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Wise Words from Thomas Kelly

Posted On December 7, 2009

Filed under Book Reviews, Books That Bless, Change Your Life, Christian Books, Christian Living, Christian Meditation, Christian Mission and Calling, Christian Mysticism, Christian Optimism, Christianity, Contemplation, Contemplative Spirituality, Discipleship, God's Kingdom, Inner Light, Interspirituality, Issues in Transformation, Jesus, Jesus' Teaching, Kingdom of God, Meditation, Mindfulness, Sacred Mind, Sacred Silence, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation, Spiritual Practices, Spiritual Quotations, Wise Words for Today, Words To Ponder
Tags: Christian Mysticism, Discipleship, Spiritual Quotations, Watchman Nee, Inner Light, A Testament of Devotion, Thomas Kelly, Quaker Teachings

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Thomas Kelly, the Quaker mystic who wrote A Testament of Devotion is one of my favorite writers and this little book of his is a true gem. “A Testament” has been at my bed side for many years and I normally take it with me when I travel. It is one of those kind of books that repeatedly brings comfort, insight, and inspiration.

Like most Quakers, Kelly writes of a perfect balance between the mystical and the mundane; the silence and the social; the inner and outer aspects of the Christian walk of faith. From time to time I like to share a quotation from Kelly as I think more and more people should be exposed to his writing. I strongly recommend A Testament of Devotion. I have read it more times than I can count. I think I can safely say that this book, along with Watchman Nee’s A Normal Christian Life are two of the most influential books I have ever read and believe me when I say I have read more than my share.

The Inner Light, the Inward Christ, is no mere doctrine, belonging peculiarly to a small religious fellowship, to be accepted or rejected as a mere belief. It is the living Center of Reference for all Christian souls and Christian groups – yes, and of non-Christian groups as well – who seriously mean to dwell in the secret place of the Most High. He is the center and source of action, not the end-point of thought. He is the locus of commitment, not a problem for debate. Practice comes first in religion, not theory or dogma. And Christian practice is not exhausted in outward deeds. These are the fruits, not the roots. A practicing Christian must above all be one who practices the perpetual return of the soul into the inner sanctuary, who brings the world into its Light and rejudges it, who brings the Light into the world with all its turmoil and its fitfulness and recreates it (after the pattern seen on the Mount).

Thomas Kelly

(from A Testament of Devotion)

Wise Words for Today

While there are moments when God steps in and calls us to a specific task or assignment, even without that kind of special directive, we are not left without a mission or calling. Every follower of Christ has the prime directive of representing Him on this earth. We are all called to be His witnesses. We are all commissioned to make disciples. We are all given the assignment of serving as His ambassadors of reconciliation. We are all commanded to love not only God, but also our neighbors as ourselves. We are all mandated to follow His example by serving others even as Christ has served us.

Erwin Raphael McManus

(from Chasing Daylight)

Wise Words For Today

Repentance is not being sorry for the things you have done, but sorry for being the kind of person who does such things. With that I began the disturbing discovery of my false self. I began to realize that underneath the thin veneer of my religiosity lived a pervasive and deeply entrenched self-referenced being which was driven by its own agendas, its own desires, its own purposes, and no amountof superficial tinkering with the religious facade made any appreciable difference…..I realized for the first time that God’s purpose for us was not simply to forgive sins but to transform our false self – to cleanse all its unrighteousness, to make us righteous, to restore us to our true self in loving relationship with God and in being Christlike in the world. I realized that the false self I was stood in the way of becoming the true self for which I had been created.

M. Robert Mulholland Jr.

(from The Deeper Journey)

Wise Words For Today

Jesus always valued relationships over rules. Whether it was healing a person on the Sabbath or sharing a meal with a known “sinner,” Jesus acted in unpredictable, unexpected, and life changing ways. And the fact is, wherever the Master traveled and ministered, two things inevitably happened. People’s lives were changed and the established religious order was upset…..Relationships, not rules, should take precedence in our lives. Love, not legalism, must reign. Many legalists in our own day, just like the Pharisees, don’t think they should hang around “evil people.” They think they should avoid them and thus avoid being contaminated. But the church today, just as Jesus did, must get beyond stained glass and gates and walls and get into the community and be light where it is so urgently needed.

