Pulling Weeds out of Potholes: prayer

Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts

The Powerful Prayer of a Mother

"Saint Augustine did not start out that way [as a saint]. His mother, Monica, taught him about Christianity carefully and she prayed, but his incredible mind had always troubled her. One day, in his teenage years, he announced that he was throwing aside her faith in Christ to follow current heresies. He went on to live a life of immorality … Monica prayed through her son’s sin and she prayed through her son’s heresy. She prayed her son through his fight with God … Those years were not easy for Monica, as any mother of a child lost in darkness knows. Those years hurt. Finally, she went to the bishop, a devout man who knew the Scriptures inside and out, and asked him to talk to Augustine, to refute his errors. The bishop refused – Augustine had quite a reputation as an orator and debater by then. Instead, he wisely comforted Monica by saying that a mind so sharp would eventually see through the deception … Monica would not be consoled by those words. She continued to beg the bishop, and plead with him through rivers of tears. Finally, wearied by her tenacity but at the same time moved by the ache in her soul for her son, the bishop said, “Go, go! Leave me alone. Live on as you are living. It is not possible that the son of such tears should be lost.” Harshness was interwoven with kindness and compassion.

The son of such tears continued to run from his mother and from his God. He ran for many more years. Then, one day, Augustine listened to Saint Ambrose, bishop of Milan and the most eminent churchman of the day. Exhausted by the years of running, convicted and broken, he turned to embrace Jesus … Not too long after her prodigal Augustine came home for good, she told him that she had nothing to live for. Her lifelong quest had been to see him come back to Jesus. Nine days later, she was dead.”

excerpt from Stories for the Heart, Multnomah Publishers, Sisters: Oregon, 1996, p. 185-187

Secret Love and Dwindling Lights

But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:3-4)

I was in a conversation on Saturday night with a friend in which this passage was brought up as a reason that the church shouldn't be involved in corporate loving, i.e. loving people through the church with church funds. In their view, loving others should be done on an individual basis and in a completely private way. We were working through our thoughts, so I don't really know if that is the conclusion that he is going to end up at. However, I do think it is the conclusion that many Christians have ended up at.

This teaching of giving your alms in secret comes from Jesus in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, right after the section on loving your enemies and right before two other similar sections about praying and fasting in secret.

Right at the beginning of this same sermon, Jesus taught a principle that rubs differently:

You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven (Matt 5:14-16).

Despite popular thinking in the other direction, Jesus taught that we are to do our good works so that others may see them. There isn't any secret meaning to that teaching, no hidden message. It flat out says that our good works are supposed to be seen by others. So if you have been using "do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing" to not do loving actions, I think you are sadly mistaken.

So what was Jesus saying? How do we do our good works so that others may see them if we are supposed to keep our good works secret? It seems very consistent with the Old Testament prophets. Religious acts like prayer, fasting, and tithing are not to be done for show because God is not glorified by other people seeing someone doing religion acts. It brings no attention to God, just attention to the doer. So if you are a great tither, or a powerful person of prayer, or an incredible and dilligent faster - keep it up but keep that to yourself. It doesn't bring God any glory for you to share your spiritual prowess.

However, good works, by their very nature, involve other people. They can't be done without another person. But here is the key. The passage ends with the reason of why we do good works: "So that they may see your good works and give glory to God." We live a life of love so that God may be glorified. If we do loving actions so that the attention is drawn to us, then I would say the principle that was expressed in the alms section applies to us. The principle to not do the things of God for the attention of others would be broken. However, loving actions always involves others so we need to make sure that our hearts are in the right place. Getting hung up on doing loving actions in secret is often an excuse to not love and a hindrance to us loving effectively. Instead of being a place of rescue for the emotionally, spiritually, physically, and mentally wounded, we just become a church of pious, religious people.

There is no verse that teaches us to love people in secret so that our light doesn't shine. We need to love others so that people will see those acts of love and - this is the main point - give glory to our Father in heaven.

A Bible Study on Prayer

Here are some Bible verses on prayer. I will let them speak for themself.

When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Matt 21:20-22 (ESV)

In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:23-24 (ESV)

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matt 7:7-11 (ESV)

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matt 6:5-15 (ESV)

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. James 4:3 (ESV)

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. 1 John 3:19-24 (ESV)

O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name. Dan 9:19 (ESV)

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 1 John 5:13-15 (ESV)

The Prayers of a Mother

Dealing with Hurt and Unanswered Prayer - Part Three - Great Examples of the Bible

Unanswered prayers never leave us the same; we either grow deeper in our walk with the Lord or we turn our back on Him. Inevitably, hurt changes us. We can’t control whether we will get hurt in this life, but we can control how we respond. What we need to do is commit ourselves to drawing closer to God no matter what happens in life.

The only way we can be the people God wants us to be is if we are praying people; the only way we can be the church God wants us to be is if we are a praying church. So sign up and jumpstart your prayer life as you join in on jumpstarting our church’s prayer life.

To encourage us to move from disappointment over unanswered prayers to a life of faith, I want to share some of the great stories of answered prayers from Scripture. We have the tendency to view Scripture as a story of exceptions, but what if, instead of a Book with exceptional stories, the Bible tells stories that are fairly normal of life with our exceptional God. These answered prayers are a glimpse of the Christian life we were designed to experience.

In the book of Esther, we read the story of Haman who persuaded the king of Persia to kill all of the Jews. Esther, a Jew who was one of the queens of Persia, was called to appear infrequently with her king. In order to appear without being summoned, she would have to risk her life. But if she didn’t risk her life to persuade her king to stop the killing of the Jews, she and all of her people would die.

