John and Kathy Deisher

One Call, One Harvest, 50 Teams

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God Speaks

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“God is speaking. Not God spoke, but God is speaking. He is by His nature continuously articulate. He fills the world with His speaking voice.”

— A. W. Tozer, “The Pursuit of God”
(Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash)

One of the goals Kathy and I have set for every student we have ministered too is that they learn to hear the voice of God.

To hear God as they read the Bible.

To hear God as they pray.

To hear God as they walk through campus.

To hear God as they talk with someone.

Because God is always speaking. We have to learn to listen. Most of the time, hearing him is as simple as asking, “So, God, what are you saying?”.

You learn to hear his voice in the still, quiet time of prayer and reflection. Then it becomes easier to hear him in the midst of the noise of the daily routine.

God is speaking.

Listen.

On Fire

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“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” 

St. Catherine of Siena

Just a couple of months ago, high school seniors were treated with a litany of graduation speeches designed to put a period on one part of their life and prepare them for the exclamation point of changing the future by entering college and getting a degree.

Now they are entering college and making one of the most important decisions of their you lives—what to study. And how do they make this momentous decision? Often by applying a decision making model of seeing themselves as their culture sees them.

“I like math, so I’ll study…”.

“I want to be rich, so I’ll study…”.

“I like/dislike kids, so I’ll study…”.

“What (insert name here) does looks cool, so I’ll study…”.

And four (or five or six) years later, degree (and student loan debt) in hand, many go into the workforce and discover that their career choice might have been a mistake.

So what if we spent our lives teaching children and youth to hear the voice of God? What if we taught them to know God as they are known by him? What if we gave them visible teaching moments by introducing them to how their faith and their work come together?

What if we spent less time entertaining them and more time helping them discover who they are in God?

We could probably have a generation that would set the world on fire.

Living Gladly

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“The greatest honor we can give Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love.” 

— Julian of Norwich

I love mornings. There is a freshness, a newness about them. I watch the sun rise and am always filled with a sense of delight that no two are the same.

I don’t love problems. There is a staleness, a sameness about them. I watch problems come and am always filled with a sense of dread whether no two are the same or whether they all seem the same.

But everyday I am provided both—sunrises and problems.

So, I chose to “live gladly” for the opportunities both bring.

I know God loves me, and in facing my sunrises and problems I have the opportunity to experience that love. It is my choice in how I live.

So I will live gladly.

Sunrises or problems.

Gladly.

What’s Wrong With The World

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“Dear Sir: Regarding your article ‘What’s Wrong with the World?’ I am. Yours truly,” 

― G.K. Chesterton

G.K. Chesterton may have been on to something. When something doesn’t go right, when a relationship sours, when a plan falls through—I may be what’s wrong.

Not always, but sometimes.

My expectations are not met (but no one knows them). My dreams are unfulfilled (though I have done nothing to advance them).

It may not be “them.” I may need to take a long, hard look at who I am and what I believe…believe about myself, believe about my relationship with God. And then do something about it.

What’s wrong with the world? It might be me.

A Day of Silence

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“In order to pray I have to be paying more attention to God than to what people are saying to me; to God than to my clamoring ego. Usually, for that to happen there must be a deliberate withdrawal from the noise of the day, a disciplined detachment from the insatiable self.” 

― Eugene H. Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction

I just returned from our annual Spirit Walk retreat. This is a time to pray and reflect away from the routine of daily life. As a part of the retreat, we have a Day of Silence—12 hours of no talking/no music/no media.

Just a Bible, a journal, and a prayerful awareness of God.

The most common comment after our time of silence is how loud everything sounds, and how hard it is to utter those first words that break the silence (though one of our interns burst into the dining hall loudly greeting everyone with a hearty “Hello, people!”). For some, it is the first time they have been silent for an extended period and left to listen for the voice of God. But, in the silence, their prayers could echo what heard what God is saying to them.

To whom am I listening? If I am surrounded by music, podcasts, meetings, i.e. daily life, all-day everyday, what are all those voices telling me? Where are my prayers? Where is my attention? Where am I finding out who I am?

It may not be possible to have a 12 hour time of silence, but there is time every day for 30 minutes or an hour. Deliberately withdraw from the day. Turn from the noise of the day to the still, small voice of God. Pray in disciplined silence. Let him reveal who you are.

And then loudly greet everyone with “Hello, people!”.

Reading

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“If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skull, why then do we read it?” Franz Kafka

One of my favorite questions to ask people is “What are you reading”?

It is hard for me to comprehend why someone would not want to read. But more difficult for me is why someone would read some of the things they read.

We spend time reading the next new thing, the “latest and greatest” that will show us how to do whatever it is we need to justify doing. Books become an affirming, comfortable whisper in our ears that says, “Everything is alright.” The latest self-help book takes the place of spiritual disciplines as we look to have a happier, healthier life.

But when we read C.S. Lewis (who wrote more than “The Chronicles of Narnia”) or G.K. Chesterton or Teresa of Avila or Blaise Paschal or Stanley Hauerwas or N.T. Wright, there is no coddling, no slumber, no cozy blanket of self-affirming satisfaction.

They bring a Holy Spirit driven fist, forcing us to cover-up, to counter punch, to think deeply and long on whether our position will stand the true test—a life lived well in Christ.

Go to the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for some great books online. Read “The Practice of the Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence. Read “Orthodoxy” by G.K. Chesterton. Read “Pilgrims Progress” by John Bunyan.

Then prepare for battle.

Resurrection Hope

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In his Commentary on Romans, Karl Barth quotes Friedrich Nietzsche:

“Only where graves are is there resurrection.”

There has to be a death before there is a resurrection. That may not be something we want to think about—letting something die. It could be our plan, our dream, our relationship. It’s not working but we want to keep it on life-support, avoiding the grief of its death. But, what if we embraced that grief and waited to see if God desires to resurrect the dead to a redeemed life.

Lamentations is about death and grief. It is the death of a nation and the grief of its people. But right in the middle of the laments, Jeremiah writes:

But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3:21-24 ESV)

It is alright to grieve for a season. There is a need for lamenting. But in the middle of the grief, there is a morning coming where the ceaseless love of God is faithfully unfolded through his unending mercy.

So I can stand at the grave with resurrection hope.

Learn to Fear

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Deuteronomy 17:18-20 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.”

Long before the kings of Israel showed up, God had set a plan in place for that day to come. He gave those future kings a list of things not to do: don’t acquire a lot of horses, don’t acquire a lot of wives, don’t acquire a lot of money. And to keep the kings on the straight and narrow, they had to write their own book of the law that they were to keep and read for the rest of their life.

I remember when Kathy showed me this one day. I went to look and see if it was recorded what the kings did.

They acquired horses.

They acquired wives.

They acquired money.

You know what I didn’t find? I didn’t find any mention that they had written their own copy of the law of God. So they broke God’s laws, and were judged by God for breaking those laws. So, instead of receiving God’s blessings for obedience, they received judgement for their disobedience.

Maybe the first thing any person who becomes a Christian should do is not buy a Bible, but get a guide who walks with them as they write a copy of the laws of God. Or, maybe every Christian should write their own copy of the law and read it throughout their life.

It might make us all more aware of how we should live.