Prayer is an intriguing gift of God to His people. It’s intriguing because as finite and imperfect beings we never know exactly and precisely how to pray. We are limited in knowledge and insight so all we can do is pray as we best know how, leaving the answering of prayer to God.
At the same time, Jesus does give us insight into how to pray. Better yet, He gives us insight into the God to whom we pray. Jesus tells us to come to Him as Father (Luke 11:2). We pour out our hearts to our Father whose name is “hallowed” and, we say to Him, “Your kingdom come.” (vs. 2).
What better way to pray than to ask the One who loves us and the One whom we love, for His kingdom to come and to be realized in this world. We may not be insightful enough to fully grasp a correct way to pray but the Father whose name is hallowed in our midst and whose will is “good, pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2) can be trusted fully and without hesitation.
Jesus calls us to trust the Father. Trust Him for each day’s provision (vs. 3). Trust Him to embrace us in forgiveness as we embrace others in forgiveness (4). Trust Him never to lead us into temptation (4). He is the Father. He can be trusted.
When you are in need or represent someone who is, pray, and don’t stop. Ask the Father. Seek for the Father’s intervention. Knock at the Father’s door in the sense of desperation. The Father will draw near, and bring to pass His “good, pleasing, and perfect” will.
Don’t trust your instincts or what you think the answer to your prayers ought to look like. Instead, trust the Father whose heart is compassionately open to His people.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
It was in the heat of the day and the nomad, Abraham, was setting at the entrance to his tent, probably trying to beat the heat. For unannounced reasons he looked up and saw three men standing nearby. The Bible says to us the Lord was in those three men, and Abraham knew it. How he knew it, we don't know, but he knew he was in the midst of a divine appointment of some kind. Extending great hospitality to the strangers, and making sure their needs were met, Abraham listened.
The men asked him where his wife was. Abraham told them and then heard a message that would change his life. In the personhood of these three men, "the Lord said, 'I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son'" (Genesis 18:10).
Sarah overheard the conversation and laughed out loud when she heard about the year she was to have. Abraham was old and Sarah was well past childbearing age. Some things just evoke laughter when you hear them, I suppose.
We know the story. Some nine months later Sarah gave birth to the promised son. Isaac took his place in the unfolding plan of God, and the stage was set for God's remarkable grace.
Don't try to explain it scientifically; you'll come up short. Just receive it as an act of God who speaks creatively into history, and works in ways that leave the human intellect awed and amazed. The question is asked by the Lord to Abraham, "Is anything too hard for the Lord" (Vs. 14). The birth of Isaac gives us the answer.
As the people of God in Christ it wouldn't be a bad devotional action to ask our selves once in a while, "Is anything too hard for God?" The answer will always be NO. Still, there is a lot of Sarah in us, isn't there. And, sometimes it's hard to believe that with God all things are possible.
Believe it, though, because God is in the midst.
The men asked him where his wife was. Abraham told them and then heard a message that would change his life. In the personhood of these three men, "the Lord said, 'I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son'" (Genesis 18:10).
Sarah overheard the conversation and laughed out loud when she heard about the year she was to have. Abraham was old and Sarah was well past childbearing age. Some things just evoke laughter when you hear them, I suppose.
We know the story. Some nine months later Sarah gave birth to the promised son. Isaac took his place in the unfolding plan of God, and the stage was set for God's remarkable grace.
Don't try to explain it scientifically; you'll come up short. Just receive it as an act of God who speaks creatively into history, and works in ways that leave the human intellect awed and amazed. The question is asked by the Lord to Abraham, "Is anything too hard for the Lord" (Vs. 14). The birth of Isaac gives us the answer.
As the people of God in Christ it wouldn't be a bad devotional action to ask our selves once in a while, "Is anything too hard for God?" The answer will always be NO. Still, there is a lot of Sarah in us, isn't there. And, sometimes it's hard to believe that with God all things are possible.
Believe it, though, because God is in the midst.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Jesus asked an expert in Jewish law how he read the law concerning how to “inherit eternal life” (Luke 10: 25). The answer given was pleasing to Jesus: “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself self” (Luke 10:27).
The expert wasn’t satisfied with Jesus approval, however, and, “wanting to justify himself,” (whatever that means), (vs.29), asked Jesus to explain to him exactly who qualifies as being a neighbor. Here Jesus gives what has come to be the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan.
A man is robbed, severely injured, and abandoned along a roadside. A priest and a Levite happen by and upon seeing the suffering man choose to move to the other side of the road and not make him a part of their life. Then a Samaritan, (an unappreciated and hated fellow from the other side of the tracks) happens by. And, wouldn’t you know it, he stops, extends mercy, tends to the suffering man’s needs, takes him to a motel, cleans him up, and pays the manager of the motel enough money to cover a couple of days expenses, with the promise that upon his return he would also pay for any other expenses incurred by the victim.
