image source unknown

I have been stuck thinking about the Where's God? theme for the last couple weeks. Lately this has turned to what have we not asked God because we are afraid to get our hopes up? Let me set this line of thinking with a couple examples.

For the first example, there is a leader I know who had trusted God to bring healing for a dying loved one, yet the loved one still died. After which he continued to talk about God's love and desire to act of a Christians' behalf, but he did not seem to want to take people to that point of trusting God to actually come through. Every personal experience of God from that point on he ever mentioned was past tense. I imagine there are also other things going on, but you can see dilemma.

What are afraid to ask God for? What are afraid to place in God's hands for fear that He will not take care of it? What if God really seems to not come through?

The second example comes from the media. At a young age Ted Turner wanted to become a missionary. Then as a teenager his sister became seriously ill. He spent an hour a day praying to God for her to get well. She eventually died a painful death. Turner thought, "how could God let my sister suffer so much?" This experience seems to have been the impetus for his atheism.

What do we do? Sometimes God doesn't heal. People do eventually die. There is evil in this world. How do I pray with faith and hope not knowing if God is going to come through for me?

We need to allow every encounter of life be an opportunity to draw us closer to Jesus and allow Him to interpret the events for us. So often we assume that the thing we are praying for is best. That may or may not be the case. But if we are too upset with God for what happened or if we are too afraid to know God's answer, we will not move towards Him. We will choose to believe that either the Bible is wrong about God, or that He is not trustworthy of things that matter the most to us.

Joseph had every right to think that God was out to get him. He had been separated from his father he loved and who loved him. His brothers turned on him and sold into slavery. When he was starting to make a living for himself, he was unjustly accused and sent to prison. Then you get to the end of Genesis and you see that he knew somehow through it all God had meant if for good.

If we have gone through pain, how do we trust God again? You need to have God interpret what had happened for you. Truth is whatever God says is true, and that truth will set you free. This is not power of positive thinking, because your mind won't buy it. You need Jesus to speak to you about what He was doing during your painful situation. It will be different for each person. Sometimes He is crying with you. Sometimes He shows you He is with you. Sometimes He gives you a word of hope and encouragement. You may not be at a place to hear God for yourself if the situation is too painful. If so, have someone pray with you to support you. Where two or three are gathered He is in your midst. Whatever you do, don't distance yourself from God. He loves you more than you know. Go to Him. These are the touches we need to get us through. These are the touches we need to get us to believe again that He is good.

If you do not see God is good, you will not ask Him for things you care about. If you are afraid He will not come through, you will not persevere in prayer. If you are making excuses for God, you will believe in a God that wants to give you more than you even ask or imagine. Don't let past unanswered prayers linger in your mind. Go to God and allow Him to interpret them for you.

Image courtesy of Despair, Inc.

We all have goals for our life even if we cannot fully articulate what they are. Generally these goals are whatever we define for success. They are how we determine whether we are successful. Do you need a lot of money, plenty of friends, a few diplomas on the wall? These goals play out in what we pray. For most people this is happy, comfortable lives.

As Christians our ulitmate goal should be to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. God has created your us for a specific plan in His kingdom, so we need to pray for things that will lead to success in whatever God's role for us is. And following God will not necessarily lead to happy, comfortable lives. Look at Abraham leaving everything he ever knew to wander to a land that will be his inheritance some day. Also look at Abraham taking his only son up the mountain to sacrifice. Look at Paul going from town to town constantly getting beaten, shipwrecked, or imprisoned.

"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."
Hebrews 11:13-16

Goals are important. These people just had different goals than the world. Think through the things you are praying for and ask God if they are what He wants for you. There is nothing wrong with money, a good job, and a healthy family. But, are those your ultimate desire or are they just an means to a greater goal. Only God really knows those answers. Ask Him and allow Him to point you to what specifically He has made you for. The goal He has for you is exponentially better than anything you could ever have dreamed for yourself. And the rewards are such that nothing in this world can ever steal from you.

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Hebrews 4:12 is a wonderful verse that solidifies the importance of the Scripture. Coupled with 2 Timothy 3:16, the Bible is the very breath of God that goes to the inmost being of people to accomplish its purposes. Scripture is what our Lord shot back at Satan in the wilderness and it is the one offense weapon described in the full armor of God.

