Category Archives: prayer

The Dumb Thing

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One of the oldest bits of wisdom in the Bible says, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  Except God didn’t say it like that.   Speaking through His prophet, Jeremiah, He said:

13 “My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.  (Jeremiah 2:13)

Cisterns hold water but they can’t fill themselves.  You have to do that.  If the cistern is leaky, then you have to keep filling it, even if you haven’t used any of the water. Moreover, have you ever tasted water stored for a long time in a cistern?  Funky stuff.  So then, why would anyone exchange a continuous spring of fresh, clear water for a cistern they had to dig and fill which would give them brackish tasting water?  Be dumb, right?

And why, God asks, would anyone turn away from the continuous interaction with God, Who gives strength, peace, joy, insight, love and life itself, in order to make up his or her own god out of dead stuff?  Dead stuff like wood, stone, metal, plastic… or money.  One of most common reasons people turn away from God is to pursue more money.  But money is very much like a broken cistern.  You have to fill it yourself.  It leaks away when you aren’t looking (If you don’t believe me, check your wallet:  Not as much money in there as you thought, right?)  And money doesn’t satisfy like it promises to do.  Most of the time the aftertaste of money is brackish.

Don’t be dumb.

Impudent Prayer

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How often do you check your cell phone?  A recent study done by a screen locking app discovered an average of 110 times a day.  If you spread that evenly over 16 waking hours, that’s about every 8 minutes or so.  How do I know?  I checked it out on my cell phone.  I got thinking about that when I read this parable of Jesus about being persistent in prayer.  He told this right after teaching His disciples to pray “Give us this day our daily bread.”

5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.  (Luke 11:5-10)

The word translated, impudence, has an original meaning of shameless persistence.  Apparently Jesus encouraged us to pray as often as we ask our cell phones for things.  Not long, flowery prayers but simple, quick questions.  If you are skeptical, go back and read verse 9.

20-17 Vision

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Remember Y2K?  How much needless worry and panic was spilled over mostly nothing?  That’s my impression of 2016 – people got all stirred up over first one thing and then another, wasting countless hours watching “news” about what might happen and wasting a lot of energy shouting about it.  

Imagine what news channels would have done with the circumstances of Roman occupation and oppression in Jesus’ day.  Public whippings and crucifixions, unjust demands by soldiers imposed upon ordinary citizens.  And yet, Jesus largely ignored all that, focusing instead on more important aspects of reality.  Such as loving one’s neighbor.  Such as learning to see the world through His eyes, so “the truth will set your free.”  Such as learning not to worry but trusting your Heavenly Father.  What if, in 2017, we dared to follow His example?  What if we dared to stop defining reality by what the media says and instead asked God to show us what really matters?

20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.  (1 John 5:20)

18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  (2 Corinthians 4:18)

Grace and peace to you all this new year!

Peace on Earth 4

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The “piece of cod that surpasses all understanding,” Swedes talk about is lutefisk.  It’s an apt description, but the whole thing is a pun from this bible verse:

 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:7)

Three questions:

  • What is the “peace of God?”
  • How does one attain it?
  • What does “surpasses all understanding” really mean?

The “peace of God” means a peace that is given to us by God, a kind of peace that is superior in all ways to what the world thinks of as peace.  It’s not an absence of conflict but a genuine wellness of soul which gives the wherewithal to go through seasons of strife without losing it.  That’s because it “guards our hearts” from going off into unproductive second guessing and “if only.”  Instead, it keeps our hearts and minds settled in Jesus.  That’s not some emotional trick.  We make our home in Christ, in His mindset and in His care.

This peace is given to us in response to our genuine prayers:

“…The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:5b-7)

Mixing prayer requests with thanksgiving – real thankfulness – is a key to this kind of prayer and that kind of peace.  When we turn computer problems over to an expert, knowing he has the knowledge and skill to take care of it, we don’t waste time futilely trying to figure out how to fix it ourselves.  Same thing when we turn problems over to Almighty God, only so much better.

The phrase, “surpasses all understanding” probably means it is impossible to understand the peace that comes, much less to explain it logically.  But I suspect it also means the peace we receive is better than the understanding we yearn for in tough circumstances.  We cannot explain why God would allow this tragedy to have occurred but as we pray and, as He blesses our souls with peace, we discover that understanding why it has happened is not so important.  We have peace that comes from God, comes from knowing the God of sovereignty and grace, knowing He is on the case and somehow that is enough.  More than enough, it’s better.  It surpasses the mere desire to understand.

