Tag Archives: walk

Praying for the “Little” Things

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Clark Goble| Leave a comment
By Clark Goble | March 8, 2010

As I grow older thoughts of prayer seem to dominate my attention. I would like to think that spiritual maturity has developed my prayer life, but I believe I owe it more to practical experience. Over and over, I have witnessed the power of prayer. There have been countless times in my Christian life that prayer has helped me or one that I love.  

Recently, I witnessed the power of prayer up close when my wife was undergoing some scary medical tests. This wasn’t the first time prayer has played a critical role in my life, but it is certainly one of the more recent.

This event concerning my wife, coupled with a growing desire to pray for my friends, has caused me to ponder prayer extensively over the last few days. What is it about prayer that God likes? What types of prayer does He prefer? What does the Bible mean when it instructs us to pray without ceasing? (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

I’m reminded of Dallas Willard’s book, The Divine Conspiracy, where he teaches that prayer is basically a request of things we want from God (see 1 Kings 8:22-56). Willard suggests that many of us have been taught that we are only to pray about big things like world peace or hunger (Willard calls this ‘heroic prayer’ but I prefer the term ‘Bono prayer’ coined by a friend of mine). Willard has the following to say about ‘Bono prayers’:

“Prayer simply dies from efforts to pray about “good things” that honestly do not matter to us. The way to get to meaningful prayer for those good things is to start praying for what we are truly interested in. The circle of our interests will inevitably grow in the largeness of God’s love.” (Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, p. 242)

It’s not that we shouldn’t pray for the big necessities of this world. However, if we are praying for the big things because we think God prefers them, we are mistaken. God wants us to pray for the things that really matter to us. Consider the Lord’s Prayer for a moment ( Matthew 6:9-13). The prayer opens by acknowledging the “bigness” of God ( Matthew 6:9-11). It is quickly broken down into things that really matter to us … daily food, forgiveness, temptation, and protection ( Matthew 6:12-13). Not many of us are in a position to cause world peace or end hunger, but we all have a small sphere of influence where we can help advance God’s Kingdom. If we all pray for God to put the little things of our lives in order, it will go a long way towards addressing the big things. God desires us to be honest and to pray about what really matters to us. If I may borrow from Willard once more:

” … [T]he most adequate description of prayer is simply, ‘Talking to God about what we are doing together.’ ” (Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, p.243)

What are you in the midst of doing with God? For me, I immediately think of my marriage and our children. I have a vested interest in praying for my wife and kids. They matter to me. I pray for my friends and their families – those people who mean something to me. I pray for my schooling. I pray that someday God will be able to use what I’m learning for His glory in some small way. I am learning that as I consistently pray for the most immediate issues in my life it is inevitable the Spirit will lead me into some of those “Bono prayers.”

If you find your prayer life is growing stagnant, I highly recommend that you take a personal inventory in an attempt to discover what matters the most in your life. Once that discovery is made, dedicate yourself to a daily pattern of prayer. Keep your focus on those specific issues that you are most passionate for and stick with it. Eventually, you’ll find yourself praying for multiple issues in a variety of situations.

The more I stick to this routine, I am continually shocked by the blessings I have received. God is good!

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Rejoice

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Todd French| Leave a comment
By Todd French | October 20, 2009

The author of the book of James says something odd to open the book.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. “  James 1:1  NIV

The author calls us to joy in the midst of the times that try our souls.  The verse leaves me personally in a difficult place with difficult questions to answer.  If joy isn’t an emotion, then what is it?  How is it possible to have joy in the midst of difficulty?  When the roaring lion is circling me with the intention of consuming me, how is it possible to feel joy in any measure, much less enough to engage in any act of praise?

These questions point to the fundamental disconnect between the life God intends for us, and the life we typically lead.  It points to the notion that our ways aren’t God’s and his ways aren’t ours.  This exposes another facet of the logical difference between what God sees as how we should live thrive and respond to adversity and how we actually live.

