"To be a Christian without praying is no more possible than to be alive without breathing."

— Martin Luther

Kindle: Replacing Complacency with Desire

Few writings move me as much as the autobiographical writings of the apostle Paul. And few writers move me as much as Henri Nouwen. So, these two selections are, for me, a perfect pair.

First, read and reflect on these words of apostle Paul:

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12-14)

Next, read this meditation from the soul and pen of Henri Nouwen:

“In Abraham Heschel’s ‘A Passion for Truth’ I read today the words of the Kotzker: ‘He who thinks that he is finished is finished.’ How true. Those who think they have arrived, have lost their way. Those who think they have reached their goal, have missed it. Those who think they are saints, are demons. An important part of the spiritual life is to keep longing, waiting, hoping, expecting. In the long run, some voluntary penance becomes necessary to help us remember that we are not yet fulfilled. A good criticism, a frustrating day, an empty stomach, or tired eyes might help to reawaken our expectation and deepen our prayer: Come, Lord Jesus, come.”  (from The Genessee Diary by Henri J. Nouwen, 1932 – 1996)

Now reflect on these simple questions:

In what way did these words from scripture or from devotional sources shed light on the condition of your soul? What questions do they inspire?

In your opinion, what causes us to lose our desire for God, to become complacent? If able, describe a time when you felt a real longing for God in your life. What caused that longing and what did you do about it?

"Our hearts are restless, O God, until they find their rest in Thee."

— St. Augustine

Kindle: Awakening Desire, Part 5

To increase desire for God in your life, spend a few minutes with these ancient words about desire:

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, but and eat! Come, buy wine and mile without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.” (Isaiah 55:1-3~NIV)

Now consider these words from a contemporary with insight into the human condition:

“The highest dream we could ever dream, the wish that if granted would make us happier than any other blessing, is to know God, to actually experience Him. The problem is…we’re out of touch with the central longing of our hearts. An encounter with Him is what we want, but we don’t know it…We almost always mistake lesser pleasures for this greatest pleasure and live our lives chasing after them. We’re not in touch with our appetite for God. We dream lower dreams and think there are none higher. We dream of good marriages, talented kids, enough health and money to enjoy life, rewarding work, and an opportunity to make a difference in the world. All good things. But we think they’re the best things. When God [seemed] remote and inaccessible, it would have been difficult to imagine anything better than all those lower dreams that are legitimate goods. But [now] God is present and available. He is here and now. [Therefore], the greatest blessing is no longer the blessing of a good life. It never was. It is now the blessing of an encounter with God. It always has been.” (from Shattered Dreams) 

 Finally, reflect on these questions:

In what way did these words from scripture or from devotional sources shed light on the condition of your soul? What questions do they inspire?

What do you learn about your deepest longings from Isaiah? Why might we “spend” ourselves on what doesn’t satisfy?

Many of us have grown up thinking health, talented and good-looking kids, good marriages, etc., are “the good life.” In what ways is the “blessing” of an encounter with God even greater than the “blessing” of a good life?

Kindle: Awakening Desire, Part 4

The spiritual journey really gets traction when desire is kindled. 

Another way to say this is that without desire, the spiritual journey is an impossibility.

I find it useful to hang out with people in whom desire has not been tamed, de-clawed and de-fanged. Be with some of these people for even a few minutes and you wonder why you’re living at such a low level of existence. 

Here is one example, from the Bible. The words are a first-person account, so a lens into the heart and soul of a first-century person. Desire is dripping from every word, comma, and period:

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My Why

I am using month of May to dust off the “why” for my life, making sure the “what” is proof of my “why.” In the process I came across this old statement by John Wesley about passion:

“Catch on fire and others will love to come watch you burn.” 

Passion is unavoidable when your “why” fits and is clear.

Kindle: Awakening Desire

This statement about desire comes from Elvis and Intimacy, by Tim Elmore:

“Intimacy doesn’t happen automatically—we must desire it more than anything else around us! This passion for God is the most important factor in our intimacy. We must be hungry. I remember the story of a young man who approached Socrates one day as he sat by a lake. He greeted the wise philosopher, then told him he wanted to know how to gain the wisdom Socrates possessed. The young man told him he’d do anything to get it. After a few moments, Socrates stood up and motioned for the young man to follow him. Interestingly, he walked right into the lake, until he was waist-high in water. Then Socrates asked him what he really wanted. When the young man replied he wanted wisdom, Socrates pushed the young man’s head under the water!

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Kindle: Prayer for Today

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

• O God, awaken my longing for you.

Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

• O God, awaken my longing for you.

Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

• O God, awaken my longing for you.

Kindle: Lacy’s Story of Spiritual Awakening

Here are a few basic facts that will help you get acquainted with a friend of mine, whom I’ll call Lacy.

• She’s 41-years-old, the median age of her northern California community.

• She and her husband have two young children. In spite of her rigorous schedule, she rarely misses one of her children’s soccer games.

• She’s well-educated, having earned an MBA in business and finance at UC-Berkeley.

• She’s the senior vice-president of a high tech company, earning a substantial income.

