David Loveless

Personal Prayer Retreat- part 2

In How to Spend a Day in Prayer, Lorne Sanny give us some practical tips on how to utilize your extended time alone with the Lord.

Scheduling your time

Divide the time into three parts:

1. Wait on the Lord-to realize His presence, to be cleansed, and to worship Him.

2. Pray for others. Ask specific things for them. Use Paul's prayers in the New Testament to pray for them, and pray for them what you are praying for yourself.

3. Pray for yourself. Be totally honest with God, and yet not too introspective. (In many cases, a person will do better to pray for himself before praying for others.) As Lorne Sanny said, "You will end the day worse than you started if all you do is think of yourself and your own problems." 

Making a worry list

While you need to heed Sanny's warning about spending the whole day absorbed in your own problems, you may find it helpful to follow the steps below in making a "worry list." This will help you pray more effectively for yourself.

1. Give some thought to current conflicts, problems, concerns, or frustrations, and write them down and number them. List anything that is "bugging" you. No matter how small an item is, if it is of concern to you, list it.

2. Every worry you have in the world should be on that piece of paper-it is all there! When you are satisfied that this is so, go on to step three. (It is not uncommon for a person to have 20 or more items.)

3. Go through the list item by item. On each item determine whether you can do nothing about it because it is beyond your control, or whether you can do something to resolve it.

Whatever your conclusion, pray about each issue. But if you feel you can take action about it, write down what you plan to do. (You will probably find many other things to add to this "do list" throughout your time of prayer.)

What to take with you

The essential items to have with you are a Bible, paper, and a pen or pencil. Other helpful items include.

• A clock or watch
• A favorite devotional book
• Your current prayer list
• Your quiet time journal
• A hymnal Scripture memory cards
• Notes from your last extended time in prayer
• Your family or personal budget
• A bag lunch and beverage
• A calendar 

Next post: How to stay awake & alert during extended times like these

 

Personal Prayer Retreat- part 1

It has continued to change me... transform me....It renews me... It provides me with answers I didn't have... Solutions that I hadn't thought of... reminds me of essential things I had forgotten about...I think better.. feel better... make wiser decisions... am more loving toward God.. toward people I know.. toward people I don't know... I'm a better leader... husband.. father... pastor... friend...

What has done this?  What I mentioned in my post yesterday...hat a couple of times each year, I get away for several days of extended time alone with God.  You may think... "well good for you but that has nothing to do with me!.. David- get real... you must not have a life!!!.. come get mine!!!"..

I hear you.. I feel you... just calm down.  I want to CHALLENGE YOU to consider whatever amount of time you spend with the Lord, and think about what might happen if several times a year you EXTEND, whatever time you normally take.  Your extended time may look like 1 hour... or maybe you might even imagine a half a day... or even... GULP... a full day!

A read a small little booklet more than 25 years ago called "How to spend a day n prayer/"  It was written by Lorne Sanny who was President of the Navigator organization for decades.  I'm going to reprint parts of it for you, since recently I was reviewing parts of it for me. 

Five reasons

In How to Spend a Day in Prayer, Lorne Sanny give us these reasons for taking a break in our busy lives to spend a lengthy time alone with God.

1. For extended fellowship with God -- beyond your morning devotions. It means just plain being with and thinking about God. God has called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:9). Like many personal relationships this fellowship is nurtured by spending time together.

2. For renewed perspective. Like flying over the battlefield in a reconnaissance plane, a day of prayer gives opportunity to think of the world from God's point of view.

Especially when going through some difficulty we need this perspective to sharpen our vision of the unseen, and to let the immediate, tangible things drop into proper place. Our spiritual defenses are strengthened while we "fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For . . . what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18).

3. For catching up on intercession. There are non-Christian friends and relatives to bring before the Lord, missionaries on various fields, our pastors, our neighbors, our government leaders-to name a few.

Influencing people and changing events through prayer is well-known among Christians but too little practiced. And as the times become more serious around us, we need to reconsider the value of personal prayer, both to accomplish and deter.

4. For prayerful consideration of our lives before the Lord -- personal inventory and evaluation. You will especially want to take a day of prayer when facing important decisions, as well as on a periodic basis. On such a day, you can evaluate where you are in relation to your goals, and get direction from the Lord through His Word.

