A Path to a God-Centric Life

Is my ministry God-centric, or man-centric? Do I really believe that Christ will build His church and that the gates of hell will not stand against it? If I believe that building the church is God’s prerogative and purview then my life and work will be characterized by prayer. One of the main causes for my failure to pray is because I am too busy with life and ministry. Imagine a kingdom where those who serve the king are working too hard to listen to his commands, or too busy to seek his input.

My ministry is man-centered when I am more focused on doing good for man (myself included) than I am on glorifying God. Prayer is one of the best ways to counteract this kind of human narcissism. Prayer puts God back at the center of my life and work. Prayer helps me to remember that it is God’s work that I should be about, not my interpretation or carefully reasoned strategy for what God should do, but rather what He really would have me do. I don’t think that it is enough to obey the maxim, “love God and do whatever you want.” I think that this is a cop out. It certainly has been in my life. At the least, it pushes God to the margins of my life and more often excludes Him altogether.

I am not advocating a paralysis of analysis, where we don’t move or do anything out of fear of doing the wrong thing, or because we are unsure of our motives. As humans even our “purest” motivations are a mixed bag. That kind of fear and paralysis is another symptom of our man centric perspective. I am suggesting that we should spend time in our pursuit of God. I recently received an e-mail from a friend in which he talked about how he had neglected his personal relationship with God over the last few years because he was too busy with ministry. It was with good motivation, and while his faith is not in peril, he realizes now that his pursuit of God is most the essential element to knowing and doing the will of God on earth. We need God. Not just as a principle, and not just to save us. We need Him every day. We must pursue Him. Pursue Him as a real person who wants a relationship with me, and from whom I have a lot to learn.

Every relationship of real value requires intentionality to develop. God invites us into real relationship with Him! He has given us the marriage relationship as a picture of the kind of intimacy and relationship that He wants with us. Marriage is a sort of training ground, an apprenticeship, a workshop where we learn about what our relationship with Him can and should be; what it will be in the end, at the wedding feast of the Lamb. It’s not just an analogy, it’s a deep reality.

I love my wife and I have known her for many years. I generally know what makes her tick and what her desires are. This is the result of many years of pursuit. The pursuit started when I first realized that she was available and desirable; I realized that a relationship was possible and worth pursuing. I was intrigued and I wanted to get to know her more. Then, as I got to know her more I realized that there was depth and value in her as a person, and that I too was growing because of our relationship. I wanted to get to know her more and to take our relationship to a new level. We started courting. We defined our relationship as more than just a casual relationship, but rather one that we were both willing and excited to invest in deepening. As that continued I realized more and more what a treasure she was and I realized that I didn’t want to go through the journey of life without her by my side. I realized that I needed her in my life and wanted to make our commitment permanent rather than just exploratory. I asked her to marry me and I committed myself to her once and forever. Our relationship took on whole new dimensions of depth and intimacy. I continue to learn more about myself and about her. I am daily challenged and encouraged to grow and am in the process of becoming more and more who I want to be, who I was created to be. Our relationship still needs to be cultivated. There are times when I take her for granted and don’t spend time with her or seek her out. When I do this, we tend to get a little out of sync. The ability to “read each others minds” and to finish each other’s sentences slowly degrades and if we don’t do something about it, we start to miss each other and distance begins to creep into the relationship.

As well as I know my wife, there are still times when I try to please her but miss the mark. I do something that I believe will communicate love, but in fact causes hurt. It’s not enough for me to know about her, and to extrapolate from what I know to the unknown. If I want to know what she would like, I should talk to her about it. If I want to know how I can help her, I should ask her. I can’t assume that because I have read her to do list, or because I have known her for many years, that I should just jump in and start doing something. I should communicate with her. I should ask her how I can help. Often times, I find that even my attempts to communicate love to her are based on my own faulty presuppositions. Let me give you an example, I like it when she hugs me and so therefore I think that the most loving thing that I can do is to give her a hug. I’m sure that she would like that, I reason. Who wouldn’t? If I am practicing the maxim of “Love your wife and do whatever you please”, then this makes perfect sense. In fact, the most loving thing that I can do for her is to make the bed in the morning. I don’t understand it, I don’t even value it, but I know this because we have talked about it…repeatedly. However, sometimes I ask her how I can help her and instead of asking me to make the bed (which I can clearly see is unmade) she asks me to run to the store, or do something else to help. Even though I know her and know some of the ways that I can love her, I have to ask her. I have to talk to her. Imagine what my relationship with my wife would be like if I tried to love her based on my understanding of her, or based on the way that other men love their wives. There will undoubtedly be some good that comes from it, but it wouldn’t be me loving her. I would miss the mark.

In ministry I think that we often talk with one another, but not enough with God. It’s not enough for me to read His Word and discern principles to be practiced. It’s not enough for me to learn from others about the things that He has asked them to do. It’s not enough to develop strategies based on our observations or the experiences of others. We were meant for something more! I need to pursue Him as a person and to know what He would have me do. We must train ourselves to discern the will of God. We must tune our ears to His voice. One of the best ways to do this is to bathe our minds in His Word. His Word is the unchanging standard. The only source that we know is pure, untainted, unadulterated truth. By familiarizing ourselves with the truth we will begin to learn how to discern between good and evil, but more than that, we will learn to discern His voice among the cacophony of voices competing for our attention and allegiance. There are many counterfeits out there, and we must be on our guard, but we cannot allow fear to keep us from pursuing our birthright as children of God. We have been born again into a real conversational relationship with God, and we cannot trade our birthright for something less fulfilling, even if it seems safer. We lose more than we gain.

The best way to train people to identify counterfeit currency is to begin with the study of genuine money, money that you know is real. By using and training our senses to recognize the real thing we will be able to attune to distinguish between our bridegroom and the pretenders. Jesus said that His sheep would know and hear his voice and that they will follow Him. This is not an option, but a statement of fact.

We must start with the Word and continue in prayer. The Word is the primary way that we discover the general will of God, but we must have a real relationship with the Spirit. The Spirit is the only right interpreter of the Word. Not only that, but He promises to guide us into all truth. There are many forms of prayer, but conversational prayer is a key, but often neglected form. In conversational prayer we spend time talking, but we also spend time listening. I find that starting with the Word helps to set my mind on Him, renew my perspective, and remind me of the sound of His voice. Then, as I enter in to prayer I share my heart or the needs of others and I listen for how He would have me pray, and what He would have me do. Over the years I have found a journal to be an invaluable tool for recording these conversations. Aside from crystallizing the thoughts or impressions into words this also serves to record those words for later reflection, application, and testing against the Word.

I am serving a King and I need to get my orders from Him. The general outline of His battle plans and principles of warfare are available through His written Word, but my role in the battle is often less clear. I need to know where He wants to deploy me today. What position on the battle line, what resources I should take with me. Prayer is how we get our orders from the King. Prayer also humbles me and reminds me of my right relationship to the King. I am not the King. I am a servant, a supplicant, and a soldier of the King. Prayer, as my father used to say, keeps me from getting too big for my britches. Prayer is also a weapon that we use in our service to the King. We have been entrusted with weapons that demolish strongholds. Prayer is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal as Christians. We have been commanded to pray, we have been instructed how to pray, we have been given examples of prayers, we have been admonished about the potential power of prayer. But still we neglect the very weapon that could win the battle because we are too busy trying to win the battle. I do not pretend to understand how or why prayer works, but this much is clear: Prayer does a work in me, and is also a powerful and effective means that God uses to accomplish much.