Beyond the Walls is a weekly blog to help Christ followers move beyond the walls of their church buildings, homes, comfort zones, and culture to engage those we live among with the Gospel.
If we are to effectively live “beyond the walls” engaging people with the Gospel where we live, work and play, it is critical that we see them as God sees them. It is critical that we are sensitive to the whispers of the Holy Spirit as He prompts us in who to engage and what to say. It is critical that we “keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).
And the only way that can happen is through prayer. Not prayer on the run. Not prayer in the car on the way to work or your next appointment. Not prayer only when a crisis hits. Not prayer only when we feel like praying.
What I am talking about is daily setting aside time to press into the heart of God, seeking His face over an open Bible. And then living each day in conversational intimacy with God out of the overflow of that daily one-on-one time with the Father.
The reality is that most Christ-followers never spend daily time with the Lord in prayer including pastors and ministry leaders. Why? While I could list several reasons as to why this is so, let’s focus on the primary reason.
The reason many of us struggle with prayer is that we misunderstand the very nature of prayer. We see prayer primarily as coming to God with our list of needs and wants and the needs and wants of others.
And while petition and intercession are vital aspects of prayer, this is not where prayer begins. We have made prayer transactional. God desires prayer to be relational. The heart of prayer is communion with God. The purpose of prayer is knowing God.
In Ephesians 1:16ff, Paul shares with the church in Ephesus how he is praying for them. As you read through those verses, it is obvious that the heart of his prayer is that the eyes of their hearts would be opened to how great and good and glorious God is; to know Him intimately.
And it is out of that worship-fueled communion with God that our petitions and intercessions flow as we pray with hearts tuned to His heart, His voice, His will.
So let me ask you – how is your prayer life? Do you spend daily time with the Lord? If not, I encourage to begin by spending 15 minutes every day with God. Make it simple. Sit down with an open Bible, read a devotional thought based on the Word of God (my favorite is My Utmost for His Highest), and spend time praising God for who He is, thanking Him for His love for you, declaring your love for Him, and sharing with Him the burdens of your heart.
Develop the discipline of daily time with God. And as you do, I promise that over time the discipline will become a delight.
Featured Posts (723)
Sort by
Today our nation is being attacked like never before educationally, socially, financially, and spiritually. Christianity itself is under assault, and parents and grandparents are involved in a tug of war for the hearts and minds of their children. Our grandchildren are finding it hard to navigate in a world hostile to truth. Satan has launched an aggressive attack on our families, schools, and our nation to desensitize our children to truth and righteousness.Perhaps at no other time in our history is a call to prayer more urgently required than it is today for our grandchildren.
Can grandparents make a difference?
Grandparents can help their grandchildren and their parents navigate the rapid culture shift we are experiencing. The enemy is undermining God’s design for our grandchildren by filling our headlines, and social media feeds with a worldview. However, God has begun a powerful movement to awaken Christian grandparents to make a spiritual impact on the next generation.
God has given grandparents a sacred trust – an opportunity to imprint another generation with His love and faithfulness. Grandparents need to be intentional about the power of prayer to keep the hearts and minds of their grandchildren from falling captive to the enemy’s deception. We are engaged in a spiritual battle that requires prayer as the weapon.
Making September, “A Grandparents’ Month”
Over the last nine years, thousands of grandparents have united in prayer on the National Grandparents Day in September, making it a Day of Prayer for their grandchildren and their parents. Again, Christian Grandparenting Network (CGN) invites you to be a part of this movement to intentionally pray for our grandchildren, our families, and our world making it a Grandparents’ Day of Prayer (GDOP). This year we are declaring the Month of September as “Grandparents’ Month” If it doesn’t fit your schedule to meet with other grandparents or plan an event on September 8 do it any time in September.
We are looking for volunteers who will take the lead to organize an event, calling grandparents to join in prayer on September 8 or throughout September. This event could be in your church, in your home, in a retirement complex, or any meeting location you choose. CGN will provide step-by-step guidelines, resources, and online tools to help you create a successful event that will engage grandparents in prayer for your event. We have received reports from grandparents organizing an event at their church for GDOP because last year's event was very well received.
Join grandparents throughout the world uniting in prayer for their grandchildren and their parents during September,
“Grandparents’ Month”.
Check out this website for blogs, endorsements, testimonials, and promotional materials and free downloads. www.grandparentsdayofprayer.com
For additional information, contact Coordinators
Lillian Penner, lpenner@christiangrandparenting.net.
Deborah Haddix, deborah@deborahhaddix.com
From my @PhilNPPN archive ~
Pray TV Interviews:
Segment 01 / Dr. Roberto Miranda Interviews Phil Miglioratti
Click here to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i53zyXALBl8
Significantly spiritual dreams and visions are not uncommon for Muslims to have during Ramadan. Pray that the Father would pour Himself out to our friends through the supernatural as they participate in Ramadan. Pray for believers in the Arabian Gulf to be open to the Spirit's leading as they interact and engage with locals.
At sunset, there is a meal called Iftar that signifies the breaking of the fast. After sunset prayers, another meal called Suhoor occurs. During Ramadan, these meals are significant and are often a time for big gatherings of family/friends. Pray that believers would have opportunities to attend Iftar or Suhoor meals with local friends and that they would be able to connect with, and build relationship with, their families. Pray for walls to come down between locals and expats.
Ramadan is a month where cousins tend to have increased focus and discipline towards the Koran and to their prayers. There are often reports of locals feeling a nearness to God because of the good things they are doing during this month. Pray that there would be a lingering dissatisfaction and an overall feeling of being unfulfilled with the relationship they have with God during Ramadan. Pray that their increased time in the Koran would breed questions and critical thinking.
Check out PTAP's Facebook page for more prayer info during Ramadan:
Click below to download PTAP's 30 Day Ramadan 2019 prayer guide. This is a guide to help you pray for the Arabian Peninsula in particular. So let's unite our hearts in prayer during the 30 days of Ramadan for God to build his church in the AP!
Effective preaching must be preceded by effectual praying. Occasionally, the King James Version of the Bible still has a better choice of words than more modern translations. That’s why I prefer the KJV for James 5:16, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Assuming the righteous status of the preacher, effectual praying produces effective preaching. It matters little whether the sermon is categorized as textual, expository, topical, or the currently popular term, text-driven, a sermon will only reach its maximum potential if it comes from God through the preacher, rather than simply from the preacher to the people. In other words, before the preacher stands to preach, he should knell to pray. In his book, “Power Through Prayer” E.M. Bounds wrote, “Talking to men for God is a great thing but talking to God for men is greater still. He will never talk well and with real success to men for God who has not learned well how to talk to God for men.” So, the preacher should never talk to the people about God until he has talked to God about the people! I have a copy of a cartoon which pictures a preacher in the pulpit with a concerned look on his face. The caption says, “It occurs to Rev. Jones in the midst of point #2 that point #3 misses the point entirely.” The way to prevent this from happening is to pray through the preparation, as well as the presentation of the sermon. As a member of the congregation, one should assume the role of faithful intercessor. Praying for the preacher is a vital and helpful act of worship preparation. So, whether you are the preacher or a member of the audience, the way to receive the maximum message from a sermon is to spend time with God prior to its delivery. If not already active in this, try it for your next worship service.
