iBelin

God is Speaking. Are We Listening?

// July 21st, 2009 // 7 Comments » // Discipline, prayer

Prayer is a conversation, right? So, why are we doing so much of the talking? Listening is an essential part of conversation. It requires being quiet and allowing your conversation partner time to talk. God wants that time with us. Timeout for going into prayer with a list of complaints and demands! I know for myself, had I spent more time listening in days gone by I would not have as much to complain about and demand today.

I am living through a very difficult challenge right now (details ain’t your business so keep it moving) about which I prayed and prayed. I prayed for God to “work it out” and every time I thought I heard God saying “no” I prayed louder and longer (even threw some tongues in there for good measure). Finally, I worked my way into the circumstance I wanted God to work out for me. Today, that very circumstance has me in a headlock! But, even though I’m in this headlock, I can still breathe. Every time I inhale it’s grace and every exhale is mercy.

God is speaking. Are we listening?

God is speaking to us concerning our families, His Church, our communities and this wonderful world over which He has given us stewardship. Are we listening? Or, are we trying to talk over what God is saying because we want something else. Hey! Let me tell you like Sophia told Celie, “Don’t exchange places with what I been through…” Let’s listen to God.

God’s Words are what we live on: our hope, our joy, our peace. God is speaking to our hearts right now. If we will just be still and quiet ourselves to listen, “wonderful Words of Life” will pour into our hearts and give to us all we need but often don’t have sense to ask for.

Have you ever tried to outtalk God? Have you ever, like me, gotten into a mess because you would not listen? Let me know I’m not the only one by leaving a comment below.

If you are a good listener, tell us how you do it in the comment section below. Don’t be stingy, share!

A Prayer Revival is on the horizon. I am praying you will be a part of it. Let me know if you will by making a comment below.

PRAYER REVIVAL

// July 20th, 2009 // 12 Comments » // Discipline, prayer

I have been wanting to ask you:

Do you ever feel like something is missing?
Do you have the feeling in your belly that there is MORE?
Are you realizing there must be more than going to church to “get a Word” and to “get your praise on”?
Have you been thinking that church has gotten more “me” focused and less “God” focused?
Have you gotten tired of trying to create a feeling that just really is not there?
Ever get tired of trying to draw a happy face on a dissatisfying situation?
Have you realized that your “personal salvation” is not so “personal” after all?
Are people in your life asking for more but you feel like you have nothing left to give?
Could you stand to have more of these Powerful 7 in your life? LOVE –WONDER – JOY – MYSTERY – PEACE – POWER – LAUGHTER

Prayer is the answer. We need a Prayer Revival.

Prayer is the most powerful activity you can engage in. To pray is to know and celebrate that we are spiritual beings. Prayer is what nurtures the spiritual life as food does the physical life. But we must remember that God is the object of prayer, He is our conversation partner.

The Jewish Theologian Abraham Heschel uses the illustration of a pianist who performs a concert for the promise of pay but while in the midst of the performance no thought of pay enters her mind because were her mind to go to the money her fingers might slip and strike the wrong key. So, he argues, it is with those who pray. Some desired outcome may be the impetus for prayer but when we actually begin to pray, God becomes our desire and focus.

Our sole desire and purpose in prayer must be intimacy with the Father. This worship and communion with the Father brings power, peace, love and joy into your life. This worship and communion brings us into a life of His Presence, a life of complete and perfect spiritual abundance. Taking care of the Spirit-life is priority. For the health of our spirits determines our ultimate health. Our inner life will manifest in our outer life.

In prayer we learn that it is not always about answers. In prayer we learn to live into the wonder and mystery of God. It is in prayer that we stop our petty search for mere happiness and begin to embody the joy of the Lord. We move beyond our fickle dependence on our moment-to-moment circumstances and stretch out into the Eternal Mystery. It is faith in the Unseen. It is here, in the great dance of doubt and faith, that our prayer-legs gain immeasurable strength. It is in prayer that we really learn to be honest with God and with ourselves.

