Our church has been praying a simple, but powerful prayer this week:

“Lord, do what you want in me so you can do what you want through me.”

When you think about it, this is a fairly powerful prayer. We’re inviting God to do whatever He wants in us. Do you know what that means?

• God will reveal the other gods in your life.
• God will show us where we’re selfish, worldly, uncaring, boneheaded, bitter, or ambivalent.
• God is given the invitation to change our orientation in life from something that is respectable to something that is radical.
• God will  show us where we need to make some hard choices…and where we need to go on a long journey of change and transformation.

That’s for starters!

This is also a good prayer because we must always start with what’s inside of us. We cannot wait until we’re perfect to be used of God, but neither can we be inattentive to who we really are. There are two fallacies at work among Christians today:

1. I need to get Me all together before God can use me. This may be a nice sentiment, but it’s also a great excuse to never do anything for God.
2. I need to try harder to serve God somehow–and when I do, it will make up for who I’m not. Nice try, but no go. In fact, we CANNOT serve God without our service being for all the right motives. We then only have a shell of something, but nothing of true substance. After all, 1 Corinthians 3 states that God will test the quality of each person’s work. And some of it will come to nothing…it will burned up like wood or chaff.

We must BE before we can DO. That’s why Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness before He began His earthly ministry. That’s why David, in Psalm 51, after confessing his guilt, stated, “THEN will I teach transgressors Thy ways and sinners will be converted to Thee.” The ancient king realized that he must be pure in his heart in order to used for God’s Kingdom.

Vital to our usability for God is the availability of our hearts, mind and wills. It isn’t even as much where we are as the direction we’re moving. We can’t be moving away from God and still be used of God. We cannot be moving at a distance in parallel to God and be used of God. We must be running to God and walking with God to be used by God.

By the way, being used by God is what we were made for. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them,” Ephesians 2:10.

“Lord, do what you want in me so you can do what you want through me.”

Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Jesus also taught about the Kingdom over and over in so many different ways — “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who finds a treasure in a field, like a mustard seed so small that grows so big, like a vineyard owner who sends his son to the hired servants only have him killed.”

Even though the Kingdom is explained in so many powerful ways, it always refers to the very same thing. The Kingdom of Heaven (Kingdom of God, too) is the place where God reigns!

Contrary to popular opinion in Jesus day, the Kingdom is primarily one that is unseen with human eyes, but ever-so-real in the hearts of people. The Kingdom IS where God is King.

That’s why our season of consecration this week is so important. We need to make sure that our kingdom is not fictional, assumed, or partial. Instead, we want to be sure that God is truly in full reign of our lives.

David needed reassessment of his life, at times, just as we do. I have always been inspired by His prayer, “Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life,” Psalm 139:24.

“Lord, do what you want in me so you can do what you want through me.”

“May your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”

God doesn’t do things our way.

When the Israelites finally crossed the Jordan River, Scripture states that, “When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings who lived along the Mediterranean coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan River so the people of Israel could cross, they lost heart and were paralyzed with fear because of them,” Joshua 5:1. Momentum was on their side, God’s people were on a high–powerfully motivated! All was going so well. Common sense would say, “Ride on that wave of fear oppressing the enemies and take the land! Now!” BUT–this wasn’t God’s way. Instead, God told every Israelite male to be circumcised. Instead of riding the wave of momentum, God called them to astounding trust and painful sacrifice.

God doesn’t do things our way.

Once the God-followers conquered Jericho, again with the hand of God powerfully displayed, it seemed nothing could stop them. Common sense would suggest that they quickly take Ai and go on from there. The city of Ai became a humiliating fiasco, however. There was sin in the camp and God wouldn’t overlook it. With a strain of overconfidence already seeping in (“we don’t need everyone to go up to Ai”) and a few materialistic people hiding some of the banned loot from Jericho, God’s hand of blessing was withdrawn. On Israel’s first attempt at conquering Ai, they were found running for their lives, with several losing their lives. In essence, God was saying, “It’s not just about accomplishing something great for Me, it’s about being right with Me.” Consecration, not increased military strength, was the key to taking Ai.

God doesn’t do things our way.

As we think about accomplishing God’s purposes in our world today — taking our Jericho or Ai — what is it that God is telling us to do next?

• What human plan, seemingly wise and reasonable, is God telling us to wait on in order to do things His way?
• What act of consecration or sacrifice or trust or crazy faith is God prompting us to obey first before there will ever be any visible evidence of success?
• What needs to happen inside of us before God will do anything outside of us?
• What are the next steps for Edinbrook?

