A Pastor’s Prayer Journey

Two Preachers Sharing Prayers & Scripture

Archive for prayer

The Grace of Being Broke

April 10, 2009 at 11:41 pm · Filed under devotional, prayer and tagged: , , , , ,

In the course of some reading this afternoon in preparation for a blog post on Matthew 13, I read the following paragraphs from Capon’s wonderful book The Parables of the Kingdom.

These paragraphs speak to the untidy nature of the parables and strange nature of the God whose Kingdom is spoken of by Jesus. God, as it turns out, turns all of our notions about himself upside down and inside out. We do not get from him what we might expect, and he does not give to us as we might desire. Those who are first are last and those who are last are first.

It is this strange way of grace that keeps us anchored to him. It is his own strangeness that keeps us coming back to his well of grace. We know that even if all else fails, grace will not.

“In the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke, we find him addressing a group of people who are smugly content in their confidence that they are upstanding citizens—and who are convinced that anyone not exactly like themselves has no chance of making it into God’s guest register. So he tells them the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. Note not only what an insulting story it is, but also how small the prospects are that his audience will ever be able to get past its details to its point. Far from being an illustrations that shines an understanding they already have on something they haven’t figured out, it is one that is guaranteed to pop every circuit break in their minds.

“God, Jesus informs them, is not the least bit interested in their wonderful lists of moral and religious accomplishments. Imagine the scene for a moment. You can almost hear the reaction forming in their minds: ‘What do you mean, God’s not interested? We have read the Scriptures—with particular attention to the commandments. We happen to know he is absolutely wild about fasting, tithing, and not committing adultery.’ But Jesus ignores them and presses the parable for all it’s worth. Not only is God going to take a dim view of all their high scores in the behaving competition; he is, in fact, going to bestow the gold medal on an out-and-out crook who just waltzes into the temple, stares at his shoelaces, and does nothing more than admit as much” (7).

So you can be reminded of what Jesus said that day and why Capon’s words are so important:

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The trouble with this parable is in the assumption that we know who Jesus is speaking to (‘those who were confident in their own righteousness’) and the assigning of roles. This is exactly what we must not do with this parable. It’s too easy to do so. It’s too easy to know exactly who is the publican and who is the sinner and the minute we start assigning roles we have ceased being a player (either a publican or a tax-collector) and started being the one who justifies one and not the other (i.e., God). It is only God who justifies and therefore only God who can assign roles.

Jesus didn’t tell this parable to us so that we would take it upon ourselves to assign roles. He told it to us so that we would recognize the grace of God. What is amazing is that the grace of God was available to both the publican and the tax-collector, but one understood it and the other did not. That is, the publican thought he deserved it because of all his righteous acts; the tax-collector did not even though he begged for it on the slim chance that there might be some for him.

Those who are warped by the grace of God get this, sort of. These are the ones who come before God singing ‘nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross I cling.’ They recognize that they are broke, broken, and full of brokenness. They recognize that before God they are empty and need everything. These ones fall on their faces saying, “God what do you have for me?”

Those untouched by grace do not get it. They are the ones who come before God with a laundry list of their accomplishments and gifts and achievements talking out loud to God and saying, “God what can I give to you?” They have to do this because, as people who have everything already, there is nothing left for God to give them. They don’t need his grace because they don’t want it. They don’t want his grace because they don’t need it.

So God turns upside down and inside out notions of who he is and what his kingdom is like. It’s certainly nothing like we might expect. His is a kingdom where it is far better to be broke than it is to be fixed, far better to be empty than filled, far better to be the sinner than the righteous.

With each passing day, grace becomes more and more alive to those who are willing to cast all of their life on Jesus who can and does what we can’t and won’t. Grace. A sweet word. A sweet sound.

____________________

Father, I have no business coming before you. I have no business asking you for anything. Why would you want me, a disfigured and maimed sacrifice, to come into your Holiness? And yet…and yet…have you not made a way through Christ? Have you not invited me in to worship and pray and commune with you?

I don’t even know if you expect me to recognize that I am one and not the other. In all likelihood, I am the publican. I’d rather come before you with a list of accomplishments than a list of needs. I’d rather brag to you of all I have done than to be like Jesus and cast myself on your grace and cry out, “Give us this day, your will, your name, your kingdom, forgive us, lead us not.” I’d rather tell you about all the right things I did than all the wrong things. I’d rather take the focus off of you and your grace and redirect it to myself. I’d rather you not even look at that fellow over there who is in such obviously bad shape–why look at him and all his misery when you can look at me in all my perfection?

Am I not your type? Help me, by your grace, to see myself for who I am so that I will recognize that I need your grace. And, Father, pour out your grace in abundance. Spare me not, Abba. Spare not a drop, Papa. Spare not a drop.

Forgive me Father. This is all I can ask. Even though I am the Publican and I am, too ,the Tax-Collector. Have mercy on me, Father, a sinner. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Have mercy.

Amen.

Comments

Lenten Study Notes, Mark 1-2

March 15, 2009 at 1:07 am · Filed under Scripture, discipleship, fasting, prayer and tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Lenten Study Notes
Mark 1-2

I have studied through Mark in depth five or six times and taught it in various situations at least four or five times. It is my favorite Gospel of the four perhaps because of it’s quick pace, literary value, and brutal honesty. The Gospel itself is marked (no pun) by the constant use of a small Greek phrase ‘kai euthus’, which means something like ‘and then’ or ‘immediately’ or ‘at once.’ The NIV, as do most translations, I noticed translates it differently so as to give the Gospel ‘flavor’ (although it appears that the NASB is fairly consistent in its use of ‘immediately’). This creates a sense of urgency in the Gospel as if Mark were always in a hurry to get us from one point to the next, never content to leave us lingering too long at one scene. In the overall picture, we know where Mark is in a hurry to get us and by the time we get to the crucifixion the pace has slowed (in my judgment) considerably. He wants us to drink deeply at this point.

I don’t know why Mark was in a hurry to get us through the story (as a whole). I do know that Mark starts his story of Jesus in Nazareth in Galilee (1:9) and that when the story ends, after the Resurrection, he instructs his people to go back to that very place (16:7) which I take as Mark’s way of saying something to the reader like: Go back and start the story all over again. Read it again! It becomes quite circular to the point that one might never stop reading the Gospel story Mark tells which by his estimation I gather would be just fine. We are to be engaged in the Gospel story and engaging it constantly, continuously, never stopping for a breath. I’m fairly certain that is Mark’s objective even if he doesn’t say so in so many words.

Mark tells us nothing of Jesus’ birth or childhood. He begins abruptly by announcing the appearance of John the Baptizer with a quote from Isaiah (and Malachi). There’s also another aspect of this Gospel that is intriguing and it is the first verse: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Now it could be that your Bible as put a footnote saying that ‘Son of God’ here is in ‘many’ manuscripts but not ‘all’ and thus ‘Son of God’ is either eliminated altogether, footnoted, or written in such a way as to suggest that the translators are uncertain as to whether to include it or not. I’m rather particular at this point, and I hope not too contradictory. At the end of Mark’s Gospel we encounter a similar problem: Do we take the short ending and stop at verse 8 or do we take the long ending and stop at verse 20? Well, here’s the thing. I like ‘Son of God’ included in 1:1 and I like ending the Gospel at 16:8 thus eliminating verses 9-20. It’s not the end of the world if you believe differently. Let me show you why by talking just about 1:1 and leaving 16:8 for another discusssion.

