Lord, Help Me Grow In You
As you are busily decorating, attending holiday parties, and planning inspiring services celebrating the Lord's birth, are you secretly whispering in your heart, "Lord, where are You? I'm doing all this for You…but it's been a long time since I felt Your presence. Lord, help me grow in You. Help me not to simply run through life, but develop into all You created me to be." I have. I didn't realize that one of the Lord's greatest ways to strengthen me spiritually is to take me through some of those dark, unfeeling times in my relationship with Him. Way before the days of digital photography, before any picture could be developed, it had to go through the dark room. For those of us that are serious about "spiritual development," we need to expect to face some dark, tough times along the way.
Let's look at five positive reasons why God might allow you to go through times when you feel distant and detached from Him.
- God wants to help you actually grow in love with Him—rather than in love with the feelings of Him. It can be easy to begin "worshiping your feelings" more than really worshiping the Lord Himself. In every relationship, feelings come and go...but when you know and love a person deeply, you're comfortable with periods of silence.
- God wants you to take His crash course on spiritual growth and maturity in order to develop deep spiritual roots. If you've ever been mountain climbing, you know that only deeply rooted things grow high up on the mountains. God creates circumstances that will bring strength and depth to your spiritual roots so you don't get "blown away" when the next storm comes to your life.
- God wants to cultivate a naked dependence on His Word as your basis of faith. He wants to forever separate in your mind "spiritual feelings" from "spiritual reality." The whole Christian life is based on your faith—not your feelings. But smile. Just because you don't feel anything doesn't mean that nothing is happening. If you've ever done weight training, you know that after most workouts, you don't feel like anything has actually happened—but your feelings are very different from the reality of what is developing inside you.
- God wisely realizes that too much "spiritual light" isn't good for you. so sometimes He allows non-feeling times for your own spiritual health and protection. Even our physical body shows our need for darkness in our nightly sleep patterns. Research has shown that certain disease-fighting processes require not just rest, but dark downtimes to function at peak levels. I find it's really common for a spiritual "dark time" to come right after we've had a lot of spiritual light and truth. It's God's loving way of giving us time to deeply grasp the truth we've already received.
- Congratulations—The devil might hate your guts! If Satan can't take you out any other way, he'll try the "no feelings means no faith" trick. So as strange as it sounds, maybe you should regard your dark, dry season as a backhanded compliment from the devil. Maybe Satan realizes the great plans and destiny Christ has ahead for you...and he's just plain scared of you.
I realize that those five possibilities aren't always great fun, but they really do produce great growth. So how about all those prayers you've prayed? You know, the ones about wanting to grow in God? Maybe God is using some of the "spiritually dark times" to develop your character and answer those prayers. So, this holiday season, don't forget to stop and spend some time with the Lord. And as you're planning your New Year's resolutions ask Him, "Lord, how can I grow more in You this year?"
As you are busily decorating, attending holiday parties, and planning inspiring services celebrating the Lord's birth, are you secretly whispering in your heart, "Lord, where are You? I'm doing all this for You…but it's been a long time since I felt Your presence. Lord, help me grow in You. Help me not to simply run through life, but develop into all You created me to be." I have. I didn't realize that one of the Lord's greatest ways to strengthen me spiritually is to take me through some of those dark, unfeeling times in my relationship with Him. Way before the days of digital photography, before any picture could be developed, it had to go through the dark room. For those of us that are serious about "spiritual development," we need to expect to face some dark, tough times along the way.
Let's look at five positive reasons why God might allow you to go through times when you feel distant and detached from Him.
- God wants to help you actually grow in love with Him—rather than in love with the feelings of Him. It can be easy to begin "worshiping your feelings" more than really worshiping the Lord Himself. In every relationship, feelings come and go...but when you know and love a person deeply, you're comfortable with periods of silence.
- God wants you to take His crash course on spiritual growth and maturity in order to develop deep spiritual roots. If you've ever been mountain climbing, you know that only deeply rooted things grow high up on the mountains. God creates circumstances that will bring strength and depth to your spiritual roots so you don't get "blown away" when the next storm comes to your life.
- God wants to cultivate a naked dependence on His Word as your basis of faith. He wants to forever separate in your mind "spiritual feelings" from "spiritual reality." The whole Christian life is based on your faith—not your feelings. But smile. Just because you don't feel anything doesn't mean that nothing is happening. If you've ever done weight training, you know that after most workouts, you don't feel like anything has actually happened—but your feelings are very different from the reality of what is developing inside you.
