Prayer is not complicated. Prayer is difficult for most of us, sure, but it’s not complicated. At the root of all our petitioning of God in prayer is really the same prayer: HELP. What you’re doing when you pray is simply asking God for help.

David says this plainly in the Psalms writing,

“In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.”

(Psalm 18:6 ESV)

This invitation to ask for help is an amazing gift when you think about the One we’ve been invited to call upon. The God who made everything, stands sovereign over everything, sees everything, and knows everything has invited you to come to Him and ask for help!

We can and should grow and mature in our understanding of prayer. We should study the great prayers of Scripture. We should pray Scripture. We should spend much time meditating on Jesus’ teaching on prayer. We should read great books on prayer. We should spend time praising God for who He is and thanking Him for what He’s done.

But, we should never allow our desire for growth in prayer to keep us from the simplicity of crying out to God for help.

So where do you need God help today?

• Maybe, like me, your kids didn’t sleep well last night, so you’re tired with yet another long day facing you. Will you ask Him for help?
• Maybe you’re in a situation, or circumstance you have no idea how you’ll make it through. Will you ask Him for help?
• Maybe you have a financial issue you’re facing that’s left you wondering how you are going to get by. Will you ask Him for help?
• Maybe you have a sermon to right today. Will you ask Him for help?
• Maybe your marriage is running on fumes and you don’t know what to do. Will you ask Him for help?

I don’t know what you need to ask Him for help with, but I do know that we all need our Father’s perfect, unfailing, and gracious help today. Don’t overcomplicate it. Simply lift your voice and cry out to God for help today.

When we arrived at 7:30am to begin set-up, we noticed another event also being set-up on the football field of the high school we gather for worship at. One hour later the entire parking lot was full…not just crowed full…like not a single spot available full!

The school had booked this event without informing us and just over an hour before our people were to begin arriving there was literally nowhere for them to park.

I’ll be honest, there was a moment where I really thought there was nothing we were going to be able to do and that we were going to have about six people at our worship gathering. But, then our team stepped up BIG time in three ways, reminding me how essential these three characteristics are on all teams…

1. Flexibility

We were given the go ahead to park cars on one of the sports fields so our Utility Team repositioned all of our signage, directed traffic, and became a parking team. Though they had never done this before (and parking cars is not an easy task, by the way) they did an incredible job. In addition, our Guest Services team had to flip the entire lobby around after setting it up because people had to come in an entrance on the opposite side of the building. In the midst of one of the most stressful Sunday issues I’ve ever experienced I did not hear a single complaint when they were asked to make an adjustment. They were flexible all morning.

2. Ownership

In addition to being flexible, I was humbled by the number of people who showed up for service, threw on t-shirts (all our various teams are identified by different t-shirts), helped set-up, direct people, and park cars. No one came in saying, “I’m not scheduled to serve today, so good luck with this chaos.” Everyone seized ownership and sought opportunities to serve. Because Redemption is our church they felt a responsibility to jump in and get to work when we were in need. I’ve never seen anything like it.

3. Unity

It’s one thing to be flexible and take ownership, it’s something entirely different to do these things and be unified and overjoyed to be serving the LORD together. Our team seemed to thrive in the midst of this challenge. I couldn’t believe how many people on our teams commented on what an amazing day it was and all God did in the midst of these challenges. People were not just solving problems. People were solving problems, doing so with great joy, and doing it all as one.

Overall, if Sunday was your first time being at one of our worship gatherings, you would have thought we always parked cars in the grass on the backside of our building. Because our team was flexible, took ownership, and united together to serve with joy, it was one of the most fruitful Sundays we’ve had. I’ve never been so proud of our people. I’m so thankful for our team and even more thankful God allowed these challenges because of what it taught us as a team.

“Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength…” Isaiah 40:30-31

“I can’t do this anymore…”

“What’s the point of this…”

“I think it would be easier to just give up…”

These are the types of thoughts that mark seasons of weariness in our lives. Weariness is the state of physical, emotional, and spiritual depletion. It’s a fatigue that extends to every facet of life and remains a reality  all Christians face. The prophet Isaiah meant to make this clear when he pictured the strongest, healthiest, highest capacity person he could and said even they grow weary.

