In the past three months, I have grieved for two groups of people. First in April, when my brother Bob had unexpected multiple bypass surgery then his recovery then the past three weeks with his accidental fall, suffering blunt force trauma to the brain – then having brain surgery, and spending time in the Palliative Care Unit dying – and then having his memorial service, I have observed two groups of folks who differed from Bob’s family and friends, in the way they grieved. One group seemed to grieve amiss - not quite right, in a mistaken way, improperly. Bob’s group sang, prayed, shared Bob stories, laughed, and grieved – but not as those in the other groups. One group seemed to lack a faith-system that provided, “Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.” From outside their hospital rooms, one could hear loud weeping and refusal to let go of a loved-one. There seemed to be no hope for reunion, nor any comfort in the belief of a heavenly home for the soon-to-be-deceased. Then another group, while seemingly believers, were trying to make it through the difficult days by themselves, while Bob’s group was daily sustained by a rather large group of praying folks. To enter crisis, and possible death of a loved one without faith in God, is sad to observe. While not quite as sad, is observance of those who have no prayer support team interceding for them and undergirding them. I have grieved for both groups – folks who grieve amiss! The Psalmist says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (Psalm 116:15). Since that is true, should we not seek to lead all to be “saints” and then pray for them all the way to their “death?”

It happened again last week – another mass shooting, this time at the Santa Fe High School in southeast Texas. Previously, this High School was perhaps best known for its role in the fight against school prayer in the 1990s. In 2000, the Supreme Court struck down the school’s long-standing tradition of prayer before football games, ruling that prayer over the stadium’s public-address system violated the separation of church and state. Ironically, last Friday, a member of the school’s football team, killed eight classmates, and two teachers, and wounded thirteen others. And once again, many in the media showed their complete lack of understanding of the role of prayer in a time of tragedy. National and local news commentators read the names of the ten victims of the shooting, and concluded with, “remember to keep these victims in your prayers,” or something similar. Forgive this old professor’s attempt to respond to a “teachable moment,” but I have been praying for the families of the victims, the students who were injured, the officer who was injured, the students who will have a hard time living with the images of last Friday morning, the families who will remember where they were when they got a message from their frightened child, for school personnel who must now finish the semester, for the shooter and his family, for the community, for the state, for politicians who always rush to the scene, and seem to get on camera, but do nothing to prevent a reoccurrence of the tragedy. I’ve even prayed for our country. While I grieve for the victims, they are now beyond the reach of my prayer. I have been praying that their death might finally cause someone, somewhere, to do something to prevent this from happening again. And maybe I should pray that the news media take a crash course in prayer. Just three months ago, I posted “Thoughts and Prayers and More” following the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. I attempted to say then, that while “sending thoughts and prayers your way” was meant for good, it was misdirected and incorrect. Prayer should only be directed to God. I also said then, and I repeat now, prayer is appropriate, needed, and good, but it is not enough. Since then, reasonable suggestions that would make mass shootings less frequent, have been made, but little to nothing has been done. A Parkland student pleaded a response to the Santa Fe shooting, “This is the 22nd shooting just this year. DO SOMETHING!” I agree and repeat my scripture from my February 26 post - “To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).

What is the result of prayer? Does it make the pray-er feel better? Yes, but it does more than that. Does it fulfill biblical instructions? Yes, but it does more than that. Does it follow the model of Jesus? Yes, but it does more than that. Prayer opens heaven. Jesus lived with an open heaven. At His baptism, “When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened” (Luke 3:21). In the midst of His ministry, Jesus encountered one who was deaf, and seeking power from heaven, the Scripture records, “Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’” (Mark 7:34). Neither was this experience limited to Jesus. An open heaven was experienced by Stephen (Acts 7:54-55), Paul (Acts 9:5), Peter (Acts 10), and John (Revelation 4:1-2). When heaven opens, God does what God alone can do. Have you ever prayed for a miracle? For revival? For renewal? How about for a mighty spiritual movement? These are things we can’t provide on our own. But God can. When heaven opens, we have access to that which only God can provide, To “pray without ceasing,” as instructed in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, allows us to live under an open heaven. Need supernatural strength? Need godly wisdom? Need divine favor? Pray till heaven opens.