5. For adequate preparation. If God has given us plans and purposes in these times alone, we will be ready when opportunity comes to move right into it. We won't have to say, "I'm not prepared." The reason many Christians are dead to opportunities is not because they are not mentally alert, but they are simply unprepared in heart. Preparation is made when we get alone with God.

Tomorrow we'll start looking at some of the pragmatics of this.

 

Growing Vs. Centering Christ-follower

I recently went away for my bi-annual 2 day prayer retreat.  Got my soul quiet and ‘shut-up’ with the Lord.  Will post later what I typically do in those days.  But one of the things I did was review I list I had created that identifies the difference between someone that has been ‘growing’ as a Christ-follower vs. someone that has been ‘centering’ their entire life around Him.  I spent quite awhile examining my own life, in light of this list.  I then spent sizable amount of time having fresh conversations with the Lord… related to me.  See if it's helpful to you.

‘Growing’ stage:

- Personal agenda; about your story

- Pursuit of a better life: want God to bless; read & apply principles so you will succeed

- Want Him to make much of you

- You are increasing

- Dependant on you for life, resources, guidance

- Live most of life in stress, strife, anxiety, rules, etc

- Serve others out of own energy

- Reject pain & suffering

- Desire for others to feed you more

- Greater trust in you

- Operate more out of ‘head’

- Christ affects how you see & respond to something’s

- Try to be like Christ

- Place, value, and identity primarily based on what you do & have

- Christ is one of the places you go when you have any need

- Work like it’s all up to you

- Want more FROM Christ

- Hold back some ‘chips’

*** Key defining moment: dark night of the soul; crisis of identity or circumstance; easy answers and formulas don’t work; long wilderness

 

 

‘Centering’ stage:

 

- His agenda; part of His larger story

- Embracing of a better hope

- Want to make much more of Him

- He is increasing and you are decreasing and loving it

- Totally dependant on Him for everything

- Live most of life in the rest, love, & grace of Christ

- Serve others primarily out of Christ’s energy

- Embrace pain & suffering as gift to deepen dependence

- Desire to mentor & reproduce others as spiritual father or mother

- Greater trust in Him

- Operate more out of ‘heart’

- Christ affects how you see & respond to everything

- Allow Christ to live in you

- Find place, value and identity in relationship with Him

- Christ is the 1^st place you go, not the last

- Pray like it’s all up to Him

- Want more OF Christ

- “All in”

- These people pray more, give more, evangelize more; serve more: world changers

*** In EVERY relationship & circumstance, the fruits of the Spirit are evident

*** Key scriptures:  Gal 2:20; Acts 20:24; Jude 24-25; Phil 1:21; Eph 3:14-21; Eph 4:11-15

 

 

 

 

Wow. I thought I would take a few weeks break from blogging because of pressing projects I had going on and then I woke up and it's been months!!! I'm back 'in the game' again.

Four Characteristics of a Movement Vs An Institution

Recently a friend emailed me a link to this blog, which Tim Keller wrote... which I found very, very stimulating.  Every leader I know, has in his/her heart of hearts, a desire to contribute toward a movement... not be part of propping up nor maintaining an institution.  But oh the tension of it all..... Read on... 

Tim Keller-

The word "movement" is often used to describe a kind of vital, dynamic human organization, in order to distinguish it from what are called "institutions." Both of these words can have broader meanings, but for the sake of this discussion let us define them in the following ways.

A movement is marked by an attractive, clear, unifying vision for the future together with a strong set of values or beliefs. The content of the vision must be compelling and clear so that others can grasp it readily. It must not be so esoteric or difficult that only a handful of people can articulate it. Instead, it must be something that all members of the movement can understand and pass along to others. By contrast, "institutionalized" organizations are held together by rules, regulations, and procedures, not by a shared vision.

This unifying vision is so compelling that it takes pride of place. First, the vision leads to sacrificial commitment. Individuals put the vision ahead of their own interests and comfort. They are willing to work without high compensation, power, or perks. The satisfaction of realized goals is their main compensation. There is no more practical index of whether you have a movement or not. If the leader is making all the sacrifices, you don't.

