It sounds a little pretentious doesn’t it? Not notes from a father but notes from the Father! For most of my Christian life I’ve been a little wary of the “thus saith the Lord” kind of Christian, and in many cases, it’s been for good reason. It’s true that since the time of Jesus there have been false prophets and wolves in sheep’s clothing, but what we lose sight of is that, despite all of this, God still wants to speak through each of us to one another!
I’ve lived a major part of my life in other countries as a church planter among the poor, and as a trainer of leaders and pastors, but in my private times for the past 30 years there has been another element of my life that I’ve seldom spoken of — I keep a regular prayer journal — For me, the term “prayer journal” doesn’t mean that I have a notebook where I write down my prayers nor does it refer to a diary or anything else that requires my voice to be speaking. In my private world, a prayer journal was always what the Father was speaking to me. Notes from the Father.
This hidden element of my private life has probably made more of an impact on my public life than anything else that I’ve ever done as a christian. It was notes from my father that kept me from making what would probably have been a direction-changing mistake in the late 90s when we were trying to start a church in a major city in Russia. It was notes from my father that prepared us (for five years) to move to India, which is from where this blog is being written. And more than just direction for my life, notes from the Father in my prayer journal have done what words from a father always do: they have shown me my value in those times when my life didn’t seem particularly valuable and they have brought me real comfort that I have used to bring comfort to others over the years.
This new blog post is starting up primarily because, in my prayer journal, I’ve felt that the Father wanted me to take this step, but it is still a step that I take with great fear and trembling. Other than my wife, very few people have read portions of my daily journal, and even now, much of what the Lord is saying to me is for me alone. But for the last few years, there has been a strange kind of overlap between what God was saying to me in my journal and what he was saying to me while preparing to speak in public. I realize now that there is much that God the Father wants to say, not only to me personally, but through me to others.
I realize that the above statement edges me closer to the “thus saith the Lord” kind of guy, but for me, the real endgame of this blog is not just to tell you things that I think God might be saying to the body of Christ, but for you to realize that God wants to speak through all of us in the body of Christ. One of the features that I hope to develop in the future will be a forum where you can share things that God has spoken to your heart that might bring confirmation (or correction) to that week’s topic in the blog.
The format that I’m going to try to follow is pretty simple: to pull a scripture and a “note from the Father” several days each week out of my prayer journal and share it with you verbatim. It is not meant to be an authoritative word from God, but only a snapshot of what I feel God is saying to me in my daily quiet times. It is my sincere hope that these notes will not only bless you, but also create in all of us a greater desire to hear from the Father!