Peace on Earth 2

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When Jesus offered His peace to His disciples (and by extension to all those who follow Him – John 14:27-31), He made it clear His peace was not what the world calls peace.  The world thinks of peace as a temporary state, free from conflict and strife.  Jesus’ peace is a thorough, unadulterated wellness of soul.  His peace does not protect us from trouble but gives us the equanimity and strength to go through it.

When we experience trouble, our tendency is to focus on “what is happening to me.”  The previous post (you can scroll down to see it below) was about how peace comes when we expand our focus, viewing troubling circumstances from God’s perspective.  Another tendency in times of trouble is to get all stressed out, wondering what will happen to me.   Jesus demonstrates a way around that by what He said next:

29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.  (John 14:29)

Knowing what is about to happen really helps.  One of the most helpful things about Hospice care is their careful and compassionate instruction about the normal progression of death – what will happen to the body at each stage, how it feels and what it means.  Birthing classes serve the same purpose, so a young couple is made aware of what is about to happen, enabling them to go through birth more peacefully.  When we cannot know what is about to happen, it is helpful to know that Someone does.  God knows.  He proved that repeatedly in the Old Testament, particularly with the specific prophecies about the coming of Jesus.  He knows what is coming in your time of trouble.  And He is in control.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.  (Psalm 139:16)

He not only know what will happen, but He also knows why.  He knows how He will use your circumstances as He accomplishes His purposes.  We may not completely understand how He knows but knowing that He knows is very helpful in finding peace.  His peace.  Now and here on earth.

Square Bidness

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Square bidness.  Translation?  I am telling you the absolute truth.  I learned that expression from New York slum street kids back in the 60’s.  Don’t know if they still say it, but God does.  Check this out:

18 For this is what the Lord says—
he who created the heavens,
he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,
he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited—
he says:
“I am the Lord,
and there is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
from somewhere in a land of darkness;
I have not said to Jacob’s descendants,
‘Seek me in vain.’
I, the Lord, speak the truth;
I declare what is right.  (Isaiah 45:18-19)

Sometimes I underline or highlight the main ideas in long Bible sentences, as I have done above.  That’s so I can hang on the main thrust of what is written.  In this passage, the main idea is that God, the only One Who is real, made the earth to be inhabited by us and has clearly told us in His Word how to find Him.  If we seek Him, He said, it won’t be in vain.

Think about how much effort around the world goes into the pursuit of God, most of it in vain because the method of seeking has been designed by what people have imagined would work.  But God said, “Look, if you want to truly find me you have to seek in the way I have clearly told you.  It’s not some secret knowledge but is clearly laid out in My Word.  Seek Me in that true way and it won’t be in vain.”

And Jesus added,

45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.”  (John 6:45-48)

Square bidness.

In Spirit and Truth

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Tucked in among all the junk mail in the box is an actual letter.  It’s rare enough these days that it warrants special treatment: another cup of tea, some jazz on the stereo and a yank on the recliner lever.  My old friend writes, “Here’s something that made me think of you…”  His words reawaken memories of our friendship. Some people stimulate the best of who you are and he was one of those.  I reread…

Jesus said God isn’t interested in regligious ritual.  He doesn’t care for mumbo jumbo.  What He wants is people who worship Him in “spirit and truth” (John 4:23).  Think of His Spirit, given to you personally, as a living letter.  When you read it, so to speak, when you pause to pay close attention to what He says to you, it reawakens your appreciation of His amazing character and personality.  And makes you really wish you could be closer. It nudges the best of who you are.

I think that’s sort of what Jesus had in mind.

Not so Immediately

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What causes people to suddenly change and follow Jesus?  Peter told Mark he did it “immediately.”

16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. (Mark 1:16-18)

Just like that?  Drop your nets and walk off to follow Jesus?  No doubt there was a lot leading up to that sudden decision.  Perhaps he and Andy had had long discussions out in the boat.  Maybe something had happened at home to make him ready.  We don’t know.  But, Jesus said, before anyone can make that jump, God “draws him” (John 6:44).  And how He draws you is personal.  He uses the things that we specifically need.  God gradually loosens our desperate grip on the illusory things we think keep us safe or satisfied.  As He does, He attracts us to Himself through Jesus.

Sometimes, as in my case, kicking and screaming.  Little by little, God got my attention and blew on the kindled flames of my restlessness.  I “just so happened” to hear an old lady speaking about the Lord’s Prayer.  My brother had “found Jesus” and began to annoy me by talking about Him all the time.  People picked me up hitchhiking and told me about their experiences with Him.  I spent a long day on a beach with “The Road Less Traveled” and a bunch of beer.  Little by little, God was loosening me up.  But then He brought out the big guns, the things I needed personally.

