Last week’s retreat proved to be one of the most powerful week’s I’ve experienced in a long time. Being an extreme extrovert, being by myself isn’t typically a lot of fun for me. I gain energy from being around people and the prospects of a week in a cabin with just God and me is never at the top of the list of my favorite activities. Nevertheless, for the third year in a row, I committed to taking the second week in May and doing precisely that. I am so thankful I did. The week didn’t go as I expected. The first morning I sat down and outlined “productive” days for the Monday-Friday experience. It was a schedule that would have made the most OCD person envious, but by Monday afternoon it was already out the window.
God had different plans for the week, which turned out to be mainly about putting 1st things 1st. As leaders whose first allegiance is Jesus Christ, we ought not be surprised that the first things, weren’t things and they weren’t plural. The first thing was the first One. During Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He reminded us all of the principle of the first One–Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything you need will be added to you (Matthew 6:33). We all know that, but knowing and doing aren’t always the same time. I typically put God “first” by scheduling Him first in my mornings, by getting up and having a time of prayer with Him. But there are those mornings, more in number than I care to admit, when I “have” to do something before I get to the prayer. There’s a message I need to finish, or a meeting plan that needs to be completed, or a blog post that must be written, so I sit down at my laptop “for a few minutes,” and the next thing I know there’s not enough time to invest an hour with God before the rest of the day’s activities. I squeeze in ten or fifteen minutes with Him and then it’s off to the races.
What God showed me this past week was quite simple: Nothing is more important to you than I AM. Nothing. Each day I got up and invested the first hour and a half or more to prayer and listening to the Bible. (I find I focus more on the Bible when I listen than when I read it.) During those times, I practiced most of Dr. Dick Eastman’s 12 aspects of prayer. (They can be found in his book The Hour That Changes the World.) The most powerful aspects were always praise and waiting on the Lord. After that time each day, the tone was set for the rest of the day. In fact, on the second day I was reminded of the old adage, “Plan your work, and work your plan.” As I reflected on it, something struck me: the word “your.” Why would I want to plan “my” work and work “my” plan?
After all, I’m the lead pastor of a large and growing church. Wouldn’t I want to work God’s plan for New Life rather than mine. That’s when it hit me: God plan my work, so I’ll work Your plan. I’ve been starting each day with prayer, and not just a cursory or obligatory moment, or ten minutes, or even an hour, but the time it takes to be certain God is first. As I’ve praised God, waited on Him, confessed my inadequacies and called on Him to fill me with His Spirit and guide me throughout the day, something powerful is happening. On Friday morning I woke up at 3:33 am. It was one of those times, I’m sure you’ve experienced when I knew this wasn’t just an interruption to my sleep just to go to the bathroom. I was wide awake and the first thought that came to my mind was: This is how the three Scriptures for tonight’s service go together.
We were to have a “Believe Gathering” at New Life that night, and Pastor Brad French had given me the three Scriptures we would be using so I could be ready to offer a 20 minute meditation on them. When I had looked at them I thought, “Those seem to be random.” I didn’t see a theme, a progression, just three unrelated Scriptures. But as I lay there in bed a story came to mind to illustrate the first Scripture, then the tie in to the next, and finally a powerful reminder that the last shows us how one day we’re all going to be worshiping the only one worthy of worship forever: Jesus. By then it was 4:00 am. One of the worship songs we sing at New Life came to my mind, but I couldn’t remember all the words, so I googled it, and a YouTube video popped up. I listened. After that, another song was suggested. I listened. I repeated that for the next hour.
That never happens. I’m a word guy, not a song guy. But as I worshiped God by listening and singing along it was a holy moment. Then I got up and went prayer walking through the woods. I’m not an outdoor guy. I’m an activist, thus the prayer walking. It usually doesn’t matter to me whether I’m walking on my treadmill, or outside, as long as my body is occupied, my focus turns to got much more readily. This time, though I was aware of the birds singing, the beauty of the trees and even the greenness of the grass. The point isn’t that I’m becoming a naturalist, but that putting God first made everything different in a good way.
Friday night’s message was powerful. In fact, the whole day was powerful, even driving home from the retreat center. The test will be what about now? What about now that I’m back to “real life”? Here’s the question: what is real life? Real life is putting God first. That’s what God reminded me last week. As long as I put Him first every day will be better. It won’t be like a week-long retreat, but it will be better.
Where is God on your priority list these days? Is He first? Is He the first One you think about in the morning? Does He wake you up to tell you something you need to do on a given day? Are you investing enough time with Him that He believes it when you tell others He is first? It doesn’t really matter whether anyone else believes it. After all, He’s the One that matters. My prayer for each of us is we will put Him first, because unless He’s first, it doesn’t matter where He is, because He won’t be second. The promise is when we put Him first, He’ll meet our needs. That’s a promise worth living.
Here’s to leading better by putting the first One first–today!