If ‘Son of God’ is included in 1:1 then we, the readers, know something about Jesus that those inside the story do not know. Namely, that this story we are reading is about Jesus Messiah, the Son of God. Inside the story, the characters never quite get this. Jesus won’t let demons talk about it (rightfully so!) and the disciples are often dense (so Peter). Jesus tells people to keep quiet about it and more than once does his best to escape detection. Thus has been born in Mark the so-called ‘Messianic Secret.’ So those of us reading the story, we are whispering things like ‘duh! It’s the Son of God. How can you miss that?’ when he calms a storm (4) or drives out a herd of demons (5) or feeds five-thousand (6) for example. But what we see, those inside the story miss or they are told to keep quiet or tell no one. Until…until chapter 15 where the most unlikely of all characters makes a startling announcement at a rather strange moment in the story.

Chapter 15 is the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus and isn’t it interesting that the last human to speak in Mark’s Gospel (aside from the Jesus after his resurrection) is a Roman Centurion who was guarding the crucifixion. And do you know what he says? That’s right: “Surely, this man was the Son of God!” So it is not ironic at all then: Jesus doesn’t tell him to be quiet either, does he? This is the one time when it is alright for the ’secret’ to be out; that is, at the crucifixion. Jesus’ full Sonship is to be seen by us in the cross where he died.

I think this is most significant especially if the Gospel ends at verse 8 of chapter 16 where we read this: “They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.” Now we, the readers, are saying this: “It’s the Son of God! Say something! Say something!” And we wonder: If they said nothing, who will? Someone has to say something. Well, that’s all very preliminary to be sure, but there might be some homiletical thoughts in all that madness somewhere.

____________________

Notes on Mark 1-2 (includes questions)

At this point, I will offer a brief comment or two on a couple of the pericopes in chapters 1 and 2 and follow up this section with some prayer thoughts.

1:1-8: Here I like The Message translation (vs 7-8): “As he preached he said, ‘The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will change your life. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism-a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit-will change you from the inside out.’” Jesus would change what it meant to be clean, what it meant to be pure, what it meant to be washed and baptized. He would give these things new meaning. John says essentially, ‘I can only get you wet. The one coming after me will totally undo your life.’

1:9-13: Jesus is baptized here and immediately (‘kai euthus’) he is driven out into the desert where he is tried by the Satan. I wonder if we prepare people for baptism in this way, that is, by warning them ahead of time that once the Spirit gets a hold of them there’s no telling where he might drive them? Oh, and about the baptism of Jesus and the ‘voice from heaven’ and the ‘Spirit hovering like a dove,’ and the ‘Son in the water’…do you remember any other place in the Bible where the Spirit ‘hovered’ over the water and God spoke? (Genesis 1:1-2?) So what does this say about Jesus and the inauguration of the New heavens and new earth, new creation, new covenant? Also, see that word concerning the ‘heaven being torn open’? You know where else the Greek word for ‘torn open’ (’schizo’) appears? That’s right: The crucifixion chapter: 15:38: “The curtain of the temple was ‘torn’ (’schizo’) in two from top to bottom.” How might the baptism of Jesus be related to his crucifixion?

1:14-15: William Willimon notes, concerning Jesus’ sermon in Luke 4, his first sermon, something that fits well here too, “So one might have thought, but no-with Jesus, the attack begins in the very first sermon. Jesus, in his preaching, is a troublemaker who brings, not peace, but a sword.” (Conversations with Barth on Preaching, 197).

1:21-39: Anyone else find it ironic, or not, that the first place Jesus does a miracle in Mark’s Gospel is in the synagogue? In John, he turns water to wine at a wedding. In Mark, he drives a demon out of a synagogue. Jesus came to bind the strongman and rob his house so I don’t suppose it is odd at all that he begins by binding the strongman who sat in the midst of the worshipers. Perhaps we too need Jesus to do some house-cleaning. And judgment, wrote Peter elsewhere, begins with the household of God. As these verses continue, we see that Jesus continued to drive out demons from the midst of the people and the synagogues (1:39). It kind of makes one wonder if these demons in the midst of these places of worship were not disrupting the worship and stirring up the people so as to prevent them from hearing the Word of God spoken among them? Could we too be so blind and self-absorbed that we don’t even know there are demons among us? Or could we be so indifferent to their presence that we tolerate them among us? Or could it be that we are so weak and powerless that we believe we cannot do anything about their presence among us? Whatever the case, Jesus came among the people and began by driving out th demons from their midst. This says a lot to me about his work.

1:40-45: I love the statement, “I am willing.”

2:1-12: Again, short and sweet. I love this remark by the author of the book, “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’” (2:5) He saw their faith. Hmm. Did his friends happen to recognize a connection between his physical condition and his spiritual condition? Is that why Jesus first forgave his sins? Do you think this might be true also in the life of someone we know? Do we know anyone who is physically undone and the only thing that might fix them is to bring them to Jesus so that he can forgive them their sins? Is there a connection between physical sickness and spiritual sickness?

2:13-28: If Jesus only came to ‘call the sinners’ and not the ‘righteous’ then it seems to me that before we can hear or answer his call we have to recognize that we are ’sinners.’ So long as we are convinced we are ‘righteous’ then we can be fairly well convinced that he did not come to call us. ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ is an odd question. I wonder if these people weren’t just a wee bit jealous that he wasn’t eating with them? Maybe a better question would be, “Why are the tax collectors and sinners eating with him?” They go on to criticize his ‘fasting’ habits. Evidently, he is not fasting enough for their taste. And he is also criticized for not taking the Sabbath seriously enough to actually observe it. What we see here is something that perhaps we have lost a bit of in our quest to be the biggest church on the block: Jesus truly was concerned with people. So he eats with people who invite him to dinner and it makes no difference who they are. He refuses to ruin people by forcing them to observe old habits when a new time was upon them. And he refuses to elevate a ‘day’ above a person. “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.” So they criticize him for eating with the wrong people, for not giving up food enough, and for eating on the wrong days. What sort of people have we become when we have sunk down to the point of criticizing when and if and how people eat? Jesus is pointing out that these people are missing the greater picture: People give rules value not the other way around. The observance of a practice must never become so strict that it prevents people from practicing it with joy. Note too, that chapter 2 begins and ends on the Sabbath as Jesus helps them understand exactly what the Sabbath is supposed to be: Liberating, freeing, full of rejoicing, and rejuvenation.

_______________________

Some Prayer Thoughts from Mark 1-2

We can pray for those who are baptized because they will invariably be driven into places by the Spirit that we cannot control. They will face all sorts of trials and struggles and tests. We can and should pray for their protection and strength. Many will give up, but it must not be because we have given up on them.

We can pray for Jesus to fill our nets as we go about fishing. We can pray that those who are called to follow will follow and leave behind whatever baggage that has weighed them down. Many still carry around nets. Jesus calls us to a life without a net.

We can pray that Jesus drive the demons out of our churches. They are there. They lurk. Open our eyes Lord, that we may no longer be indifferent to their presence.

We can pray that he will raise up a generation of pray-ers. (1:35). Isn’t it striking that Jesus, the Son of God who possesses power enough to drive out demons, survive a wilderness of trials, and preaches the Kingdom still must pray? We too must be people of prayer. Pray he raise up a generation of pray-ers.

Dare we pray that God would stretch out his hand and heal lepers, raise the dead, cause the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the mute to speak, the paralyzed to walk, and the demons to be gone? Is God’s hand too short to do this in our generation?

We can pray for more people to sit and eat meals with tax collectors and sinners. We can pray that more of us would be so attractive to others that tax collectors and sinners would invite us over to their house to eat and enjoy dinner. When was the last time a ’sinner’ invited you over to their house to eat food? Would you go? Make this a simple prayer this week: “Lord, let some sinner I know invite me over for dinner.” Do you know any ’sinners’? That might be a place to start too.

The bridegroom is not with us. Have you fasted recently? Maybe now is the time to fast?

