On Sunday I had the real joy of being with one of our church plants, both to meet with their leadership and then to teach at their worship gathering.  What a great church – young, vibrant, loving, missional.  But like so many smaller churches, they are struggling with financial sustainability. 

The previous day I was at a conference and ran into a church planter friend who is pursuing a highly incarnational model in an urban area.  They serve well and have a tangible impact in their community.  And they gather to worship, but in more of a house-church sort of way.  Similarly, one of their big questions is how to sustain this ministry financially.

On faith that God is speaking, working, acting on our behalf:

“Great faith, like great strength in general, is revealed by how easily it works.  Most of what we call a struggle of faith is really the struggle to act as if we had faith when in fact we do not.”

“The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’” (Luke 17:5)

[adapted from Hearing God Through the Year by Dallas Willard]

Big thanks to Len Hjalmarson of NextReformation for his warm review of Embodying Our Faith.  I’m always blessed to know the book has struck a chord, especially among fellow practitioners.  Thanks for sharing your thoughts Len, and Lord bless you as you serve him -

My spiritual life is a little ADHD, or to put it more charitably, I like variety.  Every month or so I switch up my practices – different ways of meditating on Scripture, different devotional books, etc.  Introduction to the Devout Life was great, and now the devotional book du jour is Hearing God through the Year by Dallas Willard.  This is a rich book (his classic Hearing God broken down into bite sized daily readings), and a great way to begin reading Willard if you have wanted to learn from him but (appropriately) find his work a bit intimidating.

Thought of the day:

“People are meant to live in an ongoing conversation with God, speaking and being spoken to by him . . . [biblical stories of people communicating with God] are examples of the normal human life God intended for us: God’s indwelling his people through personal presence and fellowship.”

Had a great interview about the book and the upcoming Origins Event with blogger/pastor Jesse Giglio.  You can check it out here . . .

(you’ve got to appreciate a man who will rock a fake ‘stache in their profile picture)

On spiritual consolations [by which Francis means a palpable sense of God’s presence]:

1. God sometimes makes himself more evident to those who are young in the faith.  St. Francis likens these sensory experiences to “sugarplums” – sweets which have limited nutritional value but taste great!  “Let us count ourselves as little children, having need of milk, and believe that these sugarplums are only given us to lead us on to the love of God.  But as a general rule, we shall do well to receive all such graces and favors humbly, making much of them, not for their own importance, but rather because it is God’s hand which fills our hearts with them, as a mother coaxes her child with one sugarplum after another.”

2. Enjoy rich sensory spiritual experiences, but do not overestimate their spiritual benefit.  “No, my child, this is not the same as devotion, for you will find many persons who do experience these consolations, yet who, nevertheless, are evil-minded, and consequently are devoid of all true love of God, still more of all true devotion.”