You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'Scripture' tag.
Friends,
It is time now to begin updating this blog on a regular basis. I have decided that for my part I will be taking a slightly different approach to what is posted here now and instead of doing what I was doing-which there was and is nothing wrong with-I will begin posting thoughts, insights, and ideas from my daily prayer walk.
I have been using the simple prayer acrostic A.C.T.S. for about the last week or so in conjunction with prayer bulletins I have been preparing for my congregation. Here’s how this works. First, I prepare a ‘prayer bulletin’ for my Saturday morning prayer team. This bulletin includes several Scriptures that we will read each day throughout the coming week. The Scriptures follow the above acrostic (A.C.T.S.). These Scriptures are read and prayed each day for the next week and then on Saturday mornings they are read again together with the prayer team and prayed.
I will post those thoughts here (probably not daily, but more often than I have been posting here). Sometimes these thoughts are homiletical (preaching) thoughts, sometimes they are worship thoughts, sometimes they are particular questions or insights, or even exegetical thoughts. There is no particular rhyme or reason to them. They will be different each day; they will be the same each day (that I post). Most importantly, they are the thoughts that grow out of my prayer time and they are the thoughts (from Scripture) that guide and shape my prayer time.
As for the acrostic, A.C.T.S. In case you do not know what those letters stand for, I’ll demonstrate for you briefly. Perhaps you will find this a helpful outline to use in structuring your prayer time. It need not be so rigid although I do believe this particular pattern is most helpful and instructive. It properly places necessary elements in a proper position to approach the Lord. Again, this is not commanded, it is merely helpful. True prayer, I believe, comes not just from the shape of the prayer or the words that fill the prayer, but from the attitude of the heart that approaches God with boldness. In other words, I believe this outline is particular helpful and useful, but it is not absolutely essential.
The ‘A’, then, stands for Adoration. This is, in modern parlance, worship, praise, giving glory to God. It is first because it is the most natural expression of our being. Hallelujah is one of the most frequently heard terms on the planet even if half the time people do not have any idea what they are even saying. Adoration comes first because, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name.” Worship comes first because in the presence of God, what else can we do? This is what the angels do, this is what the four living creatures do, this is what Peter did when Jesus gave him a load of fish. Worship is what we do. It is what we are wired, so to speak, to do. Our first and most natural response is to worship. And even when we are not so consumed with worshiping YHWH, we will worship something or someone. The world is filled with idols for this very purpose. We begin prayer with worship also because it reminds us of what we are doing. Prayer is response and that response is worship. Prayer is not always a petititioning (although it never excludes petition) but it is always worship. Prayer is always acknowledging the one to whom we pray and as such it is worship. Prayer is acknowledged dependence upon the one to whom we pray.
The ‘C’, then, stands for Confession. I’m willing to bet that most Christians do not spend enough time in confession. But I want to make this clear at the beginning that confession has a positive and negative aspect to it. On the one hand, negatively, we confess our sins. We humble ourselves and confess to God our transgressions. We are David in Psalm 51 and Psalm 38, “I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.” Or David in Psalm 32, “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Powerful is confession; greater still is the One who forgives us and reassures us of forgiveness. We do not confess in order to be forgiven, but we confess and acknowledge forgiveness already given by grace. We confess that we might continually acknowledge God’s gracious and efficacious mercy. But confession also has a positive side to it as well.
On the other hand, we make a positive confession. For example, 2 Corinthians 9:13: “Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, people will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the Gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.” Here is an example of a positive confession by the Christians. Other examples exist too, say in Romans 10: “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus’ is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” These are just a couple of examples of positive confession that must accompany our prayers. It is necessary to make confession not just because it reminds us of ‘who we are,’ but perhaps more importantly because it reminds us of who he is and who we are praying to. It grounds us, centers us. It keeps us aware of the presence into which we dare enter.
Well, this is all far too simplified and condensed. I suspect that there is far more too this development of prayer language than I have actually written of. Be assured, however, that this is what I am interested in developing here: A language for prayer. I am interested in taking the tools that I have received (from the Scripture, from literature, from the Spirit and not necessarily in any particular order) and putting them to use. “Prayer is language used in personal relation to God” (Eugene Peterson, Answering God, 12). I happen to agree with Peterson that the best language we can use to relate to God in this sense is the language he has already given us in Scripture.