In recent years I have posted serious prayer requests on social media – twice for my wife’s surgeries, related to her fractured pelvis, and hip replacement, and once for my brother’s multiple bypass surgery. Friends replied in large numbers, many with encouraging, and supportive comments. Some however, simply responded with the word, ‘praying.” Perhaps I’m the only one who feels a bit empty when these one-word replies appear. If so, attribute it to twenty plus years of trying to teach seminary student want-to-be pastors, ministers, and missionaries how to pray effectively and how to teach others to do the same. More specific response would be better. Praying for who – me, my wife or brother, the doctors, the nurses? Praying when – now, tomorrow, next Sunday, once, ongoing? Praying for what – healing, recovery, comfort, support? Please don’t misunderstand. I am appreciative and grateful for every person who took the time to read my request, and then click “Like” or responded with a praying hands emoji, or simply said “Praying.” I just wish for a bit more expression of payer support. When Paul was praying for the believers in Corinth, he added a phrase in his prayer that might be appropriate here – “and this also we pray . . .” (2 Corinthians 13:9). Next time you respond to a social media prayer request, how about taking a few more seconds, and make your reply specific.

I once had a person who disliked me very much and tried to discredit my every action. In fact, at times, they were quite proactive in their attacks on my family and on me. How should I have prayed for such a person? The human side of me wanted to pray evil on them, to ask God to just remove them from my life. In fact, David, in his psalms of judgement, often called “the imprecatory psalms,” repeatedly asked God to punish his enemies. As an example, David once prayed to God about, “those who hate me without a cause” (Psalm 69:4). After much thought, I decided to go with Paul, who wrote, “Repay no one evil for evil” (Romans 12:17), but rather leave vengeance for God to repay (Romans 12:19). While I never got to the friendship point of Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote - “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” – I did find some comfort in the thought of Epicurus, the ancient Greek philosopher who said, “If God listened to the prayers of men, all men would quickly have perished: for they are forever praying for evil against one another.” So how will you pray for those who tend to bring harm on you? “Be kind to one another” (Ephesians 4:32) and let God handle it.

“Sending thoughts and prayers your way.”

How many times did we hear some politician or dignitary say these very words in the days following the recent school shooting in Florida (or any previous mass shooting). I suppose it is an attempt to comfort those who are hurting. In fact, one politician said in a T.V. interview, “I have sent my prayers to comfort them.” Since prayer is to be addressed to God, not to persons, I have my doubts about how much these folks know about prayer, and how much they actually pray. But that’s beside my point for today.

First, I understand the intent behind such comments. “Thoughts and prayers” are good, right and appropriate, and at least prayer should come first. In fact, it may well be God alone who can solve this problem. A. J. Gordon, American Baptist pastor, writer, and composer, wrote, “You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.” So, keep praying. Florida student survivors and their parents, reacted with, “We don’t need your thoughts and prayers. Send us help.”

Second, I understand their frustration. They want gun control, or at least a ban on assault weapons that get in the hands of unstable persons, or perhaps more assistance for the mentally ill. Whatever it is, they want more than sentiment. And, although it may sound strange, coming from one who taught prayer in a theological seminary for many years, I’m with them 100%. I don’t know what to do, but I know it is past time to do something more then send “thoughts and prayers.” As a member of a church that endured one of the early church shootings (Wedgwood Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas, 1999), I feel some of their pain.

There comes a time when we have to do more than pray. It is that time. I’m not in a position to make any decisions, but if those who are, can’t agree on a solution, it’s time they are removed and replaced with someone who can do more than send “thoughts and prayers.” Now I need a text for this little sermonette. How about James 4:17, “To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

I first met Jim Essian when he played 3rd base for the Fort Worth Cats minor league baseball team and I worked with the team Chaplain. I next met him years later as he was starting a church in downtown Fort Worth. Many church plants don’t make it seven years, but many are not started by guys who hustle on every play, don’t mind getting their uniform dirty, and play every game to win. In seven years, Jim’s church plant has baptized over 200 people, planted another church down the road, entered the hard fight of racial reconciliation, all this gathering in 9 different Sunday venues, 6 different office spaces, using 5 different trailers to set up and tear down over 350 times. Jim’s key to planting/pastoring a church? “Read your Bible, pray, repent, worship, and plead with the Lord to send you good people filled with the Spirit.” I know that not all church planters begin on the same playing field, and it’s not fair to measure all by one, but when Jim Essian got on base, God hit a Home Run. The Apostle Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Would you join me this week praying for those like Paul and Jim, who answered the call to “plant.”

