Waiting: The hardest work any of us will ever do

“Wait on the Lord. Be strong. Let your heart take courage. Yes, wait on the Lord” (Psalm 27:14).

Saturday, a pastor texted to ask for prayer.  He has been without a church for a year now and has exhausted all his savings.  The opportunities to preach have been few and far between, and he has been unsuccessful in finding secular work.

My heart goes out to him and I’m praying diligently for him.

Sunday, a friend asked for prayer for her pastor husband. He’s discouraged and would like the Lord to open up some new place of service.

Most of us have been there at one time or other.

Continue reading

How I memorize Scripture

“And upon that law does he meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:2).

“Thy word have I hid in my heart….” (Psalm 119:11)

To meditate on the word of the Lord in the middle of the night requires one to know it.  So, someone–the writer of the first Psalm–has been memorizing Scripture.

Since people in biblical days had no books as we do, when they heard the Word read, they seized upon it eagerly and worked to remember as much as they could. No doubt that, more than anything else, accounts for the way Scripture is quoted throughout the Bible: never verbatim.  They were going by memory.

You and I have Bibles all over the house and rarely give a thought to memorizing it.

Perhaps we’re like Einstein.  According to the story, which may be apocryphal, when asked for his phone number, the great man went to the phone directory and looked it up.  His visitor was incredulous.  “You don’t even know your own phone number?”  Einstein said, “I refuse to clutter my mind with information that is easily accessible elsewhere.”

I suppose that’s why we don’t memorize the Word.  All we have to do is open our phones or laptops or pull down the volume from a shelf, and it’s all there.  But if this is our plan, it overlooks a major factor:  Christians need the Word inside us, not just alongside us.

I started memorizing Scripture as a child.  And kept it up as a pastor.

Continue reading

My morning prayer

In the morning, O Lord, I will direct my song and my prayer unto You and will look up.  (Psalm 5:3)

O Lord. I feel so weak.  So helpless.  So unworthy.  So guilty.  So lazy and so unqualified.  I feel fleshly, not spiritual, and burdened, not free. 

If You were to mark iniquities, O Lord, surely I would be the first to fall.

Thank You for grace. Thank You for Thy infinite mercy.

Thank You that this is not about me.

It’s all about Thee.  Thy riches, Thy supply, Thy will, and Thy honor.

I have no words to say how liberating that is.

Thank You, Father.

Continue reading

The effective pastor: Have many friends and a few confidants

Sixth in the series.

And He sent them out two by two.

I am glad about the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, for what was lacking on your part they supplied.  For they refreshed my spirit…. (I Corinthians 16:17-18).

Don’t try this alone.

If the Apostle Paul was the great role model for preachers–and he surely must be–then no minister of the gospel should ever go it alone.  Look at the friends he mentions in Romans 16 and I Corinthians 16.  The apostle was awash with friends.

Continue reading

The Effective Pastor: Never skimp on the sermon

Fifth in a series on The Effective Pastor.

“It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe.”

“We preach Christ.”

They call you “Preacher” for a reason.

This is your primary calling.

You counsel people who are dealing with problems, but no one calls you Counselor.

You visit people in their homes and you minister to them during times of crisis, but they don’t refer to you as The Visitor.

You administrate and cast the vision for the church, but no one calls you the Administrator or the Vision-Caster.

They call you Preacher because nothing you do is as important or as critical to the work of the church as your preaching.

Continue reading

The Effective Pastor: You are the chief servant. (So serve!)

Fourth in a series on The Effective Pastor

“He who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he who governs as he who serves…. I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:24-30).

When Bill and Carolyn Self wrote a book about hospitality in the church, they said the pastor and his wife should never eat at church dinners.  Instead, they should circulate among the diners with the tea pitchers, serving people, getting to know everyone, greeting each person in the room.

That is so smart.  And infinitely wise.

Such a minister and spouse can do as much personal ministry in one hour of pouring tea as they will do in a week.

Serving people. What a novel concept!

Continue reading

Message to seniors in the Lord’s work: Never retire!

“Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). 

“Let us not grow weary in well doing, for in due season you will reap if you faint not” (Galatians 6:9).

Never stop doing what God put you on earth to do, whether a senior or a beginner.

And as for the seniors among us, this is certainly no time to slack off. It’s just getting good.

I’ll be speaking to the senior adults in a Mississippi church this weekend.  The person making this schedule definitely had seniors in mind. The meal–I’m not sure whether it’s lunch, dinner, or supper–is set for 4 pm, after which our worship service is scheduled for 5 o’clock.

Now, they didn’t say, but I guarantee someone figured we would all be home and in bed by 6:30!

Continue reading