Planning an Intentional Devotional Life for 2010. Do you have a plan?

Great stuff from JR Vassar:

The most important thing you can do in 2010 is cultivate a devotional life that facilitates the intimate nearness of God. You won't accidentally get close to God. So, for 2010, I wanted to encourage you to embrace a focused intentionality in your devotional life. Here are some things I have been thinking through with regards to my devotional practices in 2010.

Have a no exemption time and place to meet with God. If you do not schedule in focused time with God, everything else in your life will schedule it out. Have a time and place and treat it as an appointment with the most important person in the universe. And, keep it; no excuses. It might be morning, evening, night, whatever. Just pick a time that you devote to seeking God with uninterrupted focus. If you have to put it on your calendar, do it.

Have a plan. What will you do during that time? The obvious answer is that the time will at least include contemplative bible reading and prayer. But, what will be the content of that contemplative reading? There are several options and no one option is best or right. You need to find what keeps you engaged and maybe even mix it up a little. Here are some options that some friends have shared with me on Twitter:

The M'Cheyne Reading System. Robert Murray M'Cheyne was a minister in the Church of Scotland from 1835-1843. He died at the age of 29 but left an amazing legacy. This is a plan he developed. The esv.org site explains this plan as "featuring four different readings for use in both family and personal devotions. Each day has two passages from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, and one from either the Psalms or the Gospels. In one year, you read the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice." You can subscribe the RSS feed and have it delivered into your google reader every day. Or you can download a printable version here.

ESV Study Bible Reading Plan. In my opinion, the best study bible available today is the ESV Study Bible. The Doctrines section in the back exceptional and the notes are very helpful. There is also a reading plan in the back of the ESV Study Bible. The esv.org site describes it as "readings every day from the Psalms and Wisdom Literature, Pentateuch and History of Israel, Chronicles and Prophets, and Gospels and Epistles." You can subscribe to the RSS feed and have it delivered to your google reader everyday.

The Book of Common Prayer. For those of us from the free church tradition, this seems a little foreign, but I have found the BCP daily office to be a great approach. Every day the BCP gives you a morning and evening Psalm, an OT reading, a Gospel reading and an NT reading. The great thing about the BCP is that Christians all over the world are reading the same Scriptures everyday together. You are reading with the Church. The BCP daily office is a two year cycle, each cycle beginning in the season of Advent. We just started Year Two. You won't read through the entire bible in those two years, but you will get a wide and diverse diet of the Scripture. For more information on the BCP visit this site and click on the Daily Office Lectionary. You can also subscribe the RSS feed and have the readings delivered to your google reader everyday.

Customize Your Own Reading Plan. If you want to customize your own reading plan so that your reading is heavier in one area than the other, you can use this website and have your customized plan emailed you to every day.

Choose Individual Books. Some prefer to stick in a book and go deep with it for a season. For instance, you might want to spend a month or two in the Gospel of John focusing on the glory of Christ. It is a good idea to alternate between OT and NT and different genres.

Again, which plan you choose is not the most important thing. Don't stress over it. Just have a plan.

Begin your time with prayer and confession. Confess your sins to the Lord and ask him to cleanse your heart (of things you have done and things you have left undone) and open your eyes to behold wonderful things in his word (Psalm 119:18). You want a heart that is open and responsive to God and confession and prayer postures us in that way.

Read out loud. Maybe it is just me, but if I don't, I get really distracted.

Look for Gospel patterns. As you read, realize that Jesus and the Gospel is The One Story of the Bible. Look for Gospel patterns, grace on display, as you read. Especially in the OT. Every story has Christ as the ultimate hero. For example, don't read the story of David and Goliath and leave your devotional time "ready to face your giants." Realize that you are Israel in the story, not David. You are weak, powerless, cowering before your enemies of sin, Satan, and death, and you need an anointed King to defeat your enemies and cause you to rise up in hope and courage. Jesus is the true and better David, and he is the point of the story of David and Goliath. Look for these patterns in everything you read and rejoice in what God has accomplished for you in Jesus. We don't have devotions and pray in order to avoid the guilt of not having devotions and not praying. We have devotions and pray to know Jesus and his Gospel, and revel in all that he is for us and all that he has won for us.

Journal your thoughts and prayers. Journaling helps us process what we are reading and learning from the Lord. It is good to go back and read your journal to remind yourself of how God has been at work in your life in the past. Get a moleskin or a cheap equivalent and just do it for a season and see if it helps you.

Realize that this is a community project. You need to share what God is saying to you and have others share what God is saying to them. Consider doing one of the above plans with a group of people, a spouse, a roommate, or your church staff.

Don't give up. I have missed meals in the past, but never gave up on eating. I just made sure I did not miss the next meal (and usually made up for it). You are going to miss days, often times multiple days. Repent of your neglect of God and press on in knowing him. Your righteousness is not in how consistent your devotional life is; it is in Jesus Christ who is constant and ever faithful. So, relax and pick up where you left off.

The beauty and joy of 2010 will not depend upon your circumstances, but upon your experience of the One you were made for. As much of him that you want to experience, you will experience. He promises to reward those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

Theology Matters: The Why Answers The How

If you can deeply understand why you exist, you will have the ability to withstand any circumstance.

Think about it. If you believe you exist for physical pleasure, than you will collapse when you do not have any.

If you believe you exist to be respected and admired by others, you will wilt when you experience ridicule and judgment.

If you believe you exist to be as comfortable as possible, then you will be ravaged with depression when discomfort and trouble comes your way.

What you believe you exist for will be the deciding factor of how you handle EVERYTHING in life.

If you believe you exist to be made more fully into the image of Jesus Christ for his glory and your joy, than you will be able to withstand anything.

