Tag Archives: faith

What Disciples of Jesus Need (Part Two)

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Maybe you, like I, can have an issue with others telling me what I need, too – especially if I haven’t had a chance to decide for myself. But if you are a follower of Christ, it’s likely that you have thought about what it means to be His… and follow Him. These paragraphs can maybe help put words to these thoughts and longings.

Every follower of Jesus needs to meld. A strange word to put into a spiritual context, but stay with the rationale. To meld means to mingle, mix it up, or combine. It relates to two primary industries: metal-smithy and whiskey-making. Both use it to describe mixing unique elements to create something stronger than the individual parts. One creates very practical and concrete results; the other… well, let’s say random and less practical.

I need to meld my life with others. I am better and live the life of “Christ-in-me” with more consistency when I spend time with a small group of other followers. What I am made of somehow brings strength to them; and they make me stronger.

This need for melding landed hard on my life one day when I was at a funeral of a friend. One day, I was sitting next to my friend and his wife – Susan and I in dress-casual, they in full leathers and colors related to their biker group. Three days later, I am sitting in the balcony of a church, watching the ushers wheel in his casket. I watched as fifty or more bikers filed in to the center seats, and realized I was alone. I knew no one well; and worse, no one knew me.

Plato wrote, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” The Psalmist says: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” I examined my life and realized I needed some people around me who knew me, loved me, examined me, and “watched my back” as I sought to progress in my journey with Christ.

Whatever I call my group: small group, Sunday School, Life Group, Cell Group, or “Can-We-Meet-For-A-Coffee Group;” as a follower of Jesus, I need a group. I’m known, I fit, I can learn to use my gifts and “experiment” in learning to love and serve like Christ. Most of all, when I mix it up with these guys who are committed to me, I am stronger.

The Need? A place to meld with others. The Kingdom activity? I get to be involved in Kingdom service and relationships. And when I buy into this whole “melding” need, I get to see the activity and compassion of God in others… and this pleases Him.

By the way, every other week, I meet (read: meld) with a group of around eight others who are committed to be followers of Christ. It’s what a disciple needs.

Mixing it up,
Rick

Pain and timing

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I’m hard-pressed to find a stronger example of the difference between freedom and imprisonment than this morning’s Genesis read. Joseph was a unique guy for sure, and a little cocky, but he took on some serious undeserved pain: he was abandoned, rejected, hated, enslaved, tempted in a huge way, accused wrongfully, imprisoned, forgotten, and otherwise tossed around by life. (start in Genesis 38 for the whole story.) He stayed at peace with God through it all; he trusted that God was at work, even in the pain.
His older brothers (count ’em at 10) were his opposites. They hated, rejected a life of faith, lived for the moment and thought nothing for the future. They might have lived outside of the prison cell, but their guilt and what their actions brought them fabricated bars stronger than iron.
No freedom can match what a clear conscience delivers. And viewing the pain, deserved or otherwise, we face through the lens of faith liberates us. It’s not good or fun, and none of us stand in line for more of it. But trusting that God is working something good inside of us, and fitting our lives into the nexus of his timing and will somehow creates peace in the middle of the pain.
When Joseph re-introduced himself to his brothers after all the pain they had cause him, he put all of it in perspective, and said: “God sent me ahead of you.” Going through pain, disappointment, delays, and dark times with trust in God’s goodness aligns our passions, our timing, and our place in His will, to His agenda.
Looking for the big picture from here,
Rick

What Disciples of Jesus Need (Part One)

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This could get really personal… the nerve to tell others that I know what they need better than they! Just stay with me, though. Because, if God’s Grand Design for His people is anything…it’s deeply and painfully personal. So, maybe I can lift the painful part and couch it in first person.

I need mending. There is always a need for healing … because for me, there is always something wrong, needy, broken, misaligned, infected, or out of balance. In Christ, there is always a place for healing.

Could it be that I have limited my experience to salvation healing, but God wants to take the healing deeper to heal body, soul, mind, as well as spirit? (Jeremiah, with one breath, called out to God with praise for healing and for salvation!) I have a body that needs His touch, a soul that has taken on the scars of the battle, and a mind that has been smudged with the stuff of the world.

I need mending, and this comes by being in the presence of the Great Mender. In His presence, I find healing. Sometimes, right away. Sometimes, over the course of time, through much prayer and fasting, and with the help of friends whom God uses. I am mended.

