The Open Places

"In the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by clans..."

Nehemiah 4:13

Above all, a leader prays...

In Ezekiel 22:33, we read, "I looked for a man among them to stand in the gap for the land, but could find none." The gap was that space between the hedgerows which left you most vulnerable to the enemies attack, but with the surest aim!

Public opinion had turned against Nehemiah, threatening the mission God called him to.  That's when he called the families to move into open places, and take their stand.

Out from the shadow of the walls, an army emerged and stood defiant.

In the open place we see our enemy, and know his advances

In the open place we are more vulnerable, but less encumbered.

In the open place we decide, this far and no more.

The open place is the place of prayer.  It's the place where God has stationed us to fight for our families, students and community.  Here, the leader's heart is fed, cross checked for hidden sin, and softened by God's mercy.  Here, the leader becomes emboldened through direct answers, and humbled by a view of God that can be seen nowhere else.

Can a leader ever possess a heart to lead, unless they're tested, and reshaped in the kiln of prayer?  For make no mistake, few choose to station in the open place, because of the savage assaults they know will come.

Have you hit a few boulders, bent a few plows lately?

Is your family under attack?

Have you had disturbing dreams, restless nights?

Can you feel tension between team members?

Do you feel the pull of lust?

Good.  You've got the old liar stirred, mad as a hornet, and hitting back.  Don't leave your post. It's here where we see most clearly a blazing image of Jesus Christ, who stepped into the open place for us, and now wills us to go and do the same.

Walking Toward God

In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise--in God I trust, I will not be afraid.  Psalm 56:10

The morning headlines shouted, "Dow drops 777 points!" The tabloids used 72-point font to make their argument, "America in Crisis."  Here in NYC, where the bear on Wall Street has been roaring, people are scared.  You can see it in the eyes of young professionals, fireman, single mothers and husky construction workers--everyone!  What we thought was secure, has suddenly lost its mooring.

That same day at the train station found me staring down the tracks in wonder at a sapling pushing its way up through the gravel.  Imagine the odds of a seed borne upon the wind coming to rest on an elevated bed amidst chunks of stone, and then sprouting!

The hand of God, I smiled.  For a moment He took my face, and gently turned it toward Himself.

David says in Psalm 55:13, that God has delivered us from death, and our feet from stumbling, "that I may walk before God in the light of life." The phrase 'walk before God' literally means to walk facing God.  Out of a narrative of desperation God uses prayer to keep our eyes facing Him, and our hearts open to a steady stream of revelation.  Lasting peace can be found in no other way.

In 1939 England faced imminent invasion by Hitler's war machine.  It was Britain's greatest threat and their king's most harrowing days.  On Christmas day King George concluded an address to the nation with the following; "I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown." "And he replied, "Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be better than the light and safer than the known way."

In the posture of prayer there is no room for fear. Ask God to cup your face in His hands, and allow you to walk facing Him.  Ask God to cup your face in His hands, and allow you to walk facing Him.  In so doing He'll enable you to walk facing Him, and find His hand in the light of life.

The Value of Solitude

In 1 Kings 13, King Ahab tempts the 'man of God' to "come home with me, refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward."  If taken out of context that invitation sounds like it could be from God.  Such is the nature of temptation.  Notice all three parts seek to replace God with immediate satisfaction.  Ahab was really saying, get your comfort from my company, quench your thirst from my cistern, and receive what you deserve Now!  The man of God turned and walked away--alone.

As a 'wet-behind-the-ears' director, I attended a conference where Dr. Howard Hendricks talked about how leaders often feel lonely in their role. AT one point I looked to my left and noticed a city director many years my senior, holding his face in his hands, weeping.  Though you won't find it in ay position focus sheet, being alone is inherent in the role of leader.  Yet, as Henry Nouwen so aptly put it, "the question is whether we let our aloneness become loneliness, or whether we allow it to lead us to solitude."  It's in a the quiet places we hear the Father's voice.

Often times God leads us into isolation, because He wants to teach us, as Psalm 87 concludes, "all our streams are IN HIM."  The word stream here means a natural source, as compared to a manmade one, like a cistern.  Billy Graham says, "Satan fishes with bait; he knows exactly what will tempt you to strike the hook." Like Ahab, Satan tempts us away from solitude through many good things, like music, activities, internet-social networks, or support groups.  They are good in and of themselves, but should never replace the intimacy God wants to build through a fierce pursuit of Him. (i.e. Prayer)

Do you ever feel alone, even among friends?  If so, you're in good company.  At those times God extends an invitation to slow down, draw near and drink from the river of living waters.

When was the last time you spent more than four hours alone with HIm in one sitting?

