Tag: prayer

Colossians 4:2-6

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            “Never give up praying,” said Paul to the church at Colossae.  Keep in mind that the Colossians had fallen into the wrongheaded thinking that Christianity could be reduced to a formula.  Do the right things.  Say the right things.  Keep away from the list of the terrible ten or the nasty nine, or whatever checklist you are using to live by your form of “Christianity.”  Ditch it.  Instead, persevere in prayer without knowing the outcome.  Pray relying on God and the mystery of Christ.  Pray with uncertainty instead of continually believing you need sure answers to everything for everyone.
 
            God is not some algebra equation to figure out.  He is not a gumball machine to put a quarter in and get exactly what you want.  He is not Santa God.  Christianity requires living in the tension of not knowing everything and yet having cogent answers for others who inquire about our faith.  It is a dynamic relationship in which we must continually and constantly interact in prayer to God as we largely improvise our lives, spontaneously applying what understanding we have for each situation we face.
 
            “Never give up praying” was Paul exhorting the church to keep up a vigilant and ongoing dialogue with the God who answers in his own good time, according to his own good will.  We are to make good use of the time God gives us, being gracious and pleasant around unbelievers, choosing our words carefully as we carry on a silent prayer conversation with God in the midst of our human conversations.  This is Christianity above rules and laws and checklists.  It is Christianity as it is meant to be lived, depending on Jesus and the Spirit.
 

 

            Mysterious God, forgive me for any attempts at reducing faith to a few spiritual rules to keep.  Help me to speak in ways which are gracious, loving, and redemptive.  May the person and work of Jesus come tumbling out of my mouth out of the overflow of my heart.  Amen.

James 4:1-7

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            “Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that war within you. 2 You want things, but you do not have them. So you are ready to kill and are jealous of other people, but you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You do not get what you want, because you do not ask God. 3 Or when you ask, you do not receive because the reason you ask is wrong. You want things so you can use them for your own pleasures.  4 So, you are not loyal to God! You should know that loving the world is the same as hating God. Anyone who wants to be a friend of the world becomes God’s enemy. 5 Do you think the Scripture means nothing that says, ‘The Spirit that God made to live in us wants us for himself alone’? 6 But God gives us even more grace, as the Scripture says,
‘God is against the proud,
but he gives grace to the humble.’ Proverbs 3:34
7 So give yourselves completely to God. Stand against the devil, and the devil will run from you” (NCV).
 
            There is a lot that can be unpacked here in these practical verses filled with dense meaning for our lives.  But a simple observation will suffice for today:  Prayer to God requires humility.
 
            The person who is captain of his own soul, moves and shakes the circumstances around him, controls and manipulates people, and who throws tantrums and verbally decapitates others to get his way sees himself as the way to get what he wants.  God only comes into the picture if he cannot seem to take for himself what he so desires.  Prayer is the last ditch attempt to control God.  And God will have none of it.
 
            All things must begin with prayer, be sustained by prayer, and end with prayer.  If we ask anything in the name of Jesus, it will be heard by God and answered by him.  God is God, and I am not.  Therefore, I must come to him with this understanding, with the humility to recognize that I desperately need him for everything.  Take some extended time today and meditate on these verses, letting prayers arise to God as a result.  For in the weakness of our surrender we find the strength of life.
 

 

            Holy God, you cannot abide with the ways of this fallen world.  Help me to connect with you on your terms in your way so that my faith might be active and effective in all I do for the sake of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Psalm 68:1-10, 19-20

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            “Do something, God!” (verse 1, Contemporary English Version).  I think every believer has cried out that phrase at some point in their lives.  There are situations where evil seems to run on and on with no end in sight.  There are people who flap their tongues with half-truths, misinterpretations, and lack of evidence with apparently no one calling them out on their slander.  There are those that look like they are getting away with living however they want, no matter whom they hurt, with no consequence.  When such people inflict their ungracious ways on us, it is understandable that we would want to scream, “Do something, God!”
 
            Then there are circumstances that are just plain droll.  Nothing seems to be happening.  Church is boring.  Christians around us are unmotivated.  People don’t seem to care about anything but themselves.  The world is going to hell and there are spiritual couch potatoes only acknowledging God if it is in their best interests to do so.  It’s enough for a faithful believer to yell, “Do something, God!”
 
            Ah, but God is up to something.  He has acted in the past through giving the ancient Israelites freedom from Egyptian oppression; he has overturned evil kings; he has sent his prophets to call people back to himself; and, he has sent his Son, the Lord Jesus, to redeem humanity.  And he will come again to judge the earth and fulfill once-for-all his promises.
 
            With a God in heaven, the Son interceding for us at the Father’s right hand, and God’s Spirit present with us on earth, justice and mercy will rule.  We might only see the shadows, but God hovers over us and responds to our calls.  He has done something, will do something, and is doing something today to win the spiritual battle for the hearts and minds of people everywhere.
 

 

            O God, scatter your enemies but let your people be happy and celebrate because of you.  For you set people free, cause them to prosper, and judge the ungodly.  Open my eyes to see the ways in which your justice and grace are being played-out around me and in the world.  Amen.

Ephesians 4:1-6

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment


             “I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace:  one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (NAB).
             The whole unity thing is quite important to God.  It isn’t just an ancillary or side issue to the real work of the church and the Christian life; it is very much at the center of Christianity.  Christians have been fashioned through the Holy Spirit into a single harmonious religious community of redeemed people, called to exemplify a counter-cultural presence in the world.  There is a solid theological reason for this:  God is one.  Just as the triune God exists as one deity in three persons, so the church is to reflect God’s image through its unified oneness.
             Although unity has been accomplished through the finished work of Jesus on the cross, the practical implications must be daily worked out.  This is why we are to strive, or to put significant effort, into having unity.  Simply getting along but harboring animosity is not unity.  Because two people are not at each other’s throats does not mean there is peaceful unity.  Unity only occurs when the Body of Christ works together in its diverse gifts toward a common goal of knowing Christ and making him known.  
             Yesterday, I laid down the challenge of praying chapter one’s prayer daily for two weeks – doing it with another person in the church will bring about a common unity of purpose, mind, and heart.  If there is to be church revitalization, personal renewal, and national revival, it will begin in the prayer rooms of unified believers.
             Blessed Holy Trinity, the God whom I serve, may your church on earth be one as you are one.  I pray our unity of love and purpose will transform individuals, churches, organizations, systems, and the entire world for the glory of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.