One Call, One Harvest, 50 Teams
I read “The Way of the Pilgrim” this past fall and it really helped me see the importance of prayer as more than simply sending my requests to God. R.M. French, through his praying pilgrim, taught me how to pray always. Well, I still don’t pray always, but I pray more as I have developed the habit of having conversations with God. It is an act of faith, but one that reaps incredible rewards as you encounter the personal and living God. I highly recommend you read this book.
[A note to my readers. During this time of “shelter-in-place” I thought I would write a series of devotionals aimed for those in vocational ministry. I recently re-read Eugene Peterson’s book “Working the Angles” and thought that this would be a great time to refocus on my ministry priorities. There is some good stuff in there for those who are not in vocational ministry, but it is geared particularly to those who are. –jd–]
Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
Every minister knows they need a Sabbath (truthfully, every person needs a Sabbath, minister or not). But acknowledging the need and practicing Sabbath or two different things. But a Sabbath is important because it trains us in the rhythms of action and response. It doesn’t matter if it is Sunday, Saturday, Monday or any other day. It is a day set aside for God.
If God’s word is previous to our desire to pray, then grace is also previous to all we do. When we Sabbath, we see both what God has been doing and what he is continuing to do. We quiet the noise so we can hear God.
It is a time to pray. It is also a time to play. It is a time to take a walk, to read a book, to take a drive. It is a day to protect. Learn to Sabbath.
Father, forgive me for not seeing the need for a Sabbath. Forgive me for making ministry an idol that I worship through my work, rather than stepping back and responding to a different type of rhythm. Let me walk in your grace as I step back and reflect on what you have been doing and what you desire to do. As I pray and play, help me quiet the noise so I can hear from you.
1. Pick a day, any day, and make it your Sabbath. Turn off your electronics and make a plan for creating a Sabbath.
2. Picked a day? Made a plan? Then go do it! That’s it.
(This devotional series is based on my notes from “Working the Angles” by Eugene Peterson)
[A note to my readers. During this time of “shelter-in-place” I thought I would write a series of devotionals aimed for those in vocational ministry. I recently re-read Eugene Peterson’s book “Working the Angles” and thought that this would be a great time to refocus on my ministry priorities. There is some good stuff in there for those who are not in vocational ministry, but it is geared particularly to those who are. –jd–]
Mark 6:46 “And after he had taken leave of them, he went up to the mountain to pray.”
How did you learn to pray? Well, if you are like me, you learned to pray by listening to others pray.
But, what if there were a manual on how to pray that came directly from God? What if there were a model for prayer no matter what season we find ourselves in? What if there were an instruction manual on how to respond to what God is doing?
There is! We call it Psalms.
Reading and studying Psalms is how we can learn the way to pray. It is interesting that Psalms is broken down into five parts. It is even more interesting that as you study both Psalms and the first five books of the law (Genesis through Deuteronomy), there is a correlation.
The first five books are God’s divine utterance on who we are, how and why we came to be, how he works, and how he expects us to live in relationship with him and others. The five sections of Psalms are the human answer, in prayer, to God’s divine utterance.
So in the Psalms we have the textbook for our first angle – prayer. This is where we learned how God is to be praised. There are happy times and dark times, times of blessing and times of tribulation. And in Psalms, there are prayers for every occasion.
“Father, teach us to pray. If prayer is one of the foundational parts of who I am, then I want to know how to do it well. You know the way of the righteous and have set your glory above the heavens. As I learn to pray, give me ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to receive. Amen.”
1. Take one of the Psalms that speak to you. Re-write it in your words as your prayer to God. After you pray, listen for his response.
2. The Psalms are broken down so that you can read it easily in one to three months. Find a plan and commit to reading through Psalms multiple times this year. I read through Psalms every three months (and Proverbs monthly). Commit to reading the Psalms as a prayer during this period and see how you can develop your prayer life.
(This devotional series is based on my notes from “Working the Angles” by Eugene Peterson)
[A note to my readers. During this time of “shelter-in-place” I thought I would write a series of devotionals aimed for those in vocational ministry. I recently re-read Eugene Peterson’s book “Working the Angles” and thought that this would be a great time to refocus on my ministry priorities. There is some good stuff in there for those who are not in vocational ministry, but it is geared particularly to those who are. –jd–]
1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Eugene Peterson writes that prayer is the central act for maintaining the essential shape of ministry. The importance of prayer for those of us in ministry cannot be overstated.