Esther then proclaims:
“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” Esth 4:16 (ESV)

The story ends with God answering the prayers of the Jewish people. The law to kill the Jews is superceded by another law and Haman is hung on the gallows he had built for the Jews. A prayer answered that seemed to do the impossible.

Then we read the story of Nehemiah, who hears of the destruction of Jerusalem’s walls and the sorry state of his homeland, while serving as the cupbearer to the king of Persia. Nehemiah then began to fast and pray for the restoration of Jerusalem. God heard these prayers and used Nehemiah to restore Jerusalem. Another prayer answered that seemed to do the impossible.

And the last story is another one of my favorites. I love these stories of answered prayer.

After being ordered by the government to no longer preach the gospel of Jesus, the Apostles continued. For like the people before them – like Esther, like Nehemiah, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and the other faithful people throughout history – their lives were secondary to the mission God had laid on their hearts. The Apostle James was arrested and then killed. Peter was subsequently arrested, “but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.” Acts 12:5 (ESV) And then through a miraculous intercession of angels, Peter was freed. Another prayer answered that seemed to be impossible.
Are we people who fast and pray together in crisis? Are we people who start our attempt at the impossible with prayer? Are we people whose prayer lives show that we trust wholly in God.

I’m going to be dangerously honest today and point out that the emperor has no clothes. We are not that sort of people. The church has pockets of prayer and vibrancy, but as a whole, we are lacking. We are not people who pray together in crisis. We are not people who try to do the impossible, let alone start it with prayer. We are not people who trust wholly in God. I see it in our fruit.

But we can be. With God on our side, we can be who He wants us to be. We need to unleash God from being a person that we mainly pray about health problems to; we need to seek him, ask him, and knock on his door to bring about the life He wants us to live here and now. Jesus taught us to pray for God’s will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven. We need to not avoid praying for things we feel are impossible. We need to not settle for disappointments and unanswered prayers, although those will come. Instead, we need to always strive for what He wants and petition Him to help us bring it about.

So when it comes down to our prayer lives, we can either let our lives be defined by the unanswered prayers we have experienced, or we can let the Word of God and the great stories of the trailblazers of our faith define our prayer life. We should have confidence when we petition God on his throne of grace because we are covered in the blood of Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit. We are in the asking business. God is in the answering business. May we be bold enough to ask what is on our hearts, no matter how impossible it might seem.

Dealing with Hurt and Unanswered Prayer - Part Two - Jesus' Bold Teachings

The problem with our unanswered prayers is that these disappointments do not line up with the promises of Scriptures.

Jesus taught, “whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Matt 21:22 (ESV)

Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:24 (ESV)

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matt 7:7-11 (ESV)

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24 (ESV)

The Apostle John wrote:
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15 (ESV)

These are clear teachings of Scripture. When our reality does not line up with them, we need to use that as fuel to ignite our prayer life and spur us on to bring about God’s will more fully. We need to keep the faith and continue to pursue God’s will even when our circumstances do not line up to his promises. We are in the asking with faith business; God is in the answering business.

Dealing with Hurt and Unanswered Prayer - Part One - My Personal Pain

It was January, 2003, a deep, cold winter. All was still. My wife was pregnant with twins and was going to the doctor for a checkup. I received a call at work telling me to meet my wife at the hospital. That was all the information I received. My mind figured that one of our babies had died. I walked out to the car and started to cry as I put my key in the ignition. I asked God, "Why? Why does this have to happen?" That was the first of many times that I repeated that question in the following days.

All I remember from the hospital that night is the ultrasound. That was the saddest moment of my life. All of the dreams we had of the future came crashing down. The death of a baby that isn't born isn't just a death of a life that hasn't taken its first breath of air; it's the death of every dream you have of the future. Each dream had to be thrown away and rebuilt. I was still clinging to hope at this point.

I sat in the corner of the semi-lit room. The floor was cold. The metal on my chair was cold. Everything seemed cold. Lindsay laid on her back. The ultrasound was out of her view, so she looked at me for confirmation that they might still be alive. At times I would just weep, more inside than out because I felt that I had to be strong. For about an hour the ultrasound technician took photos of the babies. She measured their heads, their hearts, everything. I kept praying in my dark, cold corner that God would heal them. I wanted to see them start moving. I wanted to see the heartbeats on the monitor. I wanted them to live so badly. I told God, "I will tell the whole world of this miracle if you would just give life back to them." They didn't move. Lindsay and I left that room broken and filled with more sadness than either of us have ever encountered in our lives.

The hospital gave my wife a prescription for sleep medicine and we headed home. I'm sure we held each other in bed and wept. The sleeping pill didn't work on Lindsay. I can't imagine what it is like to lay there in bed knowing that two lifeless babies rest inside of you, two babies you had dreams for and already loved. At some point during the night I awoke and joined Lindsay who couldn't sleep. We decided, out of desperation, to go get some oil and anoint Lindsay with it. We wanted a healing so desperately. We read Scriptures of healing and Jesus bringing back the dead. We prayed. It gave us hope that when we would go to the hospital the next day, the babies would be alive. They weren’t.

It’s stories like this that can define our prayer life if we let them. We all have our tragic stories of disappointment and unanswered prayer. Some probably more heartbreaking than mine. These are all part of life.

Priesthood of Believers - Part Three - Prayer and the Priesthood

At Riverside, where I pastor, we have a list of core convictions. Two of them are in regard to prayer.

We believe in praying that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven and desire to follow that prayer by doing our best to change our surroundings to his will.
We believe that we have a direct line with God with no need for anyone to stand between us and God, although we will gladly pray and help others.