Steve Arterburn

(from More Jesus; Less Religion)

Pilgrimage: A Four-Dimensional Model

Mick Turner

On several occasions I have mentioned the need for effective models in which one can gain a deeper understanding of the Christian faith in general and the sometimes complex aspects of the spiritual journey with Christ in particular. In my experience, having a framework through which we can view the process of growing as a Christ-follower makes things clearer and gives me a broader perspective on why certain things are essential and why others things are not.

I recently discovered one such model and I would like to share a bit about it with you. Basically, it is a “Four- Dimensional Model” of the Jesus path to spirituality and is directly modeled on the life of Christ. This model is found in Ken Wilson’s fine book, Jesus Brand Spirituality: He Wants His Religion Back. Great title, isn’t it?

The map put forth by Wilson is designed to assist individuals and churches move more toward the center, the heart of Jesus’ spiritual path, rather than existing on the periphery. It is divided into four dimensions as follows: active, contemplative, biblical, and communal. In discussing the general principles of the four dimensional approach to “Jesus Brand Spirituality,” Wilson makes clear that these four aspects are interdependent and do not stand alone. He compares them to the four dimensions in the space-time continuum, length, width, height, and time. Again, the author underscores the fact that these four dimensions are interconnected:

We separate them to examine them, but as soon as we’re done, they reconnect. We must resist the temptation to force-fit these into a preordered path: ‘First we take the active step, then the contemplative step,’ and so on. It doesn’t work like that. Depending on where we find ourselves on this pilgrimage, we may be drawn to one dimension or the other first or next. But as we move forward into one dimension of Jesus brand spirituality, our understanding of all the others will be affected because they are four dimensions of one reality.

Wilson is wise to put this caveat out there right at the beginning. From our own experience here at LifeBrook, we have found that it is very common for believers to try to fit new ideas into a pre-ordered program, somewhat like a ladder leading upward one step at a time. In our program The Mirrors of Optimal Living we especially witness this tendency. In our teaching, we always stress that this process is not like climbing a ladder. It is more like a spiral staircase, frequently winding back upon itself. When teaching these issues, I often use the analogy of a bowl of Raisin Jell-o. If you thump one single raisin, all the raisins move.

It is the same with Wilson’s four-dimensional model of Jesus brand spirituality.

Wilson goes on to make the point that these dimensions emerge naturally from studying Jesus’ life and teaching as presented in the New Testament. This was essentially the spiritual path Jesus himself followed.

Stated simply, the active dimension of Jesus’ spirituality occurred because there was a lot going on in First Century Palestine. Jesus and his followers were constantly on the move from one place to another, encountering people, teaching, and engaging in various forms of service such as healing, assisting the poor, and, in the words of Wilson, “mobilizing a movement with an agenda.” For Jesus, all of these ministry activities were a part of his overall spirituality. Throughout his entire mission, teaching was essential. However, the methodology used by Jesus was also action-oriented. According to Wilson:

His training method? Jesus invited curious onlookers to help him do what he was already doing so that his actions would have even greater impact. As we’ll see, his actions were about addressing the pressing problems of his day.

The contemplative dimension of Jesus’ spirituality was also readily apparent to those who were near him over the long haul. Further, this dimension is recorded in the gospels so consistently that it is hard to understand those fundamentalist critics of contemplative practice. Even more directly, Wilson accurately points out that Jesus brand spirituality is, at its core, mystical.

Jesus’ spirituality was also contemplative, because everyone feels there’s more to this world than meets the eye. The world is a mystical playground where, according to the quantum physicists, the most elemental particles – things called quarks and muons and gluons and bosons – pop into and out of existence all the time. No, I don’t understand it, either. But the world is, according to those who can do the math, not as it seems.

For Jesus, this unseen world was very real and he took great pains to make contact with it on a regular basis. I guess it is understandable that he did so. After all, this realm was his home. Even more important, Jesus took what he found when contacting the spiritual realm and brought it to bear on his environment in this world. Wilson continues:

Jesus got up early in the morning and went out to lonely places, and there he prayed (Mark 1:35). When he came back from those times of prayer, you get the impression he must have been making some kind of conscious contact with the divine, because life seemed to blossom wherever he went.

