The Positive Power of Discipline

Proverbs 12:1
“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.”

Discipline is a simple idea. You or someone else applies pressure to your life in order to bring about positive change. Get discipline, it's good.

Discipline comes in three flavours.
1. Self-imposed Challenges. Example: You choose to workout at the gym.
2. Fair Consequences. Example: You speed, you get caught, you receive a fine.
3. Unjust Hardship. Example: Someone with authority over you acts badly and you pay an undeserved price.

No matter what flavour your discipline, if you eat it up, it will grow you. Just because you didn’t choose the arena and method of your hardship doesn’t mean it can’t do you any good. God-discipline is potentially even better than self-discipline.

Here are a few thoughts on how to get the most out of discipline.

Don’t refuse the ugly flavours.
All discipline has an unpleasant taste (Heb. 12:11). Even the stuff we choose, like practicing an instrument or saving up for a purchase. It has an initial pleasure price tag that we must be willing to pay. As you go down the list of flavours (from self-imposed to unjust hardship), the taste gets worse!

No one likes flavour two. Punishment is unpleasant and usually humiliating. If however I take it like a good medicine it can heal me. If I can learn, I can grow. If I can grow, I can improve and succeed in life.

The third flavour, unjust hardship, is putrid! It often tastes so bad that people cannot stomach it and they get no good from this form of discipline at all. This is understandable but disappointing. If you are able to plug your nose and swallow, this ugly, ugly flavour can yield some amazing benefit.

Why? Because all discipline has positive potential. Even the stuff you do not deserve, like copping an injustice. It can yield a good harvest of righteousness, peace, holiness, maturity and much more. You see it in people like Victor Frankel, Nelson Mandela or Helen Keller. And you see it in lesser known people if you look. (Heb 12:11, James 1:3-4)

Don’t confuse the different flavours.
Many people fail to distinguish between flavours two and three. They presume that hardship and punishment must be the same thing, especially if God is involved. This is NOT true.

Think of it this way. Hardship is like the wind. Wind blows pointlessly until you raise a sail in it and then you have the possibility of movement. Unjust hardship is the same. This pointless flood of pain becomes an opportunity for growth (and even blessing) when you open your heart to God and let him use it for good. Ask God to do something positive with your hardship. Be patient and wait for it. That’s what it means to love discipline. (Prov. 12:1)

To experience hardship as discipline (and not just pointless pain), you need to surrender control to God. Flavour number three operates much like flavour number one (but it tastes completely different!). God uses hardship the same way we do when we go to the gym and lift weights for example. God can discipline us without punishing us in the very same way that we can discipline ourselves without having done something wrong.

One reason people hate the discipline of God is they fail to understand God’s heart when justice is delayed. Discipline is how God expresses his love in the midst of a troubled world. He turns hardships into useful episodes in our maturing lives. These painful seasons are to our spiritual muscles what weights at the gym are to our physical muscles. God takes control, if we let him, and it is good.

Self-discipline is excellent. God-discipline is better. Don’t be put off by the taste. Get discipline, it's good!

Questions:

• How do you exercise self-discipline? What victories have you had? What failures?
• Do you accept that discipline is not always “punishment”? How are they different?
• Do you agree that all discipline has positive potential? Why?

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Fixing Your Inmost Place

Psalm 51:6
“Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.”

David failed catastrophically. He got his neighbour pregnant, murdered her husband and moved her into his palace. He tried to keep it hidden but the crime was always before him (Ps. 51:3). Like a sinister stalker the truth of what he had done shadowed him constantly and took its toll.

As time passed it affected him physically (Ps. 32:3-4), emotionally (Ps. 51:8, 12), spiritually (Ps. 51:3-4, 11), psychologically (Ps. 51:5), domestically (2 Sam. 12:11-12) and vocationally (2 Sam. 12:17-18). It was an acid eating his soul. Eventually it all came out (2 Sam 12:1-13). Only then could the healing begin.

David’s world needed rebuilding. The initial site for that renovation was his “inmost place”. It is the same for you and for me.

Journey to Your Centre
Travelling inward can be a frightening experience. If you do not go there often enough the stuff you find will be unpleasant. It’s like cleaning the fridge at work and finding year old egg salad sandwiches and mould infested pies. Gross!

David’s inner world was mouldy, infested and dark. It was sick to the point that he prayed to God: “do not cast me from your presence”. He felt worthless and even wondered if God might take the Holy Spirit away from him (Ps. 51:11). Many of us have experienced this same inner darkness.

David and each of us need help.

Own Your Darkness
Before help comes there is a hard truth. You have to take the gross stuff (your spiritual equivalent of year old egg salad sandwiches) and bring it out into the open before God. David did this. “I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity” (Ps. 32:5). He confessed to God and to Nathan the prophet.

