Prayer

What is prayer?

 As Christians, there is no greater means we have from God than prayer.

Prayer is our lifeline.

As a lifeline is thrown to a drowning man to save him and keep him afloat, God has "thrown" prayer to us. He has taught us how to pray. 

Prayer has indeed kept me afloat on the best and the worst of days. 

It is our tool.

It is fascinating to me to read or hear the prayers of "giants" of the faith. They wield prayer with the expertise of those who practice daily, moment by moment. Someone who paints for twelve hours every day soon knows exactly how to use the brush in order to bring about the greatest beauty in a picture. 

God has given us prayer as a tool to use, both in growing ourselves and in seeking Him. 

It is through prayer that we communicate with God.

Prayer takes us into the very presence of God. When we pray, we are in a sense standing in the throne room of grace. It is our God-given method of speaking to our Father. He wants us to pray. He has taught us how to pray. He has commanded us to "pray without ceasing". 

There are different kinds of prayer – thanksgiving, petition, worship, praise, lamentation, intercession, etc. All of these, God hears and acknowledges. We’re not speaking to the ceiling when we pray. We converse with God Himself through prayer.

Why is prayer sometimes so difficult?

Every believer knows that prayer is important, but no matter to whom I speak it always seems like you hear “I don’t pray as much as I ought. I mean to, but I never really get around to it…”

Part of the problem is that prayer is a relinquishing of control. What I mean is, when you pray, you are essentially giving everything over to God, and admitting your own weakness and inability. We would prefer to be in control of our own circumstances, and make our plans without God’s input. That is one reason why we can find ourselves reluctant to pray. I know that in my own life, it can be very easy to go ahead and do regular things without praying. Prayer is reserved for the toughest times, the things that I feel I need a "little back-up" for. God is patient, and mercifully shows me that, whether or not I know it at the time, I need Him for everything. I can't draw a breath without His grace. 

What else do you think can hinder prayer? What stops you from praying?

Another problem is that we can often have a lack of faith. We don’t quite believe that God will answer us. Spurgeon said it well:

“If there be anything under heaven that I am as sure of as I am of the demonstrations of mathematics, it is the fact that God hears prayer. Answers to prayer have come to some of us not now and then, on rare occasions, so that after a series of years we have a few facts to collate, but they come to us as ordinary circumstances of everyday life.

God has heard for us prayers about great things and prayers about little things; prayers about things that we could reveal to others, and prayers about secret matters in which none could join us. We have had so many answers to prayer that the fact is far beyond any further question with us; and yet there may be a matter pressing upon our heart for God’s glory, and it may be a subject about which we could plead a precise promise, such as this — “If two of you are agreed as touching anything concerning my kingdom, it shall be done unto you,” and yet we are half afraid that our prayer will not be heard: the husband afraid that the conversion of his wife will never occur; the wife fearful that that swearing husband of hers will not after all yield to the importunate entreaties which she has addressed to heaven; a teacher in a Sunday-school class still afraid that his children, though often prayed for, will not be converted. We have many prayers, but how little faith is mingled with them!” 

~ Spurgeon

More precious than gold

Faith is a curious thing.

It is supposed to be the word that explains the believer's utter confidence in God, believing in His Word and promises despite tribulations sweeping in from all sides.

Funny then, that sometimes I have faith in my faith instead of having faith in God. Faith becomes the focus. God is out of the picture. If I just believe enough, things will turn out okay. If I am simply sufficiently confident, God will hear me. I focus on what I must do, rather than what God has done. I see my present instead of His past.

Faith doesn't look at itself. It looks at Jesus. I am weak. I doubt. I am often not at all confident. Faith means saying, "Jesus has promised me eternal salvation. He has promised that no one will snatch me out of His or the Father's hand. He has redeemed me." Faith isn't about merely being confident; it's about being confident that Jesus is mighty to save. That's why I believe faith is a gift of God. I can't muster up faith. It is given and grown in me because God keeps His promises. He has never failed me, even in all my distress. My doubts and weaknesses are not a result of His failure to accomplish His purposes, but my failure to remind myself of His consistent grace.

