Thomas Kelly writes much about an unceasing, inward
orientation of the soul. He believes
that such a turning of our souls to the Lord is important because it brings
everything in the world into a new light – the Light – and gives a new
perspective. It allows us to “rejudge,” “recreate,” and respond in “spontaneous,
incisive, and simple ways of love and faith.”
Kelly’s
approach is all about inward worship – “quiet, persistent practice in turning
all of our being, day and night, in prayer and inward worship and surrender,
toward him who calls in the deeps of our souls.” This will require the development of certain
habits.
“In the
early weeks we begin with simple, whispered words…repeat them inwardly, over
and over again…longer discipline in this inward prayer will establish more
enduring upreachings of praise and submission and relaxed listening in the
depths…”
And if
we lapse, simply breathe a prayer for forgiveness and start again right from where
you are; ever return quietly. As this discipline
of inward orientation improves, there develops a meshing and a simultaneity of
the outer things and the Inner Light – not just an alternation…”worship
undergirding every moment, living prayer, the continuous current and background
of all moments of life.”
It fuses the inner
with the outer, internal spirituality with external application. It transforms us from the inside out, that
all may see him and receive a glimpse of true life and be drawn to it.
According to William Law, our faith
should have influence in every area of our lives. The combination of spiritual life with daily
life is key. We cannot simply offer up
prayers wholly to God without offering our whole lives up to him as well, and
vice versa. Both are absurd. Law speaks of what it looks like to be
seriously devoted to Christ in all that we do.
To Law, it means being devoted to Christ wholly – not just in occasional
prayers.
I
personally have experienced the transforming power of Christ in my whole life
as I have given it up wholly to him.
Yes, there are moments when I forget and I still hold on to things that
I want or that I can’t seem to let go. I
forget the refuge that the Lord is and I hold back certain parts of my heart
(Ps. 62:8). Sometimes these moments last longer than I would like. But Jesus is faithful to remind me how important
it is to fuse everything about myself, my heart, my daily life, daily thoughts
and daily actions with my faith and my prayers to him. And it is in those beautiful moments of
devout holiness that my faith influences every area of my life and more people
see more of Christ (Heb. 12:14).
First and foremost, it is possible
for an individual who is actively engaged in vocational ministry to be
struggling to maintain an intimate relationship with the Lord because he/she is
an imperfect being who sins. It is
important to understand we all do this, and can receive grace from the
Lord.
Rolle highlights the idea that
those who are devoted to the Lord begin to struggle with their spiritual walks
as they begin to love the things of the world – “physical need and strong human
affection obtrude into this warmth, to disturb and quench this flame.” For a minister, this may look like getting
caught up in mindless ministry work, or becoming obsessed with issues that
honestly don’t matter. It happens
because priorities get mixed up and the things that the world values become
what we value. Soon we are just a person
who knows a lot about God, not one who actually knows him. We must seek “rather to love God than to
amass knowledge.” After all, “he is not
known by argument but by what we do and how we love.”
This situation is dangerous for a
minister. It is not that the cheering
warmth that comes from God’s love and our devotion has been taken from him/her,
but it is momentarily absent. The
minister may find his/herself frozen in their walk, unable to grow and
therefore barren because they are “missing what [they] have become accustomed
to.”
This will greatly affect the
minister’s family. When one’s
relationship with the Lord is off, all other relationships will be affected as
well. The minister is not in a position
to lead the family or pour into them as he/she should. A lot of potential is lost.
The minister’s congregation or
ministry also suffers. It is hard to
organize or oversee a ministry when you yourself do not feel put together. The possibility of being viewed as a
hypocrite runs the risk of destroying trust between the minister and his/her ministry.
To avoid such situations, Rolle
suggests that we must “be wholly turned from every earthly thing.” Be concerned with the things of the Lord, not
the things of the world. Rolle puts it
best: “To achieve this, however, they must, first, fly from every worldly
honor; they must hate all vainglory and the parade of knowledge. And then, conditioned by great poverty,
through prayer and meditation they can devote themselves to the love of God.” We must be ministers who pray for such
hearts, attitudes, mindsets, and lifestyles.
It is only in the Lord that we can find that kind of transforming power.
There absolutely has to be a point
at which you draw the line between cooperation and division in order to protect
important doctrines and ministry practices.
There is a balance as well, though.
Humility and respect for others is needed; these characteristics allow
one to more easily accept minor differences in beliefs without unnecessary
conflict. However, if a personal belief
of a coworker in ministry stands in the way of what the ministry stands for or
strives to implement, that is obviously unacceptable.
If I have an agenda that I believe
is biblically important, I want to do what I can to persuade and convince
others to understand what the Spirit has convicted me of, not manipulate others
into following. Politics have such a
negative connotation because it’s an area so full of conniving, cunning,
deceitful, and manipulative people who will go to ridiculous lengths to promote
themselves. I think there is a purer
form of politics to take part in within the church. This could include “campaigning” if you will –
finding creative ways to help others understand your vision so that they might
support you.