Confession is inviting God to listen in while you tell yourself the truth. And “truth” is exactly what God desires in your “inner parts” (Ps. 51:6).

David’s experience of confessing was so releasing that he invites everyone to pray the same way he did. If you do, he promises that “when the mighty waters” of judgement rise, they will not reach you (Ps. 32:6-7). Strange as it may seem the way to find God is to go inward and downward (to quote Parker Palmer).

Bring Your Smelly Offering
David’s poetry makes a shocking claim. Every orthodox worshipper in David’s world knew that God wanted unblemished sacrifices for worship. He required new born lambs, never-yoked Oxen, healthy blue-ribbon livestock. The demand was always for the freshest and the best. But suddenly David changes the rules. When it comes to human hearts, it is different!

“The sacrifices of God are a BROKEN spirit, a broken and CONTRITE heart” (Ps. 51:17).

Amazing! God wants me to bring my mouldy spirit and my maggot infested heart and give them to him in worship. He accepts this as an offering when I bring it with a deeply sorry attitude.

This is incredible good news because I have nothing else to bring really!

Welcome God’s Renewal
This journey inward to the dark centre and the hard work of bringing a smelly offering may take weeks and months. It may prove harder than we think. But it leads to a new and beautiful place. It is here, at the “inmost place”, that God teaches us wisdom (Ps. 51:6).

And with that wisdom, if we are willing to receive it, comes purity, security, joy, community, vocation and celebration – all of them abundantly restored (Ps. 51:11-15; 32:5-7).

Is it any wonder David says: “Blessed is the person whose sins the Lord does not count against him” (Ps. 32:2). Here is HOPE!

Questions
Have you experienced the release of confession?
How often do you take the journey to your "inmost place"? What practices help you do this?

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The Jealousy Principle

1 Samuel 18:9
“From that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.”

The Jealousy Principle: Jealous leaders shrink what they lead.

By putting their own interests first and sabotaging anyone who threatens them, jealous leaders diminish whatever they lead. Jealous leaders empty the talent pool of their organisations without even realising it.

King Saul, of Israel, made a good start but he finished very poorly. He made several bad decisions. One of his worst was choosing to envy young David, Jesse’s son.

David was impressive. He had musical gifts and a leader’s heart. He could play the harp, wield a sword and write poetry all in a day’s work. He stood out in battle and in the king’s court as a man of great value to the nation. The crowds loved him, the girls swooned over him and King Saul despised him. Sad really!

A modern psychologist would have some sort of label for Saul. He was not a well man. He could begin applauding David’s skill as a harpist and suddenly chuck a spear at him in a moment of jealous rage. The Bible says an “evil spirit” took hold of Saul. This behaviour condemned Israel to pointless civil strife for a long time.

How different history might have been if Saul had mentored David instead of trying to kill him. Imagine if David had received the support and backing of this initially competent King and if the two friends David and Jonathan (Saul’s son) had been left to enjoy friendship and cooperatively build the future nation. Instead Saul’s jealousy crippled his leadership and confounded the people.

We can nurture a jealous eye today, just like Saul. It is an infection that can take you by surprise when somebody in your organisation makes you feel insecure or threatened. Suddenly you want them gone. You watch them with envy and disdain. And if you act on that impulse you will shrink your organisation by much more than one person.

Jealous bosses (including parents and teachers) may not use a javelin in an attempt to skewer their competition, but there are other ways to stick it to an underling. Ego gets in the way and truly capable people are diminished. Whole enterprises fall.

Five questions to help cure a jealous eye:

• What does this person have (abilities, connections, possessions) that I want or fear loosing?
• What would be the Kingdom result if I elevated this person instead of crushing them?
• What am I insecure about and why?
• How can I change my self-talk?
• Is there something in my leadership history that is stirring up these unhelpful feelings and attitudes?

You can choose jealousy OR you can choose to coach, mentor, build-up and serve. You can hope that young up-start falls off the ladder OR you can position yourself to hold the ladder for her/him. If you choose the first you will shrink your charge. If you choose the second you will multiply the capacity of both yourself and your organisation. Beware the jealous eye!

Questions

• Where are you most tempted towards leadership jealousy?
• Have you ever been the target of this kind of jealousy? What did you learn? How did you escape.
• Please leave a comment. 

Can You Keep a Secret?

Proverbs 11:13 
“A gossip betrays a confidence but a trustworthy person keeps a secret.”

Secrets are not child's play, they are the stuff of life. At all cost, surround yourself with people who can keep secrets. But know the danger of secrets as well.

Bless you, if you can keep a secret!
I want (need) people like you in my life. Secrecy is a cocoon of opportunity. There are so many things in life that we need trustworthy people to help us address.