The key to resolving this fundamental disconnect is found in understanding joy.  Joy isn’t an emotion, it isn’t a feeling, it isn’t happiness by another name.  The book of Galatians tells us that it is a fruit of the spirit.  In other words, it is an attribute that grows out of a life spent in humble communion with our redeemer, our savior, our creator, and our God.  It can’t be forced, faked, or cajoled into being.  It simply is not  unlike air, or gravity, or the wind.

So the response to this disconnect is found in qualitatively measuring  joy.  If we don’t feel joy in the midst of difficulty, it should tell us that something is not right with our relationship to God.  That isn’t meant to say that we shouldn’t feel anger, grief, or loss in times of difficulty.  We do, we should, and we will.  Rather, joy should be somewhere in that mix.  The degree to which we experience joy should function as a mirror to show us the state of our walk with Christ.

If our walk is functioning as it should our joy is derrived from our delighting in our God.  The degree to which we experience joy is directly proportional to the amount of delight we derrive from our relationship with God.  As a result, all of this boils down to the nature of our relationship with God.  When its good, right, and properly rooted in the mind of Christ, we should be experiencing Joy in some measure.

This reveals, at least to me, that joy is not a situational thing.  It is not something that comes and goes like a spring rain shower.  Rather it is a foundational thing that comes and abides in us like a well.  Joy should function to sustain us in trying times.  It should remind us that God is the creator and sustainer of our lives.  It should tell us that it doesn’t matter how hard the wind blows or how loud the the lion growls, God will act as our protector and redeemer kinsman.

It means that in spite of circumstances God’s love abides.  It means that in spite of the temporal trials we face, God’s committment to his children is eternally enduring.  It means that as long as we reside in the resting place that is our savior, the situations of life are devoid of power over us.  It means that God resides in relationship with those that are called by him, and live in community with him.  God protects his own, and seeks their best interest, even that best interest isn’t obvious to anyone involved.
It doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen to us.  It doesn’t mean that we won’t face trials or difficult situations in life.  It doesn’t mean that our hearts won’t be broken in this life with the pain of loss and the accompanying grief.  It means that the joy of our foundational relationship with God sustains us in those times.  It means that when the flood of negativity invades our very soul, God is there with a hedge of protection and a flood wall to save us.

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Book Review: Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

Posted on August 20, 2009 by Clark Goble| 5 Comments
By Clark Goble | August 20, 2009

Love & RespectTitle: Love & Respect
Author: Dr. Emerson Eggerichs
Publisher: Thomas Nelson, 2004

Review: In this Focus on the Family book, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs makes a very simple proposition; most of the problems between a man and his wife are communication gaps. Furthermore, these divides can be overcome if the couple can embrace the true meaning of Ephesians 5:33, “Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” While this may seem like easy concepts to understand, Dr. Eggerichs explains the common ways men and women fail to grasp them. Using examples from couples that he has counseled, the author covers the wide array of things that can go wrong when a man and his wife fail to employ the wisdom of Ephesians 5:33. In fact, it is these case studies that will strike home with most readers as they will inevitably see a little of themselves in the examples. After examining the common ways couples can fail to show true love and respect to one another,  Dr. Eggerichs provides clear ways for a man and wife to immediately change their ways.

I was grateful for the following on page 76, “[Wives,] When I talk about respecting your husband, I do not mean being a doormat. I do not mean burying your brains, never showing your leadership ability, or never disagreeing in the slightest way. I do not mean that mean that he is superiorand you are inferior in some way. Nor do I want you to ignore your hurts and vulnerabilities.” In that single paragraph, Eggerichs dispells the misinterpretations of Scriptures that have been used in the past to justify the mistreatment of women.

My only quibble with this book is that Eggerichs seems to belabor his points a little. Long after I had a grasp on his theme of unconditional love for women and unconditional respect for men, he was still going on about it. At over 260 pages, I think he could of shaved off about 75 pages with ease. Otherwise, this is an excellent book that I highly recommend for married couples who would like to strengthen their relationship in a Godly manner.

