Author: Joseph Ginder (Page 19 of 24)

Personal Spiritual Retreat

June 23, 2012 / Joseph Ginder / 0 Comments

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
-John 7:37-38, NIV

Acknowledgement

My comments below are often based on what I heard on audio from a lecture by Annette Fergusson given at Regent College as a part of the Christian Thought and Culture I class. The lecture, entitled The Contemporary Christian and Spirituality, was a guide for students who were encouraged to make a one-day retreat. I am indebted to her for her simple clarity and helpful concrete suggestions. The practice she recommends has helped to fill me again and again with peace and life from the never-lacking source that is Jesus our Lord.

Introduction – What is is?

The practice of Christian retreat has a long history in the Church. It is a decision to make space in one’s life, setting aside everyday activities to seek the Lord in prayer. We follow the example of Jesus, who set aside times of retreat from the press of his ministry and other human beings. Consider Mark 1:32-39, Psalm 62:5-8, Luke 5:16, and Luke 6:12-13. Each of us comes to a retreat with differing needs. Your experience will not precisely mirror mine, or be the same each time.

Spiritual disciplines aren’t just enforced time with God, they’re rewiring the circuitry of our brains, forming and shaping disciples.
– Rob Moll, We Are Family, Books & Culture, Nov/Dec 2011

I recommend from 3 to 4 hours up to one day done in such a way as to avoid the need for overnight preparation. Keep it simple and easy. Don’t worry about food; fast for the duration of the retreat. (Perhaps take some water along.) I have nothing against more extended times of retreat. However, such times will require more calendar arranging and preparation. The practice I am recommending is intended to be simple and repeatable monthly or more often. Time with God is vital (John 15:1-8) if we are to bear much fruit.

Why a Retreat?

In our busy society, we face pressures at many levels. Setting aside a time for individual communion with God is a necessity. It is how we are designed to live. As we take time for intentional prayer and meditation alone, we come to see ourselves in the light of the Holy Spirit. With an attitude of openness to what the Spirit may do in us, we allow God to change us. He forgives, redeems, and encourages. He transforms us as we are drawn into a deeper relationship with him.

Getting Started

We come to God bringing everything we are and everything we are experiencing. We meet him heart, soul, mind, and body using all of our senses.

Find a place where to be alone. I prefer natural settings outdoors. You will discover what works best for you. Experiment as necessary with location. Below is a list of some local places that I like. Others may choose a quiet room or indoor setting free from distraction and association with everyday life: a room in a church building or a friend’s home might do well. I find it helpful to walk a few miles (an hour or so) before settling down for the actual retreat. I process thoughts and clear my mind. There is something settling about walking quietly.
Choose to be alone for your retreat. Solitude is a learned spiritual practice.
Turn off your phone and other means of being contacted.
Keep a notepad or journal available. Write down distractions, things you forgot that need doing, observations, thoughts you want to remember, whatever seems helpful. It can be helpful to write out prayer or reflections. Others use a notepad as a place to store things that will steal your attention from the retreat when they come to mind, attempting to draw you back to your everyday activity.
You may find it helpful to use something to focus your attention on your purpose to spend time with God. I usually keep a Bible in sight. Others use a cross. Find a way to keep yourself focused.
Fill your time during the retreat with thanksgiving. Begin with prayer. Ask for grace anticipating in a prayer of trust what God is going to do with your time together. Ask for his blessing and protection on this time. Express your desire to know him and his ways and purposes more deeply and clearly. Make yourself available to him. Think Romans 12:1-2.
Start with a time of quiet worship. The form of your worship will vary from person to person and time to time. The idea of worship is to speak out verbally or mentally your praise to God, to dwell on his glory and express your recognition of who He is. Honor his name. The following scripture passages are good sources of worship thoughts and words: Psalms 9, 18, 19, 23, 24, 29, 30-34, 65, 66, 89, 92, 100, 103-105, 107, 111, 113, 117, 118, 134-136, 145-150, 2 Samuel 22

Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina (divine reading) is a way of reading scripture that promotes communion with God and internalizing the teaching of scripture. There are other forms of Bible study for other occasions; this form is good for retreat.

Reading: Choose a passage from Scripture that you will meditate on. I find it helpful to choose in advance of the retreat, but allow God to guide you. (Below are some possible passages if you would find this helpful.) Keep in mind that it is content rather than volume that matters. Read slowly, allowing the words of the text to speak to you. Pay attention to the Spirit as you read. When a word or phrase captures your attention, stop and reread it. Write it down if that helps.
Meditation: Enter into the Scripture you have read so that you become a participant rather than an observer. Allow the scripture to speak into your own life.
Prayer: Consider your feelings and thoughts as you have read and meditated and express them in prayer to God. Be honest with him and tell him what you are thinking, even if you are in doubt or do not understand or have feelings that you find uncomfortable. (He knows, anyway.) There is benefit in just opening up your heart to God to share thoughts, feelings, and even fears. (Like the Psalmists…) When you have emptied yourself of these things, it may be time to move on to contemplation.
Contemplation: Sit quietly and enjoy the presence of the Lord. Do not rush this time. Practice his presence; He is with you, so focus your awareness on Him. Seek intimacy with God. Listen. Enjoy your surroundings without losing focus on God and the passage and your thoughts. What God has made declares his glory.