Let’s tackle the first one. We believe in praying that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven and desire to follow that prayer by doing our best to change our surroundings to his will.

When Jesus taught us to pray, he taught us to say, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” I have previously written about discovering God’s will. In doing that it bringing it about, we must keep focused on just following one step at a time. When we pray for something, we need to examine whether there is an action we can do to help bring it about. If we pray for someone to be saved, follow it up by ministering to them. If we pray for a safe journey, then look for ways to do God’s will on the way. If we pray for safety in a time of trial, follow it up with courageous and bold acts that require safety. When we pray, we need to look for ways to bring about God’s will. God often answers the prayers we ask by using us to bring about what we are praying for.

Our focus for fruitful prayer needs to be God’s will. We need to pray and ask like Jesus taught us-for His will to be done. If we are trying to bring about God’s will and concerned about the things of God, our prayer life will be revolutionized.

Our next conviction states: “We believe that we have a direct line with God with no need for anyone to stand between us and God, although we will gladly pray and help others.”

We frequently give lip service to the theological concept of the priesthood of believers. This comes out in the story I shared earlier about the lifeguard and banana salesmen.

Justification for a 36-Hour Prayer Vigil - Answering the Questions of Whether We Pray to Be Seen by Men and Whether Group Prayer is Better

Our church is in the midst of 36 hours of straight prayer. We have created a prayer room for people to pray in. We have rotations so the room is not empty and people have signed up for the slots they would like to fill.

One individual that I asked if they would sign up answered that they would not because they do not want to pray to be seen by men. I knew this would be a view that some would have, but this person has been the only honest one to express it with me.

Before I get into my answer to that thought, let me express that the prayer event is going extraordinarily well. People seem to be encountering God and are excited about it. That was what it was designed for along with helping to transform our church and local community for the Lord. God is in the prayer answering business; we are in the asking business. God is always there; we just need to open our eyes to see Him.

So here is what I replied to the individual who expressed his concerns about praying to be seen by men. He told me that he did not need to come to the room to pray. I could just tell him what to pray for and he would pray for those things.

There are lists and prayer requests written all around the room, so it's not that easy. I have no idea what other people have put up as prayer requests. I made nearly 50 prayer requests and posted them. Also, there is a prayer walk to pray around the church and many other things in the prayer room that are not replicable as only prayer requests.

Also, biblically the church prayed together a lot. There is nothing wrong with what we are doing as you imply. I don't know anyone that signed up to be seen by men. We're trying to bathe our church community and town community in prayer for 36 hours straight. There is power in collective, unified prayer. Power that this church hasn't seen because they have not done it.

As a local church, we haven't been a praying church, and prayer is one of the key elements of the early church as expressed in Acts 2:42. This is an attempt to get that prayer fire started. I'm glad you pray a lot on your own. We need that. We are attempting to develop an environment of corporate prayer because we need that too. What we need to do as a church to reach this community for Jesus cannot be done by our own strength; it must have God and that starts with prayer.

There is a place for group prayer and prayer events in a church. When the Bible was talking about being "seen by men" in prayer it was talking about people who would make public displays of prayer with the intention of the prayer being seen by men, not prayer influencing God. In this case, people are praying alone in a room. No public display there.

How would we balance the examples of group prayer with avoiding being seen by men? We could go so far to avoid being seen by men that we would never have any corporate or group prayers.

You don't need to feel forced to do it. I just wanted to give you the opportunity in case you missed it. If you change your mind, you can still sign up. You can sign up anonymously so nobody will know it's you if you are uncomfortable with people knowing you signed up.

He then replied that what we are doing is not group prayer. It's just people praying one at a time at the building. I replied:

You will need to ask those who experienced the room and ask them if it was a worthwhile experience.

Would it be better for two or more to gather together and pray? It would be good, but you would have to ask the people who participated if it would be better. I think both have their place and serve different purposes. Unfortunately, our last group prayer meeting that we attempted ended with just me and one other person's wife showing up on the fourth week of it. It ended there because I am not going to spend an hour in prayer with another person's wife without their husband there. About four months before that, the group prayer meeting ended with only one other person besides Lindsay and me showing up. It's my duty as a minister to try to create something that will remedy this problem because giving lessons about it, reading books about it, and preaching about it has not been working.

There really hasn't been a desire in our church for group prayer, and the group prayer is usually boring. That was part of the motive behind the prayer room. It is nearly group prayer. When people read through the praises and requests people have written on the walls, whether it is group prayer or not, it is a real unifying and uplifiting experience. I hope people catch an excitement for prayer because our church's success depends on an excitement and passion for prayer being among us. Most people don't spend an hour in prayer and this encouraged them to encounter God in a way they have not before or do not regularly. I hope the experience helps their prayer life flourish and become more passionate.

It's my responsibility to create programs and ministries to help people in this church grow. As I sit here in the church during the last hour that someone is in that room and evaluate the comments people have made to me as a result of their experience in that room, I would have to say it was successful. There are things I will tweak to make it better next time, but it served the purpose of helping people encounter God and fostered a passion in prayer.

So we can disagree on whether it was done to be seen by men or whether it is as useful as group prayer. To me, those are irrelevant discussions because I saw people who had encountered God, felt His love, and have a growing passion for Him. To me, that is what I do all this for.

The second part of our mission statement is that we would share the passions of Jesus. I think this program helped people to grow in that. That's why it was done. It could have completely failed. I was concerned about that, but on this side of it, I am thankful.