According to Wilson, Jesus brand spirituality is also biblical. After discussing how these days the Bible is often used in either highly selective ways (in order to prove one’s point) or in negative ways (in order to brow beat a lowly sinner into shame and guilt). For Jesus, however, the Bible became something entirely different. Wilson points out that:

…in the hands of Jesus the Bible became a different kind of book. It became a living thing full of the unexpected and the unconventional. It was a book Jesus turned against the browbeaters of his day with one hand, and with the other he comforted and consoled and energized those who had been bludgeoned with it…The Bible in the hands of Jesus tells a story that has a place for us within it. If we could find our way into the Bible through the door that Jesus entered, we might find the storyline of our lives and the world we live in changing for the better as a result.

Finally, for Jesus, the essence of true spirituality was communal. Wilson points out that for Jesus spirituality was about forging connections between people, between people and all living things, and, because God is a living thing, also between people and God.

Wilson has put together an excellent book and I would highly recommend it to the casual reader and the serious student of spiritual formation as well. It is a highly insightful, well-organized work that forces the reader to think outside the box and in so doing, encounter a spirituality that is often a far cry from what we often see in our churches.

The High Honor of Marriage and Parenting

Mick Turner

I have increasingly come to the awareness that we are placed where we are for a reason. The wisdom of God has arranged for us the very circumstances we need in order to step outside of our own self-absorption and sense of self-importance and develop a heart of intimate compassion for and with those precious beings that are a part of our daily lives. I am especially speaking of our family members.

Perhaps nowhere is the development of kindness and compassion more difficult than within the parameters of familial relations. The very proximity of husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and even extended family often breeds not only familiarity, but also a sense of irritation, anger, and even downright loathing when those closest to us consistently step on our toes, push our buttons, or otherwise rain on our parade. Yet it is in this very cauldron of familiarity and conflict that we have our golden chance to become less of a monster and more of a saint. Moreover, unless we can incarnate patience, tolerance, love, and acceptance where we have been placed, all other aspects of our spiritual endeavoring are empty.

The demands of being a centered, caring spouse or incarnating divine virtues to our children should be goals for each of us. Too often, however, most of us tend to forget exactly what it is we are called to when it comes to fulfilling our roles as parents or marriage partners. The same is often true when it comes to being sincere believers who just happen to be children of parents that are less than reasonable. Indeed, my friend, it is so easy to forget what it is we are called to.

Put in general terms, we are called to give flesh to grace and feet to love. We are to forgive even seventy times seven and go the extra mile, whatever the situation might require or entail. These are lofty words indeed and they are standards that I cannot live up to, at least when left to my own devices. It is far easier for me to fail than succeed when it comes to manifesting a proactive kindness in my roles as a family member. Still, I am aware that I don’t have to go it alone and further, God would have never given me the high honor of being a husband and a father if he didn’t intend for me to succeed. In my moments of doubt and trembling, I know divine help is available.

Christian author Gary Thomas has written a couple of books that deal with these issues from the perspective of the spiritual journey. Sacred Marriage and the second book, Sacred Parenting, are written from the perspective that being a spouse or a parent is part of God’s overall design to provide us with an environment where we can die and rise to a new life. Like all things in the on the spiritual path, it involves dying to self in service to others. Thomas tells us:

Let’s accept that both marriage and parenting provide many good moments while also challenging us to the very root of our being. Let’s admit that family life tries us as perhaps nothing else does; but let’s also accept that, for most of us, this is God’s call and part of his plan to perfect us. Once we realize that we are sinners, that the children God has give us are sinners, and that together, as a family, we are to grow toward God, then family life takes on an entirely new purpose and context. It becomes a sacred enterprise when we finally understand that God can baptize dirty diapers, toddler’s tantrums, and teenagers’ silence in order to transform us into people who more closely resemble Jesus Christ.

As we begin to see that our function as parents is intimately related to our spiritual journey, this opens up the possibility of viewing family life from a wholly different perspective. For decades now, the dominant view in developmental psychology and especially in parenting has espoused the importance of “child-centered” parenting. Certainly being centered on the child is a positive thing, as long as it is not carried too far. If a parent becomes overly child centered, it basically does the child an injustice.

