I use Jesus to work my own salvation when my functional saviour becomes my achievement, and I pray for God to bless my efforts.

I use Jesus to work my own salvation when my functional saviour becomes my appetite and I pray for God to ‘meet my needs.’

I use Jesus to work my own salvation when my functional saviour becomes the approval of others and I pray for God to give me favour.

Of course I have Biblical reasons to ask God to bless my efforts, meet my needs, and give me favour. 

It comes down to the motivations of my heart. 

Do I need these prayers answered in the way expect in order to feel loved, valued and accepted by the Lord? 

Or can I look to the cross to remember Jesus’ love value and acceptance of me? 

When I find these deepest needs of my heart met at the cross, I receive salvation as God’s work for me, rather than trying to achieve salvation by my work for him.

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Nine Profits of Praying with Company

1. For Added Power – In Matthew 18:19 we learn that anything we ask for in prayer is easier to receive when we come into agreement together.
2. For Multiplied Joy – Personal prayer is a joy God offers us. This joy, like so many others, is multiplied when it is shared with others.
3. For Greater Glory to God – As Mathis writes, “Our multiplied joy in God then makes for multiplied glory to God. … Praying together not only adds power to the request, but also means more glory for the giver when he answers.”
4. For Fruitful Ministry and Mission – According to the example of the apostle Paul, our service of our Saviour will be more effective when we join together in prayer. Consider how many times Paul invited churches to join him in prayer for the effectiveness of his work – Romans 15:30-32; 2 Corinthians 1:11; Ephesians 6:18-20; Colossians 4:3-4; Colossians 4:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 3:1.
5. For Unity Among Believers – Unity among the family of believers is both a cause and an effect of praying together.
6. For Answers We Wouldn’t Otherwise Get – We are dependent by design. God created us to need him and one another. James 5:14-16 shows us that there are certain prayers that will only be answered when we pray together.
7. To Learn and Grow in our Prayers – One of the best ways to learn how to pray is by joining in with others who know how to pray.
8. To Know Each Other – To pray effectively we have to stop pretending and really be ourselves. Because of this, we get to know the people we pray with on a more profound level than others.
9. To Know Jesus More – The greatest benefit of praying together is that it will help us to know Jesus better. “By praying with friends, you will be able to hear and see facets of Jesus you have not yet perceived.” – Tim Keller

In light of all of this, praying together with others is a practice I intend to prioritize in the coming seasons.

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Three Common Approaches to Reading the Bible

1. The most common way to approach reading the Bible is to treat the Bible like an instruction manual. We turn to it looking for guidance on what to do. The Bible gives us many commands that are to be obeyed. But if this is all we look for, we are left wondering why follow the instructions in this book and not one of the so many others that offer us guidance.
2. Another common approach to reading the Bible is to treat it like a yearbook. When we open an old yearbook the first thing we usually do is look for our own picture. We turn to the Bible to find out what it says about us. We cannot properly understand ourselves apart from knowledge of the Bible. But if all we look for is what the Bible says about ourselves, we are missing the most important parts.
3. Sometimes we approach the Bible like a history book. This happens when we read to learn about what God has done in the past. Now we are starting to get to the heart of the matter. The Bible is about God after all.

While each of these approaches has value, none of them get to the heart of how to read the Bible. The Bible contains instruction, but it does more than tell us what to do. The Bible is more than a yearbook, and reveals so much more than just who we are. And while the Bible contains a tremendous amount of history and shows us what God has done, it is still more than that.

The best way to read the Bible is to look for what it tells us about God. We will understand the message of the Bible most clearly when we realize who it is all about. While the Bible tells us a great deal about ourselves, we are not the main characters in its story. God is the main character of the Bible’s story. We will get the most out of our Bible reading when we read to learn about who God is.

So the next time you open your Bible, why not choose a passage from the New Testament and start reading with this question in mind:

I find when I ask this question first of whatever passage I am reading, the message of the Bible becomes more clear to me. However you choose to read the Bible, the most important step is to get started. I encourage you to open your Bible today and ask God to help you get to know who he is.

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1. How have you loved God this week?
2. How have you shown the love of Jesus this week?
3. How has the Holy Spirit led you to repentance and faith this week?

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“A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again.” . . . Perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but he has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore.”

• G.K. Chesterton, The Ethics of Elfland

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Leading, and learning, together

Leadership has been a hot topic for years now. It seems like everywhere I turn, I see leadership books, podcasts, conferences, and seminars. I have learned volumes of theory about leadership and have been fortunate enough to test some of those theories in the crucible of daily church leadership for the last decade or so. In this brief post, I will share three shifts I have made in the way I lead.

Character more than competency

I used to coach and train potential leaders as though competency was more valuable than character. I never actually believed that, but my practices were not aligned with my beliefs. To be candid, there are many prominent leaders who would agree publicly that character matters more than skill, and yet their private lives are full of immorality.

While competency and skill are important, a lack of personal integrity will undermine any level of ability. When it comes to developing leaders, I have learned not to let the brightness of their skill distract me from the dark areas of their character. The task of leading others is too important to take anything for granted, so I must ask questions like:

• When is the last time you sought forgiveness?
• How do you deal with failure?
• What are you tempted to hide?