It is my hope that God would spur in everyone's hearts a passion for Him during this time. I want them to feel His calling on their life, the peace He has for them, and the joy of His presence. I want to be a praying church. It does appear to be working. May God continue to bless this endeavor.

Bringing Back the "Out-of-Style" Prayer Meeting - How to Improve Group Prayer Meetings

One of the things I hope to reintroduce in August at our church is the Midweek Prayer Meeting.

Here are some of the links I found useful in my research along with excerpts.

Whatever Happened to the Weekly Prayer Meeting? by George Verwer

Samuel Chadwick, one of God’s great men of past years, taught that Satan’s greatest aim is to destroy our prayer lives. Satan is not afraid of prayerless study, prayerless work or prayerless religion – but he will tremble when we pray. If Chadwick was correct (and many other great men of God have said similar things), then we have a problem. If there is any part of our church life that seems to be in trouble, it is the prayer meeting. IN fact, in an increasing number of churches, for all practical purposes, there is no such meeting at all.

The lack and neglect of such meetings is, I believe, one of the greatest mistakes in our Bible-believing churches, and such deception by Satan represents a far greater enemy than liberal theology or the cults. In fact, a clear study of 2 Corinthians 10:4-7 would show us that prayer is the principal means through which we are going to stand against the enemy whatever way he might attack us. We seem to be blind to the nature of spiritual warfare and feel that as long as we have a full Sunday school and good numbers on Sunday morning then all is well. Could it be true that if the Holy Spirit left us, very few changes would be made? Would everything go on as usual?

Prayer is one of our main weapons and faith is closely linked with it. We must not expect it to be easy. Satan will counter-attack any efforts made towards effective prayer. We must refuse any form of discouragement and press forward whatever the cost.

Conversational Prayer Meetings (download only) by William Lantz

When children line up in front of a department store Santa Claus, each has his turn to talk to Santa. But even though a group of children may be gathered around, what takes place is merely a series of individual communications. To me this line-up of children seems analogous to the kind of prayer which is called group prayer, but which actually is a series of individual prayers to which others in the room are allowed to listen. In such a situation there is no real group activity.

I have come to believe that group activity is important to prayer. Group prayer should be like a time when the children of a family talk something over with their father. At such a time the procedure is something like this: the children with their father may discuss plans to go to the zoo. Each one who cares to (including the father) makes a comment or two about this. Then the conversation may turn to household chores, then the matter of swings for the backyard, then the children’s school activities, and so on to other topics.

Conversational group prayer doesn’t consist of orations but of phrases or sentences from various individuals on one topic until the topic is covered. Ordinarily it is rude in group conversation to make a statement about a topic and then go on to something else without giving others a chance to say anything. On the other hand it would be rude to interrupt a speaker or orator to comment on one of his topics, no matter how many subsequent topics he might also discuss before he finished.

Thus the “rule” for conversational group prayer is this: limit your prayer to one topic at a time. It may take just a phrase to express it, or a sentence, or two or three sentences – but just one thought. It could be some bit of adoration, perhaps a thought of thanksgiving, maybe a note of confession, petition, or intercession – but just one idea.

Then wait and let others add something on that topic. Perhaps someone else’s addition will remind you of another aspect of that topic for which you would like to pray.

Then when it seems that everyone has finished on a topic, you or anyone else may introduce a new one. You may pray many times during the meeting but only a single thought each time. The prayer meeting thus proceeds topic by topic. (Incidentally, the same topic could again be introduced later if some important neglected aspect comes to mind.)

In summary, the two rules for conversational group prayer are these: (1) Pray one thought at a time, allowing someone else a chance to add anything he wishes on that topic; (2) Proceed topically, not leaving a topic until everyone who wishes has had a chance to pray something about it.

Tuning Up a Boring Prayer Meeting by Dave Ruark

Can you imagine how weird life would be if all your conversations were like most prayer meetings? You’d be at a party, maybe standing in a circle with friends, and one person would talk constantly for five or ten minutes, hardly taking a breath, covering six or seven topics. Finally that person would finish, and the next person would start saying basically the same thing for five or ten minutes. Maybe the next person would squeeze the person’s hand next to them to let them know they weren’t going to say anything, but then the fourth person jumps in for their five minutes on those same topics, and so on around the circle. How boring would that be? Would you chose to stay in that conversation or would you excuse yourself to go get some more food or drink and find someone else to talk to? This is why it’s so hard to get people to come to pray corporately.

Here are the ground rules for having conversational prayer (they would also work as good ground rules for having a conversation at a party):

Stick with one thought at a time, allowing someone else to add to that topic before proceeding. I call this “paragraph” prayer.
Proceed topically, not leaving a topic until everyone who wishes to contribute has had a chance to pray something about it.

If you follow these rules you will be amazed at the difference you will have in your times of corporate prayer (and it may really help your social life too).

Ruark lists 6 good results of Conversational Prayer. He goes on to describe them in more detail.

It shows love and respect for others present.
It's considerate of attention span.
There is no need to have all of your thoughts organized.
There is less self-consciousness.
It can be deep and real.
Conversation prayer cuts down on the amount of unplanned silence in a prayer.

Prayer Meetings by Charles Spurgeon

He provides a great list of hindrances to the prayer meeting. He goes into details on each one.

Unholiness
Discord
Hypocrisy
Long prayers
Little sermons in our prayers
Lack of being direct with our prayers.
Lack of real intensity in our prayers.
Lack of faith.
Inconsistency in our prayers.

It is of no use for me to preach to the people, my dear Christian brothers and sisters, unless you pray for them. It is of no use holding special services for the quickening of the spiritually dead unless the Holy Spirit is brought to them by our prayers. It may be that you who pray have more to do with the blessed results than we who preach.

