by Chad Lewis on August 27, 2008
As we gathered last week in the early hours to pray as a family of believers, we heard one of our pastors teach for 10 minutes on the Lord’s Prayer. As pastors, we took between 10 and 15 people each and led our groups through the movements of the Lord’s prayer.
As I led my group, my heart was moved by the beauty of how this prayer proceeds and how Jesus in His graciousness gave it as an example. The thing is, I’ve used this model many times before, but something new was impressed on my heart. I would like to spend the next several weeks walking through the progression of the prayer in this blog.
The first statement in the prayer is, “Our Father in heaven…” What struck me anew was the thought that we are to remember before we ever come to God with our needs. God does command that we bring our concerns before Him, but before we do that, isn’t it needed that we remember who we are praying to?
So we say, “Our Father” and we remember who it is that we are praying to. We remember that we once were not a people and now we are a people of God’s own possession (1 Peter 2:9). We once were members of the domain of darkness and now God has not only rescued us, He has made us beloved children! He is our Father and He cares for us more than we could ever dream or imagine. He has plans for His children and He is always good and He always knows what is best.
As we enter our times of prayer, we need to remember who God is and what He has done. He is the caring Father and He calls us to boldly come into His presence (Hebrews 4:14-16). The rest of our prayer will flow from the realization that God is our Father and that He hears our prayers.
by Chad Lewis on August 14, 2008
Suffering with a 103.1 fever, I contemplated the brevity of life this week. Though the fever has passed and I am recovering, it is easy to be reminded how short life is and how weak we truly are. One of my spiritual heroes is Oswald Chambers. Though I differ with a few of his theological views, his writings and life have been an inspiration to me. Oswald lived a full life and died suddenly in his early 40’s from a ruptured appendix.
As I laid in bed, I thought about my life. What if I only lived until I was 40. The reality is, I am not guaranteed my next breath. James 4:13-16 says that we are a mist that appears for a little while and vanishes.
But, if I had but five and a half years to live, I wonder what I would do differently today? It doesn’t matter what I would do tomorrow, because my gift of procrastination allows me to always see tomorrow as a day away. So what would I do today?
Some things I wouldn’t change. I would still hug Ginger and Thomas everyday after work. I would still help out with the house chores and work on my house. I would still seek to know people and do my job well.
But some things would change. Slight as they might be, some things would change and I’m seeking to change them today.
I would pray a little more. I would print out some prayer requests and at down times, I would pray instead of catching a witty video on youtube. I would be more missionally minded concerning my neighborhood and what that will look like as we begin a missional community at our home next week. I would be more mindful of the brevity of life and seek God’s face with more fervency knowing that anything of eternal significance must come from His hand. I would be sad to leave my family, but I would begin longing for home a little more each day – my eternal home with my Savior and King.
All of these things have been slight changes for me today. I’m hoping to stay disciplined, by God’s grace, and see some of these stick with me for the long haul. What would change for you?
by Chad Lewis on August 6, 2008
Woven throughout the New Testament is the beautiful reality that those who are in Christ now have a new identity. We don’t “do” things to earn anything or to make us anything. Who we are drives what we do and this is the amazing reality of the Gospel.
One of our new identities is that we have been adopted into a family. You might read that statement and say, “Yeah, I’ve known that since I was a kid.” But knowing something and living in the reality of it are two different things.
An Acts 29 pastor, Jeff Vanderstelt, writes, “We are God’s family and this means that we are His children who are adopted and fully accepted and loved. We don’t do good works to be justified. We do them because we ARE justified.”
So what does this mean for your life? As you enter this week, how might you love better if you began to view the Christians in your midst as your family?
I know for me, I gladly sacrifice with joy for my wife and son, but it is a different story when I step out of the context of my “immediate” family. When we begin to live in the reality that our family is much larger than we can imagine and that our family is for eternity, we might have a shift in focus.
