Hope Now

"What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven- and the future starts now.  God is keeping careful watch over us and teh future.  The Day is coming when you'll have it all--life healed and whole."
                                                                                       1 Peter 1:3-5 (The Message)

My devotional reading today came from AW Tozer. He writes,

"Brethren, we have been born of God and our Christian hope is a valid hop! No emptiness, no vanity, no dreams that cannot come true.  Your expectation should rise and you should challenge God and begin to dream high dreams of faith and spiritual attainment and expect God to meet them.  You cannot out-hope God and you cannot out-expect God.  Remember that all of your hopes are finite, but all God's ability is infinite!"

As a husband, father, Christian, and Pastor I am claiming that promise that the future starts now! That hope starts now! That God will give me dreams of faith and spiritual attainment- and they will be greater than what I could have dreamed of myself.

Yesterday at Hope we participated in laity Sunday.  Our lay leaders, Ben and Shelly shared from Luke 18 and the persistant widow and how the wicked judge granted her request because of her persistance.  Yet God is not like a wicked judge! God desires to reveal his love for each of us! God desires for us to rest in his grace and mercy!  God desires for us to dream big because we serve a big God!  Sometimes my prayer life reflects my little faith.  I want to pray- expecting that God will answer my prayers!

What are your prayers for your faith walk?  What are your prayers for your family? For your church?  Are you praying based off of your finite hopes or praying to our infinite God?

Mighty In Prayer

I think it was Dr. Budd at Asbury College that first introduced me to E.M. Bounds.  Each class, Dr. Budd would read a selection from one of Bounds books on prayer- which he wrote at least eight.  Bounds was known for getting up everyday at 4:00 a.m. to study the Bible, pray, and write.  I've had a collection of Bounds books for awhile and thought I would begin reading them again as part of my own personal study time.

Let me make a confession here...I am terrible at prayer. 

I don't know what it is, but I have a hard time spending an extended period of time in prayer.  My mind wanders.  I want to get up and move around.  But I have been working on it the last several months to become more disciplined at it.

In the book, Power Through Prayer, Bounds writes something that is incredibly important.  Many church leaders flock to conferences on church growth, read books on church growth, or want to keep up with the latest trends for growth and communicating the gospel.  To an extent, that describes me.  I want to learn new ways to effectively communicate the gospel.  But list to these words...

"What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men [leaders] whom the Holy Spirit can use- men [leaders] of prayer, men [leaders] mighty in prayer."

I am sure that in my ministry, I have sacrificed prayer in pursuit of a quicker method or a more efficient way.  I am guilty of trying to learn something new rather than coming before the throne of God in prayer.  Now, there is nothing wrong with new methods- but I think Bounds is correct, the church needs leaders who are mighty in prayer.  Leaders to whom the Holy Spirit can mold and shape to have a powerful influence for the kingdom.

As we turn towars 2010, let us cultivate a deep, vibrant prayer life.  Whether we are called to minister in the Church, our offices, our families, or our schools, let us seek to become mighty in prayer.