"'At first sight,' says Goldingay, 'the belief that God is behind the trouble that comes to us is a frightening doctrine: what kind of a God is this, whose purpose includes so much distress? But the alternative-a God whose purpose is continually being frustrated by evil-is even more frightening. Better a God whose mystery we cannot understand (but who has given us grounds for trusting when we cannot understand) than one whose adequacy we cannot rely on, or whose interest we cannot be sure of.'' (Quoted by Sam Storms in More Precious Than Gold: 50 Daily Meditations on the Psalms)

Fruit of the Spirit

Oh how I need these. All the time. Right now.

Love

According to the Greek definition, this actually means a love which centers in moral preference. Preferring another above yourself. Acting for them whether or not it is beneficial to you. It's self-sacrificial love.

This love says, I could live for myself, and do what is best for me, but because I love you I prefer to help you, to see that you are blessed.

Joy

Literally meaning "grace recognized", this is the fruit of the Spirit that acknowledges God's favour. This living joy is the awareness of God's grace. God has done so much. He has given us His favour, and to recognize that is to be joyful. It means saying, "no matter what is going on in my life right now, I know that You, Lord, have given me Your grace. I know that You are with me, and so I am content."

Peace

Another fruit that stems from the knowledge of grace recognized. Peace literally means "wholeness", as in all essential parts being joined together. When we recognize the grace of God in our life, that He is with us, that He governs our lives according to His infinite mercy, it becomes very difficult to worry or fret.

Patience

Long-passion. This means waiting a long time before expressing anger. Not flying off the handle. It means saying, "I could let my temper go right now, and give you a tongue-lashing fit for the dictionary example, but I will not. I will restrain myself."

It means avoiding a personal reaction, taking the time out to consider the circumstances without dwelling upon personal wounds. According to biblos.com, it is being "long-tempered".

Kindness

Kindness, as my pastor always says, is love with hands and feet. It is having time, and talents, and it is using the time and those talents to serve others with a compassionate heart. Being kind is being well-fit for use. For obeying the command of God and offering service to others. It means being helpful.

Goodness

This is talking about a personal quality of goodness. It emphasizes the kindly side of goodness rather than the righteous side of goodness. Goodness, again, means acting in a way that is beneficial. It is evidenced in spiritual excellence, which is in itself evidenced in the virtue of kindness.

Faithfulness

This is having faith, being persuaded to believe that God is God. According to biblos.com, it is a divine persuasion, involving human confidence. God reveals Himself, and faithfulness means being confident in what He has revealed.

Gentleness

The concept of gentleness, when you really think about it, gives the idea of restraint. As in, "I *could* crush your bones, but I won't, because I love you". It is restraint and self-control. It is care, like a mother caring for her newborn, or someone handling a thin glass vase, or a gardener tending to fragile little flowers. Gentleness, as an idea, does not mean weakness. It means power that is kept under control.

Self-control

This really means self-domination. It is mastering yourself, so that you can be patient rather than exploding in a temper, or you can be gentle rather than crushing someone's bones. It proceeds "out from within oneself, but not by oneself". As God gives us the grace to love, and reveals Himself so that we may be joyful, so He enables us to control ourselves so that we do not cause harm, dissension, or bitterness. He helps us control our malicious leanings. He helps us to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving.

May God grow this fruit in me!

Communion

I am by no means a expert on communion. However, I have mulled over the concept, as I mull over many Scriptural concepts. It could be said that I am an expert muller. When someone says to me, "mull it over", I think, "ha! Done and doing!" Anyway, I have come to a conclusion about the Lord's Supper.

I think we're doing it wrong.

It seems to me like the small bit of cracker/bread, or the teeny cup of juice/wine, is kind of a diminishing of the concept of communion. I believe communion should be a full meal, where believers gather together to eat together, pray together, cry and laugh together, talk to one another about Jesus, remember all that He has done for us. Here are a few reasons for my belief:

When Jesus implemented communion, He did so over a meal.
And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. (Mark 14:22-24)

Jesus and the disciples were eating the Passover meal together. They did not stop off and partake of little bits. It was within the context of the meal, and the symbolism had (and has) greater meaning than this post can cover.

However, this is the first thing that made me think that communion ought to be a full meal together: Jesus did it that way.

The gathered believers in the Corinthian church were becoming "drunk" off of the wine, and eating their fill.
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? (1 Corinthians 10:16a)

When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. (1 Corinthians 11:20-22)

The Corinthians were perverting and abusing the Lord's table, which, according to the passage above, seems more like a full potluck meal than anything. Those who had food, ate it, while the poorer believers among them went without. Paul says here, according to John MacArthur, "if they intended to selfishly indulge themselves, they might as well have stayed at home."