But in regards to this Hebrews passage, I (Kevin) have been thinking that we have limited the message of this verse by only thinking of the Bible. The first four chapters of Hebrews describe how God spoke in the past, how the Isrealites heard his voice, and how we are to pay attention to what we have heard. Three times leading to the verse in 4:12, the author quotes Psalm 95:7-8: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." The connotation of this passage is that the word of God is the voice of the Spirit communicating to you. It most definitely means the Scripture, but it also means so much more.

When we come to prayer, we need to take time to listen to what the Spirit is saying to us. Romans 8 tells us that the Holy Spirit and Jesus are interceding for us, therefore when we tap into what they are already praying we will be effective in our prayers. Also, in regards to this verse in Hebrews, the word of God judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. I have found that listening to what the Spirit has to say illuminates what is in my heart that is keeping me from fully believing the truths of the Scripture. The Spirit, who searches our hearts, can reword the truths of God in ways that speak right into and past the pain and hurt in our lives for us to receive its truth.

Let's look at how this plays out in a real-world example. My cousin lost her three month old son to SIDs over this past weekend. As a parent myself, I can feel the pain and sorrow that her family is going through. In the midst of this pain, it is difficult to read the passages of God's love, God's plan, God's goodness and have faith to believe it is true for them. The family is left with two options: 1. to kill the desire to know why or 2. to have an encounter with God changes them. Choosing the first option deadens Christianity. Choosing the second option lives out Hebrews 4:12.

God's word in this context is God speaking to reword His truth in ways that penetrate them past our pain and experience so we can hear and believe them. In His love for us God enters into our pain in order that our relationship may be renewed.

I do not know exactly the words my cousin needs to hear from God. I am not saying this is an easy step. What I am saying is that the voice of our Father is kind and gentle. He does not break the bent reed. He goes after the lost sheep. He never leaves nor forsake us. All of this is true because He loves us beyond what we can ever imagine possible. And, in His love He will come to us and meet us in our time of need. As we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.

Our prayers need some aspect of allowing Him to speak. Also, please pray for my cousin and others who are struggling to understand the loss of loved ones.

I received my copy of "My Utmost for His Highest" as a graduation present from high school. This book was a wonderful source of devotional material early on in my walk with Christ. Today's entry has one of the greatest quotes on prayer: "... prayer is the greater work." Today, I want to bring this classic before many of you again. For those who have not read this, please order your copy today.

From My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers

"'He will do even greater things than these
because I am going to the Father.'"
— John 14:12

Prayer does not equip us for greater works—prayer is the greater work. Yet we think of prayer as some commonsense exercise of our higher powers that simply prepares us for God’s work. In the teachings of Jesus Christ, prayer is the working of the miracle of redemption in me, which produces the miracle of redemption in others, through the power of God. The way fruit remains firm is through prayer, but remember that it is prayer based on the agony of Christ in redemption, not on my own agony. We must go to God as His child, because only a child gets his prayers answered; a "wise" man does not.

Prayer is the battle, and it makes no difference where you are. However God may engineer your circumstances, your duty is to pray. Never allow yourself this thought, "I am of no use where I am," because you certainly cannot be used where you have not yet been placed. Wherever God has placed you and whatever your circumstances, you should pray, continually offering up prayers to Him. And He promises, "Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do..." Yet we refuse to pray unless it thrills or excites us, which is the most intense form of spiritual selfishness. We must learn to work according to God’s direction, and He says to pray. "Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

There is nothing thrilling about a laboring person’s work, but it is the laboring person who makes the ideas of the genius possible. And it is the laboring saint who makes the ideas of his Master possible. When you labor at prayer, from God’s perspective there are always results. What an astonishment it will be to see, once the veil is finally lifted, all the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you have been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.

Come, Lord Jesus.
- Revelation 22:20b

William Gedney Photographs and Writings
Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/gedney.KY0472/

As Christians we all desire revival. At least we profess to this desire. But, what do you think a true revival from God will look like? For some people a revival will look like the above image. For others it will come with mass conversions to Christ. And still some others it is when a guest preacher is in town.

Let me start by saying something pretty contraversial: we do not all want revival to come. How can I say this? There is one thing I do know about revival, and it is when revival comes Jesus is in charge.  And if Jesus will is in charge, that means that you and I are not. Therefore, since I know there are many Christians not willing to give up control of their lives, then they do not really want revival.

So how do we get ourselves to want Jesus to be in complete charge? I believe we need to come to the place that what Jesus wants is what is truly best for us.

• Does He want you to talk to your boss about Christ?
• Does He want you to downsize your house so that you have more money to give to the poor?
• Does He want your to tell your spouse about the dark sin in your past?

