Fluency

This past Sunday I finish a brief 3 part series, Worship in the Book of Revelation.  Revelation gives us wonderful image of God—Sovereign Holy King (ch 4), Redeemer who gives hope (ch 5).  I have been reminded increasingly that worship, since it centers on God requires submission.  As I look through all the “worship hymns” in Revelation and see the way the book ends—I am reminded that an encounter with God always leads to worship.

Any “worship wars” or “crisis in worship” seem to have at their root a failure to encounter God.  When we encounter God, we are changed and He is worshipped.  When we encounter God our eyes are either fixed on Him or at least removed from us.  When we encounter God worship is always transformational.  When we encounter God worship is real and relevant.  When we encounter God worship is no longer about style.

Surveying the Crisis of Worship

from R.C. Sproul

There is a crisis of worship in our land. People are staying away from church in droves. One survey indicated that the two chief reasons people drop out of church are that it is boring and irrelevant.

If people find worship boring and irrelevant, it can only mean they have no sense of the presence of God in it. When we study the act of worship in Scripture and church history, we discover a variety of human responses to the sense of the presence of God. Some people tremble in terror, falling with their faces to the ground; others weep in mourning; some are exuberant in joy; still others are reduced to a pensive silence. Though the responses differ, one reaction we never find is boredom. It is impossible to be bored in the presence of God (if you know that He is there).

Neither is it possible for a sentient creature to find his or her encounter with God a matter of irrelevance. Nothing—and no one—is more relevant to human existence than the living God.

Coram Deo: Do you find worship boring and irrelevant? If so, pray for a renewed sense of God’s presence.

Psalm 95:6 “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.”

Psalm 34:1 “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

Psalm 50:23 “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.”

In His Presence

Sometimes I crawl into the presence of God

exhausted by life

beaten by the world

overwhelmed by the weakness of my flesh

and in His presence I find

refreshment for my heart

sustenance for my soul

redirection for my mind

empowerment for the strength of my body

Sometimes I run into the presence of God

rejoicing overwhelmed with His goodness

thankful to the Giver of every good gift

glorying in His sovereignty

and in His presence I find

He abounds even more

He is worshipped

Sometimes I fall on my face in the presence of God

desperate for his mercy

in need

in need of his cleansing and restoration

and in His presence

I meet infinite grace and mercy

I see love

I encounter faithfulness

Sometimes I back into the presence of God

self-sufficient and arrogant

looking away from the light into the darkness of my shadow

pushed by His unseen hand

and in His presence

I am overshadowed by Him

the scales on my eyes are removed

I am refocused

Sometimes I walk into the presence of God

to enjoy communion and fellowship

to rejoice in Him

to surrender to Him the center of my life

and in His presence I find

acceptance and fellowship

joyful communion

No matter how I enter the presence of God—in His presence I find HIM!

Living out of memory
Don’t minister out of memory, but do learn from the past.
Don’t minister simply out of memory, but based on past memories of God’s presence, power and provision, depend on Him now for your current needs.

Living in the moment
Don’t minister simply in the moment, but do be fully present for people.
Don’t minister simply in the moment, be conscience of the future–leave a legacy.

Living through mission
Don’t minister simply out of mission, but do be motivated by an eternal perspective.
Don’t minister without a mission, be purposeful in your mission and open to God’s working in the present.

Charlie Brown asked this profound questions.

What do people think Christmas is about?
That's Chritmas

Thoughts on team ministry from dialogues with a missionary friend, Dave M.

The strength of a team is the composite of the strengths of the individuals.
The unity of a team is built around the weaknesses of each individual.

True, false or something in between?

Some would say that a team is only as strong as its weakest member.  This may be true in essential character areas, like faithfulness.  But the members of a team are less like links in a chain (linear) and more like the threads of a net.  This is the influence or benefit of synergy, in which the whole is stronger than the individual parts because they are woven together.

Some questions

Do we let the strengths of all members of a team show?  Do we value the different strengths?  Or do we allow the strengths of one or two members of the team to overshadow the rest?

This is where we typically miss the interplay in 1 Corinthians 12:21, “the eye can’t say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you.’” By allowing certain types of strengths to dominate we leave others feeling less important and not valued, 1 Corinthians 12:15, “because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body.”

