Spending the Day With InterServe

 http://www.interserve.org

I don't know if you've noticed this in your life with God, but I have noticed that periodically God opens me to people and spiritual or theological experiences that deepen my understand of him, his people and the way I come at life with him. Sometimes they are disturbing and convicting; other times they are inspiring and catalyzing.

A week ago Saturday I had one of those remarkable days.

I was invited by my friend, Dave Teague, a pastor who's also been a missionary with his wife, Sally, to speak with him on the theme of Spiritual Formation and Prayer. He was doing the keynote sessions, I would do a workshop on Spiritual Formation, and then we'd collaborate on a Panel Discussion at the end of the day.

I had never been to Toah Nipi and I looked forward to working with Dave and spending time with folks who bring the love of Christ and the Gospel to people who live in very hard places like Afghanistan and Pakistan. Truth be told, missionaries have always been heroes of the faith to me, so hanging out with them looked to be a gift.

It was . . .

Perhaps the most clear conviction I settled into after spending the day with these folks was the necessity of all Christ-followers having to be global Christ-followers in some manner. Perhaps all of us shouldn't spend long periods of time away doing Kingdom work in foreign lands, but all of us must be closely aware of what God is doing in the world for the sake of the Gospel. While writing a check is an important way to fund God's work around the globe, we must see the global Church of equal importance to our local churches. We are all of one tribe as someone said to me recently. When we don't, our vision gradually narrows and ends in a sad spiritual myopia. The missionaries I was with a week ago have just such an expanse of perspective, and while it's refreshing I think it's close to where God wants all of us to be.

Second to the first conviction, and a close second, is the critical importance of praying for global missions and missionaries. Doing so should be a vital part of our prayer life. Because so many of these folks' challenges and hardships fall outside the norm they need our prayer. Because so many go to very tough and dangerous places they need our calling out to heaven on their behalf for protection and provision.We become connected to them through praying for them. And shouldn't we want to see God's Kingdom come all across the earth? Prayer opens holes in the darkness and establishes the ways and means for God's redemptive work to take hold. God makes it all happen, but we have a peculiar influence in that regard. So we need to be praying for peoples, countries, missions organizations and missionaries. If you're not already so engaged, ask God to direct your steps to the people and places he wants you to fight for on your knees.

I think our churches also must to be supporting and sending churches. I know many are, but many are not beyond the yearly denominationally-driven "One Great Hour of Sharing" events. I'm not knocking those at all. But I think it more energizing and inspiring for a congregation to directly support individual missionaries or missions organizations so they enter into real-time relationships with flesh and blood people who depend on their generosity to continue the work. It is all our obligation in my mind. My deepest hope, though, is every local congregation would create an atmosphere where the missionary-mindset is established, people go on short-term missions as part of the church culture, and gifted people are identified and sent on behalf of a local church in full-time service. I know there are churches that do all of it, but I'd like to see every church do so, no matter how small. I know part of imagine/Northampton's vision is to create this missional culture. We'll get there.

Being with the Interserve people made me aware of the cost of following Christ full-bore and the heart it takes to do so. God opened me to lift my head to look to the horizon where my brothers and sisters are laboring with love and skill and courage because God called them to it. They are walking the walk, and with the news today about medical missionaries being murdered in Afghanistan, sometimes paying the ultimate price with their lives, it seems all the more compelling to take up the yoke with them in some way.

Curiously, one of the docs killed was the husband of someone who spoke to the group last Saturday. There was another family there who lost a son as well. This woman told her own harrowing story of almost dying recently because of a surgery infection she suffered while in country. She was within a few hours of dying. She planned to return soon to rejoin her husband. 

I hope what I experienced last Saturday will penetrate deep into my heart and permanently expand my vision for God's Kingdom well beyond Northampton. I think he had me at Toah Nipi to begin just that. Now I need to follow him in the direction he leads. I want to and will watch for how he continues to open me to his global work.

Why I Don't Call Myself a Christian Anymore.

 "We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to Him, He will lead us to great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams of success are God's purpose for us. In fact, His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have the idea that God is leading us toward a particular end or a desired goal, but He is not. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance, and reaching it becomes merely an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself."

"What is my vision of God's purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me."

"God's training is for now, not later . . . We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself. "

                                        

      Excerpted from Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (July 28th).



As many of you know, Tricia and I have been up in western Massachusetts since the summer of 2008. We followed Jesus and came to help plant imagine/Northampton, the creative missional church forming in our hearts and minds beginning in early 2007. We were all filled with dreams and ideas of what imagine/Northampton was supposed to become. We talked of it for hours upon hours. We prayed and studied. It took shape in us.

