Pray and Don’t Give Up

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If I were to ask, “What is the least attended meeting in the church?”, I’m sure that most of us would immediately identify the prayer meeting. If we were to ask again why that is so, there would be many reasons and excuses. However, I believe David Wells, in his article Prayer: Rebelling Against the Status Quo, states it best when he says that we don’t pray because “…we don’t believe prayer will make any difference.”

He adds that because we feel we are powerless to change anything, even through our prayers, we resign ourselves to the “status quo.” We accept the situation as it is, and we must learn to live with it. According to Wells, “This resignation to what is abnormal contains a hidden, unrecognized assumption that God’s power to change the world, to overcome Evil with Good, will not be actualized.” In other words, not only do we feel that our prayers are ineffective, but we even subconsciously believe that God isn’t going to do anything about it anyway.

How do we change this? I believe we need to develop a better understanding of what prayer is and our role in God’s plan. First, we need to understand that God is not an unwilling tyrant with whom we must plead and beg to take care of our needs. To illustrate this, Jesus spoke a parable about a widow who sought justice from a godless judge as recorded in Luke 18.

At first, the judge would not listen to her, but through her persistence, the judge finally relented and gave her the justice she desired. At the end of the parable, Jesus said, “And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily” (7-8 ESV). In this parable, Jesus says God is the total opposite of this godless and stingy judge. God wants to minister to those who cry out to Him and He will do so “speedily”—without hesitation. If that’s true, then why don’t we see our prayers answered? I think it is because we are not doing what the widow did. We are not praying with persistence.

One problem in the Western world today is that we have become used to instant gratification. Since the microwave, the internet, and a host of other inventions that provide quick service, we have a hard time waiting. Therefore, when we don’t see immediate results with our prayers, it is easy for us to give up and stop praying. You may have even been taught that we should only pray once for a need, then just praise God for the answer and confess that you have received it. And, if we pray repeatedly for the same need, we are showing a lack of faith.

I believe, however, that the Bible teaches just the opposite—that we are to pray persistently until we receive an answer. Luke notes that the reason Jesus used the parable of the widow was to teach them to “always pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). Jesus even concluded the parable by asking “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” He connected her persistence to faith.

There are other examples of persistence in the Bible: Jacob wrestled with the angel and would not give up until he received a blessing (Gen. 32:24-29), Elijah prayed seven times until the rain came (1 Kings 18:41-46), Daniel prayed and fasted for three weeks to understand a vision before he received an answer (Dan. 10:1-14), the blind beggar continued to cry out to Jesus until He turned to answer his prayers (Luke 18:35-43), Paul prayed three times for God to remove the thorn in his flesh—he only stopped when God said “no” (2 Cor. 12:7-9), and even Jesus prayed three times in the garden of Gethsemane as He surrendered His will to the Father’s (Matt. 26:37-46).

The point is that we should continually pray until we receive the answer because we don’t know what God is doing behind the scenes. One reason we don’t receive an immediate answer is that God may need to prepare the soil (Matt. 13:18-23) beforehand. He may need to work on the hearts of the other people involved, work out all the necessary details, or wait until the time is right for the miracle to happen. He may even need to work in your heart before you are ready to receive the answer.

This is where faith comes in with our persistent prayers. As we fervently and persistently pray, we are doing so with the confidence that God is working. We may not see what He is doing, but we know, by faith, that He is working and setting the stage to do a miracle, and we will continue to pray until everything is ready for the answer to come.

This brings us to another thing we need to understand about prayer: prayer is the tool with which we can work with God to fulfill His purpose on earth. Even though God is sovereign, all-powerful, and can do whatever He wants whenever He wants, He has chosen to work with man to accomplish His will (see Ezek. 22:30-31).

This is perfectly illustrated by Elijah in 1 Kings 18. In verse one, we read that God told Elijah that, after a three-year drought, He was going to make it rain. Following his encounter with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, Elijah then began to pray for rain (41-46). Elijah bent down on the ground and put his head between his knees to pray. Some commentators say that this is the position women took when they were giving birth. In other words, Elijah was fervently (passionately) praying (James 5:17) until God birthed the miracle through him. God could have just sent the rain on his own, but He chose to work through Elijah’s prayers to bring the miracle to pass.

