Time to read...

Ok, it looks like I get a breather. Things might slow down for a bit at work, but then again, it could pick up again in a week or so. Hopefully, I'll be available to pick up the ball on blogging!

So a friend has recommended a book to me: "Visioneering - God's Blueprint for Developing ad Maintaining Personal Vision" by Andy Stanley. Has anyone read this? Is it any good? I ususally love to read books on leadership, vision, etc... but I haven't heard anything about this one.

I also love to read biographies about great men of faith, or movers of history. Anyone out there have any recommendations? I'll let you know what I think of "Visioneering" when I'm done. I just read the prologue and it seems sloppily written, but with some good ideas.

I'll keep you posted!

Too much work!

It's looking like from now to the end of April is going to be a very busy and difficult time for me and my family. I don't want to give up on blogging, but I need some help!

Anyone out there want to contribute? If so, drop me an email at pmoses987@yahoo.com and I will be happy to set you up with access to share daily doese of wisdom or commentary. I've always wanted the blog ministry to be a community effort, so the more the merrier!

Speaking of marry her, did y'all hear that Ben Greenway and his girlfriend Meike Muckenhaupt are engaged? She is back in Germany for a while, so if you think of it, please pray for them as they seek the Lord's direction for the immediate future in their lives.

What did you guys think of Steve on Sunday? We should have Heritage Builders and Living Stones join us more often! They bring great snacks!

Too much time...

This is a pretty good example of what happens when someone has some great Photoshop skills and way too much time on their hands!

(Warning: the site contains images that are an interesting combination of really cool, really funny and really freaky).

How about you guys? What do you like to do in your spare time? Comment below!

Why Do We Pray? part 4 of 4

Wow. It’s amazing how a whole week flies by. Anyways, I reckon it’s time to finish up this series before I forget what I said.

Just for review, we are looking at 4 reasons why we pray:

• Because We Can
• Because Prayer Changes Us
• Because Prayer Teaches About God’s Sovereignty
• Because God Answers Prayer

Let’s look at reason number four:

4. Because God Answers Prayer

In this section we looked at the parable from Luke 11:5-13. If you’re in a hurry, skip to the last few paragraphs to read about exactly how God answers our prayer.

But first, we looked at the nature of our prayer by looking at the example n verse 8. Here we see a word that gets translated as “impudence” or “boldness.” The best way to describe what this word conveys is the word “importunate - Troublesomely urgent or persistent in requesting; pressingly entreating.”

This indicates shamelessness, like a child boldly pressing and insisting his demand upon his father.

We talked a bit about the historical significance of this man’s persistent plea to his neighbor, but we spent more time talking about the promise, the principle and the premise of this parable. (Again, I borrowed heavily from MacArthur’s oulines (1, 2). He has articulated the point more clearly than I ever could.)

The Promise: (v9 - 10): “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

The greek here supports this idea of persistent shamelessness in our prayers. It is in the present imperative which basically reads “Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking”. In one of MacArthur’s sermons, he quotes Thomas Goodwin, the English Puritan:

“‘When you pray… you literally can go to God and say what’s on your heart and claim His promise. In fact, you can demand that He be faithful to His promise. …Sue Him for it.’ Wow! Don’t leave Him alone, pester Him with His own promise. Tell Him what He has said He’s going to do. Quote the scripture to Him, says Lloyd-Jones. And you know God delights to hear us doing it, as a father likes to see this element in his own child who has obviously been listening to what his father has been saying. It pleases him.

Lloyd-Jones goes on and says, ‘The child may be slightly impertinent. It doesn’t matter, the father likes it in spite of that and God is our Father and He loves us and He likes to hear us pleading His own promises, quoting His own words to Him and saying in the light of this, can You refrain? It delights the heart of God, sue Him.’”

It is important to remember, of course, that this is not a blank check to demand of God whatever it is we want. We are praying for His will to be done – not ours.

The Principle (v11-12): Fathers do good to their children, and God is our Father. How much better will he give to us?

If we look at the examples in this text, as well as those in the Sermon on the Mount, of how earthly father’s give to their sons, we learn that by asking of God, we will not be put in danger, you will not be mocked, and your need will be met.