When I lived in China I witnessed an interesting yet alarming pattern in the raising of children. Briefly, the trend was to excessively dote on the children, especially the males, and do every thing you could as a parent for the child. This pattern came about largely due to the one child policy in China. Many Chinese children were “only children” and the parents and grandparents lavished this single child with anything he wanted. The result has been the raising of an entire generation of “little emperors,” who are basically boys that expect their every need to be met and met immediately. These kids, some of whom are now beginning to reach adulthood, are impulsive, childish, dependent, and especially demanding. This is what happens when the philosophy of child-centered parenting is carried too far.

What Thomas is talking about is an alternative paradigm – “God-centered” parenting. Our roles as mothers and fathers are carried out through a sense of reverence for God. Further, we recognize that our children are special gifts from God and have been entrusted to us for care, nurturance, and education. When we recognize that our duties as parents are a central part of our spiritual journey in general and our reverence for God in particular, our motivation changes. There is no longer a struggle between meeting the children’s needs and fulfilling your own needs. It is, instead, a journey of respect and reverence for God and is also a matter of our own obedience to God and service to the person he has placed in front of us.

The same idea holds true for the marital relationship. In putting God first in our relationship with our spouse, our marriage becomes more God-centered. Our post-modern culture perhaps rails at this paradigm, but that doesn’t make it any less viable. In my own marriage, I have come to the stark realization that I am being asked by God to “serve” my wife. I am to love her as Christ loves the church and this also means I am to serve her as Christ serves the church. Looked at from this God-centered paradigm, the whole debate about “submission” becomes moot.

I will close with another quotation from Gary Thomas. Although he is speaking here of parenting, the themes he addresses also apply to marriage. I would like to highly recommend both of these books by Thomas. As in the following passage, both books get right to the heart of the message:

Christian parenting is truly a sacred journey. It invites us parents to purify ourselves, to use the process of raising kids to perfect holiness, and to do this consistently, every day, out of reverence for God. If we enter it armed with this understanding, each segment will gain new meaning and purpose – even the difficult ones…..We live in the midst of holy teachers. Sometimes they spit up on themselves or on us. Sometimes they throw tantrums. Sometimes they cuddle us and kiss us and love us. In the good and the bad they mold our hearts, shape our souls, and invite us to experience God in newer and deeper ways. Although we may shed many tears along this sacred journey of parenting, numerous blessings await us around every bend in the road.

The old adage about serving where you are planted is especially relevant to our roles as husbands, wives, mothers, and fathers. Go to God in prayer, expressing gratitude for the honor of being chosen for such a high responsibility and asking for wisdom, support, guidance, and love.

Further Reflections on the Chinese Church

Posted On July 26, 2008

Filed under Asian Christians, Book Reviews, Books That Bless, Chinese Christians, Christian Books, Christian Education, Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Global Church, God's Kingdom, House Church, Missions, Morality and Values, Revival, Worldview
Tags: China, Chinese Christians, Chinese Church, Christianity, David Aikman, Global Church, Jesus in Beijing

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Mick Turner

If you are a regular reader of this blog you are aware that I have a deep and abiding love for China, its people, and especially its church. I lived and worked in China for almost six years as a tent maker missionary and, as I have said before on these pages, these were the most rewarding years of my life on both a professional and a spiritual level. Moreover, my wife is Chinese and a Christian and through our years of marriage I have deepened my understanding of her homeland and its people.

As the 2008 Olympics rapidly approach, I have been thinking and praying about this fascinating country and thought I might share with you a bit about a book that explores the Church in China and the ramifications of its rapid growth. The book is by David Aikman and entitled, Jesus in Beijing. Aikman was Beijing Bureau Chief for Time Magazine for many years and has a unique perspective on the social and religious changes taking place in China as it transitions into a market economy. The book is highly informative, readable, and cuts to the chase as far as some of the main issues surrounding the church in contemporary China.

Based on the current growth figures, the book makes several thought-provoking statements early on. For example, consider this perspective:

Within the next thirty years, one-third of China’s population could be Christian, making China one of the largest Christian nations in the world. These Christians could also be China’s leaders, guiding the largest economy in the world…..What is happening in China is what happened in the Roman Empire nearly two millennia ago – a great power transforming itself. The results could be astonishing.

