Robert Lowery » Blog

Jocelyn: My Littlest, Mightiest Prayer Warrior

bob — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 02:30:44 +0000

In late July our three families took a vacation together, our first ever: Brian, Sarah, and Eden, along with Joe, Rachel, Carissa, Jocelyn, and Dawson, and Marilyn and me. We journeyed to beautiful Door County (Wisconsin) where we stayed a week. I loved the time together—the stories, the boat cruises, the miniature golf outings, the shopping, trying new restaurants and revisiting familiar ones, the laughter around the dining table, and countless conversations.

Marilyn and I had decided to take Carissa (6) and Jocelyn (4) with us a day or two ahead of the others. The first night we were scheduled to stay in the Milwaukee area. We had printed out directions but we got lost. We had rented a van, and the girls were sitting in the middle row and heard a rather spirited conversation going on between Papa and Grandma! Jocelyn piped up: “Papa, have you ever considered getting a Garmin GPS?” To which Carissa added, “Mommy and Daddy say that it has saved their marriage. Maybe it will help yours!” We all started laughing. The discussion was ended, and we found the hotel, at last. Marilyn had been right about what exit to take.

A few days later, I was sitting out on the deck of the house we had rented, enjoying the cool breeze coming off Lake Michigan. Jocelyn opened the sliding door and came out to join me. We were alone. She sat down beside me and reminded me of an encounter she and I had with a neighbor of ours in Lincoln just a few days earlier. This gracious neighbor had said to Jocelyn and me: “Bob, we pray for you often.” Jocelyn replied: “Well, we pray for papa every night!”

As we were sitting out on the deck, Jocelyn asked me how I was feeling. It had been a particularly demanding day–too much walking. I told her, and I asked her to pray for me. The darkness was coming on. Jocelyn grew silent, and I could barely make her out even though she was sitting right next to me. She was silent for several seconds. I asked her: “Jocelyn, what are you doing?” She replied: “Papa, you asked me to pray for you, and that is what I was doing. Daddy always tells Carissa and me that whenever someone asks us to pray, we should do so as soon possible.”

Amen!

By the way, late last week we bought a Garmin GPS. Our marriage is getting stronger.

Amen!

At Play in the Fields of the Lord

bob — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 11:26:37 +0000

On August 1 I began my thirty-sixth year of teaching in the Seminary of Lincoln Christian University. I am blessed! The title of this posting describes how I have felt over the years. Of course, there have been ups and downs, but that is to be expected in ministry, isn’t it? But again, I am blessed!

I wish I could write that whenever I stepped into the classroom or whenever I met with students one-on-one or in a small group around a lunch table, I always did my best. That has not always been the case, but my students have been, for the most part, forgiving. Sometime ago I commented about a student who has either taken for credit or audited every class I have ever taught, “She has been to more of my classes than I have!” I confess that sometimes I showed up or phoned in a session. But I hope that has not happened often. The point is that after teaching all these years, each August I am re-energized to begin once again, and this year is not different.

But I begin this new school year with a request. The requst is awkward for me to raise, but here goes. As most of you know I have been an Adjunct Professor for TCM International Institute, a ministry committed to equipping Europeans and people living in Central Asia for ministry. I began my ministry with this outstanding organization in 1993 and have returned each summer to teach. I am blessed! Some of the finest students, faculty, administrators, and support personnel I have ever met are a part of TCMI.

Over the years I have tried to be a disciple-maker, both in the States and throughout Eastern Europe. My passion is to be a practioner-scholar and to help make more and better disciples of Jesus. I learned this from my mother and from my home church in Indianapolis, Indiana (Fairfax Christian Church), and numerous other Christians, from preachers to professors to students to friends to colleagues. In April of this year I found out that the TCM Board of Directors’ Meeting unanimously adopted a resolution to create the Dr. Robert Lowery Faculty Chair Endowment Fund. This endowment will be used to recognize and select a faculty member by supporting his or her base salary, teaching, and research activities that will directly relate for further development of international disciple makers throughout Europe and Central Europe. I was and remain humbled by this recognition. May I say again, I am blessed.

So here is my request. Should you or a congregation you know be looking for an opportunity to support one of the finest para-church ministries I know of, would you personally give or encourage others or other congregations to give? It is not like me to make such a request, and this is the first time I have ever done so on this site. Should you choose to give, it is not to honor me. Far from it, it is to honor God.