We will be able to say with Paul that it is all joy as we are being shaped into the image of Jesus, both in trials and triumphs.

ryan

Opportunity Knocks...

Christmas is upon us and before we tear into a pile of gifts and a honey glazed ham, our church body will gather to worship King Jesus coming into the the world to save us sinners.

Our Christmas Eve service will take place at 6 PM and will be a wonderful opportunity for you to invite family and friends.

The Christmas season is one of those times a year in which the Holy Spirit seems to soften the hearts of many to be open to the Gospel. Let's not waste this opportunity to proclaim and share the good news with friends and family.

To all of you, Merry Christmas!!

Idols And Your Soul

"Those who are not secure in Christ cast about for spiritual life preservers with which to support their confidence, and in their frantic search they cling not only to the shreds of ability and righteousness they find in themselves, but they fix upon their race, their membership in a party, their familiar social and ecclesiastical patterns, and their culture as means of self-recommendation. The culture is put on as though it were armor against self-doubt, but it becomes a mental strait-jacket which cleaves to the flesh and can never be removed except through comprehensive faith in the saving work of Christ."

Richard Lovelace, The Dynamics of Spiritual Life.

Santa Claus and Christmas

Part of the reason we are celebrating Advent at Calvary is to restore to Christmas its true meaning. That all of us may be thankful for God coming in the flesh, as Jesus, to save us from sin and reconcile us to him.

The secular story of Christmas is one in which a large man breaks into people's houses and eats their food (seriously this should scare children).

Mark Driscoll, who is a pastor at Mars Hill Church challenges us all to tell the truth to our kids about Christmas so that they grow up with memories and experiences that are based solidly in the real Christmas meaning, rather than the one Madison Avenue has sold to us.

So maybe this is the year some of us tell our kids the wonderful story of the real Saint Nick; that he was an ancient Christian pastor, who had a missional heart to love his community.

Here is Mark Driscoll's article on Saint Nick if you would like to read all about it.

ryan

Jesus In The Flesh

He so loved us that, for our sake,
He was made man in time, although through him all times were made.
He was made man, who made man.
He was created of a mother whom he created.
He was carried by hands that he formed.
He cried in the manger in wordless infancy, he the Word,
without whom all human eloquence is mute.

–Augustine, Sermon 188, 2

Theology Matters: Your Anxiety

Anxiety is common to most of us. At times life seems chaotic and we feel like we are losing control. For some of us this anxiety can lead to depression and despair as we feel like we have lost control.

The world has many answers for this including pills, chanting, breathing exercises, or the latest self-help book that promises to put everything in perfect order.

Yet the truth is our anxiety and fear is rooted not in our psychology or situation, but in our theology. You may be saying "wait a second, what does theology have to do with anxiety?" The answer is everything.

Let's look at two stories from the Bible


How stressed do you think Pilate was when he had an unruly mob threatening his power and status? The Jews were demanding the death of Jesus and Pilate was losing control. I can only imagine the angst he felt about Caesar catching wind that Pilate could not maintain control of his jurisdiction. So faced with the choice of allowing the death of a man he knew was innocent or losing control, Pilate lived out his theology, and his anxiety guided him into a devastating reality of letting Jesus be crucified.

In Luke 7 we see a another story about anxiety. A Roman leader came to Jesus in situation that would cause anyone great stress and despair. He had just learned that one of his closest and most loyal servants was sick and would soon die. The Roman Centurion sought out Jesus for help. Jesus was willing to come to the sick servant and heal him but the Centurion told Jesus that he knew he was a man of great authority and if he even said the word his servant would be healed. In a situation in which the Centurion is about to lose someone close to him and anxiety would be expected we see his theology lived out. His faith is demonstrated and his conviction that God is good is what he leans into. Instead of anxiety, we see a trust in the power and goodness of Jesus. Anxiety would actually be silly in light of the Centurion's reality of a Good savior who is able to and willing.

Did you catch that? Our theology shapes how we respond to difficult situations. If you are prone to deep anxiety and fear I would simply ask you what is your understanding of God's goodness? Have you resolved what the character of your God is and how that will sustain you in times of tragedy, and strife?

The truth is when we are struggling long term with deep issues of wanting to always be in control and feeling constant anxiety about losing it, our solution is not a psychological one but a theological one. It is a steadfast conviction and understanding that the Lord is good. For the rest of your life you will constantly testify over and over again about what you believe about the goodness of God.

I would hope as a church we would all GROW in our understanding of theology and who God is. Not just so we can win at Bible trivia, but so we can live well and in a manner that reflects who our God is.

Here are two critical verses I would challenge all of you to meditate on about God's goodness.

The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made (Psalm 145:8-9).

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:9-10).

Hunting Tiger Woods

An excellent blog post here by C.J. Mahaney about Tiger Woods.

An excerpt:

Hunted by the Media

As expected, the allegations of adultery involving a public figure are attracting a media pile-on. This is a big story with a big audience and it’s a story that will not disappear soon. Tiger Woods is being hunted by the media.

But let us make sure we do not join the hunt. A Christian’s response to this story should be distinctly different. We should not be entertained by the news. We should not have a morbid interest in all the details. We should be saddened and sobered. We should pray for this man and even more for his wife.

And we can be sure that in the coming days we will be in conversations with friends and family where this topic will emerge. And when it does, we can avoid simply listening to the latest details and speculations, and avoid speaking self-righteously, but instead we can humbly draw attention to the grace of God in the gospel.

Hunted by Sin

But Tiger is being hunted by something more menacing than journalists. Tiger’s real enemy is his sin, and that’s an enemy much more difficult to discern and one that can’t be managed in our own strength. It’s an enemy that never sleeps.

Let me explain.

Read the whole thing.