photo by Doug Robertson

I read this article by A. W. Tozer in an Alliance Life magazine many years ago and used it on several occasions in my own spiritual journey.  It was usually a beneficial experience for me.  That was a long time ago, and my faith and my relationship with God has changed a lot since then.   This is a good thing.  Changes in how I see God and interact with him are signs of growth.  I think it would be unhealthy if nothing had changed.

So, as I look at this article now I have mixed feelings.  Where I once wholeheartedly agreed with Tozer and this method/”how to” approach to personal revival, I now have second thoughts about the approach.  Now, as I read this, I hear, “Do this. Don’t do that. You must. You should. You have to if you want to be more spiritual and have a better relationship with God.” But,  . . .  then . . . I hesitate to be so critical . . .  because I do remember having wonderful experiences with God as a result of following these steps.  I never want to give the impression to anyone that they need to be doing more, or that God would love them more if they do certain things.

So, I hesitate . . . I hesitate to be critical of this approach and I hesitate to encourage others to follow these steps.  Yet, here I am posting it here.  After reading the following article, I would love your input.  Does this smell of religion to you?  Religious works? Or, is this positive?  Something we should encourage?

I have previously said that any Christian who desires to, may experience a radical spiritual renascence, and this altogether independent of the attitude of his fellow Christians. The important question now is How? Well, here are some suggestions which anyone can follow and which, I am convinced, will result in a wonderfully improved Christian life.

1. Get Thoroughly Dissatisfied with Yourself.
Complacency is the deadly enemy of spiritual progress. The contented soul is the stagnant soul. When speaking of earthly goods, Paul could say, “ I have learned … to be content”; but when referring to his spiritual life, he testified, “I press toward the mark.” Stir up the gift of God that is in thee.

2. Set Your Face Like a Flint Toward a Sweeping Transformation of Your Life.
Timid experimenters are tagged for failure before they start. We must throw our whole soul into our desire for God. “The Kingdom of God suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”

3. Put Yourself in the Way of the Blessing.
It is a mistake to look for grace to visit us as a kind of benign magic, or to expect God’s help to come as a windfall apart from conditions known and met. There are plainly marked paths which lead straight to the green pastures; let us walk in them. To desire revival, for instance, and at the same time to neglect prayer and devotion is to wish one way and walk another.

4. Do a Thorough Job of Repenting.
Do not hurry to get it over with. Hasty repentance means shallow spiritual experience and lack of certainty in the whole life. Let godly sorrow do her healing work. Until we allow the consciousness of sin to wound us, we will never develop a fear of evil. It is our wretched habit of tolerating sin that keeps us in our half-dead condition.

5. Make Restitution Wherever Possible.
If you owe a debt, pay it, or at least have a frank understanding with your creditor about your intentions to pay, so that your honesty will be above question. If you have quarreled with anyone, go as far as you can in an effort to achieve reconciliation. As fully as possible make the crooked things straight.

6. Bring Your Life Into Accord With the Sermon on the Mount and Such Other New Testament Scriptures as are Designed to Instruct Us in the Way of Righteousness.
An honest man with an open Bible and a pad and pencil is sure to find out what is wrong with him very quickly. I recommend that the self-examination be made on our knees, rising to obey God’s commandments as they are revealed to us from the Word. There is nothing romantic or colorful about this plain downright way of dealing with ourselves, but it gets the work done. Issac’s workmen did not look like heroic figures as they digged in the valley, but they got the wells open, and that was what they had set out to do.

7. Be Serious–minded.
You can well afford to see fewer comedy shows on TV. Unless you break away from the funny boys, every spiritual impression will continue to be lost to your heart, and that right in your own living room. The people of the world used to go to the movies to escape serious thinking about God and religion. You would not join them there, but you now enjoy spiritual communion with them in your own home._The devils ideals, moral standards, and mental attitudes are being accepted by you without you knowing it. You wonder why you can make no progress in your Christian life. Your interior climate is not favorable to the growth of spiritual graces. There must be a radical change in your habits or there will not be any permanent improvement in your interior life.

