“We have to treat the body as the servant of Jesus Christ: when the body says ‘Sit,’ and He says ‘Go,’ go! When the body says ‘Eat,’ and He says ‘Fast,’ fast! When the body says ‘Yawn,’ and He says ‘Pray,’ pray!”
I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:26-27)
Wow! Time for me to redouble my efforts to Go, Fast, and Pray.
Before I am a pastor sharing with my congregation, I am a saved sinner standing before God.
Before I open the penetrating brilliance of God’s Word to my church, I must stand in the spotlight of His Word.
In other words, I should never stand before my church with my finger pointed at them. Instead, the finger of God should be squarely pointed at me. Only then can I share with my congregation what God is doing in my life.
I’ve always tried to pastor this way, but recently I read this passage in John Bunyan’s autobiography which made this truth even more real to me—
“Sometimes I have been about to preach upon some smart and searching portion of the Word, I have found the tempter suggest, What! will you preach this! This condemns yourself; of this your own soul is guilty; so don’t preach any of it; or if you do, mince your words, as to make way for your own escape; lest instead of awakening others, you lay that guilt upon your own soul, that you will never get from under. … It is far better that you judge yourself, even by preaching plainly unto others, than that you, to save yourself, imprison the truth in righteousness.”
So, pastor, preach the Word to yourself first. Then go share with your congregation about what God is dealing with you.
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.(vv. 23-24)
Notice that Jesus says that your brother has something against you. Since the first word of this verse is therefore, we have to back up a couple of verses to get the context. In the preceding two verses Jesus talks to us about our anger, our harsh words, and our rash judgments leveled at others. In other words, things we have done to others which has made them upset at us.
In our prayer time, the Holy Spirit will help us remember what we have done. Now what are you going to do about it? Excuse it? Justify it? Or will you rectify it? Will you be obedient to go and make it right?
Until we do, we’re keeping our offended brother or sister in bondage to us. But as soon as we ask forgiveness, we set them free.
I love what C.S. Lewis said about recognizing where we may have offended someone—
“When I come to my evening prayers and try to reckon up the sins of the day, nine times out of ten the most obvious one is some sin against charity; I have sulked or snapped or sneered or snubbed or stormed. And the excuse that immediately springs to mind is that the provocation was so sudden or unexpected. I was caught off my guard, I had not time to collect myself…. Surely what a man does when he is taken off guard is the best evidence of what sort of man he is. Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth. If there are rats in the cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness did not create the rats; it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man: it only shows what an ill-tempered man I am.”
When the Holy Spirit shows you the rats in your cellar—when He helps you remember how your ratty words or behavior hurt someone else—take care of it immediately! It’s the fastest way to freedom!
“Our generation desperately needs to rediscover the difference between praying for and praying through. Praying through is grabbing hold of the horns of the altar and refusing to let go until God answers.”
I grew up hearing that phrase praying through, but how quickly we pray one-and-done prayers! There is such a power in praying through. May I learn to do this better!
(By the way, Draw The Circle is a great companion book to The Circle Maker.)
Do you want your church services to be more engaging?
Do you want your pastor to preach more effectively?
Do you want to come away from church more energized?
If so, you need to enter into a partnership. E.M. Bounds, in his fascinating book The Weapon of Prayer, wrote this—
“Prayerlessness, therefore, as it concerns the preacher is a very serious matter. If it exists in the preacher himself, then he ties his own hands and makes the Word as preached by him ineffective and void. If prayerless people be found in the pew, then it hurts the preacher, robs him of an invaluable help, and interferes seriously with the success of his work. How great the need of a praying church to help in the preaching of the Word of the Lord! Both pew and pulpit are jointly concerned in this preaching business. It is a copartnership.”
If you want more engagement, effectiveness, and energy at your church, partner with your pastor in prayer.
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In probably the best-known prayer, the one Jesus taught us to pray, there is a line I have breezed past way too many times without thinking more about it. It says, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13).
This prayer is addressed to our Heavenly Father, the One Who is all-loving and all-powerful. God loves us and He gives us His power. Even power to defeat temptation.
Sometimes we have to battle the same temptation again and again and again. Perhaps we have seen that we are overcoming that temptation more times than we’re being overcome by it; perhaps not. Sometimes it’s a totally new temptation that sneaks up on us each time. In either case, God knows what temptation we are going to face.
This line of the prayer is really saying, “God, please don’t bring me into battle with a temptation I’m not ready to face. Help me to be ready to overcome that temptation when it comes” (see 1 Corinthians 10:13; James 1:13-17).