Then the parable takes a twist. Jesus asked, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers” (vs. 36)? His point wasn’t that the victim was the neighbor in need of help. The victim simply gave opportunity to reveal what a good neighbor is like. The neighbor is the Samaritan “who had mercy” on the victim. To this Jesus said, “Go and do likewise” (vs. 37).
What do followers of Jesus look like? Jesus says they look like this Samaritan fellow who when he could have moved to the other side of the road, also, chose, instead, to extend mercy. “Go,” Jesus said, “and do likewise.”
The expert wasn’t satisfied with Jesus approval, however, and, “wanting to justify himself,” (whatever that means), (vs.29), asked Jesus to explain to him exactly who qualifies as being a neighbor. Here Jesus gives what has come to be the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan.
A man is robbed, severely injured, and abandoned along a roadside. A priest and a Levite happen by and upon seeing the suffering man choose to move to the other side of the road and not make him a part of their life. Then a Samaritan, (an unappreciated and hated fellow from the other side of the tracks) happens by. And, wouldn’t you know it, he stops, extends mercy, tends to the suffering man’s needs, takes him to a motel, cleans him up, and pays the manager of the motel enough money to cover a couple of days expenses, with the promise that upon his return he would also pay for any other expenses incurred by the victim.
Then the parable takes a twist. Jesus asked, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers” (vs. 36)? His point wasn’t that the victim was the neighbor in need of help. The victim simply gave opportunity to reveal what a good neighbor is like. The neighbor is the Samaritan “who had mercy” on the victim. To this Jesus said, “Go and do likewise” (vs. 37).
What do followers of Jesus look like? Jesus says they look like this Samaritan fellow who when he could have moved to the other side of the road, also, chose, instead, to extend mercy. “Go,” Jesus said, “and do likewise.”
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Apparently Pope Benedict disagrees with Vatican II and doesn’t view Protestants as “separated brethren.” His reasons may be many but the new announced one is that we do not recognize the primacy of the Pope. In fact, the rift from the Roman side takes it further and finds it very difficult even to acknowledge non-Roman Catholics as being the Church. The wording from the Vatican says something to this effect, "Despite the fact that this teaching has created no little distress ... it is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them.”
In reality, and with a certain degree of respect for the bishop of Rome, the sitting pope’s opinions haven’t really affected me one way or the other. He is entitled to disregard the heritage out which I come and summarily dismiss the Faith of Christ to which I hold; that’s his issues, not mind. I certainly don’t feel “wounded,” as the document says, and even though he thinks my little church is not a full church of Jesus Christ, the God we meet each week in worship begs to disagree.
The pope believes that Roman “Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.” Already many Roman Catholics are seeking to defuse this errant thinking. As Rev. Vincent Cushing, president of Washington Theological Union from 1975- 1999 says, "From a careful reading of the documents of Vatican II, it is clear that the Roman Catholic Church wished to affirm the ecclesial reality of the Protestant churches.”
The Pope believes that Protestants churches (I suppose we need to find a word other than church; maybe the bishop of Rome can speak for God on this matter, also) are “merely ecclesial communities” and that we don’t have “the means of salvation” within the Faith of Christ to which we hold.
As a Protestant minister I really thought Rome was bigger than this. I guess I was wrong. At any rate, I’m told the bishop is headed out for vacation this week. That’s a good thing, I think.
In reality, and with a certain degree of respect for the bishop of Rome, the sitting pope’s opinions haven’t really affected me one way or the other. He is entitled to disregard the heritage out which I come and summarily dismiss the Faith of Christ to which I hold; that’s his issues, not mind. I certainly don’t feel “wounded,” as the document says, and even though he thinks my little church is not a full church of Jesus Christ, the God we meet each week in worship begs to disagree.
The pope believes that Roman “Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.” Already many Roman Catholics are seeking to defuse this errant thinking. As Rev. Vincent Cushing, president of Washington Theological Union from 1975- 1999 says, "From a careful reading of the documents of Vatican II, it is clear that the Roman Catholic Church wished to affirm the ecclesial reality of the Protestant churches.”
The Pope believes that Protestants churches (I suppose we need to find a word other than church; maybe the bishop of Rome can speak for God on this matter, also) are “merely ecclesial communities” and that we don’t have “the means of salvation” within the Faith of Christ to which we hold.
