Today is Tuesday. It is the end of my work week. It is the day I prepare for my personal sabbath. So I will prepare by writing down some things (quotes) I am going to think about during my sabbath rest. I will also write and schedule my blog for tomorrow so that I can pull back fully from the world.
HERE IS A DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT I RECENTLY SHARED WITH OUR CONGREGATION.
AS A CONGREGATION, we have been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“
Today I would like to talk a bit about coming out of the decay of our personal strongholds.
DAY 2: PREPARE YOUR SPIRIT(COME OUT OF THE DECAY OF YOUR STRONGHOLDS).
WHAT IS SO BAD ABOUT STRONGHOLDS?
Strongholds cause spiritual decay.
Strongholds are controlled by and flow out of our flesh nature. Of this nature Paul the Apostle said, “5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the fleshcannot please God.” Romans 8: 5-8
When we choose not to deal with our strongholds we are for all intents and purposes voting against God and His plan for our lives. When we refuse to deal with our strongholds we are in effect sabotaging our spiritual walk.
IS THERE ANYWHERE IN YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE YOU ARE EXPERIENCING HABITUAL FAILURE? WHAT MINDSET (STRONGHOLD) IS CREATING THE SELF SABOTAGE?
Pray with me: Dear Lord, You see this area of failure in my life. Forgive me for my sin and help me to see how my thinking is keeping me stuck in this failure. Deliver me from my wrong thinking and help me to start thinking Your thoughts. In Jesus name Amen.
I try to pastorally visit all the families in my church regularly. With the growing scope of ministry it takes me about a year and a half to work my way through all the regular attenders once. At this week’s staff meeting I gave my personal assistant, Carrie, the next twenty or so names on my list. Between these pastoral check-ins, connecting with new people and then regular ministry board meetings, I get to do quite a bit of relationship building.I really love it!
The idea of prioritizing intentional visitation is new to our church. Before COVID we were busy building programs that people could come to, but we did not do much going out for deep personal connection. It’s not a criticism, just a different way of looking at ministry. I am enjoying this work of intentional relationship building. I believe it is what God has called our church to during this season.
Today one of our DLT (Doing Life Together) groups invited Pastor Amanda and me out to a luncheon to celebrate Pastor Appreciation Month. They wanted to have it back in November, but our schedules could not coordinate until this week.
I think there were about 20 of us there. The ladies made lasagna, meatballs, salad and appetizers and then for dessert we had strawberries with ice cream.
One of the ladies let me hold her puppy, Teddy.
In my follow up prayer time this afternoon (some of you would call it vespers) I started sensing that I need to be visiting all of our groups for intentional connection. I don’t always need to be fed, but just being present with the people and hearing what the Spirit is saying to each of these groups will be very powerful, I think.
Look like I have another “Next List” for Carrie.
I heard from one of you that my blog which got posted at 12:01 A.M. today did not count as writing for yesterday, even though most of it was written before the stroke of midnight. Well, I am not going to let that happen again. It is 4:48 P.M. and I am finishing up my writing for the day. This one will “count” as being written today!
Actually today I managed a lot of writing. I finished up the last devotional thoughts for our churches annual 21 days of fasting and prayer. They are ready to be printed off in hard copy form tomorrow morning.
Our theme this year for the 21 days was, “PREPARE” and as we finish up our time of prayer I am asking the Lord to show me what our first steps are to do the work of preparing our church for what lies ahead. I am also asking God to show me what I need to do to prepare myself personally.
I don’t have all the answers yet. This one thing I know, I want what we do as a church to make a difference. I want what I do as a human being and as a Christian pastor to make a difference. I don’t want to show up only to find I am too late to do any good. I want this moment in time, this year, to…count.
Happy New Year!
2023 is history. Here is my favorite picture from the last year.
This is a picture of night time at The Vicarage during a full moon. I was pleasantly surprised by the filter edits I was able to impose on the original.
I am setting my sights on 2024 now. I am praying close into what God will give me for the year ahead. I already know my word for the year…”PREPARE”. I am asking now what I should use for filters on the raw material God gives me so that I might be prepared for God’s best outcome.
I know I am going to be working on my weight, strength and flexibility.
I know I am going to be working on my administrative capabilities.
I know I am going to be working on my writing again.
I know I am going to be preparing for some big changes at The Vicarage which will affect me spiritually, emotionally, and practically.
I know there are opportunities and challenges in my pastoral work that I need to get a better understanding of.
I know there are coming changes in The United States and the Earth which I need to understand better.
I know God is about to move in our church in some new, exciting and challenging ways.
I know God is about to move in our region in some new, exciting and challenging ways.
Lord Prepare me! Lord prepare us!
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE NEXT YEAR WILL BRING?
I am in the Cumberland Mountain Range this week. Our scenic cabin is in a place called Eden Ridge.
There isn’t much to do here, except rest, and pray, contemplate and study. At some point, we will have to make our way back down the mountain for a little more grocery shopping and probably stop at the country club attached to this retreat center for a swim in the pool.