NEWS FLASH—Instead of waiting to pray for help until I’m facing a temptation (a reactive prayer), I can pray for God’s help before I even face the temptation (a proactive prayer).
In my mind, proactive is way better than reactive!
Check out what John Bunyan learned about this—
“…I did not, when I was delivered from the temptation that went before, still pray to God to keep me from the temptations that were to come; for though, as I can say in truth, my soul was much in prayer before this trial seized me, yet then I prayed only, or at the most principally, for the removal of present troubles, and for fresh discoveries of His love in Christ, which I saw afterwards was not enough to do; I also should have prayed that the great God would keep me from the evil that was to come. … This I had not done, and therefore was thus suffered to sin and fall, according to what is written, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And truly this very thing is to this day of such weight and awe upon me, that I dare not, when I come before the Lord, go off my knees, until I entreat Him for help and mercy against the temptations that are to come; and I do beseech thee, reader, that thou learn to beware of my negligence, by the afflictions, that for this thing I did for days, and months, and years, with sorrow undergo.”
What would happen if the next time you are facing a temptation you could say, “Hello, temptation! I’ve already prayed about you, and my Heavenly Father has already given me strength to defeat you”? Don’t you think you would be much more successful? I do!
Wow, my life is busy! Sometimes I feel like a starter’s pistol goes off first thing in the morning, and I’m on a dead sprint all day long.
<BANG!> Get everyone up … get dressed … make breakfast … feed the pets … pack lunches … get everyone out the door on time … work at the church … meetings … errands … En-Gedi Youth Center … after-school activities … grocery store … make dinner … clean up … more meetings … homework … <WHEW!>
That’s why I have made it a long-standing habit to spend some quality quiet time in the morning. It’s time well-spent reading my Bible, sipping some tea, and just listening for God’s unmistakable Voice.
The apostle Paul advised us to study to bequiet (1 Thessalonians 4:11). Make it a habit to tune out the noise and business.
Francois Fenelon said it this way—
“God does not cease to speak, but the noise of the creatures without, and of our passions within, confines us and prevents our hearing. We must silence every creature, including self, that in the deep stillness of the soul we may perceive the ineffable voice of the Bridegroom. We must lend an attentive ear, for His voice is soft and still, and is only heard of those who hear nothing else.”
I hope you will choose to make some time to hear His Voice today, and everyday.
I love this passage from J.C. Ryle that I read on the J.C. Ryle Quotes blog.
Pray for yourselves—that you may know the Lord Jesus, and cleave to Him—that you may be kept from falling—that you may serve your generation—that you may be sober in prosperity, patient in trial, and humble at all times.
Pray for the congregation to which you belong—that the word of the Lord may have free course in it, and be glorified—that the household of faith may become stronger and stronger, and the household of unbelief weaker and weaker.
Pray for your country—that her ministers may preach the Gospel, and be sound in the faith—that her rulers may value the Bible, and govern according to it—and that so her candlestick may not be taken away.
And pray for your minister—that he may be strong to work, and willing to labor for your good, that all his sicknesses may be sanctified, and all his health given to the Lord—that he may be ever taught of the Spirit, and thus be able to teach others—that he may be kept faithful unto death, and so be ready to depart when he is called.
Let us all pray, one for the other—I for you, and you for me—and we shall be blessed in our deed!
I was talking to a friend the other day about church growth, and we both notice something disturbing: Most of the “new” people coming to church are actually not so new. Much of what has been called church growth is actually church transplants.
We’re not reaching the lost. Ouch!
I think Howard Hendricks nails it with this:
“The Gospel is failing to produce results in some places today because it lacks an audience. Christians in churches are busy evangelizing the evangelized. We constantly face the danger of developing a fortress mentality: making occasional excursions into unfriendly territory and scurrying back to the safety of our church and its people when opposition arises. We tend to derive security from friendly surroundings rather than from Jesus Christ, and so we fail to penetrate our society for Christ.”
I pray my greatest strength is my relationship with Jesus Christ, and that my driving passion is for others to know this beautiful relationship too.
May God help me to have an audience in Cedar Springs!
This quote from J.C. Ryle has really been working on me…
“Men and women who hear the Gospel regularly, I often fear much for you. I fear lest you become so familiar with the sounds of its doctrines, that insensibly you become dead to its power. I fear lest your religion should sink down into a little vague talk about your own weakness and corruption, and a few sentimental expressions about Christ, while real practical fighting on Christ’s side is altogether neglected. Oh, beware of this state of mind! Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only.”
Holy Spirit, bring Your conviction if my amazement at the Gospel ever slackens. May I always hear the Word gladly, and do the Word quickly.
A challenging quote from Oswald Chambers—
Craig T. Owens 