At our monthly council meeting and again at our weekly staff meeting, I asked everyone to share their responses to three questions:

How is the Lord working IN you?

How is He working THROUGH you?

How is He working AROUND you?

These questions might provide a helpful framework for a spiritual conversation between brothers and sisters.

How is the Lord working IN you? 

…refers to your time in the Word or in prayer or in worship. It understands that the Holy Spirit is always bringing about continued restoration of our hearts, minds, souls and even bodies.

I’m sensing a call to a renewed “boldness” in my faith.

It’s been about 7 years since I entered an exceptionally humbling season. (Seven being somewhat ironic for it is, biblically-speaking, an era) While humility is a necessary and vital part of our walk, it can also be made overripe and at some level become a liability. By my time in the Word, sense in prayer, what I hear in worship and encouragement that has come lately from friends, I feel that the Lord is calling in me a restoration of my boldness.

I’m both excited and tentative about this.

How is the Lord working THROUGH you?

…calls the question of discipleship and how we are pouring into others. So often, we can get drawn inwardly with our pursuit of faith, often cutting ourselves short of measuring up. Where we cut back in response to this sense of spiritual poverty is in our giving to others.

But a whole life of faith includes giving to others through what the Lord is investing in us.

I know that I was not at all equipped to practice pastoral ministry when I started. But the point was I started. Every believer in Christ has enough to give to someone else. Asking, “how is God working THROUGH you” points to accountability for how we are answering the call to make disciples. It could be happening in our homes, with our spouse, our kids, close friends or coworkers and even neighbors.

For me, I can always refer to my vocational ministry, but before that, I see it in my kids as allow God to use me to bring them in His presence and watching Him develop their hearts for Christ. The Lord uses my words and prayers over them, but ultimately, it’s His work—that He’s doing, in part, through me.

How is the Lord working AROUND you?

I’m always amazed that Jesus doesn’t need me to do anything. He completed the work of restoration on the cross and at the grave and now seated at the right hand of the Father. I’m not needed to do anything, but yet He invites me to witness the revelation of His glory over and over again, every day.

When I ask how you see God working around you, it means taking time to look at the all the ways He’s allowing you to see His unexpected grace at work. 

This week I saw an outpouring of interest in the Explore God series that we’re participating in this fall along with over 230 other churches in the Austin area. The first training session for this movement was way more attended that I would have guessed. I’m just thrilled to see a spirit for mission coming over this church.

So how about you?

How is the Lord working IN you right now?

What’s He saying? What’s He calling you on?

How is He working THROUGH you?

Who are you pouring into? What fruit/results are you seeing with those you’re caring for?

How is He working AROUND you?

What signs is God showing that are particularly encouraging right now?