The primary character trait I look to develop in a potential leader is an eagerness to learn. If a person has every necessary competency yet lacks the willingness to learn and expand their skillset, they will eventually become more of a burden than a blessing. Conversely, no matter a person’s shortcomings, whether in the area of competency or character, if they are willing and eager to learn, they can become a powerful leader.

The living room more than the classroom

I have spent many hours in a classroom hearing principles of leadership pronounced, but not demonstrated. Since effective leadership must build on a foundation of character rather than competency, the training ground for leadership must move from the classroom to the living room.

Today’s leaders must be authentic and transparent in order to be trusted and followed. These are not skills you can exercise only when needed, but character traits that must be part of your deepest self.  For the next generation of leaders to be effective and productive they need to see authenticity and transparency modeled for them in a relational context.

I have been told that if I let people get this close to me they will lose respect for me, so a good leader needs to keep a healthy distance in order to be respected. I couldn’t disagree more. If you lose respect for me when you get to know me better, it likely means there is a flaw in my character. Instead of using distance to hide my flaws, I want to commit to relationships where people can see how I deal with my flaws.

Spontaneous more than planned

Competency can be taught on a schedule in a classroom, but character is cultivated spontaneously in the everyday stuff of life. Most of us can hide behind a veneer of good behavior from time to time if we know we will soon be able to return to what we consider to be our private lives. The spontaneity that occurs in a relational context however both reveals and tests the strength and depth of my character more than a planned classroom session ever could.

On a practical level, this means that my leadership development practices look a lot like inviting people into everyday life. Instead of required reading for students, I recommend books to friends. Instead of being available during class hours, I am available almost all the time. This is certainly a slower process, but I am convinced the fruit of it will remain longer than conventional leadership training methods.

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I certainly don’t want so much that I start to love my enemies, cherish self-denial, and contemplate missionary service in some alien culture. I want ecstasy, not repentance; I want transcendence, not transformation.

I would like to be cherished by some nice, forgiving, broad-minded people, but I myself don’t want to love those from different races– especially if they smell.

I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that I find my ambitions redirected or my giving too greatly enlarged. I would like about three dollars worth of gospel, please.”

– by Wilbur Rees, as quoted by D.A. Carson, Basics For Believers: An Exposition of Philippians (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996/2005), pp. 12-13.

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I say, “Son, you excel at anything you put your mind to.” I am amazed at your wide variety of interests. You have earned gold medals for soccer, karate, and robotics. You have learned to ski, code a computer, and point out constellations in the night sky. I pray you will continue to explore new areas, consider new ideas, and reach for new heights.

I say, “Son, your courage inspires me.” You were barely ten years old when you began coming on mission trips with me. I will never forget the way you prayed with a child to receive Christ in Lima, Peru and helped organize a Salvation Army in Tyler, Texas. There are ski trails and roller coasters I would never have explored if it weren’t for you. I pray your courage continues to grow and enables you to empower many others.

I say, “Son, your character amazes me.” You have a fiery passion for God and a tender compassion for your sisters. You are guided by a strong desire to do what’s right even when it isn’t easy. You only say what you mean, and you mean every word you say. I pray you will never allow the world to squeeze you into its mold, but that you will instead allow the integrity of your character to shape the world around you.

I say, “Son, you are enough.” Your passion for excellence means you earn high grades and can produce great results. It causes you to do your best and go the extra mile. It also means you frequently underestimate the quality of your own work. There comes a time when you need to put down the pencil, step away from the computer, and say, “It’s enough.” I pray you will always remember that your best is enough, regardless of the results.

Most of all, I say, “Son, you are loved.” While there have been moments of frustration and minutes of anger, I have loved you from the moment we began to expect you, and regardless of what the future holds, I always will. I am grateful that God awakened your heart at a very young age to know the love he has for you in Christ. I pray your knowledge and experience of God’s amazing love for you will continually increase.

Son, I love you and I am so proud of you. I am amazed at how much you have grown in so many ways over these few years. I am in awe of what the future holds for you. Congratulations on successfully completing the eighth grade.

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Terry Walling developed a list of characteristics of a spiritually plateaued leader. They are as follows:

1. A spiritually plateaued leader avoids relationships of personal accountability.
2. A spiritually plateaued leader rarely applies the truths of God’s Word to himself or herself personally.
3. A spiritually plateaued leader has replaced his or her joy, peace, and love with envy and resentment.
4. A spiritually plateaued leader frequently looks for greener pastures in other places.
5. A spiritually plateaued leader finds faults in others more often than in self.
6. A spiritually plateaued leader is burned out from lots of busyness that has been substituted for simple intimacy with Christ.
7. A spiritually plateaued leader compromises on ethical principles once held dear.
8. A spiritually plateaued leader stays within safe areas of expertise rather than branching out into new learning endeavours.
9. A spiritually plateaued leader is unable to acknowledge the wisdom of others.
10. A spiritually plateaued leader has reduced the Christian life to a routine.

Too many of these items have described me at one time or another. How about you? Which one of these have you struggled with? How did you breakthrough that plateau?

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