What do you pray for?

Prayer is such a loaded topic in the Christian world.  It is an indicator of who we are and where we are with God.  The issue isn’t so much how, when or how often we pray, but WHAT we pray for.  WHAT we pray for is really a matter of the heart. 

It is assumed that all Christians pray, but even this assumption is not a very safe one to make.  Unfortunately, many people who call themselves Christians simply do not pray at all and some pray prayers that are quite misguided. 

Here are some of those misguided prayers:

• Get out of a jam prayers – We have no desire to obey God or live lives His way.  We just want to avoid the consequences for our sinful choices.
• Prayers to mask disobedience – Sometimes we pray in such a way to divert attention from the basic and straightforward obedience God is calling us to.   
• Fancy word prayers – There are times when we think using fancy words or repeating certain phrases will merit God’s attention more when all He really wants is our heart.
• Prayers boasting about how much God owes us – These kinds of prayers are really boasts about all the good things we have done in order to somehow make a deal with God and remind Him how much He owes us.
• Stalling prayers – Sometimes we use prayer as an excuse for inaction. 

Let’s be honest . . . All of us have prayed prayers like that at one time or another.  However, as we grow in our relationship with Jesus our understanding of prayer changes and our attitude about what prayer is even about changes.

We instead become people who pray not in misguided ways and not just to bombard God with our to-do lists.  We become people instead who pray for our heart to be merged with God’s heart and for our mind to be conformed to His mind.  Indeed, while we still make requests to God for personal needs, we also find that our prayers become more focused on the needs of others than they do on our own. 

At what point did your prayer life begin making this transition from misguided to more mature? 

What lessons did you have to learn along the way to make this move?

What lessons is God teaching you now that will move you further down the road in your walk with Him?

What do you pray for?

Why is radical so rare?

As many of you probably know by now, our church is joining forces with another congregation in our community to become one, united church family this Sunday.  It’s a pretty amazing thing to see all that God has done in and through both congregations throughout the entire process.  God has clearly been at work from beginning to end. 

Over and over again, as we have gone through this process, I have spoken to other pastor-friends and Christians from all different backgrounds.  One thing that most everyone has in common is this question:  How did something like this happen? 

People seem to be genuinely amazed that two churches – especially two churches that are not dying, in great financial trouble or with some other big problem – would ever think of a move like this.

At one level questions like this make sense, but at another level I wonder if they reveal something really disappointing at the core of our Christian and church experience.  How often do we simply miss taking steps in our personal and corporate lives that would honor God and expand the Kingdom simply because they are too radical or too others-centered that they never even get on our radar?

I have always been moved by the attitude of John the Baptist when Jesus came on the scene and many people, including his own disciples, were leaving him to join Jesus.  His disciples raised the alarm bell to him.  Jesus was taking market share and his ministry spotlight was fading.  That NEVER concerned John.  He knew what his purpose was and he never forgot it.  In the Gospel of John, his words are recorded this way, “You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’  The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.  He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:28-30).

I think that kind of selfless and sold out attitude should be the mark of every follower of Jesus and ever church that bears His name.  If it was, I think things would be markedly different in our personal lives and in churches across the world.  Would more mergers happen?  Probably.  Would more ministry partnerships occur?  Yes.  Would the spirit of self-centeredness and competition die off for good?  Absolutely!

Yes . . . a John the Baptist spirit is radical.  So is following Jesus.  It is also rare.  And maybe that's the problem we need to address.  A radical discipleship to Jesus is just too rare!

What do you think?  What tends to keep Christians and churches from thinking, speaking and acting in the spirit of John the Baptist?  What can be done – by us and by local churches – to change this norm into the exception rather than the rule?

Why "Edits" Don't Work

Our staff had our pictures taken today for the website.  Being married to a photographer, I have learned a few things about photography.  Of course, getting good shots is critical.  You can’t have a good picture without having someone know how to position people to take good photos.  However, even though the shoot took about 30 minutes for all of us the photographer still has a lot of work to do.

You see, there is this wonderful computer program called Photoshop.  They load all the images they take into the computer and then edit them with Photoshop.  You know what that means?  It means they can do some edits and make us look better.  Have some hair not right?  They can smooth that out.  Have some skin blemishes?  That can be softened too!  All kinds of things can be made to look so much better though some well done and strategically placed edits! 

Don’t you wish you could do some strategic edits on your day sometimes!  I sure do.

That thought I wish didn’t enter my mind.  That anger that got the best of me.  Those words I wish I could take back.  That time wasted on unimportant things.  That things I wish I didn’t do.  You get the point.  It would be nice if we could edit those things out at the end of the day.  But we can’t.  Life doesn’t work that way.

Do you know one of the reasons I wish I could edit things?  I would never say this and I am probably not even conscious when I think it, but here it is.  I think there is a part of me that wishes I could edit my life because then I would still be in control and I wouldn’t have to admit how dependent I continue to be on God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness. 

In other words, if I can edit out the bad then I can somehow make myself good on my own power.  But life doesn’t work that we either.  There are no edits we can do to clean ourselves up, but there is an inexhaustible amount of grace, mercy and forgiveness we have access to!

Here are two pivotal scriptures we need to latch onto:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. – James 5:16

It’s not easy.  In fact, sometimes it’s quite hard.  However, this is God’s way to really and truly be made clean in Him.  Edits don’t work, but the good news is you don’t need them.  Instead, through the grace, mercy and forgiveness of God you can be remade new.  What a blessing!

How about you?  What tempts you to try and edit things out instead of trusting in the grace, mercy and forgiveness of God?

Crossing to the other side!

I love the image of this bridge because it is a great analogy for so many circumstances in our lives.  