Don’t miss the next two Sundays, August 21 and 28. We’re going to get to the nitty gritty of Lionhearted Follow-Through.

Just remember, God doesn’t do things our way.

I’ve been so inspired by the record of Joshua’s outstanding courage and strength as a leader. It has fueled a fresh passion in me to be bold, decisive, strong in the Lord, and courageous in my leadership role. There are some big things for me to learn, habits to unlearn, rhythms to find, and difficult choices to make. But when I look at Joshua and his amazing journey in leading the second generation of Israelites into the Promised Land, I am driven to action.

It’s wonderful to experience inspiration. It’s essential to practice implementation.

• What will I do as a result?
• What must our church do in light of the Truth revealed?

That’s why, for the next two Sundays at Edinbrook, we will be focusing on Lionhearted Follow-Through. We will be deciding what important things God wants us to do first as a church to make sure we step into the fullness of His promises and plan for our church.

How easy it is to hear God’s Word and never act. James states that it is like a person looking in a mirror, but as soon as they walk away, they forgot what they saw. Their experience has vanished and made no impact whatsoever. Let’s not do that…

I believe that God is calling us at Edinbrook to GREAT THINGS, but they will be actualized through some radical obedient actions. Things we can all do. Things we must do.

Don’t miss the next two Sundays. We’re moving from Inspiration to Implementation!

Get ready to ACT!

What happens to us if God’s gracious hand is upon us?

In reading a portion of Nehemiah this morning, Susan and I were both taken be the repeated phrase, “the gracious hand of God was upon me.” In fact, before that ever happened, Nehemiah prayed feverishly for days that God’s hand would be upon him when he would eventually ask a favor of the king.

When God’s gracious hand was upon Nehemiah:

• God granted him favor in the eyes of those had power and authority over his life.
• Nehemiah’s selfless prayers were answered.
• He was given courage in precarious and dangerous situations.
• He was successful in garnering support and enthusiasm for His God-honoring goals.
• He accomplished great things for God.

This, of course, is only a sampling of what happened to Nehemiah when the “gracious hand of God” was upon him.

Ezra, also involved in the return of the exiles to Jerusalem, speaks often of “the gracious hand of God,” — with many of the same affects and more. Because God’s gracious hand was upon Ezra:

• The king gave him everything he asked for.
• He arrived safely in Jerusalem after a rugged and dangerous journey of hundreds of miles.
• He was encouraged.
• The help he needed for his great task was provided for unexpectedly.
• He was protected from danger and enemies intent on destroying him.

What a difference God’s hand makes! I want that…

Ezra and Nehemiah found God’s gracious hand upon them because:

• They were godly through in through.
• They lived for God’s purposes no matter what it cost them–and in fact, this very thing changed the complete the nature of life for them.
• They pleaded in prayer for God’s favor and help.
• They worshiped with selfless abandon.
• They lived with remarkable courage, trusting in the sufficiency of God to provide what they never could.

Come to think of it, why would I want to live without God’s gracious hand upon me? What a life God is waiting to give us, what a cause God is eager to have us succeed in, what an impact in our world He is waiting to wreak through us.

Find His hand…

Today, I’m pointing you to Steven Furtick’s post from yesterday. He’s a pastor I respect deeply and follow closely. His church, only five years old, baptized 1426 THIS PAST WEEKEND! This is my dream for our church. Read the blog…and don’t miss the video. You’ll be powerfully inspired.

Steven Furtick’s WE’RE JUST GETTING STARTED

I had the privilege of spending my evening with an amazing person. C.V. Vadavanna (pronounced Wadawanna) is a rare leader and humble servant of the Most High God. He is currently in the Twin Cities as part of his doctoral program and came to speak with our seniors at Edinbrook last night. A few of us had dinner with him preceding that.

I was again amazed at what a strong and gentle leader he is–one who is accomplishing great things for the Kingdom of God in India, but with such

Ken Lucht, our Pastor to Seniors, and C.V. our link to India

simplicity and humility. He is:

• Leading a network of orphanages in the poorest places of India (remember Slum Dog Millionaire? He has one in that city in the area that movie depicts. It’s just like that…)
• Training pastors, leading seminaries, organizing schools for children, and has raised up centers for special needs children.
• Involved in giving away wheel chairs to the lame. The 65,000 so far have completely changed the lives of each recipient. There is little quality of life for those handicapped in this way and no hope of ever getting a chair.
• Constantly organizing compassion and relief efforts for those suffering all over India, especially when disaster strikes an area.
• The author of 26 books so far, and the leader of Sathyam Publishing House which produces Christian books and literature for India. Christian material is a rarity in India, by the way.
• Organizing leadership and training conferences for pastors all over India.
• Helping to reach unreached people in India. This is how we have the privilege at Edinbrook to be in the middle of reaching the unreached Reang people there.