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Freaked Out by Grace

Posted on August 13, 2009 by Clark Goble| 3 Comments
By Clark Goble | August 13, 2009

Todd has written extensively on this site about grace. It has gotten me thinking about the nature of grace more often lately and it occurs to me that the idea of divine grace freaks most of us out.

Let me explain. A few years ago, I was passing out free water at a church outreach. It was during a street basketball tournament in the middle of summer when the temperature was approaching triple digits. Here I am with my shopping cart full of water bottles on the hottest day of the year and I had a seriously hard time giving them away! There were no strings attached. I wasn’t preaching at anyone or passing out tracts … I was simply trying to pass out free water. It became obvious right off the bat that the idea of accepting a free bottle of water from a stranger made people highly uncomfortable. Those that did take the water tried repeatedly to pay me or trade something for the drink. Once people realized what I was doing, there were even some that would hurry to the opposite side of the street to avoid being offered a drink.

People couldn’t understand why some stranger was offering them a free drink. They had to offer money for the water to make themselves feel better about taking it because they knew they hadn’t done anything to deserve it. In the back of their minds, I think they were wondering if there was something wrong with me for offering the water in the first place.

If free water freaked people out that much, how much does the concept of free grace (not to mention a Savior who died for them) freak them out. I think grace makes people as highly uncomfortable as my water did on that hot day. We know we don’t deserve it, but we try anyway. We try to trade our works for God’s grace only to realize later it isn’t a fair trade. I think we may even wonder at times what is wrong with the God who would offer His grace to miscreants like us in the first place. Often times, we reject His grace and replace it with false gods that don’t make us so uncomfortable. We would rather fool ourselves into believing in false gods than accept free grace from the true, living God …. we’re crossing to the other side of the street to avoid Him.

I noticed something when passing out water that applies here. There were three categories of people who had no problem accepting my water. Those that knew me took it quickly. They recognized I wasn’t some freak wandering the streets for no reason. They would take the water and chit-chat for a little bit with ease. They second group of people who took my water were the ones who were really thirsty. The ones that had just come off the basketball courts and were on the verge of passing out from heat exhaustion. Their need outweighed any uncomfortable feelings they had about accepting my water. They had to take the water to keep from passing out! The third group of people that accepted my water without a second thought were little kids. There were even some kids who came back for seconds and thirds … they recognized the value of free water on a hot day without worry because their lives hadn’t taught them to be suspicious of things that came with no cost.

If we approached God’s grace in the same way as these people approached my water, I think it would help us be less uncomfortable. First, we should get to know God a little more. Spend time with Him in conversation. Pray to Him and listen to Him. Secondly, we should recognize our thirst. We should realize that without His grace we’re going to die! We need His grace more than we need water on a hot day. Finally, we should approach Him like little children. Jesus himself said, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” – (Matthew 18:3 NIV).

Perhaps then, God’s grace wouldn’t make us so uncomfortable.

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Letting God Out of the Box

Posted on August 5, 2009 by Clark Goble| 3 Comments
By Clark Goble | August 5, 2009

In his book, What is Reformed Theology? Understanding the Basics, R.C. Sproul explains the difference between Religion and Theology. He explains that religion is the study of particular types of human behavior, while theology is the study of God. In other words, religion is man-centered while theology is God-centered. It has occurred to me slowly over the last few months that much of what we do as Christians has little to do with God. We seem intent on practicing a religion that is man-centered.

The desire of any Christian should be to focus his life on Christ. We should all be more interested in how God would want our faith to play out in our lives. Too often, we take our cues from our pastors, denominations, authors, small groups, and other areas of influence when we should be taking our cues from Christ.

Sometimes, I think we have created a faith that has little to do with the real living God.