Relationship with Christ always starts with mending. He heals my sin-sickness when I say “YES” to His gift of salvation through His sacrificial execution. He heals my misdirection when I take up the call to follow His plan and Lordship. He heals my relationships when I become less “me-centric” and more “other-centric.” And He continues to heal me when I come into His presence. And He opens the door to the waiting room, calls my name, examines me, and invites me to speak to Him about what hurts.

Disciples need mending.

Now, how painful was that?

More to come.
Rick

What I Have Learned About Prayer in 40 Years…

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What I Have Learned About Prayer in 40 Years…
And Still Wish I Could Get Right!
Rick Harrell
ricksgreatideas.wordpress.com

1. Mix it up. Don’t get into a routine that can grow stale. Try new things in your devotionals to bring new energy to your prayer time. For a whole year, each of my daily devotion times involved reading through the Psalms and learning about worship and trust. He expanded my heart for Him that year.

2.  Try online resources for devotionals. I currently use StudyLight.org and go to the devotional section and choose two of these as a part of my day’s start – my two choices currently are “Word for Today” and “My Utmost for His Highest.” My Utmost is in book form in a modern translation, and may be out there in Italian, too, since I am writing this from Italy and you may even be Italian.

3. Pick a special place to have your devotions and prayer. It may be a chair in a certain part of the house, or a corner of your balcony. I have a friend who has a real closet area, with a window, a stool and small table. He is on his knees more, though. Have your Bible and journal/prayer notebook waiting on you each morning.

4. Make appointments in your diary for time with God. Give Him priority… that means He gets first spot.

5. Always, always, always, start your Bible reading with prayer. We need His help to discover and uncover truth. Put yourself in the story, and picture the people and places. Listen with your imagination to the background noises. Ask God to talk to you and show you what He wants you to take away and apply. Remember to say: “God, this is supernatural in front of my eyes; and I need your Spirit to help me understand it and what I should do in response to it.”

6. If you want to learn how to pray, go on a “treasure hunt.” Read through the letters of Paul and write down the things he prayed for others. Then read through the prayers of Jesus. Most of them were short (“Be healed.” “Come out.” “Be calm.” “Be still.”) Look at the authority He prayed with. Pray like him when you pray for others. “God, calm the storm in his life.” God, make her whole.”)

7. Understand your day’s rhythms. When are you most full of energy and can give your best to God’s call to prayer? Try to fit your time to this – if it’s morning, make it happen then. Don’t give God your yawns! And if you have trouble focusing, keep a list of things you will take care of that come to mind while you pray. Get them off your mind and onto the paper, so you can return to praying.

8. Understand your emotional rhythms. You are uniquely you! Some days of the week or month and even some seasons of the year are just not your best “I really feel great about praying” times or days. Do it anyway. God isn’t dependent on your feelings each time you pray. He really isn’t limited to you getting emotional (even though He wants to engage your passions.) He loves to answer when we are not “feeling it.” So, quit the excuses of “I don’t feel it” and PRAY! Faith in God, His Word, His Promises, His nature, His will – these are fuel of what our prayer life runs on.

9. Some days are time-limited. Make these shorter times count. Worship, read and pray in faith. Don’t try to work up an emotional high before praying since you will frustrate yourself, frustrate God, and probably still not pray in faith.

10. Some days are time-gifted. You sometimes have “open windows of prayer” when you can take extended times to worship, pray, fall in love with Jesus, journal your heart out onto paper or your digital blog. Look forward to those days, and ask God what he wants to teach you about His heart. Be obedient when He speaks. These times can often change the course of your life or the lives of others. (One time, about an hour into my prayer time, God spoke to me about lifting my hands to Him in worship. I was outside at the time, and I told Him I didn’t worship like that. He clearly said, “If you don’t, you will stop right here in your growth in worship.” My hands went up so quick it was funny. Now, lifting hands to a loving Daddy is a natural response to His love.)