When was the last time you took a break? A Sabbath? If Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, a mere day of the week, then is there anything he is not Lord of? So examine yourself in the Lord: Is there any part of yourself that you have not submitted to His Lorship?

Finally, pray for Gospel preachers. Mark says that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the beginning of the Gospel. Then Jesus comes on the scene and starts preaching ‘The time has come. The Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the Gospel!’ Lord prepare us to repent. Lord prepare us for the Kingdom come near. Lord prepare us to hear the Gospel. Lord prepare us to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom come near. May your will be done. May your Kingdom come. Let the Gospel be on our lips.

I hope these, admittedly, preliminary thoughts are helpful to you in your prayer life and your study of Mark’s Gospel. We learn a great deal about Jesus in these two fast-paced, whirlwind chapters. There’s much more to learn as Mark’s Gospel progresses.

Comments (1)

Confession of a former Political Activist

March 12, 2009 at 9:50 am · Filed under prayer and tagged: , , , ,

Father,

I have been wrong.  Certainly this is not a surprise to you.  My sin is believing that I could change the World through politics rather than through you.  I am opposed to abortion.  It crawls under my skin to think about gay rights.  I am not a supporter of our president.  The list could go on.  But the truth keeps hitting me in the face.  My calling in life is not to change the political arena as much as it is to proclaim Christ.  Lord, I have not been faithful in this area.   And for this I ask for your forgiveness.

Certainly you are not opposed to those in government that do right.  You want us to stand for the widows and orphans.  And this we must do.  But to believe that this will happen through political means is as ludicrous as believing that I can save myself.  If I have learned anything it is this:  I am powerless to change anyone including myself.  Hearts will not change because of law.   Thousands of years and the cross of Christ proves that the only change that will come is when people surrender to your Lordship.

Father this is my prayer.  I want to see the unborn in this World.  I want to see those confused in a homosexual lifestyle find peace in you.  Lord I want to see the World change.  So it is to this end that I will work.  No longer focusing on the politics of this life but to point people to you.  You alone Lord will change this World.  You alone will change a scared pregnant mothers heart.  Only you Lord will help a confused person see who they really are in you.  Today I lift up Jesus.  Today I want stand for you.  Today, I am no longer a political activist but a disciple of Jesus.

Comments (5)

Lenten Study Notes, Matthew 1-2

February 25, 2009 at 10:58 pm · Filed under Scripture, prayer and tagged: , , , , , ,

I’m involved in a FB study group for Lent. We are reading two chapters per day through the Gospels with the intent of reading all four Gospels by Easter. Here’s the study notes I posted for today. jerry

Lenten Study Group Notes
Matthew 1-2
February 25, 2009

The thing that struck me most as I read through Matthew 1 is the number of different ways that Matthew identifies Jesus. In chapter 2 of Matthew we see how the birth of Jesus upset the entire order of things in the world. In this brief study, I’d like to note these for you and perhaps offer a comment or two, and close with some prayer thoughts that we can derive from this different names. These are somewhat random thoughts. I’ll post new thoughts when I can or feel moved to. I encourage you to do the same so we can all share from God’s leading. Be blessed in your reading and study. jerry

1:1-17…The genealogy might seem like a meaningless contribution to the gospel story, but in fact it is an integral part of it. This genealogy begins by telling us it is about Jesus, the Messiah (v 1). It ends by noting that this is the genealogy of the Messiah (v 17). Mixed in the genealogy are the major signposts of the gospel story: Abraham, David, and Exile. By beginning and ending with Messiah, who is Jesus, we are to understand that Messiah is both the root and the stump. He is the beginning and the end of the genealogy. The word Messiah has to do with anointing as in ‘anointing a king’ (see Psalm 2). This genealogy is the family tree of the true King of Israel.

1:18-25…In these verses we see a few other identifying names of Jesus. He is Jesus the Messiah (v 18). He is Jesus who will ‘save his people from their sins’ (v 21). He is Immanuel who is ‘God with us’ (v 23). He is Jesus (v 25). The author is heaping up name after name for his readers so that there can be no doubt about who is Messiah, who will save his people from their sins, who is God with us. His name is Jesus. There is nothing ‘normal’ about the circumstances surrounding this birth. His conception was by the Holy Spirit (v 18). His birth was protected by angelic proclamation (v 20). His birth was the fulfillment of Scripture (v 22).

2:1-18…Bethlehem is the ‘town of David.’ So it seems to me that even being born there was to invite the scrutiny of those in power. When the Magi ask their question, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?’ they invite further scrutiny. The readers sees this working itself out in the person of Herod. Perhaps the word ‘disturbed’ here is a bit weak in the NIV. What I see happening here is that the political kingship of Herod is being undone. Notice how he is being threatened, shaken to the core, by the mere mention of the birth of this child. Would this child upset the order of things? (Luke’s first couple chapters highlight this subversiveness with even more intensity.) I don’t find it odd, however, that the Magi go to Herod and Matthew doesn’t tell us that they in any way recognize his political power. That is, he doesn’t tell us that they give him gifts or that they worship him. Yet Matthew does tell us that this is exactly what these Magi do when they come into the presence of Jesus. Is it any wonder then that Herod is so angry? Jesus was taking all his glory and subverting the order of things, undoing the power structures of the day, crushing the power-brokers. I also note how it is that God is not uninvolved in the world. He interacts with the people, he breaks into the affairs of people, he subverts kings, he outwits the powerful (and they can do nothing about it at all), he protects some (but not all), and God does things in the lives of people that cause people to get really angry (to say the least). The rule of the kings of earth can bring nothing but weeping and great mourning.

2:19-23…But like all kings, Herod died. For all his rage, and anger, and venting of fury, Herod still died. Nevertheless, perhaps we are meant to understand that the spirit of Herod continued to thrive in the person of his son Archeleus.

Thoughts

1. How does the genealogy reinforce our confidence in God’s faithfulness? (Pay particular attention to the morally weak men and women whose names are included in the genealogy. It should bring us comfort and hope that if God can and did and would use them, that perhaps we should not be too quick to overlook the flawed and weak in our own time—since it seems that even God doesn’t.)

2. What can we learn about what God means to do in the world through Jesus simply by looking at the different ways Jesus is identified in chapter 1? (How does he ‘save from sins’? What is ‘God with us’ (see Matthew 28)? What is ‘Messiah’? What is ‘out of Egypt I called my son’? What is ‘he will be called a Nazarene’? etc.)

3. Note the various ways that Matthew tells us the birth of Jesus subverted the power structures of the world. Do you suppose that his birth still in any way subverts power structures in our world? (We don’t take too much note nowadays about how the birth of Jesus is subversive. For us, Christmas is much more passive and fluffy.)

4. Matthew begins his Gospel (chapters 1-2) by defining for his readers the nature of the Jesus Reign. Pay close attention to the Royal overtones in these chapters. Make note of them. Mark them out. Define them. Do you think Christians have too weak a conception of the Royal rule of Jesus Messiah? How can this be corrected?

Prayer

Perhaps we need to pray more about this rule of Jesus. How can we pray that the rule of Christ break in even in our world now? How can we pray that he undo the power-brokers of our world? We should. The birth of Jesus also brought pain to some because those in power didn’t understand the birth of Messiah. Those in power feel threatened. Pray that the Lord will show us how we can bring comfort to those who hurt. Pray the reign and rule of Christ be hastened (‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done’). Pray there will be obedient servants who will follow God’s leading (as did Mary and Joseph). Pray for those who search the Scriptures now (note the emphasis of Matthew on the fulfillment of Scripture).

Comments

Devotional: Colossians 1:10: A Life that Pleases God!