• Once referred to as one of the most promising leaders in her field, she’s no longer up-and-coming; in every possible way, she’s arrived and she has the trophies and emblems to show for her hard work and good fortune:
• An excellent investment portfolio giving her financial security for the rest of her life
• A beautiful home in a high-end neighborhood. (Her exquisitely decorated home was recently featured in a regional house and garden magazine.)
• The opportunity to travel widely

It’s clear that by almost any common definition, Lacy is living the American Dream and enjoying all the perks and rewards that comes from a standard of living that’s easily in the top 1% of all people on this globe.

But it isn’t these facts that makes Lacy’s story so interesting. That part of her story is an old one, replicable many times over. What’s really intriguing is what happened last summer: one day this past summer Lacy felt something she had never felt before.

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Kindle: Spiritual Awakening

Kindle. 

I know it’s an e-reader.

But long before it was an electronic reader, it is what the Holy Spirit is doing in our life.

Consider these synonyms of “kindle:” “to stir up…to spark…to arouse…to awaken.”

Somewhere deep in you Living God is stirring life up in you.

Somewhere beneath the surface, Real God is sparking back to life the life that is truly life.

Somewhere in the place that is truly you, Passionate God is arousing a yearning for life that is more.

Somewhere in your soul, Life-creating God is awakening a desire for life…for significance…for fulfillment.

It’s what God does—kindles.

What is your story of being spiritually kindled…stirred up…awakened?

Kindle—Stories of Spiritual Awakening: A Story of Desire

In order to unpack the role of desire in our spiritual journey, let me tell you a story:

The other day I was sitting at a café reading scripture. I was reading the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. Here are the words that caught my attention: Isaiah 55:1-2:

“Listen to me, listen well. Why do you spend who you are on stuff like that when you could be so much more?”

As I read those words, I began to think about how we are constantly in search of that thing that will satisfy our cravings. We spend our entire lives starving and searching for that thing that will take away our hunger. We live in a culture that is hungry, fully of yearning. The problem is that we try to satisfy this hunger and thirst with things that leave us ever hungry and thirsty: we may seek retail therapy, max out our credit cards buying new toys and gadgets we can’t afford to impress people who already like us. We may be uncommitted and unfaithful in our relationships, searching for that elusive something, or someone, who will satisfy us.

I sat there in that café thinking about things like that and Isaiah’s words seemed to leap off the page: words written hundreds and hundreds of years ago but written for a time like ours:

“Listen to me, listen well. Why do you spend who you are on stuff like that when you could be so much more?” 

I found myself imagining what it would be like if Isaiah, the Old Prophet, was not simply an historical figure accessible only through the printed page but was sitting on the other side of the table, saying these words to a real person in our time. This is what I think I heard as I sat there and “listened” to the conversation between this Old Prophet and this very contemporary, hungry person:

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A Dream

I’m having this crazy, recurring vision about the church (Bayside Auburn) God has entrusted me to serve as pastor. The vision goes something like this:

• When we gather for worship, no one is just attending a worship service; instead every person is worshiping Living God

• When we talk about the Presence of Real and Living God, it isn’t just a slogan; instead the environment is rich and thick with the Presence of God. “It’s” everywhere and in everyone.

• No one is just listening to another message; instead everyone is being the message.

• We are no longer just praying for healing; instead, every person is being healed of whatever brokenness is afflicting them, whether physical, emotional, spiritual, relational or moral.

• “Life change” isn’t just another church slogan; instead, lives are literally being changed by Jesus. Those who walked away from church are coming back. Those who have lived for years far from God are finding that all those years they were really looking for the only One who can satisfy their deepest yearnings. Those who have been on spiritual cruise control are becoming spiritually alive and full of vitality.

• We don’t just have banners about compassion outside our buildings; instead, we are compassionate.

• We don’t just give a token of “our” money, time and talent; instead we know all that we have is from God—we are just the steward—and we are literally thanking God for the privilege of making a difference in this world with all that He has given us.

• We don’t just feel badly about the presence of evil in the world; instead evil is being aggressively attacked, driven back and obliterated.

At times this vision seems crazy…impossible…too much…laughable. But the longer I live with this vision, here’s what I’m seeing:

• It’s what makes my heart race; it’s what gets me up in the morning; it’s what makes less-invogorating parts of my role worth doing so that I get a chance to be part of a community where a dream like this can be dreamt 

• I could not dream this dream without God dreaming it in me. Left to my own strength, I used to dream unholy dreams: dreams about numbers and size that were really more about self-validation than unleashing the Kingdom of Jesus in our midst and in our world.

• We are living in the “already…not yet” paradox of spiritual reality. The seed of this dream has already been planted in the soil of my soul and in the soil of this church. It has not yet fully become a reality. But it is real nonetheless and will become evident to everyone in time.

• I say “Amen” to this vision. To say “amen” is to say, “Let it be” or “I agree; let it come.” So, I say, “Living God, the inspiration behind holy dreams and visions, don’t hold back; pour it on; let it be. Amen.”