Here’s a Christmas word for you. The oft-read “Christmas Story” from Luke 2, contains a wonderful word, largely a lost word in our vocabulary – “ponder – “to consider something deeply and thoroughly; to meditate; to weigh carefully in the mind; to consider thoughtfully.” “Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). One of God’s greatest gifts is the gift of memory. In fact, much of our Christmas observance is spent remembering, pondering. And pondering has a direct connection to praying, and an even closer connection to meditating. In his book, “Too Busy Not to Pray” Bill Hybels wrote, “When the spirit of adoration takes over and we begin pondering God's attributes, we soon say from the heart, 'I am praying to a tremendous God!' Which only motivates us to keep on praying.” I’m praying today for a Merry Christmas and a Happy Pondering!

Prayer and More

Every time there is a mass shooting in a church, someone asks me if it causes me to re-live the emotions of September 15, 1999 at Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth – my home church – where a lone gunman entered a “See You at the Pole” Rally with two guns, two hundred rounds of ammunition, and a home-made pipe bomb. Before he took his own life, he killed seven people, wounded seven others, and traumatized hundreds including members of my family. The answer is always the same – an agonizing yes.

But this time – First Baptist Church, Sutherland Springs, with 26 dead, twenty injured, and a small Texas town traumatized – my mind went to another event.

When I was the Baptist campus minister at Pan American University, we were on a retreat in the mountains of southern Mexico. We had been warned not to go outside the camp after dark due to the wild animals in the mountains. Nevertheless, a student named, Jimmy, did just the opposite. When word got out about his absence in camp, students gathered in the cafeteria. After a long silence, a student said, “I think we need to get in a circle and pray” to which another student, a new, not-yet-discipled student, exclaimed, “Pray H____! Let’s go get Jimmy.”

Last week, and following every mass shooting, there were a lot of people encouraging prayer. I’m all for it. We need to pray. Survivors need our intercessory prayer. Injured, most definitely need prayer. But we all need more. It’s time someone did something about automatic weapons designed for warfare, but then used for killing innocent people, even children.

It’s time someone did something about mental illness, especially that which leads to violence. It’s time someone did something about those who “fall through the cracks” of society’s law and order. Pray? Absolutely. But isn’t it about time to go get Jimmy, to do something to prevent further trauma?

By the way, as you pray, remember to pray for spiritual awakening. It may well be the only solution.

We sat in the airport awaiting our flight and watched as people boarded the flight at the adjacent gate - Allegiant Airlines flight 417, non-stop to Las Vegas. They were mostly happy people, headed for a holiday weekend or a vacation. Many no doubt planning to visit a few casinos, perhaps take in a few shows. We laughed at some as they gathered all their belongings and tried to carry on more than was allowed. We grieved with one who arrived five minutes after the door was shut. A little more than 48 hours later, a lone gunman, with an arsenal of guns and ammunition, sat in a hotel window and killed 59 people, injuring another five hundred plus. We wondered about the happy folks who boarded the plane next to us. Were any of them at the concert? Were any killed there? Any injured? Did any lose friends who flew to Las Vegas with them? And what about the one who missed the flight? It has been a subtle reminder that the length of life is uncertain. Sharing with a stranger, even if it is only a smile or a wave, could be their last. I awoke Monday morning to an abundance of “Pray for Las Vegas” notices on my social media. I have done so, and will continue to do so. But I will do more. I will pray for the passengers who were on Allegiant #417. I will pray for my friends who live and serve in Las Vegas. I will pray for America. I will pray for leaders to make right decisions. I will pray that deranged people get help before it is too late. I will pray that we are all ready for earthy life to end. I will pray that we pass up no opportunity to share with others, especially those who are near an unexpected end to life. “You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14).

Fifty years ago, this month I began a six-year tenure serving as the Baptist Student Minister and Bible Instructor at Pan American University. Next week I am speaking five times in three days to students at the same University (now called The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley).  In preparation for these presentations, I journeyed back in time.  One clear memory was the day I ran out of Seminary momentum.  This was my first ministry assignment following Seminary graduation, and I had been using everything I remembered from my classes, but nothing seemed to be working.  At a place named Oasis Baptist Camp, sitting among the palm trees on a warm fall day, I had a long talk with God, then I gave up.  I told God, “You got me into this, now get me through it. If anything of significance is going to happen here, it’s got to be You, not me.”  Space does not permit my telling of all the significant things that happened on that campus in the next six years, but it all began in a private prayer meeting, when I surrendered.  The passage that became real to me over the next weeks was John 12:24, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”  I look back on that day as the day I died, at least died to self, and the day God began to use me to produce according to His will.