You can’t do any of these six things without the power of secrets:

• Process your dark stuff with a great counsellor
• Know true intimacy in a marriage
• Celebrate a special occasion for one you love and do it with genuine surprise
• Have adequate space to process a decision that will effect others
• Think through a complex problem or opportunity with a friend
• Act kindly with anonymity

Can you keep a secret? Bless you if you can because many secrets are good.

But, should you keep this or that particular secret?
Secrecy can also be a closet for sinister things.

Six secrets that don’t deserve to be kept:

• The secret that abuses
• The lie that confuses
• The covert injustice
• The clandestine affair
• The unacknowledged prejudice
• The ‘dirty little’ secret

In these situations, blow the whistle. When secrecy hides truth and fosters evil it is the responsibility of good people to shine a light in the darkness. Some secrets are bad.

You won’t have to keep secrets forever.
Secrecy is temporary. The Bible promises there will come a “day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ” (Rom. 2:16) and when we “shall see face to face” and “know fully” (1 Cor. 13:12). Good secrets won’t be needed, bad secrets won’t be tolerated.

Until then. Bless you if you can keep a secret and bless you even more if you know when not to!

Questions

• Have you experienced the hurt of betrayed confidence? Have you healed from that experience? What do you need to do to grow further or share that learning?
• Are you aware of any "secrets" that need light shed on them?
• What is gossip? How do you keep from participating in it?
• Please leave a comment.

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Who Owns the Politicians?

Psalm 47:8-9
“God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne … the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.”

Gaddafi (Libya) looks like he is finished. No sorrow there! Gillard (Australia) looks a little less secure this week than last week. She can’t seem to cop a break these days. Even the High Court is against her. Berlusconi (Italy) is “nauseated” by public life and wants out, or so the wire-tap transcripts say.

All these “kings of the earth” belong to God. Imagine that!

I read my bible this morning and this is what it said (Ps. 47:1)

“Clap your hands, all you nations:
Shout to God with cries of joy.
How awesome is the Lord Most High,
The great King over all the earth!”

That is a powerful statement of faith. It takes some courage to clap for God in Libya, Australia and Italy this morning (and most other places too). We live in a world of challenges and perplexities. Stabilising Libya’s new leadership is no small thing. Sorting out Australia’s immigration policies and fixing Europe’s economics are major challenges.

I respect just politicians who serve the people and give of their best in troubled times. But today I am reminded that “God reigns over the nations”. Today I want to clap for God and declare that he is my “refuge and strength, an ever-present help in time of trouble” (Ps. 46:1).

I wonder how often these “kings of the earth” remember that they “belong to God”. That is how Scripture positions all politicians. It is the frame of reference I bring to reading the news. This keeps me from too much worry. It prompts me to pray for politicians. And it calls ME to act for justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.

I noticed two other things this morning as I read Psalms 46 and 47.

This wonderful call to stillness (Ps. 46:10)

“Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

And this invitation to sing (Ps. 47:7)

“God is the King of all the earth;
Sing to him a psalm of praise.”

Here then, is our hope: The kings of earth belong to God! When you forget this, be still until you know again. And when you remember it, sing until others are stirred to join you.

Questions

• What do you worry about when you read the news? How do these Psalms encourage you?
• Do you find stillness and singing useful in the same way David did?
• Please leave a comment.

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What to Do When Misunderstood

1 Samuel 1:15
Hannah replied “I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman.”

How is it possible that our deepest devotion can look so shallow and even offensive to others? How can a woman crying out to God for help be mistaken for a wino by a kindly old priest?

Here’s how: Our motives are hidden. Our actions are in plain view. And every onlooker sees only what the angle of his vision lets him see. Result: a much higher likelihood of misunderstanding than most of us are prepared for.

Hannah is not the first or last to be misunderstood in her passion for God. She stands in a long and venerable line:

• David danced for God and his wife was disgusted as she watched (2 Sam. 6:14-16).
• The tribes living on the east side of the Jordan River built an altar of devotion to God. The tribes living on the west side thought it was an idol and the two factions nearly went to war over the misunderstanding (Josh. 22:24-27).
• Jesus healed the sick in the name of God and religious leaders called him a devil (Mk. 3:22).
• The Apostles stepped out of the upper room touched by the Spirit’s fire and wind and the crowds accused them of drunkenness, like Hannah (Acts 2:12-16).
• Paul shared the gospel and his opponents tried their hardest to discredit him (1 Thess. 2:1-16).
• I can add my name and I am sure that you can add yours!

So, when it happens to you be ready.

Don’t be surprised. People can’t see your heart. They can only judge your actions which they usually do before they have all the facts. It’s not fair, but it is life. And misunderstanding can come from the least expected places. For Hannah it was her priest and for David his wife who did not respect or understand their devotion.