So, we must spend a lot of time in prayer. Prayer is our life. We need not have to make time for prayer. Prayer IS our life. Prayer is our priority. We cannot be too busy to pray, we are too busy not to pray. Our lives must be ordered around prayer for it is our communion with and worship of the Father.

I am looking for some people who will join me in prayer and fasting. We will pray for others and for the world in which we live, but our prayer is for God, to be closer to Him, to live in more fully in Him and that He will live more fully in us.

If God is moving on your heart to join this prayer revival, please leave a comment below and share this post with someone you believe will want to be a part. More is coming…

Lessons from Leontyne: #3-Sing on Your Interest, NOT on Your Capital

// July 16th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Discipline, Lessons From Leontyne

Miss Price has been famous for his statement for years. She says it is the key to longevity in a successful career. You cannot expend your full resources because this leads to exhaustion and burnout. The singer must rely on good technique, without this performances are unpredictable and the voice is in danger. Because the opera singer’s voice is her instrument, Miss Price says that she must always be in top physical shape. Too, nothing can be allowed to interfere with the routine that ensures an excellent performance.

This is a good life lesson. Perform on your interest, not on your capital. I have said this in another way to those who do ministry: Minister from the overflow! If you minister from your capital, you will burn out. You have to stay in the flow of God’s Holy Spirit through prayer, fasting, study, meditation, listening, worship and praise. You have to be intentional about feeding your spirit especially when you have been called to pour out in ministry. The call to ministry is not limited to those who are ordained but certainly includes all those God uses to minister: teachers, parents, caregivers, spouses etc.

The tragedy is that too many are ministering from the capital instead of the overflow. So, folk get burned out, angry, resentful, mean, sullen or act out in other ugly ways. We were never intended to minister or even to live without the power of the Holy Spirit. We must remember to be filled to overflowing so that when we pour out, we are not found lacking ourselves.

To stay in the overflow is a joy but not easy. Living and ministering in the overflow requires:

Pulling away and getting out to a solitary place to pray (Mark 1:35)
Putting your mind on what will lift and build you up (Philippians 4:28)
Getting the proper amount of rest (Psalm 4:8; Psalm 121:4)
Knowing that you are worth taking care of yourself (Psalm 139:14)
Saying "No" sometimes (Mark 1:37-38)
Having a retreat among friends who prop you up when you lean (John 12:1-3)

Are you living and ministering in the overflow? How do you make sure you are ‘singing on your interest’? Leave a comment below and give us some more ideas.

Talk to Yourself

// July 13th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Discipline

A lot of people think if you talk to yourself, you’re crazy. I disagree…

I believe you need to talk to yourself throughout each day to ensure that you maintain focus on your own goals and visions. Folk are constantly trying to set your agenda for you and, if you are not careful, you will find yourself doing their bidding. Of course, the reasons you acquiesce to other folks’ purposes are many, but lets not get bogged down there. What is primary is that you clarify your own intentions for your own life and talk to yourself with specificity throughout each and every day.

What do I mean? I mean that you should talk out loud throughout the day concerning your thoughts and actions that make up your life. You know what you need to get done today. Open your mouth and tell yourself what you will accomplish today. Do not leave important tasks and actions meandering around your head with other conflicting and self-defeating thoughts. With all the people and influences competing for your time and energy you must bring the important tasks out of your head and talk to yourself about them.

Tell yourself what you will do
Tell yourself how you will do it
Tell yourself the value of your work for the day
Tell yourself what your ultimate goal is
Tell yourself why your goal is worth carrying out even an unpleasant task
Tell yourself that the day’s necessary drudgery does not compare to the joy of reaching your goal
Tell yourself that it is not your goal to please everyone
Tell yourself that you can! Just speaking the words, “I can’t” siphons the power of creativity and possibility right out of us
Tell yourself how wonderful and smart and creative and gifted and loved you are

Talk to yourself, you’d be crazy not to…

The Matriarchs

// July 9th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // family

When I was a little boy I was in awe of the gray haired old ladies who were "the Matriarchs" of the family. They were the ones to whom the family deferred. Their presence commanded respect. Even my parents and my aunts and uncles who seemed to tell us what to do constantly had to submit to the authority of the Matriarchs. They were powerful women. Tall. Regal. Wrinkled from the Mississippi / Louisiana sun. These were women who had migrated to Chicago or Los angeles and returned to the homestead as sophisticated, well-traveled and well-educated women.