I think I have told you of the old story of the preacher who had been very successful in his preaching, but a message came from heaven to him that it would not have been so if it had not been for the prayers of an old deaf brother preacher, who sat on the pulpit stairs and pleaded with God for the conversion of the listeners. It may be true. We may appear to the eyes of men to have the credit of success, but all the while the real honor may belong to someone else, and I do certainly myself always ascribe the conversions brought about in this church to the prayers of God’s people. Let it always be so ascribed, and let God have all the glory in it. But do pray for conversions. Never give up praying for your unconverted wife or husband! Never cease to pray for your unconverted children. Never let the devil tempt you to be silent concerning your ungodly neighbors, but day and night, in the house and on the road, lift up your hearts to God in real prayer, and say to him, “Oh! that Ishmael might live before you!” He has given us his pledge that he will answer: believe it, and you shall see it, and you shall have the joy of it while He shall have the glory. Amen

Primitive Prayer Meeting by Charles Finney. This is a great message.

The fact is, brethren, our modern prayer-meetings are too cold and too constrained. Christians are not earnest in prayer. Their souls cannot become deeply burdened and earnestly agonized in supplication; they do not thirst enough for spiritual blessings, and have not the deep communion with God which is requisite for prevailing prayer. You know what a burden is felt in a prayer-meeting when the heart is thoroughly broken; when pride is abased, the soul humbled, and the entire energies are drawn out in earnest supplication. But there are few such meetings for prayer now. There is a lack of sustaining unanimity. It is a law of mind that union of heart sustains the interest and power of prayer. Did you never observe how you can sustain another in prayer, if you enter deeply into his sympathies? You uphold his faith and his fervor.

There is a wide difference between that and a meeting in which the heart has free scope, and the Spirit of God is not straitened, but ranges with free scope and melting power. I have seen prayer-meetings in which manifestly the whole congregation went forth before God in mighty prayer. Some of you have seen such prayer. The hearts of the people were moved as the trees of the forest before a mighty rushing wind.--Words seem as if frightened with irrepressible emotion. You can see that God is there. Everyone feels it. An awe of the Holy Presence pervades each heart. And yet they are not afraid, but are drawn into sweet confidence and most earnest pleading. Literally they seem to pour out their hearts before him. This is true prayer, and meets the idea of social praying. It is a union of hearts before God's mercy-seat, the Spirit coming down to make intercession with their spirit with groanings that cannot be uttered. Every prayer-meeting should bear this character, modified only according to the type of those circumstances that call for prayer.

The Vital Place of the Prayer Meeting by Erroll Hulse

One of the results of the revival in Korea is the multiplication of daily early morning prayer meetings. I questioned a Korean pastor recently and he assured me that daily early morning prayer meetings (5am in summer and 6am in winter) are part of the lifestyle of evangelical Christians of all denominations. Are these Koreans more angels than men?! Yet Bob Sheehan told me that as a boy he was impressed by the devotion of his father, a working man who laboured from 7am to 7pm daily, yet attended without fail a prayer meeting at 6am on his way to work!

Nehemiah's Prayer and Success in the Lord's Work

All growth is change. And most growth starts with the recognition of our need to improve. Every week as we remember the Lord's Supper, I am reminded of Christ's sacrifice for all of us and the subsequent failure on my part to always respond to Jesus' loving action properly.

Nehemiah, a Hebrew serving the king of Persia, heard of the state that Jerusalem had fallen to despite the recent ritual revival that had occurred there. Nehemiah responded to the sad situation with weeping, mourning, prayer and fasting. Nehemiah 1 records one of his prayers.

I have rewritten that prayer for our situation. If you want to read the original prayer, go to Nehemiah 1.

O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear this prayer for your followers, the church. I confess the sins we Christians, including myself and this local body, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you at times. We have not obeyed the command to love our neighbors as you taught.

Please remember the instruction you gave your follower Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.'

We are your followers and your people, whom you redeemed by the great sacrifice of Jesus. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to this prayer of your followers who delight in giving praise to your name. May our lives give you glory. Give us success today by granting us favor in the presence of others.

Then Nehemiah went to do the will of God, risking his life, facing scorn and danger, and leaving the comfort of the king's presence - all to bring glory to God. In the end, Nehemiah's struggle was not in vain. None of his success would have happened if Nehemiah was not able to see that the reality of the world was different than the reality God intended. So often we also realize this but justify it away. Nehemiah did not do what we have the tendency to do. He followed his realization by mourning, fasting, and praying over the Israelites' fallen state, and then he worked to bring God's reality into our reality. When we strive for that which is better and are willing to change ourselves, God can be glorified.

So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God (Nehemiah 6:15-16).

Their enemies and surrounding neighbors realized that God was at work. Let us mourn, pray, and fast that the world will realize that God is at work within us and in our midst, and may we be the people willing to be used for that work. But be assured, we will have to change for that to happen. All growth is change. Let us remember the sacrifice that has allowed us to be God's people.

Leonard Sweet wrote, "Jesus came to the world as hands and feet; Jesus comes now to us as bread and wine so that we come to others as Jesus' hands and feet."

An Examination of Spiritual Fasting

“Where are the people today who will respond to the call of Christ? Have we become so accustomed to ‘cheap grace’ that we instinctively shy away from more demanding calls to obedience? ‘Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross.’ Why has the giving of money, for example, been unquestionably recognized as an element in Christian devotion and fasting so disputed? Certainly we have as much, if not more, evidence from the Bible for fasting as we have for giving. Perhaps in our affluent society fasting involves a far larger sacrifice than the giving of money” (Foster, 54).