After the time in scripture, it may suit God’s purposes for this time to study or read something else, or prepare a lesson, or write. I sometimes find this time profitable for planning future teaching, preaching, writing, or for other activities requiring thoughtful preparation. But these fruits are the bonuses of retreat, not a “goal” for the retreat. Accept what God offers, whether it is quiet enjoyment, insights, ideas, conviction, or whatever.

Prayer of Thanksgiving.

Close with a prayer in which you thank God for whatever he has brought to this time. The reality of God’s presence empowers us to re-enter everyday life to overflow with the life He gives us. This extended time of retreat can prepare the way for shorter times of daily devotion that incorporate pieces of what we experience in retreat. We are anchored by the time we spend with Him.

A Prayer Partner or Coach

I suggest that you work with a prayer partner or coach before and after your personal spiritual retreat. It will help you to stay focused and accountable. Your prayer partner or coach can encourage you and help you process the things God reveals when you are with him. Share what God is doing in your life, and where he is leading. Pray together for the retreat and an aftermath of overflowing life.

Scripture for Lectio Divina

Here are some possible scriptures to get started in the Lectio Divina portion of retreat. Some of these passages may be too long for one study time. Choose a short enough section of scripture that you can get your mind around it at one time. It may be helpful to do some contextual study and word study to prepare in advance for Lectio Divina. The richer your knowledge of the content of the scripture, the more God can speak to you through it.

Genesis 1, 2, 3, 15
Isaiah 6, 11 and others
Sections of Ezekiel
Psalm 139
2 Corinthians 2:14 to 6:2. Chapter 3 is a favorite of mine.
Ephesians 2, 3, 4:1 to 5:20
Galatians 3:1 to 4:7
Galatians 5 and 6
Hebrews 10 and 12
Matthew 5-7 (the Sermon on the Mount, including the Beatitudes and the Lordâ€™s Prayer)
parables often make a good study
Revelation 21 and 22

Places for Personal Spiritual Retreat

I try to pick easily accessible outdoor locations that do not require a long drive. So I will focus on that sort of place in and near Long Beach. Here are a few possibilities. Experiment and find spots that work for you. Suggestions are welcome.

South Coast Botanic Gardens is probably my favorite. There is an admission charge. There are some remote sites in the gardens where you will rarely be disturbed.
El Dorado Nature Center is a good location, but all trails can be busy with walkers. I see others doing retreat-like things here. There is a charge for driving into the parking area, but no admission fee.
Hopkins Wilderness Park often has some places where you can be alone.
Hilltop Park in Signal Hill is a good place to pray over the city. It is somewhat busy for retreat purposes.
Rancho Los Cerritos and Rancho Los Alamitos have nice garden areas.
There are several city parks where you can find a shady, secluded picnic table at which to sit. Here are a few that have worked: Stearns Park, El Dorado Park, Heartwell Park
Deane Dana Friendship Park in San Pedro has become one of my favorite places for the walking portion of retreat. There is only one large set of picnic tables at the edge of the park at which to sit after walking. Shade is practically non-existent; so this is a park I use mostly in the winter. It is possible to walk from the southwest corner of the park all the way down to the ocean through Shoreline Park and then to the trails along the Trump National Golf Club and Dog Beach in Palos Verdes, which is another good winter retreat spot. There is also parking for this public area at the golf club.

You can download a copy of this post as a document here.

You can also download the slides from a sermon on spiritual retreat I gave on June 10, 2012. A PDF of the sermon slides is at here. The sermon audio is available here as an MP3 and the Powerpoint slides here.

To love at all is to be vulnerable.

May 15, 2012 / Joseph Ginder / 0 Comments

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airlessâ€“it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.
— C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves

So near, so very near to God, I cannot nearer be…

April 30, 2012 / Joseph Ginder / 1 Comment

So near, so very near to God, I cannot nearer be. For in the person of His Son, I am as near as He. So dear, so very dear to God, I cannot dearer be. The love with which He loves His son – such is His love for me.

This is what I remember of a quote by James Houston in the fifth lecture of the Christian Thought and Culture series from Regent College. I was listening today as I was working out and walking home and making lunch. The lecture was on the Trinity, and Houston was urging his believing listeners to understand the privileges we are granted in the divine life of God. Striking, is it not?