I am not saying He will ask any of that of you, but if He does, will you believe that He is only asking something that will be for your good? When the rich young ruler approached Jesus about what he must do to get eternal life. Jesus told him to sell all he had. The man walked away because he did not want to make that kind of commitment (Matthew: 19:16-29).

It is impossible to please God without faith and we must believe that He rewards those who seeks Him (Hebrews 11:6). God wants what is best for us. God created us, so He know what is best for us. We just need to trust Him that He knows what He is doing.

I stated this post with Revelation 22:20 because I believe that when Jesus comes revival will happen. I'm not talking about the rapture, but I mean His experiential presence. He loves faith. It is our expression of love to Him.

What will it look like when revival comes to your church, your city, or your life? It will not only be people coming to Christ; it will be people giving more and more of themselves over to Christ. For Him to take charge of and to bring healing to.  Because Jesus loves us fully, whatever it will look like will be desirable for those who have already given themselves over to Him.

If this is your view while driving, you lost your focus somewhere. Now when we talk about losing our focus in prayer the consequences maybe are not as deadly, but it can cause a great deal of discouragement.

How many of us have sat down to spend time with God only to find ourselves only minutes later thinking about a deadline we have to meet later that day. Our mind can be very hard to corral. It often wanders quickly from one thing to another. You sit down to pray while at work, and then you hear your email beep. Without thinking you check it and forget about praying. Staying focused is difficult.

How can you keep your mind from wandering? Pray out loud. Verbalizing your prayers is the most effective way I have found to keeping my mind from drifting off to other things. And, when I find that I have been quiet and my mind has started thinking about what I have to do that day, I just start again speaking my prayers. Also, when I vocalizing my prayers, other distractions are less likely to get me off task.

Additionally, speaking out loud forces you to think more on what you are saying instead of just thinking general ideas. To verbalize these thoughts, we allow ourselves to concentrate on what we are actually praying. We draw out those ideas further by speaking them and thus engage more with God.  It also draws them out of our desires and wants and into the level of our heart.

This post is not to negate the power of thinking through your prayers. God is not limited by only answering those requests that come out of our lips. This post is about the issue of when our minds wander. There are ways to make prayer more engaging and exciting for you. Keep pressing on. God sees your desires and has an even greater desire to meet with you.

Image by Brendan Sceroler

"Prayer is doomed," and "I don't see that the church of the twentieth century will have any more need of prayer than it does any other form of magic." - A Prominent Theologian

"If the Holy Spirit were taken completely from the church, 90 percent of the work of the church would go right on as if nothing had happened!" - An Episcopalian priest in America

I came across both of these quotes today and was encouraged anew about the need of Christians to pray. One of the quotes came from Rod Parsley's daily devotional, in which he gave four keys to prayer. I liked the simplicity of the keys and wanted to expand them further in this post.

Decide What You Want. (Psalm 37:4)
God has placed desires in out heart that leads you into the calling He has for you. Those desires also lead us to things with which God wants to bless us. If you do not get in touch with the things on your heart, you will have no motivation to pray and your faith will become stagnant.

A quick example of how this can work happened to my wife just yesterday. She has had a busy and stressful couple days, and she was about to enter a meeting with a crying baby. As she was driving up, she had a desire on her heart to go in with a friend of hers who was also to attend. She asked God to allow them to meet in the parking lot before entering. As my wife got out of the car and heading across the parking lot, her friend about ran her over. My wife was able to go into the meeting with her friend, but more importantly God reminded my wife that saw her stress and wanted to offer her some comfort. God placed the desire in my wife, and when she asked Him this in prayer, He willingly answered.

Know the Will of God. (1 John 5:14-15)
Dr. Bill Bright was the one who really taught me the importance of this step. Within his Transferable Concepts, he taught me this important step in prayer. The particular area he was talking about was in the concept on how to love by faith. His point was that God calls us to love others. He even calls us to love our enemies. Since He asks this of us, we know that it is God's will that we love others. Therefore, through the promise of 1 John 5:14-15, we know if we ask anything according to His will, we know He hears us and will have what we ask of Him. Tremendous promise!

