C.S. Lewis nails me with this quote from Letters To Malcolm—
“Well, let’s now at any rate come clean. Prayer is irksome. An excuse to omit it is never unwelcome. When it is over, this casts a feeling of relief and holiday over the rest of the day. We are reluctant to begin. We are delighted to finish. While we are at prayer, but not while we are reading a novel or solving a crossword puzzle, any trifle is enough to distract us….
Now the disquieting thing is not simply that we skimp and begrudge the duty of prayer. The really disquieting thing is it should be numbered among duties at all. For we believe that we were created ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ And if the few, the very few, minutes we now spend on intercourse with God are a burden to us rather than a delight, what then?…
The painful effort which prayer involves is not proof that we are doing something we were not created to do.
If we were perfected, prayer would not be a duty, it would be a delight. Someday, please God, it will be.”
I don’t know about you, but this convicts me.
I want to be delighted for my prayer times. When I think that the Creator of the universe wants me to spend time with Him in prayer, how could this not be a delight?!
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Some time ago, when my wife Betsy and I were waiting for God to bring about something we believed He had promised us, Betsy taped this verse to our bathroom mirror—
At the time I have decided, My words will come true. You can trust what I say about the future. It may take a long time, but keep on waiting—it will happen! (Habakkuk 2:3)
Keep on waiting.
You might be able to relate to that statement. Perhaps you say, “I am waiting. And waiting, and waiting, and WAITING…!”
But let me ask you something: What are you doing while you’re waiting?
Did you know that the Hebrew word for “waiting” here can also mean to ambush? That means you need to be doing everything you can do now to capture God’s promised dream when it arrives. As John Wooden used to say, “When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare.”
What do you need to do to ambush and capture your dream?
Learn a skill?
Take a class?
Get a degree?
Forgive someone?
Get out of debt?
Find a partner?
Volunteer your time?
Improve your waiting skills?
How do you improve your waiting skills? Check out this well-known verse—
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…. (Isaiah 40:31)
Wait upon the Lord.
This is not a passive activity. This doesn’t mean to put your feet up, take it easy, and just lounge around until God finally decides to show up.
This word for “wait” has a different definition.
Have you ever dined at a really nice restaurant? In those high-priced restaurants, one of the things that makes the dining experience so nice is the staff who serves you. They anticipate your every need, they seem to be there just when you need them. They’re not late in arriving, nor are they rushing you along. They are WAITING on you!
This is what Isaiah is saying: When we wait on the Lord we are actively serving Him. We are trying to anticipate what He wants us to do. We’re not late and we’re not rushing Him along. We just want to give Him our very best service.
So if you are waiting (and waiting, and waiting!), make sure you’re making good use of your waiting time. Serve God with all you’ve got, and then make sure you’re ready to ambush your dream when God brings it to you in His perfect timing. God said it:
John Wesley said that harsh words spoken to us actually provide a helpful balance:
“Who could bear honor and good report, were it not balanced by dishonor?”
In other words, if the only things said to you are words of praise, it’s awfully hard to keep from getting a big head! So when the painful words come, it is important to evaluate them, but also recognize that they might be just the medicine you need to reduce ego swelling.
“I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”
(John Adams, writing to his wife Abigail about the Declaration of Independence)
I hope you will take time today to celebrate the blessings of liberty that we enjoy in the United States of America. But as you celebrate, do not forget that our freedom relies solely on the grace of God Almighty. If we forget that important fact, we are doomed to lose the precious gift of liberty.
For those of you who asked, here is the quote I shared this morning from John Piper—
“If you don’t read the Word and memorize the Word and meditate on the Word daily and delight in the Word and savor it and have your mind and emotions shaped by the Word, you will be a weak Christian at best. You will be fragile and easily deceived and easily paralyzed by trouble and stuck in many mediocre ruts. But if you read the Word and memorize important parts of it and meditate on it and savor it and steep your mind in it, then you will be like a strong tree planted by streams of water that brings forth fruit. Your leaf won’t wither in the drought and you will be productive in your life for Christ.”
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple or Spotify.
The phrase open door shows up several times in the New Testament, and it shows up quite a bit in the present-day vocabulary of many Christians too. But I’m not sure we mean the same thing.
I hear Christians saying things like, “I’m praying for God to open a door for a new job,” or “I’m waiting to see what door God will open for my schooling,” or something to that effect. In other words, the open door seems to be for our personal benefit.
The apostle Paul said this:
A great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me (1 Corinthians 16:9).