They were the keepers of family secrets, guardians of our history and family recipes for apricot brandy, lemon nut cake and whiskey nut cake which was baked one year and steeped in monthly pourings of Jack Daniels for and entire year.

The Matriarchs had power to deliver us from whippings and reminded our parents of their mess-ups in our presence. We loved it. It humanized our parents and softened their restrictions on us.

They carrried money in their bossoms and two I saw dip snuff and spit in old Folgers coffee cans. While I type I am remembering that we ate hot tamales out of Folgers Coffee Cans too… Hope they had two sets of cans!

One of them gave me a bedroom suite which had been in the family since the late 1800s. Aunt Geneva was one who required starched linens and ties at her dinner table. She also was a user of Nadinola to ensure her skin did not darken as she aged. Too, she strategically gained a few pounds each year after her 70th birthday to mitigate any wrinkles which would dare belie her age.

Arriving at the Crawford Family Reunion this evening reminded me of these great and grand ladies. But I was saddened to note their absence. I miss them. Now we have a new set of gray-haired ladies and my mother is among them. They have stepped into position and I see those around me in awe of them. Such a transition sneaks up on you. It is at once warming and unsettling. Time marches on and "the young become the old."

These have paid dues, lived through disappointments, celebrated successes, made wonderful memories for us, nursed the old matriarchs through illnesses and sat with them as they transitioned.

This is a special moment in which to be present. I am glad to be here to see our Matriarchs and to sit at their feet.

Leave a comment below and tell us about your Matriarchs.

Michael Jackson, Theologian

// July 8th, 2009 // 10 Comments » // Uncategorized

"If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all." Romans 12:18

During the performance of “We Are the World,” at Michael Jackson’s memorial service I was really struck dumb by the symbols that appeared on the screens above and behind the performers. Strategic words to the song were interlaced with religious symbols. More clearly stated, there were many symbols of many different religions, many that I recognized and some I did not.

Michael Jackson, I presume, was able to use the song, “We Are the World,” and recast, reinterpret it almost 25 years after we first heard it, not by changing the words, but by overlaying it with certain symbols. It is obvious that Jackson had his finger on the pulse of the world: the basis for conflict in the world today is primarily religious. To hear these words overlaid with the symbols of the world religions challenges us again as the words did in the mid-80’s (see video above) but nuanced now very differently.

Whether we are Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, of another religious faith or of no religious faith, we have to find some way to live together in the world in spite of our differences. Even within each religion you will find people practicing and expressing their religion in ways very different from others of the same religious faith. Conflicts are not only between religions but also within. We have a great challenge and a wonderful opportunity.

We have to understand that love, respect and mutuality are due all peoples of all faiths and of no faith.
We have to embody the intention to “know [and act out] the things that make for peace.”
We have to get to know each other. My previously stated ignorance of some of the symbols I saw during the singing presents me with the opportunity to learn about and to appreciate another.
We have to move beyond our fear of difference, start celebrating difference and discover how mortals have a common history and a common destiny.
We have to get over our selfishness and self-centeredness
We have to rely on more than Google and other media to get to know another like the texture of real personal relationships.
We have to choose to save lives and save the world.

Jackson and Richie said it this way:

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

I really want to hear your thoughts…

Lessons from Leontyne: #2 – Never Talk About Difficulties

// July 7th, 2009 // No Comments » // Discipline, Lessons From Leontyne

"I never talk about difficulties. Once a success is there, it is not only boring, it is exasperating to think about." – Miss Leontyne Price

Miss Price faced a lot of challenges and difficulties en route to the pinnacle of the opera world but she never let anything deter her from her goal. It is a good lesson for anyone who wants to offer their God-given gift to make the world a better place. Difficulties are a part of life. The more energy you give them the more power they have to stop you from reaching your goals. You do not have time to complain and mumble and grumble. Those who sit around droning on and on about how hard life is never enjoy life nor do they contribute joy in anyone else’s life. If you focus on what’s wrong you will get more of it! It’s just that simple. Celebrate and talk about the good and the beauty in life.