So we must look at the strengths of a team before we set the plan for the team.

How about weaknesses?

Often the strengths of individuals on a team taken to an extreme become weaknesses, particularly when driven by pride and/or self-sufficiency. These weaknesses then cause conflict which can lead to disunity, particularly when driven by pride and self-centeredness (“if everyone were like me, we’d be doing great”).

To the extent we understand the weaknesses of team members and have the ability to overlook those weaknesses when appropriate, yet deal with those weaknesses when needed—will determine the depth of the unity of the team.

This also requires that individual team members own or embrace their own weaknesses.  This is evidenced when a team member can celebrate the strengths of others in areas of their own weaknesses rather than being threatened by them.

No matter how strong a team, without unity effectiveness is hampered or potentially neutralized. Better a group of “normal” people—blending together their strengths (gifts, abilities, experiences) and their weaknesses for God’s purpose and for God’s glory—than a handful of “experts” who can’t meld together.

Your thoughts?

As 2009 comes to the end and 2010 dawns on the horizon–I’m finding, again, the need to evaluate and set purposeful goals.  In this process, the noise of the world can get in the way.

Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church,  Seattle, Washington provides these great self-reflecting questions.  After reading the post and the questions.  You may want to join me in adapting the questions and finding a quite place to answer them before God as you think forward.

This the last post in a series by Pastor Mark where he helpfully lays out the importance of silence and solitude, as well as how he approaches and utilizes the time. We hope it has been helpful for you as you grow in your faith in Jesus.

Journaling

The following is a copy of the template I created for myself to organize my days of silence and solitude for the purpose of journaling. I offer it knowing that you can and should change it to fit your life. This is not Scripture, it’s not perfect, and I don’t claim it is. Rather, it is a simple tool for you to adapt as you need. For me, I keep notes in my Moleskine throughout the week, and sit down to answer these questions on my laptop in a Word document. This keeps it simple for me and allows me to see God’s work in my life over time.

Ideally, every Christian would do a modified version of this plan every week as an act of worship, taking around an hour to answer a few of the questions that are most pressing for them. In addition, it is wise to take at least one full day a month in silence and solitude to answer all the questions without being rushed, leaving time to open your Bible, pray, repent, worship, and ponder.

Silence and Solitude Journaling Template

“. . . the report about him [Jesus] went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” — Luke 5:15–16

Date:
Modified or Full Plan:
Note: Here I am making note if it’s one hour or one day for silence and solitude.
Place and Conditions:
Note: I am someone for whom space deeply matters. On a nice day I sit outside by a river or at the beach in a beautiful spot. I don’t like coffee shops (too noisy and crowded) or the office (too much distraction). I like to be up high with a view, crave fresh air, love the sun, and cannot relax where it’s loud, busy, ugly, stinky, disorganized, poorly designed, uncomfortable, or too hot or cold, and yes, I am picky. So, I note where I was and that helps me keep a record of nice spots for silence and solitude days. I borrow friends’ vacation homes, have spots I like outside of town in the mountains, and so forth.

Part 1 – Recent Evidences of God’s Grace

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” — 2 Thess. 2:16–17

Note: To have good words and works, we need hope and comfort by seeing and savoring evidences of God’s grace. I start with this topic to get me into a mode of worship. I can be quite a gloomy and moody person, so this gets me going in the right direction for my time with God. I often take an hour on this topic alone and make a long list, thanking God and praying as I go.

Part 2 – Deep Questions

“The purpose in a man’s mind is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.” — Prov. 20:5 (RSV)

Note: These are my questions and you can make your own or change mine. I don’t include Bible reading and study because they are like breathing to me, but you may want to add them. In question four I’m talking about my wife, Grace. I list each of my kids in question five because with a big family it’s too easy to treat the kids as a herd rather than knowing and pastoring each one. I put my work last, figuring that if the rest of my life is in order, work will go well. I rate every question on a scale so that I can be honest about how I’m doing and track progress over time. The prayer points are things I pray about as I’m journaling and things to put on my prayer list that week. The action items go on my calendar. Lastly, I share a lot of this with my wife, kids, friends, and others, and a lot of my blogs and ministry training are simply sharing what comes out of my journaling on days of silence and solitude.