When I read through the Bible, I am amazed at the significance and the power of fasting. For some reason, that I cannot explain, prayer, when combined with fasting, produces tremendous results. It makes me wonder why we have forgotten this practice that we can see Moses, Paul, Elijah, Daniel, and Jesus exercised. Richard Foster, in his classic book Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, pointed out that from 1861 to 1954 nobody published a single book in America on religious fasting (Foster, 47).

In an attempt at correction, we have overreacted to the abuses in the past and have decided to no longer fast. In the Middle Ages, fasting was extremely popular, mandatory in many circles, and people would show off their fasting prowess. The gaudiness of fasting was and still is overwhelming. Nobody wants an arrogant faster, so the pendulum swung back and we have avoided the external practice of fasting altogether. Some will say, "Nobody needs to fast anyway. It is not essential for us to be saved." But that misses the point. Fasting is not about being saved, it is about growing closer to God. Although fasting is gaining steam in the minds and practice of many Christians, I have yet to really see a church take hold of the practice and seek God's will for their church through it. I hope that will not be the case in a year.

So why have we stopped fasting? I have compiled a list of reasons from Foster's book and a book by Dean Trune entitled The Path Toward Passion: Nine Disciplines That Connect Your Heart to God's.

Reasons that we have stopped fasting (taken from Foster and Trune):

“With the decline of the inward reality of the Christian faith, an increasing tendency to stress the only thing left, the outward form, developed. And whenever there is a form devoid of spiritual power, law will take over because law always carries with it a sense of security and manipulative power…Modern culture reacts strongly to these excesses and tends to confuse fasting with mortification” (Foster, 47).
We are taught by the medical world that fasting is unhealthy, so I will give this disclaimer. Consult your doctor before fasting.
We are not taught about fasting. It is a subject most churches are silent about.
If we would be honest with ourselves, we are addicted to food.
We are spiritually lazy.

John Wesley said, “Some have exalted religious fasting beyond all Scripture and reason; and others have utterly disregarded it.” Yet Wesley turned around and would not ordain a Methodist minister who did not fast two days a week. We have the tendency to take a good practice and make it a law. When we do that - when we fast out of obligation rather than passion - we remove all the power from the practice. Fasting needs to not be about me receiving what I want but about God bringing about what he wants.

A biblical fast is for spiritual reasons. We might quit eating something for a period of time or remove something completely from our diet for health reasons; those actions, although fine, are not a biblical fast. A biblical fast is where we acknowledge our spiritual dependency and need for God through the physical action of abstaining from food.

Some Great Stories of the Power of Fasting

“The king of Britain called for a day of solemn prayer and fasting because of a threatened invasion by the French in 1756. On February 6 John Wesley recorded in his Journal, ‘The fast day was a glorious day, such as London has scarce seen since the Restoration. Every church in the city was more than full, and a solemn seriousness sat on every face. Surely God heareth prayer, and there will yet be a lengthening of our tranquility.’ In a footnote he wrote, ‘Humility was turned into national rejoicing for the threatened invasion by the French was averted’” (Foster, 50).

“In his book Shaping History through Prayer and Fasting, Derek Prince relates how God prompted him to organize a day of prayer and fasting in England after World War II. He had heard of Joseph Stalin’s plan to purge Russia by killing thousands of Jews. Many people in England joined Prince on a particular Thursday by praying for God to stop the plan to kill Jews. Two weeks later, to the day, God stopped the planned killings. Stalin had a heart attack and died” (Trune, 92)

Key Bible Verses on Fasting

Leviticus 23:26-32 – The Lord established a corporate fast for the Day of Atonement.

Deuteronomy 9:9 – When Moses received the Ten Commandments, he fasted for forty days without food and water. This fast needed supernatural intervention.

1 Kings 19:8 – Elijah fasted for forty days prior to encountering God and receiving news on who to anoint as king of Syria and Israel and the successor of his ministry.

2 Chronicles 20:1-23 – Jehosophat called Judah to fast for God’s protection in the invasion of the Moabites and the Ammonites.

Ezra 8:21-23 – Ezra’s group fasted because Ezra did not want to ask for the king’s help because he has told the king “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” The purpose of the fast was to humble themselves and seek a safe journey.

Esther 4:16-17 – Esther and all of the Jews that participated fasted for three days from food and water. This was a dire time for the Jews.

Psalm 35:11-14 – David “afflicted” himself with fasting when he was being verbally attacked by others.

Psalm 69:9-12 – David writes that fasting was to humble his soul and a result of mourning.

Isaiah 58 – True and false fasting. A true fast is not just abstaining from food but looking at bringing about God’s will to the world around us.

I will take a break from the Bible verses to share a ridiculous fast that an acquaintance of mine did. For Lent he gave up pop. We were out and he ordered a beer because he could not drink pop. He drank a lot more beer during Lent that year. What a ridiculous fast.

Daniel 10:3 – Daniel did a three week fast from delicacies, meat, wine, and anointing himself. This was induced by mourning and led to him having a vision.

Joel 2:12-17 – The Lord calls on His people to have a corporate fast to repent of their sins.

Zechariah 7:4-5 – We do not fast for ourselves but for God. A proper fast is a focus on God and his will.

Zechariah 8:19 – By the time this was written Israel had four regular fasts. The Lord said that the fasts should be “seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts.”

Matthew 4:4 – During Jesus’ forty day fast, he answered Satan and said that his food is not the food of this world but “every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Matthew 6:16-18 – Jesus’ teaching on fasting. He used the phrase “When you fast.” Fasting is not to be done for public accolades but for worship of God.