Second, the vision leads to generous flexibility. Institutionalized organizations are very turf conscious. Members are suspicious of anyone encroaching on their area of responsibility. Positions and power have been hard-won and jealously guarded. This is done by slavish devotion to rules of procedure, accreditation, and tenure.  In movements, however, the accomplishment of the vision is more important than power and position. So people are willing to make allies, be flexible, and cooperate with anyone sharing the basic vision and values.

Third, the vision leads to innovativeness. Institutions are organized more vertically, where ideas from "below" are unwelcome. Movements are flatter because the commonly shared vision unifies and empowers. The vision is what matters - so anyone with a good idea about how to accomplish it is welcome to give it. Ideas flow out of the whole organization, top to bottom, which leads to greater creativity.

Finally, a movement is marked by spontaneous generativity. Spontaneous combustion means energy generated from within - a conflagration without the need for external ignition. A movement is able to generate its own resources, recruit its own new members and participants, and (especially) raise up its own new leaders. This does not mean that movements have no formal training programs. Rather, it means that first, the vision of the movement (especially as its content is disseminated) attracts people with leadership potential, and, secondly, that the work of the movement provides opportunities that reveal emerging leaders through real-life experience and then prepares them for the next level of leadership in the movement. Denominations or church networks that always have to recruit ministers and staff that were raised up in other environments, and that attract them mainly with good compensation, do not show signs of being a movement.

David Hurst, a Harvard scholar, summed up how movements become institutions this way - vision becomes strategy, roles become tasks, teams become structure, networks become organizations, recognition becomes compensation. It is wrong, however, to draw such a hard line between the two forms. It is typical in the Christian movement literature to be highly critical of "institutionalism," for good reason. But the impression is left that all authority, central control, and formal processes are bad for ministry. The reality is more complex.

It is natural for new churches and ministries to try very hard to stay informal, non-codified, and non-centralized. But part of what makes a movement dynamic is a unified vision, and that always requires some codification and control. As time goes on, to maintain the main engine of movement-dynamics - a unified vision - a ministry must adopt some of the aspects of institutions. A strong movement, then, occupies the difficult space between being a free-wheeling organism and a disciplined organization.  A movement that refuses to take on some organizational characteristics - authority, tradition, unity of belief, and quality control - will fragment and dissipate. A movement that does not also resist the inevitable tendency toward complete institutionalization will lose its vitality and effectiveness as well. The job of the movement leader is to steer the ship safely between these two opposite perils.

This article originally appeared on the Redeemer City to City blog, here.

35 years of marriage

Last week Caron and myself celebrated 35 years of marriage.  Caron posted an amazing blog on her reflection of this event.  I've had numerous requests for it.  Go to her blog and read the August 22, 2010 post.  Caronloveless.blogspot.com

Favorite quotes of the week

 Here are several of my favorite quotes of this past week:

• "We don't make a difference because the gospel has not made us different as God intended it to do."  Bob Roberts

• "If one is mentally out of breath all the time from dealing with the present, there is no energy left for imagining the future."  Elise B

• "The church has raised moral people but not transformed people."  David Loveless

Ephesians 3 musings that mess with me

Ephesians 3:16-21 

"I pray that out of his glorious riches..."  Did you know that Christ doesn't lack anything...that He has it all?  Anything that you will ever need... He has it.

"... he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith..."  Did you know that Christ wants to be completely at home in you?  God and His 2 friends were comfortable enough to go and stay in Abraham's place, but He wasn't comfortable enough to then go to Lot's place, so He just sent His 2 friends.  I want my heart to be like Abraham's, so that He will feel completely at home in me.  How about you?  

"...and I pray that you, being rooted & established in love,may have power, together w all the saints, to grasp how wide & long & high & deep is the love of Christ & to know this love that surpasses knowledge..." There is so much of Christ's love to be explored & experienced...so much to be discovered... that Paul struggles to describe the measuring unit.  Are you yearning to experience this measure?  Do you still use the same names for God that you've always known or do you use new ones that you've been exploring and experiencing lately?  The most unexplored space in all of the universe is this.  

"... that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."  Do you compare the 'measure' of God that you have with the measure that your friends or family members have?... Or do you compare your 'measure' with the FULLNESS measure that is available?

So what are you praying for?  For you... for others?  Don't settle for less than what He's got!

