible once a year. It’s pretty cool because not only is it divided up into four parts (allowing us to get a glimpse of the entire Bible), but it also allows five days at the end of each month to either: (1) catch up on days missed or (2) spend that time studying deeper something that you read earlier in the month.
Now, the question I’ve gotten from a few people is this: Am I supposed to do the Four Questions for each section everyday? And the answer is no, you don’t. What I do is this:
I pray the I.O.U.S.
Then, I read through the Bible-reading plan, briefly making notes in my notebook on verses or phrases that particularly catch my attention (from all four sections).
And then, after I do that, I choose one particular section (out of the four) that I want to focus in on and explore more deeply. I do the Four Questions on this one particular section.