It is unfortunate that prayer has become what I do, I.e. I tell God all of the things I am facing, all of the needs I have, and how I want him to act in response to my requests. We treat prayer as if it is the initiator of something, and God’s response is the answering word. In reality, when we pray we are the answering speech to God’s first word. God has initiated the desire to come to him. All we are doing is bringing ourselves to his attention through our prayers.
So what is the purpose of prayer? The ultimate purpose of prayer is to be a part of what is going on with God. In prayer we ask, “What are you doing God in my life, in my situation, in the lives and situations of those I know and love, and how do I partner with you?”
This is a dynamic shift in thought. No longer are we asking God to be involved in what we think is our work. We are asking to be involved in what is truly his work.
And that partnership makes all the difference.
What are you doing, Father? Show me how you are working in my life. Show me how you are working in the lives of those I will see today. I desire to partner with you in what you are doing. Let me lay aside my plans so I can partner with you this day. Amen.
1. As you go through your day, ask, “What are you doing right now, God, and how do I partner with you.” Start with your calendar for the day and listen to how God would structure your day.
2. Are you facing a situation you have been asking God to fix? Instead, pray today that God would show you how he is working in that situation and how you can partner with what he is doing. See your trials and tribulations as a chance to partner with God and his plan for you.
(This devotional series is based on my notes from “Working the Angles” by Eugene Peterson)
[A note to my readers. During this time of “shelter-in-place” I thought I would write a series of devotionals aimed for those in vocational ministry. I recently re-read Eugene Peterson’s book “Working the Angles” and thought that this would be a great time to refocus on my ministry priorities. There is some good stuff in there for those who are not in vocational ministry, but it is geared particularly to those who are. –jd–]
Psalm 103:21 “Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will!
Imagine a triangle. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Got it? Good. Now imagine that the three lines of the triangle represent the visible roles we fill as vocational ministers. Let’s label those lines: preaching, teaching, and administration.
This is what we do. This is what people see. And, in some cases, these roles are how we define ourselves.
But what makes a triangle different from just three random lines? It is that they are connected at angles. Go ahead, take a look at your imaginary triangle. See those angles? Tri-ANGLES?
I want to talk about those angles. Much of what I will be writing in the next few days comes from Eugene Peterson’s insightful book, “Working the Angles”. We want to move from focusing on those three public roles, the lines, to what connects them, the angles.
What are those angles that keep our public ministry together? They are prayer, scripture reading, and spiritual direction. They are found in our private lives. Without those three, preaching, teaching, and administration fall apart. These are angles that are the foundation of being a minister who does the will of God.
So, let us bless the Lord and do his will.
Father, I desire to bless you with my life and ministry as I do your will. My prayer is that I learn to focus well on these angles that hold together the roles I fill. Give me ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to receive your words.
1. Have you allowed your identity as a minister of God to be in your public roles, forgetting to take care of those angles? Ask for God’s forgiveness as we go through this series.
2. Take the time to begin to look at your daily schedule and see how you can begin to work on these angles of ministry.
(This devotional series is based on my notes from “Working the Angles” by Eugene Peterson)
“I have rightfully no other business each day but to do God’s work as a servant, constantly regarding His pleasure. May I have grace to live above every human motive, simply with God and to God.”
― Henry Martyn
Sometimes we get confused.
We think we are the master and God is the servant.
I don’t know that we mean to think that, but that is the way it works out. We pray and ask God to meet our needs. We do it with the best of intentions because we know that he loves us and has good things for us.
Then we arise from our prayers and go live our life. OUR life.
I am the master. God is the servant.
So what if instead we begin the day by saying this prayer, “Thy will be done, Father. What does it look like through my life today?”
And then listen to the Father and go do it; a life lived “simply with God and to God”.
Just working in the family business.
To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.”
— Karl Barth
In the Theological Roundtable class for our interns, we talked this week about how we think theologically. Part of our time was spent looking at what we do as Christians that comes from tradition, from reason, and from experience.
Why do we pray?
It should be more than just something we do because we are “Christian.”
Or because the Bible talks about prayer.
Or because we know God answers our prayers.
We pray because it is our time to join with God in declaring that the things of this world do not define us. The chaos, the clatter, the distractions, and disruptions do not dictate our actions.
It is a rebellion against the systems of the world.
We stop the noise.
And we pray.
We join together with God as we pour out our heart and find direction in the disorder.
Join the revelation. Clasp hands. Pray.
“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!”.
