Some things are a puzzle. They are difficult to understand. Prayer is one of those things. It is supernaturally fulfilling for me. I feel so close to God, and so in tune with His will for my life after spending 8 hours praying with other believers as I did today. As I sit in my chair tonight thinking about today, I have this euphoric sense of peace, joy, and spirituality that is so amazing. On the other hand prayer as I experienced it today is very hard work. I don’t move much or think that hard so I wonder why a day like today is so absolutely exhausting to me. That is the puzzle part for me. On one hand I would love to have another great day like today with God, but I am also thinking as I sit here, boy it would be so nice to sleep in tomorrow and rest up from today. The Apostle Paul referred to a man named Epaphras “always laboring earnestly for you in His prayers” in Colosians 4:12. I think I understand that verse now. “Laboring earnestly in Prayer”, wow what a statement. I have done that today and I believe it will make a huge difference in lives for all eternity.

Super nice comments and notes from many who read my blog yesterday and responded to me by giving me encouragement. Thank you so very much. Reminded me of a number of verses in the Bible concerning the power of words to give strength and also to make weak, to build up but also to tear down, to give hope and to cause despair, to heal and also to wound. As I read the various notes I thought, Wow, how a few words written can make a person feel so good. Words are indeed powerful. I can think not that far back to words that were directed at me that made me feel like a loser and good for nothing. I remember when I was a little kid hearing the little ditty that we would say to someone that had just said a mean thing to us, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me”. That is a totally untrue statement. Even the toughest, most confident person can be deeply hurt by words. Every morning in my personal prayer of commitment to the Lord one of the things I commit to is Ephesians 4:29, “Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only such a word that is good for building someone up”.

Fairly regularly I am in a blue funk on Sunday night. I come into the weekend wanting with every fiber of my being for the services to be an amazing experience of the power and presence of God, for every person to be powerfully moved to draw near to God and for every person to be supernaturally impacted by all that was taught and all that happened in the name of the Lord. I pray for God to bring a thousand people, and I pray until my heart hurts for every person in our church family. Our services are always good and many people are blessed and impacted but it is never to the measure that I wanted or hoped for. I work hard at being thankful, but I can’t help being disappointed because of those who weren’t there and because of what didn’t happen. There is always the temptation to quit wanting so much and to just relax and accept whatever happens. It sounds nice but I know that my obsession with more people, and better sermons, and more growth in the lives of people is what drives me to bear more and more fruit for God. I don’t have that many years left to do ministry and I want them to count. I am in a blue funk tonight but I will be back in high gear tomorrow pressing on for “more” and “more”, pleading for God to please bless me and give me increase.
P

I preached tonight on how to grow your own faith to be super strong with a simple spiritual exercise that is supernaturally powerful to cause us to grow and never go backwards. It is amazing to me how I will believe something to be true and then when I think about it and how to say it so it is understood and then teach it, how it becomes so much clearer in my own mind and heart. Also my confidence in the truth of it and the practicality of the exercise to produce life change in myself and others goes up dramatically. The spiritual exercise is very simple. Each morning to read and affirm the gospel.

“I believe that You, Jesus are God, that You left heaven, emptied Yourself of all that You were as God, became flesh, dwelt among us, and we’re tempted in every area as I am, but that You never sinned. I believe that You took all of my sin upon Yourself, that God the Father punished You, His beloved Son in my place, and that You paid the price of my sin. I believe that You died for me, were buried, and that You rose from the dead three days later. I believe that You delivered me from the domain of darkness and transferred me to Your family and in You I have redemption , the forgiveness of all my sins. I am no longer going to hell, but I am going to live forever in heaven with You.

Try reading this statement of faith every morning for 30 days and see what happens to you.