The day finally came when we moved. There were all sorts of unforeseen problems, setbacks and difficulties, but we were here and gradually became a part of the life of this city.

Over the course of the two years here, we weathered all manner the trials and tribulations, some expected and some not. In the midst of it all a subtle change took place. I stopped referring to myself as a Christian and not because people were antagonistic to me because I am one. The word gradually just felt too passive. I saw it similar to calling myself American, Irish, or a McDermott. It described something about me, but didn't capture the dynamic nature of actually following Christ, a dynamism I valued and wanted to characterize my life. A person can be baptized into Christianity and never follow Christ. I realized I wanted my primary identity to be that of a man actually following Christ in the redemptive work he's currently doing in my neck of the woods. Many of the other terms used to identify me are the roles and interests though which I should follow him. Everything I am and do is given to him for his use as his follower. The term Christian was just too pale for what he wants from me which is to step over the line, follow him and never look back.

So I've taken to using the term Jesus-follower. Sometimes I use Christ-follower - nothing wrong with that. However, I prefer Jesus-follower because it captures his becoming human, and I can identify with that: he became one of us that we might become like him. At the same time, I know his being Christ (the Messiah) is a source of great joy and hope to me. It's just that Jesus-follower feels the most intimate term, so I use it more.

With that in mind, I've also begun to come to grips with a simpler, but more true to the heart of God understanding of my following Jesus as a spiritual formation catalyst under imagine/Northampton. I see it as less about the mechanics of planting and growing a church, and more about opening people to the love of God through Jesus and his call on them to truly love others. I'm to obey God in this regardless of whether or not imagine/Northampton sticks. Therefore, the mission is less about growing an organization, and more about helping form an exuberantly loving community of viral Jesus-followers. It has nothing to do with hip programs or innovative artistic expression, and everything to do with being a faithful redemptive subversive in the Kingdom mission God is leading . . . one person at a time. Church for me is not a thing, event or a place, but a salvific stealth movement of unexpected healing, freeing and being included in the most miraculous revolution in the universe.

So I'm seeing I am to follow him and be of use as he invites people to trust and experience his healing love. Then, by his grace and through the leading of his Spirit, I am to help them open to his love so they can learn to love others who have no idea such love exists. It's that simple, I think. Adding to the imagine/Northampton membership rolls is not my prime directive. That's God's prerogative. Following Jesus wholeheartedly and loving what he loves is.

So I'm understanding being a Jesus-follower these days to mean continuing to find what it is to love God with all my heart, and soul, and mind, and strength (holding nothing back i.e., learning to surrender fully), and from the wellspring of his gracious, abundant response, give my days in Northampton to loving others as I would want to be loved. My key question every day has to be: Am I following Jesus today or am I wandering in the jangling confusion of my desires, wants and preferences thus giving myself to "much ado about nothing?" I've been quite good at the latter!

Oswald Chambers in the quote above reminds us that obeying him is the essence of being a Jesus-follower. Listening to his commands and instructions through the Spirit and then going (or sometimes waiting) fulfills his purpose in me, and maybe his purpose through me. I want to learn such obedience and the freedom attendant to it. I want to trust God to such a depth that outcomes do not determine how passionate I will be for obeying him. In other words, if I never see any fruit from my labors here, it will not seem a failure to me because I obeyed, stayed the course and did what was asked of me . . . I followed with all I had.

What about you?
















 

Who'da Thunk It! Playing in a Rock Band Again . . .

Some of you who've been keeping up with imagine/Northampton or this blog know one of our missional strategies is to connect with the artistic community in and around Northampton. Jim LaMontagne (a bass player) and I (a drummer) have been talking about playing with musicians in town. I and we have played with a number of Christian musicians in the area, but we really wanted to hang with players who'd not call themselves Jesus-followers.

Well, lo and behold, we are on our way! We've been  rehearsing together for about a month, learning the songs and getting used to playing with the other guys. The key players are brothers: Mike and Steve Dubuque. We're geezers and 30+ years older than they, but it works. They are veterans of the scene in the area and have been for a number of years. They play guitar and sing. Mike writes most of the songs, although we heard a new one by Steve the other night. Mike comes to imagine and I've known both him and Steve for awhile.

The experience has been copacetic so far. We get along and the music is coming together. We even have gigs lined up in August and beyond. I haven't played regularly in clubs in decades so it will be both a little weird, and interesting to do so again. We're even playing in Northampton at the Iron Horse, and NYC in the fall!

