The Lord Was with Samuel As He Grew Up, and He Let None of His Words Fall to the Ground

The Way of Sustaining Growth and Energy in God’s Work Hearing and Obeying God’s Voice Daily Dr. Rick Durst, Professor GGBTS

The way of Jesus is a yoke that is restful, easy and light even though He welcomes us to be baptized with his baptism of the cross. (Matt. 11:28-29, Mark 10:38-39) “Rejoice in the Lord, again I say rejoice.” Phil. 4:4 The joy of the Lord is our strength.” Neh. 8:10 “These things I have written to you that my joy might be in you and that your joy might be full.” John 15:11 “Delight yourself in the Lord.” Ps. 37:4

Fully energized to serve

More than ½ full More Less than ½ full

Needing to be refreshed- on empty

The greatest enemy of life with Jesus is service for Jesus. You need neither burn-out from overwork nor rust-out with sloth. Burnout in ministry means “fainting after doing well.” I Cor. 15:

Seven Causes for Burnout in Ministry and Their Cure

1. Cause: Dismay over conflict. I Kings 19:4 Cure: expect lifelong warfare. Matt. 10:16 David killed giants his whole life. Put on your armor and accept your calling. 1Pet. 2:21-25 2. Over-zealousness against evildoers. 1 Kings 18:40 Accept the reality of a mixed multitude (wheat and weeds). John 6:70 3. Fear of failure. 1 Kings 19:3 Concentrate on taking a few to full maturity. Luke 6:13 Find the faithful. 2 Tim. 2:2 4. Disillusioned by friends. 1 Kings 19:10 Walk with the mature. Prov. 13:20 5. Neglect of personal care. 1 kings 19:5 Establish personal disciplines. Mark 6:31 6. Lack of God’s perspective. 1 Kings 19:10 get a word form the Lord on how you fit into what God is doing. Matt. 17:1,5 7. Expectations of quick results. Refuse to put a time on God’s fulfillment of you vision. 1 Cor. 15:58 Spiritual Formation= Discipleship=Training

Overview Spiritual Formation rests on a stool with three legs: (D. Willard, The Great Omission)

 Faithful acceptance of the everyday problems of life (Matt. 6:33-34, 1 Cor.10:13, Job 19:25)  Enjoying the incredible, unlimited presence of the Spirit of Christ (John 4:13, Eph. 5:18, Psalm 139:7-10)  Practicing spiritual disciplines to increase in life and service to Christ (Col. 3:1-17, John 15:1-8, 2 Peter 1:3-11, Psalm 1:1-3, Psalm 119:1-15, Josh. 1:7- 9)

Spiritual Reading

How do you know when you know?

True or false? __ Learning has not occurred until behavior has changed. __ Jesus will not teach you more than you are willing to do. __ You know you know something when you can teach it to somebody else. You know you know the truth of Jesus when it sets you free. (John 8:31-32)

“The best over-all preparation for successful meditation is a personal conviction of its importance and a staunch determination to persevere in its practice.” P. T. Rohrbach

Solitude & Silence: Be still and know that I am God. Silence means stopping daily to seek God’s face and voice in a quiet place and time until I have heard Him. CREATE A SPACE WHERE YOU CAN MEET WITH GOD DAILY.

“Whoever must always give must always have; and since he cannot draw out of himself what he must give, he must ever keep near the living fountain in order to draw.... The fullness and concentration of life is a praying heart. Solitude is the fountain of all living steams, and nothing glorious is born in public.” (William Lohe, as quoted in Thomas Swears’ The approaching sabbath: 53)

Habakkuk 2:20, Psalm 37:7 (see Ps. 46:10) Method for Being Consistent

 A time: morning (Ps. 5:3) or evening (Ps. 119:62, 148 night watches)  A place- your Bethel where you can say with Jacob- I did not know that God was in this place) Gen. 28:10-22  A posture to help you be centered and focused  A plan “The #1 cause of inconsistent devotional time is lack of a plan.” Four Plans: 1. The Day of the Month Plan- reach Psalm 8 on the eighth day 2. The Chapter Summary method 3. The Key Verse Application method Praise God for Promise to trust Attitude to adopt or correct Command to obey Error to correct Prayer to pray Example to follow or not to follow Truth to believe Sin to confess 4. The Spiritual Reading method

Read: “the sword of the Spirit is the word of God” Eph. 6: Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” Ex 24:7, 2 Kings 23:2, They read from the book, from the Law of • God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood • the reading. Neh 8:8, Josh 8:35, Col. 4:12 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected • has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, * and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Matt. 12:41 10 times in the gospels Jesus asks, “Have you not read?”

“What has exceedingly hurt you in time past, nay, and I fear, to this day, is want of reading.... Whether you like it or no, read and pray daily. It is for your life, there is no other way; else you will be a trifler all your days.... Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow. Do not starve yourself any longer.” John Wesley to a pastor, Aug. 7, 1760 in Swears’ The approaching sabbath (Abingdon, 1991: 81) Meditate : unhurried reflection on God and His word “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:2 (Phil. 4:8-9; Ps. 119, Josh. 1:8 the path to blessing in God’s work) “my people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge” Hos. 4:6 How to meditate based on words in scripture: “a pleasant murmuring of the word” Ps. 1:2 “thinking with deep devotion on the words of Scripture” Ps. 119:99 “musical repetition of God’s word” Ps. 19:14 “prayerful reviewing of Scripture” 1 Tim. 4:15 Summary: thinking God’s thoughts after Him and praying them back to Him

Study is intellectual meditation as opposed to devotional meditation. Memorization is a form of study that shapes your way of thinking after God’s way of thinking. Memorization of scripture is the most important of the spiritual disciplines because it shapes your mind after Christ’s mind.