The bottom line is that nothing
should be forced. Our job is to stand
for what the Spirit convicts us of and leave the rest up to him. We should never take matters into our own
hands. Simply be open to what the Lord
wants you to do in each situation – there’s a good chance that he will ask you
to respond with love, humility, respect, and gentleness, but still with enough
sternness to express a bold passion and commitment. If we will remain faithfully obedient to him
rather than assuming there is something we can do about it, he will bless that
and take care of the rest.
I’m not sure if anything I just
wrote makes much sense to anyone else, but I know that’s how I feel about it
and what I’ve gathered from past instances in church life.
In 1612, Thomas Helwys returned
from Amsterdam and planted the first Baptist church in England. It was here that the first document in
English was written that argued for full religious freedom for all
individuals. This is a belief that
Baptists have long stood by and is still very important to emphasize
today. Religion/spirituality should not
be forced upon anyone. The ability to
show love instead of force it and to be inviting in that way requires much humility
and respect for others. Even if people
do not agree with us as Baptists, they must make their own decisions and we are
to respect them and love them through it all.
What kind of a relationship is a forced one, anyway? God wants us to choose him. We want others to choose him also.
The first national
Baptist convention was the Triennial Convention which was formed in the early
18th century solely to help with international missions. Basically, the primary driving force for
organization in Baptist life has been the cause of missions. Johann Gerhard Oncken explained it once as “every
Baptist, a missionary.” Such an emphasis
on missions is just as important today.
If, as Baptists, we truly believe what we say we believe, then it is
inevitable that we highlight the cause of missions. Each person has the ability to accept the
Lord as their own personal Savior, and so we must go tell each person about
him! It has been our focus for years and
should continue to be our focus in a world with numerous unreached peoples.
In my own personal prayer life, I
am more likely to be too formless. I
often spend my time conversing and convening with the Lord over coffee, sitting
on my bed, having casual conversation about my day or asking him questions. However, it is during some of those times
that I have experienced his overwhelming greatness in the most magnified
ways. But, if I let it become too
routine, it often loses its significance.
I’ll sit down on my bed with journal and Bible in hand only to say a
quick prayer and become distracted by something else. As I actually talk with him, conversation may
become so casual that I get sidetracked and aimlessly talk and think about
other, less pertinent things. These
things may not happen often, but they do happen and I would certainly hate for
them to become habit.
As I think about how to
avoid informality, I am considering the idea of physical position. There is something so formless about
reclining on some pillows, occasionally sipping coffee from a mug, just
chatting away. What if during my
personal prayer time I spent at least a portion of it on my knees before a Holy
God? Yes, this is something that I
practice, but not often enough. It
serves as a physical, practical reminder that He is so deserving of respect, honor
and glory…and I am not. Who am I to have
a casual conversation with him?
Sometimes I could use some reminding of my place. As I begin this action, it would help develop
many other aspects of my prayer life because it brings on a different sort of
attitude altogether – one of humility, reverence, and recognition of an
Almighty God.
In general, whenever I have a
decent amount of down time I hope to not waste it on stupid things – things like
facebook or spending too much time getting ready or watching pointless tv shows
– but rather spend that time being productive, even if it is just a little
productive...because I know that pleases the Lord much more so than being lazy
or being a busybody. I’m usually pretty
good about that, but sometimes I find myself getting caught up in it. I guess it comes down to something Sundar
said: “We ought to make the best possible use of God-given opportunities and
should not waste our precious time by neglect or carelessness. Many people say: there is plenty of time to
do this or that; don’t worry. But they
do not realize that if they do not make good use of this short time, the habit
formed now will be so ingrained that when more time is given to us, this habit
will become our second nature and we shall waste that time also.” I do not want to form a habit of lazy
procrastination! It’s about practicing
good time management with the little time I have now, because trust me, I only
have a little bit of down time!
So how
do I begin a good habit of managing my time well and using it effectively? I think I should just start asking myself
questions like “what can I do to please the Lord with the down time I have for
the next hour?” Kind of an unusual thing
to start doing, but I like the idea of not using every waking moment I have to
please myself and do what I want.
Because that’s just ridiculous.
But that’s what most of us do anyway…
More
specifically, when it comes to schoolwork I wish I managed my time so much more
wisely! It’s not like I don’t know how,
I just don’t do it – again, because I want to do what I want to do on my own
time. I often think that maybe I should
start on an assignment (at least start on it) the day I receive it, instead of
thinking “there is plenty of time to do this or that; don’t worry.” I feel like it would help me get a head
start, and when it comes down to the due date I won’t be as rushed, won’t stay
up as late, etc. – a much more effective use of my time.
The
problem with all this is being motivated to actually do all these things. It’s a discipline, for sure. It’s really a spiritual discipline – denying yourself
and what you want to do in order to do what pleases the Lord…being a good
steward of the time God gives you on this earth. And I suppose that’s where we are to look for
everything we need – the Lord! He will
be the source of my motivation and willpower to actually implement some of
these things. Because ultimately I’m
doing it all for him anyway…Col. 3:23. Interesting
way to think about my time…