Our goal is to serve the music with skill in the style appropriate to the songs. We want to comport ourselves in the clubs with professionalism and integrity. We also want to get to know folks and let them get to know us. In the long run, we want to love and serve the people we meet, and maybe be able to share the hope that's in us because of Jesus. Doing the music is a platform for the mission (although very indirectly).

So the adventure begins and I'm excited. At 61, I didn't think I would be in a rock band, but here I am. I haven't been in one since my late 20's. God keeps life interesting. I honestly hope not only will it lead to making good music, but Kingdom relationships will result - the reason I am here in the first place.

I would be woefully remiss if I didn't add I'm profoundly grateful to still be playing, and with passion and intelligence. Playing the instrument at all has always been a joy and a privilege.

Thanks God.

Thoughts on Being Spiritually Formed and Transformed.

I will be giving a talk on this topic tomorrow at imagine/Northampton. Below is an expansion of what I will say.

"We always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel which has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing-as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

Over the years I have noticed often that Christians can have a tendency to pigeon-hole spiritual formation/transformation into a number of activities, unwittingly making the means the ends. Here are a few examples:

•  Living spiritually formed and transforming lives is mostly about not sinning, and trying to be good - not doing what God says is wrong. Certainly learning to live wholly unto God includes working on our sin, but it is a freeing dance of grace with God being in the lead that conforms us to the image of Christ over time.
• Living spiritually formed and transforming lives is mostly about going to church, reading our bibles, having quiet times to pray, being in a small group, writing a check, i.e., doing our religious "duties" faithfully. Again, all of these activities are means by which the Holy Spirit can teach us to know, love God, and walk in his ways, but they do not comprise the essence of our formation.
• Living spiritually formed and transforming lives is trying to be really spiritual or pious about the things of God: keeping a prayer journal, going on retreats, fasting, writing and observing a Rule of Life, doing Lectio Divina, or having a Spiritual Director. Any and all of them can be efficacious means of grace toward maturity, but they are not the essence.
• Living spiritually formed and transforming lives is about going on mission trips (now you're really serious about your faithwalk), attending Christian conferences, going to a Christian college, reading Christian books and attending Christian concerts. God shows up in those situations as well, but they only function as doors not the wellspring of our calling to love God with all we are and have.

The wonder and miracle of what Paul writes so exuberantly about in these Colossian opening passages is that living spiritually formed and transforming lives springs from a radical, existential change of the heart, the core of our being - an astonishing revolution in your fundamental nature takes place. You were a spiritual "corpse" and now you are a new creation in Christ: fully alive and loved in him. Your understanding of yourself must open to this new reality, and along with it, your core values and ultimate life choices have to come under your new identity. If you really get what's happened, you know something earth-shattering has occurred and you'll never be the same.

Paul puts it this way by writing the Father has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light, having delivered you from the domain of darkness and transferred you to the kingdom of his beloved Son (Jesus) in whom you have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Monumental change has overtaken you and God did it sovereignly by grace and mercy flowing from abounding love. He is its Beginning and End.

At the split second of this existential change, your primary identity and true nature are birthed and spiritual formation begins, however stumbling it may be at first. Your deepest identity can no longer be contained by your sex, race, country, family of origin, social status, class, politics or power. You've been given a place in an eternal, universal family. You have been summoned to become a Jesus-follower. Paul says it like this: we are to "be filled (fully immersed in), with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." Our primary identity is to be immersed in relationship with him, knowing him, walking in his ways and working with him in the redemptive Kingdom mission he is completing. If we yield to the Spirit and respond to grace, our transformation deepens over a lifetime

And there are benefits to what has happened to you. Here are a few:

• The chance to be formed and transformed by having wounds of your heart healed so you are freed to live by faith and love because of the hope which stays and grows in you. It will be an iterative process. Through the Spirit and gifted people summoned to the work of inner healing, you can be gradually released from captivity and the sins of others against you. It can happen at different junctures of your life, but God extends his hand to you time and time again.
• As you surrender your heart to being formed and transformed by the grace of Christ, you'll notice a growing capacity to trust God and live by faith. It happens through testing and experiencing God's timely faithfulness repeatedly. His word of truth (the Scriptures), gradually helps you increase in the knowledge of him. As you do, you're slowly being strengthened by power to hold fast (endure) to what you believe no matter the adversity or trials you face in life. Acquiring patience with joy through the animating power of God lifts you from being ruled emotionally by your troubling circumstances. You learn to stay the course, regardless.
• You have the opportunity to be formed and transformed to embrace a life set apart to God (holiness), and his missional Kingdom ways. The incline of your heart can become "your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" through loving and serving people, and by so doing, helping them discover this God who is far more than they ever imagined, i.e., "bearing fruit in every good work." Your priorities and deepest desires turn toward the heart of God that it might be known through you.