8. Deliberately Narrow Your Interests.
The Jack-of-all-trades is the master of none. The Christian life requires that we be specialists. Too many projects use up time and energy without bringing us nearer to God. If you will narrow your interests, God will enlarge your heart.

“Jesus only” seems to the unconverted man to be the motto of death. But a great company of happy men and women can testify that it became to them a way into a world infinitely wider and richer than anything they had ever known before.

Christ is the essence of all wisdom, beauty and virtue. To know Him in growing intimacy is to increase in appreciation of all things good and beautiful. The mansions of the heart will become larger when their doors are thrown open to Christ and closed against the world and sin. Try it.

9. Begin to Witness.
Find something to do for God and your fellow men. Refuse to rust out. Make yourself available to your pastor and do anything you are asked to do. Do not insist upon a place of leadership. Learn to obey. Take the low place until such time as God sees fit to set you in a higher one. Back your new intentions with your money and your gifts, such as they are.

10. Have Faith in God.
Begin to expect. Look up toward the throne where your Advocate sits at the right hand of God. All heaven is on your side. God will not disappoint you.

If you will follow these suggestions, you will most surely experience revival in your own heart. And who can tell how far it may spread? God knows how desperately the church needs a spiritual resurrection. And it can only come through the revived individual.

So, there it is!  Again I would really love to hear what you think.  Seriously Leave a comment if you have any thoughts.

Photo by coda

I came across a great synchroblog happening today and I want to bring your attention to it.   I would love to add my two cents, but I have too much on my plate today to take part.  However, I did notice that several of my friends are taking part.

Lon (Toronto) has posted “10 Thoughts for Starters” at Solar Crash

Here is another one I like.  This is Brian McLaren’s contribution to the conversation.

You can see all the other blogs taking part here.

Also, here is a video from Ooze.tv that I watched just yesterday, “Loving Your Gay Neighbour – Part 1“

And, just found this . . . “Is it actually possible to live a gay lifestyle and follow Christ?” http://drewmarshall.ca/listen2009.html (Look for May 23)

And, totally unrelated . . . it’s my birthday today!  If you want to wish me birthday wished, why don’t you subscribe to this blog.  If I could get even just a few more subscribers, I would have over 40 subscribers and that would be a great birthday present!

See the sidebar for subscription links!

Photo by anitacanita

My family is going through a transition and this summer will prove to be an eventful one.  My 5 year old daughter is having surgery in July to fix a kidney reflux problem.  A few weeks ago, we found out that we will not be going back to Japan as expected, so we are now looking for work.  Most of our belongings are in storage in a warehouse in Japan, so we are trying to figure out a way to get at least some of that stuff back here.  We need to move out of this place we are renting at the end of July because it has been sold.  And, yesterday, I was supposed to donate a kidney to my wife’s brother.  But, it didn’t happen because less than two weeks ago, I found out that I have a heart condition called SVT and so the plans to donate a kidney were called off.  The heart condition I have can be fixed (I think the cardiologist said 80% success rate), so that is good news and I am just waiting for a phone call to let me know when my heart surgery will be.

The week before we found out that we would NOT be going back to Japan, I was asked to give a “charge” to a young family that was heading out to Peru for the summer and possibly in to full-time mission work overseas.  This little “speech” I gave has now taken on new meaning for me and as I read it now, I read it as if I am preaching to myself.

Scene:
Carter looks over and sees Edward reading the sheet of paper. Carter asks Edward, “What are you doing?” Edward wants to know what the list on the paper means, but Carter insists on Edward giving it back to him. Edward smiles and says, “It was on the floor. I didn’t know it was a state secret.”

Carter relaxes and explains that when he was in college his freshmen philosophy professor “assigned this exercise in forward thinking. He called it ‘the Bucket List.’ We were supposed to make a list of all of the things we wanted to do in our lives before we…” Edward, figuring it out, finishes the sentence, “kick the bucket. Cutesy.”