11. Organize your prayer life by circles. This may be my biggest struggle to keep up with, other than the simple let’s just do it attitude I need to have toward prayer. It helps to remember that “praying always” or “praying continually” for someone doesn’t mean you have him or her on your lips all day and all night. Praying continually means that you have a consistent time of praying for them
•    Your most immediate circle should be daily, and include those God has put in your life for an ongoing purpose. (My wife, my three kids; my spiritual leaders – missions, pastor, Bible study; my work leaders – boss, those I work immediate with most of the time; those I am discipling, usually two or three guys; those I am reaching out to, usually three or four people I am trying to strengthen bridges of trust and compassion to them that the Gospel can travel more freely over.) Sounds like a lot on the first list that happens each day – but really only about 10-12 people.
•    My next list is the once a week list. This is usually broken down into Monday-Saturday, and I cover extended family, church members who have needs and ask for prayer, missions partners whom we support, our government/schools/military/economy/culture – that it would all work together to create a spiritual climate open to the Gospel, the persecuted church, extended list of lost or hurting people.
•    My final list is those “one-time” prayer requests that come my way. I pray for them right there with the person, or pray for the need when I get home. But I don’t own this one as my “burden” to pray for regularly. I do pray for these occasionally, and I check in with the person to see how God is answering and to let them know I am continuing to pray (not continuously, but continuing…)

12. Move prayer needs around. Journaling helps me keep up with names, needs, answers to prayer, praise reports. Just because a person or a need is on a certain day or list doesn’t mean you shouldn’t “bump the priority up” when God says so.

13. Begin and end each prayer time in worship and thanksgiving. As a part of the beautiful conversation God has begun with us, make worship and adoration an essential part of your prayer time. Sometimes, it may be your whole prayer time. Other times worship is the prelude to praying in faith, and thanksgiving is the consummate finale.

14. Use the pattern of the Lord’s Prayer as your extended prayer day pattern. An hour or more can go by quickly when you take these words Jesus gave us, and you use them as the “diving board” to jump into the deep end of the pool in prayer. I can share more about this if you’d like. I keep an outline of an hour’s prayer time in my Bible most of the time.

15. My favorite Prayer Verses? Ephesians – the whole book. Incredible insight into our position in Christ, the battle we are in, and how to stand faithfully to the end in prayer.

Prone to Pray,

Rick

Gifts and Spincasters

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Maybe its the season with all the giving and getting that Christmas calls for, that leads me to think on gifts and ownership. We give a present to someone we love with a lot of thought and expectation. Or we write a check or roll up some bills to drop in the offering on Sundays. Or more commonly, we give our time to someone or something we value, again rolled up in a tidy amount that we can afford like an offering.

So who owns all this stuff, this money, this time and energy we give away? When I was a little kid, my dad owned a fishing business. So, I grew up surrounded by the “hurry up and wait” people (and all their stuff) who hang out on piers and docks. Fishing is one of those, engage every sense possible, sports. Sounds of the waters lapping against the pier. Feel of the bait sliding onto the hook. I still get a rush at the first smell of the salty air from the ocean!

When I want to fish, my dad points to the corner of the shop where all of his rental and personal rods and reels hang on the wall. Simple one-button reels and five foot “starter poles,” all the way to open-faced reels and spincasters with strong line and nine foot rods.

For years, I would always pick a little Zebco, one-button job. That satisfied me. I could bait it, drop the line in the water, and wait for the little fish to grab the goods.

But, my dad owned it all. And he was waiting for me to take the good stuff and use it for what it was designed for — to catch the big ones! (Years later, I got hooked on the good stuff and even caught a big one once or twice!)

God owns it all, and he sometimes sees us playing around with the “one-button job” while all along waiting for us to take up the good stuff He has promised us, use the awesome talents and gifts He has “hung on the wall” of our lives, and go after what He has designed us for and called us to.

He points us to it all the possibilities, but we grab the Zebco “starter pole.”

(I know this whole illustration has a whole disciple-making side — we need to grow up and learn to use what He’s offered us. Sometimes, we need to ask someone to help us use the spincaster. And we need to, by faith, take steps of using what He’s given us.)

Back to ownership. God really owns it all. Since He’s the Father, we look to where He points and to what He promises and offers us. It’s all there. We have access. We can use the gifts, the money, the time for what it was designed for. A full life invested for His glory. It all flows past so quickly, like the water through the gaps of the pier deck after a cloud-burst. So grab the spincaster and find the deep waters, and go for the big things God has waiting for you.

Going for the Big One! — Rick

“I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Ephesians 4:1