We need a bona fide, otherwise unexplainable move of the Spirit desperately among us & in our churches but it waits on the other side of our rediscovery of what saints of previous generations called tarrying before the Lord. I just don’t think He’s much into instant messaging.
We no longer wait on the Lord. We leave the Lord to wait on us. I do not say this with condemnation as I have learned almost everything the hardest possible way but I often hear people say they awaken in the AM & scroll through social media while their head’s still on the pillow.
I just have 3 words to say to that:
what the heck???
The God who spoke all creation into existence by the mere force of His voice wants to speak to His people. He wants to be with us each in the secret places. Wants to tell us the truth before the world hits us with lies.
I don’t know any other way to say this and I’m aware this makes me sound like the worst curmudgeon but the best part of serving God is actually God himself. Being with Him alone. We’ve lost this. We think the best part is Him equipping us to smack down our theological opponents.
I don’t believe the Spirit will move powerfully among us individually or corporately until we learn to still ourselves before Him. To give Him our most precious limited resource: our time. To not just drive thru but dine with Christ in the Scriptures. Pray.Anyway, good AM, y’all.
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You know how you sometimes can’t articulate a season of your life till you begin coming out of it? I’m having that experience. I feel like I’m waking out of a long winter’s night that began with the death of my beloved brother 18 months ago & began wrapping up about 1 month ago.
It was characterized by so much mourning (multiplied with the death of our 5 year old cutest-thing-ever bird dog), bone-deep exhaustion & increasingly unbearable physical pain. I couldn’t write. I could study & prepare messages but not write. I tried hard but nothing would come.
I didn’t have the energy to garden. My body was racked with too much pain to fool with my vines. Got so down about that, I couldn’t even go look at them. I didn’t have energy for complicated relationships or conflict.
This is a fairly niche tweet to any of you who are heads of ministries and nonprofits or are long time pastors of a church and you are nearing or well within retirement age. Assume that those who are working for you are wondering what your plans are. Don’t leave them hanging.
Denial is not only unhealthy for you, it is extremely unfair to those who work for you. We who are in Christ ought not fear facing natural decline. We can say all we want that we still have the energy of a teenager and the gifts and calling of God to stay in the lead but for most
it’s simply not reality & sometimes we can be the last to know. Do you have trustworthy people with the guts to tell you when it’s time to transition if even just a little at a time? Refusal to think about/talk about it signals that our identity is in our position, not Christ.
After your graciousness, I’ll share a couple of good recipes with y’all in a thread. I have to admit when someone has me beat and my friend Jan Morton’s southern cornbread dressing surpasses mine. The best, most consistent recipe for it I’ve ever tasted. granjansjoy.com/2016/11/dressi…
This is my high school boyfriend’s mother’s (lol) recipe for chocolate pecan pie. Makes two so, of course, half the recipe if you’re only making one. It’s absolutely fantastic. The alternative at the bottom is mine. My problem is, I think everything is better with cream cheese.
On keeping our sanity (and whatever is left of our relationships) here on X-Twitter or whatever the heck it is until we can’t take it anymore. (Which admittedly may be today.)
Yet another person I really enjoy following left this platform yesterday. This on the heels of one of
the kindest, most gracious, gentle-hearted individuals I know being driven off here last week or so. What a shame. I’ll quickly interject here that we will be held accountable by God, whether we believe in him or not, for the way we treat people including people on social media.
So, a few thoughts on making the best of a place getting worse:
1. Avoid just coming here for a fight. If we hate the constant contentiousness on here, we have to ask ourselves how often we feed it. If we love the constant contentiousness on here, we probably need therapy.
When I was in my late 20s, the Lord began to teach me a very simple but life-altering practice. What did I wish I had in him but lacked? “Ask me for it.” I was 27 when I sat in the classroom of a Bible doctrine teacher who loved the Scriptures more than he loved his next meal.
And this was no small man. He loved his next meal. I couldn’t even identify what it was at first. I got in my car after class and cried out to the Lord, I don’t know what that was but I want it!
“Ask me for it.”
I did and did and did and did. Still do. And he gave it to me.
I wanted to want what Jesus wanted but my heart was so malformed and my desires so deceitful that I wanted what would destroy me.
“Ask me for it.”
I did and did and did and did and did. Still do. Though the flesh and Spirit will still war within me till I see Christ’s face,
Something kinda dear happened yesterday. Several days ago, I came into my office and my assistant had printed out an email that had come for me from a very gracious pastor from my longtime faith tradition. I took it home and left it out for Keith to read but forgot to show him.
I was at the sink in our bathroom washing my face, getting ready for bed when he walked in holding the letter with tears streaming down his face. “I needed this so badly,” he said in broken words. “I’ve hated them so much.” Grace him for that. It’s been a lot for my family.
It’s much better now but Keith’s health crisis delayed him grappling with it fully. Also, you know how most of us are. Mess with us but don’t mess with our family. We’ll come out swinging.
As I walked out the door yesterday to work, Keith said, “The man left contact information.