The truth is, apart from God, creation is hard-wired for weariness.

But (there’s so much power in a good conjunction), there is also a promise present in these verses. God has promised to renew our strength when we wait on Him. This promise of renewal does not mean the recharging, or refueling of our depleted strength. The word translated “renew” is a Hebrew word meaning “turn in, replace, or exchange.” When we wait on God He has promised to exchange our depleted strength with His own strength. He takes the old and gives us the new (if that’s not a picture of the gospel, I don’t know what is).

The waiting God invites us to is NOT a watching the clock tick, wondering, and questioning whether, or not God can, or will give us new strength kind of waiting. This waiting is a confident expectation marked by depending on God completely and trusting God implicitly.

This is an active waiting and this waiting is the only way out of weariness.

I don’t know where you’re at, but I’m walking through one of these seasons of weariness right now and as I wait on God, He’s renewing my strength, just as He’s promised. I believe there are two primary avenues of grace God has given me to actively wait on Him. In this season of weariness I’m waiting on God by:

1. Filling my heart and mind with the Word of God

2. Filling God’s heart and mind with my prayer

Below is a list of resources I’ve found helpful, or have been recommended to me by other men and women who have walked through these seasons of discipleship as well. I pray you find them helpful and I’d invite you to actively wait on God with me.

Books Dealing with Weariness:

• “Spiritual Depression” by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
• “When I Don’t Desire God” by John Piper
• “The Bruised Reed” by Richard Sibbes
• “A Lifting Up for the Downcast” by William Bridge
• “A Gospel Primer” by Milton Vincent

Bible Memorization

• Fighter Verse Website and App

Bible Reading

• A Time, A Place, A Plan Article
• Bible Reading Plans

Prayer

• “A Praying Life” by Paul E. Miller (By FAR my favorite book on prayer)
• “Prayer” by E.M. Bounds
• Desiring God resources on Prayer

I would argue that a big part of the problem is not our churches, not our preaching, and not the style of music used for worship. I would argue that a big part of the problem is that we show up for our times of gathered worship having given no attention to the preparation of our hearts and minds for what we’re gathering to do.

We gather to hear GOD speak! We gather to lift our voices in adoration and praise to the one who created us, saved us, and sustains us! We gather to testify to the goodness of Jesus in our lives. We gather to experience the manifest presence of God in our midst!

This is a big deal!

It’s the most important event of our week and thus warrants some work on our behalf. Here are 7 simple suggestions in no particular order I hope will help you better prepare for your time of gathered worship this Sunday.

1. Wake up early to pray and spend time in God’s Word, rather than having to rush around so you’re not late

2. Spend some time confessing any sin you know exists in your heart and life

3. Resolve any relational issues and conflicts so far as you are able

4. Read through the sermon text prior to arriving at church

5. Listen to worship music on your way and begin lifting the eyes of your heart to the ONE we gather  to worship

6. Arrive early and ask the Holy Spirit to begin preparing your heart to hear what He’d have you to hear

7. Spend time recounting specific evidences of God’s grace in your life this week

The Spirit of God is present everywhere we go, but meets with us in a unique manner when we gather in His name and for His glory. Let’s make the most of this special gift and come prepared to meet with the God who made us.

1. Get their information

We’ve tried this through a handful of means, but here’s where we’ve seen the most success.

• Design a simple info card (name, address, phone number, email, Facebook, Twitter, prayer requests, etc.).
• Take a moment during your worship gathering (we do it during the announcements) and ask EVERYONE – yes everyone – to fill out this card. Tell people if they’ve already filled one out, to just write their name and a prayer request. Tell those who have never filled one out, to fill the card out in it’s entirety.
• Invite people to drop their cards in the offering, or to give them to one of your volunteers.

2. Make the call

Once you have the info make a personal phone call to every guest who visits your church. Don’t send a form email and don’t delegate this to someone else. Make the call! Thank them for visiting, listen to their story, ask them for feedback, and invite a next step (See #4). The power of a personal connection, even just over the phone, cannot be underestimated in your quest to gain traction with new people. It can be a little awkward, you will get a lot of voicemail boxes, but it communicates your care and means a great deal to people when you make the call.