When you run the sound for a large event you have to listen.  This gig was a 10 day conference for a few thousand people who worked for Campus Crusade.  The guy who kicked things off every morning spoke about trusting Jesus – something everyone already understood, except me.  He was very logical in his approach – something I really needed.  Every day I came armed with new reasons to doubt what he was saying.  And, as though he was reading my mind, he addressed those objections and convincingly dismissed them.  My soul began singing that old funk tune, “Standin’ on Shaky Ground…”

Alone in the arena, I was struggling to fix a sound cable – struggling because I did not have large, channel lock pliers, needed to take the connector apart.  I looked all over for something that would work without success.  But inside, an argument was raging over what I would decide about what I had been hearing.  In frustration, on my knees, I began to weep.  I called out, “God, I don’t even know if you exist but, if You do, then I’m scared.  I don’t know if You will take care of me…”  I know, I know, that was a dumb prayer.  Embarrassing to write it down.  But, when I dried my eyes, the first thing I saw, about 2 feet in front of me, lying on a road case, was a large pair of channel lock pliers with bright orange grips.  You couldn’t miss them.  I can’t explain how they got there or why I hadn’t seen them.  But I was careful to put them back!

But later that night, on my drive back home, I “immediately” decided to follow Jesus.  Immediately, after 38 years of being drawn by God and pushing Him away.  Maybe you are not as stubborn and slow as I was.  You probably won’t need pliers.  But do pay attention when God tugs on your sleeve.  Pay attention, take time to ponder and then, follow Jesus – immediately.

With God on Our Side

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God is on our side.  Says who?  Says God.  And who, exactly, is referred to by the word, “our?”  You.  Me.  Everybody.  He’s on our side.  Chile, Vietnam, Belgium.  God’s plan is to bring peace throughout the world.  I’ll bet your first thought is, “Yeah, right; I’m sure that’s going to happen.”  But peace looked no more likely when God sent that promise (repeatedly) than it does today.  And He was serious.  Be honest: Wouldn’t you really rather have a world filled with peace?  Isn’t there a part of you that yearns for that?  God does, too; He’s on our side.  And He is already working to bring it about.  The reason it looks dubious from our vantage point is because God is not in a hurry.  He exists beyond the strictures of time.  His work is done thoroughly, not necessarily suddenly.

So, how do we know He is actually working on it?   One of His promises to bring world peace, given through Isaiah, specified that He would do it through the work of a “Chosen Servant.”  The Servant would be born to Israel in the line of David.  He would be rejected and eventually killed by being “pierced.”   Nevertheless, this “Servant” would then “see the light of life.”  His work on earth, which would look at first to have failed, would be accomplished in a quiet but relentless way.  And God promised:

he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” Isaiah 42:3b-4

Seven hundred years later, Jesus fulfilled those prophesies of the Servant.  As unlikely as it would seem, this impoverished, homeless guy, who lived a short and relatively obscure life in a conquered land, has had His Name and teaching gradually spread across the entire globe.  Quietly and yet relentlessly.  God says His work will continue until all nations live by it.  He got the first part right; I believe He’s right about the endgame.

So what is our part in all this?  It is to recognize that God is on our side and shut up!  Except God said it in a nicer way:

He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalms 46:9-10

People used to say, “God is on our side; fight harder!”  God says, “I’m on your side, stop fighting.”  When nations understand that, peace will come.  If you truly yearn for that, join Jesus in praying, “…Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Tow or Jump?

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When your car battery has died, which do you prefer, a tow or a jump-start?  A tow doesn’t fix anything; it just moves you to a new place.  A jump-start, on the other hand, brings your car back to life.  Most people treat God like a tow truck operator, calling on HIm when they are stuck, hoping He will get them to where they want to go.  But what He has in mind is a jump.  Not a temporary jump-start but a permanent new, living flow of energy to keep you powered up and moving forever.

Back in Bible times, jump-starts were not common, but most folks had experienced what happens to a desert after a good soaking rain.  Miraculously, the glaring, hot sand is transformed into a lush bed of flowers.  That’s why God told Isaiah to say it like this:

3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
4 They will spring up like grass in a meadow,
like poplar trees by flowing streams. (Isaiah 44:3-4)

We humans were designed to have the Spirit of God living within our souls.  Without that Spirit we are as dead as cell phones with no signal.  God’s jump-start connects us to His Spirit, a gift that comes to all who put their trust in Jesus.  It’s not a temporary tow.  It’s eternal life.