1. How accurate is my view of God lately?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

2. How are my joy in the Holy Spirit and corresponding hope?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

3. What temptations and sins are most ensnaring?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

4. How is my connection with my wife {husband}?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

5. How is my connection with each of my children?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

6. How is my health (e.g., weight, diet, exercise)?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

7. How is my sleep (e.g., bed time, quality of sleep, length of sleep)?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

8. How is my energy level?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

9. How is my dominion over my technology (e.g., cell phone, laptop, email, text)?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

10. How is the stewardship of my wealth (e.g., finances, possessions, property, investments)?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

11. How is my social life with friends and extended family?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

12. Who or what is filling my tank lately?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

13. Who or what is draining my tank lately?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

14. Who has sinned against me and how am I responding?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

15. Who do I need to confide in and where should I seek wisdom?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

16. Are there any warning signs that I am burning out?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

17. Am I successfully getting out of the river onto the bank enough through silence, solitude, study, and Sabbath?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

18. What do I need to stop doing, do less of, or hand off to someone else?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

19. How are my self-deception and truth suppression?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

20. How is my writing (e.g., books, blogs, papers)? {How is my communication with others?}
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

21. How is my preaching (preparation and results, in and out of Mars Hill)? {How is my personal ministry?}
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items

Matthew 7:24-29, the final instruction of the Sermon on the Mount provides a wonderful challenge to go beyond hearing to doing.

Jesus makes it clear that listening to Him or even agreeing with Him is not enough.  The wise build the foundation of their lives on the reading/hearing and doing of the Words of Jesus.

And most Christians would say–”Yes, that is my desire, to know and do the words of Jesus.”  So, why don’t we?  Because desire is not enough.  We need more than intentions, will and desire to do the Words of Jesus.  We need more than intentions, will and desire to overcome bad habit and to produce good habits.  Will power itself is not enough.  More knowledge in itself is not enough.

So how do we really “live out” the Words of Jesus?  How do we truly do what we say we believe about what He has said?

The conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:28-29) sheds light on the focal point.  The crowds were “amazed.”  They were amazed with who Jesus was, how He taught and what He taught.  This sense of amazement should not just be an emotional response–but a deep amazement that leads to transformation.

When we are in love, we notice all the details.  We gaze into the eyes of the one in whom we find delight.  As we see their likes and dislikes, we want to meet their needs.  The same is true of deep-seated/core transformation–it is motivated by and propelled by an ever increasing image/vision of Jesus.

So, as we begin the Advent Season, may we gaze at Jesus.  Not the postcard version, but the biblical image.  And may our gazing at Jesus lead to honoring Him in every area of our lives.

To assist your gazing, below is a list of some of the name of Jesus with explanation.  But let me also encourage you to meditate and contemplate Jesus in these key passages:

Colossians 1:13-20 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (ESV)

Hebrews 1:1-4 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (ESV)

Lord indicates two things about Christ Jesus

1. Jesus is Master or Sovereign Lord over all things.  Acts 10:36; Rev. 19:16; Jn. 13:16
2. Deity  Jn. 20:28
3. Lord is used as corresponding to Adonai, a title of absolute deity.  Acts 2:34 (quotes Ps. 110:1); Jn. 9:38 (Lord—worship)
4. It is related to Yahweh and at times is used in Old Testament quotes containing Yahweh (LORD).  Acts 2:34, 36, 3:22; Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 12:3.

Jesus is His human and historical name.  (He did not have it before His incarnation  Matt. 1:21).  The name means “Yahweh saves.”  Indicates that He is the Savior of man.  Ps. 45 (cf. Heb. 1:8, 9).

Christ is the Greek and New Testament term for Messiah.  Means “Anointed One.”  Jn. 1:41 – He is the One specially anointed to do God’s work and to accomplish God’s purpose for world history.  He is the fulfiller of Old Testament Messianic prophecies.

Immanuel Matt. 1:23.  Means “God with us.”  Jesus was God dwelling in the midst of the people of Israel (Jn. 1:14).  His deity is clearly stated.