3. Look to shepherd

Another reason placing a phone call to guests is so important is that it provides you an opportunity to shepherd them. You can encourage, counsel, recommend books, and pray over these people as the Spirit leads. One week, I even had the great privilege of leading a woman to Christ over the phone. Pray prior to placing the call and ask the Spirit to allow you the opportunity to shepherd these hearts and lives.

4. Invite the next step

Finally, the most important purpose in follow up is inviting guests to take a next step. What that next step is will be determined by your specific ministry philosophy, or strategy. It may be joining a small group, attending a class, or serving on a ministry team. When we had one or two guests a week I would invite people out for coffee, so I could cast vision for what we believed God had called us to at Redemption. When it became impossible to meet with everyone one-on-one, we began having a monthly newcomer’s lunch. This is the next step we invite everyone to in order to communicate our vision to them.

Lead Pastor, I would argue that outside your weekly sermon preparation and leadership development, guest follow up is one of the most important things you should do. Don’t overlook it, don’t give it away, and don’t neglect it. Do the important work of following up and let’s shepherd the people Jesus is drawing to our churches.

For the past two years I’ve had the great privilege of attending Harvest Bible Chapel’s annual ministry conference called Harvest University. The stated purpose of Harvest U is:

“To train up pastors and ministry leaders who are ignited by their radical love for the Lord, who lead by example, who preach with conviction and who motivate other to spend themselves the glory of Jesus Christ.”

Each year the conference has lived up to this simple promise. Here are the three reasons I’m excited to attend again this year and take a few members of our team as well:

1. It Will Grow Our Friendships

I’ve built great relationships with many Harvest staff members over the years and they are the hardest working and most gracious people I’ve ever met – People like Marc Abbatacola, Jason Acres, Jeff Donaldson, Luke MacDonald, Dustin Slezak, and an up and coming Bible teacher named James MacDonald.

2. It Will Grow Our Systems

One of Harvest’s many strengths is the intentionality they bring to their systems and structures. As a result of our time at Harvest U last year we overhauled our entire assimilation strategy which turned out to be one of the ways Jesus has more than doubled the size of our own church in the past 12 months.

3. It Will Grow Our Team

Most ministry conferences are for lead pastors and maybe for worship pastors. The great thing about Harvest U is that it’s for your entire ministry team. With 14 teaching tracks, nearly every ministry area in your church is covered.

The conference starts Sunday night so if you’re in the Chicago area, or it’s possible for you to get here, I highly recommend this conference to you. It will stir your affection for Christ, reignite your passion for the local church, and further equip you for God’s call on your life.

“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” – Ps.145:3

Yesterday at Redemption marked the beginning of a new six-week series entitled, “God is Greater Than: Celebrating the greatness of God in the grind of life.”

A little over a month ago I began to notice a common theme throughout the 50-some-odd prayer requests we receive on a weekly basis. I began to notice that at the root of all our requests was the struggle to believe and trust God’s greatness in and over the various seasons, situations, and circumstances we face in life.

As I prayed over this, I began to sense the Holy Spirit saying, “Preach to what people are praying for.” So that’s exactly what I’m doing these next 6 weeks. We’re begging God to expand our understanding of His greatness in and over the grind of our lives that seeks to rob our joy.

If you’d like to follow along with the series via Twitter you can track the series hashtag, #greaterthan. In addition, you can find all the sermons on iTunes or you can download them directly from our website, as they’re posted n0 later than Mondays at noon.

This promises to be a special and important series in the life of our church and I can’t wait to see all God does in and through Redemption these next few weeks!

Matthew Born, our primary designer, did an incredible job (again!) with our sermon bumper video for this series so I thought I’d share it here.

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

We are frail people and we experience the reality of our frailty in a number of ways. We get sick, we are unable to change ourselves, we struggle, we hurt, we get weary, we stumble, we fall, and eventually we experience the ultimate manifestation of our frailty – we die.