Last week I participated in the North American Prayer Summit in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada (the oldest and most easterly city in North America). Prayer leaders from North American countries, especially Canada, U.S. and Mexico met for four days to share reports and pray for their continent. It made me wonder about the possibility of believers from North and South Korea joining in prayer for their peninsula. It may well be logistically impossible but with today’s technology, surely something could facilitate such a prayer meeting. When I visited the Korean demilitarized zone, we entered a small building with a long table, and we were told this is where leaders from both countries meet to discuss matters of concern to both. A line in the middle of the room separated North from South Korea. Perhaps believers from each country could meet in such a room for united prayer, without crossing a line. Seems to me it would be far better to seek God’s will than quote God, supposedly granting leaders the permission to kill one another. “Father, “Let the nations be wakened” (Joel 3:12).

When we get that for which we pray, we say God answered our prayer.  When we fail to get that for which we pray, we say, God didn’t answer our prayer.  Is it possible that God answered your prayer by saying, “no?”  When some would-be followers of Jesus requested to first bury their father, the answer was, “no” (Luke 9:57-62).  When a mother requested of Jesus to let her sons sit in places of prominence in the kingdom, the answer was “no” (Matthew 20:20-23).  When Jesus asked the Father to postpone the cross, the answer was “no” (Matthew 26:39). When Paul asked to have his “thorn in the flesh” removed, the answer was “no” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). Sometimes God’s answer to our prayer request is negative, because we “ask amiss” (James 4:3).  In other words, we do not see the big picture as God does.  God’s answers always reflect the good of the kingdom, over the good of the individual who is praying.  In his book, “Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God,” Pastor Timothy Keller writes, “God will either give us what we ask or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything he knows.” So what do you do when God says “No?”  Give thanks.  God heard your prayer and responded.  Pray to any other god and you get zero answer.  Allow God to teach you through the “no” answer.  Pray again. God loves persistence (Luke 11:5-8; 18:1-5).

I have a question for those who speak of “praying on the armor every morning.”  Why did you take it off the night before?  I know.  You say you can’t sleep with all that armor on.  The Roman soldiers did, especially when they thought the enemy was near.  The analogy to spiritual warfare and the “armor of God” is in Ephesians 6:10-20, and it is a reference to the Roman soldiers being ready to protect themselves from the enemy.  In all probability Paul was in prison when he wrote Ephesians, and thus was quite familiar with the Roman soldiers and their armor.  While not so described in scripture, Satan is identified by John Milton in “Paradise Lost” as the “Prince of Darkness” and so he is – one who often works in the shadows and attacks in the dark of night.  Why was Isaiah so concerned that there be a watchman on the wall during the night watch (Isaiah 21:11), unless he feared a darkness attack by the enemy? Satan may well attack you in the night when you are armor-less. Let me be clear – I have no problem “praying on the armor of God.”  My problem comes with removing it.  So don’t “pray on your armor” each morning, rather refrain from removing it, and affirm its presence daily.

I saw it again last week. Someone posted on social media, “We are in need of prayers sent our way.” I’ve written about this before, but it keeps reoccurring, apparently from folks who understand their need for prayer, but don’t understand prayer. The Bible is clear that all prayer is to be offered to the Father, to and in the name of the Son, in, with, and through the Holy Spirit. Consider the following scripture passages: “When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father . . . In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father” (Matthew 6:6, 9). “Whatever you ask the Father in My name . . .” (John 15:16). “It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8:34). “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit . . .” (Ephesians 6:18). “Praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 20). The great evangelist R.A. Torrey wrote, “To sum it all up, the prayer that God answers is the prayer that is to God the Father, that is on the ground of the atoning blood of God the Son, and that is under the direction and the power of God the Holy Spirit.” I realize that for some, this is just a misuse of words, but if prayer is really serious, let’s try to get it right. Don’t send prayer to another person, nor request prayer be sent to you from another person. Prayer is about a receiving Father, a providing Son, and a directing Spirit.