The Son of God Jn. 1:34.  “The” unique Son of God.  Title implies three things:

1. Deity—has same nature as the Father.  Jn. 10:36
2. Equality—in the Hebrew usage of Son, it is understood that the Son is all that the Father is (cf. Jn. 10:33, 5:16-18).  Jesus is equal to the Father.
3. He is a separate person from God the Father.

The Son of Man Lk. 9:22, 58.  His humanity as having the same nature as man.  “The” unique offspring of man.  The only man who can accomplish the victory of humanity over its enemies  Heb. 2:14-16.  (It is also likely that this is a Messianic title relating to Christ as descendant of David.)

The Last Adam 1 Cor. 15:45.  The counterpart of the first Adam (Rom. 5:12-21).  The first Adam brought sin (made a mess of things).  Jesus, as the last Adam, purchased redemption.

The Word Jn. 1:1,14.  Just as words are the outward expression of invisible thoughts, so Jesus was the outward, visible expression of the invisible God.  God is invisible  Jn. 1:18, Col. 1:15; 1 Tim. 1:17.  Jesus was the expression of God  Jn. 1:18, 14:8-9; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3.

The Light of the World Jn. 8:12, 1:7-9.  It is the function of light to uncover hidden things.  Therefore, this title indicates several things concerning Jesus:

1. He is the revealer of God and God’s holiness  Jn. 14:9.
2. Jesus looks inside every human being to uncover his innermost being, to expose him for what he is  Jn. 1:9.  Jesus did this to Nathanael (Jn. 1:47-48), the crowd of people (Jn. 2:23-25), the Samaritan woman (Jn. 4:16-19), the scribes and Pharisees (Lk. 6:6-8), the disciples (Lk. 9:46-47).
3. Jesus exposes the deeds of people Jn. 3:19-20.

The Lamb of God Jn. 1:29.  “The” Lamb that God provides.  The Jews were required to offer many lambs to God, but those lambs could not take away sin.  God offered His Son as a Lamb for man.  This one Lamb took away sin  Heb. 10:11-12; Rev. 5:6, 9, 10, 12.  Jesus was God’s sacrifice for the sin of the world  Rev. 13:8.

The King of Israel Jn. 1:49.  The One who will establish the Millennial Kingdom and will rule over the nation of Israel  Lk. 1:32-33.

King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 19:16; 1 Tim. 6:15.  The one who is sovereign.  The one who will establish the Millennial Kingdom and will rule over the whole world and all of its rulers.

The Teacher Jn. 11:28.  “The” unique teacher.  He uniquely explains who God is, what God is like, what God expects.

The Chief Shepherd 1 Peter 5:4; Ps. 24.  He is the ultimate shepherd or pastor, the ultimate feeder and caretaker of believers.  He is over all other elders or pastors.

The Good Shepherd Jn. 10:11; Ps. 22.

The Great Shepherd Heb. 13:20; Ps. 23.

Psalm 92:1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,
3 to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. (ESV)

In the last six months or so I’ve been involved in planning several different sessions (lessons and gatherings) for men, to challenge men to pursue purity.  The theme verse for all these evens has been

2 Timothy 2:22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

We have focused on three key aspects: Flee, Pursue, With.

Purity in a visual saturated society is always a challenge. In order to keep the challenge of pursing purity rather than passively acquiescing or actively engaging in impurity, I want to recommend the reading of a series of post by Tim Challies. I’m including the link and a brief quote from each post.  They are appropriate for any man, good for young married men, and should be particularly help to young unmarried men who one day hope to be godly husbands.

Sexual Detox I: Pornifying the Marriage Bed

Pornography is inherently violent, inherently unloving. It is a perversion of sexuality, not a true form of it, and one that teaches violence and degradation at the expense of mutual pleasure and intimacy. It is about conquests, about conquering. It is the very opposite of God’s intention for sex.

Sexual Detox II: Breaking Free

God is infinitely more willing to deal with your sin than you are to commit your sin. You may love this sin and be committed to it, but if you are a Christian, God is more willing than you are to overcome it and destroy it. He will grant grace for you to put sin to death. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

What you need to do is to borrow God’s eyes and to look at your wife through that lens, through that filter. You need to replace lies with truth. And God has given you the Bible so you can do just that. Through the Bible we are able to borrow God’s eyes and to see the world as he sees it. And so in the next article in this series we will form a Theology of Sex, seeking to understand the purpose of sex, of purpose of sexual desire and even the purpose of unequal sexual desire.