Decide not to retaliate. It will hurt, so be slow to react. If there is truth in the criticism, accept it and change. But if the challenge is just wrong – as it was for Hannah – you need to speak up. Sometimes everything is quickly fixed (Hannah, Tribes of Israel) but other times the animosity goes deeper and the pain gets worse (David, Jesus). Whatever happens learn, grow and keep going forward. Every criticism is an opportunity to flush selfishness out of our systems and to double our resolve to walk with God.

Dial up your passion. That’s what David did. It is what Hannah, Jesus and Paul did. You can do it too. Sometimes it will be wise to change the way you express your devotion, but you must not reduce your passion for God. Do not let other people determine your spiritual ceiling.

Spiritual devotion is not a spectator sport! Unlike football, devotion to God gives very little pleasure to those who watch but do not participate. Ironically we’re not talking here about people with no spirituality. Sane worship can inspire unbelievers (1 Cor 14:24-25). We are talking about people with faith: Hannah’s priest, David’s wife, Israel’s brothers, Jesus’ religious peers, the Apostles' congregation and Paul’s colleagues. That’s why misunderstanding hurts. It often comes from people who should be participating and celebrating with you. And that’s why we need to be ready in advance.

Questions

• When did you last experience misunderstanding? How did you react? What would you do differently? Or the same?
• What strategies have you learned for dealing with the hurt of being misunderstood?
• Please leave a comment.

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Just Let God Be God

1 Samuel 5:3 
“When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord!”

Don’t trifle with the God of Israel. He cannot be domesticated and he will not be subjugated. He does not share equal time with other gods. He does not consult for a fee. His expectation is simple, just let him be GOD.

A Touch of Irony (1 Samuel 5)
Dagon was the fish-god of the Philistines, probably the chief god of their pantheon. When the Philistines (mortal enemies of Israel) captured the Ark of God in a notorious battle (1 Sam 4) they placed it in Dagon’s temple in Ashdod. It was meant to be a prize of their triumph.

Less than 24 hours later when Dagon’s priests entered the temple, they found the fish god fallen off his pedestal, face to the ground in front of God’s Ark. They lifted their humiliated god back onto his perch. Embarrassing!

The scene was repeated the very next day only this time Dagon’s hands and head were broken off. Just his fishy torso remained; an inert mass prostrate before the majestic symbol of the living God. Philistia panicked.

Lesson #1: You can’t put God on your trophy shelf and celebrate your conquest. He is not a collectable. God, who revealed himself in Jesus, overwhelms all other gods. If you welcome him into your life, everything else must bow down. If you are in a workplace, a family or a season of your life where it seems like God has been downgraded and shoved into a corner with other competing gods, don’t despair. Wait. Something is going to break. Heads are going to roll.

A Touch of Agony (1 Samuel 4)
Prior to this Dagon episode, it was Israel who needed to learn to let God be God. They presumed they could manoeuvre God’s power to achieve their own ends. Wrong!

When the battle was not going well, some bright sparks in Israel decide to bring the Ark of God to the front lines of war. Things went from bad to worse and the Ark was captured. All Israel went into mourning. It was as if God had died. Their offense was great and their pain was deep.

Lesson #2: You can’t put God on a leash and make him do tricks for you. He is not on your side! God is on God’s side. You and I are welcome to join him on his terms. But don’t suppose that God is some sort of pit-bull you can put on a lead to help you get your way.

Reject the small god of culture. Dismiss all notions of “god on the shelf” and “god on the leash”. Let God be God. Untamed, unboxed, unpredictable!

Questions

• When are you most tempted to domesticate God? How does this express itself in your life?
• Do you have a personal story about God that illustrates a contemporary touch of “irony” or a touch of “agony”?
• Please leave a comment.

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Bring “Satan” Back

1 Thessalonians 2:18 
“We wanted to come to you – certainly I, Paul, did, again and again – but Satan stopped us.”

“Satan stopped us”, says Paul. Now where would you use language like that in the coming week? Could you tell your teacher: “I wanted to finish my essay but Satan stopped me”? I wouldn’t recommend it. Could you explain to your manager: “I wanted to make that sale but Satan got in the way”? Best update your résumé before you do. Talk like this is quirky.

Many Christians treat Paul’s words literally, but very few talk like Paul anywhere but in church. And those who do – blaming this and that on Satan – embarrass the rest of us. Overt talk of “Satan” is odd. For most secular people devils belong on the same intellectual shelf as leprechauns and fairies.

I lament this. Not because I want to use the word “Satan” or blame things on “devils” more frequently. I don’t actually. But what I do want is to talk about the power and presence of evil in every day life. I want to name the elephant in the room.