Indeed, the results could be quite astonishing. Is Aikman guilty of being overly-optimistic in his assessment of the potential influence of Christianity in China? Perhaps he is, at least in certain areas. Overall, however, I think his statements ring true in a number of ways. For example, Aikman discusses an important meeting that took place between a group of 18 American tourist and several key Chinese economists and sociologists. In particular, Aikman mentions a lecture attended by this group of tourist. During the lecture, the Chinese speaker said the following:

“One of the things we were asked to look into was what accounted for the success, in fact, the pre-eminence of the West all over the world,” said the lecturer. “We studied everything we could from the historical, political, economic, and cultural perspective. At first, we thought it was because you had more powerful guns than we had. Then we thought it was because you had the best political system. Next we focused on your economic system. But in the past twenty years, we have realized that the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. That is why the West has been so powerful. The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life is what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We don’t have any doubt about this.”

Standing alone, that statement itself should blow your socks off. Even more asounding, however, is the source. This was not some hard line evangelical Christian preacher from America speaking; it was not a pastor of the official Three Self Patriotic Movement or even a renegade house church organizer. The person speaking was a well-respected scholar from one of China’s most prestigious academic research institutes, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in Beijing. Although always seeking to expand the arena of social science research in China, Aikman accurately points out that CASS is “hardly a viper’s nest of liberal dissent” in China. In fact, I had several dealings with CASS during my stay in China and found the scholars there to be cordial, helpful, but quite conservative.

The lecture, which took place in 2002, was delivered by a man who spoke excellent English, was quite knowledgeable about both Chinese and American history, and is representative of a growing number of highly educated academic elite in China who are becoming enamored with Christian thought in general and Christian morality in particular.

During my years in China, I noticed that many of my students were spiritual hungry and seeking answers to life’s important questions. Since the collapse of credibility in Maoist-Marxist teachings, more and more thoughtful people in China are turning to religion for answers. Many return to their family roots in Buddhism or Daoism. Large numbers are exploring other religious traditions, many of the New Age variety. The overwhelming majority of these spiritually famished seekers, however, are finding both hope and truth in Christianity.

It will be vitally important for Western Christians to keep abreast of the growth and progress of the Church in China. By sheer numbers alone, the Chinese Church will help forge to future directions of the global church. It is equally important that Christians in the West learn as much as possible about the Chinese Church, its history, its cultural underpinnings, and its ongoing relationship with the government. China as a nation is going to play a major role in the unfolding of history in the 21st Century and beyond. The Chinese Church will also play a significant role in the unfolding of Christian history as well. With these thoughts in mind, let us do all that we can to become better educated about this ever-growing circle of brothers and sisters all across China. A good place to begin is Aikman’s book.

And above all, lets remember to keep these consecrated and committed people in our prayers. They face, on a daily basis, challenges that we in the West never imagined.

A Writing Project: Finding God Beyond Scripture

Mick Turner

It seems people everywhere are seeking God these days. Despite dwindling numbers in Mainline denominations, increasingly we find independent churches packed to the gills on Sunday mornings and even throughout the week. Bookstore shelves are lined with books of spirituality, spiritual living, and a mind-boggling array of spirit-related subjects, whether they are from the Christian perspective or other faith traditions.

Without a doubt, we are a God-hungry people and this hunger is not just an American phenomenon. Spiritual pursuits are rampant around the world and are growing at a rate far beyond what was predicted just a few short years ago. Pundits of the mid-Twentieth Century were saying that we were witnessing the death throes of a God-based worldview. It seems the opposite has happened and, in my mind, this is both a positive and inevitable trend. As Augustine said so many centuries ago, we have a space inside that only God can fill.

From a Christian perspective, we have traditionally been told that the primary place that we can find God is in the Bible. Scripture has been called the foundation of our faith and some denominations within Christianity have, although they would never admit it, elevated the Bible to the level of Deity. Whether or not this is a positive thing is debatable and not the purpose of this blog entry. Scripture, whether one considers the Bible to be the literal Word of God or something of a lesser authority, created by human hands, remains central to the Christian experience. Our faith, without the scriptures, would be like a river without banks. In a word, Christianity would be a swamp.