Four ways to think about Scripture based on personality: 1. Detailed, linear, evaluator (SJ)- project yourself back into the story 2. Detailed but playful and spontaneous (SP)- act on the verse immediately in prayer 3. Big picture, intuitive, feeler (NF) ask “what would Jesus do” imagine the biblical story into your present circumstances 4. Big picture intuitive thinker (NT) determine the theme of the passage and organize the key thoughts under it to make your own conclusion

Examine: asking yourself if and how fully you are walking in truth “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you- unless, of course, you fail the test?” 2 Cor. 13:5 (1 Cor. 11:28, James 1:23-25) Repentance is a continual way of life. Self-awareness enables you to be faithful and avoid blind spots.

Fasting more than any spiritual discipline reveals what controls us. Biblical fasting:  Abstention from food for spiritual purposes. Isaiah 58  Abstention from food but not water Luke 4:2, Daniel 10:3  Absolute fasts, no food & no water (3 day limit) Esther 4:6, Paul in Acts 9:9, Moses in Deut. 9:9, Elijah in 1 Kings 19:8  Annual fasts: Day of Atonement in Lev. 23:27  Group or national emergencies Joel 2:15, Zech. 8:19  “Food you know not” – gospel ministry John 4  Fasting and spiritual warfare Eph. 6:10-20 When God Speaks We Learn and Change

Awareness of His voice and my own Finding growth His voice need. & my need Crisis stage in the Word

Applying my energy and gifts in Understanding service. God’s call and ways to obey.

Conviction & decision that certain actions Identify sabotages & must be taken. enlist encouragers

Prayer: the key word in the NT means “to kiss towards” or worship. Pray to live and live to pray “Then Jesus told the disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Luke 18:1

Four types of Prayer as Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication

 James on relationships: conflicts are a result either of not asking or not asking aright. James 4:1-3 The spiritual reading method helps to ask and to ask rightly.

 Hearing is the atmosphere of right asking: 1 John 5:14 And John 15:7 "

 His hearing is in proportionate to our hearing Him. 1 Samuel 3:19-20

 History belongs to the intercessors. (Faith is deliberately acting in line with God's understood will and way.) Exodus 17:8-16 1. Intercession is a matter of intensity: Hebrews 4:14-16 Matt. 7:7 ask seek knock Mark 9:29 2. God answers no half-hearted prayers. How we pray and what we pray for shows our character. How God answers shows His character. Luke 11:8- 13 3. The heavenly court is the domain of the intercessor. Job 1-2; Luke 22:31; Zech. 3:1-7; Gen. 18:22-35 4. Corollary: Never attempt to move forward farther than you are willing to move upward. James 4:6-10 and 1 Peter 5:5-11

The basic pattern for any petition: Philippians 4:6-7 praise->confessionask- >thank>obey

 This pattern is energize by faith in Jesus with Abba authority Matt. 6:9-13; 8:15-17

The success of any appeal or request is based on your ability to appeal to the motives of the giver.

 Glory Matt. 5:16  Relationship 1 Sam. 3:19-20  Intercessors 1 John 2:1-2; Rom. 8:26  Promise Heb. 10:23 See Rev 12:11

The Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13)

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Contemplation: waiting to see if God has anything further on his mind “Then the men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.” Gen. 18:22

Incarnation: Promptly obey… letting the word become flesh in your obedience “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me- put it into practice.” Phil. 4:9 (Matt. 7:21,24)

Corporate Disciplines

 Submission versus stubbornness or rebellion- If you cannot listen to a brother or sister, you cannot listen to the Holy Spirit. Matt. 18:15, Eph. 5:21 Submission is the capacity not to insist on our own way. Church fights occur because people insist on their own way. James 4:1-2 Submission is neither self- loathing or self-contempt. Submission is not compliance (stone face) or complacency (not caring). Submission is not putting people on a pedestal (idolatry). The submission of Jesus is our model. Phil. 2:5-11 and John 13:12- 17. A Christian person is a perfectly free master of all and subject to none. And a Christian is servant of all, subject to all. (Luther) The limit of submission is the point at which it becomes destructive. (Foster)

 Service versus self-righteousness- Self-righteous service is not initiated by God’s calling and energy; Self-righteous service requires a “big position” while true service can do small, unseen works. Self-righteous service requires external pay while true service can await God’s reward. Self-righteous service requires that service be repaid, while true service expects no repayment. Self-righteous service is careful to serve those who can benefit the servant, while true service does not discriminate who is being served. Self-righteous service is temporary, while true service is a life style. Self-righteous service insists on serving even when it harms the one being served, while true service can withhold or perform service based on the need of the one served. Self-righteous service ruptures community to obtain self-glorification, while true service enhances the joy and unity of the community. Self-righteous service overworks and becomes proud and resentful in its exhaustion, while true service stays rested in the Lord to serve sustainably. True service loves being hidden, doing small things, guarding the reputation of others, practices hospitality to strangers, listens well, shares the gospel, and bears burdens.

Practical Matters

A. Ear Plugs

 Hurry be thy name.  Preoccupation and distraction  “Cherished misinformation”- refusing to rethink what you have you have been believing and practicing.  Anger/Bitterness/Resentment/ Sin

B. Hearing Aids: essentials to being a divine listener

 Place: “Never underestimate the need for a personal Bethel.”  Keeping a regular appointment time  Plan: Day of the month, Psalm and Proverb a day. Remember that spiritual reading was devised for all believers not the “elite.”