February 13, 2009 at 10:52 pm · Filed under Scripture, devotional, prayer and tagged: , , , ,

This is a re-post from Life Under the Blue Sky, a blog you should visit often. It is part of a longer series of blog posts that will cover the entire letter to the Colossian church. This post deals with prayer and I thought it would work well at the Prayer Journal. I hope to begin updating the prayer journal again with prayer thoughts for your journey. Thanks for stopping by.-jerry

Day 9, Colossians 1:10: A Life that Pleases God!

“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.”

“Christian living is that which, through the knowledge of God, is constantly bearing fruit and increasing in good deeds. Here, the emphasis is on the essential link between right beliefs and righteous conduct. In the end, false teaching is known by its fruits, or rather lack of them, for observation does not discover a clear link between claims to possess gnosis and actual goodness: whereas an awareness of God’s gracious acts towards us should lead to many gracious acts from us towards others.”—RC Lucas, Colossians, 39

Prayers have a point. We are not merely whispering into the wind and hoping that our prayers land somewhere or near someone. Nor, for that matter, was the apostle content to pray prayers that were the mindless ramblings and incoherent mutterings of someone who has no knowledge of the true God. Everything Paul did was to an end; prayer was no different.

I take the two phrases, ‘live a life worthy of the Lord’ and ‘please him in every way’ to be parallel ways of saying the same thing. I might also say this: How does one please the Lord? How does one live a life worthy of the Lord? Then he goes on: Bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. Let me take each one at a time.

First, live a life worthy of the Lord. I don’t think this is terribly complicated, but I think we make it terribly complicated. We seem to forget, for some reason, that we are not being asked to do something we have not been empowered to do. In other words: We can live a life worthy of the Lord! We are expected to continue living, but now the manner in which we are living is different. It used to not matter if we lived a life that was worthy of the Lord; we used to have no power to do so. But now things are different: Now we should because we can. We don’t quit living once we find ourselves in Christ. There’s a lot living to be done and those in Christ must do so in a way that is worthy of the Lord. I’ll leave it at that. ‘Worthy’ is a loaded word. Doing something now that was once simply beyond our imagination, capability or desire still strikes fear in many. Nevertheless, as we shall see, the longer we walk with the Lord, the more we know Him, the more we will understand what ‘worthy’ means.

Second, we are to please him in every way. Pleasing. Not only are we living, but we are to be pleasing him also. Here is what Jesus said concerning this: “By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me” (John 5:30). Jesus’ ambition, his goal, was to please the Father who sent Him. I think what this means is that Jesus would never do any such thing that might notplease the Father. This means he was perfectly fair, just, and reasonable. It meant that it pleased the Father for Jesus to die; Jesus died. It meant that Jesus did not seek to go about satisfying his own ambition or desire, but only that of God. It means that Jesus was the first to ‘take up his cross and deny himself.’ Well, I won’t argue with you if you say that it is not always easy to ‘please God in every way.’ On the contrary, we wage war against the flesh because there are pockets of resistance. We still, even after we find ourselves in Christ, want to please ourselves. So he expects us, too, to reflect God’s character too in all that we do. It means the often difficult and terrible work of self-denial. It means that disturbing work of not pleasing the self. It means the complicated work of learning when it is appropriate to do so.

Third, we are to be bearing fruit. The New and Old Testaments are filled with this idea that a good tree will bear good fruit and a bad tree bad fruit. It is also consistent that fruit will be born in some way, and that by our fruit we will be identifiable. The Fruit we bear is a strong indication of our identity and to whom we belong. Jesus expressed it this way in Matthew 7:

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”

I wonder if Paul is making this statement, ‘bearing fruit in every good work’ because it is possible that some Christians might just get lazy and forget that we are called to living, that once we have been raised up from the grave, we are not to find ourselves slumbering therein any longer. If false prophets then are recognized by their fruit, how much more will the Christian be recognized by hers?

Finally, and here is where everything comes together, Paul writes that we are to be growing in the knowledge of God. This growing seems to be the catalyst by which all of our living, pleasing and bearing get their start and get their energy to continue on day after day. Growing in the knowledge of God. Here’s what else Paul wrote about this:

33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34″Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35″Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?”
36For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

What better way to live our lives? Living, pleasing, bearing and growing. It sounds like quite a remarkable manifesto for living the Resurrection life, doesn’t it? As we grow in our knowledge of God, won’t our living a life worthy of him become much less complicated? As we grow in our knowledge of God, won’t our pleasing him in every way become far more important? As we grow in our knowledge of Him, won’t our bearing of fruit become far more productive? Yet also, as we do these things—living, pleasing, and bearing—won’t these things lead us to a greater understanding of God?

And these are the things that Paul never stops praying about for the Colossian Christians. It sort of puts a new perspective on the nature of prayer and on what our priorities ought to be during prayer. These things give meaning to our prayer that is far greater than the mere stringing together of words that some prayers are. Here’s what he prayed:

“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”

Does this, in any way, resemble our prayers? Is this, in any way, the content of our own conversations with the Lord? Perhaps if we find ourselves struggling with living a worthy live, pleasing the Lord, bearing fruit, and growing in knowledge of God—perhaps, it has something to do with the content of our prayers, the intent of our prayers, and the purpose of our prayers. Perhaps the apostle ought to be our guide in these matters.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Comments

Developing the Language of Prayer, part 2

October 28, 2008 at 4:02 pm · Filed under Scripture, prayer and tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friends,

Developing the Language of Prayer, pt 2

In this ongoing, periodic, series of posts on prayer, I am learning how to develop the language of prayer by praying the Scriptures. In this post, I would like to look at some of the simpler prayers that are being offered in the Scripture. These prayers are often only two or three lines. Sometimes one sentence. Sometimes they are quotations of Scripture. In all cases, they express a very human side of prayer. This means, the fear, the needs, the ambition, the sorrow, the pain. It means, whatever experience the person was having, that became their prayer. Furthermore, their prayers became, for us, Scripture.

Eugene Peterson writes, in his newest book Tell It Slant that prayer is one of the most fundamental aspects of our humanity and that when we lose that aspect of our lives, we are actually depriving God of something: “Prayer may well be the single aspect of our language most in danger of losing touch with the sheer grittiness of our humanity.” He goes on to write, “A realization and embrace of our basic neediness, our poverty, is a necessary precondition for the employment of the imperatives in the prayer and parable [in Luke 11:1-13]…We do not become less needy, less dependent when we pray; we become more needy, more dependent-which is to say, more human. When we pray we dive ever more deeply into the very human condition from which sin alienates us and Christ saves us” (54, 55).

We cannot, then, escape prayer. We will and must pray. It defines us. We are, in effect, beggars who are constantly in need of someone’s help. But Peterson’s point is not that prayers somehow always satisfy the needs we have or get us the help we need. It’s not that our prayers are or (ever) should be designed to get us wealthy or otherwise less dependent. No our prayers teach us to become more dependent. The more we pray, the more we realize we are needy, the more we realize we lack.

What I’d like to do in this post is show you some of the shorter prayers in Scripture that are often overlooked or simply skimmed over by the reader. We must not forget, however, that these are prayers that were prayed. What is amazing about them is that they are prayed in the midst of everyday life and living. It’s almost like the people who prayed them are just walking down the road, thinking about this or that or the other, and they offer up a short, what we might call, one-liner. Often, God honors their prayers and answers them well. I’ll post a few of these and then perhaps make a comment or two about them and their context.

Prayer 1

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

“Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” 10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.”

Probably no prayer has been more abused or misunderstood than the so-called prayer of Jabez. I don’t believe for a minute that this prayer is meant to be a thesis for those preachers who hawk a certain prosperity-gospel which is no gospel at all. What we can say, however, is that this is a man who was not going to make a name for himself. He asked the Lord God to remove the reproach of his family. He was asking the Lord to guard him against what he inherited from his family, what is signified by his name: pain. Many in our world try to make names for themselves; Jabez asked the Lord to make his name.

