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Friday, February 2, 2018 Reflections on Celebration of Discipline—The Discipline of Guidance, Part 4 of 4: The Limits of Corporate Guidance

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Friday, February 2, 2018 Reflections on Celebration of Discipline—The Discipline of Guidance, Part 4 of 4: The Limits of Corporate Guidance Scripture: Excerpt: As we all know, dangers exist in corporate guidance as well as in individual guidance. Perhaps the most menacing danger is manipulation and control by leaders. If corporate guidance is not handled within the larger context of an all-pervasive grace, it degenerates into an effective way to straighten out deviant behavior. There is also danger in the opposite direction. It is possible for a hard-hearted and stiff-necked people to hinder Spirit-inspired leaders. While leaders need the counsel and discernment of the believing community, they also need the freedom to lead. If God has called them to lead, they should not have to bring every detail of life to the community. Another danger is that corporate guidance will become divorced from biblical norms. Scripture must pervade and penetrate all our thinkin...
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Tuesday, January 30, 2018 Reflections on Celebration of Discipline—The Discipline of Guidance, Part 2: Corporate Guidance Modeled

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Tuesday, January 30, 2018               Reflections on Celebration of Discipline—The Discipline of Guidance, Part 2: Corporate Guidance Modeled Scripture: Excerpt: Having once understood the radical implications of being a people under the direct administration of the Holy Spirit, one of the most destructive things we can do is to say, “Sounds wonderful. Beginning tomorrow I’ll live that way!” Such zealotry only succeeds in making life miserable for ourselves and everyone around us. So, rather than sally off to conquer the world of the Spirit, most of us need to begin with more modest steps. One of the best ways we learn is from models of people who have struggled corporately to hear the voice from on high. (Foster, Richard J.. Celebration of Discipline: The Path To Spiritual Growth (pp. 179-180). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.) Devotional: Some wonderful examples of believers who have chosen to...
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Monday, January 29, 2018 Reflections on Celebration of Discipline—The Discipline of Guidance, Part 1

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  Monday, January 29, 2018 Reflections on Celebration of Discipline—The Discipline of Guidance, Part 1 Excerpt: Perhaps the preoccupation with private guidance in Western cultures is the product of their emphasis upon individualism. The people of God have not always been so. God led the children of Israel out of bondage as a people. Everyone saw the cloud and fiery pillar. They were not a gathering of individuals who happened to be going in the same direction; they were a people under the theocratic rule of God. His brooding presence covered them with an amazing immediacy. Patiently God prepared a people and in the fullness of time Jesus came. And with him dawned a new day. Once again a people were gathered who lived under the immediate, theocratic rule of the Spirit. With quiet persistence Jesus showed them what it meant to live in response to the voice of the Father. He taught them that they, too, could hear the heaven-sent voice and most clearly when together. “...
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Friday, January 26, 2018 Reflections on Celebration of Discipline—The Discipline of Worship, Part 8 of 8: The Fruits of Worship

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Friday, January 26, 2018 Reflections on Celebration of Discipline—The Discipline of Worship, Part 8 of 8: The Fruits of Worship Scripture: Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Excerpt: Just as worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. In worship an increased power steals its way into the heart sanctuary, an increased compassion grows in the soul. To worship is to change. (Foster, Richard J.. Celebration of Discipline: The Path To Spiritual Growth (p. 173). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.) Devotional: To worship is to change. Boy, is that true. If there is one thing that I have pursued over the years it has been to be changed by God...
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Thursday, January 25, 2018 Reflections on Celebration of Discipline—The Discipline of Worship, Part 7 of 8: Steps into Worship

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Thursday, January 25, 2018 Reflections on Celebration of Discipline—The Discipline of Worship, Part 7 of 8: Steps into Worship Devotional: This time in Celebration of Discipline offers practical and important steps that help us as we examine our hearts and attitudes toward worship and seek to understand what it really is. I confess, I have believed over the years, though actually erroneously, that worship was “my” time with God. On the contrary, in fact, worship is the time to glorify Him. The shift He has taught me to make has truly changed me, and in truth it has been in this shift that I have also become more blessed. Pastor Foster outlines practices and attitudes that will help us to reframe our worship time: -           Practice the presence of God. Pray without ceasing. Consecrate a private time with the Lord to prime your spirit for times of corporate worship. -         ...
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Wednesday, January 24, 2018

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Good morning, all. Again, our apologies for the gaps at times. I was finishing this devotional yesterday in a hotel room where we brought our children for a short vacation that we had postponed for my grandmothers' funeral when we discovered that our 6-year-old nonverbal son had escaped the room due to our tragic negligence to lock the top bolt on the door. The door was not visible from where we were relaxing, and the children's bunkbeds were inside a cute enclosure--which was where we thought he was. He was mercifully found playing in the game room at the water park hotel, but needless to say we didn't do much else for that morning!! It is always a joy to meet with you here, and for my readers who walk out the parenting of a child with autism, may I just say, I am praying for you (and for all of you!) . Love and blessings!! Wednesday, January 24, 2018 Reflections on Celebration of Discipline—The Discipline of Worship, Part 6 of 8: Avenues into Worship Scripture: ...
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Thursday, January 11, 2018 Reflections on Celebration of Discipline—The Discipline of Worship, Part 4 of 8: Preparation for Worship

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Good morning! I am so happy to join together in prayer with you today! Thursday, January 11, 2018 Reflections on Celebration of Discipline—The Discipline of Worship, Part 4 of 8: Preparation for Worship Scripture: Matthew 18:20: For where two or three gather in my name, I am with them. Excerpt: When we are truly gathered into worship, things occur that could never occur alone. There is the psychology of the group to be sure, and yet it is so much more; it is divine interpenetration. There is what the biblical writers called koinonia, deep inward fellowship in the power of the Spirit. This experience far transcends esprit de corps. It is not in the least dependent upon homogeneous units or even knowing information about one another’s lives. There comes a divine melting of our separateness. In the power of the one Spirit we become “wrapped in a sense of unity and of Presence such as quiets all words and enfolds [us] within an unspeakable calm and interknittedness within a v...
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