Faith

Sep

2009

Silence

When was the last time you sat in total silence?

The greatest struggle in my life is finding a quiet place to sit in total silence waiting for the still small voice of my Father.

I love our house the back of it faces the front range of the Rocky Mountains and often in the morning I will sit at my kitchen table gazing at the beauty of God’s creation. Katharine Lee Bates was on Pikes Peak when she wrote the lyrics to “America the Beautiful” and I am blessed to have Pikes Peak framed in my sliding glass doors . But we are also only 200 yards from I-25 and the noise that comes with it. I have learned to ignore it somewhat but it is a significant enemy to silence.

When Kim and I were first married we talked about having a house full of activity. A place where people would find refuge. A place where all our childrens friends would want to come. God has answered that prayer. Our home is full of activity with people coming and going. We love it but it presents a unique challenge when searching for a quiet place.

In Chuck Swindols book “Intimacy with the Almighty” he lists four disciplines essential for intimacy two of them are silence and solitude. Which to me are almost the same thing. In A.W. Tozer’s “The Purpose of Man” he lists seven keys to intimacy and the very first is quiet. Tozer says “I put quietness first bcause unless we can find a place without distraction, the rest is undermined.

Once we have made a practice of dwelling in a quiet place we are more easily able to dwell in the secret place. Brother Lawrence in “The Practice of the Presence of God” says “what offering is more acceptable to God than thus throughout the day to quit the things of outward sense, and to withdraw to worshp Him within the secret places of the soul?”. Unless we have practiced being in a quiet place it is very difficult to dwell in the secret places of the soul throughout the day. Cultivating intimacy and recognizing the voice of God only comes through time and proximity.

I know I’m not alone in my struggle to find a quiet place. We must fight for it, make it a high priority, or we will slowly drift away from that most precious dwelling place where we are changed from Glory to Glory, where we become “like Him”, where we find rest, where He is my strong tower.

David understood the importance of dwelling in the secret place. I believe it was this practice that made him a man after God’s own heart. It was a recurring theme throughout his life and his writing. Among others he wrote:

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1), One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple (Psalm 27:4).

My prayer for you, and for me, today is that we would get a fresh revelation of His love and passion for close intimate fellowship with us. Make it a priority to find a quiet place this weekend and then go there often.

Blessings as you walk in Him.

Sep

2009

Walking Together

Our family has only one car and in a city the size of Colorado Springs with a family as active as ours this can present quite a challenge on some days.

Recently Kim and I were looking at our schedule for the day and realized we needed to be in several different places at the same time. Since I ride my bicycle a lot and don’t have to be dressed professionaly I volunteered to walk from a meeting at the church which is about 5 miles.

It was a beautiful day I had plenty of time and was in no particular hurry so I strode away from the church at a purposeful but leisurely pace. Very soon I began to catch up with a young man just ahead of me. As it became clear I was going to overtake him I began the conversation in my head.

Should I just walk on by? should I acknowledge him, engage him in conversation? should I walk with him? Very soon the decision was made for me. He turned and said “Good Morning, where are you headed?”

As I walked with him I learned he is 21 yrs old from Nevada where he was the son of a prostitute and grew up in a crack house. Began selling drugs at a very early age and at the age of 17 he and his fiance came to Colorado to deliver some sold product where he was arrested and placed in jail in Colorado Springs. While there he received his GED and a certificate in computers. He now holds a good job but does not know how to drive and must rely on others to drive him. Today the ride didn’t show up thus the hike.

We also talked about his faith and his understanding of God and how God had a plan for him. At the end of the line for him I was able to give him my phone number, pray for him and encourage him to press into relationship with the Father who loves him and wants him to walk in the fullness of all He has created him to be.

The longer I study and consider Jesus time on earth the more I am convinced He came at a time without mass media, email, public transportation or interstates. He came at a time when people walked together. I think of Jesus walking for hours along the road with His disciples and the day of His resurrection when He walked to Emmaus with two men. Things were discussed and taught in ways we very seldom have opportunity for in our cars driving 4.5 mph over the speed limit.

Teaching classroom style certainly has it’s place but it’s only the beginning. We must spend time with those entrusted to us walking with them and answering questions in context using our surroundings to teach and illustrate. So much is missed and incorrectly inferred when we download information to those entrusted to us and leave them to work it out on their own.

This week as you are considering the conversations your going to have with those entrusted to you or with your wife, husband, children etc. etc. consider going for a walk.

Aug

2009

So True

Dare you not to cry.

For those of you on facebook click through and watch the video.

Grace is unmerited favor, mercy is a disposition to be kind and forgiving.