So I looked up the hymn from which he was quoting:

A MIND at perfect peace with God
by Catesby Paget (19th Century)
sung to Evan
by W. H. Havergal (1793-1870)
(C.M.)

428: A MIND at perfect peace with God:
Oh, what a word is this!
A sinner reconciled through blood:
This, this indeed is peace.

By nature and by practice far,
How very far from God!
Yet now by grace brought nigh to Him
Through faith in Jesus’ blood.

So nigh, so very nigh to God,
I cannot nearer be;
For in the person of His Son,
I am as near as He.

So dear, so very dear to God,
More dear I cannot be;
The love wherewith He loves the Son,
Such is His love to me.

Why should I ever anxious be
Since such a God is mine?
He watches o’er me night and day,
And tells me, “Thou art Mine”.

Thinking about sex?

April 27, 2012 / Joseph Ginder / 1 Comment

I’ve been asked in past days about whether the standard that sex before marriage is wrong – that Christians must wait for marriage to have sex – might not be a cultural standard from biblical times that doesn’t apply in our context today. I don’t believe the argument that this is a cultural thing that is optional for today. I’ll explain.

There is much pressure to have sex these days in contexts other than that for which sex was designed. Allow me to be blunt. God created human beings in his image; male and female he created them. Then he instructed them to be fruitful and multiply, and created marriage as the context within which to fulfill this good command, saying it was not good for us to be alone.

And it is manifestly not good to be alone. Living alone, without a mate, is a special calling and gift that God gives to some that they might be devoted to the special work of this day of salvation. For most, and even for those who have this gift, being alone is a trial. I believe God can carry us through whatever trial we may face; but it is a trial. (There are other reasons that a special calling to be alone for a time, but I’ll leave that discussion for another day.)

Sex is an expression of the oneness, the union, that God creates when a woman and a man marry. As Christ said, “What God has joined together, let not man separate.” The point here is not to complain about the separations that occur so often in our society, but to note that God is the one who joins a man and a woman in marriage. Then, the man and the woman express this spiritual reality in the physical union of sex, having children, and being a family together. Sex between those whom God joins in marriage is an expression of his creative and fruitful image, the two being one and producing more like themselves as God is three in one and created us in his image.

Now, we all know that sex is about more than making babies. Let’s be honest. It is an amazing expression of love and intimacy (in its best expressions) that bonds the lovers together in a sense of intimacy that is deeply satisfying and encouraging. There is really nothing like being loved, and having that love demonstrated by another giving to you of themselves physically is an amazingly good thing. Similarly, there really is nothing like loving another, and giving of yourself to that one in a special way that demonstrates the uniqueness of your love for that person. These days, most Christians and many others understand that being promiscuous is not a good approach to life. But many waver on whether sex should wait for marriage. We have the technology! We can prevent pregnancy! Everyone else is expecting sex, and it seems like something I should want, so why not have sex with that special one that you are with?

The answer is simple. God didn’t make you that way. He did not make you or me for serial monogamy. He made us for the total commitment of marriage. Sex is an expression of that total commitment that naturally carries the potential of having a child. We see the shortcoming of having a child when there is no commitment to the family within which that child will be nurtured. However, when we can make sure there is no child… what’s the harm? Social mores come and go. They waft through the air like clouds in the sun, evaporating and storming here and there. God’s design is not like that. Do you trust him? That’s the question. Do you believe that life as God intended it to be lived is better than some other life that you can construct for yourself? Do you think you can escape the relational consequences of putting the physical expression of a marriage commitment ahead of the marriage?

The world may not end if you fall to the temptation to have sex before you marry. But your life will be less than the life that God intends you to have. Your choices will have consequences, and God will show you that you chose wrongly. Because he loves you. Cultures come and go, and to some extent we express our Christianity within culture. But in every culture, the temptation to use sex in some way that God did not intend it is strong. There are even ways to use sex within marriage in ways that God did not intend…. again, another day.

Do you trust God? When Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. We make that same mistake, over and over again… not trusting God and doing what seems good to us. And we pay the price. Or rather, Jesus pays the ultimate price and we suffer some consequences. You are making a statement about who you trust by how you handle your sex life.

I was working out today while Jesus bled on the cross

April 6, 2012 / Joseph Ginder / 0 Comments

I was working out while Jesus bled on the cross today. Good Friday. It was around noon. The “sixth hour”.

Spirit
flesh
me

Leading up to noon, one of the criminals crucified with Jesus mocked him. The other rebuked him, accepting enough of the knowledge of God given him. He trusted. Which am I?

“It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour…” (Luke 23:44)

I was at the gym when I realized the time had reached (in Long Beach, anyway) “the sixth hour”. I was working out after aerobics on a weight machine.

one, two, three, four….

Jesus was on the cross today. Good Friday.
Suffering like this! You’re done already.
It was nothing like this. A flea to an elephant, or less.