As we were landing recently, the airplane’s Captain came on the intercom and said, "We know you have a choice in airlines, and we want to thank you for flying Delta Connection... excuse me, American Eagle."  My first serious thought following this gaffe was, while it is good to know your destination, it is likewise good to know some details about the journey. I was fortunate to be raised by a pastor-father, and a missions-called-mother, who not only made sure I was ultimately headed to heaven, but also made sure, I understood important things about the journey. Primary to this learning was the importance of continual communication with God through prayer. I was taught that God was the only one who could adequately “direct” my paths (Proverbs 3:6).  When I was tempted to walk “in the council of the ungodly” (Psalm 1:1),” I needed assistance.  I did not need someone to wish me “good thoughts” or “send prayer” my way, but I did need partners interceding for me to God, and God responding by showing me the way, for “indeed, difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14).  So when your way grows difficult, and your feet falter, you have a choice.  Your best choice is to call on God, who knows both your destination and the way to get you there.

Last week I shared about the broken second vertebra of my neck during the teenage years and the many answered prayers of Pastors wives during the course of my nine month healing. Since the bones were not healing at the four month mark, surgery was scheduled in which my neck bones were to be wired together, making future turning of my neck impossible. I resisted this, primarily because it would signal the end of my athletic aspirations. One week before the surgery, a plaster body cast was made on my body, from the hips to the top of my head, with a hole for my face, and holes for my ears. Once it hardened, it was cut off of me, and was to be placed back on following the surgery and remain on for a few weeks until the bones had set. The day before the surgery I was “prepped” – shaved of all body hair from the waist up. As pastors wives prayed, so did a lot of other folks. On the morning of the surgery, we were called and told not to go to the hospital. The atheist orthopedic surgeon had changed his mind. He explained that he didn’t understand why he changed his mind, but we understood. That surgery never happened. The next check-up revealed the bones had begun to heal. Prayers were answered! Sometimes God cuts it close, but is never late. “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man (or woman) avails much” (James 5:16).

When I was a teenager, my father was Pastor of a church in Houston, Texas and my mother was President of a city-wide Pastor Wives organization.  On a cold-December night I lay in an Emergency Room with a broken second vertebra of the neck, hearing doctors saying it was a miracle I was alive, and not paralyzed. That’s when my mother sprang into action.  On the social media of the day, my mother placed phone calls to several Pastor wives, who in turn called several others, and the prayer chain continued until a hundred or more wives had been contacted with a request on my behalf, to go “boldly to the throne of grace . . .  and find grace to help in time of need”  (Hebrews 4:16).  I spent the next nine months hearing doctors and surgeons explain why my neck bone would never heal, twice scheduled for surgery and twice cancelled at the last minute, unable to attend school or church services for nine months.  After these nine months, I was pronounced healed.  When my parents tried to thank the atheist orthopedic surgeon, he replied, “Thank someone else.  I had nothing to do with the healing.” So my mother and her pastor wives friends did just that, they thanked Someone else. Six decades later, many of those ladies and most of the doctors who said I would never be totally well again have moved into eternity, and I’m still here. We sang a version of a little song originally written in 1929, and often adapted with different words, “Are there any rivers that seem to be uncrossable? Are there any mountains you cannot tunnel through? God specializes in things that seem impossible.  He knows a thousand ways, to make a way for you. Let go and let God have His wonderful way.  Let go and let God have His way.  Your burdens will vanish, your night turn to day.  Let go and let God have His way.”  We did, and He did!

The more social media responses I read of people responding to prayer requests, the more I realize how much we have failed in teaching people about prayer.  When Bible Schools and Seminaries opt not to teach prayer in their curriculum, assuming that students already know how to pray and how to lead others to pray, they graduate ministers who are weak in prayer, who in turn are unable to teach or lead believers how to pray, and thus folks know not how to even respond to the prayer requests of their friends.  I’m sure the requests are sincere, as are the responses, and I want to assume that responders actually pray, sending their prayers to God, not to the person making the request.  Other than perhaps making the needy one feel good, responses that say things like, “Prayers coming your way” and “Sending prayers your way” and “Prayers going out” indicate a knowledge gap in the very basics of prayer. The Bible is clear that prayer is to be directed to God. “Call to Me” says the Lord in Jeremiah 33:3. The Psalmist records God saying, “Ask of Me.” You are to make the “desires of your heart” known to God (Psalm 37:4).  You are to go “boldly to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 14:6). And in the end, you are to yield to God’s will by praying like Jesus, “not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39).  And for goodness sakes, whoever decided, “sending good thoughts your way” was a substitute for prayer?  We need to ask like the disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1) and then teach us how to respond to the prayer requests of others.  And while you are praying, pray that those in academic authority will allow proper biblical prayer it to be taught.