People may scoff. They probably argued with Paul: “Satan? Don’t be silly, you just planned poorly or maybe it was simply bad luck. No need to invoke fantasies”. But Paul is convinced that something more is going on in the world. Something that opposes God’s purpose and that works to extinguish love in every life. (Eph. 6:12)

I share Paul’s conviction. I do not believe that injustice is simply bad luck or that violence is poor planning. I reject the notion that better politics, more education and good psychology can make everything right. There is something else going on in the world. I can’t explain it fully (nor does the bible by the way) but it is there. And I want to talk about it.

How do we bring this conviction into everyday conversation? How do we put the reality of evil back into secular vocabulary? Here is my initial list of ideas. I would be pleased to hear your thoughts as well.

Asking provocative questions. “Do you ever think evil has a mind of its own?” “Do you believe evil in the world is more than just choice and chance?” Be prepared for a conversation. It could get interesting. 

Risking a confession. “I think I experienced evil once …” “Sometimes I think evil works more like a person than an inert force. What do you think?”

Stating a conviction. “I think evil is working against us here.” You can’t say this if you are buying your third Mercedes and they don’t have the colour you want, but you may be spot on if your disrupted project is transporting food to starving children.

Talking systems. “They are all good people, but there is something evil that takes over when they get together.” “I think that company/regime/group is serving an evil bigger than itself.”

Invoking tradition. “I was brought up to believe in Satan. When I hear/see that (fill in your choice of evil) I realise I still believe it. What do you believe?”

Conversation about evil must lead to redemptive outcomes. There is no point spiritualising the problem if we are not ready to offer spiritual solutions. Talking about evil in this way is a call to pray and to act with God. It rests on the conviction that God is at work against evil. 

Christians sometimes fail the wider culture when our talk of “Satan” has more to do with testing each other’s orthodoxy than confronting the world’s deep need together. It does not matter to me if people see it differently. What matters is if people don’t see it at all. When evil hides, we are all in danger.

I suggest we bring “Satan” back into the public conversation. If not by name, at least by our attention to the anti-God forces alive and well on planet earth. There is an elephant in the room. Let’s not allow him to hide among us any longer.

Questions

• How do you talk about evil in secular contexts? What strategies have helped you?
• What kinds of Christian talk about evil make you cringe?
• Please leave a comment.

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Wisdom for People Pleasers

1 Thessalonians 2:3 
“We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.”

People matter. But sometimes, people and their approval matter too much. I can get tangled up in the people-pleasing game wanting others to like me and applaud my efforts. This becomes counter productive. I need a different strategy.

PROBLEM
Chronic people-pleasing diminishes the soul.  If we are always trying to make others happy we become smaller people and we loose our way. Our capacity shrinks and our purpose shrivels.  

Aesop’s 6th Cent. B.C. fable makes the point (Harvard Classics, 1909-14).

The Man, The Boy and The Donkey
A man and his son were once going with their donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: “You fools, what is a donkey for but to ride upon?”

So the man put the boy on the donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: “See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides.”

So the man ordered his boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn’t gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: “Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along.”

Well, the man didn’t  know what to do, but at last he took his boy up before him on the donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said: “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor Donkey of yours—you and your hulking son?”

The man and boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey’s feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned. “That will teach you,” said an old man who had followed them: “Please all, and you will please none.”

Reacting to every criticism feeds a vicious circle of defeat. Of course I need encouragement, but craving affirmation makes me vulnerable to indecision and folly. The harder I try to please the crowds the more complicated it becomes. It is like drinking salt water to quench thirst – the problem escalates.

SOLUTION
Choose an audience of ONE. It is much easier (and wiser) to please one God than many friends. In 1Thessalonians Paul is writing to people who have criticised him. His comment is wise. "We are not trying to please you but God." That must be my objective also. 

Someone may be thinking, it is hard to please God and to know what God wants. Not true. Most of God’s will is plain in the Bible, in common sense, in the community of believers, in the history of the faith, in the witness of the Spirit, in the place of prayer, in the book of nature and in the promise of Jesus’ abiding presence.

If none of that helps initially, I submit that it is still easier to work out what God wants than to please everyone else. And even if I fail God, I am still in a better place. God’s forgiveness is sweeter than the highest praise of people.

Live from your HEART. Paul was keen to have God judging his heart rather than people judging his actions. Me too! People rank us by our outward achievements and rate us on our performance but they don’t know the whole story. If they can’t see our motives they may very well misinterpret our actions.  

We are blind to each other’s history, ignorant of dreams and unaware of fears that lurk beneath the surface. We are too quick to judge and slow to discern. God however is attentive to our entire story, both public and private, from beginning to end. So, keep a pure heart and let God (not people) score your progress.