In summary, prayer is not begging God or trying to convince Him to meet a need. Instead, it is joining our will to God’s will and persistently praying until God begins to “birth” the miracle in us. Then, through our fervent and continuous prayers, God works behind the scenes preparing everyone and every detail until the time is right for the miracle to take place. Don’t give up! Don’t stop praying because we know that “The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail” (James 5:16b). Pray until the job is completed!

Wells, David. 2014. “Prayer: Rebelling Against the Status Quo.” In Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, 4th ed. edited by Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne, 159-162. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.  

Live Out Your Love

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In Matthew 22:34-40, one of the Pharisees, an expert in the law, tested Jesus by asking Him what the greatest commandment was in all the Law. Jesus responded by quoting Deut. 6:5 which says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Jesus then added Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbor as yourself” as the second greatest commandment stating that these two commandments form the foundation for all the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus did not randomly select these verses. The passage in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 is one that every Jew would have memorized from early childhood. It is called the Shema and is an important prayer Jewish people would have prayed every morning and every evening: and still do. The prayer begins with “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deut. 6:4). The first word Hear is the Hebrew word Shema from which the prayer gets its name. However, Shema means more than taking in sound through our ears. It includes the idea of acting upon what is heard. Therefore, God was not just telling Israel to listen and pay attention. He was telling them to act upon what they hear and obey His words. He was telling them to be doers of His word and not hearers only (James 1:22).

This is also true of many Hebrew verbs: they are not merely mental activities but encompass action as well. For example, when the Bible tells us to believe or have faith in God, it means more than mentally acknowledging certain facts or information about God. It includes believing in God enough that we are willing to put our faith into action and obey what He tells us to do as when Noah built the ark at God’s command because he believed Him.

The word love is another example. We often think of love as an emotion: having good feelings towards someone. But, although love can involve our emotions, it is better to see it as an act of kindness. We love someone when we do loving things for them. Therefore, when God commands us to love our enemies, He is not telling us to develop an emotional attraction for them. Instead, He is telling us to do acts of love for them even if we don’t feel loving towards them. We’ll discuss this more later.

The next key word in the prayer is the word Echad which is often used to mean “one” in the sense of singular. Therefore, the common translation of the phrase is, “The LORD our God, the LORD is one” meaning that there is only one God as compared to the many gods of the other cultures. This would, then, be a statement of belief: that we believe in only one God and He is Jehovah. However, another way the word Echad can be translated is “alone” which would change the phrase to “The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.” Lois Tverberg, in her book, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, states that this translation is becoming widely used and that scholars believe that this is more likely the original sense of the word Echad. If this is true, then this would change the purpose of the Shema. Instead of being a command to adhere to a particular belief about monotheism, it is calling the person to pledge allegiance to God. It is a twice-daily recommitment to worship and serve God and God alone.

Following the command to hear God’s word and obey it, and to recommit ourselves to worship and serve God alone, we are commanded to love God. Remember, the word love in Hebrew involves more than emotion. After all, how can you command someone to love someone else? You can’t. Therefore, the command is not to develop loving feelings towards God but to demonstrate our love to God through the way we live. Let’s look at how this works.

First, God is commanding us to love Him with all our heart. We usually think of the heart as the seat of our emotions, which is why we view love as an emotional feeling. But in Hebrew, the word for heart (levav) also includes one’s mind and thoughts. This is why God says in verse six, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts”. This also fits with verse eight where God says, “Tie them (His commands) as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.” In other words, all our thoughts and all our actions are centered on the Word of God. Therefore, we demonstrate our love for God by constantly meditating on His word and using it to guide our actions by “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”. (2 Cor. 10:5)

Next, we are to love God with all our soul. The word for soul is Nephesh which means life or being, the part of us that exists while we have breath. Tverberg states that “the Jewish interpretation of this line is that you are to love the Lord with all of your life, meaning with every moment throughout your life” (2012, 48). Therefore, we demonstrate our love for God by giving Him every moment of our life as long as we have breath, and not just a few moments a week or when it is convenient.

 Finally, we are commanded to love God with all our strength. The word used here is Meod, and has nothing to do with power, might, or strength. The word means muchness, abundance, or very. According to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, it expresses the idea of magnitude or degree. It is a common adverb used to intensify adjectives such as when someone says they are very well. It is the word used in Gen. 1:31 when God says that His creation is “very good”.

