When We Turn Away From God’s Ideas…
“God has already told us to live for Him, to be like Him, to represent Him to others, and to further His plans. When we turn away from His ideas, we turn instead to our experiences in life to see what is good and bad. Whatever feels good, what seems to give us an immediate experience of life, we decide is life; we decide it is food for our souls, and we chase after it with all the excitement of a street person in the back alley rummaging through the fine restaurant’s garbage.”
Larry Crabb, Becoming a True Spiritual Community, Page 91
Questions for Reflection:
What is “life” for you?
What ideas of God’s have you turned away from?
How do you hope to move forward given that we know God wants us to live for Him and further His plans?
What’s Your Priority In Life?
“Do not live with the priority of making your life in this world as good as you can make it. You will suffer, at times unfairly, but you will be given what you need to enter strongly and wisely with supernatural love into every circumstance you face.
“Doing so will be your joy, your hope, and your deepest fulfillment now as you look forward to a world where every child runs and laughs.”
Larry Crabb, God’s Love Letters to You, The Devotional, Page 29
Questions for Reflection:
How have you suffered unfairly?
Did God give you what you needed in that time to face that difficult circumstance?
How has suffering proven to be more fulfilling than trying to make your life good in this world?
NewWay Ministries Prayer Initiative
A note from Rachael
A long overdue prayer initiative:
Larry is busily working on the book, Gender, and he has signed with Baker Publishers. He really likes relationships with publishers and teams. Baker is family involved, something Larry has liked since the ’70s when he went with Zondervan after meeting Pat Zondervan, also living in Boca Raton, FL. He’s on Chapter 14 and has had a little stretch of writing before he hits a very busy Spring schedule:
January started off with Larry at a meeting in Naples, FL for NCS, he really enjoyed the time with the guys. It was great for me to go and spend time with my sister whose husband was in the hospital. Larry and I felt so blessed to be there during a very trying time for Ann and John. John is so glad to be home with 24/7 care.
Second week he taught a course at CCU, third week had an appt with the oncologist ( a very encouraging report, next MRI is in March)and spent the next week and 1/2 writing. On the 28th we went to OH —Kenny is teaching a SS class on 66 Love Letters so Larry took the class that Sunday and Monday. He then had the biggest speaking engagement of his life: How to Write a Book, for Kait’s (our grand daughter) secondgrade class in Chardon. I stayed on in OH to sit the girls ages 2, 6, and 8. Pretty hard to manage with a very badly sprained foot and crutches but the girls were so helpful. I’m now walking with a boot and getting around but the doctor told me it would be 6 -8 weeks till I walked better.
Larry and I went to Northern Colorado to visit friends going through some tough times! We had planned a visit to see another friend BUT my foot got in the way. Love living normal, visiting friends just for mutual encouragement.
February brings a bit more writing time but articles due, a trip to TX for the Christian Counselors of TX Association, then our missionary friends from Europe come for eye surgery, the 24th Larry will be doing a workshop at CCU for a pastor’s conf with Haddon Robinson.
Larry will be busy preparing for speaking engagements and a busy March: NCS in DC the first weekend, second weekend and part of the next week at Moody Church in Chicago; a little writing time in the fourth week before Trip comes and they prepare for Next Step, March 23-30 to be held at Glen Eyrie (hope some of you SSD alumni can join us-we still have openings).
Then in April there is a private SSD in Peoria, IL with a couple SSD grads coordinating. We will have 3 Spiritual Directors joining us for this, Anthony Vartuli, Kent and Karla Denlinger. (Kent and Anthony are pastors who got their doctorates from Gordon in the same study group) We don’t do out of area SSDs often but we do have a few exceptions, this is the one for this decade. After that SSD we conclude our trip with a Life on the Narrow Road conference, open to all. then we head home from Peoria where we will have a few days before heading off to Portland, OR to minister with the denomination /non denomination we fellowshipped with as children.
May brings an SSD at The Cove (14-21) and other things I will share with you in the next prayer initiative when I will give updates on the completion of the Spring schedule. DV
Many of you have asked about Andi’s health. We had dinner/staff meeting with her last night and we got the word from her lips:-heart is good, is on meds and will be, her hearing is almost restored after a very serious infection that landed her in the hospital and was told she would lose her hearing!! A real praise!
Thank you for your prayers and know we pray for you: so very many things have happened in your lives since the last prayer initiative: deaths of loved ones; illnesses of all kinds in you and yours; financial reversals; family hardships: houses under water, marriages, children; soul weary pilgrims; praise for births; ministry opportunities; HE is there and HE is not silent (sometimes hard to believe)
Psalm 62:1-2 My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
With grateful hearts,
Rachael for the little team
“Just Give Me What I Need To Enjoy This Life”
“Have you ever realized that living for the Better Life is an insult to God? It’s the same insult paid by the prodigal son to his father: ‘Your only value is what you can do for me. I don’t have any interest in knowing you. Just give me what I need to enjoy this life.’ That’s too close to how we think.”
Larry Crabb, The Pressure’s Off, Page 149
Questions for Reflection:
What is the “Better Life” you attempt to live for? How has this been destructive for you?
How has God shown you that knowing Him is far more rewarding?
We Want Someone To Be With Us As We Are
“When life kicks us in the stomach, we want someone to be with us as we are, not as he or she wishes us to be. We don’t want someone trying to make us feel better. That effort, no matter how well intended, creates pressure that adds to our distress.”
Larry Crabb, Shattered Dreams, Page 123
Questions for Reflection:
In what ways do you try to give relief or make someone feel better when they are sharing their trials and hurts?
