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Work out of rest

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him" (Psalm 62:5 NIV84). 

When I was younger I tended to rest when I was exhausted to the point of illness. I worked until I couldn't work any longer. Then, I rested because I had to. Many times it seemed that God forced me to rest by allowing my body or circumstances to fail me, so that rest was the only thing left to me.

As I've gotten older, I've learned a better rhythm. Rest should precede work.

This is the pattern that God intended for us, that our work should come out of having found rest in Him. But if we're not intentional about following this rhythm, the busyness of life will move us to action before we've found our rest in the Lord. 

We have to be deliberate about choosing to work out of rest. We have to make it a priority to live this new way.

My friend, Pastor Wayne Cordeiro, says "Schedule in your rest points first before your schedule fills up. God intended activity to come out of rest. Rest needs to come first."

This week, I'm spending time with my kids and grandkids in a big rental house in the Outer Banks. We scheduled this trip in January. The bigger our family gets the more complicated it is to find time on the calendar to be together. We have to really make it a priority. So, we are learning to schedule our "rest points" way out in advance.

When we work out of rest, we draw on the spiritual reservoir that Christ provides. Following God's rhythm we find joy and strength in our work, as we work according to His power. 

I'm resting this week, so I can hit the ground running next week!

Do more than survive

"And you who are left in Judah, who have escaped the ravages of the siege, will put roots down in your own soil and grow up and flourish" (Isaiah 37:31 NLT).

God spoke to the people of Jerusalem through the prophet Isaiah letting them know that it was time to do more than survive. It was a time to thrive. They had endured the siege of their city by the Assyrians. They had heard the threats of King Sennacherib against them and their God. They had humbled themselves and prayed. Even their king, Hezekiah, had torn his clothes and put on burlap. He lay on the floor of the Temple, spreading out the threatening letter from the Assyrian king before God, crying out for rescue.

And God answered. He not only rescued them from the Assyrian army, He promised them a season of blessing and prosperity.

Unfortunately, siege survivors have trouble returning to normal life. They've been in maintenance mode so long that they don't remember how to think ahead. They're so beat up that they're afraid to take a risk. Like a turtle in its shell, they're afraid to ever stick their necks out again.

I think that's why God gave them this encouraging word to go along with their rescue: "Put roots down, grow, and flourish!" People who have experienced starvation are afraid to even let go of the seed necessary to plant for new growth. Their fear paralyzes them, causing them to cling to the very seed that they need to release in order to live. They suffer from a kind of "survivor's syndrome."

According to the dictionary, Survivor's Syndrome is "a characteristic group of symptoms, including recurrent images of death, depression, persistent anxiety, and emotional numbness, occuring in survivors of disaster."

Psychologists have used this category to describe the symptoms of those in situations as varied as: holocaust survivors, veterans of war, cancer survivors and even those who have experienced downsizing and layoffs at their workplace. The thing they have in common seems to be that they thought they were going to die, but they didn't. So, they wonder, "Now what do we do?"

Our church has experienced seasons of siege. There have been times when we lost family members to death, times when we took significant risks and failed, times when members became disgruntled and left, times when a trusted leader betrayed us, times when we just thought we weren't going to make it. 

I still remember a time not too long ago when we had to walk away from a failed building project. I called our remaining leaders together (Many leaders left us during this season). 

I told them, "It looks like we're not going to die. It looks like the bleeding is over. I think our church is going to survive. So, since it appears we're going to live, let's start over! We planted this church with fewer than we have here tonight, so let's begin again!"

Those faithful few that gathered that evening stood and applauded. With smiles on their faces they looked back at me and shouted, "Yes! Let's begin again."

That was back in late 2006. Since then, we have sowed new seed and put down roots again. We have experienced amazing growth and God has blessed us with a new home. We are in a season of blessing now, but that old "survivor's syndrome" still grabs at our throats once in a while. It tries to choke off our faith and cause us to hold back and not want to risk.

Let's throw off thinking like survivors! We are more than that. We are victors in Christ! I believe God is telling us the same thing He told the Israelites.

Let's do more than survive. It's time to do more than survive at this house and at your house. It's time to thrive!

 

Stop texting God

"Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known" (Jeremiah 33:3 ESV).

"They all joined together constantly in prayer…" (Acts 1:14 NIV84).

Last year I finally bought a phone plan that included unlimited texting. I know, I hear you. I'm a little behind the curve. But I figured why do I need to type when I can talk? I mean, isn't that why the phone replaced the telegraph? No more tapping messages, just talk to each other.

However, people kept sending me text messages. On my old phone plan I had to pay for each one. It ticked me off!