So, how does this apply to loving God? Randall Buth, a Hebrew scholar, reads this phrase as saying that we are to love God with all our oomph (Tverberg 2012, 51)! In other words, we demonstrate our love for God by loving Him heartily, earnestly, with much zeal, with every fiber of our being, and with everything we’ve got! Maybe as David did when he brought the ark into Jerusalem and he “danced with all his might before the LORD” (2 Sam. 6:14).

In summary, when God commands us to love Him, He is not commanding us to have warm, fuzzy feelings towards Him. He is commanding us to demonstrate our love to Him by hearing His words and obeying them, by committing our lives to Him and Him alone, by bringing all our thoughts and actions into submission to His word, by worshipping and serving Him as long as we have breath, and by serving Him heartily and zealously. In other words, if we love Him, we will obey His commandments (John 14:15).

Based on the Shema in Deut. 6:4-5, I’ve put together my version of the prayer. LORD, I hear Your words and I will obey them. I recognize that You are the LORD, and I commit myself to You alone. I will demonstrate my love to You by submitting my thoughts, my will, and my actions to Your will. I will love You by dedicating every part of my life to You as long as I have breath. And I will love you heartily: with all my “oomph!”

Tverberg, Lois. 2012. Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life. Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Do You Fear God or Are You Afraid of Him?

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The Bible talks a lot about the fear of God, but I would guess that most of us don’t understand what it means. Usually, when we hear the word fear we think of being terrified of something. Therefore, since we don’t want people to think that they should be afraid of God, we soften the word and say that the fear of the Lord only means that we should be in awe of Him and revere Him.

However, the word used for “fear” in both the Greek (phobeo) and Hebrew (yirah) can mean to have a fear or dread, to be terrified, or to be in awe and show reverence. So, the question is, does the fear of the Lord mean only to revere God or does it include dread and terror? Of course, many books and articles deal with this subject at length, and it is not my intention to delve into the subject that deeply here. I do, however, want to present some thoughts on the fear of the Lord that might help bring some clarity.

First, let’s begin with Exodus 20:18-21. In this passage, God had just revealed Himself to Israel on Mt. Sinai with thunder, lightning, trumpet soundings, smoke, and verbally giving the Ten Commandments. The people’s response is that they “trembled and stood afar off” (verse 18). They also told Moses to not let God speak to them again because they did not want to die (verse 19). Moses’ response was “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin” (verse 20). Here, Moses is saying that God does not want them to be afraid of Him, but He wants them to fear Him, and he uses a form of the same word (yirah) in both instances. What is the difference? How can we tell if we are afraid of God or if we fear Him? One way we can tell is by looking at the responses of Moses and Israel to God’s presence on Sinai.

Israel, because they were afraid of God, drew back from the presence of God because they were afraid of dying. Their focus was on “What will happen to me?” so they didn’t want to go any further with God. Moses, on the other hand, drew closer to God (verse 21). His desire was to experience more of God’s presence and was not concerned about his own life (see Ex. 33: 12-23). A person who is afraid of God is not concerned about growing closer to God but only about what will happen to him, but one who fears the Lord will hunger for more of God’s presence.

Second, in Isaiah 6:1-7, Isaiah had a vision of the Lord on His throne. He saw the glory of God and the angels crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” Isaiah’s response was one of humility and repentance. He cried out “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips…” His experience in the holy presence of God made him aware of his sinfulness and he repented and was cleansed (verses 6-7).

Compare this with what Jesus says in John 3:16-21. Here, Jesus talks about God sending Jesus as a light into the world to save the world. However, some do not receive the light because they love their sin more than they love the light and they don’t want their sin to be exposed (verse 19-20). A person who is afraid of God, then, does not want to grow closer to God because they don’t want to give up their sins, while a person who fears God is willing to humble themselves and repent whenever the light of God’s presence exposes their sin because they love God more then they love their sin.

Finally, let’s consider Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10:1-3. God gave Aaron specific instructions about the altar of incense (Ex. 30:1-10). The altar of incense was to be dedicated for incense only and not for any other offerings (Ex. 30:9), and the fire for the incense was to be taken from the altar of burnt offering outside the sanctuary (Lev. 16:12). Nadab and Abihu, however, did not follow God’s direction but used unauthorized fire for the incense. Because they did not revere God enough to follow His directions, fire from the Lord came down and consumed them. God responded by saying that anyone who comes near Him must regard Him as holy and He must be glorified before all the people (Lev. 10:3).