Why is it hard for you to simply be present with someone who is hurting?
Struggling To Live By Faith, Or Living To Make Your Life Work?
“Know this: those who live by faith will struggle in ways that those who live to make their lives work will never know. It is that struggle, to believe despite desperate pain and confusion that a good plan is unfolding, that will open your eyes to see Me more clearly. Is that what you want? Will you pay the price?
“The price is this: you will tremble in agony as you live in a sinful, self-prioritizing world. You will learn to wait in emptiness and frustrated desire for My plan of love to reveal itself. With confidence in Me and hope in My plan, you will not only feel the pain of living in the valley but also see My glory from the mountaintop of faith.
“Only those who struggle in confusion and wait in hope will be strengthened to struggle well and to wait with confidence.
“Struggle well! Wait in hope!”
Larry Crabb, God’s Love Letters to You, Page 53
Questions for Reflection:
What does it mean to “struggle well”? To “wait in hope”?
Because His Plan Is Good, Obedience Brings Joy
“I confess that I would much prefer to be the missionary with a booming ministry, just as I am glad to be the husband of a loving wife. But whether blessed with pleasant circumstances or tested by painful trial, the Christian’s final basis for joy remains the same: The confidence that our faithfulness pleases Christ and is used by Him according to His sovereign plan. Because His plan is good, obedience brings joy to the sincere Christian.”
Larry Crabb, The Marriage Builder, Page 125
Question for Reflection:
How has it been difficult for you to believe God’s plan is sovereign and good even in the face of trial in your life or marriage?
For Many Christians, Denial Has Become a Habit
“For many Christians, denial has become a habit. Chronic denial as a means of coping leads to a stiffness and rigidity that may for a time masquerade as emotional stability. People who are neither excitable nor moody can look very spiritual. The evidence of their immaturity is unmistakable, however; people who deny how they really feel typically are unable to enter and touch another person’s life deeply. Because they have sealed off deep parts within themselves, they can neither discern nor properly deal with deep parts in others.”
Larry Crabb, Understanding People, Page 186
Questions for Reflection:
What deep parts of yourself have you sealed off from others?
How has trying to appear “stable” or “spiritual” hindered your ability to touch someone else’s life deeply?
Speaking Is the Gateway…Silence Is the Gatekeeper
“Speaking is the gateway to relationship. Silence is the gatekeeper. The Hebrew Bible teaches us that words usher us out of silence and connect us to God. And being powerfully present in our words is a potent opportunity to bring life into areas where death reigns. But along with that opportunity comes a terrifying warning. Our silence destroys. There is no middle ground.”
Larry Crabb, The Silence of Adam, Page 99
Questions for Reflection:
How have your words brought life to someone else?
How has your silence destroyed or hurt your relationships?
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
A few thoughts on one verse:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you”, your Father will give you everything you need (Matthew 6: 33).
Can I wish Merry Christmas to my recently divorced friend? Can I wish Happy New Year to another friend just diagnosed with cancer, to another who enters 2012 unemployed? Or is the meaning of those holiday greetings appropriate only for my “blessed” friends?
Three days before Christmas, Rachael and I enjoyed a sleigh ride through fields of Christmas lights with our three Cleveland granddaughters. Our Christmas is merry. And with our 45 years of strong marriage, two godly sons, two beautiful daughters-in-law, and five healthy grandkids, our new year promises to be happy.
BUT! Why does Jesus begin His call to live well with the word “but”? Look back at verse 32. He has just told us that hopes for a good life of blessings “dominate the thoughts of unbelievers”. I like my good life of blessings. But does my desire for those blessings to continue dominate my thoughts? Is that my deepest wish, my highest hope for a merry Christmas and a happy new year? Is there a greater good?
Only one Person fully knew the kind of merry and happy life that comes from putting first things first, the kind of secure rest that depends on trusting our Father to give us everything we need to live a truly “good” life. To the degree Jesus is formed in me as I celebrate Christmas 2011 and enter 2012, my richest thoughts, my highest ambitions, my deepest desires will center on knowing God and making His nature known to others by the way I relate. I will die to self, live for God and in the process, discover who I really am. Is Jesus really formed in me?
In Bethlehem, God declared war on Satan and his ways. Self-centeredness appeared in the cross-hairs of divine love. Sweet baby Jesus (who probably did cry in the manger) became the Divine Warrior who, by incarnating God’s kingdom for 33 years and securing its reign in our lives through His crucifixion and resurrection (Easter is coming), knew what it meant to wish us a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Whether you’re in a hospital bed or on a sleigh ride with grandkids, whether you’re negotiating a divorce or kissing your spouse under mistletoe, whether you’re praying for people you love as you celebrate Christmas alone or gathered at a family Christmas dinner, you can relate like Jesus – suffering without complaining, enjoying blessings without feeling entitled to them, revealing God by relating like God. Then, “you will have abundant joy”, His kind of joy, and peace “which exceeds anything we can understand” (John 16: 24 and Philippians 4: 7), a divinely merry Christmas and an unconquerdsly happy new year.
On behalf of Rachael, Andi, and Kep, as I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, am I praying that you will enjoy the good things that dominate the thoughts of folks who don’t know Jesus? Well, yes! Second things are good!
BUT: Knowing Christ is better. Entering the war against self-obsession, beginning with the battle raging in our own souls, is better. Loving like Jesus in our circle of friends is better. Knowing the joy of seeking first God’s kingdom is better. Yielding to the Spirit’s plan to form us more like Christ in 2012 is better.
So, until the best will be ours to fully enjoy forever (He is coming!), I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Warmly In Him,
From the “little team” at NewWay