Communion was meant for partaking together in remembering Christ. How could the richer church members deny the poorer members their right to partake in the remembrance of their Saviour?

But I am more intent upon highlighting what I mentioned earlier: when you read 1 Corinthians 11:20-22, does it not look to you like a meal? How could people become drunk if they had nothing more than a sip of wine? How could "going ahead with his own meal" equate to "eating a piece of bread". I don't know about you, but I'd still be hungry.

Question: what about "let him eat at home"? 
It seems to me that the question involves the idea of discipline and discernment, which Paul talks about from verse 23-32 of 1 Corinthians 11. Here is what it says:

So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another -if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home-so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. (1 Corinthians 11:33-34)

This, to me, does not negate the idea that communion ought to be a shared meal. Rather, it seems to be pointing out the importance of focusing on Christ while gathering together. If someone is ravenous, they will not be dwelling upon the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. They will be dwelling upon how hungry they are, and how delicious the food smells, and how much of it they can get at the expense of others, profaning the name of God as it says in Proverbs 30:


Two things I ask of you;
deny them not to me before I die:
Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
lest I be full and deny you
and say, “Who is the LORD?”
or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.
(Proverbs 30:7-9)

Whether hunger or gluttony, when we head to extremes we forget the Lord and profane His name. Better to eat at home, so that when you gather with fellow believers, you can remember what Jesus has done for you.


Practically, remembrance of Christ and what He has accomplished for us ought to be dwelt upon every time we gather for a meal, because we ought to be remembering what He has done for us at all times.
After all, what is communion but a fellowshipping, an exchange of intimate thoughts and feelings, a relationship of discourse? What better place to do that than over an actual meal? Some of the best discussions I have had with family and friends have been over the dinner table. There is an automatic communion involved with eating together. Such a communion is only heightened by the fact that it is believers eating together, reminding one another of the grace and love of Jesus Christ.

"How odd would it seem to have been one of the members of the early church, shepherded by Paul or Peter, and to come forward a thousand years to see people standing in line or sitting quietly in a large building that looked like a schoolroom or movie theater to take Communion.  How different it would seem from the way they did it, sitting around somebody's living room table, grabbing a hunk of bread and holding their own glass of wine, exchanging stories about Christ, perhaps laughing, perhaps crying, consoling each other, telling one another that the Person who had exploded into their hearts was indeed the Son of God, their Bridegroom, come to tell them who they were, come to mend the broken relationship, come to marry them in a spiritual union more beautiful, more intimate than anything they could know on earth."

~ Donald Miller 

Have been grieved

Grief.

It's not your average sadness. It is deep, emotional pain. It is intense, severe sorrow, usually associated with the loss of something or someone you were bonded to in one way or another. Grief is a heaviness, and it uses all its weight to the best advantage, pressing down, trying to crush, trying to break. ...grieved by various trials...


Grief is mentioned many times in the Bible. Interestingly, it often speaks of God being grieved. God is grieved by us when we break His commandments, His covenant. When we seek to destroy the bond that He has with us, He is grieved.

Jesus is well acquainted with grief.

He bears our sorrows above and beyond His own. He sympathizes with our weaknesses. He has compassion, even while we spit in His face, mock Him, and defy Him.

Jesus, when He calls us to suffer, never asks us to endure what He has not. He is not like us in that regard. I could very willingly allow people to do hard things, while I myself sit back and let them take the brunt of the work, the brunt of the pain.

Jesus does not do that.

God is well-acquainted with various trials.

For all I suffer in my life, for all the times I am grieved, I know that God bears it, and pours out His grace on me. God Himself is the Ultimate Sufferer. This is why He is the Ultimate Saviour.

He understands. He loves. He gives.

Poetry Wordle

God's power

I do not like deep water.

I can swim, but I prefer solid ground beneath me.

If I am forced to swim, I like seeing the bottom. As soon as it gets a little bit shadowed or dark, I begin to imagine that some deep-sea (or deep-lake) monster is going to rush up and grab me, dragging me down into the pressurized darkness, cracking all my bones. Deep water makes me nervous.

The monstrous, roiling waves, capable of overpowering the greatest of ships constructed by man, capable of destroying cities, of overturning houses, of pummeling rock to sand to be lapped up against the shore...this grand, terrifying body is subjected to the God I call Father.

