From Streams to Rivers
Some things I believe the Lord is saying right now.
This is what I believe the Lord is saying to me at the moment. It may resonate with you, or it may not. That’s okay.
Simplify
This isn’t necessarily about doing less but being sharpened in what you are currently doing. Forget your business models for faith and ministry, that isn’t what He has called you to do. Put down what is just there to make you look good - take off the mask and be genuine, transparent, who/what the Lord has made you to be. Don’t complicate things to justify bloated resource demands. To Simplify is to make more room for the Lord. This means remaining ‘busy’, but less in the doing and more in the being; “When time and space are restrained, curb the doing to make space for the being.”
Focus
Simplifying creates focus as you are not distracted by overly complicated processes and activities. Focussing sharpens your vision and your attention. The detail becomes clear which would otherwise have been missed. This is what the Lord is impressing upon me.
Strengthen
This comes from Simplifying and Focussing. Stretch an elastic band too far or put too much strain upon a piece of rope and both will weaken and eventually break. Lighten your load by only doing what you know the Lord has given you to do. Asking Him for strength is one thing, but asking Him to be your strength is a whole different thing!
Simplify. Focus. Strengthen. The Lord is with you and will help you.
Two other things I believe the Lord has shown me:
Formalise to Normalise
When the Lord directs us into something new we have a tendency to formalise it. For example, if the Lord reveals something to us about mission or discipleship, we are likely to create a programme or put structures in place to help us achieve it. We ‘formalise’ it. That’s okay, to a point. The structures, programmes or courses we create should have one goal: to normalise it. If this is about mission then what we have formalised should eventually become normal in our lives. If it’s about discipleship then what we formalised should become normal, part of our every-day lifestyle.
School is formalised education with the intention that what you learn becomes normalised in your life. You take what you learn and it becomes part of you and informs the way you live the rest of your life. When you start at the gym, fitness is formalised as you learn how to do it. It then becomes normalised as you create a routine for a healthier lifestyle.
The same must be the same for our faith. We were not designed to live perpetually in the formalised phase - always doing programmes and courses that are to varying degrees separate from our ‘normal’ pattern of life. What we learn we take on board and make it a normal part of our lives. That’s the purpose of training.
From Streams to Rivers
If we stay in the ‘formalised’ place then our lives become compartmentalised, fractured. These are the different streams that flow in our lives. Our churches are very often like this. Different streams flowing independently of each other. They are good in themselves but they were always destined to flow together, when they become indistinguishable from each other as they flow as one, from formalised to normalised, streams coming together to flow as rivers. The strength and power is in the river; an unstoppable force of the combined streams that create something more than the sum of its parts. When what we have learned through the formalised place moves to become normalised in our lives.
Several times in Scripture Paul encourages the Saints to follow the example of either himself or of others who are faithful (1 Corinthians 4:16, 2 Thessalonians 3:9, Hebrews 6:12, 3 John 1:11). That puts us in the place of learning; learning from others more mature in faith than ourselves, formalising what we see as normalised in their lives. But it’s not about remaining in that place of just being learners (though of course we are always learning). In Hebrews 5 the writer criticises the people for not becoming teachers themselves to others (Hebrews 5:12). If we put Paul’s words together with these we can see that ‘becoming a teacher’ doesn’t necessarily mean what we might conjure up in our minds. To be a teacher in a classroom is to remain in a formalised place - it is possible to teach from a position of theory and not of practice. No, we become teachers by exhibiting what we ourselves have learned and normalised - integrated - into our lives. As we look to others so others look to us. A scary thought to think our lives could be an example for others to follow! All of us are to become teachers through the way we live our lives; making the teachings and example of Christ normal in our lives, for others to learn from.
Is this how you live? Has this thought crossed your mind? Do you limit yourself by only allowing yourself to be a learner? Do you consider your life to be an example for others to follow?
I hope this stirs you, challenges you, encourages you, and helps to put your feet on the right path, to walk in His ways as a learner and as a teacher.
Very helpful