We see a similar situation in Acts 5:1-11 when Ananias and Sapphira sold some of their property to give the money to the apostles to be used for the needy. However, they kept back part of the money for themselves and lied about the amount that they received for the land (verse 3). Again, just as with Nadab and Abihu, Ananias and Sapphira did not recognize how awesome and majestic God is nor value Him enough to treat Him with the honor and respect He deserves that they thought nothing of lying to Him. They devalued Him and did not take sin or God’s judgment seriously.

Wouldn’t doing this mean, though, that they were not afraid of God because they were not afraid of what He would do to them? Actually, this is a result of being afraid of God. When a person is afraid of God, they don’t want to face who He truly is. They don’t want to face His power because it is far more than they could imagine, and it frightens them. They don’t want to face His holiness because they don’t want their sins to be exposed. They don’t want to face His righteousness and judgment because they would have to obey Him and could not do what they wanted to do. Therefore, because they are afraid of who God really is, they create a milder, less powerful, less threatening god. Their focus is on saving themselves. A person who fears God, though, has had an encounter with the glory and holiness of God and, instead of backing away, they hunger for more of His presence. They allow His holiness to expose any sin that would hinder them from growing closer to Him, and they humbly confess those sins allowing Him to cleanse them. They also recognize His power and majesty and give Him the honor and reverence He deserves through their praise and obedience. Their focus is on knowing God and glorifying Him.

According To Your Bend

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On our Saturday evening Bible Study, we have been watching the videos from the Walking the Text Teaching Series with Brad Gray. In one of the recent videos, Brad Gray taught from Prov. 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” He brought out some interesting points in the lesson that I want to share with you.

First, Gray clarified a possible misconception about Proverbs that many people may have. He mentioned that Proverbs are not promises. Instead, they are wisdom statements that, if we follow them, we can expect a certain outcome, but we cannot guarantee they will happen. For instance, if we are wise and follow God’s commandments (instructions), we should experience peace, blessings, and a good life. If, however, we are foolish, lazy, or mean, we can expect a life that is not so pleasant or blessed. The Proverbs are just good advice that directs us to be wise in the decisions we make and not foolish.

This is also true with this proverb about training our children. I have heard many people claim this as a promise. If we train our sons or daughters in the things of God, even if they stray from the Lord, we have the promise that our child will one day return to God. However, as mentioned above, this is a wisdom statement, not a promise. It is not something that we can stand on as a guarantee.

However, Gray did provide a way of understanding this proverb that will help us apply it to our lives more effectively. He mentioned two levels of interpretation of the proverb. The first level is a general application. This is the overall goal of teaching all our children the ways of God: teaching them about His love, how to understand His grace and salvation, teaching them how to read and study the Bible, and how to pray. If we are faithful in leading them into a relationship with Jesus Christ through our teaching and our example, there is a good chance that they will not stray from that path.

The second level of interpretation Gray mentions comes from a closer look at the phrase, “in the way he should go” (emphasis mine). The Hebrew word for “way” means manner, road, conduct, or course. The phrase, then, could be translated as “train up a child according to his manner or course”. I’ve even heard it stated that we should train a child “according to his bend”, i.e., the way he “leans” or is inclined based upon his character or personality.

The point Gray is making is that each child is different. Each one has his own personality, giftings, talents, and ways in which he responds to correction or instruction. Therefore, even though there is a general direction we want all our children to take regarding the things of God, we must understand the differences of each child and make the adjustments necessary to fit their individual needs.

It requires a lot more work, but it is important that we realize that a “cookie-cutter” method of training our children does not work. Each child will respond to the gospel message and God’s love and correction in different ways. They will worship the Lord differently, they will understand Scripture differently, and they will express their love and service to the Lord differently. As parents, we must take the time to understand each child’s personality and character and adjust our training to fit the path that they are walking as they follow Jesus.

In our discussion about the lesson, our Bible Study group mentioned that this would be a good concept to remember when dealing with other members of the Body of Christ. It is important to recognize that we are all different. Our personalities, character, and giftings will influence how we respond to God. Some can be more emotional in their worship and prayer time, while others are more reserved. Some are deep thinkers and love to delve into the difficult aspects of theology while others are not. Some are more spiritually mature while others are not as far along in their walk with the Lord. And some appear to be more in tune with the spirit realm than others.

The point is that we are all different and we are all at different levels in our walk with the Lord. If we could fully understand this and apply it to our relationships with our brothers and sisters in the Lord, it might help us extend more grace and mercy towards each other—and maybe even help avoid conflicts in the church.

