Leaders, Take Time to Recharge (#GrowingLeader)

 

"Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray" (Mark 1:35). If the Leader of leaders take time to recharge, how about you? 💪😊✔ #ServeToLead #GrowingLeader #DisciplineOfSolitude

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THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

From Ruth to Rich: You Are Not Depressed, You're Just Plain Tired

As I read late Billy Graham’s Just As I Am (1997) autobiography, I’m encouraged by his wife, Ruth Bell, for her life, support, and works in the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association ministry. About Ruth, Billy writes, “God gave Ruth many, many gifts, one of which was writing.” I agree. In this series, I try to imagine (one of God’s greatest gifts to humankind) what would Ruth Bell says to encourage young man like me – and perhaps, you. I hope you enjoy it!

My son, Richard,

            You are not depressed, you’re just plain tired. Discouragement is the devil’s calling card, and he tries to discourage us by making us think that our frustration or irritability is a result of some spiritual fault. But you may be just plain tired… Do you remember the prophet Elijah? At one point he was so tired that he wanted to give up. He told God that he just couldn’t go on. God didn’t lecture Elijah on his faults and failures, causing him to be more discouraged than he was. No, God sent an angel to awaken Elijah and give him something to eat and drink. Then Elijah lay down and slept again.

            When you are worn out or exhausted, or at the end of your physical resources, Satan tries to persuade you that you have a spiritual problem… in reality, perhaps, your problem may be a physical one. And maybe, like Elijah, my son, you need to get some rest.

The Lord gives you rest,

Ruth Bell Graham

(1920 – 2007)

THINK BIG.  START SMALL. GO DEEP.

             

In Jesus, We Are Victorious! (1 John 5:3-5)

“Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God”

(1 John 5:3-5, NLT).

I noticed that our love for God is not so much an emotional feeling as it is practical and active. We show our love by our actions, by “keeping his commandments.” This may sound kind of easy, but it’s not always so, is it? Sometimes we may just be too busy thinking about something else, like workloads, worried about how we look or act, or feel tired or sick. At times like these, we need to remember the promise of Jesus Christ: “Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). So, when we’re burned out and feel that God’s commandments are “burdensome” – when we’re exhausted, too busy, or when our feelings get kind of numb, we are promised that, as we share our concerns with Jesus, we will get great relief. We can cast our concerns and burdens upon God because God really cares about us (read 1 Peter 5:7).

Not only does Jesus promise to give us relief and rest but He also promises to give us strength. No matter what our age, there are times we may just feel like we want to let go of everything and sleep for days and days. Life can just be too much, and who can care about other people at those times? But as we learn to keep the right balance in our lives – especially as we learn to include God in our plans and put Him at the center of what is important to us – we will be given new strength we never thought we would have. God’s got enough power and strength to last all of us through our lifetimes! So, God has not imposed a lot of impossible demands and rules on us only to walk out and slam the door. God is right here with us, never leaving us (even at times when we may not feel close to Him), always encouraging and giving us the strength we need to “keep his [not burdensome] commandments.” God wants what is best for us and wants us to have deeper joy in Him.

“And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God” Obeying God’s commandments and having faith in Jesus is one and the same, and interrelated – only God’s children will do. Our faith in Jesus brings us great victory: we can overcome and “defeat this evil world” The temptations of the world can be very appealing and alluring. The pressure to be like everyone else – to have certain things and to act in certain ways – can be overpowering. But with God on our side, we “can win this battle against the world.” We don’t need to walk around and act defeated. With God’s help, we are really victorious in life!

If you have ever won some kind of contest (I once won a musical contest during my university time, battle of the band. Or whatever you had won) you know how great you feel when you win – as if you could conquer the world! That’s the kind of attitude that God wants for us in life – a winning, forward-looking, confident, expecting the best, stretching us to the limit. “We achieve this victory through our faith” in “the Son of God.” If you’re God’s child, you don’t have to feel defeated, inadequate, and expecting the worst. In Jesus, you’re victorious! Amen.  

THINK BIG. START SMALL GO DEEP.

Jesus: The Invitation for a Weary Soul

Image from www.flickr.com

You are tired.

You are weary.

Weary of being slapped by the waves of broken dreams.

Weary of being stepped on and run over in the endless marathon to the top.

Weary of trusting in someone only to have that trust returned in an envelope with no returning address.

Weary of staring into the future and seeing only futility.

What steals our childhood zeal?...

It is this weariness that makes the words of the Carpenter so compelling. Listen to them. “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Come to Me… The invitation is to come to Him. Why Him?

He offers the invitation as a penniless rabbi in an oppressed nation. He has no connections with the authorities in Rome. He hasn’t written a best-seller or earned a diploma.

Yet, He dares to look into the leathery faces of farmers and tired-faces of housewives and offer rest. He looks into the disillusioned eyes of a bartender and makes this paradoxical promise: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

The people came. They came out of the cul-de-sacs and office complexes of their existence and He gave them, not religion, not doctrine, not systems, but rest.