What peace to live for an audience of one, the Holy One. What joy to have my heart assessed in heaven when my actions on earth draw disapproval from others. Today I choose not to be a people-pleaser. And tomorrow I’ll have to make the same choice again …

Questions

• In what circumstances is it harmful to please people and when is it wise? What is a people pleaser?
• How do you battle the people pleaser syndrome?
• Please leave a comment.

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Obsessed With God’s Will

Luke 22:42 
Jesus: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Jesus was obsessed with God’s will. His single purpose was to obey it. He spoke about God’s will constantly and prayed for it repeatedly. Here are a few of the more obvious examples:

• John 4:34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”
• John 6:38 “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”
• John 8:28 “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.”
• John 9:31 “God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.”
• Mark 3:35 “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
• Matthew 6:10 “Our Father … your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

This passion never abates. As Jesus prepares for arrest, torture, trial and death he remains singularly committed to the purposes of God. Nothing else matters. He hopes (as any of us would) that his cup of terror might be taken away, but he stands firm: “Not my will, but yours be done”.

I too want to be obsessed with God’s will. I want obedience to be "my food", as it was for Jesus. BUT, I am NOT Jesus. Didn't he have an advantage over us? What I find striking about the Gethsemane prayer is this, if he did have an advantage he didn't employ it here. He wrestles. He sweats. He agonizes. And still he obeys.

His prayer is a helpful model. It demonstrates two essential exercises for training in obedience. Think of these as spiritual work-out routines.

An Extraordinary Resolution. Jesus prays: “Not my will, but yours!” It is like a stake in the ground. I need to pray the same declaration. Until I do, my natural impulse will be to plead the anti-prayer: “My will be done!” That is a prayer to another god. It is idolatry. It needs to be beaten down in self denial. When my ego can lay down its claim to sovereignty, then I am ready to explore God’s will. I dare not think this is easy, but I know it is right.

An Ordinary Conversation. “If you are willing”, implies: “Are you?” Jesus opens a conversation with God. There is a space here for wrestling with God and discovering his specific intent. Even for Jesus, obedience is a dialogue. Don’t race through the prayer too quickly. Jesus spent much of the evening battling. The wrestle is not a waste of time or even a shadow of disobedience. The painful wrestle is part of the posture of obedience. God does not seek to crush our spirits, but to align them with his.

Obedience is like a muscle. You need to work it to grow it. Resolving and Conversing are spiritual weight-lifting exercises. As we practice in the little things we build strength for the big tasks. Jesus was able to do God’s will in the closing hours of his life because he had been practicing his whole life long. Even when the burden of obedience was so great that he sweat drops like blood, he still did not falter. His disciples, on the other hand, failed for lack of training.

Today is a good day to begin an obedience workout. Your challenge is these two exercises: Resolve (Not my will!) and Converse (If you are willing?). Repeat them many, many times. Become obsessed!

Questions

• How do you practice renouncing your will and aligning with God's will? Has it cost you?
• What other actions help you to obey God consistently?
• Please leave a comment. 

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Cry Loud and Long for Justice

Luke 18:7-8 
“And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? … I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Before you read the next paragraph of this blog, cry to God for justice. Ask him to rain down his righteousness upon the world. Ask for his mercy and peace to flow like a river!

Do you think God heard you? Do you think it matters what you just did? Did you actually pray for justice? Will you do it again? Does God care if you do or don’t?

All those questions are addressed in Luke 18:1-8. For Jesus they are all to be answered “YES”. But he tells this story because he fears that his disciples – both then and now – will fatigue and give up praying for justice. He knows us well.

If you have been following news of the devastating famine in East Africa your heart is no doubt broken. As new statistics roll in we get overwhelmed and fatigued. Are you still praying for God to act justly?

If you are paying attention to the riots in London you probably feel shocked and perhaps anxious. The contagious mayhem and violence is frightening. Are you crying to God for justice?

Frankly all the pain makes you question if God is ever going to answer. The problems are huge and you start to wonder if praying is useless. Some reading this may have given up praying already. Why bother?

And that is the point of Jesus’ story. If you are beginning to feel God is inattentive, uncaring and aloof it is no reason to quit praying. Rather it is a reason to pray harder.

The judge in the parable was a blighter! He “neither feared God nor cared about people”. For a long while he refused to do his job and address the women’s case. But she didn’t stop pleading. She badgered him until she got satisfaction. Her plight drove her to be more insistent not less. Join her!

Heaven is just. All the injustice is on earth. But until God acts, entreat the eternal courtroom with dogged insistence. Go to God as if you were this women’s lawyer. Pray harder, louder and longer. Knock on heaven’s door with indignation and expectation.

According to Jesus, justice IS coming and God WILL bring it. The only question is, will Christians still be expecting it, praying for it and working towards it when he comes. Will the Son of Man “find faith on the earth?”

