Pray Network Forum

I am embarrassed to admit how spiritually insensitive I was in what I'm preparing to tell you. I did a great deal of research over several years and in fact completed the first drafts of an entire book on spiritual intelligence before I was convicted that what I had to say was not from God.

First God convicted me that my motives were not pure. I said some things in the book that were true, and possibly helpful to some. But I also secretly wanted to insinuate that I was smart too. God forgive me.

But the broader problem was the focus on intelligence itself. We have seen this, possibly to a lesser extent, in the focus on natural intelligence in education. In the early part of the last century Stanford psychologist Lewis Terman, who developed the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test, was obsessed with identifying children with exceptional intelligence. However, it turned out that a majority of the children Turman identified did not do well in life.

Scripture tells us that God is not as interested in bright minds as He is with tight thinking. Few things are as dangerous spiritually as loose thinking. 1 Peter 1:13 has a marvelous picture for this. King James Version translated this fairly literally calling us to gird up the loins of our minds. In the English Standard Version this verse reads,

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Here is the picture. In the ancient near East men wore flowing robes. There were a number of good things about this, but robes became a major problem if one had to run. If a man ran any distance at all he would soon be hopelessly tangled in the cloth. So if someone  knew he was going to have to run, he would gather sheets his robe up and tuck them into the belt around his waist.

Peter uses this as a vivid picture for preparing our minds for action. He links this word picture with being sober minded. Tightening the belt of your mind does not appear anywhere else in Scripture. However Peter uses being sober-minded twice more in this letter. 1 Peter 5:8 calls us to be sober-minded because our adversary the devil is stalking us. In 1 Peter 4:7 Peter says because the end of all things is near, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

Peter calls us to sinch our minds up on things of Ultimate Importance. What do you think about? Is your mind fixed on earthly success, earthly comfort, earthly satisfaction? Sober minded believers set their minds on what God will ultimately do in our lives.
This requires us to tighten our minds on Ultimate Truth. I was once talked with a close friend about errors in The DaVinci Code. He liked the book, and did not think most of my objections  were important. Then I mentioned Jesus being married. He object to this. I told him there is absolutely no ancient reference to any such thing. The notion only rose from speculations in modern times. He answered that he wasn't getting into the history, he  just meant that was how he thought it should be. I suppose he assumed truth and history would adapt.

If we want meaning in this life we must direct the motivation of our minds to Ultimate Hope. I was just trying to think of a C.S. Lewis quote that said something like, If you aim at truth you will get comfort as well. If you aim at comfort, you will get neither. Some of you Lewis aficionados know I was thinking wrong. What Lewis said was, “Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth thrown in. Aim and Earth, and you will get neither.” I am not sure the related thought would not be true as well. “Aim at truth and you will get intellect thrown in. Aim at intellect and you will get neither.

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I have tremendous respect for David Platt. I pray nearly every day for God to continue to use him mightily. I recommend listening to his sermons. You can find many of them on YouTube. David has shocked people by preaching against telling people to pray a sinner's prayer. He rightly notes that we have been guilty of communicating to people that they can be right with God by praying those words as a sort of ritual without becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I agree with David. But I also believe a person cannot become a disciple without a direct connection with the Lord. That is prayer. We respond to God's embrace in prayer. If we look at the words we use as a conversion prayer, we see this intent.

We encourage people to pray a prayer of the conviction of sin.

“Lord I know I am a sinner.”

We also include repentance.

“I want to turn from my sins to you.”

If we are going to lead people to invite Christ into their life, we should warn them that they are doing business with Almighty God. They need to be fearful of praying such words without meaning them.

And inherent is the gospel is the fact that we cannot even repent without God's help. People do not come to God by their sincerity. We must come receiving His forgiveness.

“I know You died for me. I accept your forgiveness, and Your gift of eternal life. I trust myself to You.”

One of the problems with using the “sinner's prayer” for evangelism is that it is so easy. It is tempting for us because we don't have to enter into a life-long relationship with the person praying. Just get them to pray these words.

It is also too easy for the person coming to Christ. Someone can pray those words without even thinking. I also believe a person can come to Christ and truly be born again without saying the right words. We might suggest that a person think about the decision she is making over night before she prays such a prayer. Of course, we will need to be sensitive to the person and to the Holy Spirit in the situation. But You can trust Him to bring to completion the work He has begun in a person who has heard the gospel.

http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/

http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/

http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/

http://daveswatch.com/

Question #3

“What do you want, and why do you want it?”

You may be thinking this question does not fit with the others. But it does. Many of our conclusions are affected more by our wants than by our reasoning. I recently heard a joke about a guy who decided he should not eat donuts. But he was finding it very difficult to hold his donut free conviction. And in his struggle he said, “Maybe God just doesn’t want me to stop eating donuts. So he decided that if there was an empty parking space in front of the donut shop when he passed, that would be a sign from God that he was not to stop eating donuts. “And sure enough,” he reported to his small group, “on the fourth time around the block . . .”

What we want influences what we think. And it is important to examine our wants and the reasons for them as we are trying to determine the truth.

In his book, Ends and Means, Aldous Huxley wrote, “I had motives for not wanting the world to have meaning; and consequently assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption.”

http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/

http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/

http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/

http://daveswatch.com/

This has seemed strange to some of you when I have done it in the past. But it is crucial that I ask my readers to pray for me and for my blog. This is important because all wisdom, all discernment and all knowledge come from God. If He does not speak through my writing, no one will benefit.

This is true about anything you read, anyone who teaches or any preacher you listen to. Pray for God to speak to them. And ask Him to speak through them. I have a particular request this week, although God may impress you to pray something entirely different for me.

Here is my request. I am considering starting a new blog. I think I will call it, "THINKING IN THE SPIRIT." If indeed I do this, I will write one week in my WATCHING IN PRAYER Blog, and the next in THINKING IN THE SPIRIT. Pray for clear guidance for me in this matter.

God bless you.

Dave

http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/

http://daveswatch.com/

Following Through in Prayer

So, move beyond merely thinking and wishing.  Take the matter to Him.  Engage God in prayer!  You'll likely notice a difference both in the person/matter you're praying for- as well as in yourself as God meets you, grows your faith, and more!