Another way this works is to ask God what His will is in a particular situation. When I felt that God was calling me off ministry, I set aside time to fast and pray. I was telling Him that my life was His, and if He was calling me off ministry, I wanted to know to what He was leading me. During this time of seeking Him, I felt He was leading me to get a Masters degree in Business (MBA). Here was my new marching orders. The confidence of it being God's will was not as strong as if I could tie it down to a particular verse of Scripture, but I do know that God answers us when we pray and this is where I felt Him lead me. My first step to get an MBA was to take the GMAT. I prayed for this step knowing if God's will was for me to get the MBA, He would allow me to do well enough to get into business school. By God's grace I scored in the top 3% of everyone who took the test that year. Once I got to school, I confused by all of the new language of business. Coming into the first exam, I was confused and overwhelmed. Nevertheless I continued to pray and ask God for help leaning on His will I believed He showed for my life. On this first exam, I got a perfect score.

While the entire business school process did not go as perfectly, God did confirm to me that it was indeed His will. I had left what many Christians believe is the stamp of approval of Christian service - full time ministry. God allowed me to see His favor continued to go with this new direction, and I grew in confidence as He continued to remind me that this was indeed His will for my life.

Verbalize Your Request. (James 4:2-3)
This key to prayer feels like it almost needs not to be said. It is almost like saying that the key to prayer is to pray. Of course, you need to verbalize your request. I think what makes this key more poignant to me is that idea for you to elaborate on your request. Let's take an simple example from a majority of prayers: "Lord, bless me today." I believe that Christians would increase in their faith and grow in thanksgiving to God, by explaining what it is for which they are praying.

What would it look like to you is God was to bless you? Maybe it is a meeting that you have with your boss today. What would that meeting look like if God were to bless you? Do you just want to come away and not look incapable of your job? Do you want to hear your boss acknowledge the benefits your have added to the company? What is that would speak of God's blessing to you in that meeting? These questions get at the desires of your heart. They make you aware of what it is that you really want.

I believe people are fearful of being to specific because they are afraid they are putting God in a box - that He must perform in a particular way. Being specific allows you to create a personal relationship with God. You are not tying God down with your specific requests, you are opening yourself up to be personal with God. He will not give you everything you ask. This verse in James states that for us. There will be things we ask for the wrong reasons. So whenever God does not answer a prayer in the way you expected, you can go back to God and ask why.  It is important to remember that the goal of prayer is not to get what you ask, but it is to grow in a personal relationship with God.

Bind doubt and unbelief. (James 1:6-8)
There are things we pray for that we can hold unto with unshakable faith. Whenever we pray any promise of Scripture, we can pray with confidence. Prayer that God will give you the power to love someone else. Prayer that God will give you wisdom on how to parent your child. Prayer that God will give you opportunities to talk to others about Jesus. Prayer that God will lead you to a body of believers that would encourage your faith. These are just a few of the many promises you know God has committed Himself to answer on your behalf.

There are others things that God has shown your particularly through prayer that you can also hold firmly. And there are other things you feel you should ask, but you are not sure if it is God's will. In these requests you do not put your faith in the reception of what you asked. But your faith is in the heart of our Heavenly Father who loves us immensely and who delights in us bringing our requests before Him. When you doubt God's concern for you individually, it limits your requests and any delay in the answer becomes proof in your heart that God does not care for you. A delay in the answer is not a sign of God's displeasure, but an opportunity and call for you to grow stronger in your faith. And, "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6).

If we live as if God does not exist through trusting in our own wisdom and not in a dependence of God's wisdom and strength, we will be no different than the world around us. There are many in the world who do good things, but we have the power and direction of the Almighty at our fingertips. Our lives should not only be different; they should be supernatural.

With his permission, here's what a friend of mine in Santa Monica wrote in response to my "Friend or Foe" post in response to Obama:

"Hey Ted, nice post! I'm impressed at your nuanced understanding of current foreign affairs. Props to ya!

Though at the end I'd have preferred you asking folks to pray more for a spirit of co-operation among each other regardless of party, deep scrutiny of all our news sources in the hopes to find unslanted facts (as you've clearly put effort into), and the patience to endure dissent without vilifying our neighbors.

I realize your prayers for deeper Christianity assume that to be the natural result and I do respect your inclusive, generous version of faith. But I think praying for a President to become more deeply religious is less useful to the current national rift than petitioning the faithful to put their faith in the "best intentions" of their brothers on the other side of the issues so this rabid casting of stones declines.

Granted, I'm an atheist, but I believe that when prayer has struck me as most effective, It's been when people pray to understand their brothers point of view. Something the "stereo-typical right-wingers" haven't been doing, which is why...judging from your writing...I'd never put you in that category.

