I’m looking forward to leading our Come Away spiritual leadership retreat tomorrow at the Center for Spiritual Development in Orange, CA, as well as preaching from Psalm 84 this Sunday at Orange Coast Free Methodist Church. I’ll preach there every Sunday in February. In my preparations, I’ve been grateful for some encouraging insights and questions that have come.
Psalm 84:5a (“Blessed are those whose strength is in you…”) raises a question for me: “Where else might I believe my strength is rooted? Our physical energy level? Our positional authority? Our recognition by others? Our organizational impact? Is my strength in Him, or in me: my talents or gifts, my plans or strategies, my resources, my expectations or my drive?
Psalm 84:4a (“Blessed are those who dwell in your house…”) raises another question: “What would be the impact of our lives and our leadership if we were more truly and fully at home in God? What if the world around us saw us dwelling peacefully, joyfully, lovingly in Him? Would my life tantalize others to come to Him and follow Him? Do we feel pressure to prove that God is good, or do we so trust that He is good that others can see the reality of His goodness in and through us? How much evangelistic impact might my life filled with Jesus’ life have in my world?
Another this question took shape in my thinking: “What if dwelling deeply in God resulted in my really speaking the kinds of words Jesus would speak if He were in this conversation?” Or, “What would happen if I responded in this circumstance as Jesus would if He were here in my place?” This is what Jesus had to learn having come to take our flesh upon Himself. He learned to fully depend on the Spirit of God for his words and his works. What would it look for us to follow Him in this way of life?
[...] 18 05 2010 There are a few psalms that I go back to again and again. Psalm 84 is one of them. I preached from this psalm earlier this year. I’m inspired by verse 10: “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand [...]