Prayer 2

2 Samuel 24:10

“David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men and he said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a foolish thing.”

David had made a major error in judgment by ordering a census of the fighting men of Israel and he was rebuked by the Lord. What is amazing about David is that he sinned a lot-and every time he did he repented before the Lord. I was thinking last night about how tough David was and about his mighty men, and The Three. These were not men you wanted to fight in a bar on Saturday night. But there’s that other side of David-the side that weeps before the Lord because of sin, or cries out to God in repentance, or begs the Lord like a simple child. David here shows us that the mightiest among us, the greatest of kings, are held responsible before the Lord when it comes to sin. There is a remarkable aspect to this prayer: David’s humility. It is a feature that the Kings of Israel and Judah would sufficiently lack. David teaches us here about the connection between prayer and repentance.

Prayer 3

Luke 23:34

“Father, Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Jesus actually prays several prayers from the cross and I will mention those as well. But this one-oh my!-this one takes the cake. Nails are being shoved through his skin and bones and muscles. His flesh is being ripped and torn. Blood is pouring out him. His back is flayed. Blood is streaming down his face from the crown of thorns. There, the King, and he has the audacity to pray, “Father, forgive them!” I have to be honest when I say this is one of the most difficult prayers in Scripture to understand and one of the most difficult prayers in our mouths to pray. But it demonstrates for us that it can be prayed. Dare I go so far as to suggest that it must be prayed? Here in the midst of something as horrible as death, Jesus prays for forgiveness for others-while those very ones he prays for are the very ones doing the killing. If this prayer doesn’t cause you great consternation then I don’t suppose anything will

Prayer 4

Luke 23:46

“Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit.”

This is an 8 word prayer. 8 words! Often we think that in order for our prayers to be effective or meaningful they have to be full of words, stuffed full with language, and sounds, and syllables, and mighty paragraphs, well crafted sentences. Jesus sums up our neediness in 8 words while he hang there dying. 8 words to demonstrate to the world, to all who would hear, that his trust was place in only one place: His Father. He entrusted himself to no one else but His Father. Only His Father was worthy of his Spirit. Only His Father was capable of keeping His Spirit safe. 8 words. I wonder if, in times of great difficulty, we have the courage to pray these same 8 words. Jesus prayed them while dying, can we pray them while living?

Prayer 5

Matthew 27:46

“Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachtani?” (or, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?”

Sometimes this is called the ‘cry of dereliction.’ Actually, it is a quote from the Psalm-#22. The problem I have with this is that too many people try to simply rationalize away this cry. There are times in life when we truly are alone-set free to roam the wilderness. There are scary times when God feels miles and miles away. But what else are we supposed to cry out? This is from the same David who once prayed, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with me.” What sort of highs and lows are there that we have to contend with in life? And why shouldn’t we pray exactly the way we feel? I love that Jesus had the Scripture on his mind and his heart and his lips while he prayed: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?” When Jesus prayed this Psalm on the cross, he legitimized using it for prayer and he legitimized David’s ‘feeling’ of abandonment. Sometimes we are dreadfully alone and we must tell the Father how that is.

Prayer 6

Luke 22:42

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.”

I wonder what is harder to pray: Father forgive them? Or Father, your will be done? Yet this was Jesus’ prayer. I suspect, and I have no proof, but I suspect that Jesus learned this prayer from his mother Mary. Remember in Luke 1 Mary prayed, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38). That is no easy prayer to pray, but there it is. These prayers we pray must be grounded in this fundamental idea that we do not first belong to ourselves, but that we first belong to the Lord Jesus. Can we do his will? No. Are we afraid to do His will? Yes. Will doing his will always mean that life is pleasant and accomplished? No. But what is the bottom line to doing God’s will instead of our own because it is certainly not so that we ourselves will look good or feel good or win friends and influence people. It think it is some far grander than that: “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your Name!” And that, my friends, is the essence and purpose of submitting ourselves to the will of God. Your will be done.

There are six short prayers then. These prayers help us develop the language of prayer by turning our thoughts back to God. The Lord teaches us to pray through difficulties, through abandonment, through sin, through trust issues, through issues of submission to the Lord’s will. It’s not necessarily that it is that simple or that prayer can be neatly packaged or that words can be so tidy. Rather these are examples of the sort of language that might be used or, better, of what language is capable of. These prayers come from different people in different situations and circumstances. We do well to remember that prayer is not confined to the church building or to the closet. Pray is offered in a garden, on the cross, in a field, or along the road. Wherever we are, then, we are free to pray. Whatever we feel, we are free to offer as prayer. Whenever it is, we must pray. Not a minute goes by nor a circumstance arises that our hearts should not be tuned to prayer.

I hope this helps you develop your prayer language.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Developing the Language of Prayer, pt 1

Comments

Life Under the Blue Sky

October 16, 2008 at 2:30 pm · Filed under Scripture, devotional, discipleship, prayer and tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Friends,

I feel like it has been forever since I had a meaningful post here. I need to write this morning, but in a non-connected sort of way. I have some rumblings I’d like to share with you from the past week or so.

First, I learned something interesting about ‘church’ this week. Tuesday night I went to visit a young couple who have been worshiping with our congregation. I was feeling rather pleased with myself when the husband said, “I really enjoy your preaching. It really gets deep and feeds me spiritually.” He’s a Catholic and he and his wife have been worshiping at what might be called a ‘PD’ Church and they are in their 20’s. Wow. Then Wednesday morning I went to FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) at the local Middle School where I work. We were doing sort of a survey of the kids and one of the questions was, “So when you think of church, what word comes to mind?” My 7th grade PK spoke up, “Boring.”

I guess that just goes to show that no matter what sort of congregation one has or worships with not everyone will be pleased.

Second, I watched the latest installment of Rambo this week, Rambo. It was an interesting movie. It featured some Christian missionaries who hearts were bigger than their brains and, of course, a lot–I mean a lot–of bullets. Stallone raised some important questions about war, violence, justice, peace, and, I think, Christianity. The film was unbelievably violent. I didn’t know that the human body could be shredded in so many ways (I thought once I had seen “Saw” I had seen it all.) Stallone took it to a ‘whole nover level.’ The film wasn’t the best Rambo I have ever seen: the dialogue was full of cliche, too fast, too predictable. Furthermore, I tend to disagree with the idea that nothing changes–even though I have argued otherwise here and elsewhere in the past. But the violence and horror and blood: Oh, it was glorious!

I guess it just goes to show that no matter what the plot or how bad the dialogue I will tune in to a film where the bad guys get eaten up by .50 caliber machine gun bullets, in a variety of ways, and the hero lives (Oh, and where a once pacifist Christian grows a set and bashes in the head of a child of Babylon).

Third, it has been a long week. Last night, I had a huge ‘family discussion’ with my youngest son, who is in 5th grade, because he just refuses to do his homework. Then his teacher, a 20 something just out of college who knows all about raising recalcitrant and stubborn children and what is the best way to educate them, sends me email informing me of how my son is ’still not turning in his homework’ as if to say, “You freaking moron, why won’t you make your son do his homework. I have been over this with you a hundred times now. Are you dense.” I want to respond to her e-mail, but I let my wife instead. My son simply does not see the point of doing ridiculous math problems where he has to, and I quote, ‘interpret the remainder.’ What does that mean? I can’t blame him; I hate math too. He says, in an all too eerie imitation of his father, “I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Why do I need to do story problems?” Oooooohhh. I get it. I really do.

I guess it just goes to show that no matter ‘important’ the work to be done, there will always be someone who refuses to see its value or significance.

