ECCU Blog

One of the most amazing things to me about being a follower of Christ is that we never stop learning about—and marveling at—the glory of God. Remember in 1 Samuel when the ark of the covenant disappeared and Scripture records that God’s glory departed from Israel? Then again in Ezekiel, chapters eight through ten, the story is told of the Shekinah glory of God departing from the temple. What a sad and dark time. For hundreds of years, the people lived without the glory, without the recognition of God’s holiness.

But God is as rich in mercy as He is in glory, and He did not leave His people forever. When Jesus was born, the glory of the Lord returned to earth! When we celebrate the birth of Christ, we are also celebrating the return of God’s glory.

Yet the birth of Christ was only the beginning of the restoration of God’s glory on earth. Jesus’ sinless life and sacrifice on the cross displayed God’s glory as no other event in history. And Christ’s ultimate return and heavenly kingdom will display the fullness of the glory of God.

Every time we enter the presence of God in our worship, we reflect His glory. It is only by receiving His glory that we may, in turn, bring Him all glory and honor and praise (2 Corinthians 3:18).

This Christmas season, may our hearts be filled with praise for the God who became flesh…for the glory of the Lord has returned!

“And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” (Revelation 5:13)

This Thanksgiving, 21 out of my 27 family members who came together to “celebrate” ended up with the stomach flu. My house turned into an infirmary and Thanksgiving weekend looked slightly different than we all anticipated. As I did my best to help out with the grandkids (while trying to avoid catching this nasty bug), I reflected on a few reasons for thankfulness we don’t often think about—perhaps the ultimate reason for thankfulness.

It comes down to this: We are included in God’s unshakable kingdom. If we can act on this truth, we can find thanksgiving in any circumstance. And Jesus gives us some specific commands to help us set our minds on the kingdom.

1. Ask for the kingdom. When Jesus gave his disciples the model for prayer, the first thing he instructed them to ask for was God’s will to be done, God’s kingdom to come, on earth as it is in heaven. That’s an amazing request. Before any other request—before food, forgiveness, or protection from evil and temptation—we are to ask for God’s kingdom to be firmly established on earth, exactly like it is in heaven now.

There is a present sense to that prayer—that God would work through his church to proclaim the gospel and serve others in the name of Christ. There is also a future sense of God’s kingdom. Someday Jesus will return to restore and recreate the earth and make it perfect. He will completely reverse the effects of sin. Believers are to long for the kingdom now…to make it so important in our lives that it’s the first thing we ask for. Because we know, according to Romans 8, that the sufferings of this present time are not even comparable to the glory that is to be revealed to us.

2.  Be thankful for God’s kingdom. There are infinitely good reasons to long for God’s kingdom, but perhaps the greatest is that it can’t be shaken. These are difficult times. Many are out of work; many are concerned about their jobs. God knows we have needs on this earth and can’t wait for heaven. That’s why Jesus’ model prayer starts with a call for God’s kingdom but moves immediately to our immediate need, daily bread.  That’s also why Jesus was so careful to emphasize that God knows our every need. He knows the needs of the sparrows and counts the very hairs of our heads. But our cry for daily care must be grounded in our hope and anticipation of the kingdom to come. And in our commitment to live out God’s kingdom now on this earth, as the church, lives in the likeness of Christ in all that we do as we await his coming. So choose to live there—now. Hebrews 12 tells us that someday God will remove the “things that have been made.” Everything material will be removed, the earth will burn, but God’s kingdom is eternal and perfect and indestructible. Nothing can even shake it: “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:28).

3.  Worship God for including us in his kingdom.  God bought us and brought us into his kingdom through the sacrifice of his Son. Thankfully, living in God’s kingdom results in deep, often spontaneous, worship. “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12: 28 -29)  

Acceptable worship is thankful worship. 

Jesus reminds us that while the world around us may be shaken, he has brought us into his unshakable kingdom. Because of this profound truth, we have every reason to rejoice and be glad even in the midst of our deepest valleys—and Thanksgiving-day flu bugs.

We had a Nehemiah event at our church several weeks ago. No, we didn’t rebuild any walls. We did something more enduring with far more impact. We read Scripture aloud for three hours. It was an amazing and moving event inspired by the recounting in Nehemiah 8 of the Scriptures being read for the first time in 70 years. 

The passage says that “all the people gathered as one man.” The high priest Ezra, standing on a raised platform, read to “all who could understand” from morning until midday—about six hours! The reaction of the people upon hearing the Word—most for the first time—was dramatic. The account says “all the people stood up” as the reading began, then all the people answered “Amen, Amen!” They then lifted their hands, bowed low, and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. It must have been a profound, holy sight. 

Our gathering began late Sunday afternoon, not even 7 hours after the Scriptures were last opened in our church, let alone 70 years. We started with a simple hymn accompanied by a lone guitar. Then the reading began. Two lecterns were placed on the platform several feet apart. Each reader read a chapter from the book of Matthew. Qualifications? Ability to read (or at least really good at memorizing!). Readers ranged from Junior high age to really old (my generation). As one reader completed a chapter, the next was ready at the other lectern. No commentary. No interpretation. No one even snuck in a little exegesis! 