The Premise (v13); “How much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”

On Sunday, we talked about how this statement is different than the one he makes in Matthew 7:11 - Matthew 7:11 – “how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Here, it doesn’t say that he gives good things, but rather, He gives the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit? What does that have to do with anything? I’d rather have the “good things!” Wouldn’t I? Is this statement limiting the one made in Matthew?

Absolutely not. In fact, it is rather a more specific statement. Earthly fathers provide for the immediate symptom, whereas God provides the cure. I’ll close with this, as quoted directly out of Mac Arthur’s sermon:

“When you go to ask God for whatever you ask God for, whatever it is, God gives you the Holy Spirit. Let me show you what I mean. You ask for comfort, He gave you the Comforter, right? You ask for help, He gave you the Helper. You ask for truth, He gave you the Truth teacher. You ask for power, He gave you the Spirit of power. You ask for wisdom, He gave you the Spirit of wisdom. You ask for guidance, He gave you the Guide. You ask for love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control and He gave you the Spirit whose fruit was released in your life.

You see, this is the generosity of God. You ask for the gift, He gives the giver. You ask for the effect, He gives the cause. You ask for the product, He gives the source. Is that generosity? He gives you according to His riches, not out of His riches. You ask God, as it were, going to the bank, you ask for some money, He gives you the bank. That’s the point. I’ll just give you the Holy Spirit, then you’ve got it all because out of the Holy Spirit comes power. Out of the Holy Spirit comes the anointing which teaches you all things. Out of the Holy Spirit comes the giftedness, out of the Holy Spirit comes the fruit, out of the Holy Spirit comes the direction and the guidance. From the work of the Holy Spirit comes everything.”

- John MacArthur

Why Do We Pray? part 3 of 4

Hey guys,

I apologize for the delay in posting, but the blog service is giving me a hard time. I’m emailing this one in. Hopefully it will work.

For Review, here’s my outline for Why We Pray:

• Because We Can
• Because Prayer Changes Us
• Because Prayer Teaches About God’s Sovereignty
• Because God Answers Prayer

Part 3 of our series is the point that God led me to in my own soul-searching. After examining my own reasons for not engaging in prayer often enough, I discovered that I have a tremendous propensity towards spiritual fatalism. I know that God is going to do whatever He wants, so why bother praying? Is it possible to “change God’s mind?” Is His will in any way malleable?

These questions and more helped me to realize the third reason for why we pray:

3. Because Prayer Teaches us About God’s Sovereignty

We took some time on Sunday to read some passages that help define God’s sovereignty. I won’t take the time to discuss them here, but these are the verses we looked at:

Job 42:2; Psalm 33:11; Proverbs 19:21; Isaiah 14:24

I ran across a sermon series by Dr. John MacArthur (1, 2) that helped me tremendously put all of my thoughts into words. He refers to God’s sovereignty thus: “God’s sovereignty is defined by the fact that He knows the plan and He has the power to work the plan. He has perfect knowledge so there’s nothing to change the plan. He doesn’t need us to give Him more information and He doesn’t react to circumstances.”

This is very encouraging in that when we come before him with the tragedies and turmoil of life, God is not surprised.

But at the same time, doesn’t God’s sovereignty sort of cancel out our need for prayer? After all, what can we do to change God’s plan?

We need to remember that we are told to pray (Luke 11:2-4). So, if we are supposed to pray, but God is sovereign, there must be a reason.

If God is sovereign, and he has ordained the end result for all of His plans, then why do we pray? And the answer is because God has not only ordained the end; He has ordained the means to the end.

This is where the rubber hits the road in the age-old equation of God’s will and man’s responsibility. God, for some strange reason, has chosen to have us play a part in methods of His divine will – and prayer is just one example. It is like everything else God has ordained.

For example, salvation: The end result is that God ordained your salvation before the foundation to the world. But the means to that end is your faith and repentance.

For example, sanctification: God’s will is that we be sanctified – made Holy and more like Him. The means to achieve this is our obedience.

In both cases, our responsibility and the efforts on our end of the bargain are part of God’s sovereign plan.

MacArthur puts it this way: “It’s not about changing God’s mind. It’s not about changing God’s plans. It’s not about giving Him information He doesn’t have. It’s not about a tweaking of the circumstances that He might not have anticipated. It’s simply about being used by God.”

Take heart that God’s plan is not altered by any crisis in our lives. Meditate on the marvel that God promises to reward us for our faithfulness in being the means to His end.