Matthew 9:14-15 – Jesus says that his disciples will fast when he is gone.

Luke 2:36-38 – Anna worshiped with fasting.

Luke 4:1-13 – Jesus fasted from food for forty days and was tempted during his fast.

Luke 18:9-14 – It was common for the Pharisees to fast twice a week. This is not a condemnation of the fasting but of the Pharisee showing off his spiritual practices.

John 4:31-38 – To do God’s will and accomplish his work was Jesus’ food. We need to have the same attitude.

Acts 9:9 – Paul did a total fast after meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus.

Acts 13:2-3 – They church at Antioch fasted and were told to send out Barnabas and Paul.

Acts 14:23 – Paul and Barnabas committed the elders to the Lord with prayer and fasting.

Colossians 1:15-20 – This verse does not mention fasting, but a fast is a recognition that there is a spiritual reality and God is in control. In a fast, we feed, not on food for our body, but on food for our soul.

Some Practical Tips on Fasting

Consult your doctor and see if it will kill you.

Start light. If you’ve never fasted just do lunch and supper one day and drink juices while fasting.

Then after a few weeks, move on to a complete food fast for a day. All you drink is water.

After, that you can decide what it is you are being tugged to. Should you fast once a day every week for a few years? Should you go on and try an extended fast?

Remember you won’t start starving, as long as you are healthy, until about 21 days into a fast. The first three days of an extended fast are the worst. The body is cleansing. Experts say to start eating again once you start to feel hunger pangs after 21 days.

If you think I missed a key verse or you have a great testimony concerning fasting, please share in the comments.

Love - What We Need to Change the World -- or at Least Our Neighbors

The reason most churches in America are struggling is not because the culture is hostile to the gospel but that we have yet to really live the gospel in their midst. We like to speak the gospel, but words are cheap. Most people reject intellectual propositions rather than Jesus Christ. We need to live the gospel, not just speak it.

The key to loving is that the change that Jesus brings has to have already happened in us. Love begins with us accepting Christ's love and reflecting it to others. We cannot love the unlovable unless our hearts are changed from a worldly, selfish state to a Christ-like, giving, sacrificial state.

When we see the hurt, the oppressed, the hopeless, are we hurt? Do we sympathize? Or do we echo the words of the Pharisee who prayed, "God, I thank you that I am not like other people" (Luke 18:11). Are we haughty in our position of wealth, education, or any other part of our life we hang our pride and success on? The tax collector prayed, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" (Luke 18:13). Jesus followed that up by saying, "I tell you, this man (the tax collector) went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted" (Luke 18:14).

A chart in the book UnChristian, which deals with what the younger generation thinks about the church and what the church has done to foster that thought, explains the call to a radical, sacrificial and loving life through the following verses.

Genesis 12:2-3—God wants the lives of his people to bless others.

Isaiah 58:10—God followers should spend themselves on behalf of the poor.

Micah 6:8—We should be known for living humbly and pursuing justice and offering mercy.

Matthew 5:44—Love people who seem to be ‘enemies’ and pray for them.

Matthew 25:35-40—Whatever people do for the ‘least of these’—forgotten and overlooked people in society—they do for Jesus.

Mark 9:35—The greatest role in life is to serve others.

Luke 4:18—Jesus’ ministry was first introduced as freeing captives, serving the oppressed, and healing the sick.

Luke 15:3-7—God pursues people like a shepherd would search for even one straying sheep.

Luke 15:11-32—God is described as a father who patiently waits for the return of his child.

John 3:17—Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save it.

John 15:13—You cannot love a person more than by giving your life up for him or her.

Galatians 5:13—Christians have freedom to love unconditionally as Christ loved people.

Philippians 2:17; 2 Timothy 4:6; 1 John 3:16-19—Our lives are to be ‘poured out’ and spent to serve God’s purposes.

Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:21-22—Our attitude should be like that of Jesus, who loved and accepted humans even though they were ‘enemies’ of God. The he changed their status from enemies to friends, even sons and daughters of God, when they commit themselves to him.

1 Timothy 3:1-7—One of the qualifications of Christian leadership is to have ‘a good reputation with outsiders’ (v.7 NIV).

Titus 3:2—Christians should be peaceable and considerate, showing true humility toward everyone.

2 Peter 3:9—God wants everyone to repent and turn to him.

Would other people describe your life as a Christian in these terms? Do these principles guide your relationships with outsiders? Are you a Christ follower who seeks to live out this picture of Christianity as you interact with others?

Quote from unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters
by David Kinnaman (213-314).

Love in the Face of Oppression - Quakers and Nazis

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:43-45).

In testimony given before the House Military Affairs committee from July 10 to August 2, 1940, during the hearings on the Selective Training and Service Act, the Society of Friends gave their view on how they hoped the government would treat conscientious objectors. During the grilling from representatives who did not regard conscientious objectors highly, Paul French, the eventual head of the organization that represented the conscientious objectors with the government, was asked how Quakers were fairing under the Nazis. In reply, French shared the following testimony about a group of Quakers who were in an area conquered by the Germans:

"The Quaker units in Holland under German occupation and in Germany are still functioning. We just had a very interesting account last night from a member of the Service Committee of the Quaker unit functioning in Bordeaux when the Germany army came in. They had been feeding Spanish refugee children, and as soon as the German army of occupation landed, naturally, they were a bit concerned as to what was going to happen and they went to the commanding general and asked what their position was to be, and the two ranking officers of the German army told them that they had been fed by the Quaker relief organization 20 years ago, and to go ahead an operate as they had."