Wow.

Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.
(Psalm 42:7, emphasis mine)

I am not comforted by the sea. Yet I am comforted by the fact that the sea is God's sea. The waterfalls are God's waterfalls. The deep that calls to deep, the deep that thunders nervousness in my chest, is the deep that answers to the Creator's call.

When life sends wave after wave of trial and trouble at me, I know that these waves are not battering me in spite of God's attempts to protect me.

God is sending the waves.

And God is protecting me.

God will bring me through what He has in store for me, even if my journey consists of travelling down to the pressurized darkness of the deep. Even if I cannot see the bottom, even if I cannot see the end in sight, I will praise God, because He holds me, and the waves answer to Him.

• 
  

Loving enemies

I have been blessed in reading Sam Storms' "More Precious than Gold: 50 Daily Meditations on the Psalms". I picked it up in a grocery store of all places, and it has been one of the best, most soul-filling purchases ever gotten from such a market!

The book itself is filled with all sorts of intellectual meat. I will be chewing on it all for days upon days to come.

In one chapter, Sam Storms talks about loving one's enemy. Amazingly, our enemies can most often be those who ought to be closest to us. Fellow believers, family members.

"The enemy spews out his venom expecting you to respond in kind. Part of the wicked pleasure he derives from being an enemy comes from provoking you to act just as wickedly as he does."

Enemies generally know how to push our buttons. With what they say, with what they do. They're incorrigible. They're stubbornly against you. The same goes for you, against them. Me, against my enemies. 

Yet Jesus tells us to meet evil with goodness. As Sam Storms put it,

"...goodness shames the enemy. It forces him to look at himself rather than at you. When the light of kindness shines back in the face of darkness, the latter is exposed for what it really is. Attention is diverted from the abused to the abuser. The shame he feels upon being 'found out' will either harden or soften his heart."

Kindness is not letting your enemy walk all over you or take advantage of you. On the contrary, Sam Storms points out that kindness can in fact look like un-kindness:

"And yes, we are to 'hate' those whom we 'love'. When they persistently oppose the kingdom of Christ and will not repent, our jealousy for the name of Jesus should prompt us to pray: 'O, Lord, wilt Thou not slay the wicked? Vindicate your name, O lord, and may justice prevail in the destruction of those who have hardened their hearts in showing spite to your glory.'"

Yet, in my case, the usual description of "enemy" does not include taking advantage or any kind of abuse. Rather, I consider my enemies to be those who have, when it comes right down to it, petty disagreements with me.

The author goes on to point out our (my) usual excuses:

"But, Sam, you don't know who my enemies are. You have no idea how vile and vengeful and irritating they can be. They take advantage of my goodness; they are unfair; they exploit the fact that I'm a Christian; they constantly embarrass me in front of others and lie about me behind my back."

I'm sure most if not all people know of someone who takes advantage of them. When simple grievances become our focus, to the point where we are bitterly against another (even another believer), what are we forgetting? What am I forgetting, when I consider the people who get on my nerves, and think of them as enemies?

Sam Storms concludes,

"...if Stephen could love those who viciously stoned him, what excuse do we have for not loving people whose attack on us is admittedly less grievous?"

What indeed?

Kept in heaven

I love Scotland. I've never been, but I love it. The music, the accents, the plaid, the mountains, the lochs, the history...I cannot remember a time where I did not plan to travel there some day. (I also want to marry a Scottish man who plays a cello and lives in a castle, but I hold that quite loosely.)

I think of my love of Scotland in terms of my love of heaven. Born again to a living hope...

I have an inheritance (kept in heaven) by Jesus Christ, my Saviour (in heaven), Who entered into heaven to appear in the presence of God on my behalf (Hebrews 9:24). One difference between Scotland and heaven (there are not many ;) ) is the fact that my citizenship is actually in heaven. To go to Scotland would mean being a bumbling, delighted foreigner. To go to heaven would mean going home.

I have never been to heaven, but I love it. I love the Saviour Who awaits me there, Who will bring me into His kingdom, Who keeps my inheritance.