Today I have spent several hours in prayer and study. I put together the outlines for all the Royal Ranger devotions and church sermons through the new year.
Tomorrow I will put together the outlines through June.
One of the hours I spent in prayer was at The World Missions Park by the visitors center.
During that hour of prayer, I had a really strong sense that our congregation is about to face some challenges in the near future. Specifically, I feel as though God is going to challenge us to new levels of spiritual health. This will involve us letting go of some unhealthy cycles we have allowed our personal lives and relationships to fall into.
I have the sense that ministry is going to get increasingly complex when I get back.
I am grateful to God for this period of calm before what I think will be a period of crazy.
I just finished reading through my comments from my most recent blogs (it is a habit I used to have that I am trying to reestablish). Sister Brenda commented, “if I don’t keep my sabbath holy who will?“
I will take it one step further, “If I don’t keep my daily rhythm holy, who will?”
Sabbath is a part of a holistic life rhythm that leads to a Spirit-led life.
Some time ago God told me that “I needed to start allowing life to flow out of the prayer place rather than letting prayer be informed out of the living place.”
A rhythm of prayer flowing into living and then living flowing back into prayer, prayer being the source of the living rather than allowing living to be the source of prayer is necessary.
I am…have been learning to make my life a response to prayer rather than allowing my prayers to become a reaction to living.
This lenten season I am intentionally calling myself to seven times of prayer a day.
My “midnight prayers” are times of dreams and visions that are beginning to carry more and more weight in my daily living.
My “prayer of arising” is a time of meditating on the life of Jesus among the people.
My “midmorning prayer” is a time of hearing the heart of the Psalmist.
My “noon time prayer” is a time of hearing the heart of the Psalmist.
My “late afternoon prayer” isa time of joining my voice to the voice of the Worship Room either in person or most often remotely.
My “vespers” is another time of joining my voice to the Worship Room or to the Cornerstone Church prayer room.
“Compline” is that time just before bed to meditate through the Psalms as I prepare for the dream space of the midnight once again.
My position allows me to extend prayer deeper than most people can, but I know that in the days ahead we will all be expanding the prayer space.
WHAT DO YOU THINK GOD WANTS YOUR PRAYER SPACE TO LOOK LIKE?
On Sunday after church I had a wonderful opportunity to drive to Hartford Hospital to visit two of our parishioners who had been placed there for treatment
It is strange how health care is changing here in the Northeast. I have never had to go to Hartford before for a pastoral visit, but for some reason there were no beds in MA or NH to be had for what these ladies needed treatment for. One of them actually had to travel 3 and a half hours by ambulance to get there.
But I am a firm believer in the fact that God knows what He is doing and He has the people of our church in the palm of His hand.
The roundtrip drive to Hartford is 4 hours. It was a beautiful trip accentuated by autumn colored roadsides. I wish I had thought to stop and take some picture but these photos are near enough representations to show you the beauty I was driving through.
I seldom have four hours to myself. So the time to drive and talk with God was absolutely welcomed. I talked with Him about adjustments He is bringing to my life schedule. I asked Him about the upcoming pastor’s gathering at the Cape and how I am going to best use those hours. I listened to Him to hear what He would say about my next sermons on the step of love, and I prayed for the needs of several folks in our congregation who are sick like these two ladies.
The visits accomplished their God-given purpose and the time on the road did too. I am so thankful God gave me this extra time.
HOW DO YOU USE TRAVEL TIME?
I have come to call my position of prayer the Sage’s Cave. It is not so much a place or even a position but a state of mind.
I started my prayer life (forty years ago now) like I imagine everyone does, with a list of things I hoped to get God to do. This kind of prayer is called petition/ intercession. Petitions are prayers for yourself (God heal my heart, God give me a new job). Intercession is prayer offered for others (God heal Sally’s heart, God give Sally a new job).
As I have grown into the Sage’s Cave I have found that the petition/intercession part of prayer has taken a very back seat in a rather large bus. It is not that there is anything wrong with petitions or intercessions. I still petition God for things. I still intercede for others. It is just that for me petitions and intercessions are the least relational prayers and I am very much more interested in knowing God and knowing what is on His mind than I am in getting stuff or things from Him.
I have somehow come to the position of seeking His face more than His hand as the song by Paul Wilbur says,
I do really struggle with this sometimes, because my prayer life is a lot of waiting and listening now. It feels like I am doing even less than I used to do in prayer and I know most people think prayer is useless unless it leads to an action of some kind.
I am learning to be content in the waiting. I am finding that is where the weight of God’s glory resides. Something inside of me tells me that waiting for His glory is my most important ministry now.
Sometimes as I am waiting. God gives me little things to do. Sometimes I see visions of things coming or of things already happening. Sometimes I get understanding of some Scriptural principle. Sometimes I get whole sermons. And then sometimes I just sit and hear nothing but the sound of my own breathing and the music or Scripture playing in the back ground.
Today I am moving towards three hours of waiting in a lot of sweet silence.
Notes From the Vicarage 