Questions

• What helps you pray when it feels pointless to do so?
• How does news of injustice affect you? How do you counteract the fatigue of too much bad news?
• What other insights about prayer do you see in this story?

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When Can I Stop Forgiving?

Luke 17:4-5
“If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent’, forgive him.” The Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

Jesus teaching on forgiveness seems hard. Even the disciples upon hearing this were incredulous. Can you really keep on forgiving someone who keeps on failing? Should you even try?

The principle at work here is abundance. God’s way is to lavish us with kindness. He does not count our sins but rather erases them. Our forgiveness towards other people is meant to mirror God’s grace. The number of times is not the point, our attitude is. God invites us to practice extravagant forgiveness.

I make five observations on forgiving someone who sins against you repeatedly.

1. Be straight with your critique. The verse just before this one says: “If your brother sins, rebuke him, if he repents forgive him” (Lk. 17:3). You have a mandate to confront the wrong. The goal of forgiveness is renewed relationship and changed behaviour. Rebuke cannot be overlooked in the cycle of forgiveness. And often rebuke will take forms that ensure abuses do not continue. Forgiveness is not a license for ever deepening sinful behaviour. Extravagant forgiveness is the path to life.

2. Ask God for supernatural capacity. You can’t forgive like Jesus wants you to in your own human strength. You really need God’s help. I think that is why the disciples respond immediately with: “Increase our faith!” (Lk. 17:5) I feel the same need. I need God's Spirit to help me and Jesus' cross to inspire me in order to forgive like this.

3. It is OK to be exasperated with the situation. Jesus certainly was (Mk. 3:5, 8:12). He repeatedly showed emotion when those around him were hardhearted and unchanging in their ways. Don’t let that exasperation lead you to sin. But don't pretend forgiveness is easy either. 

4. Adopt the posture of a servant. Think of each offer of forgiveness as an act of obedience to God. If I am a bond-slave of Jesus, in a sense, my offer of forgiveness is no more than a days work for my Master. I am just doing my duty (Lk. 17:7-10). Best not to count the cycles of forgiveness. I think 7 times (and elsewhere 77 times, Mt. 18:2) means “again and again”, the same way a servant would attend to his chores. 

5. Believe that God will not ask us to bear more than we can endure. We usually want to set a limit on our forgiveness. God asks us to be open ended with our patience and love. He knows this is how healing occurs, slowly. We fear this approach because we think we won’t be able to endure or we reject it because it seems unfair. God knows better. And, he promises not to abandon us.

Forgiveness is hard work. It is servant's work. Its purpose is to make new people out of broken ones and it requires supernatural capacity. O Lord, increase our faith!    

Questions

• Why is this kind of forgiveness so hard?
• What would you add to this list of insights about forgiving others?
• Please leave a comment.

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Let the Weak Say I Am Strong

Judge 6:15 
“Gideon replied, ‘but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.’ The LORD answered, ‘I will be with you …’”

Contemporary culture despises weakness. God does not! In fact, God seems to relish the opportunities that weakness presents. He uses weak people in weak situations. He will use you if you allow him.

Gideon is no Samson (Judges 13). He is not courageous like Deborah (Judges 4), or clever like Ehud (Judges 3). He whines, worries and procrastinates. He doesn’t have the fortitude to stand up for his convictions in the daylight and he asks God for sign, after sign, after sign. You wouldn’t call Gideon impressive. As he himself sums it up, he is the weakest member of the weakest clan in Israel. YET, God uses him powerfully.

There is something about vulnerability and disadvantage that sets the stage for mighty acts of God. When we are weak the Spirit helps us (Rom 8:26), Jesus empathises with us (Heb 4:15) and God’s power is made perfect (2 Cor. 12:9). When you see a weak person, do not despise or reject them. Christ was weak.

If you can get rid of your weakness do so. I am not applauding character flaws or laziness. But if your weakness is forced on you, don’t despair. A disheartening inadequacy may prove to be the start of something unexpected and God intended. Beyond each cross there is an empty tomb.

Do NOT assume that your weakness is:

• Primarily a limitation
• Unique to you
• A surprise to God
• An end to your dream
• A disqualification
• An embarrassment to those who love you
• A roadblock for God
• Permanent (factor in eternity)

God’s word to Gideon is life giving: “Go in the strength you have ... I will go with you!” (Judges 6:14-16). That is God’s word to you and me today. Grasp it and live.

Questions

• What weakness do you need to surrender to God?
• How have you experienced God’s power in your frailty?
• Please leave a comment.

Enjoy one of my favourite songs: "What the Lord has done in me"


(If video does not load paste link in your browser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4H6Uv7BI7I)

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Putting Legs on Your Dream

Joshua 18:3

“Joshua said to the Israelites: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?”