So as this series of notes develop, as I continue to dig deeply into this language, we should see more and more Scripture appearing on the page. In the next installment of this series I will examine the ‘T’ of ACTS which is thanksgiving.
jerry
Friends,
I am happy to bring you my second podcast. This is part 1 of a six part series from the Old Testament book of Leviticus. The six parts come from a sermon I did about two years ago. Part 1 is the introductory material. The sound isn’t too bad considering I do not have professional equipment. This episode is 10 minutes and 45 seconds long. Don’t forget to leave feedback after you have listened and you can use the button below to subscribe to this and future podcasts from Life Under the Blue Sky. Thanks for stopping by. (You can use the link above to open in a new window, or you can use the inline player below.)
Soli Deo Gloria!
jerry
Friends,
I am glad Christmas is over this year. It has been a very long season. I’m glad there was no snow and that the Christmas Eve worship was well attended. We had a great variety of participants this year: A family of bell ringers, a guitar soloist, a young female vocalist, a poet read her original work, one young man (my son) played The First Noel on the piano, one woman read a short work by Peter Marshall and another read the story of Christmas Bells. The congregation sang just about every Christmas hymn in our hymn books (and we did not even have to turn on the video projector!) We lit our candles near the end from the Advent wreath Christ candle. We read Scripture. And we prayed. It was one of my favorite Christmas eve worship services ever. It was sort of strange, however, reading Scripture that evening. One of our regular worshipers is married to a Jewish man who was in attendance. I wondered, as we read from Scripture–especially Isaiah, how those Scriptures sounded to him. I wondered how he felt hearing Christians claim the promises that God made to Israel as their own. Later on that evening I prayed, “Father, I want you to be glorified through the events of this evening.”
Yesterday, we visited with my in-laws. It was a nice afternoon. I was blessed near the end of the day to pray with my brother in law, Bob, who is now going through a second round of chemotherapy to treat a tumor. I was ashamed of myself. I prayed with him, his wife, and my wife in a quiet room in the house before he left. He is about seven years my junior. I don’t normally pray for miracles, but yesterday I did. I felt sort of strange praying for such intervention, but I don’t regret doing so. Then when I finished he said he wanted to add something, so he prayed: “Lord, I want my life to glorify you.” That’s what he said. Bob is a special man. I just don’t have words to describe the change that has taken place in his life since his baptism several years ago. You wouldn’t know that Bob has a tumor growing in his body and that the experimental treatments he is receiving may or may not work. He really is only concerned with God’s glory.
Christmas is a difficult time of year. I have been struggling mightily with the idea of God’s blessing. I’m trying to understand how to receive all things with thanksgiving and, at the same time, give everything away so that I don’t have to feel guilty for enjoying with thanksgiving all that God gives to us. In other words, I don’t want to give away just so that I won’t feel guilty. I want to give away because I want to give away. I don’t even want to give away because someone needs something. I just want to give away regardless of the person receiving. I don’t want to do so because I feel guilty. I do not want to do so because it does something for me. I want to give away because I can.
I prayed at the end of the worship Christmas Eve: “Lord, remind us that Christmas doesn’t end tomorrow. Help us remember that the work of Jesus didn’t end in the manger any more than it began in the manger. Lord let us always keep before us the cross whence comes the victory. Lord teach us that Christmas doesn’t end in a manger.” I’m glad the season is over–the holiday aspect of Christmas. I’m also glad that I have today to enjoy every blessing that comes from the Father.
Father, my prayer is simple, but not easy. Lord, I want to be the type of Christian who blesses others. I don’t just mean with money. Instead, I want to be one who blesses others with my actions, my words, my writing, my kindness, my faith–indeed Lord, I want my entire life to be a blessing to someone, given in faith and hope and expectation that I am pleasing You and Bringing glory to Your Name. As we passed the light from the Christ Candle on Christmas Eve so enable us and strengthen us to pass on that same light to others the other 364 days that will exist between this year’s Christmas eve and next year’s. Lord, I give myself to you; make me an offering acceptable and pleasing in Thy sight. Amen. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!
jerry
Friends,
Something will be coming soon…I have invited a friend of mine to blog with me. As soon as we have all the details worked out, we will begin. This will be a great adventure. I’ll talk with you soon.
jerry
dangoldfinch
runningwild77
Recent Comments