Sexual Detox III: A Theology of Sex

God gives us sex because it has unique power in drawing a husband to his wife and a wife to her husband. He knows this because he is the one who invented it! He made it so that it is far more than the sum of its parts. We could describe sex in terms of body parts and hormones, but we would not be any closer to understanding it than if we were to describe a cake only in terms of its ingredients—flour and milk and eggs (or if we were to describe the Lord’s Supper making reference only to eating bread and drinking wine). Sex goes far beyond merely the physical and instead extends to the emotional, the spiritual. It is through sexual union that two are made one, that they are bound together; there is a mystery to it that can only really be compared in impact to the union of God’s people to God as they are grafted into him.

The purpose of sex, then, is to provide a unique means through which a husband and wife can know one another, serve one another, express vulnerability before one another, give and receive. No other area in marriage offers so much to gain and so much to lose. No other area in marriage so closely grafts the couple together. And no message could be further from what is shown in pornography!

Yet sexual desire, the appetite for sex, is not given in equal measure. It is typically given in greater part to men. Why is this? The answer, I’m convinced, goes right to the heart of the husband-wife relationship. God commands that men, husbands, be leaders. Men are to take the leading role while women are to follow. God intends that men take leadership even in sex and, therefore, he gives to men a greater desire for it. This way men can lead their wives, taking the initiative, taking care to love their wives in such a way that they wish to have sex with their husbands. Generally speaking, a man finds intimacy and acceptance through sex while a woman needs to first experience intimacy and acceptance before she can be prepared to enjoy sex. And so God gives the man a sexual appetite so he can in turn provide for his wife’s needs before she provides for his. His sexual appetite cannot be separated from his leadership.

Sexual Detox IV: Detoxification

Sex is not primarily about you. Wives may well testify that they have a better understanding of this concept than do their husbands. Yet even then, sex is not ultimately about your spouse. Sex is about God. While a husband may be motivated by desire to pursue his wife and have sex with her, he should be motivated ultimately by an obedience to God’s command that a husband and wife enjoy sex frequently.

Sexual Detox V: Freedom

The first of these is one of my favorite passages in the whole Bible. Proverbs 5:18-19 says, “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.” I love the sweetness of this passage. It calls a man to always find joy and satisfaction and intimacy in the wife God has given him. It calls him to recall the delight he had in the days when he and his bride were newly married and to live out of that delight. He has no right to go elsewhere, no right to “drink from another cistern,” to use Solomon’s terminology. And why would he ever want to? The verse both celebrates the gift of sex and the exclusivity of it.

My encouragement to you is to find a biblical basis for purity, a biblical basis for avoiding pornography. Some men can turn away from pornography by an act of the will. Some can do it by constructing walls of legalism and forcing themselves to live within those boundaries. But it is best, I’m convinced, to find freedom through the Word of God. We need to fight sin with God’s truth; we need to replace the lies we want to believe with what God says is true. Perhaps some of the verses that God used in my life will help you; perhaps he will help you find others. But in any case, go the Bible and find there both the foundation for purity and the wisdom that can help you moment-by-moment.

Sexual Detox: Recommended Resources

List of books and websites

There are a variety of ways to define worship; here are a few of mine.

Encounter and Expression

Encounter: Meeting with God, seeing, who He is, understanding His attributes and character, what He does for you
(It is thanksgiving focused on the source.)

Expression: Celebrating what God has done, who God is based on your encounter with Him, acting on what God has done

Authentic worship is seeing God while looking life squarely in the face

Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (ESV)

Worship is a verb, it must be active. It is not simply knowing that God is great, but it is proclaiming it and acting on it so that God will be glorified.
Worship involves life actions not just words.

Worship is getting impressed by God

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God.”

–A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: HarperCollins, 1961), 1.

So what impresses you about God?

The deepest kind of transformation takes place in us when we become so deeply impressed with God and His purposes in and through our lives that our will, our volition, becomes engaged in the process of change and growth. (Richard E. Averbeck, © “Transforming Discipleship: Foundations of Christian Spiritual Formation.” Spiritual Formation Forum, May 19, 2004)