Had a poker tournament tonight. $20 buy in and we played until one person was left and they won a Green Mountain grill. I have played poker twice in my life but last week I down loaded a poker game on my IPad and practiced. I was doing pretty good until it got to be 10 pm and then I bet all my chips on nothing. My big bluff didn’t work, and now I am home. I will find out tomorrow who won the grill. Maybe I can borrow it. The evening was a lot of fun with great fellowship and lots of good snacks. One of the great blessings in life for me is good friends who I enjoy being around, and who are “energy givers” to me. I have gotten good at reading my emotional gas tank, and when it feels like I am down to a quarter full I have have also gotten good at knowing how to fill it up, and an enjoyable evening like tonight is very effective. Tomorrow is Saturday and I will speak at a men’s event at another church, then I will teach my “Men’s Leadership” class, and then our Saturday evening service. Sunday I will preach at the 9 and 11 am services so it is great to go to bed tonight knowing that I am fully energized and ready for a great weekend. Who would have thought that a poker tournament would help me preach better.😄

I just finished a book entitled “The Power of Habits”. The book says that about 40% of everything that we do is not really a decision because we do it automatically as a learned habit. The basic premis of the book is that habits can be changed if we know how. I really like understanding better how I can successfully change and grow in my character. Knowing how habits work and how to successfully change them is great self management.

At the annual NW annual meetings for our denomination there were several hundred pastors most whom I know, and enjoy visiting with about pastoring and other things that are hobbies, and interests. In conversations with a number of them they were asking about my bicycle trip across the nation to Portland, Maine this past summer. In the course of conversation I usually mentioned that I was probably going on another trip in a year across the Southern part of the US instead of the Northern part. A number of the guys said they would really like to do something like that before they died. I encouraged them to consider it, that it was a great adventure. The ones who are most serious are the ones who are retiring this next year. That would be fun going with a number of old Baptist preachers. We would probably do a lot of moaning and groaning to each other at night as we set up our tents and cook dinner. One pastor asked what we would do if he gave out and couldn’t go any more. I said that we could either shoot him and put him out of his misery or put he and his bike on a bus back to home, his choice. Everyone wants to do something wild and reckless that is a major challenge for them at least once in their life.

Every year for 38 years I have come to the annual North West Conservative Baptist Association meetings. They used to be held in many different places all over the North West but for the last 4 or 5 years they have been at Seaside, Oregon. In the early years of ministry I came because I felt it was my duty to come because of the help the Association gave to us financially when we were a small church. But then I started coming because of the good friends I had made with other pastors who I only saw a couple times each year and the annual meetings being one of them. Tonight I hung out with a group after the regular meetings were over until 11 pm. I have some really good friends who I am very close with in our church, but there is something special about “pastor” friends even if I only see them a couple times a year. Pastors have a unique kind of job with unique pressures and it creates a special kind of bonding between us. Some of my friends that I haven’t seen since last year have gotten Cancer and aren’t doing well at all. One of them has been so ravaged by chemo that he didn’t recognize or remember me. Another was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, but is doing much worse than I am. Life is sort of funny how it just keeps marching on and things change. Conversations with my friends that are getting old, sick, retiring are all ended with the same comment. I sure hope Jesus comes back soon. Me to. I can’t wait for my new body!

I am at Seaside this week at the annual meeting for the pastors and staff in our denomination. Every year that we have this event they bring in a really good Bible teacher. This year they have Bruce Ware who is a seminary professor. He was a very good teacher and I learned a lot. As I sat listening to him this evening I recognized how fun it is to learn. There is just something very special for me in listening, and learning new information, and then putting it into practice. We were created by God to learn more an more and grow as a result of our new wisdom. The main barrier to my learning and growing from others is my pride when I think that I have learned it all. I have so much to learn. Please help me Lord to stay humble and teachable !!!

I went on a 18 mile bicyle ride after church today in the wonderful sunshine. I pedaled hard and got a great workout. It is discouraging how quickly I get out of shape if I miss exercising even for a couple days. I have to stay very faithful to a routine of exercise or else I go downhill rapidly.

The same is true of our heart and soul and spirit. If we neglect going to church, reading our Bible, spending time with God in prayer, confessing all known sin to God we will drift away from God very quickly. How foolish for a person to think that they won’t. If a person stops exercising faithfully most would not think that they won’t become out of shape just because they willed it so in their mind. If you don’t exercise faithfully you become weaker quickly, and if you don’t faithfully practice the basic disciplines of the Christian life you will drift away from God. Fear it.