Let’s get one thing clear: God opens doors (we don’t), and our job is to obediently walk through those open doors (God won’t shove us through them).
Paul knew that the open door was not for his benefit, but for the benefit of those who were presently outside of the Kingdom of God. God opens doors for His people so that those outside His Kingdom can come inside (see Acts 14:27; 2 Corinthians 2:12; Colossians 4:3).
It might look like God opened a door by providing a job, but that job is His means to help you invite others into His Kingdom. The open door (the job, in this case) isn’t primarily for you; it’s for you to invite others in.
That’s why when God opens doors there will be many who oppose you. They are not really opposing you, but they are opposing the opportunity for the kingdom of darkness to be robbed and the Kingdom of God to be enriched.
So when you pray for open doors, remember:
When God opens a door, it’s mainly for the benefit of those outside the Kingdom of Heaven
You will be opposed by the kingdom of darkness
If you’re ready for both of those, then by all means pray for open doors!
When you look back into your memories, what do you see? Do you recall the good things? The bad things? Which most readily springs to mind?
“I do not find fault with short memories, but with good memories which are treacherous towards divine things. What I complain of is that memory may be very strong concerning self-interest, grievances, and trials, and yet towards God’s mercies it may be very weak.” ―Charles Spurgeon
When one of the psalmists was downcast, his thoughts started to go back to the bad memories, but he chose to remember the good…
…my soul is downcast within me; thereforeI will remember You… (Psalm 42:6)
Did you catch that therefore?
This psalmist said, “As soon as I realize I am focusing on the bad, I will remember my God!”
This is why I am a big proponent of using a prayer journal: a written record of your prayers, answers to those prayers, revelations the Holy Spirit has shown you in the Scriptures, and other good memories. That way when your soul is downcast, you can remember the good things God has said and done for you.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Pastor, what’s God been speaking to you personally?
How has the Holy Spirit been working your sermon on your heart this week?
What has Scripture shown you about you (not just about your congregation)?
When you tell your congregation how God has been working on you, the Word comes alive. Because now they don’t see you as a perfect person preaching at them, but as a fellow traveler who’s hearing from God and learning on the journey just as they are.
“The preacher must throw his thought into his teaching. He must not weary the people by telling them the truth in a stale and unprofitable manner with nothing fresh from his own soul to give it force. Above all he must put heart work into preaching. He must feel what he preaches. It must be with him. It is never an easy thing. He must feel as if he could preach his very life away before the sermon is done.” ―Charles Spurgeon
I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day;I’d rather one should walk with me than merely show the way.The eye’s a better pupil and more willing than the ear;Fine counsel is confusing, but example’s always clear.And the best of all preachers are the men who live their creeds.For to see the good in action is what everybody needs.I can soon learn how to do it if you’ll let me see it done;I can watch your hands in actions, but your tongue too fast may run.And the lectures you deliver may be very wise and true,But I’d rather get my lesson by observing what you do.For I may misunderstand you and the high advice you give,But there’s no misunderstanding how you act and how you live. (Edgar A. Guest)
We come up with a catchy sermon series and add some stylish graphics.
Then we labor over sermon titles that sound so compelling.
As we write our sermons we try to dream up memorable patterns, like all three of our main points start with “S,” or we spell out the word “P.E.A.C.E.”
When the truth of the matter is, what we’re saying is foolishness.
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preachedto save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. (1 Corinthians 1:20-25)
You don’t have to try to make God’s Word clever. It is already profound!
You don’t have to try to make it memorable. The Holy Spirit makes it memorable (John 14:26)!
You don’t have to make the Bible relevant. It is the most relevant, applicable wisdom that humanity has ever known!
D.L. Moody said it this way:
“If God has given you a message, go and give it to the people as God has given it to you. It is a stupid thing for a man to try to be eloquent. Make your message, and not yourself, the most prominent thing. Don’t be self-conscious. Set your heart on what God has given you to do, and don’t be so foolish as to let your own difficulties or your own abilities stand in the way.”
Don’t try to be clever. Just be Spirit-led and you will utter the most profound, compelling, and memorable words ever spoken by a preacher!
“Scripture grows upon the student. It is full of surprises. Under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, to the searching eye it glows with splendor of revelation.”
I love this!
I cannot count how many times I read my Bible and do a double-take. I look again and think to myself, “I don’t think that was there the last time I read that passage!” That’s probably because I wasn’t ready for it earlier.
In the comments below, share something surprising you’ve read in the Bible recently.
C.S. Lewis nails me with this quote from Letters To Malcolm—
