Hope in God ...

Some of those church leaders with whom I interact have often expressed frustration and ministry disappointment. To all of you I submit the following thoughts from the book "He Used a Stone" by Andrew Mullek... 

    "A desert experience is a period of time that we go through, where the trial is long and hard and it feels like God is far from us. Our lives seem dry and barren. While in the desert, there will be at least one time when you are unsure of whether you will make it out. The desert is characterized by uncertainty. The end simply is not in sight. There is no water and there is no shelter from the heat. All sense of direction is lost. There is nothing to indicate when it will end. But it is part of the spiritual journey that God takes us through for His greater purpose.

 

Catholic mystics referred to this season as the ‘dark night of the soul’.  All of God’s leaders seem to experience these seasons. It is very apt to call the desert experience a season, because as with all seasons, it will come to pass. It is important to know that there will be victory in our desert experience. The tree might give up hope altogether under the weight of the winter snow if it were not aware of the coming spring. But the snow is necessary and so is the barren nature of the winter or the dryness of the desert.

God takes us through such times in our lives because He is producing in us a desert rose that cannot be grown under any other conditions. Some of the most beautiful plants in the world are produced in desert climates where there is little water. Such plants would simply not grow anywhere else. It is in this environment where character is developed that could not be formed any other way."

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. . ~ Psalm 42:11

May you find Hope in God my pastor friend, and be renewed in praising Him!

Because His ways are not ours,

~ PJVS

No Scars?

"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." 
~ 1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV)

John Crosby strikes a chord in his devotional "Called to Shepherd"...

"SOME WEEKS ARE JUST PLAIN tough. There are days when each of us just wants to throw in the towel, wondering why we do what we do. Those are the days when the evil one begins to whisper words of self-doubt and despair. He wants us to think our work is in vain. He wants us to think we don’t make a difference. He points to our team members who have embarrassed, disgraced, or worse. He points to the betrayals of others. He highlights our mistakes and shortcomings. He speaks through others both from afar and from within our inner circles. But the most dangerous voice is the one in our own heads: “This is a waste.” “I am wasting my life.” “This doesn’t matter.” “The whole world is against me.”"

John Piper digs deeper into our struggles in his timeless volume "Brothers, We are not Professionals"...

"No pastoral suffering is senseless. No pastoral pain is pointless. No adversity is absurd or meaningless. Every heartache has its divine target in the consolation of the saints, even when we feel least useful...

... All pastoral afflictions are graciously designed to make us rely on God and not ourselves. And therefore our afflictions prepare us to do the one thing most needful for our people—to point them away from ourselves to the All-sufficient God. In this alone is consolation and salvation. Therefore, “If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.”

Finally, J. Oswald Sanders touches on the marks of a faithful disciple in his volume on Spiritual Leadership... 

"Scars are the authenticating marks of faithful discipleship and true spiritual leadership. It was said of one leader, “He belonged to that class of early martyrs whose passionate soul made an early holocaust of the physical man.” Nothing moves people more than the print of the nails and the mark of the spear. Those marks are tests of sincerity that none can challenge, as Paul knew well. “Let no one cause me trouble,” he wrote, “for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Galatians 6:17)."

Hast thou no scar? 

No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand? 

I hear thee sung as mighty in the land, 

I hear them hail the bright ascendant star: 

Hast thou no scar? 

Hast thou no wound? 

Yet, I was wounded by the archers, spent. 

Leaned me against the tree to die, and rent 

By ravening beasts that compassed me, I swooned: 

Hast thou no wound? 

No wound? No scar? 

Yes, as the master shall the servant be, 

And pierced are the feet that follow Me; 

But thine are whole. Can he have followed far 

Who has no wound? No scar? 

~ Amy Carmichael

 

May you keep your eyes on the skies 

and press on for the prize my pastor friend...

Because He ever lives to intercede for us, 

~ PJVS

Staying Motivated ...

When you feel like you're winding down... give thought to the following words from Ben Patterson about staying motivated ...

"One last thing needs to be said about remembrance. It has to do with the sovereignty of God. Martin Luther said he took great comfort from knowing that as he sat and enjoyed his beverage, the kingdom of God kept marching on. That assurance was a great motivator to hard work. He could relax and rest periodically, and therefore go back to work with greater élan. More important, when he did work, he knew nothing was wasted or lost because God was sovereign over everything.

That’s how it should be for us. A motivated Christian is a relaxed and grateful Christian; grateful because of what God has done in the death and resurrection of Christ, and relaxed because of his hope in God’s sure dénouement of all history in his Son. Because the motivated Christian has been freed from the bondage of the past and anxiety over the future, he can get down to the work at hand in the present."

 - Ben Patterson, "from Staying Motivated" in 

Renewing Your Church Through Vision and Planning.

"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." - Isaiah 43:18–19

May you "stay motivated" my pastor friend, always focused on the One who is "doing a new thing" every day.

Because He makes all things New,

~ PJVS

Principles and Absolutes ...

Sometimes we need to consider the counsel of Dallas Willard ... let's get back to the "principles and absolutes".