Tomorrow afternoon, I will ask the following question of the folks gathered at imagine. Perhaps one relates to you or maybe there are others more apropos to your current walk with Jesus. Take a little time to reflect in a quiet place with him - have a conversation and invite him to help you answer:

"Where do you think spiritual formation and transformation still needs to continue in you?"

1. Your knowledge of who Christ is, what he has done for you, how he relates to you, or how the Kingdom of God works? How to surrender your heart more fully to him and follow more closely?
2. The wounds of your heart/life still need inner healing?
3. Learning to live the spiritual disciplines: prayer, worship, study, service, solitude, etc., as means of grace to be more fully formed in him?
4. Living your faith more transparently and publicly because you long for others to know him?

Perhaps the best way to close is something God said to my wife Tricia in prayer this week:

"To know my will is to know me,

To follow my will is to know my ways,

To be transformed is to know my ways,

To know who I am is to love me and let me love you."

 

Taking a Break: Brief Thoughts on Weddings, Families and Friends.

Starting last Thursday, I spent the 4 days away from all things imagine/Northampton. I don't do that very much. I don't take vacations as a rule, and since coming up this way, the task of planting has required virtually all of my time.

So these last few days have been an anomaly, I suppose.

The back story is we had two weddings to attend: Thursday was our niece's (the daughter of Tricia's brother, Steve), in Boston. Friday was a picnic in Beverly, MA for the newlyweds, their families and friends. Saturday we headed to Wickham Park in Manchester, CT for the wedding rehearsal and then rehearsal dinner in South Windsor. I was giving the Welcome, Invocation/Prayer, then Charge to the couple (young friends of ours who we'd done premarital counseling for, and hope to collaborate with in Northampton under imagine). Sunday was the wedding and Reception back at Wickham Park. All the events were lovely.

Now as some of you well know, Tricia and are are dyed-in-the-wool introverts, so gatherings of even people we know well and love much can be taxing. It can even be a bit awkward when you have not seen folks for a while. Awkward tends to be something introverts experience frequently in social settings. Awkward doesn't feel very good.

Regardless, I have a few thoughts from the last 4 days.

First, I am always reminded at weddings there is a complex mix of joyful beginnings and a bittersweet endings in play. A new filial relationship is created, melding two family histories into a new expression of them both; one which will carry the family lines forward in a unique way. On the other hand, old relationships change: the parent/child-brother/sister connection alters because a third person is brought into the dynamic. While most of the time, relatives are happy the new couple is joined, everyone knows the relationship has changed because the two have become one and must be related to accordingly. Sometimes that adjustment is just bittersweet and hard.

I'm also frequently reminded of family dynamics when extended family gathers for the celebration of a wedding. Because of personal history with one another, the time spent together can be a rich reunion of catching up, sharing memories and just enjoying the chance to be together again, even for a few hours. Or, sadly, being together can reopen old wounds and unsettled disputes which make even a few hours feel strained, or worse, re-fire into fresh conflict (liquor can  open that door). Family dynamics subtly assign people to fixed roles which are hard to break, and thus, make gatherings awkward for people hurt by such assignments.

Lastly, weddings are prime events for inviting friends to celebrate in support of the happy couple or just because they are together in a festive atmosphere. Because the mood is celebratory, friends seem all smiles and conviviality. Together they are sharing one of life's greatest celebrations especially for Jesus-followers. Friendship already healthy is only solidified on such occasions.

Even though I am an introvert, I do like experiencing wedding celebrations. I always feels uplifted after such an occasion. I usually begin them a bit on edge because I'm an introvert, but I often feel refreshed after a lovely time with friends and loved ones. However, no matter how pleasant it all was, I'm also exhausted and ready to go home with Tricia.

That's just the way it is.

Suffering and Planting: A Daunting Necessity.

"Thousands of missionaries have lived difficult lives of sacrifice in relative poverty and deprivation as God expanded their work and ministries in the places where they served. God doesn't promise that all of His followers will be protected from hardship and suffering. Christians get cancer, lose loved ones, and suffer financial setbacks just like everyone else. But God can also use our tragedies to expand our territory in ways that show a skeptical world a different way to live." (Richard Stearns: The Hole in Our Gospel.)

