I suppose I am a pretty reflective guy… that is, when my schedule and life are not so out of control that I only have the opportunity to think about the next thing on my calendar! There have been few things more valuable to me than the simple but powerful discipline of slowing down to reflect – to look back over the past month or quarter or year and allow the Lord to speak to me about that season. This enables me to walk forward with greater focus and greater intentionality, carrying those truths and the lessons of the past in how I chart my course in the future.

The New Year has always been one of the greatest opportunities for me to embrace this discipline of reflection. I know it is just another day, just another week – but the turning of the calendar, the challenge of writing 2010 instead of 2009 on my checks (who am I kidding – when was the last time I wrote out a check??) gives me a great opportunity to consider my life. Where am I at with my relationship with the Lord, with my calling as a husband and a father, as a friend, as the leader at Bethany Church, etc. This year, I have the tremendous opportunity to be away from the office for a few days to do some of this reflecting.

So – looking back over 2009… what are some of the key lessons at Bethany Church that I’m carrying forward with me?

1. Eschatology matters in a profound way. The study of the end-times and clear theology about how things are going to go down at the end of the age has a practical and powerful impact on how we live. You hear about pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, etc… I was your classic “pan-tribber” -  believing that it doesn’t really matter because it is all going to pan out in the end. But in 2008-2009, the Lord began to call me to the diligent study of the end-times. And as I have gained clarity about the end-times and the reality of the return of the Lord,  it has radically impacted my life – and will, I believe, radically impact my message. Revelation 1:3 gives a unique promise… “Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.”

2. Nothing can atone for a lack of prayer. 2008 and 2009 was a season of being confronted with our barrenness as the people of God – in my life and ministry, at Bethany Church, and in the American Church as a whole. Although it continues to be a battle for me personally, I have been asking the Lord to radically reorient my life around the place of prayer. Beyond me personally, on January 3rd of this past year, God gave me a powerful dream that spoke to the critical nature of establishing prayer at the core of who we are as a people at Bethany Church. I believe 2010 will be a year where we gain clarity into what that means and takes steps towards seeing this become a reality. In his book “Why Revival Tarries,” Leonard Ravenhill says, “The man who can get believers to praying would, under God, usher in the greatest revival that the world has ever known.”

3. God is really, really smart. It seems that we are constantly seeking to improve on God’s pattern for growing the church and developing a fruitful life of ministry. The simple and unsophisticated patterns and principles that we see in Scripture (a deep life of prayer, diligence in the Word of God, loving and caring for the poor, authentic loving community, the simple proclamation of the Gospel and the reality of a Coming King, and the demonstration of signs and wonders to confirm that message and the age to come) – seem a little too simple and unsophisticated to be successful in our modern and sophisticated age. So we are forever seeking to improve with our own ideas of how to grow the church – and our barrenness is becoming glaringly visible! I am not saying that we never innovate and allow the Holy Spirit to breathe creativity in how we function as a Body and how we communicate the message to our culture. Amen to that…. But I am hopeful that we will begin to return to a place of dependence upon the Holy Spirit – and that we won’t be offended by the simple “mustard-seed” nature of the Kingdom of God.

What lessons are you carrying forward with you?