He is like a modern Paul. He is an example of one sold out for Christ. He is empowered by the Spirit to rattle our world for the glory of God.

I want to say with Paul and C.V., “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me,” Galatians 2:20.

Now, Lord, help me live it for your glory…

My head is swimming!

So many things are coming together for our fall ministry that it makes my head spin. But it’s good!

I just finished a meeting with seven co-workers in which, on a couple of occasions, was asked what I thought of this or that. I didn’t even know what to answer…which is VERY rare. I was feeling so completely overwhelmed with the number of details, ideas, tasks, and timelines that I couldn’t even get my brain around it all.

I am so grateful for team ministry. We have so many individuals at Edinbrook who are completely passionate about making disciples. I love it! We have non-paid people who work at Edinbrook like they’re making a hansom wage. I’m totally inspired by this. We have no-one on staff who coasts, but instead, are driven to achieve great things for God’s glory. This is rare on a church staff our size…and humbling indeed. Thank you, God!

All of this to simply say, “God is pulling together some great pieces to our fall ministry.” Stay tuned. We have some exciting days ahead…the fields are white unto harvest. Let’s pray that the Lord of the harvest will send workers into His field. That’s us, people. God is ready for a harvest, but often lacks the workers to get it done. Let’s pray and prepare and see what God will do!

If you missed my Sunday teaching, you can get it here on video. I’m passing it along because it is a huge issue with Christians in America…knowing how to honor those in leadership especially when we don’t like what they’re doing. Here you go!

A Call to Honor

July 4th weekend is great! We celebrate our United States and have some time to play. Pretty cool. I hope you have a great weekend. I know many of you are hiding out or traveling this weekend–we will be a small, but happy crowd at Edinbrook this Sunday.

The 4th has made me think about the Christ-follower’s role and relationship to our nation. Of course we are suppose to be salt and light. We are to influence those around us with the Christ in us. But what else? How should a Christian live in a post-Christian culture?

Should we hang on to times past when America was better than it is today? This often manifests itself with an edge of anger at what’s happening today, a sense of panic about where we’re going, and compelling responsibility to change the course of our nation. Not that all of this is bad, but we sometimes use the demoralization of America as an excuse to act very unChristian at times.

• We easily criticize anyone who is not of our political stripe.
• We quickly point out the spiritual and political shortcomings of those we feel a frustration about.
• We look for opportunities to declare our views at the expense of some else’s dignity.
• We dishonor those in leadership under the guise of passionate spirituality.

Listen to what 1 Peter 2:13-14 commands us to do:

For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority—whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.

Be sure to notice that it begins with, “For the Lord’s sake…” Your respect for those in authority has nothing to do with your views or ideals. Respecting ALL those in leadership is for the Lord’s benefit. It is what He expects of you. This was written, by the way, when mad-man Nero was running the Roman empire!

Why is this the case? Because God’s vote is the only vote that really counts. In any given election, even though we may think we are the ones that put someone in power, the bottom line truth is that God has done His will. He places all of those in their positions (much to our dismay at times) to accomplish exactly what He wants to achieve His great purposes. This means that if you diss and moan and complain and rail and criticize and disrespect those in governmental leadership over us, you are doing that to God. God put them there to either succeed or fail or be mediocre according to our assessments. But for God’s plan (because He is really Big), they are achieving exactly what they are supposed to accomplish.

We cannot understand how that’s possible. But…

• Maybe our nation is to become bankrupt so Christians will start trusting in God rather than money.
• Maybe our nation is to become spiritually destitute so that Christians can no-longer be lukewarm.
• Maybe our nation is to become militarily depleted so that another nation takes over our land.
• Maybe our state shuts down so that we stop trusting in our government more than God.

Get the picture? God is in charge. He’s working His plan. And when we complain about those God has placed in leadership roles, we’re complaining about God’s leadership.

It doesn’t mean we should be mute, but we MUST be respectful. It doesn’t mean we must be naive, but means we MUST be dignified. It doesn’t mean we we shouldn’t care what happens in our world, but we MUST be about a greater kingdom than the one down here.

This is all about trust.

This is all about honor.

This is all about living for a much greater cause than an earthly government.

This is all about God.