Carter explains the kind of things he had initially written on his list, “make a million dollars, the first black president, you know, young man’s wishes…”

Edward begins to read aloud from Carter’s new list, “Help a complete stranger for the good. Laugh until I cry. Not to be judgmental, but this is extremely weak.”

Carter is resigned to his fate, saying, “It’s pointless now.” But Edward says, “I would argue the complete opposite.”

Edward takes the sheet of paper and begins to write on it. When Carter asks what he is doing, Edward replies, “A little rewrite, that’s all.”

If you’ve seen this movie, then you are familiar with the story:

Edward Cole and Carter Chambers have almost nothing in common. Edward is rich, lives lavishly, and is alone. Carter is middle-class, lives simply, and is surrounded by a loving family. The one thing that Edward and Carter have in common is that they both are dying of terminal cancer. Instead of quietly fading away, the two men draw up a “bucket list” — a list of things they want to do before they kick the bucket.

So let me ask you, “Do you have a bucket list? What are some of the things on your list?”

I know you, and so I know that on the list will be some things you want to do, not for yourself, but for God before you die.

I want to encourage you to ask yourself a question that only you can answer. Why?  Why do you want to do the things you want to do?  Why do you want to start new churches and put energy into God’s kingdom?  Take some time to answer these questions.  No matter what you do or don’t do, you know that God loves you.  He will not love you more because you do great things or because you are a missionary or a pastor. God loves you now just as you are as much as He ever will.  And God does not care about what is on YOUR bucket list.  You may not get to do all the things on your bucket list even if they are things you want to do for God. God may not let you do them.  And then, how will you react?  How will you act when you cannot accomplish all that you want to accomplish?

If you don’t get to do all of the things on your list, is that OK?  What if you don’t end up doing any of the things on your list?  Will become a grumpy old man, will you become discouraged or disgruntled with God and dissatisfied with your life with a list of things that you are still trying to accomplish before your life ends?

It is good to have a bucket list.  What matters is how you react when God does not allow you to do some of the things on your list, even if they are things you want to do for Him.

In fact, you may not even get to do any of those things.

And this leads me to my word of advice: Remain faithful. Let me clarify what I mean by “faithful” by saying what I don’t mean.  I don’t mean your belief in God.  I don’t mean trusting in God for your salvation.  When I say to remain faithful, I mean faithful in the sense of being full of hope.  Hope in God.  Hope.  Hope that God is moving and working even when you don’t see it.  Hope because God is God and he is great!

Make that a priority that underlies all of your desires and work for God – to remain full of hope in God right to the end no matter what happens.   Unless you are the exception to the norm, your life will not happen exactly as you expected.  When that happens will you still remain hopeful?

photo by kmevans

@FrankViola posted this joke awhile ago.  Very smart!  Enjoy the weekend!

A Canadian couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier. Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So, the husband left Toronto and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day.

The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room. He decided to send an email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, he sent the email.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her husband’s funeral. He was a minister who was called home to glory following a heart attack. The widow decided to check her email expecting messages from family and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted. The widow’s son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor passed out. He looked at the computer which read:

To: My Loving Wife
Subject: I’ve Arrived
Date: June 21, 2009

I know you’re surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I’ve just arrived and have been checked in. I’ve seen that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then!!!! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

P.S. Sure is freaking hot down here!!!!

I first came across this video through Pernell Goodyear.  Is it a deep satirical commentary about the worship music industry or just a good laugh?

I think it is a poignant commentary on worship music today.  What do you think? Leave your comments below.

Just wanting to pass on some useful information . . .

I recently met with Rad Zdero at a training session for house church leaders in Hamilton, Ontario.  Rad gradauted from McMaster University and later earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Queens’ University, has been involved in cell and house church planting for many years, and is the co-founder of House Church Canada.

This week I found out what Follow Friday means.  But I did not participate – maybe next week I will join in the FF festivities.  I was not as active on Twitter as last week, but there are still some great resources (among other things!) I would like to share (with my comments in brackets, again).  Click on the # mark to see the original tweet, . . . I think