In every significant transition in my life - going to college, getting married or moving to Texas - there was a certain amount of uncertainly about what life would be like on the other side of the bridge.  There were no guarantees.  Nothing in life is really guaranteed anyway even if we want it to be.  I had to be wise and do my part to make the best decision, but then I simply had to walk to the other side.

So much about our walk with God is like that.  The famous verse about faith, Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."  Sounds like a bridge crossing to me.  How about you?

Sometimes we so demystify the idea of faith that we try to make it like a mathematical formula when it is anything but that.  Faith is simple trust, trust in the person or object you are placing your faith in.  

When it comes to faith in God Tim Keller has a wonderful analogy I like to share:

Imagine you are on a high cliff and you lose your footing and begin to fall.  Just beside you as you fall is a branch sticking out of the very edge of the cliff.  It is your only hope and it is more than strong enough to support your weight.  How can it save you?  If your mind is filled with intellectual certainty that the branch can support you, but you don’t actually reach out and grab it, you are lost.  If your mind is filled with doubts and uncertainty that the branch can hold you, but you reach out and grab it anyway, you will be saved.  Why?  It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you (The Reason for God, 244-245).

Where are you hesitating to walk across the bridge?  What is holding you back?  Is your view of God simply to small?  Do your steps need to get bigger or do your eyes simply need to see clearer?

 

Our Rider & Our Elephant

Chip and Dan Heath have written a great leadership book entitled Switch.  In it they talk about the forces that influence our lives and particularly the decisions we make, both as individuals and groups.  The analogy they use is an Elephant and a Rider.  The Elephant is the emotional side (the heart) and the Rider is the rational side (the head).  Here is how they explain it:

Perched atop the Elephant, the Rider holds the reins and seems to be the leader.  But the Rider’s control is precarious because the Rider is so small relative to the Elephant.  Anytime a six-ton Elephant and the Rider disagree about which direction to go, the Rider is going to lose.  He’s completely overmatched (Kindle 96). 

The Rider may have the best information along with the best of intentions, but he can only control the Elephant for so long unless the Elephant wants to go where the Rider is trying to lead him. 

I love this analogy.  It seems to have so many applications in so many areas of our lives.  I just want to think about the spiritual side for a moment though. 

In Romans 12:1-2 Paul urges us to “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” 

In Psalm 144:3-4 the Psalmist prays, “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!  Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies!”

Both passages talk about conforming our head (Rider) and our heart (Elephant) to the things of God.  Both also make clear that this is a supernatural work first and foremost, but one where we have a role to play by surrendering our will and walking in obedience. 

But here is the question: 

Why do we have such a difficult time getting our Rider and our Elephant going in the same direction?  Why do our lives reflect the lyrics of that old hymn, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love?” 

Answering this question leads me to a second one:

How do we direct better direct our Rider toward the things of God and give our Elephant a passionate desire to follow?

What lessons has God been teaching you?

What do I do wih my friend Joe?

In his book, Center Church, Tim Keller (borrowing from D.A. Carson) wrote about the important work we must do to make the truth of the Gospel clear to people who are far from God and disconnected from the language, life and worldview of God’s people.   He argues that the Gospel, while it is universally true and timeless, must be contextualized for different people in different cultures so that they will be able to understand it and respond.  The New Testament writers themselves did the same thing.  Keller identifies six motivations to use when appealing to non-Christians to believe the gospel:

1. Sometimes the appeal is to come to God out of fear of judgment and death.  (Hebrews 2:14-18)
2. Sometimes the appeal is to come to God out of a desire for release from the burdens of guilt and shame.  (Galatians 3:10-12)
3. Sometimes the appeal is to come to God out of appreciation for the “attractiveness of truth.” (I Corinthians 1:18)
4. Sometimes the appeal is to come to God to satisfy unfulfilled existential longings. (John 4)
5. Sometimes the appeal is to come to God for help with a problem.  (Matthew 9:20-21, 27, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 17:11-19)
6. Lastly, the appeal is to come to God simply out of a desire to be loved.  (Keller, 3024-3055)

Clearly the Gospel of salvation is completely by grace alone through faith alone.  Being faithful in contextualizing the Gospel is never about changing it or altering that core truth.  However, because we are faithful to the Gospel and the call of Jesus on our lives, we must be diligent and dedicated in the work of contextualizing the Gospel for those who have not heard it, have not understood it or who have yet to receive it.

Let me break it down even more.  Take my friend (to protect the innocent, I will call him Joe).  Joe had a short and very dysfunctional church experience as a child and was sure to run from it as fast as he could when he was an adult.  Now, as a husband and father, he is searching spiritually for the first time in years.  We have talked a number of times about spiritual subjects and he has even begun to come to church.  However, there are distinctive obstacles for Joe to connect with the Gospel as well as with other Christian people.  His understanding and the biblical understanding about basic words like salvation, confession, repentance, forgiveness, obedience, righteousness, holiness, etc. are totally different.  Therefore, every time he reads them or hears them discussed there is a disconnect between the truth and his caricature of the truth.  His idea of who God is, how He relates to humans and what He expects from us is pretty skewed.

What is God calling me to do with Joe?  Give up? No!  Hope he just figures it out on his own?  I don’t think so!  Throw out all the parts of the Gospel that will be difficult for Joe to embrace like surrender or dying to ourselves?  Absolutely not!  I could go on.

I believe God has called me to . . .

• enter into a relationship with Joe whereby my life can best represent the transforming reality and good news of Jesus Christ. 
• really listen to Joe’s story and sympathize with his hurt so that I can gain credibility and help him get past his distorted images of God, the Bible and the Gospel.
• articulate the truth of the Gospel in such a way that Joe can hear it, grasp it and respond accordingly.  

What do you think about all this?  What is God calling you to do with the Joe’s in your life?