…five six seven eight nine ten…

Mocked.
Trusted.
Which one is from me?
You’re suffering now!
Both are from you!

…eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen…

It became dark as the king of glory’s body weakened unto death. For three hours it darkened. My labor is as nothing compared to his.
Stop already.
Yes, it is as nothing, compared.

….seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two…

I was gritting my teeth. I want to stop. (I can stop! There’s no deep significance to this minor pain.)
Stop already!!
Yes, it is as nothing, compared.

….twenty-three twenty-four twenty-five twenty-six twenty-seven twenty-eight…

They offered him vinegar to suck from a sponge, on a stick. As he hung on the cross. Bleeding. Weighed down by my sins.
You could use a drink just now. But go for water instead of vinegar.
This is nothing, compared. There is a deeper thirst, and better water.
Remember, it wasn’t only your sins.

….twenty-nine thirty thirty-one… thirty-two

32 is a power of two, you nerd, STOP NOW!
I stopped. And sagged.
It is nothing, compared to the weight of sin and his suffering.
Yes. It is nothing.

I can do nothing to compare or augment or change what Christ has done for me, for us. Except live.
Live my life in my power. Eat and drink deeply. You will never hunger or thirst again.

I await the ninth hour. His ninth hour, and my own. And (more) what comes after.

Peace with God means conflict with the world…

February 24, 2012 / Joseph Ginder / 0 Comments

I’m not really trying to get into deep theological controversies and discourse around Moltmann. I don’t think I’m up to speed on the modern theological scene. However, I find this quote from him to be something worth chewing on.

But on the other hand, all this must inevitably mean that the man who thus hopes will never be able to reconcile himself with the laws and constraints of this earth, neither with the inevitability of death nor with the evil that constantly bears further evil. The raising of Christ is not merely a consolation to him in a life that is full of distress and doomed to die, but it is also Godâ€™s contradiction of suffering and death, of humiliation and offence, and of the wickedness of evil. Hope finds in Christ not only a consolation in suffering, but also the protest of the divine promise against suffering. If Paul calls death the â€˜last enemyâ€™ (1 Cor. 15:26), then the opposite is also true: that the risen Christ, and with him the resurrection hope, must be declared to be the enemy of death and of a world that puts up with death. Faith takes up this contradiction and thus becomes itself a contradiction to the world of death. That is why faith, wherever it develops into hope, causes not rest but unrest, not patience but impatience. It does not calm the unquiet heart, but is itself this unquiet heart in man. Those who hope in Christ can no longer put up with reality as it is, but begin to suffer under it, to contradict it. Peace with God means conflict with the world, for the goad of the promised future stabs inexorably into the flesh of every unfulfilled present.

JÃ¼rgen Moltmann. Theology of Hope

A Discernment Process

February 14, 2012 / Joseph Ginder / 0 Comments

Discernment – The act or process of exhibiting keen insight and good judgment.
– The Free Online Dictionary

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
– Paul of Tarsus, 1 Corinthians 2:12 [niv]

Test everything. Hold on to the good.
– Paul of Tarsus, 1 Thessalonians 5:21 [niv]

Judgment is an ambiguous word, in Greek as in English: it may mean sitting in judgment on people (or even condemning them), or it may mean exercising a proper discrimination. In the former sense judgment is depreciated; in the latter sense it is recommended.
– F.F. Bruce, The Hard Sayings of Jesus

Background

What do you do when you have an important decision to make and you want to move forward with confidence that you are in God’s will? How do you test if your “bright idea” or vision is from God? How do Christians bear one another’s burdens, speaking the truth in love? For background reading, consider 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, Ephesians 4:11-24, and Hebrews 10:24-25.

As Quakers, we believe that Christ is the head of his church and arrange our practice around this present-day reality. We believe he has come to teach his people himself. However, rather than conceiving of this as strictly a matter between Jesus and each individual Christian, Quakers have for centuries valued the discernment of the community of believers gathered in Christ’s presence. After all, if Christ is the head of the church, is the church not his physical presence with us?

Friends have made use of a structure traditionally known as a clearness committee. This essay is not intended to be an overview of Quaker traditions, but it may be helpful to point out that this discernment process owes much to this tradition. Of course there are other precedents, not least of which might be the council at Jerusalem recorded in Acts 15. There are other means by which God offers his guidance. This is one that has proven useful to many of his people in our experience.

Preparing… For those seeking discernment

Discuss your thinking ahead of time with others. Don’t feel as if you need to keep your thinking to yourself. Communicating and discussing ahead of time is good so long as it respects that fact that you are gathering a group to offer you their discernment in the end. So communicate and explain and think out loud. Establish a context with the people who will be helping with your discernment. But if you’ve already decided, then don’t gather a group that is unaware of where you are in the process. Keep an open mind.

