The Everyday Prayer

It came one night this week as I slept–a burden to “get the word out” to people who do not know God through trust in Christ.  It is a focus that I often lose.  I get so caught up in the immediate and urgent (me) that I forget the truly important (others).  Sometimes, God be praised, He uses difficulty in my life to wake me.  Problems tend to loosen my grip on “right now” and help me consider “someday”.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were captured and carried away, but used mightily in the conversion of Nebuchadnezzar.  Would they have even known him apart from their suffering?  Fascinating!  God does not see them (see me) as a victim.  He regards us as sons and servants of an eternal plan.  May the Lord make us like these 3 remarkable young men–faithful even when life falls apart.  I will look for you in a few hours.  What a privilge we have to study His word!  Don

It is a choice that will be made in the quietness of a morning prayer.  It will be a decision between several options.  I will be tempted to PLEASE others–to believe that approval and support is what I need most.  I will also be tempted to avoid PAIN–to find the easy road, to follow the fun.  But like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, ( Daniel 3) if I listen, I will hear the Spirit of God whisper a higher wisdom–the PATH marked by the PRINCIPLES of God’s Word.  It will require courage.  I will feel lonely at times.  But God will be faithful.  “Thy Word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105) Note–I am looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.  In this moment of national crisis, true worship is the only cure.  Come!  Encourage others to come with you!  We have decisions to make together and the time is short.  Know of my love and my prayers.  Don

It is not complicated.  Childlike actually.  Serving God is first a matter of NOT doing what He says NOT to do and then depending on Him to bless and protect.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel 3) are examples.  (I always wondered why they were called “the three Hebrew children)  “We do not need to defend ourselves” they say to King Nebuchadnezzar.  Like Jesus who ” did not open his mouth” in his own defense, they were calm and unafraid.  They had made a simple choice–to do God’s will as they understood it from the scripture.  Having made it, they were certain that God would save them or not, but they were spared any further anxiety.  They trusted God.  They obeyed God.  Simple!  I wonder whether the prayer, “Lead us not into temptation” has much power until we make the same simple choice. (How can He lead if we will not follow?)  I am praying for you (and for myself) a childlike heart.  Don

The Greek language gives us a clue.  Our English word for problem is formed from two Greek words.  Pro means “forward”.  Balein means “to throw”.  Problems are those things that “throw us forward”, force us to learn, require us to change.   Daniel 3 is the perfect illustration.  In one sense, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were victims of tragedy.  (Taken captive in their teenage years, nation defeated, temple destroyed)  In another sense they were “more than conquerors” because they did not dissolve into self pity and unbelief.  In the midst of tragedy, they found the Lord and became “vessels for honor” (2 Timothy 2:21) in bold and unbending witness to Nebuchanezzar.  What an inspiring truth!  My problems are not excuses.  They are, in fact, useful to the Lord in causing my growth and leading others to faith.  “The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.”  May the Lord make us like these young men.

“We are NOT going to serve you gods or worship the golden image you have set up.”  (Daniel 3:18)  I will seem intolerant to some.  It will actually be the road home.  Truly repentant people have a spiritual stubborness that they have learned from God.  Those who have been through AA (successfully) are no longer tolerant toward alcohol.  They allow no margins.  They are intolerant and unbending so far as their own involvement is concerned.  Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego are no longer tolerant toward sin.  “Make NO provision for the flesh” (Romans 13:14)  NONE!  They have SEEN the results of disobedience–the destruction of Jerusalem.   They have become spiritually stubborn–at least about the things that are clearly taught by God’s word.  Will this appear intolerant to some?  Yes.  Is it a sign of true spiritual life?  Yes.  Dear God, make us as unreasonable as your Son.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

You will probably think about this if you ever have cancer.  I know I did.  God is “able to save”.  (Daniel 3: 17)  I knew that one word from God would send cancer rushing miraculously away.  He is able!  Is He willing?  A very different question.  Shadrach, Meshach and Adednego seem confident of the first and unconvinced about the second.  Not unbelieving, just uncertain.  “Even if He doesn’t (save us)”, they tell the King, “we will not worship the golden image”. (Daniel 3: 18) A miracle is not always God’s answer.  “Some were tortured, stoned and put to death” says the writer of Hebrews of some very faithful people. (Hebrews 11:35-37) To presume that God always wills to intervene in the natural course of disease or difficulty is to end up disappointed and confused.  God may or may not save us from death(physical).   Whether He does or not has nothing to do with HIS ability, OUR faith, or HIS faithfulness.  We trust Him!

“Be not conformed to this world”  (Romans 12:2)  It is a pressure we all feel–the pressure to conform.  Even though God creates diversity (and seems to love it!),  the world fears it and exerts pressure (read crowd control) for people to ” get in step”.  Daniel 3 is a familiar story.  While it does not argue against submission to appropriate authority ( that would be anarchy), it does teach respectful but stubborn noncomformity to any king, parent, government, council, or pastor who requires us to act against the clear dictates of scripture and conscience.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were “stepping to the beat of a different drummer”  long before Thoreau was even born!  How free are you from the expectations of those around you where worship is concerned?  How true are you being to your own conscience and the teaching of God’s word?  Do you sometime “go along” so as to not to rock the boat?  More as the week progresses.  I am grateful to be your Pastor.  Don

“All my friends are waiting for me to slip. . .But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior.”  (Jeremiah 20: 11)  Sounds like Jeremiah needed some new friends.  So many disappointments.  His story is helpful to those of us who have unanswered questions.  If God is involved in our world, why not MORE involved?  Why does He allow bad things to happen, bad people to prosper?  Like Jeremiah, we never get a full answer.  What we get, instead, is the assurance that God will be with us.  (cf Jeremiah 1:8)  People will abandon but He won’t.  He will strengthen us in suffering but not exempt us from it.  Is this enough?  Ultimately, yes.  There is no other path.   I am looking forward to seeing you in a few hours.  When we gather for worship, we remind the world of a the savior who was willing to die and left a cross that we must also carry.  He promises to be “with us” as we do.  I love you.  Don

“Give praise to the Lord”  (Jeremiah 20:13)  “Cursed be the day I was born”  (Jeremiah 20:14)  I don’t know whether you have highs and lows in your spiritual experience.  Jeremiah did.  I know a pastor who also does.  From one day to the next, the contrast can be rather dramatic.  The key is to process both in honest prayer.  How thankful we should be that God is neither offended by our anger nor embarrased by our praise.  He, “requires truth in the inward parts”  (Psalm 51)  All sides of our emotional lives are welcome before this eternally wise and calm God.  Today, as you pray, will you ask yourself, “am I being totally honest with God?”   “Are the things I am saying  what I really feel/want/believe, or what I hope to feel/want/believe?”  Tomorrow when we gather for worship, may emotions of every kind be lifted up to Him.  Praise.  Protest.  It just has to be honest.

“When I am right give me courage.  When I am wrong give me humility.”  It can be the most discouraging discovery of all.  Opposition often comes from people in the church.  Jeremiah’s critics were not “non-believers” (not in their minds at least).  They were priests and prophets and people of his city who were deeply concerned about Jerusalem.  (Jeremiah 26:8)  They were also WRONG about what needed to be said and done.  Jesus experienced the same.  The majority is not always right.  Conflict is not always wrong.  Loving God more sometimes means loving people less, and bearing the burden of criticism and anger that inevitably comes.   Perhaps this is why God teaches us to pray when we are alone with Him.  He is preparing us for the times when we, like Jeremiah, will have to stand with Him as our only source of strength.  God help us.  It seems to be part of the path.