A Perspective on Prayer

“Remove relational prayer from the center, and every other kind of prayer goes bad. Worship becomes blasphemy—we reduce God to our errand boy; He’s there to serve us. Thanksgiving becomes a disguised expression of entitlement—we thank God for what we think He really should have given us anyway. Intercession is rooted in self-interest—we plead with God on behalf of family, friends, government, and church leaders with our purposes and comfort in mind. And petitions, even apparently legitimate ones such as loved one’s salvation or a child’s health, are fueled by the energy of a demanding spirit. We hear ourselves presenting reasonable requests to God. He hears us whining like spoiled kids, “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” We have no controlling thought of advancing God’s kingdom or of enjoying our privileged relationship wit the King.”

Larry Crabb, The PAPA Prayer, 33

Two of the Greatest Questions

If you had the opportunity to meet Jesus Christ in person, what questions would you ask Him? Would you ask him about the passing of a love one? Or would you ask Him why He allowed certain things to happen to you in your life? Maybe you have a perplexing question from His Word that you have been unable to resolve? One theological dilemma for me is how to balance election and free will. We should not be afraid to ask these questions that surface from our hearts. While they leave question marks on our soul, they bring us to the point where we become unsatisfied with the world’s answers. Deep inside each one of us these questions drive us to a source greater than ourselves to find these answers.

In Acts 9, we are given the opportunity to hear the questions of a man who met Jesus Christ face to face. With arrest warrants in hand and a burning passion to quench the so-called Christian movement, the Apostle Paul travels to Damascus to hunt down and arrest anyone who professes the name of Jesus Christ. Hot on the trail on these believers, little did Paul know that it would be Jesus Himself who was on Paul’s trail. We find their encounter in Acts 9:3-4, “As he (Paul) was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’”

I cannot imagine what was going through Paul’s mind at this time, but I am certain that it forever changed his life. From this point forward, Jesus transformed Paul’s zeal from hunting down Christians to hunting down Gentile unbelievers for the cause of Christ. I believe that his transformation happened over two of the greatest questions in the Bible. We find these questions in Acts 9:5-6. Paul’s first question is “Who are you, Lord?” (Acts 9:5) and his second question was “What will you have me to do?” (Acts 9:6).

These are two greatest questions that you will ever ask and will spend a lifetime answering them. Each one of us will eventually give an answer for the first question: “Who are you, Lord?” To some, he is just another prophet or a historical figure from the past. Others will argue that he is an example of how we are to live. Though these are accurate answers, Jesus did not come primarily to be a historical individual or an example of morality. He came to be the Savior of the world. Man is incapable of earning salvation because of his sin. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

God has provided a solution to us. That solution is Jesus Christ who bore all of the sins of the world and satisfied the wrath of God. When we acknowledge our sin and despairing condition without Christ, we come to the cross and accept what He has done for us, that is, He paid the penalty for our sins. We ask Him to be our Lord and Savior, and immediately we receive eternal life. Again, the Bible clearly states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

The other penetrating question that we must ask is “what will You have me to do?” There is no greater question that you will need to ask than this one posed by Paul. Paul’s great assignment would be called to declare the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles. What will your mission be? God has uniquely designed each us for a particular purpose, and we will never find fulfillment in this world greater than the fulfillment of serving Him. We are left here on earth to become ambassadors for Christ sharing with others who Christ is and what He has done for us. How will you answer these questions?

Happy Halloween!

Claire as a Green Bay Packer cheerleader!

Release What's Good

Author Larry Crabb says that we Christians often communicate to each other one of these two solutions: “Do what’s right” or “Fix what’s wrong.”Instead, the New Testament holds up a better way: “Release what’s good.” What’s good is the Holy Spirit, already living in us, with all the resources of God at his command.

Philip Yancey, Reaching for the Invisible God, 177.

A Constant Renewal

Remember the popular bracelet WWJD (What Would Jesus Do)? It was a vivid reminder to the one who wore the bracelet the actions, words, and thoughts of Jesus. When the individual was tempted to view something on television or in a magazine, the bracelet would prompt the person to think about whether Christ would spend time viewing the material. If the person was tempted to respond with anger or vengeance because of some offense, the bracelet would invoke Christ’s response in Luke 6:27-29, “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” I am not sure how effective the bracelet was for the wearer since I have never worn one, but the concept was created to exhort people to think about Christ throughout the day.

I have found a similar concept with my wedding ring. On my wedding day, I received a James Avery ring with the Hebrew inscription from Song of Solomon 2:16, “My beloved is mine, and I am hers.” During the day when I am at work and away from my wife, I wear the ring with the Hebrew letters facing me so when I look down I am reminded that my heart and soul belongs to my wife. When I arrive home, I turn the ring around with the Hebrew letters facing away from me to remind me that I am with my beloved. I’ll be the first to admit that I am a little quirky, but something as minute as turning my wedding ring constantly renews my vows and commitments to my wife.

How will you make God famous?

Usually when you hear about ordinations, you typically think of doctrinal questions or statements such as the following: “Give me your position on Calvinism versus Arminianism.” Though such questions were asked during our deacon ordination on Sunday, the greatest question to the candidate was, “How will you make God famous in your life and the church?” Wow! As I listened to the candidate’s answer, I left the room wondering how do I make God famous.

Some pics from our vacation...

We took a few days last week to visit Pittsburgh for a short vacation and enjoyed seeing a couple of friends from Dallas. In addition to looking at the historical sites downtown, Claire enjoyed her time at the Pittsburgh Zoo.