Heart Soul and Might

“Vindicate me, O Lord,
for I have walked in my integrity,
And I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
test my heart and my mind.
For Your steadfast love is before my eyes
and I walk in Your faithfulness.”

Lord, as I walk in faithfulness before You, I trust You to vindicate me - it is not necessary for me to spend even a moment thinking of vindicating myself, for my life is in Your hands. I trust You. Continue to test me. I need you to test my heart and find me faithful. I can trust You because You have proven Yourself faithful and loving - Your great love overwhelms me.

“I do not sit with men of falsehood,
nor do I consort with hypocrites.
I hate the assembly of evildoers,
and I will not sit with the wicked.”

I want to live a pure life of integrity before You. Help me to live in the world, but not of it. As I encounter many circumstances that desire to lead me astray, give me the strength, character and resolve to always follow Your path, Your way.

“I wash my hands in innocence
and go around Your altar, O Lord,
proclaiming thanksgiving aloud,
and telling all Your wondrous deeds.”

All Your works are wonderful, O Lord, and I will continually praise You for Your goodness. My heart is full of thankfulness and I want to proclaim Your greatness in how I live, what I say, how I respond and all I do. May my life be a pleasing offering of praise and thanksgiving before You, O Most High.

“O Lord, I love the habitation of Your house
and the place where Your glory dwells.”

Father, Your habitation is no longer in a building, but in my heart and I thank You for Your plan that allows me to have communion at all times because You are always with me. I am grateful that I no longer need to go to a certain place to experience You personally as in the Old Testament, but can call upon You anytime, anywhere. I love Your presence.

“Do not sweep my soul away with sinners,
nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
in whose hands are evil desires,
and whose right hands are full of bribes.”

Protect me, O God, from those who would want to hurt me or mislead me. Keep my path straight and secure, ever guided by Your faithful and loving hand.

“But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
My foot stands on level ground;
in the great assembly I will bless the Lord.”

I will walk with an upright heart. O Lord, be gracious to me as I seek You and follow You. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places and I have a bountiful inheritance. I praise You and bless You. You are my God.

I recently watched a compelling DVD I borrowed from my friend Reid Monaghan (Power of Change blog) called Unlocking the Mystery of Life produced by Illustra Media. A masterful program interviewing a number of well-credentialled scientists and using incredible computer animation, we are transported into the inner halls of a living cell to observe and explore complex systems and machines that all point to one thing - Intelligent Design. The most interesting and compelling evidence of ID from my perspective explains the concept of “irreducible complexity” in looking at a rotary motor within the cell that spins at a rate of 100,000 RPM and whose parts could never have come together simply from random chance.

The evidence unquestionably leads to a Designer behind this irreducibly complex design. “Irreducible Complexity” comes from the scientific pursuit of finding life’s simplest unit which, in the evolutionist’s eyes, would be the beginning point of all living things. However, as the scientists behind this theory point out, this complex motor within the smallest of living cells cannot be reduced to it’s individual parts. The chances of the hundreds of this motor’s parts just coming together on a random chance is so infantecimal that evolution is rendered virtually impossible on this scientific discovery alone. Scientists believe they have found the unit that is so irreducibly complex, that it renders evolution an empty theory without a foundational starting point. The design of this little motor points to it’s Designer!

The A-Team Blog has an interesting post on the issue of Intelligent Design today. Worth the read.

Why is this important? Two reasons:

1. This is scientific and empirical evidence athiests and agnostics need to witness to bring them to the knowledge of the Truth that God indeed exists, and left a path by which His existence can be empirically seen.

2. We have a God who is worthy of our worship. Evidence like this should bring us to our knees in humble adoration and reverent worship of the God who, with a single word, spoke all things into being…and yet took such great care to leave out no small detail that would bring science to this point of proving His existence. This is part of His plan to reveal Himself to the world. He is worthy!

Click here to read information about PBS’ refusal to play “Unlocking the Mysteries of Life.”

Speaking of mentoring, the man with whom I’ve spent the most time over the last almost three years is not even alive anymore. Francois de Salignac de La Mothe-Fenelon was a 17th century French Archbishop in the Catholic Church (born 1651) and was a mentor to a number of younger men on the court of Louis IVX. In fact, he was given the responsibility of raising the young man who would proceed Louis IVX to the throne of France (the King’s grandson). Many of Fenelon’s writings are actually letters he wrote to some of these young leaders as they sought to walk the life of faith in the face of opposition and adversity. Fenelon’s teachings were met with resistance within the Catholic Church because they aligned more with Reformation teachings than with Catholic dogma at times, and his hope was that once his student became the King of France, he would be instrumental in the reformation of the Catholic Church and bring a real witness of Jesus Christ to France. Those hopes were dashed in 1712 with the premature death of the King’s grandson. Fenelon died not long after that in 1715 at the age of 63, but his teachings live on and continue to influence 300 years after he lived. He has radically transformed my life.

I read a little bit of Fenelon every morning as I get into the Word.

Here’s an exerpt from Fenelon I recently read concerning ‘absolute surrender.’

Inward peace comes with absolute surrender to the will of God. You need to come to a simple calmness of spirit which comes from giving up everything to God and having patience with your neighbor… The reason you feel so agitated is that you do not accept everything that happens to you with complete trust in God. Put everything in His hand, and offer yourself to Him as a sacrifice. The moment you stop wanting things to be your way, you will be free from so much worry and concern… Until you reach this point of surrender, your life will be full of trouble and aggravation… So, give your heart wholly to God and you will find peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Francois de Salignac de La Mothe-Fenelon, The Seeking Heart, p. 175

I think everyone should read a little Fenelon each day…

I’ve enjoyed reading Justin Taylor often at Between Two Worlds. Here is Adrian Warnock’s interview with Justin. Justin has been mentored in a big way by my favorite author and teacher, John Piper, and is leaving Piper’s Desiring God Ministries to head up the ESV Study Bible project at Crossway.