“The Prayer-Shaped Disciple” - It’s the name of the textbook I wrote for use in Seminary classes on prayer. It is also the name of the seminar I lead occasionally in churches. I led such a seminar in a church in west Texas earlier this month and will lead one in a church in Oklahoma next month. It is often the title of a sermon series I preach where I serve as Interim Pastor. To be shaped in the image of Jesus is to be prayer-shaped. He prayed at his baptism, He prayed from His cross, and He prayed all the way in-between. The most used verb in the ministry of Jesus was the verb, “to pray.” After all that they had experienced, His disciples requested that He teach them to pray (Luke 11:1). According to the writer of Hebrews, Jesus is even on this day, interceding for us, in prayer with the Father (Hebrews 7:25). Prayer is the priority of the Christian life. Oswald Chambers wrote, “Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.” The more nearly we are shaped in the image of Jesus, the more nearly the world will be shaped by prayer. Mother Teresa said it this way, “God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil." At the beginning of each semester, I would say to my Seminary students, that everything you need to do ministry, properly, comes from God. So how can you minister effectively without being shaped in His image through prayer? Prolific prayer author, E.M. Bounds wrote, “Prayer makes a godly man, and puts within him the mind of Christ . . . and of prayer. If we really pray, we will become more like God, or else we will quit praying.” What kind of spiritual shape are you in?
Holding to the truth
Today is a day of confusion regarding truth, and that confusion has invaded the church. Confusion reigns where the church fails to hold firmly on to the Word of God.
The letter to the church at Pergamum starts this way: "These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword." (Revelation 2:12) This double-edged sword is the word of God, which comes out of Jesus' mouth (Revelation 1:16; see Hebrews 4:12). Both the church at Pergamum and the church at Thyatira were guilty of turning away from this word and embracing false teaching (Revelation 2:14-15, 20, 24). In both cases, as we saw previously, straying from God's word led to idolatry and sexual immorality.
Doctrine matters. When we stray, for example, from the simple truths in Genesis about creation and God's creation of human beings as male and female, we lose our grip on understanding of gender. Does this sound familiar? When we blindly accept the "proven" science of evolution and long geologic ages, rejecting the Biblical stories of Creation and the Flood, we lose our grip on God's righteous judgment (and possibly even on his right to judge). When we stray away from an insistence on God's Word as objective truth, we fall prey to relativism and lose the basis for evangelism.
Later, Jesus would write to the church at Philadelphia, "I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name." (Revelation 3:7) Strength is great - but holding to the word of truth and not denying the name of Jesus is more important in our Savior's eyes.
How do we pray for our churches and for our pastors in light of the importance of holding to the truth of God's Word? Here are a few thought starters - I'm sure you can think of more.
- Pray for our Pastors. For God to bring conviction of the truth of His Word and to sweep away any uncertainty, confusion, or syncretism (compromise with non-Biblical teachings) that our pastors may have bought into.
- Pray for sound teaching. Multiple times, Paul instructed Timothy and Titus to hold to sound teaching and to pass that teaching on to others. Pray for soundly Scriptural teaching that emphasizes God's power and grace over self-help and human-centric answers.
- Pray for our churches' practice of God's word. Holding to the truth of the Word is more than just belief - it's transformation of life. Pray that God will cause his Word to bear fruit in the lives of our congregations, transforming us in ways that the world can see and that will draw non-believers to Him.
- Pray for intellectual engagement. Ask God to keep us from "checking our brains at the door" when we come into church. Pray that he will challenge believers to know what they believe and why, so that they will hold to the truths of His Word with conviction.
- Pray for cleansing. Ask God to shine light on places of darkness in our churches - places where we have compromised with the teachings and practices of the world. Pray for a spirit of repentance for these areas and that God will bring cleansing and revival. Ask for God's power to fully put off the old and put on the new.
We'll look in more depth at Paul's prayers for the churches a little later. Those prayers are all grounded in the truth of God's Word. In a society where confusion and outright falsehood often hold sway, firmly holding to the truth will distinguish the church as little else can.
Perhaps no area of our walk with God is more challenged by our culture today than the area of sexuality. Having strayed from the truth of God's word, as a society we no longer even know how to define gender. More and more, our culture reflects Paul's warning to the Romans:
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. (Romans 1:21-27)
It's interesting that Paul ties sexual immorality so closely to idolatry in this passage. The letters to the churches at Pergamum and at Thyatira also make this association:
I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. (Revelation 2:14-15)
I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. (Revelation 2:20)
Sexual purity, under so much attack in our culture today, is important not only on an individual level but also on a church level. Jesus warned the churches at Pergamum and at Thyatira that their tolerance of sexual immorality was going to result in judgment. These are words that our churches and church leaders today need to take seriously. Perhaps one of the greatest testimonies to the transformation that God brings into a life is the difference that obedience to Scripture makes in our sexual lives.
So, how do we pray for our churches in light of this? Here are a few suggestions:
- Pray for pastors and church leaders. They face temptations and situations that the average church member may not face. Pray for wisdom to flee from temptation and to avoid compromising situations; for accountability with a close group of friends; for God to deliver them from evil.
- Pray for youth. Pre-marital sex is nearly assumed in today's culture, contrary to the wisdom of God's word. Pray for students and youth - for commitment to sexual purity, for an end to any relationships that are not pure, for solid mentoring/discipling relationships, for God to protect them from temptation.
- Pray for clarity. Gender confusion reigns in our society, a result of straying from the truth of God's word. Ask God to bring clarity and truth to any who are confused over gender and to restore the church to the truth of the creation of man and woman.
- Pray for repentance and restoration. The evil one will use guilt to keep people in bondage to any kind of sin, and sexual sin seems to be particularly vulnerable in this area. Pray for hearts of repentance for those who have committed sexual sin of any sort and for a strong sense of God's forgiveness.
- Pray for marriages. Ask God to strengthen marriages and keep Satan from gaining a foothold there. Pray for husbands and wives to be faithful to each other, for the ending of any extra-marital relationships, for marriage relationships that are satisfying; for Biblical counseling for any marriages that are strained.
- Pray for unborn children. The real number one reason for abortions is that people don't want to take responsibility for their actions in the area of sexuality. Ask God to turn the hearts of expectant mothers and fathers to their unborn children.