If you would like to watch Brad Gray’s teaching on Proverbs 22:6, follow the link below to Walking the Text Teaching Series Episode #75.

Episode 075 – Everyone’s Unique Path

Encamped at Gilgal?

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Our church is reading through the Bible together, and as we were reading through the book of Joshua, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before. Joshua 4 and 5 relate the story of Israel crossing the Jordan and camping at Gilgal. Once they made camp three things happened. God instructed Joshua to circumcise all the males who had not been circumcised since they left Egypt (Joshua 5:2-9), they celebrated Passover for the first time since leaving Egypt (Joshua 5:10-12), and Joshua had the encounter with the man with the sword (Joshua 5:13-15).

I had read this passage many times before, but I noticed something this time. When the first generation of Israelites left Mt. Sinai and were about to enter Canaan, the Promised Land, God was leading them from the south from Kadesh Barnea (Num. 13:26) through the Desert of Zin (Num. 13:21) and entering on the west side of the Salt Sea. Now, after forty years and with a new generation, why was God leading them in from the east side where they had to cross the Jordan River?

The reason goes back to the experiences of the first generation. The first generation went through the Red Sea which was symbolic of their dying to their old life of bondage and resurrecting to a new life from God. It was their baptism. They had all been circumcised and entered a covenant relationship with God, and they had demonstrated their faith in God by coming under the blood of the Passover lamb when the death angel passed through the land (Ex. 12:1-13). This generation, however, failed to trust God to enter the Promised Land, and God, therefore, punished them by having them wander in the wilderness for forty years until this entire generation died (Num. 14:20-35).

The second generation, though, who were born during their forty years in the desert had not experienced any of these things mentioned above. Therefore, they could not receive the promise of God through their father’s experience, but they had to have their own encounter with God. They had to cross the Jordan River so they could have their own baptism of dying to the old life and being raised to a new life in God. They also had to be circumcised so they could enter their own personal covenant with God. And, celebrating the Passover reminded them of what God did to deliver them from their bondage in Egypt, but it also connected them by faith to the saving blood of the Passover lamb.

What was necessary for this generation of Israelites is true for us today. Each individual and each generation must have their own encounters with God. They cannot rely on the faith of their parents or grandparents to save them. Everyone must personally apply the blood of the Passover Lamb of God to their own heart to be saved (1 Peter 1:18-21), be baptized into a new life in Christ (Rom. 6:1-7), and put off the old nature by being circumcised in the heart (Col. 2:11). Only then can they experience the promised blessings of God’s salvation.

One other thing. Israel could not just camp at Gilgal and say, “We are in the promised land, so we’ll just stay here. This is enough”. No, Gilgal was only the beginning. God had much more for them, but they had to go further. They had to engage in many battles, drive out the inhabitants, and possess the land God had promised them with God’s help. The promise was theirs, but they had to work to receive it.

Likewise, today I have known many Christians who are content with just camping at Gilgal. They are saved (crossed the Jordan) and committed to the Lord (circumcised in the heart). But, for whatever reason, they have no desire to go any further in their walk with the Lord. We need to understand, though, that Gilgal (salvation) is not the end but only the beginning. God has much more for us than we can possibly imagine. There is a spiritual abundance that He has promised us (John 10:10), however, like Israel, we must fight for it.

Paul says in Phil. 2:12-13 to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”.  He is not saying to work for our salvation, but to work out our salvation—to discipline ourselves to grow deeper in our walk with God so we can experience all that He has for us. We must fight the battles against laziness, complacency, distractions, and even attacks from our spiritual enemy that hinder us and entice us to remain in Gilgal. We need a passionate heart that cries out for more of God’s Presence as Moses cried, “Lord, show me your glory” (Ex. 33:18). But we can’t do any of this in our own ability. Paul goes on to say in verse 13 that it is God who works in us to have the desire and the ability to do His will. He has more for us, and He wants to help us possess it. One final question for you to consider. Where are you? Are you passionately seeking God and disciplining yourself to possess all He has for you? Or are you content to remain in Gilgal? Or maybe you haven’t even crossed the Jordan River and entered a salvation experience with the Lord. Regardless of where you are, just keep in mind that God has more for you. It is yours if you want it. All you have to do is ask Him to give you the desire and the ability to receive it.