One of the fiercest mental battles I've had to endure as a rookie church planter centers around the reality of the suffering involved in planting a church in a tough place. Mind you, I was no star-crossed "we're gonna kick some Kingdom butt," triumphalist thinking the way forward would be paved with lilacs. I knew the challenges would be many and great, and was well aware of my untested abilities in this mission.

Having that said, I have to admit the suffering we've had to go through has exposed naive assumptions about God's protection in such work. He also exposed my pride in thinking after two years we should surely have all sorts of success stories and Northampton is changing because of our work. More about that in a minute.

By God's protection I'm really referring to being kept from any hardship serious enough to impede or delay what I envisioned was reasonable progress. So God has allowed the injuries, illnesses, constant financial pressures, and lack of people joining the cause (that's in no way meant to demean the wonderful people who are with us), job losses, and long, dark nights of the soul we have all  experienced in Northampton as a church plant. I have never assumed we would be protected from any trouble or hardship in this mission. But I need to say also our suffering has left a mark on us and at times been both bewildering and deflating. Par for the course, I understand.

Here is what I've realized about suffering and planting from being in Northampton almost two years:

1. Expect substantial and relentless spiritual obstruction, confusion and attack from an adversary hell-bent on derailing God's Kingdom initiatives, especially in places of long-established demonic strongholds. Planting is a fight on spiritual, emotional, relational and physical/practical fronts; sometimes all at once. Chaos will show up in surprising ways and create setbacks threatening to wear down your resolve. The pain of the fight is real.

2.  Expect to have your faith tested beyond what you have experienced in the past. Church planting requires a strength of faith and trust equal to the Kingdom weight it must carry. You need to believe when the money is not there; when the people are not there, where the way is frequently blocked, problems cascade and you are spiritually, mentally and physically drained. It could all fall apart, but you must hold fast to God no matter. He will make a way where there appears no way. In the meantime, it feels like muscles being stressed and strained to be ready. Sometimes they tear.

3. Expect God to expose and work on your weaknesses through trial. Character flaws, relationship tensions, unhealed wounds and areas of spiritual immaturity will be brought to the fore so God can create a pure heart ready to produce Kingdom fruit. It will take time and is a critical part of the planting process: God plants his Kingdom more deeply in you so you're more fit to do the same in others.No one likes having to look into a mirror of sin and weakness. It hurts, but is necessary.

4. Expect the re-tooling of your expectations about what your mission is going to look like. The vision may or may not reflect where you end up. What sparkled off the page on the drawing-board may evaporate when real life takes over your days on the mission ground.  Again, he's focusing your effort around his will for what he's called you to do. We see in part; he sees exactly as he desires it to be. You might experience frustration as God goes to work. No one likes having to re-do what seems a winner.

5. Expect periods of second guessing and questioning. As you run into delaying obstructions which persist, you very likely will ask questions about whether God called you to do this in the first place. You might wonder if you are the right man or woman for the task. You may question your gifts or spiritual fitness. You might feel you are disappointing God because you're not making more headway. Questioning is good if it brings you to your knees and opens you to God's wisdom. This kind of suffering can be excruciating because it calls your sense of value and competence into question. Confidence in God gets built there.

6. Expect periods of discouragement even disillusionment. There are countless stories of missionaries and planters suffering great long, dark nights of the soul where it feels all has failed, God has disappeared (or worse yet is really ticked), and its might be time to abandon ship. Sometimes it will be accompanied by excruciating stresses and strains physically, financially, relationally, emotionally and spiritually. Being overwhelmed for an extended period of time can produce disillusionment also. These periods will come. You are being tested and made durable like a marathon runner. It hurts because you feel let down or you are letting down others who put their confidence in your mission.

7.  Expect training in humility where much of what you stood on in the past is removed so you have nothing to toot your spiritual horn about. If anything happens of any real import in the mission you've been summoned to it will be God's doing and his alone . . . period. Humility is prized by God. Suffering creates humility because it puts us in God's hands with only him to hold on to. Pride puffs us to blindness and missional impotence. Our initial, grand designs for God need some cutting down to size. Suffering gets the job done if we keep our eyes on him in the ordeal he fashioned for us.

I have changed because of what we've had to go through. I am more reliant on God and have few illusions about making anything of value happen unless he does it. I am trying to be faithful each day to staying the course even if I do not see what I did as having anything to do with the mission. I am still expectant, but have tempered it with the real possibility I will not see the fruits of my labors here until the Kingdom comes at the end of the Age. And what God sees as missional progress or success may have very little to do with how I think it should be. That has come to be enough . . . most days anyway.

