Wait on The Lord

Recently at Mittagong Anglican Church we had a Moore College mission come for a week.

On the second Sunday of the mission, immediately before the last service of the day at 6pm, one of the students came up to me and said that he had been praying with a group before the previous service when he felt God give him 'a word' for me.

He said this usually wasn't his thing. I said to him in a sigh of exhaustion, 'Is it bad?' He said 'No!' and then quoted these verses from the Bible:

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31

I found this greatly encouraging just a few seconds before I led the last service of the mission. It had been terribly exhausting over the week and I had felt beforehand as if I had no physical or emotional strength left to keep it all together. God was gracious and kind to remind me of that verse.

About 10 days later I was reading through Satisfy Your Soul by Bruce Demarest when I was stopped in my tracks by this passage from the book:

Have you ever wondered what it means to 'wait on the Lord'? I suggest that it is akin to practising the presence of God. Isaiah declares, 'Those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. they will fly high on wings like eagles. they will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint' (Isaiah 40:31).

So I have been really thinking hard and praying to 'wait on the Lord'. Since the mission finished I have still not recovered. I feel enormously exhausted still even 10 days later, especially emotionally.

New strength from God awaits.

Victorinus and the Victory of God

In between work things today I read the story of Victorinus in Augustine's Confessions. Victorinus was a famous professor of rhetoric in Rome in the 4th century. He was learned in liberal sciences and philosophy, and had taught these subjects to 'noble senators' in Rome and was held in high honour.

Quoting Augustine, Victorinus had defended the gods with thundering eloquence, but suddenly he was not ashamed to say he was a child of Christ. However, a friend of Victorinus had tried to speak to him about the Scriptures and bring him to church but Victorinus replied angrily, "Do walls then make Christians?"

Augustine says that Victorinus was actually afraid of offending his demon-worshipping friends and was reluctant to make his Christian faith public. But one day he realised he was guilty of a serious offence against God, and decided to profess his faith publicly by being baptised at church.

To do this he had to stand with the others being baptised on an elevated platform before the church to make a full profession of faith.

Instead of doing this, the church leaders offered to Victorinus the opportunity to speak his confession of faith in private, realising he was well-known and could be persecuted (they gave this option to all well-known people). Here's what happened:

But he chose rather to profess his salvation in the presence of the holy multitude. For he had publicly taught rhetoric, which was far less important than his profession of salvation....when this well-recognized public figure went up to make his profession, all knew him and whispered his name to each other, sharing in this special moment. Was there anyone there who did not know who this was? A low murmur of recognition passed through all the mouths of the rejoicing multitude.

Victorinus! Victorinus! There was a sudden burst of rapture when they saw him.

Then a hush fell over the body so that they might hear him.

He pronounced the true faith with an excellent boldness, and all wished to draw him into their very heart. Indeed, by their love and joy, they did take him to themselves. Such were the hands extended to draw him into the fellowship.

I wouldn't call myself an overtly emotional person, but I found this a very moving and uplifting testimony. Praise God!

Edit-Ability

Today I read a book called Organic Community by a guy called Joseph Myers. He is a bloke with his own business that helps people rethink how they are developing their communities, whether it be in the corporate or church world.

A lot of useful things were in it. One that stood out for me was the idea of accountability. We often tell people they need to be accountable to another. We find partners who we are accountable to. An example is the Promise Keepers (a men's accountability group), in which members ask these questions to each other:

• What one sin plagued your walk with God this week?
  
• Is your thought life pure?
  
• Did you look at a woman the wrong way?
  
• At any time did you compromise your integrity?
  
• Are you giving to the Lord's work financially?
  
• Are you walking in total obedience to God?
  
• Have you lied about any of the previous questions?
  

Myers says this:

Wow! There is such an underlying expectation of failure phrased in a language of absolutes and either/ors (p134)...accountability relationships are built on the understanding that people are primarily bad and sinful. The accountability partner (like an accountant) looks for mistakes and keeps an account. The accountability partner emphasizes and inadvertently reinforces the negative behaviour by concentrating on it (p142).

Instead, Myers suggests we look at such relationships in a different way – a relationship that encourages spiritual development in a spirit of grace, not law. He says – let's think of the partner relationship not like that of a client and his accountant but rather as that of an author and his editor.