Families eat together, play together, share financial burdens, surround each other with love, and the list goes on and on. As we do this, the world will see our love for one another. Francis Schaeffer writes, “…without true Christians loving one another, Christ says the world cannot be expected to listen, even when we give proper answers.” He goes on to write that we should work hard to give honest and helpful answers, but he concludes this thought by saying, “But after we have done our best to communicate to a lost world, still we must never forget that the final apologetic which Jesus gives is the observable love of true Christians for true Christians.”
Read John 1:12-13 and Ephesians 4:11-32 and ask God to reveal to you how you have neglected building up your family in love and what you need to do in order to better love and sacrifice for your family.
by Chad Lewis on July 23, 2008
“The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.”
A.W. Tozer wrote this in the preface of The Pursuit of God. As I reflect this afternoon, I am convicted of my inability to stay centered on the fact that the main goal of my life is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. I can only enjoy God if I know Him. How do we get to know Him? God reveals Himself to us in His Word. How often do I approach the Scriptures as something to be understood so I can teach them to others instead of seeking to grow in intimacy with the Father? How often do I open the Bible in order to check off the list of “to dos” for the day? Sadly enough, this is how I can easily operate.
After such realizations in the past, I would beat myself up and just try harder, but I don’t feel like this is the proper route to go. My motivation to seek God must come from something greater than some mustered up self-will. I need to repent and confess my sin before God and others. I need to ask God to help me because I am in desperate need. Then I need to preach the Gospel to myself.
How can preaching the Gospel to myself help me seek God? I must remember who God is, what He’s done, and who I am. God is holy. He is good, perfect and always right. I am a sinner and I am deserving of Hell because of my rebellion against God. God has brought me from the domain of darkness and death and adopted me to be part of His family. With such great love that I cannot imagine, God has wiped my slate clean and given me a new heart. I no longer try to earn anything because, plain and simple, I can earn nothing but death. He lavishes His grace on me and calls me to seek Him. Even typing this is an awesome reminder to me of what Rich Mullins writes, “the reckless, raging fury that we call the love of God”. My motivation is delight and not duty.
Times do exist when we will walk through the valley where we will have to continue the disciplines, but our goal in all of this time is to brought near to God and know Him more. May we be like Moses and plead with God that we might see His glory and not settle for the things of this world that are mere dung in comparison to knowing our Amazing God!
by Chad Lewis on July 18, 2008
My thoughts are going 90 to nothing this morning so I opened up one of my prayer books to meditate on other people’s prayers. I will often turn to Valley of Vision and meditate on some Puritan prayers, but today, I opened another prayer book.
I came upon a prayer from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He wrote the following prayer while awaiting execution in a Nazi prison. Bonhoeffer’s life is worth investigating if you like a good biography, but know that he wrote this prayer not knowing if he would be released or executed. In the end, he was put to death not long before WWII ended. Here is his prayer.
O God, early in the morning I cry to you.
Help me to pray
And to concentrate my thoughts on you:
I cannot do this alone.
In me there is darkness,
But with you there is light;
I am lonely, but you do not leave me;
I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;
I am restless, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;
I do not understand your ways,
But you know the way for me…
Restore me to liberty,
And enable me so to live now
That I may answer before you and before me.
Lord, whatever this day may bring,
Your name be praised.
Wherever we are today and whatever our state, we must realize and believe that God hears our prayers. He knows that we are feeble and weak. He knows we are made of dust. He knows that our days are numbered here on this earth.
What does God want from us? What does He demand? He asks us to believe. He asks us to trust that He is good, right and perfect and that His ways are always best. He asks us to cast our anxieties upon Him because He cares for us.
So where do you start? Begin with honesty. I have often prayed, “Lord, I don’t desire You right now. But I do desire to desire You. Please help me!” This might be the place you start today.
by Chad Lewis on July 14, 2008
A few of our pastors had the privilege to be treated to dinner by Paul Tripp this past week. Paul and his friend were in town teaching a quick class at Southern Seminary .