- Pray for clear, Scriptural teaching. Different churches will approach this differently, but Scripture doesn't really provide the option of ignoring this key area. Ask God to grant wisdom to pastors, church leaders, teachers and youth leaders with regard to how to communicate the truths of Scripture with regard to sexual purity.
This week my personal devotions are in Matthew 24. And I have been struck by a number of things that Jesus said in this chapter about the last days. I am aware that what I am writing may be disturbing to some of us. And that is not my intent. God is in control no matter what we face in these times. I have joked in the past that in 1 Thessalonians 4:18 where Paul says, “Comfort one another with these words,” we misread it, “Scare the life out of one another with these words.” However, these things need to be taken seriously.
Matthew 24 begins with Jesus caught up in His sadness over the destruction that was going to come upon Jerusalem because His own people rejected Him. Like excited tourist the disciples point out to Jesus the wonderful buildings of the temple. And Jesus shoots back at them, “Do you see these stones? I tell you that there will not be left one stone upon another here that will not be cast down.”
Now, this was shocking to the disciples of Jesus. The Temple was the largest building in the Eastern Mediterranean. It had taken 46 years to build. So the disciples came to Jesus asking when this would happen, and what would be the sign of the second coming of Jesus, and the end of the age. They could not imagine that the destruction of the Temple would not mean the end of the world. From our perspective, we know that the Temple and the entire city were destroyed by the Roman general Titus in 70 AD. That was a terrible time for the people of Jerusalem. Thousands and thousands died at the hands of the Romans.
Interestingly enough Jesus did not correct His disciple’s misconception. He rather used the comparison of the two events to teach about the end times and His return. Let's look at this passage beginning with verse 3. I have emboldened the text in three places to highlight what Jesus gives us to do in these days.
As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ’, and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
The first thing that Jesus tells us to do is, “See that no one leads you astray.” The point and purpose of all the false rescuers, false teachers, and false teachings is to lead astray those who will and can be led away from Christ. Later in this chapter Jesus said that the false teachers and christs will perform signs and wonders that would, “if it were possible, deceive even the elect.” Not being led astray depends upon God keeping us safe. Relationship with God is crucial to endurance to the end. We must depend upon Him. Only God can keep us safe.
The second of these assignments is, “See that you are not alarmed.” Jesus’ words should disabuse us of the notion that everything will get better and better, possibly more and more Christian, right up to the end. I do believe more and more people will probably continue to come to faith in Christ right up to His return. But I also believe it will cost us more and more to follow Him. The Bible does not teach that it will be easy for us. Jesus says, “See that you are not alarmed when you see all the things happening on the Earth.” How do we keep from being alarmed? Well, we need to recognize that God is sovereign in the midst of school shootings, airplanes being flown into buildings, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, floods, famines, climate change, and pestilence. Jesus told us ahead of time that these things would happen. And He has told us that He will be with us to the very end. We need to focus on Him. And He will minister through us to the world that He still loves and weeps over.
The final assignment is not given here as an admonition, but as an assumption. This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in the whole world as a witness to all peoples. But make no mistake. We are the ones who must carry this out in the power of God. Elsewhere Jesus gives this to us as a command. And if you are anxious for Jesus to return in His glory, tell people that Jesus died for their sins, and rose again to give them new life. And pray for His power to break their hearts and transform their lives through the gospel.
http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/
http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/
http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/
http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/
Website
YouTube
A Grandparent’s Challenge
I received the special gift of grandparenting as I approached my midlife season. It was exciting to become a grandparent! However, I learned that along with this gift came a sacred trust to imprint another generation with the message of God’s faithfulness. Reflecting on my new responsibility, I realized my prayers were too general and vague and I became frustrated with how I was praying for my grandchildren.
After I asked God for wisdom and read several books about prayer, my praying changed dramatically. I discovered God’s Word was a great resourceto help me with my praying, not only for my family, but also for myself.
In Hebrews 4:12 we read, “The Word of God is full of living power”. When I pray according to God’s Word, I am in line with His will, enabling me to pray with direction, power, and wisdom. I not only find myself in intimate communication with God, but my mind is renewed to think His thoughts about the situation for which I am praying, instead of my own thoughts.Ultimately, God shrinks the situation that I thought was overwhelming and impossible into a viable possibility. He gives me peace as I wait for His answer.
As I started claiming God’s promises and personalizing the scriptures, I experienced more boldness and confidence in my praying. Nothing threatens the enemy (Satan) more than when we are intentionally praying God’s Wordfor our children, grandchildren, and ourselves. Many scriptures in Psalms, Proverbs, the Gospels, and Paul’s writings can be used in our prayers.
While surfing on the Internet looking for help in my praying, God directed me to the Christian Grandparenting Network. After sharing my passion with them, they invited me to become their National Prayer Coordinator, writing devotionals and prayer suggestions on their website.
Christian Grandparenting Network (CGN) is devoted to challenging Christian grandparents to live intentionally as representatives of Christ for future generations. It is committed to providing a network of resources and opportunities for grandparents to have powerful opportunities for inter-generational dialogue to strengthen grandparent-grandchild relationships and spiritual growth.
We live in a time when the darkness of sin and unrighteousness ravages our land seeking to capture the minds and hearts of our youth and young families. The enemy is determined to steal their faith and the plans God has for them.The enemy’s attacks against our families and our nation’s moral foundations are relentless. It is urgent that grandparents stand in the gap praying for the spiritual, emotional, and physical protection of these who are under attack and CGN can help you.
Resources available from Christian Grandparenting Network
- Scriptures to Pray for Your Grandchildren
- More Scriptures to Pray for Your Grandchildren
- Scriptures to Pray for Children
- Suggestions to Pray for Your Grandchildren in School: Preschool, Elementary, Teenagers, and College Students by Lillian Penner.
- Scriptures and Suggestions to Pray for Teenagers
- Suggestions for Grandparent to Pray for themselves
- Book:Grandparenting with a Purpose: Effective Ways to Pray for your Grandchildren by Lillian Penner, National Pray Coordinator for Christian Grandparenting Network. The book challenges grandparents to stand in the gap for their grandchildren by living a godly example and being their prayer warrior.It provides creative suggestions for prayers based on Scriptures, and other helpful tools, utilizing everything from cell phone to photo prayer journals. This book is
- Book:Courageous Grandparentingby Cavin T. Harper, Executive Director of Christian Grandparenting Network is a call for grandparents and parents to rise above the conventional view of grandparentingto embrace radically courageous life that stands apart from the politically correct crowd. It’s a call to intentionality—not settling for simply being good parents and grandparents, but choosing to stand in the gap and live as conduits of grace and truth for the next generations. Cavin Harper appeals to the emerging masses of Boomer grandparents to create a movement of godly men and women resolved to not let another generation grow up on our watch that does not know the Lord or His amazing grace. There’s too much at stake if we don’t.