Summer Reading

 

Here is a partial list of some of the books I've read in recent weeks, that I highly recommend:

• Return to Prosperity: How America can regain its economic status by Arthur Laffer
• Kayaking 101 by Steve Stoud
• Divided by Faith by Michael Emerson
• Exponential by Dave Derguson
• Radical by David Platt
• The Other Wes Moore by Wes MooreWar by Sebastian Junger
• Deeper, Richer, Fuller by Tom Patterson
• Stuff Christians LIke by Jonathan Acuff
• AND- the gathered scattered church by Hugh Halter
• The Fourth Part of the World by Tony Lester
• The Routes of Man by Ted conover

Scandalous Lessons- part 4

Bohemian discipleship

An Augustinian anthropology of desire primes us to adopt just such a romantic theology. This entails, I think, an interesting implication for how we think about learning and discipleship. I have in mind Moulin Rouge!—a film set in that den of iniquity, Montmartre, at the turn of the century during the fervor of the Bohemian revolution. A starving artist named "Christian" has rejected the "respectable" and bourgeois lifestyle of his father (as a clerk or saleman) and instead has sought to live a life devoted to literature and drama, all in the pursuit of beauty. He rejects the nine-to-five machinations of "normal" people, refuses to be reduced to a middle-class producer and consumer, and instead takes up with the colony of artists clustered in Montmartre—infamous home to burlesque shows and the "red light district" of Paris, but also home to painters and artists like Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Van Gogh—all taking place under the watchful eye of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica perched atop the hill. Thus Montmartre represents a certain mix of the sacred and the profane—both of which seem to be at odds with the bourgeois life of production and consumption the young literary bohemian Christian has rejected. The proximity to Sacré-Coeur almost invites us to look for parallels and comparisons between the bohemian artists and mendicant friars, both of whom reject a life of money-making for the sake of very different visions of the good life. But if both the bohemian and the friar desire a life that rejects the pursuit of comfort and wealth, could it be that there are some covert similarities between their visions of the good life? Does the Moulin Rouge already point up the hill toward the Basilica? What, at the end of the day, is "Christian" after?

Above all, Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! is a "spectacular" love story revolving around the play within the play—a production of another love story, "Spectacular, Spectacular." It is desire that brings the young man to art, to commit himself to the voluntary poverty of a bohemian literary existence. And it is in pursuit of this desire that another passion flares: his passion for Satine, a courtesan who reigns at the Moulin Rouge. Oddly, Satine herself represents the money-maker, concerned primarily with acquisition, as attested in her hymn, "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend." (Indeed, her "profession" represents the very commodification of 'love.') Thus she resists his advances; above all she rejects his "bohemian ideal," his naïve commitment to love (played out in the "Elephant Love Medley"). But love wins. Christian's infectious commitment to love captures the heart of Satine and the effect is transformative: she, too, becomes a bohemian and the desire for acquisition gives way to a passion for love and beauty. Love even has a kind of epistemological or perceptual effect as indicated in their anthem, "Come What May": "Never knew I could feel like this, like I've never seen the sky before." The world is "seen" differently because of love. By the end of the film we learn that all of this has constituted a kind of education: "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return."

On the one hand, the Montmartre of Moulin Rouge! seems the very antithesis of the kingdom of God: a realm of prostitutes and addicted artists given over to wanton pleasure-seeking. This criticism is embodied in the figure of Christian's bourgeois father, who berates the bohemian culture for its sinfulness, which seems to be most linked to its failure to be "productive." But to "the children of the revolution" (try to hear Bono crooning the song from the soundtrack), our highest calling is not simply to be producers. Instead, they are committed to the bohemian ideals of "beauty, freedom, truth, and above all, love." The spectacle of Moulin Rouge! is ripe for analysis in terms of Williams's theology of romantic love—a love which is revelatory, which breaks open the world ("Never knew I could feel like this, like I never saw the sky before"). Christians, of course, will tend to say, "Ah, but that's not love—that'seros, not agape!" But a romantic theology refuses the purported distinction because it recognizes that we are erotic creatures. And so one could suggest that the good life looks more like Montmartre than Colorado Springs! The kingdom of God might look more like the passionate world of Moulin Rouge! than the staid, button-down, talkinghead world of the Christian Broadcasting Network's 700 Club. The end of learning is love; the path of discipleship is romantic.

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