Prayer & Thanksgiving: The Christians Duty - Part 5

I will resume where I left off in part 4, in which we we looked at the first three of six cures for cynicism. We'll now conclude by looking at the last three cure.
 
4. Cultivate a Thankful Spirit – a thankful spirit will undercut cynicism like nothing else.

As you begin to pray each day, stop and look back over the previous day, and as mentioned, look for the hand of the Lord in the little things throughout the day. They may be things that are not always as noticeable at the time, but if you stop and think about it, these things can become more evident when viewed in hindsight.

As you reflect on the previous day - and you find evidence of the love of the Father acting within it - it should more easily stir up the spirit of thankfulness. Remember what Paul said in Romans 1:21:

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Rom. 1:21)

Just look at how prevalent the idea of thankfulness is in the writings of Paul:

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. (Rom. 1:8)

I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; (1 Cor. 1:4)

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers (Eph. 1:16)

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy (Phil. 1:3-4)

We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you (Col. 1:3)

We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; (1 Thes. 1:2)

And we also thank God constantly… (1 Thes. 2:13)

For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you… (1 Thes. 3:9)

We ought always to give thanks to God for you… (2 Thes. 1:3)

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you… (2 Thes. 2:13)

I thank God … as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. (2 Tim. 1:3)

I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers… (Philemon 4)

And looking back at some of our opening Scriptures, Paul exhorts the church to follow such a thankful pattern:

Don’t worry about anything. Rather, in every area of life let God know what you want, as you pray and make requests, and give thanks as well. And God’s peace, which is greater than we can even understand, will keep guard over your hearts and minds in King Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7) (KNT)

Devote yourself to prayer; keep alert in it, with thanksgiving. (Col 4:2) (KNT)

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thess 5:16-18 ) (ESV)

Maintaining a thankful heart is a most powerful way to stay drawn into the fellowship of the Father as well as those around you. While cynicism looks at the world around us and calls it phony - then pulls back from it - a heart filled with thanksgiving can look reality in the face - and rejoice to see God’s hand and care in all things. That should cause us to be both thankful - and generous.

5. Cultivating Repentance – the cynical heart thinks it is just a disinterested observer looking for authenticity around it – thinking it is humble because it actually offers nothing. It also feels great pride in thinking it can see through everything around it. C.S. Lewis keenly observed the problem with thinking you could see through everything when he said:

You can not go on “explaining away” for ever: you will find that you have explained explanation itself away. You cannot go on “seeing through” things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it… If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To “see through” all things is the same as not to see. (CS Lewis - The Abolition of Man)

In order to see all the wonder and hope around us, we must restore the innocent eye of a child. Cynicism, in supposedly “seeing through” everything, is actually lacking a purity of heart. When a Christian falls into cynicism, their heart gets out of sync with God. There is a fracture between what is actually going on in the heart, and what is showing in the outward behavior.

Life continues, and we continue to act, speak and perform like a Christian - speaking about Jesus, yet lacking any true presence of Jesus in our life. This is in fact a disconnect between what we present on the outside, and what we are on the inside. Not only do the words of those around us sound phony, but our words sound phony. Our empty religion makes everything around us seem just as empty and phony. James tells us:

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Make your hands clean, you sinners; and make your hearts pure, you double-minded lot. (James 4:8)

This term double minded, only appears twice in Scripture, both times by James, and it carries a meaning of being wavering, doubting, and divided in interest. We become double-minded when we live in this phony manner, and it usually leads to a split personality type scenario. We begin to create the public us and the private us.

In an earlier section we looked at how we may create multiple public versions of ourselves – different “faces” for different groups – well, this continues that process, but involves the darker, hidden private us, that few if any know about. 

If you are loving to your friends to their face, but then talk bad about them behind their back – you have created two personalities. If a husband frequently views porn online, and then warmly greets his wife, he has created two personalities. Repentance is needed to bring these two sides back together – to bring reality and balance back to life.

Cynicism sees this need of repentance in everyone else, but lacks the humility to get the beam out of their own eye. While church should be the one safe-haven where we can be ourselves and be loved by others – that is rarely the case. For many, church becomes a big smoke and mirrors effort too.

Remember the story of David, as he shows up at the battlefield to hear the ridicule and cursing spewing from the mouth of Goliath?  The people of God were acting cowardly – not relying on their God as they should. David saw the split between their outward profession and their lack of action, and he took action as they should have - and God gave him the day.

David intimately knew and was in contact with the good Shepherd, and in His strength he took comfort and confidence that lead to action. How often do we as the church, let cynicism cause us to shrink back - rather than charge the battlefield in the strength of the Lord? We need to seek to bring our professed faith into harmony with our actual practice.

The pure in heart begin by seeing through themselves, having already dealt with the bears and lions in their own valley of the shadow of death - and that allows them to see with more clarity the ridiculousness of the cursing of the “Goliaths” in their lives.