- CGN has proclaimed the second Sunday in September as Grandparents Day of Prayer,coinciding with National Grandparents Day designated by a Senate proclamation in 1978. It is a way of engaging grandparents to unite in an intentional day of prayer for their grandchildren. Many participants reported how they were blessed as they united in prayer with other grandparents in a common cause. The next Grandparents Day of Prayer will be Sunday, September 8, 2019.
- Small groups called Grandparents@Prayer (G@P) assist grandparents in praying for their grandchildren. Just as Esther stood in the gap for her people, the Jews, when they were threatened, likewise grandparents can stand in the gap with prayer for their grandchildren today. G@P groups are meeting in many areas of the United States and England praying together for their grandchildren on a regular basis.
- CGN provides many other resources for grandparents such as weekly blogs, GrandCampsfor grandparents and grandchildren, and Courageous Grandparenting conferences.
- Learn more on our website at http://www.grandparentingwithapurpose.comor contact me at lpenner@christiangrandparenting more information about Grandparents Day of Prayer orGrandparents @ Prayer.
Lillian Penner, Co-Prayer Director for Christian Grandparenting Network
A civil worker in Kentucky loses her job for refusal to issue a license for a gay marriage due to her religious convictions. A baker on Colorado is sued for refusing to bake a cake for a gay wedding, again due to religious convictions. Celebrities who are believers get criticized for positions taken by their pastors on controversial topics. Long-standing mottos like "In God We Trust" get challenged.
All around us, the church is challenged and squeezed by a culture that practices the very intolerance it claims to stand against. She responds in various ways - sometimes bowing to the culture and becoming nearly indistinguishable; other times lamenting the direction of society, other times militantly (and sometimes abrasively) speaking out against that direction. And, while the church in America has not experienced the level of persecution experienced by believers in many other countries around the world, we see it coming and we can be tempted to fear.
Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. -- Rev. 2:10
The church around the world has much to teach us in terms of enduring persecution with faith rather than fear. They have seen Jesus' faithfulness to the words spoken to the church in Smyrna; they have experienced his presence in the midst of persecution, his provision, peace, and mercy. And, sometimes, they have experienced death at the hands of their persecutors. But they have faced that death with courage, faith, and hope.
As the church adjusts from becoming a majority culture in America to being a minority sub-culture, how do we pray in light of the increasing pressure we're seeing in this country?
Pray for courage. Jesus' words to the church in Smyrna are his words to us today: "Do not be afraid". Our prayers should be based on faith, not fear. This particular moment in history looks increasingly difficult for the church - but this should not surprise us. Jesus himself told us, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) As we pray, then, we need not fear. Jesus has overcome the world, even when it looks like the world is winning. And he is with us when we suffer for his name.
Pray with hope. While this moment in history is a difficult one, this moment is not all of history. More moments are yet to come, and we know the end of the story. There will come a time when “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” (Rev. 11:15) We need to pray with hope, not despair. Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church - it's not just that the church will endure; she will actually win the battle.
Pray for God's intervention. While there are times when God calls us to speak with a prophetic voice against the evil of our culture and times when he calls us to take specific action, real change - lasting, widespread, transformative change - will come about only as a result of his actions. We might lobby against laws, demonstrate in front of clinics, and sue for protection of our rights - and there are times when these are all actions we must take. But none of these will change the hearts of men and women. Only God can do that. Only God can change the church's greatest persecutor into her greatest missionary. Only God can save jailers and their entire households.
Commit ourselves into God's hands. Scripture tells us that Jesus, rather than retaliating or lecturing when people insulted him, entrusted himself into God's hands (1 Peter 2:23). We can do no better than to follow our Master! In fact, as he was dying on the cross, with his very last breath he entrusted his spirit to God. As we pray, then, we can certainly pray for protection from harm and for our freedom. But above all, we must entrust ourselves into God's hands, counting on him to bring the results that will ultimately bring honor to Himself.
Forgive our enemies. It's hard, when we see injustice in the form of persecution, to pray for the persecutors. We naturally want revenge (which we call "justice" to make it sound better). And indeed, sometimes God's judgment and justice can lead people to repentance. Our prayers for justice, then, should be prayers not of vengeance or punishment, but rather a justice that leads to repentance. This is a hard one for us, because we often see persecutors of the church in the same way as Jonah saw the Ninevites. But God also sees them in the same way He saw the Ninevites and says to us, "Should I not be concerned?"
Perhaps this last one is the one that most distinguishes the Christian in the midst of persecution from people of other faiths. We don't respond in anger and we don't fatalistically accept our "fate". Instead, we actively pray for those who persecute us, as Jesus taught (Matthew 5:43-48). Jesus pointed out that anyone can love those who love them. But it takes a believer relying on the grace of God to love someone trying to hurt them. Just as Paul prayed for the salvation of King Agrippa even as he was on trial for his faith (Acts 26:29), so we are called to pray for those who persecute us - whatever form that persecution may take.
We face two dangers whenever we talk about prayer. We can make prayer seem so difficult that only the “super-Christians” can pray effectively while the rest of us just muddle along. Sometimes the stories we tell about saints who spent hours on their knees crying out to God end up discouraging us because we’re busy and tired and the kids are wearing us out and our job is a hassle and life feels like a burden, so even if Luther prayed two hours every morning, that was a long time ago, and he’s been dead for almost 500 years.
You know what I mean.
It’s easy to get intimidated about prayer.
Or we can go to the opposite extreme and make prayer seem like texting a friend to meet you for dinner and a movie. That has the advantage of making you want to pray, but you can end up with a lightweight view of prayer. Instead of coming into God’s presence to talk to your Heavenly Father, you feel like you’re chatting with a friend who is checking his Instagram while you are talking with him.
We would do better to think of prayer as a gift from God that enables us to stay connected with the Lord of the universe. If we use the gift, we will grow deeper in our knowledge of God.
Our Father wants us to pray, he encourages us to pray, and he invites us to pray. With that in mind, let’s look at James 5:16-18 and see what it teaches us about the power of prayer. We find in this passage a pattern, a promise, and a proof. Let’s take those one at a time.
A Pattern to Follow
“Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (v. 16a).
You don’t hear many sermons on this verse. We don’t think about it often because we don’t know what to do with it.
On one level, it’s not difficult to understand. In this verse James gives us a three-part pattern to follow:
First, we confess to one another.
Then we pray for one another.
Then we are healed.
Let’s be frank and admit it is the first instruction that trips us up. Confession of sin is never easy, even when we know confession is good for the soul. Proverbs 28:13 tells us that when we confess and forsake our sins, we will find mercy from the Lord. That’s the dilemma of this verse. We know we need to confess our sins, we know it is good for us, but even so we do whatever we can to wiggle out of that obligation.
