Patience (1/19/04)

I got up extra early this morning because I wanted to get to work to knock out a couple pressing matters. But Evan (the 16 month old) threw up on his outfit as we were walking out the door. That delayed me by 15 minutes. I had to take Abby (the 9 year old) to my sister's house this morning since there was no school today. The roads were quite icy so drive times delayed me another 25 minutes or so. As I arrived at work, a few feet from my office, I started to get this "something's missing…" feeling. It hit me. I didn't have my laptop computer. I knew where it was. Sitting next to the recliner in our living room where I left it after checking email Saturday night. I had to drive back home and get it which means I didn't actually get to my desk until 10:00. So much for the early start. Judging by how frustrated I felt, I need to pray for this week's topic as earnestly as anybody.

You often hear Christians joke "whatever you do, don't pray for patience." But even if we don't pray for something, God knows if we need work in that area. And if we know we lack patience, and yet, refuse to ask God for it, then we probably also need to work on honesty and denial as well. We may as well come clean to the One who knows all our dirt. The only one we fool is ourselves. So this week, we are praying for patience. Patience to deal with cases where our plans and reality don't align. Patience that's grounded in faith in Jesus and the good plan God has for us. Patience that sticks out to those unbelievers around us as something they would like to know better.

Have a great week and a great fast.
Your brother,
Bob

Honesty (1/12/04)

A couple weeks ago, I heard a sermon that really stuck in my mind. The pastor was talking about the "rotten old man" that lived deep down inside him. Since being saved 35 years ago, this pastor has made the mistake on numerous occasions of thinking that that "rotten old man" was dead. What he has come to realize is that the "rotten old man" is still there and he only needs a little prodding, a little back-sliding to come back to the surface. In fact, he characterized the "rotten old man" as meaner than ever from the years of neglect and years of the holy spirit keeping the "rotten old man" suppressed.

This brings us to this week's topic. The fasting and prayer topic for this week is "Honesty". Sure, we want to be people of integrity always speaking the truth (in love). But I think what the "rotten old man" reveals is that the person we lie to the most is ourselves. We tell ourselves we are no longer that way. We let down our guard to our sin nature. We start to develop pride in how "good" we've become since being saved. The enemy knows this and uses it to his advantage. As such, we need to honestly take a deep look inside ourselves. What weaknesses are in there that need to be avoided? What's in there that we should turn over to an accountability partner so they can help keep us from telling these little lies to ourselves? What is it that our pride keeps letting us avoid? Are we becoming prideful in things that only God should take the glory in?
Let's pray this Wednesday for honesty in ourselves and our Christian sisters and brothers. The honesty that's needed to truly come to the end of ourselves.

Have a great week and a great fast.
Your brother,
Bob

Our Leaders (1/5/04)

You often hear about groups that pray for our leaders. I know of a fasting and prayer group that has organized to make sure there are people fasting and praying for the president every day of the year. I think it's appropriate that we take some time to pray for the leaders in our lives as well. That brings me to a question I've been tossing around for the last couple weeks. Who are the leaders in our lives? There are the obvious examples such as our government leaders (both domestic and foreign). There are our pastors at church, our bosses at work, the teachers of our children, etc. etc. But there are also more subtle leaders in each of our lives. People that we look to as mentors - formally or informally. People we try to model our behavior after because they seem to model the concept of "what would Jesus do". Some of my own mentors don't even know they are my mentors. There are men at my church who I look to as models of evangelism. Others who are models of love and fellowship. Still others are models of encouragement. The list goes on and on. As I write this, I'm making a mental commitment to let these men know they are inspirations to me and they are helping to lead me down the narrow path.

So this week, let's pray for our obvious leaders as well as our not-so-obvious leaders. Let's pray that they stay grounded in God's will. That God does good work through them. And that in the process, they give the glory back to God.

Have a great week and a great fast.
Your brother,
Bob