Here are some questions that you might consider in preparing to share your idea or question with others who gather with you for corporate discernment.

Where are you in the process of defining your project or goal?
What prayer is being focused on your project or goal? Your own? Others?
What key scripture is guiding your thinking?
How are those closest to you in the Lord involved and responding?
What counsel from trusted, mature Christians have you sought and heard?
Is there more information that should be gathered?
How would you describe the orientation of your project or goal along to
the following “dimensions”:
- connect – grow – serve
- personal or corporate
- discipleship or leadership
- church or community
Practically speaking, are you ready for the discernment process? Who should be invited to participate in this discernment process? What is the schedule you have in mind for making a decision? Have you allowed the time needed to extend invitations and explain to others and allow them to pray?
Do others experienced in this process think you are ready?

Remember that you are presenting an idea, a vision, or a question. You do not need to have a detailed plan of action worked out. Those asking questions and giving feedback can ask about practical issues, but should not expect that a detailed plan is already in hand.

There is much about the Christian life that is assumed in this process. Some of the sections of this essay – those at the end – are intended to help in shedding some light on the context that is necessary for a process such as this to work.

Preparing… For those serving in a meeting for discernment

Your role is simple, really. Listen. Learn what you can in advance from the person who wants discernment, but don’t fret too much if you still have questions. Begin ahead of the meeting to pray for God’s blessing on this person. Ask for clarity in His will, ways, and purpose for them. Offer yourself to God to be used in this process in any way that He chooses.

There is one caution. Hold your role in this process with “an open hand”. Your opinion is not what is important. It is your role in gathering with other believers to seek Jesus’ guidance that is important. It is your support for his direction in the life of the one who is seeking discernment that is important.

During the meeting, as the time for prayer approaches, allow the words read from scripture to focus your mind. They have been chosen by the one seeking discernment as somehow representing this occasion. Let other concerns drop from consciousness and clear your mind to be filled by the Spirit of God. As the prayer time begins, offer yourself to God to serve him and your brother or sister who is seeking discernment. Then listen quietly, trusting that He is present to guide. Speak up during the prayer time only if God moves you to speak.

During the feedback time of the meeting after prayer, humbly report what you have received from him. Present it just as he gave it to you – no amplification, no commentary, no extra thoughts or opinions. Just report. Sometimes you might see a picture. Or certain words in scripture may come to seem important. Contribute what God gives you. That’s all you need to do.

After the meeting, keep listening, praying, communicating, and encouraging in the Lord. The group might meet again, but usually once is enough.

The Meeting

Here is an outline of a discernment process meeting. Plan for one cycle of this process to take about one hour. There’s nothing critical about the one-hour time period or how it is broken up below. This is a suggested pattern for when a schedule of one hour is appropriate. For important decisions where time permits, longer in prayer is better. More clarification time could also be useful, but not at the expense of the time in prayer. Appoint a host who can humbly lead the group through the meeting.

The host briefly explains the process, if necessary. (1-2 minutes)
The person asking for discernment presents a vision or idea with a key scripture. (10 minutes)
The group asks clarifying questions. (5-10 minutes)
Someone from the group (a different voice) reads the scripture passage again.
Pray for discernment, asking for God to give discernment and clarity. Generally this is silent, waiting prayer time, but one or more may speak as led. Often no one will speak. (15-20 minutes)
The group gives feedback and discusses impressions. (10-15 minutes)
Close in prayer, the group praying aloud to bless the person seeking discernment. If culturally appropriate, gathering around the person seeking discernment with your hands on them can be powerful.(5 minutes)

There is usually much to talk about after such a meeting. Some, usually those closest to the one seeking discernment with recognized spiritual authority will take more of the lead in following up. The one who is seeking discernment should, of course, remain in contact and communicate their thankfulness to the community that has supported them.

Questions to ask yourself when seeking discernment

Consider the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. The life you have is what God has already given you. How have you invested it? Why would God invest more in you if you have not done well with what he has already given? So, when asking for direction or discernment for the future, one must consider the present. Make good with what you’ve already been given before expecting more. Here are some questions based on a set I once wrote for myself as a sort of ongoing spiritual self-evaluation. I’ve incorporated suggestions to improve them. You may find them helpful. Of course, they are intended for one who is trusting Jesus as Lord and Savior already.

Do you have credibility with the poor?
Do you study and understand scripture?
Do you pray?
Do you see God working around you?
Are you dealing with conflict and unfair criticism or accusations well?
How do you react to gossip? Do you gossip?
Are you bearing spiritual fruit?
Are your relationships good (as it depends on you)? Do they honor God?
How do friends and co-workers regard you?
Do you speak the truth in love?
Do you have mature Christians who know you well supporting you in your decisions?
Are you tithing?
Are you serving God where you are in all you do?
Do you confess your sin appropriately?
Do you pursue excellence in what you do?
Do you control your emotions or do they control you?
Are you consistently winning the battle against temptation?
To what extent are fear, ambition, greed, lust, vanity, guilt, shame – and the like – affecting my present decisions?