This is the only place in the New Testament where we are told to confess our sins to one another. In thinking about that, we can’t overlook the context (vv. 13-15), which teaches us how to pray for the sick. The whole passage emphasizes the communal nature of the Christian life. What happens to you touches me, and what happens to me touches you. We need each other more than we know, and we never need each other more than when we are sick.
James 5:15 includes the phrase, “If he has sinned, he will be forgiven,” suggesting the close interplay between the physical and the spiritual. Sometimes our bodies get sick because our souls are sick with unconfessed sin. We cannot get better physically until we get better spiritually.
Why does this matter?
Sin isolates.
Confession brings us together.
Sin destroys unity.
Confession repairs the breach.
Sin makes us sick.
Confession leads to healing.
Why are we hesitant to confess our sins? I can think of many reasons. It feels intrusive, it’s humbling, we are embarrassed, afraid, and our pride keeps us from admitting the truth.
Let me pause and ask a question of the text. Is James thinking about private confession or public confession? The answer is yes, depending on the circumstances. Most of the time our confession will be to another person against whom we have sinned. Occasionally we may need to be more public if the sin was of a public nature.
James is not telling us to confess someone else’s sin. I can’t do that, and it’s a big waste of time. We can’t force anyone to confess. After all, “a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” We aren’t called to bludgeon people into confession.
James wants us to think about the man in the mirror, not the man next door. If you are married, don’t keep a record of the sins of your husband or wife. What good does that do? Keep track of your own shortcomings, and then be quick to confess them to the one you love.
Suppose someone says, “Yes, I sinned, but he sinned against me.” Well, that’s probably true. It’s a rare case where the fault is 100% with one person. What do you do if the other person refuses to confess their sin? The answer is not hard to find.
Take care of your side of the street.
God can take care of the other side.
What happens when this is ignored?
- We live in guilt.
- We live in isolation.
- The fever spreads.
- Joy disappears.
- Anger increases.
- Self-loathing dominates.
- Friendships end.
- Trust erodes.
We confess together so that we might pray together.
Confession clears the way for prayer to happen.
Otherwise, there are obstacles in the road.
James pictures the church as a community of believers where we are close enough to be honest and open enough to be real. When that happens, true healing can take place.
The devil will fight you every step of the way. It’s not just lust that he uses against us. It’s the shame and guilt of what we’ve done, and the recurring thought, “What if others knew what you’ve been doing?” So we live in the shadowy realm of fear, worried someone will find out the truth about us, desperately hoping for a way out. We will not get better until we decide to do whatever it takes to be pure before the Lord. You can’t have clean hands until you decide to wash off the dirt.
I knew a Christian counselor who repeated one key phrase: “You’re only as sick as your secrets.” Then he would add: “If you’ve got a lot of secrets, you’re really sick.” He’s right, and the cure to those secrets that pile up is found in verse 16:
Confession.
Prayer.
Healing.
When we sin, everything within us screams out “Cover it up. Turn off the lights. Bury the evidence. Destroy the tapes. Make up an alibi. Leave the scene of the crime. Run! Run! Run!” John 4 tells the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well. He caught her attention with the promise of “living water” that would quench the thirst deep within her soul. When she asks for that “living water,” Jesus responds by saying, “Go, call your husband and come back” (John 4:16). On one level it appears Jesus is being insensitive. Why bring up anything about her past? Is Jesus trying to embarrass her? The answer is no. But his instruction to call her husband made her very uncomfortable. She doesn’t want to go into detail, so she simply replies, “I have no husband” (v. 17). That was true, but it wasn’t the whole story. She knew she was hiding the truth, but what she doesn’t know is that Jesus knows it too. This woman has had five husbands, and the man she is living with currently is not her husband.
Does Jesus love this woman? Yes, he does. He knows the truth and still offers her eternal life. Here is the wonder of God’s grace. Only someone who loves you can look at your past without blinking. Real love means knowing the truth about someone else and reaching out to them anyway.
Don’t miss the kicker to the story. “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I ever did’” (v. 39). Once the woman’s secrets were out in the open, she was set free and a revival broke out.
Oh, the blessedness of having nothing to hide. If you are ready to be rid of your secrets, you can be set free.
A Promise to Believe
“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (v. 16b).
The word “working” comes from a Greek word that means "energetic” or “boiling.” The boiling prayers of the righteous have great power with God. What's a boiling prayer? It has nothing to do with standing or sitting, kneeling or lying down. It has nothing to do with lifting your voice or speaking in a whisper. It has nothing to do with how loud or how long you pray or whether you open your eyes or keep them closed. When they take your daughter away for lifesaving surgery, you'll discover what a boiling prayer is. When your children are in trouble, you'll pray boiling prayers to God. When anything becomes life or death to you, you’ll pray an earnest, fervent, boiling prayer, and it won’t matter how long or how short you pray.
I heard a Bible teacher tell of a wreck in which his wife was badly hurt. When he got to the crash scene, his wife was unconscious, and her life was hanging in the balance. As he rode in the ambulance to the hospital with her, he stretched his arms over her body. “In that moment all I could do was repeat, ‘O God, O Jesus, O God, O Jesus, O God, O Jesus.’” Then he added, “I felt like it was the first time in my life I had ever really prayed.”
When I heard him say that, my mind went back to the night our first child was born. My wife was several weeks overdue, and that night there were various complications. During the long hours of waiting, the doctor warned us they might have to do a Caesarean delivery. Sometime in the late-night hours, the doctor came in and told us the baby was having fetal heart distress. He showed us on the monitor how the heartbeat was going way up and way down. “We’re going to watch this, but it doesn’t look good.” Two or three hours passed, and about 5:15 AM the doctor came striding in with a very concerned look on his face. He spoke one sentence: “We’re going to take the baby now.” That was not a question. He wasn’t asking for my permission. Suddenly the room exploded with activity: nurses coming in and out, carts being wheeled in, someone grabbed my wife, and within thirty seconds the room was completely empty except for me. It happened so fast I didn’t have a chance to kiss my wife good-bye. I didn’t have a chance to pray with her. The last thing I saw was her frightened face as they wheeled her into the delivery room. As I sat alone in that room, I tried to pray but I couldn’t. All I could do was say, “O God, have mercy. O Jesus, have mercy.” After what seemed like hours, though it was only about 20 minutes later, the doctor came in and said, “Mr. Pritchard, you’ve got a son. He’s healthy. He’s going to be okay. Your wife is doing fine.” I felt that day like it was the first time I had ever prayed in my life.
A Proof to Remember
“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” (vv. 17-18).