Please contact David Wright at TCM International Institute, Inc., 6337 Hollister Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46224 or call him at 1:317-299-0333. His e-mail address is david@tcmi.org.

May we be grateful to God that each of us can write: I am blessed.

News Item in Journal-Register

michael — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:09:25 +0000

News of the upcoming festschrift for Dr. Lowery (first announced here) was recently featured in the Springfield, Illinois, Journal-Register. You’ll find the piece here:

Beloved professor subject of ‘writing party’

New Posts Coming in August

michael — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:14:43 +0000

Dr. Lowery is taking some time this month for vacation and a brief writing sabbatical. Look for new posts at the beginning of August.

1:45 in the Morning with Robin Mark

bob — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 08:15:32 +0000

A few days ago I had what I call a Deuteronomy 28:66-67 moment:

Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread, and have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening, you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your heart shall feel.

I tip my hat to the context: God is warning Israel about what will happen if the nation is not faithful to the covenant. But on this particular day, I applied the two verses to my life.

It had been a rough day. One of my friends had been wounded, and I did not know what to say or do. Ministry is like that on occasion. I was down about my physical and spiritual struggles. The night did not bring peace whatsoever. The Tempter stole his way into our house. I was alone, and I was overwhelmed by anxiety, frustration, and anger. So I got up out of bed and began cleaning—dusting, running the sweeper, putting things away, even doing a load of laundry. And I was still restless.

Around 1:45 I decided to listen once again to Northern Ireland’s Robin Mark. His newest recording is entitled Year of Grace and it is marvelous. One song especially brought comfort, “All is Well” (listen to the song on YouTube):

He lowers us to raise us
So we can sing his praises
Whatever is His way all is well
He makes us rich and poor
That we might trust Him more
Whatever is His way all is well
All my changes come from Him, He who never changes
I’m held firm in the grasp of the Rock of all the ages
All is well with my soul
He is God in control
I know not all his plans
But I know I’m in His hands
He clothes us now then strips us
Yet with His Word equips us
Whatever is His way all is well
And though our seasons change
We still exalt His name
Whatever is His way all is well

Some put their hope in chariots and princes. Others put their hope in the wisdom of oncologists, the cathedrals we call hospitals, and the nourishment we find in the latest medications. God can certainly use all these to bring healing. But they are worthless without faithful praying and hopeful living. Ultimately, I must place my faith in Jesus.

And so after listening to Robin Mark I went back to bed, prayed some, cried some, and remembered some, and then I fell asleep in Jesus. But the last song I thought of before I closed my eyes was a psalm that Jesus sang at the end of the Passover Meal as he was heading to the garden: I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death. . . . This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:17-18,24).

A Message from the Lord?

bob — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:15:32 +0000

One of my colleagues received a message from the Lord via one of our former seminary students:

The Lord said concerning Dr. Lowery that he is constantly receiving the glory that belongs to Him and that is why He will increase his infirmity. That dust he will come, dust he will go. He needs to repent. . . . I reluctantly did not want to deliver this message because I know that you and your colleagues might not receive this message, but I am doing this now because . . . as I go on my knees to pray, these words of the Lord are still heavy upon my heart. The Lord constantly asked me to deliver this message to you and this is why I am doing it right now to be free of any guilt. . . . If you and your colleagues have any questions regarding this message, I advise you to direct it to God for I am just the messenger and I do not have any answer.

In the last several months I have received many messages, but never one directly from the Lord via a self-styled prophet. I have received words of encouragement, challenges to examine my walk with the Lord, written prayers, and even counsel concerning remedies for the cancer.

Is this truly a message from the Lord? When I had the word passed on to me, I recalled I Thessalonians 5:19 where Paul writes: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” The context clearly indicates that we must discern any prophetic messages and accept the good and reject the evil.”

I have concluded that the message is an evil word from a false prophet.

First, note in the first paragraph how he does not deliver the message to me but rather chose to deliver it to a colleague. This prophet is a cruel coward.

Second, note in the same paragraph where he does not want to be held accountable for what he has delivered: if we have any questions, we must turn to God. Such a “prophet” may not want to be held accountable by the Christian community, so I shall leave it up to God to hold him accountable.