You're an articulate voice in a wild time. I'll look forward to reading more of your postings." 

Wow, David. I'm honored at your feedback and for the kind words. Thank you! I want to think about two things my friend mentioned above:

"I do respect your inclusive, generous version of faith."
I think I might be getting too much credit here. Ha ha. As I was meditating this week on the book of Romans, I read that  "if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”  For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)  So in that respect, yes, I follow an inclusive religion. An analogy would be if I held a big fall harvest festival and invited everyone,  However, I simply required that admission to my party would only be granted by bringing a canned good for the local food bank. No canned good, no entrance. Simple rule. Clear, up front instruction. Those who showed up with money, perishable vegetables, used clothing, etcetera, would be turned away, or, in other words, excluded. The God of the Bible is exclusive in the same way. In John 14:6 Jesus answers, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." His manner of salvation is exclusively through Christ. It's not politically correct to believe this, just biblically correct. While God desires all men (generically used to mean "people") to be saved, inevitably since we have been granted free will, some will not respond to God's invitation. (God desires to be loved. Therefore if we were forced to obey him, would our love then be sincere? Of course not.) So my faith then, is inclusive, in that all are invited, but the Christian faith then becomes exclusive when some try to come via some other way than God's son's payment for our wrongdoing.

"praying for a President to become more deeply religious is less useful to the current national rift than petitioning the faithful to put their faith in the "best intentions" of their brothers"
Ok, so should I quote the Bible or another authority, like Randy Travis? "Mama, the road to hell is paved with good intentions." (That's meant to be funny, sort of). David, giving another the benefit of the doubt is important. I'll save the political side of any further comments for another blog site. PrayTel is dedicated to encouraging prayer. As we seek others to help others pray I am again reminded of Romans 8:26-27 which says "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will." In other words if we pray sincerely in the Spirit, but are wrong in our direction or wording of prayer, the Holy Spirit will grant us a "course correction" or rather will interpret and act upon what really should have been prayed. He, however, does want to see us involved in the humble act of prayer, which in so doing gives glory and proper respect to the God who deserves it.

Screenshot from the Jesus Film

Lately I have been hearing many people ask in prayer that God not give them what they deserve. While I know what they mean when they prayed this, something did not sit well with me. What I assume people are meaning with this statement is, "Lord, we see sin in our own lives and we know that you are holy. Your justice demands punishment. Do not punish us." This sounds humble and contrite, but it is a lie from the enemy to keep us from having confidence as we approach God.

Here is what I mean. Look at the picture above. Who is on the cross? Jesus. What was He doing there? Paying the penalty for our sins. Does he have to go again to the cross? No. I'm sorry for the simple logic, but it is important to get us to know that there is no more judgement left for us. When we placed our lives in Christ, we exchanged our lives for His. All of the negative behaviors, thoughts, and attitudes were placed with Christ on the cross. They are forever taken care of. Therefore, we have no more fear of condemnation or judgement of sins (Romans 8:1). We can now boldly enter the throne room of God with confidence because we are now hidden in Christ (Hebrews 4:16).

AND, all of the blessings that are for Christ are also bestowed on us. We are blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). Now then, what do we who are in Christ deserve? We deserve all rights and privaledges that are set aside for the sons and daughters of promise. He who has given us His only Son, will He not also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)!!!

How much does this thought change how you approach God? We can come with confidence knowing that we have what we ask.

"For sex is one of those mysteries which, like prayer, will not yield to technique, and any approach with a view of technical mastery will be doomed from the start." - Mike Mason, Mystery of Marriage

I was rereading Mike Mason's book, Mystery of Marriage this morning and came across this quote. It was his inclusion of the little phrase like prayer that stuck out at me. Here Mason is highlighting an important aspect of sex that its foundation is the relationship between the two spouses. While sex does increase the intimacy between two partners, the increase is built upon an already established intimacy. Sex does not establish deep intimacy but presupposes it. Therefore any technique in the sexual act is ultimately rewarding only by way of an already established love between two people.

Prayer is just like this. If you are so focused on the techniques of prayer, then you misplace the intended purpose. Prayer is a gift to Christians that enhances our intimacy with God. If we focus on the techniques, the good feelings, or the pleasure of it, we miss the purpose. Techniques of both prayer and sex are not the source of pleasure. The source of pleasure is the relationship. A misplaced focus only brings about frustration and distance in the relationship.

Therefore, I want to leave you with the exhortation to strive to spend time with Jesus and allow the techniques to fall in line.