11.02.19 - week 27
on prayer + cynicism
and when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “why could we not cast it out?” and he said to them, “this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. mark 9:28
‘church people like things they can see, that’s why it’s hard to get them to continue to pray’ – a current co-worker
it’s a conversation so familiar as to become a bit exhausting. we know about prayer, we say we believe in it, and then we kinda don’t really do it. we pray at meals and hospitals and church. but often we live as though its ancillary to our plans.
my purpose in raising this subject today is not to try and motivate you, but rather to simply bear witness to its power. i have seen prayer break walls down lately. seen people call and apologize that i thought never would. seen prayers for provision and relationships answered in remarkable ways. and the things is, most of what i’m praying for hasn’t happened yet.
so my encouragement today is simply this. don’t neglect your best weapon.
use it. and keep using it. and you won’t believe what happens. don’t fall prey to the easy cynicism lets us view our battles and lives as something other than flesh and blood.
prayer-less people tend to assume everyone else is a ‘full of it’ as they are.
KG Korner
(a few wise words from lady kristen macdonald)
I’m in the middle of a bible study that quoted Elisabeth Elliot’s book, These Strange Ashes and it met and ministered to me. Let me share with you the two exerpts:
As I look back on that time (when a friend and co-worker had been murdered), I think it was Lesson One for me in the school of faith. That is, it was my first experience of having to bow down before that which I could not possibly explain...Faith’s most severe tests come not when we see nothing, but when we see a stunning array of evidence that seems to prove our faith vain. If God were God, if He were omnipotent, if He had cared, would this have happened? Is this that I face now the ratification of my calling, the reward of obedience?...I had desired God himself and He had not only not given me what I asked for, He had snatched away what I had. (pgs. 125-6)
It was a long time before I came to the realization that it is in our acceptance of what is given that God gives Himself… Each separate experience of individual stripping we may learn to accept as a fragment of the suffering Christ bore when He took it all. “Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” This grief, this sorrow, this total loss that empties my hands and breaks my heart, I may, if I will, accept, and by accepting it, I find in my hands something to offer. And so I give it back to Him who in mysterious exchange gives Himself to me. (pg. 127)
How beautiful : We get Him.
We can bring our disappointments, our unbelief, our questions, and be met by a Heavenly Father that sees and knows it all and instead of condemnation He speaks over you - I AM ENOUGH.
I am comfort : 2 Corinthians 1:3.
I am love : John 3:16.
I am perfect peace : Isaiah 26:3-4.
I am a wonderful counselor : Isaiah 9:6.
I am Immanuel : Matthew 1:23.
He is enough for you and for me, for the darkest day and the brightest one too. I’m giving my willing heart to follow him, it’s not the most beautiful as it has some jagged edges and scars (as Elisabeth describes) but when I bring that He gives me His most beautiful self in return and it fills my gaps and scars and wounds and brings beauty from the ashes that are found on this side of heaven. I’m convinced of it.
Cup of Leadership
you know the problem with ‘you people’?
ignoring the typically horrifying implications of that phrase, i was too weak + discouraged to offer anything other than, ‘no, tell me.’
‘the problem with you people from the baptist or reformed backgrounds is that you’ve been taught that part of your worship to god is the way you punish each other for real or imagined sins’
not 48 hours has gone by in the last year where I haven’t thought about that statement. my gut instinct was to try and defend myself, ‘maybe some people, but i’m not like that.’ but i must accept that many in my stream certainly do operate that way. and i wonder sometimes if we have idea how we drive people away with our anger and castigation.
we pick and choose our little playlist of favorite scriptures and robbing them of their context, apply them with vigorous indignation. i’m not trying to draw out too many implications, only to say that we ought to let god decide the consequences and do our best to supply the kindness + love.
Book Review
one of the best podcasts out there is ‘this cultural moment’ w. mark sayers + john mark comer. some of that material was adapted into this book. i didn’t necessarily resonate with all of it, but the section on the necessity of prayer + the quotes on these pages impacted me powerfully.
Podcasts This Week
a fun ‘tales from the 405’ w my dear friend bobby in which i am mocked mercilessly.
part 5 of the joseph series, ‘fruitfully forgetful’
even if you aren’t a consistent podcast listener, subscribing/rating/reviewing is hugely helpful and would be a blessing to me.
3 Things I Really Liked This Week
1. i loved chance the rapper’s SNL opening from last week, a perfect and hilarious nod to the lovely beauty that is chicago, Illinois.
2. my friend (and well known silver fox) paul baloche has a new song out …check it out, you will be blessed.
3. this week i watched a documentary about basketball legend dennis rodman. it moved me to see the way a painful childhood drove this man to incredible heights and wild lows. check out the trailer.