It is rare to be unable to find areas in which I fall short. (Actually, it has never happened.) However, there is a difference between falling short and harboring sin. Harboring sin is when I know that something is wrong; but I choose to go ahead with it anyway, giving it place in my life. The sin grows stronger as I allow it to remain intact and do not war against it. This is a sure way to spiritual death. Consider the warning of Paul in Galatians 6:7-10! There is no way to be sure of God’s will for the future when one is harboring sin in the present.

Personal Steps to Knowing God

Every Christian is called to live a life following Jesus’ teaching. (Think Sermon on the Mount. None of us have that down yet!) Every Christian is called to use whatever gifts and talents they have to serve God, serve the body of believers, and serve the poor. (Romans 12:1-2, 1 Peter 4:10, 1 Corinthians 12:7, Matthew 25:31-46) These two areas of God’s will for us are clear. There’s no need to ask, though there may be more we need to learn. It is easy to fall into the pride of asking for God’s special will for me and my life when what I really need to do is practice obedience in what I already know!

In that same vein, here’s another list I made for a sermon some years ago.

Offer your life to God. Be available. Anything – anywhere – anytime; nothing is held back! Romans 12:1-2
Do what you know to be God’s will where you are now: job, school, family, friends, church.
Renew your mind with the scriptures. Learn God’s ways and purpose.
Practice spiritual disciplines.
Prefer a low place. Prefer the poor. Serve.
Purify your heart. Get rid of sin.
Seek God’s will with other Christians. Worship. Fast. Pray. Ask.
Put yourself where you can hear God. Give time to listening, and stretch yourself in circumstances.
Be strong and courageous.
Be patient. Don’t hurry. Wait for clarity. Go when you know. Moses spent 40 years as a kid, 40 years in the desert, and then led Israel for 40 years. Jesus spent 30 years living a private life and a bit over 3 years in public ministry. Most of life (some would say all) is preparation.

For Further Reading

The two resources that I am recommending are not specifically about this process. They are, rather, about the larger context of hearing and experiencing God. You will be able to see where a process such as this one fits into the larger picture as you consider them.

I highly recommend the book Hearing God by Dallas Willard. This is the best overall consideration of this topic that I know of.

In addition, a practical approach to this question can be found in Experiencing God, a 13-week workbook put together by Henry Blackaby, Richard Blackaby, and Claude King. I’ve worked through this workbook more than once. Friends from diverse walks of life such as college presidents and professors to high-school drop-outs have found it very helpful. I don’t know of any other extra-biblical resource with that kind of track record! (FYI, it’s cheaper at Lifeway Stores than at Amazon.)

More Scripture

On the importance of love for proper discernment, consider Philippians 1:9-10.

Love leads to obedience leads to knowing God… John 14:15-31.

Remaining in Christ and loving one another… John 15:1-17.

The Spirit makes things known… John 16:12-16.

What am I reading and studying? [2012]

February 14, 2012 / Joseph Ginder / 0 Comments

I want to record what I am reading and studying weekly or monthly, but since this is a start I’ll probably cover whatever seems recent to me this time. I’m not sure how I define “recent” precisely as a period of time. I’m talking more about my own mindshare, I suppose. It probably matters what day or hour I write, even.

The most prominent reading these days is a re-reading of Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. I’m about 75% of the way through a listen from audible.com. The reading is by Nadia May and she is quite good as Oruel. The book itself is a novel, retelling the story of Cupid and Psyche in a way that displays the themes of Lewis’ essay on the Four Loves. It has the feel of being very intentional in its construction, though I don’t know if this is so much a sign of planning as hard-won wisdom ingrained in the author’s personality and mind. It works well as an audio book. I greatly love Lewis’ writing and this novel is no exception. I think I’ve read it in print a couple of times, at least – but decades past now!

I’m slowly working through Eugene Peterson’s memoir The Pastor, in print. It’s not a book to be hurried through, a trait in common with much of Peterson’s writing. I am appreciating this book more than my average for Peterson. Being a very focused person, I tend to read things all at once, consuming and being consumed by them. That’s not really a style that fits Peterson. This book is no exception. It’s a good discipline to read it over time. And the content is priceless for one called to pastoral ministry.

I am working through the audio of a class taught by Gordon Fee at Regent College on Second Corinthians. It’s about 24 hours of audio that winds itself through the Greek text of what Fee believes are two letters making up our one book of Second Corinthians. After studying Fee’s commentary on First Corinthians in the New International Commentary series in print, this is an intense pass through an even more difficult book of the Bible. Upon beginning this course, I realized I was not prepared to start that Second Corinthians preaching series I had planned to start in late January. [Note: This was written in 2012; I’ve since done this series.] As with all the classes I’ve “audio audited” at Regent College, this one is excellent. I wish I knew more Greek at times, but I’m able to get by. Or maybe I don’t know what I’m missing?