Third, this “prophet” did cause me to reflect on what I have been saying these last few months and how I have been acting. He has challenged my motives and has concluded that I am receiving glory rather than God. Frankly, I paused and reflected on this. Visitors to this site and those who have talked with me know that my fervent prayer from the very beginning has not been for healing but rather that first and foremost that God be glorified. With regard to repentance, there is not a day that passes that I do not confess and repent.

Finally, I recall a story told by the Scottish professor, William Barclay. His daughter died in a boating accident and a person wrote to Barclay telling him that God had taken his daughter because of Barclay’s liberalism. I will echo Barclay’s response to this person in responding to this false prophet: Your God is my Devil.

A word from the Lord? I think not.

Health Update – 20 June 2010

bob — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 03:43:04 +0000

Colleagues and friends–

I went to see my oncologist Thursday, June 17, after having had a scan earlier in week. The scan showed no new growth of additional tumors and no growth of the tumors already there. My doctor told us that given the kind of cancer I have, it was a delight for her to share with us that the cancer has not advanced in the last three months. She said this is quite remarkable. Praise the Lord! Of course, this does not mean that I am cancer-free, but at least it appears as if the current treatments are having some benefits. Her recommendation is that I continue taking the special cancer medication, continue getting a monthly injection to help minimize the symptoms, continue getting sufficient rest, and continue to monitor what I eat and drink. The key word that the doctor kept repeating is that I am currently stable. (For anyone in the Lowery family to be stable is quite remarkable!)

She encouraged me to do what I love to do: teaching, preaching, writing, mentoring students, spending time with family and friends, and in her words, “enjoying God’s goodness.”

Please join us in praising God for this respite, no matter how long it lasts. We thank you for being on this journey with us.

Seminary Chapel Sermon, May 5, 2010

michael — Tue, 25 May 2010 18:20:48 +0000

Dr. Lowery closed out the Seminary’s spring chapel sermon series with this message entitled, “Culmination: Our New Home.” His text was Revelation 2.

Audio (MP3) link to Lincoln Christian University

Who is John Stott?

bob — Mon, 17 May 2010 21:33:15 +0000

This piece by David Brooks, “Who is John Stott,” appeared in the November 30, 2004, edition of The New York Times. John Stott has been one of the most influential people in my life, even though from a distance. The first book I read by him was Basic Christianity, and I believe I have read every publication of his since the mid 1960s. I have heard him speak and briefly met him many years ago. He is a disciple of Jesus who models servant-leadership. May God raise up more men like him.

12 Reflections on War in the Book of Revelation

bob — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:19:32 +0000

The STORY of the Bible is the STORY about warfare: God is a warrior (Exod. 15:3), and from Old Testament to New Testament times up to the present, God has called upon his people to be a warring people (Eph. 6:10ff.).
As a Story, Revelation develops this theme of war from the first chapter to the last (Rev. 1:5b-6,8; 2:7, 11,17,26; 3:5,12,21; 5:5; 17:14; 19:15, etc.).
God is commander-in-chief, and through the centuries, God’s people make up his army.
On the other hand, Satan is the commander-in-chief of the forces of evil. His army is made up of individuals, institutions, and different kinds of structures (e.g., economic, etc.).
God is commander-in-chief who is both for and against his people, depending upon their own faithfulness or lack of loyalty.
Jesus was a divine warrior, opposing and defeating the forces of evil (Matt. 3:11-12; 10:34; Col. 2:13-15; Eph. 4:8).
The Church, the Body of Christ, is to be the Church of warriors, confronting the forces of evil and bringing liberation to prisoners-of-war.
Consider the make-up of the armies, the strategies, the weapons, the outcome, the battlers, the defeats and the victories, etc.
Though Satan has been defeated, he is still able to make war. The period between the cross and the final coming is the time between the battle that secured the ultimate victory and the final defeat and cessation of hostility.
In the meantime the battle continues, and the church is called upon to wage war against God’s enemies just as Israel was God’s army in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, God and his people fight against flesh and blood enemies. In the New Testament, Jesus directs the church in a battle against the spiritual forces of evil while it also anticipates the climactic war that takes place at the end of history.
Like Yahweh who rode clouds into battle on behalf of his people (Ps. 68:4; Dan. 7:13; Nahum 1:3), Jesus will return as a warrior (Rev. 1:7; see also 19:11-17; 20:7ff.). And yet, there is NO BATTLE! In the words of Martin Luther, “One little word shall fell him” (the “him” being Satan).
“The safest place to be is on the battlefield with Christ.” Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination, p. 160.