As a Protestant minister I really thought Rome was bigger than this. I guess I was wrong. At any rate, I’m told the bishop is headed out for vacation this week. That’s a good thing, I think.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
It is a wonderful life to live for God, especially when one lives it in God’s way. We live in a world where “the harvest is plentiful,” open and ripe for meaning and hope. And, in that world we live by faith. We live for God in the faith of Jesus and leave results to God. Some people will receive the Good News and some won’t. That decision is not ours to make. Ours is to live and move and have our being in the God who has saved us and made us whole. Ours is to live faithfully for the God of Good News.
The promise of Jesus is that He will use His Church to “overcome all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). As His Church lives faithfully Satan “will fall like lightning” (Luke 10:18). Nothing will hold back the Gospel and Jesus will build His Church.
As powerful as this reality is, Jesus says it is not the reality in which we should rejoice. It is wonderful to be used of God; it is marvelous to be used of God. Yet Jesus says, “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).
What a remarkable thought to think, that God has embraced us into His forever family and that our lives are covered by an amazing grace that brings to us the gift of Abundant and eternal life.
As we live graced by the Life of God we live with purpose and focus. We live with meaning and hope. We are not lost in a sea of doubt. We live in the certainty of Jesus. We live in love, acceptance and forgiveness. We live in the reality of Good News.
What a great way to live.
The promise of Jesus is that He will use His Church to “overcome all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). As His Church lives faithfully Satan “will fall like lightning” (Luke 10:18). Nothing will hold back the Gospel and Jesus will build His Church.
As powerful as this reality is, Jesus says it is not the reality in which we should rejoice. It is wonderful to be used of God; it is marvelous to be used of God. Yet Jesus says, “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).
What a remarkable thought to think, that God has embraced us into His forever family and that our lives are covered by an amazing grace that brings to us the gift of Abundant and eternal life.
As we live graced by the Life of God we live with purpose and focus. We live with meaning and hope. We are not lost in a sea of doubt. We live in the certainty of Jesus. We live in love, acceptance and forgiveness. We live in the reality of Good News.
What a great way to live.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Disciples James and John, angry when a certain Samaritan village denied Jesus access, sought His permission to “call fire down from heaven to destroy them” (Luke 9:54). Jesus rebuked them for their thoughts and moved on “to another village” (vs. 55).
Sadly, James and John represent too many Christians who can’t seem to bring themselves to love their enemies and who seek, instead, to call fire down from heaven to destroy them. When are we going to learn to let God be God and knock off the nonsense of treating like dirt those who don’t think the way we think or believe the way we believe? This is a serious question and one to which we do well to pay attention.
When will we learn that our business here is to live Christ-formed lives, extending to others the very life of God? Ours isn’t to disenfranchise those who want nothing to do with Jesus; ours is to love them. Fred Pratt Green has this line in his hymn, When the Church of Jesus: “May our prayers, Lord, make us ten times more aware that the world we banish is our Christian care.” In another verse he writes, “Lord, reprove, inspire us by the way you give; teach us risen Savior, how true Christians live.”
Sure, there might be villages that don’t “welcome” Jesus and when it happens maybe we’ll have to move on “to another village.” Calling down fire on the place, however, seems a little extreme don’t you think? In fact, isn’t this one of our complaints about so called radial Muslims who maim, destroy and kill in the name of their understanding of God?
Before we call down fire from heaven maybe we ought to call down the Holy Spirit to baptize our own hearts with fire. Now, that would be a sight to behold.
Sadly, James and John represent too many Christians who can’t seem to bring themselves to love their enemies and who seek, instead, to call fire down from heaven to destroy them. When are we going to learn to let God be God and knock off the nonsense of treating like dirt those who don’t think the way we think or believe the way we believe? This is a serious question and one to which we do well to pay attention.
When will we learn that our business here is to live Christ-formed lives, extending to others the very life of God? Ours isn’t to disenfranchise those who want nothing to do with Jesus; ours is to love them. Fred Pratt Green has this line in his hymn, When the Church of Jesus: “May our prayers, Lord, make us ten times more aware that the world we banish is our Christian care.” In another verse he writes, “Lord, reprove, inspire us by the way you give; teach us risen Savior, how true Christians live.”
Sure, there might be villages that don’t “welcome” Jesus and when it happens maybe we’ll have to move on “to another village.” Calling down fire on the place, however, seems a little extreme don’t you think? In fact, isn’t this one of our complaints about so called radial Muslims who maim, destroy and kill in the name of their understanding of God?
Before we call down fire from heaven maybe we ought to call down the Holy Spirit to baptize our own hearts with fire. Now, that would be a sight to behold.
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