H.T. Life is a Gift

Jul

2009

The most important 48 minutes of your life?

When is the last time you heard a message like this?

It’s 48 minutes long and might be the most important 48 minutes of your life.

Please take the time to watch it. It put me on my face before God.

Jun

2009

To Find Him Where He Can Be Found.

God speaks to me sometimes by sending the same message in different ways over a period of time and then I have what I call a coalescing moment where it all comes together.

I just had one of those when I received a my daily email from the Copelands and from a friend on Facebook from Zimbabwe. We have never met and I don’t know why he found me and asked me to be his friend. He has 6 friends and I am the only one not from Zumbabwe.

Since launching into ministry in January I have had an interesting ride. I am living the dream but have been plagued with fear and doubt shortly after making the decision. Building the kingdom has been in my heart for over 10 years. At a workshop for worship with Job Vijil I knew this is what I was born to do. God has always been faithful so why the worry?

I say He is my strength and my shield, my ever present help in time of need. I’m standing on the Word but I haven’t spoken in in weeks. Instead I have been speaking death. A couple weeks ago my amazing wife scolded me strongly for the way I’m talking and she is exactly right. She is such a blessing to me. The Word of God is the final word but I must put it to work by speaking it out.

I am reminded of a short prayer by Hans Ur von Balthasar I apologize if I’ve posted this before:

Harassed by life, exhausted, we look about us for somewhere to be quiet, to be genuine, a place of refreshment. We yearn to restore our spirits in God, to simply let go in him and gain new strength to go on living.

But we fail to look for him where he is waiting for us, where he is to be found; in his Son, who is his Word. Or else seek for God because there are a thousand things we want to ask him, and imagine that we cannot go on living unless they are answered. We inundate him with problems, with demands for information, for clues, for an easier path, forgetting that in his Word he has given us the solution to every problem and all the details we are capable of grasping in this life.

We fail to listen where God speaks; where God’s Word rang out in the world once for all, sufficient for all ages, inexhaustible. Or else we think that God’s Word has been heard on earth for so long that by now it is almost used up. That it is about time for some new word, as if we had the right to demand one. We fail to see that it is we ourselves who are used up and alienated, whereas the Word resounds with the same vitality and freshness as ever; it is just as near to us as it always was.

Hans Ur von Balthasar, Prayer. Trans. Graham Harrison (San Fancisco: Ignatius Press, 1986)

Today I committ to being in His Word and daily seeking Him in the secret place for His direction. I encourage you to do the same.

Blessings as you walk with Him.

Apr

2009

I’m through with Christianity

In the last several weeks there have been several articles about America the post-christian nation. It could mean a lot of things and I wonder if this article doesn’t represent what those who say they have no religion are feeling. They are still believers but not wanting to be called “Christian” or identified with a denomination. Maybe they are like Geoff Surratt who posted this:

You see, I am one of the many Americans who would no longer describe themselves as a professing Christian. I cannot in good faith associate any more with what the label Christian has come to represent in America. Christianity is now a set of political views, a way to distinguish different groups of people (Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus), a movement to impose a certain view of morality on others regardless the condition of their hearts.

via Inner Revolution: I’m through with Christianity.

We must return to our foundations. We must be relevant and current but true to the foundational principles.

I’m not talking about doctrinal issues. I’m talking about equipping the saints and releasing them into the fullness of their calling.

We must stand for righteousness but it’s not enough to have an opinion on an issue we must steward God’s people. The church must be a place where God’s people can thrive and serve in the fullness of their calling not just come and listen to those who are paid to preach, teach, or sing.

Do you agree with Geoff?

Apr

2009

Abundantly Blessed

I truly love living in Colorado Springs.

The winters are usually mild and the summers are perfect. Not much for water sports but a small price to pay. The first day of spring was 15 days ago, last week was spring break, and we have had one storm after another. It is currently 30 degrees outside with sleet and a stiff wind. I hope my trees make it through.

As I sit here this morning looking out the windows drinking coffee. I am considering how blessed I am. God has allowed me to pursue what I love while partnering with the two best pastors I could have hoped for. My beautiful wife is flourishing in her job and I couldn’t be more proud of my two boys. They are smart, talented, and well mannered. It’s been such a blessing to have them play for worship with me.

Ephesians Chapters 1 & 2 talk of God’s great love for us and how He had planned from the very beginning to adopt us as sons,

Side Note:

Sons is not a statement of gender. First born sons are the inheritors and that is why the Bible calls us all sons.

give us an inheritance and in the age to come can point to us as an example of His grace and goodness. Just stop and consider this for a minute.