James 5:17 adds a fascinating fact about Elijah when it calls him a man "with a nature like ours." The King James Version says he was a man of "like passions." He was like you, and he was like me. Read the story and see for yourself. Elijah had his ups and downs. He was a little rough around the edges. Not so polished. Not so refined. You're not going to have Elijah over to watch the World Series because you don't know when he's going to go off. He's that kind of man. When he gets a message from God, he's going to take action. You're not going to talk him out of it either. He was far from perfect. He's got a temper, and he is prone to depression and discouragement. James used him as an example for us to follow because, despite his human weaknesses, he was a man of prayer who walked with God during an evil generation. Though he was an imperfect mountain man, he was also a man of prayer and enormous faith in God. And that's why he's in the Bible.
It's easy to argue with James when you think of all Elijah did. He was a man of extremes, never settling for the moderate middle. When Elijah was at his best, he called down fire from heaven and defeated 850 false prophets. When Elijah was at his worst, he ran across the desert and hid in a cave on Mount Horeb. He did nothing by halves. Talk about life on the edge! He was on the edge half the time and over it the rest of the time. What about that story of Elijah laying himself on the body of a dead child and praying for God to bring him back to life (1 Kings 17:17-24)? Most of us can't imagine doing something like that. But then we're not like Elijah. Or are we?
Elijah was not some superhuman man in a category far beyond the rest of us mere mortals. He experienced all the emotions of life—joy, sorrow, victory, defeat, frustration, exultation, encouragement, discouragement, anger, forgiveness, despair, and relief. We face a twofold danger when we study a life of great accomplishment. Sometimes we tend to canonize a man, treating him as if he were exempt from the normal temptations of life. It is easy to chisel Elijah's head on some religious Mount Rushmore and say, "There never was such a man before or since." Or we may focus on a great man's failures, faults, and foibles, exposing every sin and every foolish mistake so that in the end he seems not very great at all. We pull him down into the muck and mire of ordinary life until the luster of his greatness has disappeared underneath the veneer of his frailty.
All the heroes of the Bible had their weaknesses, and Elijah was no exception. And that is one reason we are drawn to such a man. God used him in spite of his weaknesses. After his greatest victory, Elijah ran away. He ran away! God had to go and find him and talk him back into his senses. Then God used him again. That's a good story because it’s our story. We've all run away under pressure. We've given up, thrown in the towel, quit the race, caved in when the heat was on. No one is strong all the time. We're all made from the same clay. Elijah's story is our story because Elijah's God is our God too. Just as he came after Elijah, he comes after you and me again and again and again. He doesn't know when to quit. He doesn't accept our letter of resignation. He finds us, calls us, refines us, rebukes us, encourages us, and refits us. Then he commissions us all over again.
James wants us to remember that this imperfect man of God prayed, and the rain stopped. It didn’t fall in Israel for 3 ½ years. Then he prayed again, and the heavens opened up, and rain fell from heaven, ending the drought. If God would listen to Elijah’s prayers, he will certainly listen to ours.
Not long ago a friend of ours was going through a desperate battle with cancer. She wondered how she should pray about it. One day I passed along this bit of advice: “If you need a miracle, ask for one. There’s no extra charge for large requests.” That’s entirely biblical. Sometimes we shrink back from “big” requests because we think they are too much for us to ask. But such thinking reveals a man-centered theology. When we pray, we are coming to the God of the universe who holds all things together. Why not ask for what we need? It’s quite true: There is no extra charge for large requests.
What, then, is the application? Let’s confess our sins, let’s pray together, so that the Lord might heal us. Pray boiling prayers because those prayers get God’s attention. Remember Elijah and ask God for what you need.
In the end prayer is not a burden, not a duty, but a blessed privilege. We should not pray because we have to but because we want to. Let us pray with confidence, expecting God will answer our prayers. Nothing is too great to ask, and nothing is too hard for the Lord.
In 2 Timothy Paul gives us a marvelous example of integral hope in his life. Paul's life even at that difficult end was still buoyed by a higher purpose. 2 Timothy 4:1,2 reads,
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”
Paul challenges Timothy, and us, to preach the word. And faithful endurance in his painful situation was crucial to that encouragement. He saw his approaching death as part of his challenge and a crucial part of his worship. He encourages us in versus 6-8 by comparing his life to a drink offering.
“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”
A drink offering was a powerful expression of devotion in the desert middle east where water is life. The first drink offering mentioned in Scripture was made by Jacob as he met God at Bethel in Genesis 35. As he emptied his canteen onto the ground, he was trusting his life to the Lord who had appeared to him. Later when drink offerings were included in worship in the Tabernacle the vessels for it were to be of gold, befitting costly devotion.
Paul sees his final circumstance as the ultimate worship and witness for God. And he could endure it however long it would last for two reasons. First, as he wrote earlier to the Philippian Church, (Philippians 1:22-24) God might still allow him to continue his purpose on this Earth. And, he knew the reward waiting for him in the presence of God was worth whatever he had to endure.
I have terminal cancer, and I don’t know how long I will live. I believe God has called me to write. It is an extension of my call to preach. And I want to write everything He leads me to write. But I also need to see what I may not be able to complete as a drink offering. If it is God's will for me not to live long enough to finish books that I am writing, I pour them out to Him in worship.
There are other things that I put in this category. I no longer have the strength or energy to Pastor a church. And I offer that loss in worship to God. I have also had a vision of prayer in the church like we have never prayed. Well, even the small platform that I had has diminished. And I don't see God allowing me to promote this. I had an idea for a prayer retreat center with prayer rooms devoted to prayer for every people group on Earth. Everyone coming to the center would be encouraged to spend at least an hour a day in one of the prayer rooms. Of course I do not know if this is the will of God at all, although the Scripture calls us to radical prayer. But even if this is God's will it does not look like I will get to be part of bringing it about. And I pour this out as a drink offering before God.
So whether I eat or drink(1 Cor. 10:31) or write or pray, I want to pour these things out as a drink offering to God.
http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/
http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/
http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/
http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/
Website
YouTube
I have a confession. Growing up, it seemed the preachers always used at least one Hebrew or Greek word in every sermon to help clarify or explain the biblical text. This was good. It was helpful. I appreciated it. But I also assumed if I didn’t understand a word or phrase in the worship service, it must be Hebrew or Greek. So, my youthful observation led me to assume the word “Amen” was either Hebrew or Greek for “Sit down.” Every time someone ended a prayer with the word “Amen” we all sat down. It made sense. As I grew older and wiser, I understood the “Amen” was not a command to be seated, but rather a concluding thought to the prayer, meaning, “So be it.” However, the word came to mean “Over and out” or “Signing off here” or just “Good bye for now” and I understood why it was used in public prayer – to indicate the prayer was concluded, and it was indeed time to be seated. But why use the word in private prayer? No one else needed to know the one praying in private was finished with the prayer. Why not leave the prayer open-ended? Maybe God wasn’t finished. After all, prayer is two-way communication isn’t it? How about employing a time of silence before ending your private prayer? Listen for God. The Psalmist ended a prayer with the words, “Truly my soul silently waits for God . . . wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him” (Psalm 62:1, 5). As the Psalmist waited in silence, two thoughts came to him. “God has spoken . . . power belongs to God” (Psalm 62:11) and that God would “render to each one according to his work” (Psalm 62:12). Although the Psalmist was disturbed by his circumstances to the point of prayer, he found comfort as he stopped talking to God and started listening to God. So next time you pray in private, don’t say “Amen.” Listen and let God conclude your prayer.