As a result, they called Him Lord.

As a result, they called Him Saviour.

Not so much because of what He said, but because of what He did.

What He did on the Cross during six hours, one Friday.

[From Six Hours One Friday by Max Lucado]                                                                                       

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

What I Remembered (and Learned) While Waiting for KTM Komuter Train

“Be still and know that I am God” (Psalms 46:10, NIV)

“He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

he restores my soul” (Psalms 23:2-3)

While waiting for KTM Komuter at KL Central station to Mid-Valley station yesterday, I remembered an old story about the wood-chopping challenge. Two neighbours lived near each other in the mountains. There were quite competitive and always testing each other’s strength.

One day, the first neighbour challenged the second to see who could chop the most wood in 3 hours. The second neighbour agreed to the challenge. The first man started out strong. As he chops away, the second man chopped for about a half hour and then sat down 10 minutes under the shade of the large tree. The first man could not believe his neighbour’s laziness. To his surprise, the second man continued to take these 10 minutes breaks each hour.

Finally, 3 hour passed. Not having paused to take a single break, the first neighbour was sure victory was his. To his dismay, he found that the second neighbour had chopped twice as much wood as he had!

In disbelief, he said, “That’s impossible! You took a break every hour”

With confident and a smile on his face, the second man replied, “I wasn’t resting, I was sharpening my axe.”

The lessons from this short story are massive. One particular lesson that I want to emphasis here is that: if we don’t take time to develop our relationship with God and fine-tune our mind, body and spirit through His eternal Word, we will always lose in the end. As I recalled this story and put it in writing, I reflected on what I have learned and experienced for the last 5 days. I was having a good rest away from the internet and computer – and enjoying my time with my colleagues as we discussed and planning for the student ministry next year and rediscover God in the Book of Isaiah. It was also a time for me to get away from my daily ministry routines and be alone in silent and solitude with my Lord Jesus.

As in sharpening the axe, we may not see the instant short-term gain from taking time away from the ordinary everyday life and take time to cultivate our relationship with God, but the long-term physical and spiritual benefits are huge. We know we should sharpen the axe (“Be still and know that I am God”), but who has the time, desire, determinations, or focus in this fast pace modern world? If you don’t sharpen your axe, it will become dull and useless. When we do, by the mercy and grace of God – our axes are sharp. God will “restore [our] soul”

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree

and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe” (Abraham Lincoln)

God be with you. Amen.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

What Sunday is Good for

“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:8, NLT)

“The world and the church need genuinely rested Christians: Christians who are regularly refreshed by true Sabbath rest” (Gordon MacDonald, Ordering Your Private World)

Entire books have been published in the last few years on the impact of stress, fatigue, and sleep deprivation on our society. But few if any books, articles or reports have connected all of this with the loss of one day in seven as a day of rest.

But the fourth commandment is clear. Our bodies and souls are made to work six days and to rest on the seventh. We cannot persistently violate that law without breaking down at some point – either physically, emotionally, or in family relationships.

D.L. Moody said, “Saturday is my day of rest, because I generally preach on Sunday, and I look forward to it as a body does to a holiday”

There are three purposes: To Rest, Reflect, and Rejoice.

It was Socrates who said that an unexamined life is not worth living. Sabbath rest is not merely a time for rest or recreation. It’s modeled after the activity of God himself, who, having worked six days, took a Sabbath. He eased from His labors, not to go off and play, but to examine what He had done. Looking over the previous six days, He declared, “It is good.”

Sabbath is designed to provide us an opportunity to pause and look at what we have done and to decide whether it was worth doing and, if so, whether it was done well. It also gives us an opportunity to prayerfully plan the week opening before us*.

What Sunday is good for?

Rest, Reflect and Rejoice

Which day is your Sabbath day (if you’re working on Sunday)?

Take time for God and self… Choose a day

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

*Quote from Robert J. Morgan, Preacher’s Sourcebook of Creative Sermon Illustrations (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2007), 720-221 [Except two quotations above and summary below].

My Dear Busy Friends, it's Time for Silence and Solitude

Our minds yearn to be busy. When we are with others, we tend to occupy ourselves watching, listening to, communicating with, and responding to those around us. This is good. In fact, it is normal – as long as we know when to withdraw. Jesus was a busy man, just read the Gospel stories and you know that He was the busiest person in the New Testament. Yet every morning “Jesus got up and went to an isolated place to pray” (Mark 1:35NLT). He practiced silent and solitude. After Richard Foster listed numbers of Bible verses where Jesus intentionally seek silent and solitude to pray and rest, he writes in his book Celebration of Discipline: “The seeking out of solitary places was a regular practice for Jesus. So it should be for us.”