"Now you might ask yourself, Why does the New Testament say nothing about all those matters to which the usual congregation today devotes almost all its thought and effort? Answer: Because those matters are not primary and will take care of themselves with little attention whenever what is primary is appropriately cared for. Pay attention to the “principles and absolutes” of the New Testament church and, one might suppose, everything else will fall into place—in large part because “everything else” really doesn’t matter much one way or the other. To fail to put the focus on those principles and absolutes, on the other hand, is to wander off into a state of distraction, which is where most of our local congregations actually are. They wind up majoring on minors and allowing the majors, from the New Testament point of view, to disappear." 

     ~ Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart

(I shared the following with my flock as I retired...) 

"ONE THING" 

  👉 SEEK HIS FACE... 

    "ONE THING have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple." - Psalm 27:4

    👉 SEEK HIS HEART... 

    "But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but ONE THING is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” - Luke 10:41-42

   👉 SEEK HIS CALL... 

     "... But ONE THING I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." - Phil. 3:13-14

"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." ~ Prov. 19:21

So, above all, keep the main thing 

the main thing! 

Because they would see Jesus... 

~ PJVS

Four Myths...

Here are a few thoughts from Ed Dobson, co-author of a very insightful book entitled "Standing Fast: Ministry in an Unfriendly World" ... 

BUSTING the FOUR MYTHS of MINISTRY ... 

Another tactic when the call to ministry seems in doubt is to remember the four myth- busters of ministry. The first three I heard from Truman Dollar; the last I added from my own experience.

1. It is NEVER as bad as you think it is - 

Even when things seem darkest, circumstances are usually not as hopeless or awful as they first appear. Experience has proven that you should never let church politics or conflicts obscure your vision of the bigger things God may be doing in the church.

2. It’s NEVER as good as you think it is - 

There are times in church ministry when everything seems to be going marvelously. That’s when you need to be careful. It’s only an illusion. As Jerry Falwell used to say, “In ministry I’ve never had two good days back to back.”

3. It’s NEVER completely fixed - 

Ministry is a process; it’s people. To say, “I’ve taken care of this problem It won’t recur,” is to live in a fool’s paradise. Problems can come back to plague you long after you thought they were resolved.

4. It’s NEVER completely broken - 

Not long ago, a pastor from Kenya spoke in our morning worship service. He pointed out that during the first thirty years of missionary efforts in Kenya, more missionaries died than the number of converts who were won. In spite of the difficulties and slowness of progress, these men and women were still convinced that Kenya wasn’t completely broken. And so they kept at their callings, knowing that someday their work would bear fruit. As a result, the number of African Christians has grown from 10 million in 1900 to half a billion in 2015, and it is due to reach a billion no later than the 2040s. ~ Ed Dobson, "Standing Fast: Ministry in an Unfriendly World" (adapted) 

I encourage you to keep running the race with great endurance ... because it's never completely broken! 

In His Eternal Grip, 

~ PJVS

No Little People...

Consider the words of the martyred missionary Jim Elliot...     

  "Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.” 

With this in mind, let's reflect on the following thoughts from Francis A. Schaeffer ... 

   "But if a Christian is consecrated, does this mean he will be in a big place instead of a little place? The answer, the next step, is very important: as there are no little people in God’s sight, so there are no little places. To be wholly committed to God in the place where God wants him—this is the creature glorified. In my writing and lecturing I put much emphasis on God’s being the infinite reference point which integrates the intellectual problems of life. He is to be this, but He must be the reference point not only in our thinking, but in our living. This means being what He wants me to be, where He wants me to be...

   ... Each Christian is to be a rod of God in the place of God for him. We must remember throughout our lives that in God’s sight there are no little people and no little places. Only one thing is important: to be consecrated persons in God’s place for us, at each moment. Those who think of themselves as little people in little places, if committed to Christ and living under His Lordship in the whole of life, may, by God’s grace, change the flow of our generation. And as we get on a bit in our lives, knowing how weak we are, if we look back and see we have been somewhat used of God, then we should be the rod “surprised by joy.” ~ Francis A. Schaeffer, "No Little People"

So, wherever God has placed you my pastor friend, be encouraged ... and may all your ministry efforts "change the flow of our generation". So, "wherever you are... be all there!" ... making a difference for the glory of God!

Because we are Salt and Light, 

~ PJVS

Preach the Word!

"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching." 

~ 2 Timothy 4:1-2 (ESV) 

"What is it that always heralds the dawn of a Reformation or of a Revival? It is renewed preaching. Not only a new interest in preaching but a new kind of preaching. A revival of true preaching has always heralded these great movements in the history of the Church. And, of course, when the Reformation and the Revival come they have always led to great and notable periods of the greatest preaching that the Church has ever known ... So my answer so far, my justification of my statement that preaching is the primary task of the Church, is based in that way on the evidence of the Scriptures, and the supporting and confirming evidence of the history of the Church. "

 ~ D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers

“If we are to see the church of God really restored to her pristine glory, we must have back this plain, simple, gospel-preaching.” 

~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

May the divine unction of the Spirit of God rest upon you as you preach the Word of God today my pastor friend!

~ PJVS