I recently listened to Rikk Watts short series called “It’s About Life: A Biblical Journey.” The first lectures were fantastic; the remainder quite good. I think I shall plan to transcribe them as another step in working through the concepts. Time, time?

In that vein, a set of lectures given by Iain Provan recently in Australia are another gold mine. I intend to transcribe at least some of them, too. Here’s what I said about them on google+: I want to highly recommend a set of lectures by Iain Provan that are free online. Look for all the audio by Iain Provan at gospelconversations.com, but particularly the second one, “Who is God?”. I suggest listening in order but the second one was just excellent. Thanks to Lou Huesmann for the recommendation to listen to these lectures!

Lastly, I continue listening to the podcasts The History of Rome and Planet Money. Mars Hill Audio Journal is another audio pleasure. I finished Norman Centuries over a couple of trips to the gym after 12 Byzantine Rulers, both by Lars Brownworth. A couple of recent episodes of This American Life, 455 and 456 also captured my attention.

You may wonder how I manage to get this much audio fitted into life. I found working out to be about the most extraordinarily boring activity on the planet. And yet, it is needed. Playing basketball is logistically more difficult (other players needed) and I am old enough to be more injury-prone. My knees are bad and I take longer to recover now! So, I hit upon the idea of combining exercise with audio and sometimes video learning opportunities. Suddenly a boring activity combined with a somewhat guilty pleasure became one of my thrice-weekly highlights! I walk to the gym, do an hour on the elliptical, move a bit of iron around, and then walk home and shower – a couple of hours total, three times per week. I also listen when I drive and when I shave and when I prepare food and eat alone… times like that. My Galaxy S II phone does many more hours as an audio player, kindle, and web browser than as a phone. So there you go.

Periodicals I read pretty thoroughly include Books & Culture, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, First Things (except I’ve started skimming past some of the really Roman Catholic stuff), The Atlantic, and Mission Frontiers.

God is at work in Long Beach (written for Kingdom Causes December 2011 Blog Post)

November 29, 2011 / Joseph Ginder / 0 Comments

God is at work in Long Beach. Thatâ€™s my theory. Itâ€™s more than an intellectual thing, actually – itâ€™s a belief. Tied in with my belief in God and trust in Jesus to be one of his children is the sense that God is at work in this world where he has put us. The times we live in here in Long Beach are alive with His purpose and meaning. I believe, in fact that the times are pregnant.

When God called me and my wife Susie to Long Beach to serve, we didnâ€™t want to come. God took it all (graciously) in good humor and told us to come anyway, a small-time Mosaic moment. (No bushes were burned in the making of this life…) Within weeks of arriving, God confirmed to us that he was moving in this place. He had plans for Long Beach, and we were here to be with him in those plans. At that time, the sense of the moment seemed that it was a time of preparation – a now but not yet. It was not, to continue using biblical terms, the fullness of time. It was more like the times were pregnant.

We were new to Long Beach and to ministry. There wasnâ€™t much money – not just in the church, but in the neighborhood! I worked outside the church to make a living, driving daily to an office up the South Bay curve in the LAX area. We were blessed with many Khmer friends as the church grew. Babies were born, including a son for us: Samuel (heard of God) to add to the two we brought with us, Laura and Benjamin. With many other babies and their parents an historic downtown church came to life. Resurrection. Family. This year the church is 123 years old and younger than ever, perhaps.

A man who met Jesus at this church before moving away in 1961 dropped by yesterday. With tears in his eyes he told me that he became child of God here and that this church had taught him how to follow Jesus (back when I was being physically born). He said it had been a good life with Jesus these past 50 years since he left. He sought me out to tell me these things. Then he walked away. An unexpected messenger of encouragement. â€œThis is a great thing you have going here!â€ He didnâ€™t know what he would find after all these years. An unknown brother. What is God doing? Itâ€™s bigger than we know, rooted in the past, alive and growing in the present. The vain part of me wants to believe his â€œyouâ€ means â€œmeâ€. But I know it is a great thing that God has going here in Long Beach, and it is bigger than any one local church. It is about the church of the city- all God’s people here. I am not essential to what God is doing. I am privileged to be a small part. Grace at work here.