Why Do We Pray? part 2 of 4

Yesterday I started a four part blog series based on Sunday’s message entitled “Why Do We Pray?” I mentioned that I approached the subject from this angle after first examining why I don’t pray enough. Maybe after examining the reasons why we should pray, we will better be able to address the reasons why we don’t.

The four reasons why we should pray, as discussed on Sunday, are as follows:

• Because We Can
• Because Prayer Changes Us
• Because Prayer Teaches About God’s Sovereignty
• Because God Answers Prayer

Today, I want to take a look at reason #2:

2. Because Prayer Changes Us

The habit of prayer takes us into the throne room of God. This is an experience that can not leave us unchanged. It is there, in God’s presence as we list our needs to Him, that we commune with God – and He with us. George MacDonald puts it this way:

"What if God knows prayer to be the thing we need first and most? What if the main object in God's idea of prayer is a supplying of our great, our endless need--the need of Himself? . . . Hunger may drive the runaway child home, and he may or may not be fed at once, but he needs his parents more than his dinner. Communion with God is the one need of the soul beyond all other need.

I love that image. I come to God, hungry for my own needs, but it is His presence that I need more than anything.

Another aspect in the way that we are changed is that prayer submits our will to His. Here’s another great quote: “We must alter our lives in order to alter our hearts, for it is impossible to live one way and pray another.” - William Law

Praying for His will to be done – and not ours – forces us to rearrange our own priorities to be more like His.

And finally, Oswald Chambers puts it this way in My Utmost for His Highest – “We look upon prayer as a means of getting things for our selves; the Bible idea of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.”

Our walk with God is like any other relationship. We become like the people we spend our time with. The fact that our being in His presence shapes us more into His image should be all the motivation we need to pray.

I appreciate your comments on yesterday’s blog on the reasons why you find prayer to be a struggle. Today, I’m curious to find out how prayer has changed you recently. Please leave a comment! I love to know that you guys are reading and engaging.

Why Do We Pray? part 1 of 4

I had the opportunity to teach on Sunday and kick off our three week series on prayer. Just like last time, I’m including a web-log version of my sermon for those of you who may have missed it on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, there is way too much information to fit into one web-log and have any hope of you reading. So, it looks like we have the makings of our first blog series!

After a lot of reflection on the subject of prayer, I realize that I am probably completely unqualified to teach. My study and reflection on this subject forced me back to one question: why don’t we pray?

I know that I am not alone in the company of well-taught, intelligent Christians who simply don’t pray. Or if they do, they don’t pray nearly enough. On Sunday, we listed a few of the reasons, and found that prayer can seem boring, selfish or futile.

As I examined my own reasons why I don’t pray, I was struck with an amazing realization of how closely tied prayer and God’s sovereignty are to each other. We will examine this in a few days.

In light of all of the reasons why we don’t pray, I came up with some reasons why more fully later as we examine the topic of Sunday’s lesson: Why Do We Pray. For Sunday’s lesson, I had four reasons. Here they are:

1. Because We Can
2. Because Prayer Changes Us
3. Because Prayer Teaches us About God’s Sovereignty
4. Because God Answers

I’ll just talk about the first one today

1. Because We Can

Hebrews 4:16 presents an amazing concept. We can actually approach God’s throne completely on our own. Some translations translate this as approaching the throne of grace “boldly,” and I think this may be a bit more of an accurate depiction.

We discussed on Sunday the nature of this boldness – “suing God” for His promises. In Luke 11:5-13, we see a parable that illustrates both the nature of our prayer and God’s response. This is a story about a man who goes to his neighbor in the middle of the night and pleads with him to give him three loaves of bread (flat-bread – enough for one meal) because a guest has arrived unexpectedly.

The nature of this man’s pleading is shameless, bold, and without gall. This man sets aside all sense of shame and rouses the entire family next door in his attempt to get what he needs.

Christ is our mediator – our High Priest. It is amazing to think that, through prayer, we can speak to the God of the Universe. People get nervous and bashful when they try to talk to movie stars or powerful politicians, but these are just people! Imagine… we have access to our maker, and he asks us to approach Him boldly, with importunity. The fact that we can approach God should be all the reason we need to pray. The fact that he listens and delights in answering should motivate us to do it more often.

So what about you? What are things that keep you from praying?