Winning Heaven’s Lottery?

“Lord, I’m asking for ___________ .” When you pray are your feelings something like those underlying the purchase of a lottery ticket? Only a foolish person would buy a lottery ticket as an investment or with the idea that he was securing his financial future. If a person puts a buck on the counter for a ticket, he does so with only the slimmest hope of a return. That is how many people pray. They do not really expect much but feel ‘it can’t hurt anything’ to try. So they make their request, but go ahead and make other plans!

True faith is anchored in God’s promise. Those who pray in faith, prepare to receive an answer and trust God profoundly. Faith of that quality demands a deeper relationship with God, a daily conversation that goes beyond “Lord, bless me, my kids, and my wife. Give me more stuff and help me not to get sick. Amen.” True prayer involves submission, worship, adoration, acceptance, and petition! It is not an event during the day; it is an attitude that shapes each moment of the day. That is why the Scripture tells us to "Pray without ceasing." (1 Thessalonians 5:17, KJV)

Jesus admired the faith of a Roman officer who came to Him on behalf of a suffering servant in his household. "When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”

Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.” The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith." (Matthew 8:5-10, NIV) This man recognized that faith must be placed in the Lord. He relinquished his will to the will of Jesus realizing the answer flowed from the Lord’s will and authority.

• Do you think that God will answer because you manage to think enough positive thoughts?
• Do you think you have to convince Him to act with a lawyerly argument? 
• Do you think you can bribe Him to give you an answer by doing religious things?

Those are an insult to the Father and reveal a misunderstanding of His nature. Jesus reminds of the love of Abba saying "If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?" (Matthew 7:9-11, The Message)

Please do not get me wrong today. I am not suggesting that prayer is easy or that faith is simple! Prayer is often renewing, but at times praying exhausts me, just as having an intense conversation with a friend can stir up strong emotion and leave me worn out.

Despite many years of walking with Christ Jesus as Lord, I cannot make the claim that I know why some prayers seem to find an instant answer and others yield only silence. Beware of those who offer formulas for ‘getting your prayers answered.’ At best they are mistaken; at worst, charlatans looking to take advantage of you.

There is only one way to learn to pray and that is to pray! There are no shortcuts to knowing an intimate relationship with the Spirit. Time, devotion, and willingness to live with Him in the school of a prayerful life have no substitutes.

Here’s the word from the Word. “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. “The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need." (Matthew 6:6-8, The Message)

Amen.

Losing Sight of God

Everyday life includes computers that stop working , cars that don't start, and traffic that doesn't flow. These are just life's normal headaches.  The real tests are those things for which we have no explanations - chronic illness or pain, people who turn against us for reasons we cannot understand, death of friend or family, etc.  How do we reconcile our revelation of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and loving Father God with our experience of pain and loss?  

How does one rejoice when those on whom he leans let him fall?  

How can do we continue to live with joy when temptation rages inside of our head and heart?

How does faith continue to guide our choices when doubt settles over us like a thick fog? 

I'm still working that out!   I imagine, in one way or another, you are, too.   

James says,  "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides." (James 1:2, The Message)   I want to embrace that command, but it is hard to do.   Who likes those moments when questions are many and answers few?   

The story of Abraham's journey to Mt. Moriah reaches out to people who wonder 'what are you doing, Lord?'   In Genesis 22 we read that God told Abraham to take his beloved son, Isaac, and to sacrifice him.  That journey had to be the longest walk in his life! 

He had to go through the same kinds of emotions we feel when our way and God's will do not run parallel.

• Testing can cause us to feel CONFUSION.  

Don't you think Abraham was more than a little confused by a God who gives him a miracle son and then asks for him back a few years later?    

• Testing can cause us to feel DOUBT.  

"God is that really your Voice?  Why would You ask such a terrible thing?"   I've wondered that more than once in my life when tested.

• Testing can cause us to feel ALONE.  

That trip across the plains to the hills had to be the most lonely days of Abraham's life.  He even left his servant and traveled on with just Isaac. How do you tell jokes and enjoy the company of a boy you're going to sacrifice tomorrow?   My reflection on my past reveals that God has often ministered to the deepest place in my life when I was most alone.

• Testing can cause us to feel THAT GOD IS UNWILLING OR UNABLE TO ANSWER OUR PRAYERS.  

When we have loved Him intimately and deeply, it is hard to keep faith when suddenly, He stops speaking for a time.  We may cry out as His Son did, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"   Of course, He hasn't, but it can sure feel like it.

• Testing can cause us to feel HOPELESS.  

In your imagination, go and stand with Abraham on the top of that little hill called Moriah.  Drag the rocks, one by one, into a heap to form an altar each one becoming heavier as you realize the moment of decision is imminent.  Raise the knife!    The contents of your stomach rise in your throat.  A sorrow beyond description wrenches sobs so violent from your body that you feel like you could die.   Where are you, God?