I like to-do lists. They help my productivity. But the least effective dot-points on those lists are the ones that name a whole project and not a manageable action-step. Examples:

• Visit Africa
• Write a book
• Learn Italian

That is what Israel was doing and it stymied them. They had a to-do list that looked like this:

• Take possession of the land
• Live faithfully for God

A great list, but nothing happened! The to-do list was actually a wish-list.

What big dream has God given you? Is it getting traction? Have you dreamed but never acted. Maybe you have talked about:

• Learning to read New Testament Greek
• Doing a mission trip
• Planting a church
• Starting a prayer cluster
• Leading a small group
• Changing your career
• Starting some new ministry
• Taking on a leadership role

God may be speaking Joshua 18:3 to you: “How long will you wait before you begin …?” Don’t stay stuck. Consider these five avenues of advance.

1. Decide the “next action”. Put it on your to-do list. If you can reduce the mega-project to one actionable first step (less than 30 minutes) you are on your way. Use this list to help you get started:

• Information? Is the first step a Google search, a phone call or time to read a book?
• Resources? Is there a tool you need to acquire or a work space you need to create?
• Support? Do you need to recruit someone’s help?
• Skill? What do you need to learn?
• Motivation? Do you need to listen to a DVD, go to a seminar or talk to a pastor?
• 2 hours? For some projects you can just put time in your diary, sit down and begin.

2. Relive the dream. Go back to the reason for the project. Remind yourself why this matters. When Israel remembered that the conquest of Canaan was actually God’s promise, they became engaged with vigour again.

3. Examine your emotional responses. Is there a sub-conscious barrier? What are you fearful of? What can you not let go of? What are you stressed about? Be honest about your emotions.

4. Seek wise counsel. Find someone with experience, buy them lunch and let them talk. Tell someone your dream and ask them to follow-up on your progress. Make yourself accountable.

5. Organise firm deadlines and great rewards. People remain motivated when they experience progress. Set targets and celebrate at intervals as your project unfolds.

Don’t procrastinate on God’s best for your life. What dream has he given you? “How long will you wait before you begin …?”

Questions

• In what area are you most likely to procrastinate?
• Is there an outstanding dream that you need to address today?
• What would you add to these five avenues of advance?
• Please leave a comment.

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Who Will Help the Next Amy Winehouse?

Proverbs 9:13

“Folly sits at the door of her house … calling out to those who pass by … ‘Stolen water is sweet, food eaten in secret is delicious!’ But little do they know ...”

The news of Amy Winehouse’s death is heart breaking. Young people aren’t meant to die like this. I feel so sorry for her parents and all those who loved her. Who is next? Can anything be done to stop it?

I know she made bad choices. But that doesn’t make this tragedy any easier. Her addiction “took hold of her” and she just couldn’t shake it. Maybe you have felt a force like that too. It doesn’t have to be drugs. The bible calls this strange coercion “folly”.

The author of Proverbs pretends that both WISDOM and FOLLY are people and then writes a very penetrating poem based on that idea. Imagine if Wisdom lived on one side of the street and folly on the other. As you walk by each day they both call to you: “Are you confused about life? Don’t know what it all means? Come eat with me!” And every day, you must respond - wisdom or folly (Prov. 9:1-18).

This poem makes me think about bigger forces at work. The Apostle Paul says: “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against … the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces”. That is what Proverbs 9 depicts as well.

Of course we are all accountable. If we live stupid, we pay a price. But that is not the whole picture. There is more going on here. There is a fight for your soul. The world we live in is a spiritual place! Consider the poem.

Lady Folly’s Front Door

She sits on the front porch

   of her house on Main Street,

And as people walk by minding

   their own business, calls out,

"Are you confused about life, don't know what's going on?

   Steal off with me, I'll show you a good time!

   No one will ever know—I'll give you the time of your life."

(Prov 9:14-17 Message)

Fun, fun, fun! But once inside, once addicted, the pain begins.

Lady Folly’s House of Horrors

She says …

“Stolen water is sweet;

   Food eaten in secret is delicious!”

But little do they know that the dead are there,

   that her guests are in the depths of the grave.

(Prov. 9:17-18 NIV)

What starts as fun, ends in a house of horrors. I wish we could just board-up Folly’s front door. But we can’t. What we can do, however is stand at Wisdom’s front door and help her! We can raise our voices, we can pray.

Is there someone you should call on today? Are you meant to be someone’s voice of wisdom NOW? Are you meant to “add years to their life” (Prov. 9:11)? Ask God to prompt you. Think about “at risk” people you know (or knew). Maybe you can keep the next Amy out of tomorrow’s newspapers!

Questions

• Prov. 9:10 says: "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". What does that mean to you?
• How would you define folly? How do you fight it?
• Please leave a comment

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