“Many shall come from the east and west—and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 8:11)

But there will be nothing to make believers afraid in the kingdom of heaven. Though the sins of their lives ‘were as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow; and though red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’ Their sins will be ‘remembered no more;’ ‘sought for, and not found;’ ‘blotted out as a thick cloud;’ ‘cast behind God’s back;’ ‘plunged in the depths of the sea.’ If we were in the presence of a stern judge, or of a king clothed in awful majesty, we should not dare to sit down. Once joined to Christ by faith, they are complete in the sight of God the Father, and even the perfect angels shall see no spot in them. Surely they may well sit down; and feel at home!"
— J.C. Ryle

The Fires of Mercy

The fire of mercy consumes me
Burning the chaff of my sin
The gracious forgiveness subsumes me
Healing the gashes within.

Graciousness hurts; it burns away
What I want to hold with both fists
How long it will take, I cannot say
Jesus knows; He will heal even this.

Imperishable, undefiled, and unfading

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:1-5)

In terms of relation, the only way I can compare the wonderful gift of salvation to any material thing in my life would be by contrast. My body sometimes acts like I am three times my age. Everything I own rusts, gathers dust, chips apart, cracks, bends, or just overall stops working. A couple of years ago (or less) I received a new Bible, and it was pristine. Now, the cover is scratched and dented, and if I hold it up to the light I can see all of my own oily fingerprints all over it. Time wears me, and all my things, out.

Imperishable
Undefiled
Unfading

These are not the language of time, but of eternity. God has blessed me with immeasurable blessings - the fading, material gifts and my own cranky body but some of them. Yet, the greatest, the one that gives me most joy, and humbles me most profoundly, is the gift of salvation in Christ Jesus.

It is imperishable. 
Jesus has sealed my salvation. It is "undecaying", eternal, immortal. It cannot be killed, it cannot die, it cannot age. In Christ, salvation is ageless. It is forever.

It is undefiled.
My salvation is pure. It cannot be tainted or contaminated by sin, so it cannot be lost. It is unstained. Even when I sin, my sin is covered. My salvation is not muddied. It is clean, it is pure, and it is holy, because it is given by the clean, pure, and holy Saviour, and He keeps it in heaven for me.

It is unfading.
My Saviour endures, and I am safe in Him. My salvation cannot diminish, it cannot disappear, it cannot perish or fade. Jesus has called me, He will keep me, and I will abide in Him forever and ever according to His grace - amen!

It seems like these three definitions build off one another to emphasize the fact that Jesus will never lose one whom the Father has given to Him. According to His great mercy indeed.

A living hope

A living hope sustained me today.

I know it is living, because it continued without my sustaining it.

I did not feed hope today.

Jesus did.

He tended and cultivated the little seed of hope, watering it with the life-giving sustenance only He can provide, giving me the comfort and the joy of resting in Him without having to do anything. Without being required to live in a certain way. Without being required to be happy and smiling, healthy and pumped for the day.

He accepted my frustration, my numbness, my sickness, my fickleness.

He is constant, faithful, loving, merciful, patient, giving, and on and on in endless, overpowering grace cascading down from the throne room of heaven.

For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
(Psalm 71:5 ESV)

God hears

God hears
my keening soul-sorrow
my heavy-eyed distress
The gleam abandoned,
The sparkle quenched
In ever-present turmoil.
Preferring obscurity,
opened, asked instead,
Solitude, no, among others
God hears.
Weeping like the willow,
all season, season of anguish
unpleasant, raking, searing,
Hurt.
God hears.
The outpour of my soul,
the soaked garments of woe,
the cry, the rage, the impotence.
God hears.

According to His great mercy

God's mercy is too great a topic to cover in-depth. If I wrote about God's mercy in every blog post, I could write something new every single day. Truly His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).

My pastor spoke on God's faithfulness yesterday. In God's faithfulness, He is merciful. The two tie in to one another, seen from the beginning. God is "merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness."

God's faithfulness and mercy are seen in the fact that He keeps His promises. He forgives our sin (1 John 1:9). He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). He preserves us (John 10:28). He has promised us Heaven and glory (Revelation 21:1ff).

He constantly repeats His promises to His people. He knows our frame, and remembers that we are dust, that we are frail, that we are weak. He remembers that we are bruised reeds.

What about us? How do we act toward one another? I definitely do not always respond in a godly way. More often than not, I am very ungodly. I do not always forgive sin. I sometimes leave and forsake. I forget the weakness of others. Am I merciful? No, not always.

I rely every day upon the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. I cannot live one day, breathe one single breath without needing His grace. According to His great mercy He has caused me to be born again. I would not, could not go so boldly to the throne room without my Saviour.