There we find the stuff of character and the meaning of faith! The real questions are:  Will you stay steady when the wind blows strong?  
Will you obey when your natural self screams to take another way?
Hard questions, aren't they?  

His promise is not based on our performance, but on His eternal will. He says "If we die with him, we will also live with him. If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself." (2 Timothy 2:11-13, NLT)   Abraham had known the faithfulness of God through times when he failed.   

So, he trusted - not in his own righteousness, his own ability to please God - but in the faithfulness of God to keep him.   And, at just the critical moment, God revealed Himself as "Yahweh Yireh, the Lord, my Provider."     Remember the story?   Just as Abraham was about to take his son's life, he looked up and saw a ram caught in the bushes, a substitute sacrifice provided by God, Himself!

Paul repeats this phrase again and again in his letters to Believers - "Stand firm!"    Here's the word from the Word. May the Spirit make them bread for your soul, strength for your heart.   "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong."
(1 Corinthians 16:13, NIV)

"He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on everything we taught you both in person and by letter. May our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, who loved us and in his special favor gave us everlasting comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and give you strength in every good thing you do and say."
(2 Thessalonians 2:14-17, NLT)

_______________

My faith has found a resting place,

Not in device nor creed.

I trust the ever-living One

His wounds for me will plead.

I need no other argument,

I need no other plea.

It is enough that Jesus died,

And that He died for me.

Enough for me that Jesus saves,

This ends my fear and doubt;

A sinful soul I come to Him,

He'll never cast me out.   

-          Lidie Edmunds, Public domain

I want my church to be perfect,too

People tend to idealize most things.  Sally envies Jane’s marriage even allowing herself to think how much better life would be if only she had a husband like that.  In the dead of winter, we are sure that a vacation to the island of Bimini would make everything better.  More than one Christian has thought that if their pastor were as wise as Charles Stanley, as full of smiles as Joel Osteen, and as theologically deep as John Piper;  they would miraculously become a super-Christian.  And, my favorite idealization:  “Why isn’t our church like the one in the book of the Acts?”  We are taken by the description of First Church in Jerusalem. In Acts 2 we read "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles." (Acts 2:42-43, NIV)  Who wouldn’t like a church like that?

It’s a nice picture, but it’s just one snapshot of that generation of Christians!  Read the whole story. A couple of chapters later those Christians are fighting furiously over circumcision and   Law.  Relationships were broken over whether one could truly call himself a follower of Christ if he did not observe the Sabbath, eat kosher, and submit to circumcision. The assumption that Gentiles could not become true Christians persisted in the Church for at least two decades.  That church had hypocrites, too. Ananias and Sapphira sold some property and pretended to give all the proceeds to the apostles, while keeping some in reserve.  God judged them on the spot and they dropped dead in the Believer’s gathering. Imagine if he struck all the hypocrites in church dead on this Sunday! There would be a lot of funerals in the following week.  There was favoritism, too.  The widows from Jerusalem got cared for more generously than the widows from out of town.  The issue led to the creation of the first board of Deacons. (see Acts 6)

The leaders of First Church were flawed, too. Paul and Barnabas were ministry partners, spiritually gifted in complementary ways. Their team  worked.  Paul was hard to get along with, smart, and a real teacher. Barnabas was beloved, a people-person that others related to easily.  Then, they had a fight over John Mark. On a missions trip, he became discouraged and went home to Momma. Paul was aggravated by his lack of faithfulness.  When the next trip was planned, Barney asked to take Mark along. Paul refused. "And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus; And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God." (Acts 15:39-40, KJV)  Wow, so much for singing “Kum Bah Ya” around the fire, eh?

They had people who abandoned the fellowship, too. Paul, when he was an old preacher, imprisoned in Rome and awaiting execution reports that at such a critical time, one of the men who had done ministry for years with him had left the faith! "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia." (2 Timothy 4:10, KJV)  You can hear the disappointment in his words.

It’s not my intent to excuse hypocrisy, strife, or love of the world.  Those things are a blight on the Church and weaken her in her work. My point is that perfect is for Heaven! On this journey, we are in in the process of becoming more like Jesus. The greatest miracle is that God’s work gets done around, in, and through flawed people, broken people, imperfect people – just like me. Let’s grow up and get rid of our dreams about a church of perfect people. It doesn’t exist; never has, never will – this side of heaven.

Here’s a word from the Word. "We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." (2 Corinthians 4:7, NIV)

____________________

“Hallelujah, Thine the glory!

Hallelujah, Amen!
Hallelujah, Thine the glory!

Revive us, again.

We praise Thee, O God,

For the Son of Thy love,

For Jesus who died and

Is now gone above.

We praise Thee, O God!

For Thy Spirit of light,

Who hath shown us our Savior,

And scattered our night.

Revive us again;

Fill each heart with Thy love;

May each soul be rekindled

With fire from above.