Yes, life is filled with challenges and difficulties. Face the difficulty and move on toward your goal without whining and without excuses!

Lessons from Leontyne: #1 – Love Your Gift

// July 6th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Discipline, Lessons From Leontyne

Lesson #1 Love Your Gift

Miss Leontyne Price is the first African American to achieve international recognition as an operatic star. She reigned in the world of opera for many years as Prima Donna Assoluta and has 18 Grammys to her credit.

I first heard Miss Price sing on PBS in 1982 when she and Marilyn Horne sang in concert at the Metropolitan Opera under the baton of Maestro James Levine. I am not sure now how I stumbled upon this broadcast but when I heard her sing I was hooked. Whether you are a fan of opera or not, the beauty of her voice is undeniable.

When I experienced this performance of “Pace, Pace” from Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino from the 1982 concert, I was completely mesmerized. When the aria was over, she appeared transfixed as though she had to be brought back from another space to which she was transported. The only time I had seen then was when my father would preach and be transported to another, higher place and echo back to us what he heard. Seeing Miss Price’s performance made me decide that whatever I did in life, I had to do my thing the way she did her thing.

In Miss Price’s performances you can see every cell in her body completely, totally focused on her performance. She is so completely dedicated to and enthralled by her own singing that she says that she sings, “from me to me with great love!” She celebrates her own gift and is in love with her own voice. Because she loves her gift, she says, she can share it freely and confidently with the world.

To love your gift is to take care of it, to be a good steward of it
To love your gift is to refine it
To love your gift is to sacrifice for it
To love your gift is to be devoted to it
To love your gift is to ensure that nothing, no one and no behavior threatens your gift
To love your gift is to be confident in it
To love your gift is to exercise it
To love your gift is to share it, never to hide it under a bushel but to let it shine
To love your gift is to thank God for it.

So, what is your gift? Do you love your gift?

Cake and Communion

// July 5th, 2009 // 5 Comments » // family, worship

So, I baked Ina Garten’s famous Flag Cake (click here for recipe ) for the congregation I’m privileged to serve this weekend. I baked it for my sister’s children a few years ago when it was featured on Martha Stewart. We had a blast that 4th of July. They were excited to help ice and decorate the cake with blueberries and strawberries (NOT raspberries as the recipe calls for). It made for wonderful memories. A few years later after I moved back to Nashville, some of my South Carolina crew came to visit and I baked the cake again. It was a communal endeavor. All of us were in the kitchen laughing, talking, decorating, sharing, telling old stories. We took the cake with us to Sandra’s house around the corner as our contribution to the barbecue. When I cut into the cake after dinner, I knew…. rubber!

Notwithstanding the rubber cake, our time in the kitchen baking the cake, cleaning up after it and laughing at my embarrassment are the stuff that make life worth living. We remind each other that we are loved, that we matter and that someone is genuinely interested in hearing the answer to, “how are you?” We are bound to each other and want what we believe is best for the other even when the other refuses to listen. We pray for each other and tease each other mercilessly. When something challenging happens to one of us, the others exploit it for all the humor that can be squeezed out of it. We force each other to laugh in the face of what would reduce isolated people to tears. We are a family bound together by love for each other and our God.

Well, the cake I baked for my Kairos Family was an overwhelming success (albeit a little dry for those who got pieces from around the edges). There was a lot of love in that cake. Before I put it into the oven, I lifted it before God and said, “Now, You know this is for Your people…” This prayer was not to guard against attacks by rubber spirits but a prayer that even an uneven cake with cream cheese icing, blueberries and strawberries can become an humble means to know God’s grace.