As dinner rolled on, we began talking about love and Paul mentioned Amos 4. We discussed how God tells the people all of the tribulations that He brought their way but they did not turn back to Him. The list includes holding back rain, smiting their crops with mildew and blight, sending plagues and even killing some of their young men with swords. If you read the chapter, these are not things that God allowed, but rather, these are things that God directly brought about from His own hand. We might ask ‘Why?”.
When we think about God’s love, do we consider that He is willing to do anything to give us what is best. Is God willing to break our legs, bring heartache, suffering, discontent, along with huge lists of other things in order for us to have what is best? The answer that we find in Scripture is a resounding “YES!” What would it profit for us to gain the whole world, all it’s riches and comforts and then lose our souls? What good would it do for us to become a child of God and then never grow past being a babe in Christ? How would this bring glory to God and how could this be best for us?
So what is best? Is happiness best? Is our comfort best? Is an easy life best? All of these things are not best. They actually fall so short of what is best that it would be like comparing the chance to live in a kingdom as a son of the King along with all it’s riches with having the chance to walk out alone into the dessert to die a long, slow, painful death. It’s a no-brainer right?
So why do we choose what we don’t really need? The problem is that we have short term vision. If we can look with eternal eyes, we can see that we would always trade the temporary in order to gain the eternal. As Paul writes, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)
Are you looking at your trials as gifts today? Are you hoping to be released from their midst as quickly as possible? If we look at these questions with eternal eyes, we might answer these questions differently. Ask God to help you view the circumstances that surround your life today with eternal eyes.
by Chad Lewis on July 1, 2008
In Jeremiah 17:5 and following, we get a look into the difference between a person who trusts in man and the person who trusts in God. The differences are like night and day.
In verses 5 and 6, we see that the person who trust in man and depends on flesh for his strength is cursed. This person is also described as having their heart turn away from the LORD. I believe this can allude to the person who trusts in other friends, themselves, governments, or anything other than God. Just like the Psalmist said, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:7). People can trust in a variety of things, but none of these things give life and the foundation they offer is like shifting sand.
So what is this person like? The descriptions here are pretty drab and hopeless. A bush in the wasteland that does not see prosperity. This person’s thirsty soul is never quenched. This doesn’t sound like a place I want to visit though I have seen the affects of wandering scar my soul during some seasons of life.
The good news comes in verses 7 and 8. The opposite is true of the person who trusts in the LORD and puts their confidence in Him. What is true of this person? They are like a tree planted by water and this tree grows it’s roots deep down into the ground and finds water and life from a source unseen to the naked eye. These roots drink from a stream that never runs dry.
When heat comes, this person does not fear for he knows and ruthlessly trusts in the Lord. The most amazing thing is told to us next. In times of drought, this tree produces green leaves and does not dwell in worry during the dry spells. And by God’s grace and good pleasure, this person produces fruit for the world to see and wonder. As many see our good works and the fruit that pops out, they will praise our God who fills up empty and weak believers who trust in Him.
So what are you trusting in today? Your intelligence? Your ability to convince? Your future? Your spouse? Are you trusting in some future ministry to fill you or to validate your life? Are you trusting in ______________? You fill in the blank and get before the Lord and ask Him to reveal what you are trusting in other than Him. Repent, confess it to some fellow believers, and seek to trust in the Lord. It will always be a daily battle, but God will empower us to do what He calls us to do.
by Chad Lewis on June 25, 2008
In 2002, my life fell apart. I had written my entire story and it was unfolding just how I imagined. Upon moving to Georgia to marry a young lady I’d been dating for 2 years and to begin a new ministry, all was ripped away. It was as if I arrived to some foreign land and was put into a prison of darkness. The young ladies heart was no longer for me though it once beat stronger than I could imagine. The traveling ministry that I had dreamed of just dwindled away as if God had simply blocked all invitations to go and speak about the things that I wasn’t experiencing anyway.
For years I had dreamed about being an oak of righteousness and being useful in ministry, but I had made an idol out of getting married and I had made an idol out of ministry as well. My identity was so wrapped up in those things that it was nearly a fatal blow to my heart. It was the darkest time of my life.