One of the great blessings of silent and solitude is that they offer time for us to become who we really are – at least, this is what I get from my personal experiences. They take us away from the demands and obligations others lay on us and give us relief from the constant pull on directions by our employer(s), family members, friends, and many kinds of extra ‘baggage’ modern life has created. They allow us to get rest from the modern burden of multitasking (at this writing, I’m thinking about how restless are our young generation today). The constant need to meet the expectations of others draws us away from our true selves and deafens us “to hear the divine Whisper better”. I can assure you my friends that you can’t remember who you are when half the world is compete for your attention – for that, you need silent and solitude.

I hope you ask me “How?”, if yes, good. Here are some example you can do to practice silence and solitude.

Silent

“In a noise-polluted world, it is even difficult to hear ourselves think let alone try to be still and know God. Yet it seems essential for our spiritual life to seek some silence, no matter how busy we may be. Silence is not to be shunned as empty space, but to be befriended as fertile ground for intimacy with God” (Susan Muto).

Some practice includes:

§  Setting a period of time in which you don’t speak but isolate yourself from sounds (other than perhaps the sounds of nature)

§  Driving or commuting without the radio or CD prayer turned on

§  Leaving the TV off (and your internet and phone off); spending time in silence with God alone

§  Exercising without attending to noise; listening to God

§  Having personal retreats of silence

Solitude

“We are so afraid of silence that we chase ourselves from one event to the next in order not to have to spend a moment alone with ourselves, in order not to have to look at ourselves in the mirror” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).

Some practice includes:

§  Giving God time and space that is not in competition with social contact, noise and stimulation

§  Taking a retreat

§  Observing Sabbath refreshment by abstaining from constant interaction with others, information and activities

§  Addressing your addiction to being seen

§  Communicating with God alone while you walk or run by yourself

§  Practicing disciplines alone: study, prayer, examen, journaling and so forth

Friends, take time for silence and solitude. It refreshed your soul, reenergized your mind and refocused your attention. You will find ‘you’ and most important of all – you can hear God’s gentle whisper more clearly. It is about who are you in God and who you are in relation with others. Thomas Merton, a Christian mystic writer once observes, “It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them… solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say”.

Silence and solitude are not easy to come by.

It takes time and effort to seek them out and cultivate them.

But once we find a place for them in our lives,

we immediately realize how much we’ve been missing without them.

God help and be with you.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

*Quotes and practice suggested for silence and solitude above are taken from Adele Ahlberg Calhoun’s Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us. Pg. 106 and 111.

God, the Source of Our Strength

Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens,
and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28NLT)

What a verse to treasure. We love it because it came from the mouth of God written by the Holy Spirit through human being for the good of mankind. But it’s not the only time God said this kind of promises. Isaiah, for example, had recorded it thousands years ago: “He [God] gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” (40:29-31NLT)

‘Come to me’ is Jesus’ way of inviting us to ‘trust in the Lord’; to trust in Him – in His Word, in Living Word, we are encouraged. God will give us renewed strength when we grow weary. When we come to Him in praise, He refreshes our heart. When we come to Him in prayer, He refreshes our soul. When we come to Him in meditation, we refreshed our mind. When we come to Him in solitude, He refreshes our body. When we come to Him with thankfulness, He refreshes our perspective.

In this tiresome world and daily weary life, don’t forget to practice these disciplines. Daily we need to releases the burdens of life and draws strength from God – God, the source of our strength. He is One and Only source of our strength.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

The world will not Fall Apart if you Take a Rest

“Oh, God, thou hast made us for Thyself,
and our hearts find no rest until they rest in Thee.” (St. Augustine)

According to a Greek legend, in ancient Athens a man noticed the great storyteller Aesop playing childish games with some little boys. He laughed and jeered at Aesop, asking him why he wasted his time in such frivolous activity.

Aesop responded by picking up a bow, loosening its string, and placing it on the ground. Then he said to the critical Athenian,

“Now answer this riddle, if you can. Tell us what the unstrung bow implies.”

The man looked at it for several moments but had no idea what point Aesop was trying to make. Aesop explained,

“If you keep a bow always bent, it will break eventually; but if you let it go slack, it will be more fit for use when you want it.”

People are also like that. That’s why we all need to take time to rest. Jesus understood the needs and limitations of his disciples and took them away for a break. The Scriptures says,

“...Jesus said, ‘Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.’ He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.” (Mark 6:31NLT)

Hey, even God rested (he also declared it, you know), why do you think you shouldn’t do the same?

“The creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.” (Genesis 2:1-3NLT)

THINK BIG Take time to rest. START SMALL How about taking a rest trip this weekend; alone or with a partner? GO DEEP Hey, a full life comes from work and rest… plus, I’m pretty sure that the world will not fall apart if you take a rest… oh yes, I’m sure.

............................

Note:

In Genesis 2:2 “finished… rested…” means God rested on the seventh day, not because he was weary, but because nothing formless or empty remained. His creative work was completed – and it was totally effective, absolutely perfect, “very good” (1:31). It did not have to be repeated, repaired or revised, and the Creator rested to commemorate it. [Zondervan NIV Study Bible (Fully Revised), footnote page 7]