Is Godâ€™s time of preparation in Long Beach moving into fullness? I think it is. A time of action for Godâ€™s people in Long Beach is being born. I think a foreshadowing of that action began in the past year. Godâ€™s people did something. It crossed church boundaries. It connected to what city government and non-profits were doing to help move homeless folk into housing. More than just housing, it moved a number of those homeless folk into regular connections with caring communities of Godâ€™s people. Being downtown, I have a lot of homeless neighbors and friends. I donâ€™t want to overstate a small beginning, but what happened with this project was remarkable. Government and community leaders cooperated with churches to do an effective work with dozens of the most at-risk homeless people in the downtown area. Church teams provided furniture and friendship to people moving from the street into housing. More than this, the tone of how we work together in the city changed. Godâ€™s name and the body of Christ was respected in ways that I have not before seen in my time in Long Beach. We – Godâ€™s people – worked together in a way that was good for the city, good for homeless folks, and good for us. I have to say, it seemed literally miraculous to me. Hope. A new birth? How do we feed THIS baby? Is it, in Godâ€™s time, the beginning of a season of action? If it is, this effort is not the fullness of that action. It is a beginning – perhaps the first child of a new time in Godâ€™s plan for his people and Long Beach.

Where am I going with this? Allow me to suggest that you ask yourself a question. What would your communityâ€™s reaction be if your church disappeared? People, buildings, programs… everything. Gone. Who would notice? What would their reaction be? Would it be perceived as a loss or as a gain? Would anyone notice at all? What would be the reaction of our city – Long Beach – if Godâ€™s people were removed? Iâ€™m not talking end times theology. Iâ€™m talking practical display of Godâ€™s character, purpose and glory through the life of the body of Christ in our city. How will they see His glory, the glory of the One and Only, Jesus, walking around in Long Beach? We need to be that glory. Itâ€™s how we grow up and give birth to new life. We are called. Who will answer?

Do you guys have a written policy for your mercy ministry? Do you have anything that explains your process or exceptions concerning helping people in need?

November 29, 2011 / Joseph Ginder / 0 Comments

Someone recently (late 2011) wrote me and asked this question. This is a slightly edited version of what I said. Think of it as a description rather than a prescription.

Actually, we do not have any official written policy. We are not primarily a service agency or mercy ministry; we just have lots of neighbors with many needs. I can explain my perspective on how we informally operate after a few decades of being a church in this neighborhood. We intentionally leave a lot to the judgment of those who are ministering. It’s about personal relationships, not institutional services.

In practice, the help we give fits one of two categories. One is exceptional help for people in a circumstance where they are caught short or need help getting back to stability. This might be in the form of helping with a bill, “loaning” a security deposit, or helping to keep someone from being evicted when it looks like they’ll be able to cover their rent in the future. The idea is that we are not seeking to create a dependency situation wherein someone looks to us to maintain their regular living expenses; but we are willing to help with exceptional circumstances. This usually happens through someone spending some significant time getting to know the person and their circumstances. Occasionally we will help with a one-time expense without knowing the person too well; it is a
judgment call.

The second category is the people who just never seem to get their act together (or are simply unable to get it together). With them, it is a few dollars at a time for food or whatever over a longer period of time. This one is handled on a much more personal level. That is, it is not church money. It is personal money that doesn’t go through any church account, though we do share information so that people are not “double dipping”. We help one another when one of us is tapped out. We also do not encourage people in the church to step into this role unless we think they are ready. Getting ready involves gaining experience by watching more experienced folks handle this sort of thing and talking it over. Fred Newkirk is freer with his dollars than anyone else around here; but he is also
much more gifted at ministering through the interaction that goes along with being in that role. And, he is the exception in that it is not always personal money with him; donors give money for this ministry when they can. There’s a lot to talk about there. The rest of us are more limited in what we do with this role. We need to know the person pretty well and understand their situation and
think it is a good idea to help them.

Or (to people who come to the church and ask for financial help), I might say something like “We are a church, and we are here to help people follow Christ. If we get to know you well, we will naturally be involved in your life in deeper ways to help you follow him. But if the only time I see you again is for you to ask me for more money, the second or third time the answer will be no.” I might well give a small amount of assistance if I have it. Then I have to be able to remember people who test me.

Overall, my goal is God’s glory. That glory is often reflected through his people. When Christians have the reputation of being less generous than the average person on the street, then we have a problem. Jesus said to give to those who ask, so I usually do when I have it within what I explained above. If the amount is an amount that impacts what I know God has given me to do in my life (like pay the bills to keep my family fed and warm), then I don’t have it to give. The truth is that I could say yes to a lot of people who ask me for spare change or a dollar without it impacting my life measurably; it doesn’t happen THAT often. I know the common wisdom is never to give money. I know that people sometimes use money they get from us to feed their sin. However, when they are ready to do serious spiritual business, they go back to the people from whom they experienced generosity rather than the people from whom they experienced judgment. That doesn’t mean I hand over money to the alcoholic breathing vodka into my face when he asks for spare change. There’s judgement and a prayerful attitude involved to make it work. It’s not easy.

For a much more thorough background, I highly recommend When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor. . .and Yourself by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett.