13 tips for consistency in the word and prayer

I’m on sabbatical (translation: I’m resting),
so this is a pre-scheduled post for your encouragement, education and enjoyment! 

I came across a GREAT post about personal discipline – in particular personal HABITS that I thought was worth passing along.  We all have the struggle to keep our good habits going and kill our old ones.  This post was all about creating new ones and keeping them alive (particularly scripture reading and prayer).  So… here’s the 13 tips it gave… and if you want to read the entire article – you can do that HERE.

• Motivate yourself by preaching to yourself the gospel of grace. Why do you want to develop the habit in the first place? Are you just gritting your teeth and “doing the right thing”? Are you trying to conform to the expectations of others? Are you trying to make yourself closer to God through your efforts? I hope you agree, these are all terrible motivations. Instead, preach the gospel to yourself: remind yourself that you want to develop the habit because the Spirit of God is at work in you; the Spirit who has brought you as close to God as you could possibly be through his son Jesus and who has changed the entire orientation of your life, making you want to serve him and grow in your knowledge and service of him. Keep coming back to God’s grace over and over again.
• The ultimate goal in developing a particular habit is coming to the point where you love to do it. You know you’ve truly got a good, lasting habit when it’s an essential part of your life, and it feels right. In fact, you feel bad not doing it. This is even true of uninspiring things like brushing your teeth. When you don’t brush your teeth, you feel yuck all day. How much more should this be true of daily prayer, the amazing privilege of speaking to the creator of the universe?
• Realise, though, that the goal I mentioned in the previous point (to love what you’re doing) will probably take a very long time to develop. In the case of daily prayer, it will probably take months or years to even get a small way towards that goal, and will continue to be a struggle until Jesus returns.
• Don’t be a hero—you’ll only set yourself up for failure. If you’re not reading the Bible at all, for example, don’t jump in with a plan like, “I will read the Bible for an hour every day”. Sure, it sounds like a noble goal. But then, when you read the Bible for 30 minutes one day, you’ve failed. Instead of rejoicing in God’s word to you, you’ll just give yourself needlessly negative vibes because you don’t measure up to your own arbitrary standard. You won’t love what you’re doing if you feel like you’re failing all the time. It’ll feel like you have to climb a mountain every day. And you’ll end up fearing and hating it. You might recognise this scenario as the ‘New Year’s Resolution’ syndrome. Don’t fall into the trap.
• The flipside of the previous point is to start small. In fact, make deliberately small plans at the start. Set yourself the goal of reading the Bible for 5 minutes each day, for example. And each day, leave yourself wanting more. Leave yourself with the feeling, “I liked that, I want more”. Then, the next day, you’ll be motivated to do it again.
• Start now. Just do it. This is linked to the previous points. If you have a gigantic heroic plan, you won’t be motivated to start until the conditions are perfect. But if you plan to start small, you can start straight away.
• Think creatively about ways to fit your habits into your life circumstances. Think in terms of people, time and space. What are your relationships? What are your commitments? What’s your daily routine? What times of the day do you enjoy the most? Where do you enjoy to be? If you can, try to practice your habits in the times and places that you love to be, rather than in the downtimes or the uncomfortable places. Spiritual warfare is hard enough without making it harder on yourself.
• Learn from the habits of others, but don’t follow them slavishly. I was once inspired by a godly Christian father I knew who often urged us younger dads to lead regular times of family prayer and Bible reading ‘at the breakfast table’. I thought that was a great idea, except for the word ‘breakfast’. The thought of trying to do anything constructive with that bleary-eyed half-conscious Weetbix-encrusted crew that is our family at the breakfast table was not a happy one. There was no point following his advice to the letter (and he wasn’t expecting us to anyway). We had a go at doing it at the dinner table, which works far better for our family.
• When it comes to habits, simple regularity is much better than sporadic brilliance. Don’t expect your Bible reading to be constantly wonderful and filled with awe-inspiring insights. If you have a spectacular, life-changing quiet time one day and then don’t pick up the Bible for a month, you’re not going to get very far. It’s much better to have simple expectations, and to rejoice each time you open God’s word, even if you learned something that seems small and insignificant at the time.
• Make your habit-developing plans simple (e.g. “I’ll read the Bible for 10 minutes a day”), not complex (e.g. “I have a Microsoft spreadsheet setting out my Bible reading plan every day for the next 10 years”). Simple plans are more flexible than complex plans; they’re easy to adapt to changing circumstances. Life is full of unexpected events: we make plans, but God has his own ideas about how life is going to turn out (Prov 16:9). We have to deal with sickness and emergencies (in fact, when I first sat down to write this article, my wife called to say the car had broken down on the way to school and my plans went out the window!). If you have a complex plan, and then an unexpected interruption comes which throws it all into disarray, you might be tempted to get frustrated or angry or just to give up. If you have a simple plan, you can adapt it.
• Develop the super-habit of regularly reviewing your habits! This is especially important because your circumstances will change over the course of your life. Since habits are integrated with your life circumstances, whenever there’s a change in your life circumstances, your habits will suffer. That’s normal. Sometimes you might have to go back to square one and completely reassess your habits. When we had very young children, we found that our daily ‘routine’ was changing every few weeks, as the kids’ sleeping and feeding patterns changed. When this happens, don’t (as I sometimes did) use it as an excuse to give up on your habits. Rather, adapt your expectations to your circumstances. Then start again. And when you do start again, start small, and don’t be a hero (see above).
• Use the relatively good or easy times in your life to work hard at developing your habits. When the hard times come, and/or when life changes, you’ll have spiritual resources to use.
• I said it at the start of the list, and I’ll say it again at the end: keep coming back to God’s grace.