In this interview, he talks about the value of not only having a mentor to walk through life and ministry with, but also mentoring someone younger on issues of faith and life. I am a big proponent of establishing mentoring relationships in both directions, having been mentored by some great men of God as a younger man.

Undoubtedly, my dad, George Petak is the man most responsible for shaping who I am today. I am truly blessed in having a father who pointed me to Christ from a very young age and has modeled a life of character and integrity in the face of many challenges. I have also been very blessed to have a number of men who proactively took interest in spending time with me in the most formative years of my life: Jim Servi, Brad Bliss, Jerry Worsham, Jack Bell, Jim Johnson… and most recently, Ken Edwards. I am so thankful that these men cared enough to speak truth into my life - sometimes very hard truth. The one thing they all have in common is pointing me to the Word of God. I have a great desire to give my life away to some younger guys because I stand on the shoulders of some great men. Thank you to each of you for believing in me and for seeing something I didn’t see.

I just read an incredible book by C.J. Mahaney entitled Humility: True Greatness. This is something I wish I would have been able to read years ago, because I so deeply need it. I am one of the least humble people I know! I think it’s probably one of most people’s goals to be humble - but often also to be seen as humble by others. Isn’t that an amazing contradition?! True humility wouldn’t be concerned at all whether others actually see one as humble. That’s why this is such an issue! (And one that I struggle with daily…)

Think about C.J. Mahaney. To be asked to write a book on humility is a pretty daunting responsibility. I mean… how do you get to the point in your life and career where someone asks you to write a book with this title? Certainly, it couldn’t be written by someone who actually writes a proposal and presents it to the publisher. Can you imagine the conversation? “Uh, Bob. Can you take a look at this new book proposal I’ve put together? I’ve written a manuscript on humility… and it’s pretty good if I do say so myself.”

Actually, from what I’ve read, C.J. Mahaney IS the right person to be writing a book on the subject of humility, and others have vouched for him as well. The 51-year old Mahaney, in the prime of his life and ministry, recently handed the senior pastorate he held at Covenant Life Church near D.C. for 27 years over to 30 year-old Joshua Harris… and in the book, calls Harris his favorite senior pastor. Senior pastor and friend, Mark Dever, says this in support of Mahaney:

“C.J. Mahaney is not a humble person. At least that’s what he’ll tell you. And that’s one reason he’s so well qualified to write this book.”

But this isn’t about Mahaney. It’s about living a life that models after Christ and the humility He displayed as he walked the earth. It’s about being a servant. It’s about redefining greatness as rather than success through power, influence and wealth - through servanthood and death to pride and position.

At the end of the book, Mahaney provides some very helpful practical tips on building humility into our lives:

ALWAYS:

1. Reflect on the wonder of the cross of Christ.

AS EACH DAY BEGINS:

2. Begin your day by acknowledging your dependence upon God and your need for God.

3. Begin your day expressing gratefulness to God.

4. Practice the spiritual disciplines - prayer, study of God’s Word, worship. Do this consistently each day and at the day’s outset, if possible.

5. Seize your commute time to memorize and meditate on Scripture.

6. Cast your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.

AS EACH DAY ENDS:

7. At the end of the dayy, transfer the glory to God.

8. Before going to sleep, receive this gift of sleep from God and acknowledge His purpose for sleep.

FOR SPECIAL FOCUS:

9. Study the attributes of God.

10. Study the doctrines of grace.

11. Study the doctine of sin.

12. Play golf as much as possible.

13. Laugh often, and often laugh at yourself.

THROUGHOUT YOUR DAYS AND WEEKS:

14. Identify evidences of grace in others.

15. Encourage and serve others each and every day.

16. Invite and pursue correction.

17. Respond humbly to trials.

C.J. Mahaney, Humility: True Greatness, pp. 171-172.

Father, may I exhibit true humility every day as I learn to serve better, allow for profitable and necessary correction in my life and seek to live in light of the cross of Christ for Your glory.

A few years ago Heidi and I were pregnant with our first child - a son - and were praying about what to name him. As is the case with most parents-to-be (especially first time), every day took us in a different direction with name ideas and thoughts. What significance should our son’s name have? Should it come from family? Scripture? A great sounding non-Biblical name? As we talked, I became more firm in my desire for a strong, Biblical name for our son, and Heidi agreed. We began looking through Scripture, searching for the name that our son would carry for the rest of his life.

Soon after the decision go Biblical, Heidi suggested “Josiah.” As anyone would do, I got out my concordance and set about to research every occurence of Josiah in Scripture, turning over every stone, making sure there wasn’t an obscure reference tucked away somewhere of Josiah being a bad guy. What I found was incredible. I knew he was a king in the Old Testament, but I had forgotten what 2 Kings 23 said about his passion for God. And when I came to 2 Kings 23:25, I knew we needed to name our son Josiah. Following the narrative detailing his reforming the nation, purifying the nation’s religous practices, reestablishing Judah’s obedience to the book of the law and restoring the practice of the Passover, verse 25 says this:

“Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.”

It was upon the strength, character, resolve and passion of this Godly King that we named our first son, and it is my desire to seek after the Lord with the same passion that inspired me to name this blog Heart, Soul and Might.

I pray that the words of this blog be an encouragement and inspiration to anyone who reads them, to go passionately after God with all their heart, soul and might for His glory.