I am beginning to lose interest in the faith we have created. In the faith we have created, we expect God to manifest Himself in a variety of ways. How many times have you heard someone say after a church or worship service, “Wow, I could really feel God’s presence in there,” or, “The spirit was really moving during that sermon.” Have you ever heard someone say that during a moment when you didn’t feel God at all? I know I have. It is in those moments that I feel like the worst Christian in the Kingdom. There’s been moments when I wondered why everyone else seemed to sense God’s presence when I couldn’t. I wondered what I was doing wrong. Then it ocurred to me … those people are lying.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that you can never feel God’s presence during church or feel the Spirit moving during a worship session; however, I am saying that we have created a church environment where you fall short as a Christian if you don’t feel God’s presence at the right moments. So much of what we do as a church and as Christians involves creating moments for God to reveal Himself. We create emotional sermons, passionate worship songs, tear-jerking service opportunities, and intimate small group discussions with the expectation that God will participate when and where we say so. There are even some denominations that expect the Holy Spirit to make you jump around, dance, and speak in tongues; and if it doesn’t happen, there is something wrong with you.

It is as if someone says, “Let God out of His box now so we can all feel better about ourselves … just be sure to put Him away when we’re done!”

I am nearly forty years old and I have been a Christian for going on ten years. While there have been several times in my life when I have felt God’s presence and even times when I felt as if Jesus were speaking right to me, I must admit that none of these moments occurred on demand. Rather, God has spoken to me in moments of His choosing. Do we really think that we can demand the Creator of the universe to speak to us because it is Sunday morning and expect to get a response?

When you study the life of Christ it is apparent that He never acted and responded to the people around Him in the way they expected. He changed all of the rules and all the expectations they had for their savior. He was a rebel that refused to be typecast. Shouldn’t we expect Him to be the same now. I fear that far too often, we attempt to turn the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit into our own personal puppet.

In his book, Real Church, Larry Crab attributes all of this to an addiction to ourselves. I couldn’t agree more. We create these moments for God to participate in our religion because we selfishly want to feel His presence on our schedules. We play worship music not because we feel He is worthy of our praise, but rather because it gets our adrenaline pumping and makes us feel better about ourselves. We create service opportunites not out of a desire to serve our fellow man, but rather because it makes us feel better about ourselves. We pick and choose our churches like we pick and choose our movies … we’re not interested in attending the church where God wants us because we are too busy trying to find the one that entertains us the most.

Our religion has become all about us when it is supposed to be all about God.

Study the life of any saint worth remembering and you will find they lived a life that was God-centered rather than man-centered. Mother Teresa’s life would have been impossible if she had been afflicted with this addiction to self. Rather than wasting her time creating opportunities for God to reveal Himself, Teresa went about the business of serving her fellow humans and waited patiently for God. By her own account, she went decades without feeling the presence of God … but yet continued to wait for Him.

God is not fast food. We can not have Him our way. We can only experience Him in His way and on His schedule. Larry Crabb teaches that this anticipation is more valuable at times than any experience we can have of God in this life. Jesus taught that this life is all about anticipation. Heaven is so close we can taste it. We should look forward to it like a little child does Christmas morning. There is no experience we can have in this life that will come close to the experience of being with Christ in Heaven … we should embrace this anticipation and quit trying to put the cart before the horse.

Church, sermons, worship songs, service, small groups …. these are all good things if they serve to increase our anticipation for God. He will reveal Himself to us on His schedule. The Spirit will move among us … not like a pay per view movie, but rather like the living, breathing God that He is. We should embrace those moments when we can’t feel God’s presence in this world because He has  promised we will live entirely in His presence someday.

Manipulating God into doing our bidding … creating moments that feel religious … these are the things that false religions are made of. These are the things I no longer have an interest in.

Father, my prayer is for you to speak to me and fill me with the Spirit as you see fit. I ask that you help me stop and take notice of You in the moments You are trying to speak to me. In the moments that I can’t feel Your presence, I ask that You fill me with anticipation. Father, I want to desire your presence like a child desires his Christmas present. Lord, lead me to worship, praise, study, and serve with the right motives. Help me to conquer my addiction to self and become more addicted to anticipating You.

Amen.

Further Reading:

Real Church by Larry Crabb
What is Reformed Theology by R.C. Sproul
Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit by Charles Stanley

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