According to Christianity Today, the United Methodist Church's General Session this weekend will be determining the church's stance on LGBT/gender issues. At stake are questions like whether to ordain LGBT ministers, whether to perform gay marriages, etc. (1)
The stakes are high in all of this, and there are believers on many sides in this issue. Words like "love" and "grace" get tossed around a lot, with definitions being assumed and never really spelled out (if you don't spell it out, no one can challenge it).
What does God think of all this? How would he have us pray in the midst of a divisive situation with very clear implications for how Scripture is interpreted and applied, and high stakes when it comes to conformity with the culture?
Most believers - on either side of the issue - will pray for particular outcomes. They'll pray for this decision or that decision, convinced that their prayer is aligned with God's will (or perhaps not having thought about it from that viewpoint). I personally feel very strongly on this one, so it's hard for me not to pray for an outcome. But can we learn anything from Scripture about how to pray in ways that please God in situations like this, and others where the church must decide between accepting and conforming to culture on the one hand and sticking to tradition on the other?
"I hold this against you - you have forsaken the love you had at first." (Rev. 2:4)
The church needs to love people well - both people inside and outside the church. But, as the Bride of Christ, the church's first love needs to be none less than her Groom. In her desire to love people well, she has at times forgotten her first love, paying more attention to the opinions and interests of men than to the Word of God.
Jesus is described in Revelation 1:16 as one who has a sharp, double-edged sword coming out of his mouth. The obvious reference here is to the Word of God, which is described in exactly this way in Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
In fact, we know from John 1 that Jesus himself is the Word (John 1:1, 14). So love for the Word of God is the same thing as love for Jesus.
The warning to the church at Ephesus was serious: "Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place." (Rev. 2:5) The danger to the church today is that she may be removed from her place if she does not repent and regain that first love. We don't know exactly what this means, but we do know that one of the main challenges of Islam, for example, to Christianity is the relative lawlessness of Christians - we do not obey the word we claim to believe.
As we pray for the church today, then, one of our first concerns ought to be to pray that the church will remain true to her First Love; and where that love has been forgotten, that it will be regained. Let's pray that our churches' leaders will be so filled with love for God that their times of decision and debate will be characterized by much prayer, by earnest seeking of God's will, and pleading for God's wisdom (James 1:6). Let's pray for repentance where that's needed (without our necessarily having to be the judges of where it is needed). Let's pray that God's Word will be given its (and His) rightful place in our churches, and that our leaders will themselves be led by the Word that is also Truth.
And as we pray, let's grow in the area of lifting up the questions to God and letting him be in charge of the answers. I'm very tempted to pray for certain decisions to be made, for a specific direction to be set, etc. In other words, I'm tempted to give God the answers and just ask him to "make it so". But I'm trying to learn to hold my own "wisdom" lightly and to seek first of all his wisdom. Only he can see all sides of issues as complex as the ones facing the United Methodist leadership this weekend. So only his wisdom could possibly be sufficient.
----
(1) https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/february/united-methodists-lgbt-vote-umc-general-conference-denomina.html?utm_source=ctweekly-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=23466744&utm_content=636798186&utm_campaign=email, accessed on 02/24/2019.
Become an ABC Prayer Champion
Always Be Creative
When we are introduced to God in Genesis, God is creating something awesome and beautiful with a creative potential of its own.
When we gather people to worship God's attributes or wonder about God's word, to work with God on mission, we should always be creative.
Hear from different voices and envision with different visuals. Use questions to help build competent disciples.
Preach and pray through creative presentation or exploration of Scripture, Song, Story, Statement, Supplication ...
Prayer experiences must become:
- Spirit-led (yield, submit, follow)
- Worship-bred (sing songs that speak to God)
- Scripture-fed (launch each prayer from a passage)
- Corporate-said (an orchestral, not a recital)
- Community-shed (the holy huddle prayers for others)
Phil Miglioratti
Pray.Network
Observations on Three Mega-Firings
For me, this past year has been the best of times and the worst of times.
The best? I’m a Great Commission-meets-Great Commandment guy who is radically blessed by a collaboration of nearly one thousand congregations and ministry groups banding together in my home city to invite friends, colleagues, and neighbors to explore God. Seven big questions of faith. Seven sermon presentations. Seven small group conversations. A score of ministry partners from Alpha to Awana to Chicago Bible Society to Billy Graham Center to Fellowship of Christian Athletes to Kindness Outreach to Navigators to Pray.Network … Unprecedented cooperation across urban neighborhoods and suburban communities. A John 17 collaboration many of us have prayed for and worked toward fervently for the past 25+ years.
No one could be more excited than me. Except the Evil One. God’s Public Enemy #1 who was well aware of an authentic and diverse expression of the Church across Chicagoland resulting in widespread promotion of the Explore God campaign and the telling of real life stories of Christ-followers: young and old, rich and poor, city and suburb, minority and majority cultures, The Enemy knew he needed a strategy to deflect or discredit the Gospel witness of the everywhere, everyday people of God. His goal: the worst of times.
And, sadly, we, gave a grand assist to his endeavors.
Three high profile firings. Three men of God. Three well known and respected Christian organizations. Three front page stories.
Three men of God? I personally know these individuals and believe each one is a true believer, daily working so that many others become fully devoted followers of Christ; discipled upon the pillars of orthodox Christian faith; practicing justice - loving mercy - walking humbly with our God.
Three well known and respected Christian organizations? These two congregations and this ministry organization have had significant impact in their local communities as well as across the nation and beyond. Thousands of lives transformed by the Gospel message. Leaders trained and equipped. Many under-resourced and voiceless cared for and empowered. Trend setters yet anchored to biblical truth.
Three front page stories? Truly stunning news. Private (and disgusting) conversations played on a major Chicago radio show. News of one firing breaks at their national conference. A torrent of blog postings began a debate that ended in a firing and eventually widespread resignations. A Shakespearean-worthy tragedy played out on the air waves, in print and online, and in large auditoriums. Just how the Enemy hoped it would be. The worst of times.
