Will Davis Jr.'s Blog, page 72

How to Pray Boldly

Revell Publishers has re-released my book Pray Big in a mass marketing format.

The new book is called The Power of Praying Boldly. You’ll see it in airport kiosks, grocery store book racks and drugs stores. It’s very inexpensive (5.99) and a handy small size (or digital format) and great for gift-giving distributions to large groups.

Click the video image to watch the original Pray Big promo video.

Five Simple Ways to Start Moving Toward Enough

Susie and I had the opportunity to teach this weekend at ACF on how to move toward enough. Click the image to watch or listen. Also, here is a link to ACF’s new Enough 2013 page. It includes all the message videos, the free small group Enough study guide, a place to sign the Moving Toward Enough 2013 pledge and a place to list great ideas for moving toward enough. Let’s fill it up!

If Your Husband isn’t a Christ-follower, This is for You

There is a promise in Galatians that will help you pray and be patient as God does his great work in your husband. It reads: For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness (Galatians 5:5). Paul’s emphasis in that verse is on how God’s grace, not our own efforts, changes us and makes us holy. In other words, righteousness is not something you can achieve, it is something that you can only receive. There are four prominent nouns in Galatians 5:5—Spirit, faith, hope and righteousness. There is only one verb—waiting. As God makes us holy, we have to wait and depend on him through faith to do his work in us.

Now apply this verse to your husband. As you pray for him to become more like Christ, this verse tells you exactly what’s required for your husband to change:

The Holy Spirit —Only he can produce change in your man’s life
Faith —You have to believe God’s promise to answer your prayers and to work in your man
Hope —Your prayers and the promises of God’s Word will produce great hope in you for your husband
Righteousness —Holiness and righteousness are the goal of the Spirit’s work in your man’s life
Waiting —Time is required for real life-change to occur

I hope you will talk to the Lord every day about your husband, and I hope you’ll do it with the language of Galatians 5:5.

Tell God that you trust the Holy Spirit to accomplish his great work in your man’s life. Submit in prayer to the Spirit’s agenda, not your own, for your husband.
Tell God you believe his Word and that you know he will come through for you and your man.
Ask God to increase your hope for your husband and your marriage. Pray that your hope of God’s work in your man will equip you to remain faithful and obedient to Jesus in the potentially difficult days of change that lie ahead.
Pray that your husband will hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness (see Matthew 5:6).
Ask God for the strength and grace to wait patiently for the Spirit to complete his work in your husband. Tell God that you will give him all the time necessary to complete his work in your husband.

Ladies, if your husband isn’t yet the Christian that you want him to be or think he needs to be, I want to encourage you to wait for him and to not bail out on the process. Please don’t try to manipulate the outcome and don’t give God a deadline. Your husband can change. Please be as patient in waiting for your man to mature as Christ has been in waiting for you. Don’t be judgmental, don’t become bitter, and don’t start thinking that you deserve better. Remember that you are married first and foremost to Jesus. Draw your comfort and strength from him as he works to make your husband a mighty man of God.

Finally, I want you to know that I’ve seen countless examples of God answering the pinpoint prayers of praying wives. I’ve seen men who were completely uninterested in the things of God become praying, serving, worshiping and godly followers of Christ. And, behind every one of those dramatic changes was a praying, faithful patient woman. Pray for your husband. God will answer your prayers.

From Pray Big for Your Marriage

Are You about to Sue Someone?

Before you take someone to court, before you file that lawsuit, before you seek justice for yourself, consider this:

If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? 1 Corinthians 6:1

Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother goes to law against another–and this in front of unbelievers! The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers. 1 Corinthians 6:4-8

There is a curious principle about justice in Scripture : It’s best expressed when we seek it for others, not ourselves. Think about it.

 

No Posers Please

My friend Doug Ehrgott works with a missions organization that focuses on Africa. As a result, he spends a lot of time there and meets some very interesting African people. On one of his journeys into a rather remote part of Africa, he met a tribal chief who had not yet been exposed to much of our modern culture. On that particular trip, a professional body builder was part of the team that Doug had brought with him. He told me and a few others about a humorous exchange between the chief and the body builder:

Chief (after staring for a while at the well-developed physique of the body builder): What do you do with all those muscles?

Body Builder (a little taken back by the question): What do I do with these muscles?