I mention all of this because I have recently undertaken a writing project that has been, for me, a journey of discovery and growth. Those of you who are writers will understand what I mean when I say that the process of writing a book about spirituality is often more valuable than the finished product. The process of putting the thoughts down on paper often triggers new, powerful trains of thoughts that take the writer to places he or she never envisioned. Even more beneficial is when God reveals a new insight to the writer that can change his or her life in remarkable ways. As I have undertaken this new project, I have found these positive realities to be true once again and for this I am highly thankful.

With all that said, let me tell you a little about the project. It is a short book, around 180 pages I expect, on the subject of how we, as Christians, can discover valuable things about the nature of God in places beyond the Bible. This is not to downplay the significance or importance of scripture, but to remind sincere Christians desiring a deeper walk of faith of several venues through which God may be discovered, experienced, and, at least to a marginal degree, understood. Again, these pages are not designed to replace scripture but to augment it. The Bible is, and should always remain, the cornerstone for the Christian’s spiritual journey.

In brief, the sections in the book are as follows:

Sacred Silence

Sacred Study

Sacred Story

Sacred Surroundings

Sacred Service

Sacred Silence is an exploration of the value of contemplative prayer and other methods of getting quiet enough to engage our own Sacred Mind, the Holy Spirit, and that blessed “Sacred Sanctuary” where God resides within us. Sacred Study involves the reading and serious reflection on the works of Christian writers, both old and new, and discovering how they experienced God and what their message is for us. Sacred Story actually centers on the study of Scripture, but not in an analytical or systematic way. Instead, it involves discovering God’s story of redemption and restoration as revealed in the pages of scripture. Further, the focus is mostly on what this unfolding story tells us about the nature of God.

Sacred Surroundings is an attempt to discover God through focusing on where he has planted us. It involves discovering God through the natural, created world, through our family and friends, and through our spiritual community. And finally, we explore how to discover God through carrying out our mandate to serve others, just as Jesus did.

My progress is slow but steady so far. A project of this kind takes a significant amount of research and note taking over and above the actual writing of the book. My progress is also somewhat hampered by my work as a staff writer at a local newspaper (got to put bread on the table) and maintaining this web site, the Prayer Pagoda, and the construction of a new web site for LifeBrook Ministries that will exist independent of the blog. I also have a fairly hectic teaching schedule, so I do have other things to do. Most importantly, I am a husband and the father of a four-year-old daughter and this is my No. One job.

Still, by the grace of God and a few late nights each week, progress is being made. If you feel so led, I would humbly request your prayers in support of the successful completion of this project. I need all the prayer I can get.

The Holy Spirit’s Divine Leading: A Personal Example

Mick Turner

As I look back on my pilgrimage of faith I am amazed at how the hand and the heart of God was usually present, leading me forward to a destination that I could have never predicted. This has been the case in events both large and small, whether involving something as significant as my life-changing decision to go to the mission field in China or something as seemingly minor as discovering and reading “just the right book at the right time.”

From time to time I find it helpful to make a review of my life in general and a specific period of time, usually the last five years, in order to gain perspective on where I have been, where I am now, and where I may be headed. More significantly, I try to see if I can discern the Holy Spirit’s activity in my life. More often than not, in hindsight I can clearly see how I have been nudged, pushed, or at times, dragged in a specific direction.

Recently I became acutely aware of a pattern of this sort of “divine leading” in my life. As I look back on this pattern of formation, I am also aware that I would have never planned or predicted any of it. The events I am speaking of relate to what I said in the opening paragraph about finding the right book at the right time and the eventual impact this had on the development of my Christian world view.

Back in the autumn of 2005, my wife’s business responsibilities necessitated that she make a three-week trip to China. Our daughter Salina was about 18-months-old at the time and Li (my wife) decided to take her along so Li’s parents could meet their new granddaughter for the first time. Although I remained busy with my work responsibilities, I had far more free time than normal during their absence. I figured I would do a bit of relaxing and also devote some time to reading, which is one of my favorite activities.

