Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Experiencing God

Some time ago Jeff mentioned Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby and I was so intrigued that I ordered a copy to read during my sabbatical. I'm very glad I did. It is a thoughtful and wise book about discipleship in short, easy to read chapters. I've just read chapter 4 Being God's Servant.

What does it mean to be a servant of God? A human perspective is that a servant is someone who takes orders form the master and simply carries them out. Not so for the one who would be a servant of God according to Blackaby.

You do not get orders, then go and carry them out on your own. You relate to God, respond to Him, and adjust your life so that He can do what He wants through you.

Amen to that most of us might say, but how exactly do you do it? Obedience is never as easy as it sounds! Perhaps the only way is daily to remind ourselves through prayer that we choose to be available and willing to follow God's prompting in both big and small areas of our lives.

The chapter ends with a simple question and an answer that plays a familiar tune in my life.

Do you want to be a servant of God? ... If so, find out where the Master is–then that is where you need to be. Find out what the Master is doing–that is what you need to be doing.

For many years now I've been saying that we need to ask two simple questions: What are you doing Lord? How can I help? Personally I don't ask then near often enough. I'm far too reliant upon my own resources and I need to cultivate a far deeper dependence upon God's resources.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's great that you're reading that. It remains on the top of my list for transformative influences.

I would highly encourage you to get the discipleship workbook in addition to the book. Reading a book about scripture is one thing, but the workbook forces you to engage and intereact with Scripture. I have not seen a small group or church yet that hasn't been powerfully impacted by going through the scripture in this interactive way together.