- God wisely realizes that too much "spiritual light" isn't good for you. so sometimes He allows non-feeling times for your own spiritual health and protection. Even our physical body shows our need for darkness in our nightly sleep patterns. Research has shown that certain disease-fighting processes require not just rest, but dark downtimes to function at peak levels. I find it's really common for a spiritual "dark time" to come right after we've had a lot of spiritual light and truth. It's God's loving way of giving us time to deeply grasp the truth we've already received.
- Congratulations—The devil might hate your guts! If Satan can't take you out any other way, he'll try the "no feelings means no faith" trick. So as strange as it sounds, maybe you should regard your dark, dry season as a backhanded compliment from the devil. Maybe Satan realizes the great plans and destiny Christ has ahead for you...and he's just plain scared of you.
I realize that those five possibilities aren't always great fun, but they really do produce great growth. So how about all those prayers you've prayed? You know, the ones about wanting to grow in God? Maybe God is using some of the "spiritually dark times" to develop your character and answer those prayers. So, this holiday season, don't forget to stop and spend some time with the Lord. And as you're planning your New Year's resolutions ask Him, "Lord, how can I grow more in You this year?"
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Exodus 33:7-11 tells us how Moses used to pitch the "Tent of Meeting" outside the camp. It was the place where the Lord would speak to him, face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.
Don't you long to create your own Tent of Meeting, a place where you can spend some face time with the Lord? I know I do, but I also know I'm going to have to fight for it on a daily basis. For I know, no one will create a Tent of Meeting for me, but me. And, no windows of opportunity will ever magically appear. My Tent of Meeting will only come through sheer determination, a refusal to let anything else encroach upon my time with Him. Without it, ministry will inevitably get messy.
I'm up for the challenge, the fight and the relentless pursuit! Are you? Draw near my friends! For He promises that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.
Lovingly,
If I could do just one single thing for youth pastors today, I would try to fan their spiritual passion.
In my journey, I have found that there is really very little correlation between spiritual success and ministry success. Too often, talent becomes a remarkable substitute for character and spiritual passion. In ministry it is too easy to know "things" and not know "God." With ease, we can bluff our way through and, unfortunately, more than likely nobody will catch us.
I am determined not to be a "poser." In this Youth Leader's Coach, I will give you tips I've learned along the way that might prevent you from becoming one as well.
Lovingly,
In the church world, I think we "motivate" well toward growing closer to Christ, but sometimes don't "lead" well when we fail to give students pragmatic steps for success. Our continual "10 & 10" (10 minutes in the Word and 10 minutes in prayer) challenge is one of our attempts to do just that, but in this Youth Leader's Coach, "Stood Up Again," we take it a step further.
Through a simple but powerful drama, the reading of David's heart cry found in Psalm 42 and the sharing of a transferable illustration involving deer, we try to help students become more aware of and responsive to the Lord's constant presence. Specifically, drawing upon the wisdom of Brother Lawrence, we encourage them to transform their prayer lives by "Practicing The Presence Of God." And finally, in the giving of a 30-day challenge to have a secret, silent, running conversation with the Lord, our hearts' desire is to stir up a deep longing in them to be in His presence and submerged in Him daily, not just in times of trouble.
This message, however, is not just for students...it's for us too! In the chaos of life, I know too many leaders who are better at being youth pastors than they are at being Christ-followers. May this message serve as a reminder to be "Practicing The Presence" ourselves.
Lovingly,
We're all pretty desperate about getting our problems solved, but we want the solution without it costing us something. I think that's why we have so many half-hearted Christians these days. Why? Because when something ceases to cost you something big, it ceases to mean something big.
In this month's Source, "How bad do you want it?," my ground zero question is, "Does it take desperate times for you to pursue God desperately?" My heart behind this message is to inspire some of us to make the personal choice to passionately come after God no matter what our feeling level.
Fanning the flame,
When Elijah was carried into heaven in a chariot, Elisha put on Elijah's Mantle and continued his work on earth. In the Old Testament, a person's MANTLE, or robe, was woven to symbolize their family DNA and heritage. Ask yourself, what is the core value you want your life to be most "branded" by?
In this Source, "The Mantle of Love," I challenge my group to put on a Mantle of unselfish, authentic, consistent, Christ-Centered LOVE. For as I wrote in my journal many years ago, "No 'life-mission' could be much more honorable or worthy than the quest to be an individual who walks in consistent, authentic love. Who knows…perhaps one day we may 'LOVE more people into Christ's Kingdom' that most ministers will ever PREACH into it."
Lovingly,