How Intimacy With Jesus Leads to Living the Mission of the Kingdom.

For 2 years I've been fully engaged in planting imagine/Northampton. Prior to coming here, Tricia and I devoted ourselves to helping people learn to listen to God, especially through Listening in Christ and Klesis Immersion retreats. In addition, we offered inner healing and spiritual direction. Our lives were completely enmeshed in the Christian spiritual life, particularly the contemplative spiritual disciplines and matters of the heart in relation to God. For ordinary Jesus-followers like us it was an extraordinarily spiritual rich life. Living at the Center For Renewal, a retreat center in a beautiful bucolic setting in Simsbury, CT, fostered the inner disciplines and opened intimacy with God that people came to experience with us.

What we came to realize and value deeply from our experience is the necessity of spiritual intimacy with God. Love needs to grow in the heart. Jesus's followers must learn to desire him above all life's treasures. Anything less misses the heart of the Gospel leaves us to chase after trifles. Without passion for Jesus, people gradually numb spiritually and sink into a religious life of spectatorship and consuming.  Religious routine supplants persistent vigor and pursuit of God's heart, mind, and will in all things. Spiritual intimacy creates and sustains hunger for the Presence of the Living God.

The truly amazing reality of learning to be in the quiet with Jesus listening for him, talking from the heart with him, and being opened to Love astonishing in its depth and generosity, is it settles in you a longing to know him so that your heart might become free to unite with his. What God cares most deeply about matters more and more to you. Listening to the still, small voice of the Spirit, and searching the Scriptures to see him as he is slowly but surely conforms your nature to his. You gradually want what he wants in who you are. It is transformation to the spiritual core. You truly become a new creation.

As with any relationship, communicating is a doorway. Listening and being listened to create understanding and identification with the other. A connection is made and people open in trust because they feel taken seriously. It's no different with relating to God. Listening and talking to God establishes a lifelong spiritual dialogue of knowing and being known. God becomes the Realest of realities to you. His nature and will frame your life and give it meaning. You find your truest self as God speaks into your life experienced from day to day - the ups and downs, joys and sorrows, victories and losses, all of it. You go through them with him because you have gotten to know his voice and heart toward you.

So how does this intimacy with Jesus lead to living the mission of the Kingdom?

1. As you experience his heart in the quiet with him, love grows and the call to "love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength" gradually becomes a way you live. You desire for him to be known because of his wondrous goodness toward you. Gratitude grows from time alone with him. Friendship takes hold.

2. Intimacy with Jesus transforms what matters most to you which means where you give your best time, effort, talent, and material resources turns toward establishing and furthering his Kingdom. It has become THE STORY giving the most meaning to your story. You want to be about his business in the world because it has become your "prime directive": family life, work life, church life and community life become "staging areas" for the redemptive Kingdom mission of your Lord and Friend. Eternity hangs in the balance for you in a way it hadn't before.

3. Because you've spent heart to heart time alone with God it has become your way of life so you no longer live a disconnect between your "normal" life and your spiritual life. Everything now has spiritual import and weight to it. Your perspective stays on "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is already being done in heaven." You have adopted a missional mindset and see all of life as spiritual opportunity for opening people to God so they can see him.

So what should you do to find intimacy with God?

1. Learn how to listen to his voice. Read Dialogue With God by Mark & Patti Virkler. Then begin this spiritual discipline and work at it daily. Read everything you can on the Christian spiritual life, including the great masters over the centuries who have left teachings about it John of the Cross, Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, Teresa of Avila, etc.

2. Find a wise and skillful Spiritual Director in your area and get into spiritual direction. Being able to talk with someone regularly who can help you learn and practice the contemplative spiritual disciplines is crucial. Tricia and I are available to do that, including over the phone.

3. Make a habit of going on at least one contemplative retreat each year where silence, solitude and listening are central to the retreat. Today there are more retreat centers offering such retreats. Tricia and I are available as well to lead group Listening in Christ retreats.

4. At least twice a year, take a Quiet Day where you can get away to listen, pray, reflect and journal.

5. Read everything you can on the Kingdom of God and living missionally. You might start with:

• The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical - Shane Claiborne
• Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God - Francis Chan.
• Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises and a Revolution of Hope - Brian McClaren.
• Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller

I'd also love to hear your thoughts on anything I wrote in this post. Let's have a dialogue over this.