As I was traveling to help out my grandmother in a time of need, I stopped at a rest stop and saw a tree stump. It had been cut pretty close to the ground. This image stung my heart because I felt that this was a picture of my spiritual life. I once thought myself a tree that was deeply rooted for God, but I realized that I had been cut down. I had been brought very low. I wasn’t what I thought I was.
I went up to the tree and examined it. In the middle of the stump grew a tiny green shoot. In my heart, I felt like God was saying that He had brought me low. He had cut me down, but He was beginning a new work and this work was like the little green shoot. This work would be done by Him and He would grow me by His grace to be an oak of righteousness that declared His glory and that others could come and take shade under. They could glorify God as this new tree would stand in the storms and not be easily shaken.
So 6 years later, I can say that God has begun and continues to work this into my life. If you have been brought low, do not despair. Turn to God and trust that He has brought you low for a reason. He can turn your mourning into dancing, and He can grow back any tree stronger than it was before. Always remember, He is God and He knows best.
by Chad Lewis on June 23, 2008
So we are supposed to bloom where we are planted. We are supposed to be about growing up in maturity so that we won’t be spiritual babies. Even so, it is important to remember that we cannot grow ourselves. This is a work that only God can do. So you might ask, “If we can’t grow ourselves in righteousness, what are we supposed to do?” Well, I’m glad you asked.
The best example I’ve heard is from a book called the Green Letters by Miles Stanford. We all know that a plant cannot grow itself. But if you take a plant and place it in a closet with the lights off and cease to water it, that plant is going to go downhill fast. However, if you take a plant and put it in direct sunlight, water it regularly and even give it plant food, that plant has been put in a position to grow.
It is like that in the Christian life. When a Christian puts himself in the dark places and stops eating spiritual food and being around other believers, that Christian is not going to grow in righteousness. I picture someone who is glued to the TV all of the time and who stops being around God’s people (which has been me in the past). That person is not going to grow. But, the Christian who has deep spiritual friendships, seeks God through prayer and reading the Bible, attends a local gathering for corporate worship, and seeks to love God and others is a person who is putting himself in a place of fertile soil, sunlight, and much good spiritual food.
God will throw in times of darkness and trials, times of joy and victory, along with seasons of doubt and distress. God is using all of these things to grow us and let’s be thankful once again that Philippians 1:6 is true whether we feel like it is or not. “…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
by Chad Lewis on June 20, 2008
Eugene Peterson writes, “The person… who looks for quick results in the seed planting of well-doing will be disappointed. If I want potatoes for dinner tomorrow, it will do me little good to go out and plant potatoes in my garden tonight. There are long stretches of darkness and invisibility and silence that separate planting and reaping. During the stretches of waiting there is a cultivating and weeding and nurturing and planting still other seeds” (From Traveling Light).
As I reflect on this thought today, I am reminded how easy it is to always take the short view and to forget the long view. We are such a fast food and microwave society that we want things and we want them now. However, God is not bound by our definitions of success or timing and we should be thankful for that.
Where are you right now? Are you content in the place that God has you? Are you seeking to grow where He has planted you or are you dreaming about getting to the place where you can really thrive? Do you believe that God is going to finish the work that He started and that right now and that He is using the circumstances of your life to accomplish His goals? In reality, if we believe Romans 8:28-29 and have a proper theology of place, we must believe that God has planted us exactly where we need to be. The only place we can be is wherever we are right here and right now. We can daily miss opportunities to love those in front of us, experience God’s grace, and lose precious moments to truly live. I know because I’ve spent countless days in some nebulous future that will never exist. I must be where God has planted me and live in the now for that is where I am.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.”
Remember that we can’t just flip a switch and appear in the land of contentment. We must own our lack of contentment and take it to the Father. We must pray and ask that He would teach us and draw us to believe what is true. We need to surround ourselves with believers who can speak truth in our lives, and ultimately, we must trust ruthlessly in the goodness of our Abba Father. He is always faithful. He is always good. He always knows best and He is doing a work that is beyond our understanding.