How do YOU view the Bible?

I’m on sabbatical (translation: I’m resting),
so this is a pre-scheduled post for your encouragement, education and enjoyment! 

Most people in the United States have at least one Bible in their home.  My family… probably more than 10 (I’m a preacher, ya know).  I see Bibles in Thrift Stores, for free (that’s cool) in our country.  We have scripture completely available… but how do we see it?  Is it a paperweight?  A dust catcher?  An “owner’s manual” for every  person?  A source of ancient wisdom for life?  Here’s a video from Mark Driscoll about that very issue.  The way he says it, “The Bible is FOR us, but it is ABOUT Jesus.”

“Rock Star” Pastors – really?

I’m on sabbatical (translation: I’m resting),
so this is a pre-scheduled post for your encouragement, education and enjoyment! 

I was recently reading a post by James MacDonald regarding “Celebrity Pastors.”  Do you know what he is taking about?  It’s those guys who are well-known throughout the Christian realm, have out tons of videos (on disk and the internet), and seem to have a “following” of sorts.  It could be anyone from Rick Warren, to John Piper, to Mark Driscoll, to FILL-IN-THE-BLANK.

There have been all sorts of criticisms of those guys (as you might imagine) and it all really comes down to motives in the heart of that particular man.  As James wrote about this, he had some very good points.  Here’s one of the quotes that grabbed my attention…

The issue is not celebrity, but how one arrives there and how they steward that influence.  I realize that he, like all of us, will account to Christ for how he allows his influence to be used and how he treats every minister of the gospel, every Christian, and every person outside God’s family.

If you’d like to read the entire letter from James MacDonald – you can do so HERE.

A great podcast for sharpening your thinking (in public)!

I’m on sabbatical (translation: I’m resting), so this is a pre-scheduled
post for your encouragement, education and enjoyment! 

For a while now I’ve been listening to Albert Mohler‘s audio podcast, “Thinking in Public.”  It’s a great combination of conversation and commentary on

 

things that are going on in the world.  The conversations are between Dr. Mohler (President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY), and various guests who are influential thinkers, writers, and figures in the public realm.  I never fail to learn something or be spurred on to better thinking about my faith in a world that is in rebellion against God.  Each episode is between 30 and 50 minutes… so it’s perfect for your commute, exercise time, or whatever!  Check it out!

Getting good Bible teaching is not enough…

I’m enjoying a break from life & ministry (sabbatical)…
so this is a pre-scheduled post for your enjoyment!

In our day and age, we have an abundance of excellent teaching.  We are likely one of the most well-taught generations of Christians EVER (in terms of quality and accessibility)!

But is getting good teaching enough?

Check out what Mark Driscoll thinks about that…

Do they really believe that homosexual behavior is “natural?”

I’m on sabbatical (translation: I’m resting),
so this is a pre-scheduled post for your encouragement, education and enjoyment! 

Concluding his articles about homosexuality and the biblical perspective, Tony Payne writes again…

Why do we find it hard to say out loud that same-gender sex is wrong and perverse, even if we know it to be true?

The obvious answer is that no-one wants to be a pariah, for that is what voicing such a view will quickly make us in our culture. A narrow-minded, homophobic, bigotted pariah—because hardly anyone believes any more that gay sex is wrong and perverse. Quite the reverse. The mainstream view is that gay sex is just sex like any other sex, and should be accepted, validated and even celebrated.

But do they really believe that?

You can read the rest of the article HERE

Modern Christmas Hymn… powerful lyrics

I’m on sabbatical (translation: I’m resting),
so this is a pre-scheduled post for your encouragement, education and enjoyment! 