I visited one of the area book stores a couple of days after Li and Salina departed for China. I was looking for something to read that would be spiritually edifying and I searched the shelves, especially paying attention to what was available from a few of my favorite authors. After spending about an hour doing this, I didn’t really see anything I thought I might want to read. As scanned the shelves yet another time, I saw a book that looked somewhat interesting. It was by an author I was not familiar with at the time and, after discovering that the author appeared to be at least marginally associated with a few Christian teachers that I have major reservation about, I put the book back on the shelf.

For some reason, however, I immediately took it back of the shelf and thumbed through it again. Although I did not hear an audible voice telling me to purchase this book, I did have an undeniable impression from the Holy Spirit to read this book. Having learned from past experience to heed such impressions, I bought the book.

It is not an over-statement to say that I was completely absorbed in the book for the next two weeks. I read it straight through in about four days, then went back through it slowly, taking notes and making application of what I had read. This 14-day period proved to be one of those “watershed” times in my life – a time in which I experienced an accelerated growth and a deepening of my walk of faith. I thank the Lord for leading me to this book at just the right time and I also thank him for giving me the discernment I needed in order to benefit from reading it.

The name of the book: Understanding the Power and the Purpose of Prayer by Dr. Myles Munroe.

It is hard to put into words what this book, and later, other titles by Myles Munroe have meant to me in terms of my own spiritual formation and in my work as a writer and teacher. This is all the more remarkable in that I would have probably never picked up one of Dr. Munroe’s books on my own. A mystic at heart and a bit left of center in terms of my theology and my political beliefs, chances are I would have quickly judged the book by its cover and never give it a second thought. Again, I thank God for pushing me out of my theological comfort zone and, like he did with Jonah, insisting that I go to a place I didn’t want to go. In this case, encouraging me to read something I didn’t particularly want to read.

It is also not an over-statement to say that Dr. Munroe has had a major impact on my thinking, my Christian walk of faith, and my spiritual formation. Do I agree with everything he says? No. I have yet to find any author that I am in total agreement with. Do I agree with most of what he says? Yes, I do. In fact, in studying the works of this writer and teacher, I have come to see a number of things in a different light than I did prior to walking into that bookstore back in October, 2005. In a very real sense, Dr. Munroe has been a mentor to me.

I have had the opportunity to hear Myles Munroe in person on four occasions since that time. He is a gifted orator, preacher, and teacher. I have benefited each time I have had the blessing of attending one of his programs. I have met him, albeit only briefly, and also feel blessed by having the opportunity to ask him several questions about issues that I was unclear about. He graciously took time to answer those queries and, in fact, gave me more time than was expected.

The reason all of this has come to my mind is that I recently undertook a review of my last five years and, in doing so, discovered the depth of the impact of Myles Munroe on my life. In doing this review, I looked over my bookshelf at the books that I have read over the past five years and discovered an unexpected fact. In addition to Dr. Munroe’s book on prayer, the first of his books I had read, I have 14 other titles by him in my personal library. It was a surprise to me that I have read that many of his books. I don’t have anywhere near that many books by any other author.

I could go on and on about his teachings, but I think I will just focus on one aspect of his work that has had a major impact on my thought, my faith, and my professional activities. I want to speak briefly on Munroe’s emphasis on “The Kingdom.”

Dr. Munroe has written what eventually came to be known as the “Kingdom Series.” The first book in the series, Rediscovering the Kingdom, was also one of the books that caused me to reassess my ideas about Christ’s mission and purpose. Subsequent titles in the series only deepened that process. The second book was entitled, Kingdom Principles, followed by The Most Important Person on Earth, in which Dr. Munroe discusses his take on the role of the Holy Spirit in the Kingdom. Recently, another volume was published, centering on the application of Kingdom Principles to daily life. I haven’t read that one yet.

For Munroe, everything he teaches is built upon the foundation of the concept of “Kingdom.” Without a thorough understanding of Munroe’s view of the Kingdom, we cannot begin to understand the depth of his teaching.