An editor's training, job and passion are to help an author towards richer communication...a good editor wants the author's voice to be the best it can be and thus reinforces rules only when they want the author to be heard. The editor makes suggestions and corrects errors only to enable the author's voice to shine as brightly as possible. The editor makes suggestions but leaves the major reworking with the individual (p142).

The Soul of Prayer

I finished the book 'The Soul of Prayer' by P T Forsyth last week. You can read it here.

Being totally honest it was a torturous read, only 92 pages but pretty hard to get through. However it was worth wading through the mud to get to the pearls.

Let me show you some:

It is a wrestle on the greatest scale - all manhood taxed as in some great war, or some great negotiation of state. And the effect is exhaustion often. No, the result of true prayer is not always peace. (p87)

..lose the real conflict of will and will, lose the habit of wrestling and the hope of prevailing with God, make it mere walking with God in friendly talk; and, precious as that is, yet you tend to lose the reality of prayer at last. In principle you make it mere conversation instead of the soul's great action. You lose the food of character, the renewal of will. You may have beautiful prayers - but as ineffectual as beauty so often is, and as fleeting. (p92)

Embrace This Book

I've finally started reading a book called Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf. I would love to just publish the whole book on this site, it is so helpful for Christians! Copyright may be a slight issue, however...so some quotes from what I have read so far:

• Postmodernity creates a climate in which evasion of moral responsibilities is a way of life. By rendering relationships 'fragmentary' and 'discontinuous', it fosters 'disengagement' and 'commitment-avoidance'. (p21)

• The self-giving love manifested on the cross and demanded by it lies at the core of the Christian faith...the incarnation of that divine love in a world of sin leads to the cross. (p25)

• Christian communities, which should be the 'salt' of the culture, are too often as insipid as everything around them. (p37)

• At the very core of Christian identity lies an all-encompassing change of loyalty, from a given culture with its gods to the God of all cultures. A response to a call from that God entails rearrangement of a whole network of allegiances. (p40)

To Quench The Thirst of A UK Reader

Over a month ago an interested reader requested my thoughts on P T Forsyth's 'The Soul of Prayer'. Well, perhaps I can begin with a short quote from the book, with thoughts to come down the track.

Prayer is the highest use to which speech can be put. It is the highest meaning that can be put into words. Indeed, it breaks through language and escapes into action. We could never be told of what passed in Christ's mountain midnights.

Words fail us in prayer oftener than anywhere else; and the Spirit must come in aid of our infirmity, set out our case to God, and give to us an unspoken freedom in prayer, the possession of our central soul, the reality of our inmost personality in organic contact with His.

Some Things I'm Reading/Listening To

Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey - Simply put, it proposes that the truth of Christ deeply affect our public and private lives (hence the title). It gives a history of how Christianity in the west has moved largely into the private sphere of life alone, and how this has shaped western Christianity as a result. Nancy Pearcey is a student of Francis Schaeffer. Definitely worth reading so far and very helpful in thinking through a Christian worldview and responses to culture, science and our work.

Genesis (Iain Provan) - an MP3 lecture series I downloaded from Regent College Vancouver. I've listened to one lecture so far. One thing he proposes is that the Spirit hovering over the waters in Genesis 1:2 implies God's authority over chaos (in contrast to Ancient Near Eastern creation stories).

The Black Echo (Michael Connelly) - every year at Christmas I am given a crime/mystery novel (last year was the Da Vinci Code). This year's one was great! Go Detective Harry Bosch! Can't wait 'til next year.

Effective Youth Ministry (Ken Moser) - I'll be involved in youth ministry next year so am re-reading this. Having experienced four years of youth ministry I think Ken Moser has the right idea. Youth group is about growing Christian disciples.

Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Packer) - an oldie but a goodie.

Pastoral Leadership (Rod Wilson) - another MP3 series from Regent (its principal). I thought it was interesting and it is from an experienced Christian leader. He is surprisingly and refreshingly self-deprecating.

Relationship Development Intervention Parents' Objectives - reading this every night together with Cecily to help rehabilitate our middle child who has Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

Future Reads/Listens:

Admin/whatever church or the ministry team is reading

The Soul of Prayer (P T Forsythe)

More Michael Connelly!

Apologetics in a Postmodern World (Alister McGrath MP3 series)

Exclusion and Embrace/Free of Charge (Miroslav Volf)

The online papers and kids books galore!