We stopped halfway through—after chapter 14—for a short dinner break on the patio. We were prepared to feed about 100 people but quickly ran out of food as almost twice that number showed up. While we had just read about Jesus multiplying the loaves and fishes, we apparently lacked sufficient faith to add even one tuna fish sandwich. No one complained. 

As our Nehemiah moment continued, the ambient noise in the auditorium seemed to fade further and further away. I don’t know for sure whether people just stopped their usual fidgeting and fussing or if I simply stopped noticing as we were drawn more and more deeply into the Scripture. Probably a little of both. Nehemiah 8:3 says “all the people were attentive to the book of the law.” So were the people at Grace Church that evening. 

Going in, I was a little nervous about sitting for three hours just listening to someone read, even Scripture. By the time we got to about chapter 18 or so, I was so focused on the power of the spoken Word that I was mostly unaware of the time, and less concerned about how well someone read. I found myself growing disappointed that the reading would soon end. Three hours? It went by faster than some 30-minute sermons I’ve heard (not from our pastor, of course). 

Somehow, the public reading of Scripture—in this case an entire gospel—moved our people in ways that even a Spirit-inspired sermon seldom does. I don’t know how other people responded, but I was drawn into the Scripture unlike ever before. It was certainly a Hebrews 4 kind of experience—For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 

A lot of this happened at Grace Church on that Sunday. We will definitely do it again, and we’ll make a lot more sandwiches.

We don’t know how to pray. The Bible is clear about that (Romans 8:26). But God, in his goodness, not only gives his Spirit to intercede for us, but also provides us with precepts on prayer in his Word.

Ecclesiastes 5: 1–2 tells us:

Guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil. Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.

In just two verses, God reveals several disciplines of prayer:

Prayer is purposeful. If you were invited to give a sermon or devotional at your church, and you felt qualified to do it, how much time would you spend preparing? An hour? A day? You would likely spend as much time as necessary to appropriately prepare your heart and mind.

In the same way, we are to prepare our hearts for prayer. Ecclesiastes 5:1 in The Message reads, “Watch your step when you enter God’s house.” We are to enter into prayer with purpose and care.  

Prayer is prioritized.  “…draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil.” We all know it—the uncomfortable silence that can follow after someone is asked to pray. Heads bow, yet no words are spoken. A pause likely used to prepare a heart, incline an ear to listen. Remember young Samuel in 1 Samuel 3? Eli trained him to say, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” Listen first, then speak.

Prayer is premeditated. Verse 2 in The Message says, “Don’t shoot off your mouth, or speak before you think. Don’t be too quick to tell God what you think he wants to hear. God’s in charge, not you—the less you speak, the better.”

Sort of puts us in our place, doesn’t it? Writing out your prayers is a great way to discourage hasty and impulsive conversations with God. Many of Paul’s prayers were written out… that’s why we have record of them.

Prayer is patient, persistent, and simple.  “…therefore let your words be few.”   

This verse reminds me of the prayers I heard visiting Templo Biblico in Monte Plata, Dominican Republic, like, “Lord, thank you for healing Maria,” and, “Lord, thank you for bringing a husband to Rebekah.”

Or my granddaughter’s simple yet faith-filled prayer for her soon-to-be-born baby sister, “Thank you that the baby is safe when it comes out of Mommy’s tummy.” She thanks God in advance, fully trusting that he has things under control.

Even our Lord Jesus kept his prayer simple–what we call The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 is just 59 words.

Yet even with direction on how to pray, we struggle. Our propensity is to be impulsive and hasty; we tend to babble and over-complicate and carry on. So God does not leave us to our own devices as we pray. He gives us his Spirit, who prays on our behalf and turns our utterances into a sweet sound to our Lord. Isn’t God gracious to give us all we need to communicate intimately with him?

“One measure for whether or not you’re rested enough—besides falling asleep in board meetings—is to ask yourself this: How much do I care about the things I care about? When we lose concern for people, …for friendship, …when we cease to laugh when our children laugh, …or weep when our spouses weep…—when we stop caring about the things we care about—that’s a signal we’re too busy. We have let ourselves be consumed by the things that feed the ego but starve the soul.” – Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God

What is it about rest that makes some of us resist it? To push it aside, find any reason not to succumb to it, like a four-year-old asking for his third glass of water at bedtime while eyelids droop low.

We fight the need for rest, yet Sabbath is a biblical mandate. God set aside an entire day to cease from our busyness, reflect on His goodness and take stock of all He’s allowed us to accomplish. We can practice Sabbath as a day, and as an attitude. In it we find rest for our body and rest for our souls.

At ECCU, we try to be intentional about rest—right in the middle of our work. For us, that means caring for employees’ physical and spiritual well-being even in the midst of our busy work life. We do this with weekly chapel services, and the opportunity for staff to participate in a day-long refresher called Soul Care. Twice a year for the past four years, Steve Macchia and Rick Anderson of Leadership Transformations facilitate this day of reflective Bible reading, journaling, worship, and prayer for our staff.

Work is busy. Life is busy. But we can—and should—be intentional about rest. Does your ministry take time to rest, to refocus, to ensure you still care about the things you care about? Leave a comment and give our readers more ideas for how to embrace rest in the work of ministry.