The Only Necessary Thing

“The Only Necessary Thing.”
The phrase kept churning in my mind until I couldn’t dismiss it any longer. It’s the title of a book on prayer written by Henry Nouwen, one of the best on the subject. I pondered his thesis; the four simple words of the title.
“The”—the one elevated above all;
“Only” set apart in it’s priority over every other;
“Necessary”—needed as distinguished from want or desire;
“Thing”—the stuff our lives consist of.
What Nouwen has tried to tell us, is that many things are part of our life in Christ, but only one has ‘indispensable’ stamped on it. Why? If you take the time to consider the nature of prayer, you’ll discover that it’s essence sits at the nucleus of our spiritual vitality. We can’t put the Word in practice without prayer. We can’t obey God’s will without first discerning it in prayer. We can’t step out beyond our fears, without knowing an invisible hand stretches out to grasp ours and pull us onward—through prayer. Prayer reduces the ambiguity of the untested and uncertain to faith in God’s resources. Prayer feeds intimacy with God, simply because prayer is being with Him. Prayer lets God know in every way possible, that we surrender, each time we bow our knees. When Nouwen says it’s “the only necessary thing,” it leaves no stone unturned that we might sneak under to find shade from the luminous visage of Christ’s invitation. “Behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into Him and dine with Him and he with me.” O’ Hallesby in his classic book, “Prayer,” had it right—prayer is a relationship with God. Which in fact, is the only NECESSARY thing.

Fire from His Presence

The revivalist, Leonard Ravenhill, once said, “If weak in prayer, we are weak everywhere.”
There are times when I believe him, and jump into the exciting current of intercession. That fast moving stream lets me see God in a new light, and myself where I should be, broken and dependent. However, if I’m honest I have to admit a lot of the time I regulate prayer to my list of to do’s, thereby making it perfunctory. Perfunctory: motion with efficiency lacking heart. It’s like a skater who hits all her jumps, but there’s no fire in her expression. I’m tied up with urgent mission agenda, or dealing with personal crisis. I lose prayer in the myriad of unspoken, but expected priorities that I’ve formulated around my life and mission. When that happens, it never fails that God brings me to a point of weariness. I find myself too exhausted to lay down prejudice, and step out to love someone. It feels easier maintaining status quo, rather than trust God with bold initiatives. The Bible feels like a Friday evening 80’s movie, over rehearsed and predictable. It’s the right moves without the relational fire that keeps me alive and expectant. The jumps are executed, but the heart is missing.
Prayer brings my weariness into the presence of grace and truth. Here, I deeply feel alive and loved, at the same time hearing what I need in order to repent. It takes my will and brings it from a perfunctory to a passionate expression—a vessel filled and emboldened by His Spirit.
Next time God invites you to enter in, use it as a serious opportunity to build a fire in your belly, a renewed sense of His presence. Let this be our quiet agenda; huddled in the basement by the furnace, praying for our movement to experience the whisper of a Holy God. In the presence of the Shepherd, HE will call you by name, you will hear His voice and follow Him. That’s a journey no one needs to miss!

Time for Love

A prerequisite to love is a willingness to lay down my agenda, my plans, time frame, priorities, motives and pleasure, in order to stop long enough to enjoy another, to help another, to wed our spirits in a selfish non-productive dance of intimacy. If I don't, or can't do this, then I will skate all my life, past love, past ministry, past the very germ of life, to become in the end a man who lies cold in a coffin, while a room full of people, "put off" for being there look at their watches. This is why anyone who thinks they love God, and are unwilling to be a seed that dies (wasting time for love) is only fooling themselves. And anyone who thinks they love God, and are not willing to spend the time in prayer reflective of that devotion, suffer from the delusion that they know God.

Pleading To God

What is the secret to finding an audience with God? In Psalm 70, David cries out to Him in a raw string of words, that captures the essence of effective prayer. We see in his desperation, four distinct attitudes, which bring from his soul, the faith needed to trust God for his deliverance.

Outline:
I. Confess-“Yet, I am poor and needy”- emptying ourselves before God, knowing our limitations, and his Divine power. Only an empty shell can be filled with knowledge of God. The battle for dominion of the heart begins with laying down our self sufficiency-the birth pangs of faith.
II. Plead- “Come quickly to me, O God” - the language of heaven is not words, but an ache of the soul, wanting audience with God. It grows with our confession. When we are barren and emptied, our response can only be a beggar’s plea – the birth of faith.
III. Urgency-“O, Lord do not delay” - Not only is our soul pleading, but it demands action now! Faith has taken flight, and has the audacity to try and coax God into speeding up His answer. Here we often falter; our theology has no room for this kind of bold proclaimation, yet if we do not grow weary, faith will take wings.
IV. Grasp- “You are my help and my deliverer” – Our faith has taken us into the holy of holies to grasp the promises of God. Reach out and take hold, as Jacob did at Jabbok, When our soul holds onto the eternal purposes of God, it is in itself our greatest reward - faith fully known.

Prayer is not neatly formed theological prose, but a soul hungering for Divine utterance. The language of heaven is desperation.