Last Christmas I noticed this song by the Newsboys.  Not guys you’d necessarily expect to have such wonderful lyrics… but you’d be surprised.  The lyrics grab me in a very special way…(the specific parts that hit me are in red italics)  And take note… it’s written from the perspective of one of the shepherds who were the recipients of the angelic announcement that Jesus was born…

ADORATION by the Newsboys

I'm here with the others who saw the heavens testify
Now I hang back in the shadows I want to come close
I want to know
She sees me shivering here she smiles and with a nod
I walk through the mud and straw to the newborn Son of God

Come, let us adore Him
He has come down to this barren land where we live
And all I have to give Him is adoration

He raises a wrinkled hand through the dust and the flies
Wrapped in rags like we are and with barely open eyes
He takes my finger and He won't let go - and He won't let go 
It's nothing like I knew before and it's all I need to know

Come, let us adore Him
He has come down to the world we live in
And all I have to give Him is adoration

God is with us here
Our Immanuel
God is with us here
Our Immanuel
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him


Jesus, our Immanuel is with us here and He won't let go

Remorse VS Repentance – the difference REALLY matters…REALLY

I’m taking a rest-break (sabbatical) – so this is pre-scheduled
post for your encouragement! 

In almost 20 years of Pastoral teaching and counseling, I’ve come to see the difference between remorse and repentance very clearly.  But sadly, many people don’t see the difference – ever.

Do you know the difference?

Remorse is bad feelings, regret, even depression because of something you’ve done or allowed.  It’s a nagging, gnawing feeling of personal “darkness” you can’t shake.  And it can haunt you for years, decades… a lifetime.  Remorse is the feeling you have because of guilt – REAL guilt – for an action or inaction that you KNOW was wrong.

But remorse is supposed to lead somewhere… somewhere important, somewhere vital!  I can’t recall where I read it, but I remember Martin Luther saying (paraphrased here) that guilt’s purpose is to lead us to repentance, to the cross; and that once it has served that purpose, we should be rid of it.  THAT is what we need to make sure we understand… remorse/guilt are intended by God to lead us to repentance.  What is repentance?

Repentance is coming to a place of sorrow over your wrong/sin – to the point that you are broken, contrite, and ready to change.  It’s not enough to feel sorry only… many people do that but never change the attitude, thinking, or actions that caused the action they are sorry about.  Repentance is humbling yourself, confessing your wrong, turning to Christ for forgiveness, and trusting in Him alone to help you make a change in your thinking and direction.

Mark Driscoll makes the point very strongly by comparing Judas with Peter.  It’s short, well worth watching…

The modern-day BOYMAN… do you know this guy?

I’m taking a break from life (sabbatical), so this is a
pre-scheduled post.  Enjoy!

Mark Driscoll often refers to this guys as “a boy who can shave.”  It’s the guy who’s stuck in a prolonged adolescence and most of the baggage that goes with it.

And  he’s a very serious issue for the church.  Very serious.

Darrin Patrick writes:

We live in a world full of males who have prolonged their adolescence. They are neither boys nor men. They live, suspended as it were, between childhood and adulthood, between growing up and being grown-ups. Let’s call this kind of male Ban, a hybrid of both boy and man.

Ban is juvenile because there has been an entire niche created for him to live in the lusts of youth. The accompanying culture not only tolerates this behavior but encourages it and endorses it. (Consider magazines like Maxim or movies like Wedding Crashers.) This kind of male is everywhere, including the church and even, frighteningly, vocational ministry. . . .

In a culture where the influence of godly men is desperately needed, this void results in a legitimate cultural crisis. We are not going to solve it by ignoring Ban and hoping that he eventually grows up. We are not going to solve the problem simply telling women that they should take up the slack.

We might solve the problem by modeling biblical manhood and calling adult boys to forsake their youthful lusts and become the men that God is calling them to be in the context of the local church. This call should come from godly men and women sitting in the pews and, specifically, from the pulpit of God’s church. The models should be men of God.

Church Planter: The Man, the Message, the Mission, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 9-12, paragraphing mine.

Do you know this BOYMAN?  Pray that Jesus, the real man’s man will get a hold of him and make him into what men are SUPPOSED to be…

God’s REAL role in the origin of homosexuality

I’m on sabbatical (translation: I’m resting),
so this is a pre-scheduled post for your encouragement, education and enjoyment! 

Yesterday, I posted a re-post of a post Tony Payne wrote (how’s that for confusing?) about the way our culture views the homosexual lifestyle and it’s origins in particular.  His point was that historically, there has never been a concept of “I’m born this way.”  Today, I’m posting his continuing examination of this issue from a biblical perspective…  Here’s part of what he has to say…

If same-gender sex is not the natural consequence of an innate homosexual essence or identity (as I suggested last time), then why do people do it? What leads them to this sort of behaviour?

The shocking answer of Romans 1 is that God does.

Well that might be stating it a little strongly, but only just

You can read the rest of his outstanding article HERE…