By cultivating a lifestyle of repentance, we deal with our own impurity, and avoid the negative position that cynicism takes, and it leads to purity in heart and spiritual healing. We need to have the faith and courage in our Father just like David, and in our individual battles, as well as alongside our church body, stand up and proclaim with David:

This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand…that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand. (1 Sam 17:46-47)

6. Looking for Jesus – how often do you just stop and look and think about ways you may be seeing Jesus in the world around us? This is similar to what I spoke of back in point four, but instead of looking back at previous days to find events that showed the Father’s hands around you, this is more of a right here, right now looking in your daily walk.

More often than not, we have been influenced by the cynicism of the world around us, and we are quick to look for - and find - all of the injustices around us. It causes us to focus on other people’s lack of integrity - on their split personalities.

We need to look around us, looking for that spark of truth instead, that spark of Jesus that the cynicism might otherwise miss. Remember what we are told in Hebrews:

Heb. 13:2 - Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Cynicism makes us look in the wrong direction. It will make us look for all of the cracks in the people around us, even those in the church. Our heart gets in the habit of viewing the world this way, and that will easily get brought over into the church.

Instead of seeing others as a work in progress, through the eyes of grace and beauty, watching as the Father’s hands are molding out the rough edges, we only seem to “see” the roughness. We need to be more like Paul, who though dealing with the highly corrupt practices of the church in Corinth, still had the ability to say:

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— (1 Cor. 1:4-5)

Think about it – and recall just how bad the church at Corinth seemed to be. They were bad off, yes, but he saw the good work being performed in them by Jesus. Rather than simply focusing on the corruptness, he saw Jesus, and that is something we need to focus on doing more in life.

Once we get a grip on the ways that cynicism has crept into our life and heart, we can begin to focus our hearts on being thankful, and in so doing, begin a better, healthier prayer life.

And now I end right where we began:

Don’t worry about anything. Rather, in every area of life let God know what you want, as you pray and make requests, and give thanks as well. And God’s peace, which is greater than we can even understand, will keep guard over your hearts and minds in King Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7) (KNT)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Prayer & Thanksgiving: The Christians Duty - Part 4

So in this segment, we are going to begin looking at three of six cures for cynicism that can assist in defeating a dead prayer life.

1. Be Warm and Wary

When Jesus sent out his disciples, he told them:

Matt. 10:16  "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

When we are faced with the evils in this world, many of us feel the desire to strike out as a wolf, which can lead to becoming cynical - rather than maintaining a sheep-like spirit. Jesus tells us to be warm, yet wary - warm like a dove, but wary like a serpent.

Then after other warnings about some of the obstacles they will run up against, he tells them not to fear those who can only kill the body, and then comforts them by telling them:

Matt. 10:29-31  Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.  Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

We must never forget that we are valued and loved by our heavenly Father. He is there to take care of us. So why do we fear? Why do we turn when faced with evil, when we should boldly engage it? Why do we not ask and seek daily blessings from our Father? When it comes to prayer, is any topic or desire too small or trivial? Are we thinking God is “out there” and too busy to worry about the little things we desire?

Prayer & Thanksgiving: The Christians Duty - Part 3

So far we've taken a look at some of the issues that affect a persons prayer life, and have begun looking at some ways to get out of that rut. We now turn to how using the Lord's prayer can be a help. Many people use the Lord’s prayer as an outline to assist them to go through a prayer time – breaking down each segment into a topic, and then praying accordingly.

For instance, the first segment – “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name” – is about praising God and honoring his name – so you can begin your prayer by spending some time in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. This section alone should give you plenty to pray about if you stop and think of all He is and does.

When done, you move to the next segment – “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven“ – would launch you into praying for things that would advance the kingdom and God’s purposes on Earth. Prayer for how you can be used to advance the kingdom is an essential portion of prayer. 

I won't go thru the entire prayer, but hopefully you can see how breaking it down and using each section as an outline of sorts can be a great help if you find yourself at a loss for words at prayer time.

Let's look at one of the many issues that can affect a Christian’s prayer life.

Prayer & Thanksgiving: The Christians Duty - Part 2

STRUGGLING WITH PRAYER

People often struggle with prayer because they feel as though they do not know HOW to pray correctly, and so they steer clear of doing so at all. Or, if they start off having an active prayer life, they may feel as though it is making no difference in their lives

Maybe they are finding it hard to slow down – to quiet their mind for prayer. Maybe they struggle with doubt. Are they being heard? Is God listening to them? These struggles lead to a lifeless prayer life, or a prayerless life.

Let's explore one of the root causes for a weak prayer life, and some ways to break free from it. You would imagine that there were times when the disciples of Jesus had the opportunity to ask their master pretty much any question their heart desired, and we find some examples of those times.

If you had such an opportunity, what might you ask him? They had been through so much and had seen so much - so many miracles. You would think they might ask how to turn water into wine, or how to walk on the water, or raise the dead, or any of the other amazing things they had experienced along the way. But when the time came, they did not inquire about any of those things - but we find in Luke 11:1b that instead they said 

Prayer & Thanksgiving: The Christians Duty - Part 1

As we approach the Thanksgiving season, I wish to share a message I preached a few years back at this time of the year.
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Don’t worry about anything. Rather, in every area of life let God know what you want, as you pray and make requests, and give thanks as well. And God’s peace, which is greater than we can even understand, will keep guard over your hearts and minds in King Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7) (KNT)

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thess 5:16-18 ) (ESV)

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people (1 Tim 2:1) (ESV)

Devote yourself to prayer; keep alert in it, with thanksgiving. (Col 4:2) (KNT)

The Christian life should be a life filled with prayer. As Paul stated in Colossians above, we should be devoted to it. It is our lifeline – our direct connect with our Father. We use it always - in all situations – to seek all that we need while here on Earth.