Chief: Yes, what do you do with all those muscles?

Body Builder: Well, I pose.

Chief: You pose?

Body Builder: Yes, that’s right. I pose.

And then at that point in his storytelling Doug inserted his own commentary, “That’s the American Church. We have all this wealth, all these muscles, and yet all we do is pose.” Ouch.

After thinking about it, I would narrow Doug’s statement a bit: That’s the typical American Christian. Most of us have so much wealth, so much muscle, so much Kingdom potential, and yet all most of us really do is pose. We look impressive. We clean up nicely and maybe even serve or give some money now and then. But when you look at our potential, when you look at the possible Kingdom muscle that God has given us, we’re really just playacting. We’re posing. And for that we are indeed going to answer to God.

From Enough: Finding More by Living with Less.

Less Than Enough: The Untold Story

The Faces of Less than Enough

This weekend at ACF, we’ll look at what it means to live with Less than Enough. Honestly, it’ll be a gut-wrenching time. It’s hard to consider what it means to have less than daily bread without getting emotional. People–men, women and children–are suffering. I hope you will attend if you’re in Austin or watch online if you’re not. It’s a message we all need to hear.

Words often don’t do justice to the pain of poverty. Below are some of the faces of Less than Enough. The final image is a link to a music video I made a year ago. It’s to one of my favorite Toto songs, The Bottom of Your Soul. It sums up well the Less than Enough condition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Invisible Piper

I saw this quote by Einstein in the Denver airport. I pretty much think he nailed it.

Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.–Albert Einstein

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. –Romans 1:20

 

Lessons Learned after 19 Years at ACF

Nineteen years ago today Austin Christian Fellowship held its first Sunday Event at the Austin Community College Theater (the original Austin High School) on Rio Grande. And by God’s grace, 19 years later we’re still here!

A very young ACF staff, many years ago

As I sit here at Waterloo Ice House (what we jokingly call ACF East), I can easily recall the lessons God has taught me in Susie’s and my 19-year run at ACF. Here are a few things I’ve learned:

1. It’s impossible to over pray. We’ve built ACF on and through prayer, and we still haven’t prayed enough. God used my experiences at ACF to teach me the principles I talk about in the Pray Big series. But even with those lessons learned, we’ve made some bone-headed calls simply because we let business and/or the tyranny of the urgent preempt our prayer times. Conversely, when we’ve done the hard work of prayer, God has both protected and blessed us.

Whatever initiative you’re involved in right now, I can promise you that you can always pray more for it.

2. God’s vision is always better than my vision. When we started ACF, I had a very clear picture in my mind of what I wanted ACF to become. Most of that vision was driven by my own flesh and by my limited experiences at the time. But as is always the case, God had different and better plans in mind. Today, ACF gives away 40% of our revenues (we’re on our way to 50%) and we have a missions ministry that reaches around the world. We also have two other ACF communities in the city with more on the way. None of that was on the radar 19 years ago. Not even close. But as we followed the Spirit’s leading we discovered a mission and vision that was far bigger and better than anything we could have ever dreamed up.

I can promise you that whatever your dreams and visions are for your life, God’s are even better!

Aerial view of our building on the day of our first Sunday service there in September 2005.

3. Means Matter. In ministry, ends never justify means. How you get to your goals is everything to God. If I build a big church and yet burn my family, friends and teammates in the process, then my perceived “success” is muted by my failed methods. In ministry health, relationships and people are always more important that outcomes. Jesus had many opportunities to set himself up as a king, but he chose the cross as the route to his Kingdom. Had he just grabbed the perceived power of a Kingdom, the entire point of his life would have been missed.

Don’t cut corners relationally and personally on the way to your goals. Means matter.

Happy Birthday ACF!!!!! And to all of you who have been part of this ministry over the last two decades, thanks for all you’ve done. Yea God.

The Perils of Living with More than Enough

What was Jesus’ deal? Did he hate money? Or did he just hate rich people? On the surface, it can appear that Jesus really had it out for folks with more than enough. But when we dig deeper, we see a real concern for those who had financial means. Bottom line: Jesus believed that their wealth might keep them from God.

We dug a little deeper on the risks of living with more than enough this past weekend at ACF. If you want to watch or listen, just click the image. To buy the book Enough: Finding More by Living with Less, just CLICK HERE.