Yet, our frailty is not the only reality spoken of in this text. Did you see it? It’s there. Look for it… There it is!

GRACE.

Jesus, in His infinite grace, does not abandon us in our frailty, instead He meets us in it. He doesn’t take it away, or make us invincible. Jesus intends our frailty for a specific purpose – dependence. We were not created to live by our own strength. That “one man against the world”, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality sounds good and sells books, but it fails to account for our frailty.

Jesus intends for us to face our frailty so we can find His power, not ours. So, the longer we seek to live by our own strength, ignoring the obvious frailty you and I live with, the longer we forfeit the power of Christ in us and on us.

So, where do you need to follow the example of the Apostle Paul and “boast all the more gladly” in your frailty? Don’t ignore it and don’t hide it. Embrace it and boast in it because it’s only in our frailty that we experience Christ’s power more fully.

My guess is you do have a vision for a all these things, meaning you have some grasp of where things are currently and a hope for where they will be in the future. You see what is and have a picture of what could be.

So, I’m assuming you have some vision for these things, but here’s my real question: Is your vision vague?

A vague vision is almost as unhelpful as no vision because you don’t really know where you’re headed, so you don’t ever really know if you’re headed in the right direction. So, how do we know if our vision is vague and if it is, how do we move toward clarity? Here are three questions to ask yourself, your wife, your kids, or your team to determine the clarity of your vision.

1. Can I clearly communicate it?  

I have the privilege of meeting with a number of church planters on a regular basis in all different phases of planting their churches. At times I walk away from these conversations certain they have no idea what God has really called them to and others are so clear in the communication of their vision that part of me wants to join them. If you’re going to lead anyone (your self, your family, your team, your church, etc) you must be able to articulate where you’re headed. If the vision is foggy for you, rest assured it makes no sense to the people trying to follow you. So, can you clearly communicate the vision?

2. Do I have a strategy?  

The difference between a vision and a mere idea is as simple as a strategy.  Waking up one morning and thinking, “I want to grow spiritually this year”, “I want a deeper level of intimacy in my marriage”, “I want my kids to know Jesus”, or “I want to plant a church” DOES NOT make you a visionary. These are just ideas until you put a strategy to them. Vision is about more than WHAT God’s called you to do. Vision is just as much about HOW God’s called you to do WHAT He’s called you to do. How are going to grow spiritually? How will you better serve your spouse? How are you going to teach your kids about Jesus? How are you going to make the disciples in this church God’s called you to plant? Do you have a simple strategy?

3.  Are my next steps clear?

Being able to explain a vision and having a strategy to accomplish for accomplishing that vision are both for nothing apart from movement toward the vision. Inspiration without implementation is daydreaming. What do you need to do next? The move from where you are to where God’s called you to be is made up of a series of next steps. So, are your next steps clear?

Do you have a vision? Can you clearly communicate it? Do you have a simple strategy for accomplishing it? Are your next steps clear? If we have uncertainty  in our answers to these questions we have a vague vision. Let’s do the hard work of finding the answers to these questions and getting clear about all God’s called us to.

So why start a blog?

To be honest, my motivation has more to do with me than anything else. I have three primary reasons…

1. I want to find my voice

God-willing I hope to write books in the future and blogging provides me a platform by which to get my feet wet. Communicating via written word is much different than speaking, so I have much to learn and any practice is helpful.

2. I want to learn

The discipline of thinking through various issues to the point of being able to write about them forces me to think more deeply. I also appreciate the questions, comments, and push-back I’ve received since getting started in January.

3. I want to be helpful

One of the compliments I consider the hightest honor is, “That was helpful.” I’m a pastor and have a deep desire to help my people, so it’s not enough for me to simply communicate what’s right, or what’s true. I want to communicate what’s right and true, as well as being helpful.  I don’t have everything figured out, but I want to pass along the things I find helpful and the things that I’m learning. It’s by no means the only way, but it is my way and I pray it can help other people.

So, for the most part blogging is about my own growth and the fact that anyone would read along is a blessing to me. I’m trying to find my own voice, I’m trying to learn, and if I can help a few people along the way I count it a great joy!