The Humanity of Christ Shows Through

A Lord's Supper devotional I gave a while back...

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This past week in my Bible reading, I was going through the chapters dealing with the arrest and trial of Yeshua, and in reading through with the chronological reading plan, it of course lumps all of the same gospel stories of this together. So basically I am reading the same story multiple times. In doing so, I was really struck by the humanity of Christ.

 Then he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me." (Matthew 26:38)

The word in the original is much stronger than the one translated “sorrowful.” It means to be pressed down or overwhelmed with great anguish. Some translate it as him saying “my soul is so dissolved in sorrow, my spirit is filled with such agony and anguish, that, if speedy assistance is not given to my body, death must be the speedy consequence.”

Review: A Praying Life

A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book changed my prayer life, by coming at a time in my life when I was in need, when I was down, and when even prayer seemed "distant" to me. Being raised most of my adult life within the framework of a pretty hard-core Reformed faith that put such a high value on reverence and fear before God, it must have worked in a way that made me forget the Father/son relationship that our heavenly father has with us. This book, in a nutshell, helped me change my thoughts from a awe-inspiring, big fearful fiery God to whom we approach (yes, he is those things), into a needy son who can't make it on his own and who has to come to his Father for everything little thing just to make it through each day.

Losing the Genie Mentality

Ok, so I have been reading this book on prayer the last few weeks, as our Sunday School class has been going through it (A Praying Life by Paul Miller). The book has been very interesting and helpful, but this posting is not a book review (sorry - suffice it to say for now that I do like it so far). As I have been re-learning to pray, I have noticed a deep down thought pattern emerging in my prayers. At first, it wasn't something that even phased me or was really noticed, but the more I started thinking about it, the more I realized not only that is was a totally wrong way to think, but that it was a pattern that came directly from my exposure to various modern "Genie" type stories. Let me see if I can properly explain this.

Prayer...in the name of...?

I wrote a similar article on this back on the old blog, and am rehashing it now because I have noticed the issue more and more since writing the original post.

There seems to be a epidemic going around today in prayer. I believe people are not really stopping to seriously think before they pray. It has become too much of a habit for us to just "jump" into prayer without contemplating the serious reverence and awe for what we are doing. We are coming into the direct lane of communication with the Almighty, and should be doing so in boldness because of Christ, but in reverence because of the Father, our Creator. The manner and attitude with which you enter into prayer is directly related to your belief and respect for the one you pray to.

But, the next question I would like to consider, is exactly how should we as Christians pray? What does the Bible say about the logistic of prayer? Are we to pray to the Father? the Son? the Holy Spirit? take turns with all three, or combine all three into one prayer?

I find it more and more common to hear people these days praying to Jesus, and ending with "...in your name we pray" or even "...in Jesus name we pray." Does anyone stop to really think of what they are doing and saying?

What does the Bible instruct us to do when it comes to prayer? Is it just a haphazard smorgasbord of choices and we can do as we please? I have only begun to give it more serious thought, but upon my initial examination, I find that we have been given a pretty clear instruction on the details.

Jesus says in Matt 6:6 "But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

Then, in giving us the Lord's Prayer, we are taught to pray saying "Our Father..."

So in both instances, Jesus instructs his followers to pray to the Father.

John 16:13 "Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you."

Here we are told by Jesus to ask of the Father, in his (Jesus) name. So, in all of these cases, it is evident that we are to pray to the Father, in the name (authority/power) of Jesus. Jesus is the bridge that opened the conduit for us to directly approach the throne in prayer, so it is through his power and authority...in his name, not our own, not a priest, nor any other intercessor, that we lift prayers to the Father.

So, what about the Spirit?

John 14-16 give us much about the coming Comforter, and in all cases it appears that the Spirit is just that, a Comforter, and not one that seeks to be directly addressed in prayer.

John 16: 13-14 "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you."

The Spirit's job is to glorify and speak of the Son, not to be glorified or addressed in prayer.
Rom 8:26 "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."

Are we to pray to the Spirit? The evidence seems to be that the Spirit assists us in praying, and is not the one being addressed in prayer.

Richard Baxter (1615-1691) sums is up quite well:

True Christian prayer is, the believing and serious expression or acting of our lawful desires before God, through Jesus our Mediator, by the help of the Holy Spirit, as a means to procure of him the grant of these desires.

Christian Directory, Chapt 23, Direct I

All I am saying is, stop and think before you pray. Who are you addressing, and in whose name do you come? Honestly, it just seems kind of odd to me to pray to Jesus in his own name. Anyone else have thoughts on the subject?