Fourth, I can’t pray this week. I don’t know why. I have prayed a little. I have been reading my bible.  But I just cannot seem to find the energy to pray. My dad lost his job again. My brother had to be evacuated from his house in CA due to fires. My mother, I am convinced, hates me. I fought with my sons yesterday and hurt my oldest son’s feelings. I go to bed early and can’t get up. My wife and I were getting along and then I snapped at her again this morning. One of the ladies wants me to, get this, hang curtains at the church building this afternoon. What? Is that why I’m around here? Is that what my degree prepared me for? To hang curtains? You’ve got to be kidding me. I can’t pray this week. I’m stuck in a funk. Plus, on top of that, I just finished reading Joshua. And for the first time in my life, the book of Joshua frightened and confused me.

I guess it just goes to show that no matter how much is going right in a person’s life there will always be enough wrong to sap the strength, the joy, and the communion. Rich Mullins said it best, “It’s hard, yes it’s hard. You know it’s hard to be like Jesus.”

Fifth, I’ve been lurking this week; reading; watching; listening. The world of the blog is a complex place. One day I think, “I’m done with blogging.” The next day, I get 200 hits on my blog and change my mind. What amazes me is the depths that people are willing to go to in order to be right. (It was my oldest son who confronted me with this hard truth last night. I won’t tell him, but he was right.) I have trouble living with myself just because I am, so I don’t know how some bloggers live with themselves when their sole purpose in life and writing is to destroy everything that is not of themselves. I have to admit that sometimes I wish I had never started blogging. It’s a terribly depressing place at times. I think I’ll start praying for a worldwide crash of the blogosphere. Nah. I’m too vain for that. Someone said to me the other day, “The problem is that some bloggers are more in love with theology than they are with Jesus.” Gawd, I hope that is never me. I love theology, but not at the expense of The person.

I guess it just goes to show that everything that is a blessing is also a curse. If we find some joy while we are here, perhaps there will be distress from some place else. Thankfully, Jesus can be found.

Sixth, and finally, the world is uh, messed up. I am frustrated because there is so much hate, so much greed, so much violence, so much fear, so much disaster, so much death. Really, this place is too much. I hate it here most of the time and yet I lack the necessary courage to constantly pray ‘maranatha!’ Really, this place needs some serious help because I’m just pessimistic enough to believe that it is not going to get better before it gets worse and with presidential elections looming, taxes likely to go up, the ever-present concern of when the next terrorist strike will come, the growing concern about how all the financial stuff will affect my salary (since it depends upon donations to the church)–well, that and more, my concern about the Steelers winning every Sunday and my disappointment with Jeff Gordon’s terrible, terrible year in NASCAR. Well, the world is messed up and I have just been thinking about whether or not I am doing enough one one hand, and on the other lamenting that I can only do so much, that I feel so helpless.

I guess it just goes to show that the world is in much bigger need of someone much bigger than I to solve the problems that this world is faced with just now. (I also seriously doubt that either presidential candidate is going lessen my anxiety.)

It’s only Thursday. I have band practice and a board meeting tonight. I have a wedding rehearsal tomorrow. I have prayer meeting and a wedding on Saturday. Somewhere in the midst of all this I have to write two sermons. I don’t know if I can write sermons this week. Maybe I’ll just watch some more baseball and hope that the Red Sox get clobbered again. One can dream, can’t he? Happily, on Sunday, I can worship with my friends. In the meantime, I’m glad to know you and happy you stopped by for a visit today. Perhaps some of my angst can touch you and point you to Jesus. I’m sticking with Jesus today. I hope you are too.

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)

I think I’m getting back into prayer shape. I hope you will join with me.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Reprinted courtesy of CRN.info

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , ,

Comments (2)

Prayer Thoughts, October 7, 2008: Psalm 40, pt 2

October 7, 2008 at 6:19 am · Filed under Scripture, prayer and tagged: , , , , , ,

Friends, here is part two of my three part prayer journal entries on Psalm 40. This part takes more of a section by section approach to the Psalm. I note the verse I begin with in each section. I end with the verse before the next marked section. Don’t expect answers to questions. Often times when I pray Scripture, and journal it, I leave open thoughts in order that answers might come from the prayers themselves. That is, learning to wait upon the Lord. I have also included the Psalm for easy reference. This is not an exhaustive exegetical approach. This is praying Scripture in all of its honesty, ambiguity, and personal-ness. That is, I try to make the Psalm mine without feeling the obligation to understand everything that the Psalmist is saying or feeling. After all, that is what prayer is. jerry

Prayer Thoughts   October 7, 2008   Psalm 40, pt 2

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.
4 Blessed is the man
who makes the LORD his trust,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.
5 Many, O LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.
6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but my ears you have pierced;
burnt offerings and sin offerings
you did not require.
7 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll.
8 I desire to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”
9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips,
as you know, O LORD.
10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD;
may your love and your truth always protect me.
12 For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to save me;
O LORD, come quickly to help me.
14 May all who seek to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
be appalled at their own shame.
16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
“The LORD be exalted!”
17 Yet I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O my God, do not delay.

On the day that I made these notes (September 11) I was unfocused on ACTS and more focused on the text itself. I made a few random notes about the verses in preparation for prayer. I include a verse number beside the particular thought I had.

Verse 1. He waited for the Lord and the ‘Lord turned to me.’ Does this mean that the Lord had turned away from him for a time?!? It’s a terrifying thought, to me anyhow, that perhaps there are times when God has turned his back to us—that is, not listened to our prayers. I suppose at times when prayers go unanswered we think this is the time when he has done so. But the Lord did a lot of things here in the Psalm: He turned, he lifted, he set, he gave, he put…All these things the Lord did so that the people might ‘see’ and ‘fear’, not David, but the Lord himself; the Lord. He also wants faith. In other words, God made himself known in order that he might be known by faith. Those who do so, David says, are blessed. These are the ones who look to the Lord who made himself known and not to those whose lives are defined by their arrogance and idolatry which are, to be sure, power grabs.

Verse 5. But those who see the wonders of God are not only blessed by the self-revealing God, they are changed too (8). David continues to say that this God he has come to know will be talked about, and declared; but too, read what David says: “Here I am—I will desire to do your will. We get or become so ambitious when we know God. We want to serve him and worship him. We want to do the things that please him. Some how seeing God, hearing God, and knowing God changes everything. And David is speaking of all these things. Seeing (v 3); hearing (v 6); knowing (v 1ff). The point is that this encounter with the God who acts and saves does not leave us unscathed. It is a sad thing to see people who know God and have seen him work and do and yet they remain unchanged, unchallenged, unfermented. “You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.” (Jeremiah 12:2b) I don’t want to remain untouched by this God.

Verse 9. Another important aspect is that the one who gets to know God—through God’s self-revelation—also refuses to keep such information to himself. This has to be proclaimed—but the right ideas have to be conveyed too. None can compare with God—none; but his deeds and wonders are almost too much to talk about because they are so many (v 5). Yet David finds it impossible here to consider keeping God and righteousness, and faithfulness and mercy and love to himself (v 9-10). These things must be proclaimed in the great assembly (interestingly, ‘great assembly’ bookends these verses 9-10; who is David speaking to in these verses?) He speaks. And what else should or can a king or anyone with such knowledge do? Can we keep silent when God has done so much? Will our mouths remain sealed when God has given such a great deliverance? There is much David will declare about this God who has revealed himself, who has turned toward David and heard his cry.

  • He will sing a new song of his deliverance by God (v 3)
  • He will speak of God’s wondrous deeds—if he can! (v 5) (although at times he seems more inclined to listen than than talk, v 6)
  • He proclaims God’s saving acts (v 9)
  • He speaks of God’s saving acts and righteousness and faithfulness (v 10)
  • Eventually those David witnesses to will also speak—saying, ‘The Lord is Great!’ (v 16) I guess part of the goals is to have more and more people joining in the chorus; to have their words converted from ‘aha, aha’ to ‘The Lord is Great!’ in the great assembly.