"Stop texting me!" I would shout at my cell phone, whenever someone sent me a text. "That just cost me 50 cents!"

And then, after looking at the text, I sometimes couldn't even read the thing! Especially when one of my kids or a member of the younger crowd would text me. They used some kind of code.

If I succeeded in decoding the text, I'd be stumped as to how to respond. Should I just call? Or what if I tried to text them back? At the time, I had an older cell phone, so I had to use the numeric pad to find letters of the alphabet. What would've taken me seconds to say took minutes to punch. Frustrating.

Finally, I realized I was fighting a losing battle. Texting seems here to stay. I even upgraded to a phone with a mini-typewriter. I can text with the best of them now. I suppose I see the advantage, especially when you're wanting to communicate with someone who is a little long-winded (Of course, I'm not talking about you. I love talking to you), or you just want to let someone know you're running late or something.

I am concerned that people are taking this texting thing too far though. Have you seen people standing together texting each other? I don't get it. Why let technology come between us? I understand using it as a servant of communication, but when it creates distance rather than intimacy, I say, "Stop it!" Just talk to each other.

I'm observing this social distancing in our spiritual communication too. Believers get together to pray and then spend the whole time giving their prayer requests while leaving little time to actually pray. And these requests are often not even from their deepest area of need. Many tend to ask for prayers for distant acquaintances. "Please pray for my mother's brother-in-law's next door neighbor. I don't know him, but I heard that his dog is sick."

Prayer is a little scary to people in a hurry. We're afraid to slow down and really hear from God. It's especially terrifying to people who are afraid of true intimacy and authenticity. When we get face to face and knee to knee to pray together, something other-worldly happens. Prayer is the highest form of communication. It creates intimacy with God and with one another. 

So, let's stop texting God our short, shallow prayers. He invites us to "call" out to Him in prayer, to pour out our souls to Him. Let's determine to be a people devoted to praying long and deep prayers, prayers that expose our hearts to God and to one another. And let's devote ourselves to "constantly" praying together, really experiencing what it means to be the very body of Christ with Him as Head.

Having supper together

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:30 KJV).

"They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" (Acts 2:42 NIV84).

I've always heard it said that the "family that prays together, stays together." I think we should add breaking bread together to that prescription. I'm convinced that the family that eats supper together stays more healthy together.

I'm apparently not the only one who sees the value of having family meals together. According to author Miriam Weinstein:

"Eating ordinary, average everyday supper with your family is strongly linked to lower incidence of bad outcomes such as teenage drug and alcohol use, and to good qualities like emotional stability. It correlates with kindergarteners being better prepared to learn to read… Regular family supper helps keep asthmatic kids out of hospitals. It discourages both obesity and eating disorders. It supports your staying more connected to your extended family, your ethnic heritage, your community of faith. It will help children and families to be more resilient, reacting positively to those curves and arrows that life throws our way. It will certainly keep you better nourished. The things we are likely to discuss at the supper table anchor our children more firmly in the world. Of course eating together teaches manners both trivial and momentous, putting you in touch with the deeper springs of human relations." – Miriam Weinstein, The Surprising Power of Family Meals – How Eating Together Makes Us Smarter, Stronger, Healthier and Happier

There is even a national movement to encourage families to eat supper together. Columbia University has started a group called CASA – The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. They are the sponsors of National Family Meal Day, on the 4th Monday of September every year. Their website says:

“Whether you’re cooking a gourmet meal, ordering food from your favorite take-out place or eating on the go, rest assured that what your kids really want during dinnertime is YOU! Family meals are the perfect time to talk to your kids and to listen to what’s on their mind.  The more often kids eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.”

My wife and I have always led our family to have meals together at the table. No TV. No phones. Just family. We hold hands and say the blessing over the meal. We sit knee to knee and face to face, eating our food and discussing our day. We did this when our kids were small and when they were teens. Now, as grandparents we have dinner with our much larger family nearly every Sunday after church. I think it's made a huge difference.

As a pastor I also see the value in our church family eating supper together too. We see this habit in the first-century church as recorded in Acts. It says they were "devoted" to "the breaking of bread." It also says they had a daily practice of "breaking bread in their homes" together (Acts 2:46).

The early Christians understood that the church is not a building, it is a family. It is the family of God. And healthy families understand that they need to pray and eat together regularly.

Jesus Himself promises to come in and to "sup" with whoever answers His knock at the door. I like that. Jesus doesn't just offer to come and sit in the living room. No, He offers to come and sit at our supper table and eat with us.

Are you eating supper with the family?