There are some things you just have to settle. The most important one is “God is a good God”. When you read something you don’t understand start with the premise “God is a good God”. When something happens either to you or someone else start with the premise “God is a good God”. When someone is taken from you understand God did not need someone else in His choir. He is good and has good things for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 and Jeremiah 29:11.

Enjoy your Saturday and spend the day remembering how much you are blessed, loved, and set apart for a great purpose.

Blessings,

Gary

Mar

2009

Remembering All The Aspects Of Ministry

It’s been awhile since I’ve been in ministry to this degree and I’ve forgotten some of the things that go along with it.

Last weekend was great.

I had the privilege of spending a few hours on Saturday with faithful leaders from a church about an hour south of Colorado Springs. We talked about creating a culture of recognizing, calling out, equipping, and releasing the gifting of those entrusted to us into the body. Truly equipping the saints by investing in their lives naturally. Not a system or a program. If the future of the church is in the hands of these faithful few I feel good about the future.

Then I was back in the church we’ve been serving for the past several weeks on Sunday morning. Teaching at 9:00 and then leading worship at 10:00. Another great core of faithful people.

My heart is to serve a church for a season until we raise up teams and leaders then go on to the next place. Hopefully maintaining relationships and continuing to walk with them. On Sunday I thought to myself “moving on will be much harder than I expected”.

I’m beginning to fall in love with these people.

There is no doubt about my calling and I will be obedient to it. However It will be much harder than expected. Leaving should be hard. It means there is meaningful relationship happening.

Then Monday.

After feeling encouraged and energized by the ministry over the weekend . Feeling like the experiences and education I’ve been blessed to receive can be valuable to the kingdom. I forgot how Monday can be.

I was tired and allowed myself to be irritated and angry with very small things. Thus the status on Twitter and Facebook; “has a bad attitude”. Thank you, by the way, for the encouragement. Doing life without you all would be horrible. Your such a blessing.

So today I’m doing what I should’ve done yesterday. Today I will find strength and refuge in the Lord. Recharge with the Word and get ready for another great weekend. Continuing preparation for Easter. The best weekend of the year for Christians, and not just because of the hot cross buns.

Please pray we will communicate clearly the price Jesus paid for us all and get out of His way at the same time. It’s always the challenge.

Bless you all. Don’t grow weary of doing good and remain steadfast in the love of the Lord.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Mar

2009

Brady Boyd

What makes church work?

March 16th, 2009 by Brady Boyd

The sound system crashed Sunday morning at New Life during the 9am service and it did not bother God at all. How do I know? His presence was strong as ever, people worshipped, prayed and the Scriptures were taught. Of course, I like it when the sound system works, but I was reminded that God is not limited by technology and that most churches around the world operate just fine without any at all.

The sound system is fine now, but the Sunday morning snafu made me wonder how many people can tell the difference between hype and God’s presence, something us Charismatic s call “anointing.” We live in a wired society and we are bombarded with a symphony of sounds, instant messages, Facebook wall posts, Twitter tweaks and podcasts.

What happens when the wired world malfunctions? Can we still hear the “still small voice of God” when all is quiet, when the band stops playing, when the lights are not flashing and no one is in front of us leading the way? Do we need hype to worship or is worship all the hype we need?

Later, a BBC film crew asked me what makes church work around the world. I told them church was not about huge buildings or spiritual rock stars, but church works when all the simple ingredients are mixed together. There must be people who love one another. There must be prayer and focused worship of the living God. The Scriptures need to be taught and the Lord’s death and resurrection remembered with communion. People should get baptized at some point after their salvation and those with needs should have them met from the resources of those who have plenty at the moment.

I like our big building and great sound system, and I even like all the flashing lights and giant screens. I like the café, the bookstore, the Tent, the World Prayer Center, the Theatre, the Tag chapel and even the scary angel in the rotunda. But what I love most is God’s presence, the great people and the revelation that grace is all we need.

As the pastor of New Life, I hope we never substitute hype for worship or allow technology to determine our passion for His presence. Church works just fine whether the sound system does or not.

Brady Boyd

Mar

2009

David Wilkerson Today: Free Online Reading

Recently I have posted a warning to the church from David Wilkerson that we should all prayerfully consider.

Below are links to two of his books. you can get the books for a donation or download today. I assume this is a limited time offer. So don’t wait. David Wilkerson’s stuff is always worth the time.

God’s Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression

America’s Last Call

via David Wilkerson Today: Free Online Reading.

Faith

Silence

Walking Together

So True

The most important 48 minutes of your life?

To Find Him Where He Can Be Found.

I’m through with Christianity

Abundantly Blessed

Remembering All The Aspects Of Ministry

Brady Boyd

David Wilkerson Today: Free Online Reading

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