Verse 11. Those who know the Lord will cry out to him. They will recognize in Him a Deliverer, a Protector, a Forgiver. In other words, David realizes that his prison is far more than physical. His prison is much deeper and much more complex than mere physical enemies who may be a sign of great trouble David has with sin. He says he cannot see (v 12); what can he not see? The Lord’s deliverance? The Lord himself? David, in other words, even after hearing and seeing God, still sins. He is not yet perfected. He must still recognize the sincere gap, the huge distance, between who God is and who David is. David learns much about himself when he learns about God and thus will respond appropriately to God: Deliver! I think we can look at the sin that wrecks our life as an enemy too. It surrounds us, engulfs us, consumes us. All we can pray for is deliverance. David here was being battered on all sides: from within and from without. Enemies around his house, sin within his heart. But David knows who delivers from all sorts of enemies and he turns to Him time and time again.

Verse 14. Those who seek God who has revealed himself are marked people. This seems abundantly obvious. They cannot go unnoticed by those who do not seek God. With declaration comes a certain amount of animosity from the wicked: They want to destroy. David is rightly concerned, but he is not full of fear because he trusts God. Some seek David to destroy him, but they will only meet with the Lord in one way or another. He doesn’t say if they will meet ruin or confession or not. He doesn’t say if he will be delivered from their reprobate actions or not. He trusts that God is is Deliverer, but as far as it goes, in the Psalm, we have no idea if David is rescued or not. He leaves us on an open chord—calling out for the God he has patiently waited for to not delay.

When I was finished reading and collecting these thoughts, I noted some concluding observations.

I think the question is this: Can we or will we wait upon the Lord? What if he delays? What if he never shows up at all? Do we put our trust in him or not? Do we make the Lord our trust? Do we still declare? Sing? Speak? Do his will? Wait (patiently)? Do we still trust him? Do we have confidence in his faithfullness? His greatness? His love? His mercy? His righteousness? Can we still declare with and in the assembly that God is great, even when he makes us wait? Will we trust him even when it seems that he has turned his back to us and not answered our prayers?

Soli Deo Gloria!

Comments (3)

Prayer Thoughts for September 8, 2008

September 15, 2008 at 4:29 pm · Filed under Scripture, devotional, prayer, worship and tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Prayer Thoughts for September 8, 2008

Friends,

This will be my third installment of ‘prayer thoughts’. I’m glad to share them with you and encourage you, if you wish, to leave a thought and share your own. Replies are easily accomplished here at WordPress. This week’s prayer Scriptures came from 1 Samuel, Joshua, Isaiah, and Matthew–all chapter 7s. Pray well, friends.

Invocation: Lord, God, Thous has given me another day, a day to live in Thy service and for the good of my fellow-men. I am indeed a poor tool in Thy hand and deserving to be cast aside. Forgive me all my sins for Jesus’ sake, and by Thy Spirit grant me the fitness to work for Thee this day. I beseech Thee to make me mindful, dear Lord, that I am but a stranger and a pilgrim in this world. Let me not devote my efforts today to purposes that are unworthy; let me not merely gather treasures for this world; let me not serve Mammon. This life is but a vain show; let me not search for an abiding city here. But, Lord, fasten my heart and hope on the life that is in Thee and let my striving and my desires be directed to the treasures of Thy love. As long as I am in the land of my pilgrimage, hold Thou my hand; keep me from every false path. If I should stumble in sinful weakness, grant me repentance and faith. For Jesus’ sake. Amen. (From Lutheran Book of Prayer, prayer for Wednesday Morning, page 31, Concordia Publishing House, 4th ed. 1941)

Adoration

2 Samuel 7:1-29  The hardest thing about this passage is that God told David ‘no.’ David wants to build a ‘house’ for God—that is, a temple. First Nathan tells David to go ahead; then Nathan has to go back and tell David ‘no.’ I imagine this was difficult for the prophet. It’s almost like Nathan didn’t really feel like dealing with this issue so he just presumed upon the Lord and told David to do whatever he wanted. God rebuked Nathan in a dream and he had to go back to David the next day. But the thing that is most difficult is that God told David ‘no.’ The answer to David’s prayer was ‘no.’ The movement of David’s heart was stilled when the Lord told David, through the prophet, that someone else would have the honor of building His house. Instead, in a great ironic twist, the Lord tells David, “The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you” (v 11). Kind of makes one wonder what is more important, doesn’t it? Is it more important for us to build a house for God or for God to build a house for us? (See Psalm 127; 1 Peter 2). I also found interesting the comment in verse 18: “Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said.” I wondered: “where did David go in to?” What about his posture? Does this in any way relate to what the Hebrew writer wrote, “ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we might receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” The short and long of this is that David was told ‘no’ by God, and yet David’s response was one of worship. The question for our prayers is thus: How do we respond when God tells us ‘no’? (I will explore this a little more deeply when I write about last week’s prayer thoughts from Psalm 40.)

Confession

Joshua 7:1-26 This is another troubling story because it just doesn’t seem to fit well with our modern sensibilities: why was Achan’s entire family destroyed when it was, apparently, only Achan who sinned? Worse, perhaps, is that author begins this way, ‘But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things’ (things under the ban, 7:1). The Lord’s anger burned against the people who, with the very tiny exception of Achan, had no idea why they were being punished, why God was angry, or even that God was angry. First, however, is that Joshua confessed, and the Lord rebukes Joshua essentially saying, “This is not a time for confession or repentance; that time has passed. Get up!”  It was time to root out the sin from Israel. I find it amazing that Achan hid the things under his tent—as if he were trying to lay a new foundation for his family built on the banned wealth of the heathen. Not only that, but Achan was trying to keep all this a secret, hidden. I wonder if things would have gone differently for Achan if Achan had confessed. I can’t believe that Achan didn’t feel the heat after Joshua announced that Israel would present themselves the next day. He had to tell the people, “Go, consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, ‘There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies unless you remove them.” I think Achan had a chance—and he did not take the opportunity to do what was right. Even the next day he had every opportunity: Tribe by tribe, clan by clan, family by family, man by man. He made all those people go through this project and, I suspect, confessed only because he was caught at the end. I think he showed disdain for the Lord’s Word by refusing to come forward sooner. His sin was not just coveting, but also idolatry and disdain for the Lord. Confession is a significant aspect of our prayer life both positively and negatively. The short and long of this is is simply this: We may hide our sin for a while, but it will eventually be revealed.

Thanksgiving

Isaiah 7:1-17 Key to these verses is verse 9: “If you will not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” But this was not the way of Ahaz. Ahaz demonstrates that he did not want the Lord’s deliverance. He did not want the protection of God, so he rejected the Lord; he disobeyed. The Lord told him to ask for a sign and Ahaz steadfastly refused and, thus, announced his own rebellion against the Lord. The fearless king was a shaking man. The Lord promised deliverance, but Ahaz did not believe the word of the Lord nor did he take YHWH at His word. What is worse than rejecting the word of the Lord? How many times have any of us prayed for the Lord to give us a sign of his will, his intentions, his desires only to be rejected? Here is Ahaz—with the power to ask for anything he wants and he rejects the opportunity to see the Lord’s deliverance. So that is how Ahaz thanked God. I wonder: How do we thank God when he promises deliverance? Did Ahaz not hear: The Lord had promised a Deliverer! A Deliverer! And Ahaz could only reject the Lord’s offer and the Lord’s word and the Lord’s command. But in typical the Lord type fashion this Deliverer will be nothing like what anyone of them expected: A child, the Deliverer would be. The Lord will deliver Israel with a child?! It’s rather absurd—but this boy will be a sign of the Lord’s Deliverance: “God is with us.” We can be thankful that ultimately it is Jesus of Nazareth who is Immanuel. Ahaz may have seen a temporary deliverance, but the prophecy here fully anticipates a fuller, more complete deliverance. The New Testament declares that it is in Jesus that this is true. So we walk by faith even though things may seem a bit upside down and backward and less than encouraging. We can be thankful that God has asked us to walk in faith instead of in strength. In strength we would surely fail; in faith we surely fail, but in faith we stand because there is no other way to stand. We are thankful for God’s deliverer.