All that we have discussed before, the principles of potential, purpose, vision, and glory are worked out in the context of our primary mission as human beings. We are called to establish God’s Kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven. God created man for this purpose and, even though Adam and Eve disobeyed God and abdicated their dominion to Satan, God never relinquished his original goal, nor did he abandon humanity completely. Instead, the whole scope of God’s grand story of restoration moves forward with the original plot line, which was the manifestation of God’s kingdom on earth.

Munroe repeatedly makes a consistent point throughout his books related to the kingdom: Christ did not come to establish a religion – he came to establish a kingdom.

Each and every one of us is born with a divine potential, placed in us by God. We begin to realize that potential by discovering our own unique purpose or calling. This purpose or calling begins to move increasingly toward manifestation when we, with the help of the Spirit, connect that purpose with a specific vision. When we fulfill our potential by manifesting our purpose through our specific vision, we can be said to have “realized our glory.” Now, the vital aspect to understand in all of this is the fact that all of these elements are worked out in the context of God’s great purpose: establishing his Kingdom.

Munroe’s concept of Jesus’ mission of establishing a kingdom rather than a religion leads him, at times, to take a rather dim view of religion. In fact, Munroe sees, and I agree completely, that religion can be a major stumbling block to the realization of the kingdom.

All religions are the same in the sense that they attempt to answer the questions of power and meaning. They all promise power to control life and circumstances and to explain life and death. They all claim to have the truth. They all claim superiority over each other. They all compare and compete with each other. They all demand adherence to their particular belief system while denying others. They all are motivated by contention and usually thrive in an isolated culture that excludes other segments of humanity. In fact, all religions seem to glory in a spirit of segregation and separatism. Rather than uniting humanity with common power and knowledge of purpose, religion has proven itself instead to be the great divider of mankind.

Munroe stresses the fact that Jesus’ central mission was to inaugurate and carry out the first stages of the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth. It was Christ’s mandate and, as his followers, it is our mandate as well.

Everything Jesus said and did – His prayers, teachings, healings, and miracles – was focused on a kingdom, not a religion. Jesus was preoccupied with the Kingdom; it was His top priority, His heavenly mandate.

For Munroe, Jesus came not only to reconcile God and humankind, but also to restore something that was lost – the kingdom. And, by restoring the kingdom, help satiate humankind’s intense hunger for two things: power and purpose.

It is important to note here that when man fell from grace, he lost a kingdom, not a religion. He lost dominion over the earth; he did not lose Heaven. Therefore, mankind’s search is not for a religion or for Heaven, but for his kingdom. This is why religion can never satisfy the deep hunger in the heart of man. Religion is itself a search. No religion can substitute for the kingdom or fill the vacuum in man’s soul. The hunger of the human heart is for the lost kingdom.

The teachings of Myles Munroe in many of his other books, particularly his ideas about potential, purpose, vision, and manifesting “glory” in one’s life all come together under the rubric of the kingdom concept. All that we are and all that we are gifted with is to be used to carry forward God’s universal purpose: the restoration of kingdom rule on earth. This is not so much a call for theocracy in a political sense. Instead, it is a call for a personal rule in the believer’s individual life. Only then, can the kingdom become a corporate reality. In this regard, Munroe is clear on what he believes should be the primary teaching of the church in this age:

How important to the Body of Christ is the message of the Kingdom of God? Frankly, we have nothing else to preach or teach. The message of the Kingdom is good news, and the Church exists to proclaim it. If we are doing our job, everything we are about will be Kingdom-focused; every sermon we preach, every Bible study we teach, every ministry we perform, every activity we accomplish, and every worship service we celebrate….The Kingdom of God must be our highest priority. Jesus gave us no other commission.

In my own life, both personally and professionally, I have made an earnest attempt to make these words a living reality on a daily basis. By the grace of God and with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, I have made a degree of progress. I still, however, have a long way to go. As I press forward toward the prize, I am grateful that God took me by the hand that day in 2005 and, in spite of my own ignorance, led me to something that has been transformative and highly meaningful.

I do not mean to imply that everyone should hold the same view of Myles Munroe that I do. I suspect that for each of us, there has been someone, perhaps an author, a teacher, a preacher, or another instrument God has used to speak to us at a particularly critical point in our walk of faith. For me, it was Dr. Munroe. For others, it could be any one of a number of people, some well-known and others quite anonymous.

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