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| Battle Creek |
I have been privileged to speak at several conferences for
pastors and Christian leaders. I am always grateful for the opportunity to do
this. Some have said that the person who teachers gets more out of the event
than the students. There’s much truth in this. God always gives me some
personal takeaways when I'm the conference speaker. I get spoken-to by God. I
receive new insights that stay with me. And, being with colleagues in ministry always
serves to instruct and enrich my life.
I’ve also attended conferences for pastors and leaders. When
I’m there I want to have open ears and an open heart to what God is saying to me
through others.
As good as these events are, the beating heart of my
God-encountering spiritual life remains my solitary praying times. Luke 5:16
says:
Jesus often attended the Solitary God
Conference
and prayed.[1]
Therefore, as a follower of Jesus, I do the
same.
Greg Boyd says he has known “people who have spent a great deal of time and money
traveling the world “chasing God” at various revivals, all the while missing
what God was doing—and what God wanted to do—in and through their own
lives. The fact is, if we can’t discern God’s presence in our day-to-day lives,
it’s unlikely that we’ll find him at a revival. We may find a lot of
excitement, great speakers, superb music, and maybe even some “signs and
wonders.” But unless a person learns to find God as much in the ordinary as in
the exciting, the exciting will do nothing more than serve as a momentary
distraction."[2]
I don’t depend on the coming conference that is still weeks
away. I need God, today. Now. Presently. The good news is that God's presence
is available to me, 24/7.
Assume that God is doing something in you,
now.
Assume God has something to tell you as you
pray, today.
[1]
“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
[2]
Greg Boyd, Present Perfect: Finding God in the Now, 135
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My book on prayer is Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.
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My book on prayer is Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.