Supplication

Matthew 7:1-29 So we are not to judge or at least we are to be generous in the way we judge. That is, careful; gracious. It has been pointed out elsewhere that even the generous must decide who the ‘pigs’ are when we are sowing pearls. Discerning, yes; overly judgmental and haughty, no. We must, before we discern, judge ourselves. We must be harder on ourselves than we are on others. In a sense we must be our own worst critic. I ere on the side of caution here, or at least I try. Perhaps Paul’s dictum would suit all of us well: “It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of people’s hearts. At that time each will receive their praise from God” (1 Cor 4:4b-5). Yet, still we pray that God strengthen us and enable us to discern the ones before whom we should and should not cast our pearls. Verse 12 says: “In everything do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Well, what would we have others to do us? Would we have them judge us, reject us, turn us away? Or would we have others love us? Interestingly enough Jesus says that this ‘golden rule’ sums up the Law and the Prophets and yet later he also says that to Love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…and to love our neighbor as ourselves, these also sum up the Law and the Prophets: “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commands” (22:37-40) So we pray: Lord help us to be ones who fulfill the Law and Prophets in perfect Love: Love for you, love for others. There must be a connection between these two verses (7:12 & 22:40) that is deeper than mere coincidence. How shall we fulfill these thing? How shall we love? Lord help us love! But Jesus goes on, too, and says that we should be mindful of the road we are traveling. It is a narrow road we travel, one that we could easily fall off of if we are not careful to mind our own steps. He says we should be mindful of those who are false prophets: By their fruit you will recognize them. He doesn’t say that we should go around pointing them out to others; he says by their fruit we ourselves will be warned and we should take precautions. We should pay attention, yes, but it seems that we are to be mindful of our own walk and our own salvation lest we get sidetracked. So we pray: Lord help us to be discerning about who we follow. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear because indeed, as Jesus said, there will be many who are not true. Finally, we end right back where we started: House building. The Lord told David, “I will build your house.” Now here Jesus warns us about the foundation of the house we will build, “Don’t be stupid. Don’t build on a bad foundation. If you build on my word, you will have a house built by the Lord. If you don’t, your house cannot possibly stand.” So we pray: Lord may we be attentive to your Word. Lord, we pray that you build our house according to your plans and your blueprints. Incline our hearts to your Word. We bless you, our Father.

Benediction: Lord we bless you and thank you for you Word which builds our house, narrows our walk, promises us a Deliverer, searches us and reveals our secrets, teaches us how to worship. Lord, teach us to love like you.

Semper Deo Gloria!
Technorati Tags: , , , , , , ,

Comments (1)

Prayer Thoughts September 5, 2008

September 5, 2008 at 10:56 pm · Filed under prayer, worship and tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Prayer Thoughts for September 5, 2008

Friends,

Continuing my series of prayer thoughts following the ACTS outline, I offer up these prayer thoughts from four new passages of Scripture: Revelation 18-19, Psalm 38, Psalm 95 & 100, Ephesians 6:10-20. Please remember these are not deeply exegetical studies. They are prayer thoughts on Scripture in the early morning hours. Pray well!

Adoration

Revelation 18-19 For a praise section, these verses are rather, well, odd. They speak primarily of Babylon. Babylon is the epitome of all that is dark, wrong, and unholy about the world. But I think here that Babylon is more than a small locality; that is, I don’t think we can pin down Babylon and say, ‘here it is’ or ‘there it is’. Babylon is all around us. It is everywhere. This is why early on, we hear, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.” Isaiah said, “Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds” (3:10). There will be protection for the righteous which means that the righteous need not fear the devastation that falls upon the earth, that crushes Babylon. It will not go well for the unrighteous-they have nothing to look forward to; sadly. But the righteous must live in that place-even as Lot lived among those of Sodom and Gomorrah, even as Israel lived among the Egyptians, even as Christians lived among the Romans. “Come out of her, my people.” God will remember the crimes of Babylon, but better he will remember his people and He will bring them out safely. He will call them out by name. And they will go out to be with Him. Those who are called out of Babylon will rejoice mightily. The people of God are not entirely unscathed: There will be casualties, “In her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s people, of all who have been slaughtered on earth.” (18:24) But God will be the vindication for those who have lost their lives. And even so, ‘after this’ (19:1), John hears ‘Hallelujah!’, what sounded like ‘the roar of a great multitude.’ This song is much like the song sung in Revelation 4-5: “Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.” Well, how can we not worship? This is true worship: In the midst of grief, devastation, sadness-we can still worship God because he has not forgotten us or the wrong done to us by those who belong to Babylon. Yes Lord we worship you for you have not forgotten us!

ConfessionPsalm 38 I ask: Is there some connection between his sin he confesses at the beginning (4) and the hardship that he recounts for the reader all throughout the Psalm? Well, there is, at least, a connection between his physical unrest and his sin: “Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.” By the time we read the mid-point (verse 13) David has simply run out of words. Before the Lord he has become silent, unable or unwilling to speak or say anything else. Before God we are without excuse. Before God we are without answer and all we can do is wait: “Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God.” Confession must recognize this powerlessness before God. We stand, if we stand at all, by his mercy and grace. We are without excuse and yet here is the Prophet still putting his trust in God and having faith that God will indeed rescue him. David minces no words. He lays his life bare before God knowing that there is no way to hide anything from God: “All my longings lie open before you Lord, my sighing is not hidden from you.” Open book before the Lord. Lord, I confess my iniquity trusting that my advocate, the Lord Jesus, will speak on my behalf.

Thanksgiving

Psalm 95 & 100 (100) We thank the Lord because we know the Lord. We come before the Lord in a spirit of thanksgiving. We enter his presence with all sorts of offerings of praise of thanksgiving and thanksgiving becomes our worship. But how can our worship be anything less than an offering of praise? An offering of thanks? Thanksgiving is the offering of humility. It is the acknowledgement that what we have and are has not come from within or of ourselves: Thanksgiving is the offering of humility because ‘it is He who made us, and we are his, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.’ (95) How does one sing for joy and give thanks to God when one knows at the end of the Psalm: ‘they shall never enter my rest.’ It scarcely makes sense to give thanks when one knows that the end is not at all pleasant. So how does this Psalm begin the way it does, ‘Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song’ and end with, ‘So I declared oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ What is the lesson here with respect to thanksgiving? Do not harden your hearts. Lord, we give thanks. Soften our hearts that we might not grow weary and, bickering with and jealous of one another, fail to give you thanks.

SupplicationEphesians 6:10-20 What strikes me about this passage is this: There is a battle going on all around us; there are weapons to be wielded; and, more, we are on the front lines. But sometimes it appears that we do not even have to attack-not necessarily as much as we might think. Instead we need to stand (13-14) or kneel (18-20). But if we do charge we charge forward. There is no protection for the back, only for the front. And when we charge headlong into the front-lines we pray and that sword out of the mouth (Revelation 19) becomes a weapon by which the Lord conquers through us. Our petition, Lord, is that you would give us the courage to fight this battle. That you would give us the courage to stand, to kneel, but never to run. Our supplication is that we will discern the nature of the true battle. Lord may we properly use the weapons you yourself have armed us with against the enemy and not against one another.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Stop back again for more prayer thoughts.

Semper Deo Gloria!

Comments

Older entries »