What a powerful testimony of the principle to love all people in all situations.

A Court Win for God Under Technicality - Trying to be a Christian Nation

Today's headline at Yahoo read, "Court Allows 'Under God' on Technicality" This is just an example of yesterday's point that we are not even close to being a Christian nation. Some of you might be saying, "That's right, and we aren't supposed to be one." I would agree.

But what happens when the majority of a nation is actually Christian, not just in survey polls only? Let's revisit Christian Exodus. If Christians move to an area and become a very large majority, should they let the non-believers decide whether we should abort babies, feed the hungry, help prisoners better themselves, and stand up for world peace? Or should Christians stand up and not allow in utero babies to be aborted, feed the hungry out of our excess or even sacrifice our just enough, re-educate prisoners, and try to bring about world peace? I'm sure there are many other things that Christians should not allow to be on their hands if they are the majority in the society.

I'm not talking about militaristic taking over of a country, but what a democratic country should look like if Christians are in the majority. Christians should always be concerned first and foremost about the kingdom of God. But does that exclude us from being concerned about our family, our work, or even our government. Why do we exclude government from the whole subject? The Bible doesn't tell us much on how to raise a godly family, yet we still believe that is something God wants us to do. The Bible doesn't tell us much on how to be godly in the workplace, yet we still believe that is something God wants us to do. Why do we say, "The Bible doesn't tell us how to be godly citizens in a democracy (something they didn't even have when the Bible was written), so we need not worry anything about it?"

I am not just asking these questions Socratically. I really am struggling with the issue. In college, discussion was the way we would arrive at the truth. (Thanks, Shannon Caroland.) We would discuss, discuss, discuss, until we, usually, came to agreement. It was very rare where when we didn't come to a concensus and decided to agree to disagree. Now that I'm in the real world nobody seems to care about one another and their thoughts. People's thoughts are up to the individual and nobody else should have a right to influence them unless they are a paid minister or psychiatrist. From them it is expected but easily disregarded because it is their job. So we always keep ourselves isolated on the throne of a kingdom of one. I would much rather be a citizen in a community of 1000s than the king of one.

Watch out for the potholes.

Creating a Jesus State - On Christian Exodus

I've been trying to avoid being contentious, but I can't.

The other day when I brought up Christian Exodus, Crystal replied in a follow-up post saying, “Now concerning a Christian Nation, the logistics will shoot that idea down quicker than anything else. Land, roads, taxation, etc etc.” Although she went further, she wasn’t alone in this reply. I also talked to Josh Kissling and he brought up the same thing in my store.

What should be our proper response has been plaguing my heart ever since. I didn’t want to bring my conclusion up because I don’t want to cause strife and I like both Crystal and Josh, but I have to get it off my chest or I will go crazy.

When the topic of Christian Exodus comes up, the thought that it isn’t possible should be the least of our concerns. If God is calling people to it, then whether it is possible doesn’t really matter. Should we be the type of Christians that worry about whether that which God has called us to is possible? Or are we to be the type of Christians that follow God’s calling no matter how irrational or illogical it may seem? I think it was very irrational for Jesus to die on a cross to save the world. Hosea could have been saying, “Lord, it is not logical for me to marry a prostitute.” Abraham could have told God, “This is where my family is and where I am supposed to be. That is completely irrational that you would want me to leave this land I was born in and go to this so-called ‘Promised Land’.” But it is in the things that are irrational or illogical that God turns the ways of the world upside down.

The first and most important thing is whether Christian Exodus contradicts Scripture. That one I am not sure on. If it contradicts Scripture, I would love to see verses. But we cannot say that just because the Bible doesn't give directions on how to do government means that God doesn't have a plan for it. We are given the Spirit to help us work through things the Bible doesn't directly address.

The second thing we can look at is church history. The modern church seems to be oblivious to the past. But in order to understand if this is something God calls Christians to, we can look at the past. Because if he called people to it once, then it is something he can call people to again. Was John Calvin called of God when he tried to create a theocracy in Geneva? Do we think God called the Mayflower over here to start a Christian colony? Many of the American colonies were started due to people being “called” by God to sail across the ocean and start governments that would be focused upon doing the will of God. They had to leave behind their present environments where they could’ve been more effective personal witnesses of Christ, but, apparently, they were called onto a different path because God had bigger plans in the works than just the one or two individuals they would win to the Lord through personal relationships. God is always trying to redeem the whole world. He always is looking at the big picture which we sometimes have trouble seeing.

Now this leads to the heart of the matter of Christian Exodus. I believe God is in the process of not only redeeming individuals but of also redeeming societies, which would include governments. The question that is important, and that we should tackle, is whether God would call anyone to leave their environment, go to another place, and change a corrupted government into a government that is focused - although they will fail - on following God. They key thing is that they would be striving to be what God wants them to be.

The American government is not Christian. It might have resemblances of Christianity, but it is failing on many levels. It is not striving to be what God wants it to be, and I do think a government can try to be what God wants it to be. However, I do not know what the proper response of this is. I am not a total supporter of the Christian Exodus, but I am not a naysayer yet. I actually haven’t heard a solid reason to be a naysayer. The most convincing argument is being a witness to those around you, but history has shown God's call away from that in the past. All of the people against Christian Exodus act like it is obvious to be against it and don’t explain why it is obvious. I am having trouble understanding how it is obvious when I look at this in the context of history. God wants to redeem the whole world. Would Christian Exodus somehow prevent God from waking people up or might it be the alarm clock the world has been waiting for?

Maybe I'm wrong. Please let me know where I am, so that we all can grow.

And watch out for the potholes.