William P. Mackay
Public Domain

I wanna go to Heaven when I die…

The Gospel I ‘heard’ as a young child and the Gospel I love at age 56 are very different in the telling. Both center on the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Both feature the Cross and the Resurrection prominently. But, living the Gospel is where the great chasm opens. I ‘accepted Jesus into my heart’ when I was around 5. What that meant to me for the next 25 years was that when I died I was ‘going to Heaven.’ What was largely lost to me was the calling to be a part of the work of extending His kingdom. If I heard that at all it meant ‘getting more people in the church building.’

My faith was unintentionally self-focused. There was a real concern about morality. The list of moral issues was skewed to sex. Not much was said about greed, abuse of power, or seeking peace. Justice for the poor was an after-thought. If I lived a holy life I could please God. This would earn me a greater reward, a bigger crown, a larger mansion. I did believe in the Kingdom, but understood that to mean that some glorious Day, Jesus would come down to destroy everything and give all of us  nice people a beautiful Eden to live in.  To the extent I was engaged with this present world, it was with a message of ‘get ready for Heaven.’  “Turn or burn,” summed it up! 

But a person cannot become acquainted with the thundering prophets or read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount without coming the realization that there is much more to the Gospel and Kingdom living than getting to Heaven. The Good News is about starting to live the ‘eternal life’ right here, right now! Jesus says, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10, KJV) That’s not just after we die. It’s about finding a purposeful, meaning way to live while we’re dying!

Evil came into God’s Creation. It messed everything up, brought suffering and death. It made people mean and hateful. It still robs us of dignity and worth so that we live like mere animals, preoccupied with sex, food, comfort, and security. Where the darkness of evil goes unchallenged, an awful terror develops. Demons rejoice! The Bible describes the way the world looks when God is abandoned: "Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless." (Romans 1:28-31, NIV)

Then God sent His Son with the Gospel! "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17, NIV)  When the Light shines into the darkness, life burgeons. People learn to love. The gifts of the Holy Spirit teach us how to live in harmony, allow us to create beauty, strengthen us to confront evil, and give us courage to die to sin and Self. This Good News changes everything! "Once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord." (Ephesians 5:8-10, NLT)

Yes, “I wanna go to Heaven when I die…” and thank the Lord for the promise of my home in the Father’s house. But, until then, I will LIVE the Gospel! With Christ as Lord, I will build the Kingdom, praying “may your kingdom come and your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” 

This is my favorite prayer.  May it be your word for today from the Word.

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—
that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,

according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:14-21, NIV)

“I put my hand over my mouth”

Anxiety occasionally comes tiptoeing to my bedside in the early morning hours. It jerks me awake and brings tumbling thoughts, feelings of fear and despair. Those emotion can quickly evolve into physical symptoms; racing heartbeat, shortness of breath. Some would call it a ‘panic attack.’ It is not only psychological. I know that there is a spiritual element in it, too. When challenges increase, when answers to questions are elusive, I am more prone to becoming anxious. But, when I allow the urgencies of life to keep me from prayer, the powers of evil find an opening in my weakness. Thankfully, I know where to turn.

In such times, I return to a form of prayer that is called ‘centering.’ Christ Jesus is made the focus of thought and His love is allowed to push all other thought aside. Consciously, I slow my breathing and quietly say, “Jesus.” This prayer is not for complex petitions or beautiful praise. It is a heart-cry, an act of adoration, a time to receive the gift of His peace. The act of centering requires submission to the Spirit and silence. The Bible speaks about tearing down "every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5, NIV) In the story of Job, when his suffering drives him to angrily demand a confrontation with the Lord, God comes, not with explanations, but to reveal Himself in greater majesty. Job’s response is humility. He says, "I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth." (Job 40:4, NIV) Centering prayer restores Christ Jesus to His place in our mind and heart.

From Isaiah’s words we learn the place of holy submission. "This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength." (Isaiah 30:15, NIV) When trouble threatened them, the people of God wanted to run off and make an alliance with Egypt. The Lord called them to re-center their hope on Him! He invites us to the same kind of faith, not passive, but actively focused on Him rather than our own resources. Waiting can be much more difficult than working!

If you find yourself pressed by problems, if your soul is battered by doubts, when anxious thoughts drive you to anger or panic; center yourself on Christ! Inhale slowly, and then breath out the name of Jesus. Pray a simple prayer that says, “I receive your peace.” Do not race off to fight. Try to find a place alone and stay there enforcing the quiet on your soul. It’s simply, but it is not easy! The natural responses are either ‘fight or flight.’ Give the Spirit mastery.

Here’s the word from the Word.
"O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.


I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning." (Psalm 130:2-6, NIV)
_________________


Be The Centre

Jesus, be the centre.
Be my source, be my light,
Jesus.


Jesus, be the centre.
Be my hope, be my song,
Jesus.


Be the fire in my heart,
Be the wind in these sails,
Be the reason that I live,
Jesus, Jesus.

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Michael Frye
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