“God forbid!” is everyone’s initial response (as it should be). We scurry to search for credible information, hoping the worst accusations are untrue or at least mischaracterized. Eventually, we are all devastated by the revelation of a painful truth.
But, is knowing what happened, events and details, our only responsibility? Certainly not. As Christ-centered believers, we are called to a deeper and wider responsibility. Each story is, yes, about one individual. But what about those who have been harmed? And, while we are grateful for their service, what must we learn about why each leadership team was slow to call their leader to accountability? What is a ministry’s responsibility to the Church in their community? And, what must we learn about the mind-set that permeates members in mega-sized, charismatic-leader-led, ministries?
While the media focuses on exposing the sordid weakness of a Christian leader, the Church (both members and leaders) must focus on the sin these stories exposed. But not merely the sin of the leader. The sin of the Body of Christ as we enable, ignore, permit, then when unable to do otherwise, we simply expel, the mega-gifted spiritual celebrity.
Is it possible mega-churchianity has become a religious version of corporate culture values, so that, when disaster strikes, leadership resorts to damage control and too quickly moves to re-inspiring the membership toward a bright future?
Oh for a Nehemiah! “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said…” (1:4-5). Oh for men and women of God who’s first reaction is to stop business as usual (days, weeks, even months!). Shed tears. Become filled with sorrow. Refuse to eat. Then, when finally approaching the Living God in prayer, declares: “We have sinned in our actions against You. We have not kept (your) Laws” (1:7). A leader who had not sinned, praying as if he was complicit in the sins of others. No excuses. Just bold, naked truth. A prayer of desperation. Prayed from a heart of humility.
Pondering these mega-firings (and how they have been handled), I have been hounded by questions appropriate regardless of a ministry’s city, size, scope, or the stature of the fallen leader.
- When we each first heard the sad news, was prayer our first response?
- Was our first prayer to protect status quo, personal convenience, or to ask God for a full revelation of truth and his will?
- Have we begun to pray for the fallen leaders’ spouses? Their children?
- Do we know how to biblically pray for fallen leaders? Conviction? Contrition? Confession? (Luke 15:17: the prodigal son returned when he saw himself as he really was)
- Do we know how pray for leadership that failed to discern the problem or respond to concerns presented to them along the way?
- How will we insure we discern and choose new leaders by the leading of the Holy Spirit? Leaders who hold authority humbly rather wield it as power to control… Who submit their talent and skills to be used as serving gifts of the Spirit.
- What needs to change if our congregation/ministry has embodied corporate values or responds to problems with damage control?
- Did anyone call for a lament-and-repent response? A full-stop to lament (Nehemiah’s “we have sinned”) and then repent (what must we do to turn in a new direction?
Too much is at stake for us to merely move on from these mega-firings. I am praying for the Lord to raise up men and women who will lead us to pray first, pray always . . .
“Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name.
We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen!
Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.” Daniel 9:18-19
Phil Miglioratti
Pray.Network • Discipleship.Network
@PhilNPPN • #Reimagine
Determining core values needs to be a Spirit-led process. Although we borrow strategies and exercises from the secular world or businesses, we must never forget that we are part of the Kingdom of God. As such, God is leading, not us. We need to listen with an open heart and a spirit of sensitivity.
One way I like to lead teams in prayer is what I call “Asking God questions.” It tilts our hearts toward a posture of listening, and the practice is rooted in the Quaker tradition. This is a 45-minute period of waiting on God. Here are the rules of the process:
- No statements, and no preambles. Questions only.
- The first question asked is, “God, what would we be asking you?”
- Then silence as people reflect and then pray out loud their questions.
- Sometimes there will be long periods of silence in between questions. That’s okay.
- Someone quietly writes down all of the questions as they are prayed aloud.
Examples of questions that might be prayed are, “God, what values do you have for us?” “How do you want our community to see us?” “What are ways we can serve?”
I find that this exercise works well not just for values identification, but for many other leadership issues where the team needs to hear from the Holy Spirit as well. And although the practice is originally from the Quaker tradition, it’s quite compatible with many different Christian traditions.
After the time is finished, the leader closes the prayer. Then he or she asks the group, “What words or pictures did you get as we prayed that may have been from God?” This allows people to process the experience and share what they were hearing.
Look for our next blog entry on the process of identifying core behaviors.
Photo by Samuel Martins on Unsplash
The post Listening prayer: Asking God questions appeared first on Logan Leadership.
When your Pastor stands to proclaim God’s Word is there the appearance of being “prayed up?” You may or may not be able to discern this, but don’t assume that this is the case. Vance Havner borrowed an anonymous quote to describe the possibility that a pastor may not be up to date in his prayer life. "The devil is in constant conspiracy against a preacher who really prays, for it has been said that what a minister is in his prayer closet is what he is, no more, no less." Granted, it is difficult for a pastor to cover all the ministerial bases each week and may not even know how to pray effectively. After all, the subject of prayer is taught in very few Bible Colleges and Seminaries. Leonard Ravenhill said, “To stand before men on behalf of God is one thing. To stand before God on behalf of men is something entirely different.” An experience early in my ministry shaped my practice of always knelling before God, before standing before people on behalf of God. A pastor should never speak to people about God until speaking with God about the people. But, again, rather than assume your pastor is “prayed-up,” take it upon yourself to be the intercessor. After all, Paul requested of his readers to be “Praying always . . . for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:18-19). If the pastor is “prayed-up” and the church members have done their intercessory work, it might be amazing to see what God would do.
Over 258 million people live in a different country from their birth country. Another 20 million are refugees, 3 million are asylum seekers and 10 million are stateless. There are many other "people on the move" who are not counted in those statistics -- tourists, seafarers, diplomats, flight crews and so on.
Here are a few questions to help you know how to pray for diaspora people -- whether your neighbor, the person next to you on the bus, another church member or someone you see on the news.
Diaspora experience
In what ways does this person feel pushed out of his or her homeland?
In what ways does this person feel pulled by (or drawn into) his or her new location (as opposed to the homeland or another location)?
Who comes into regular contact with this person? With whom does this person wish to connect?
How long might this person be at the new location? How long might it be until the person returns “home”?
What skills, experiences and gifts might this person offer?
Faith experience
How much knowledge does this person have about the good news of Jesus? Is this person growing in this knowledge? What are some hindrances to more knowledge? What are some opportunities to know more?
What is this person’s attitude toward Christ and people who follow Christ? Is this person growing in love toward Christ? What are some hindrances to loving Christ more? What are some opportunities to grow in love?
What does this person understand to be the bad news about his or her situation? (This may include physical, emotional, social, economic and spiritual aspects.) What about God might this person then hear as good news?
Find more free prayer resources focused on diaspora at Global Diaspora Network
