The Final & Eternal Yes

"For there are many prayers not to be answered till we come to the other world (Ro 7:24) and there all will be answered at once." 
Thomas Boston, from Crook in the Lot, page 76 of the Christian Heritage edition

Destructive "Success"

"If  you can be great without prayer, 
your greatness will be your ruin."

Charles Spurgeon, from Praying Successfully, page 20

Down with the Quiet Time; Up with the Church

Talk about the devotional life, or one's "quiet time" (sometimes my times with God are loud), is all the rage. This is partly because so many Christians have their own copy of the Bible. So they are expected to read them, which is certainly a wonderful way to spend time. My concern is that we believers not judge one another's Christian fidelity by each one's practice of a "quiet time" (I cannot get myself to like that term; something about it. . .).

Here's the deal - The folks of the Church have had access to God's printed Word, that they could read for themselves, for a tiny percentage of the Church's history (I believe the Church began in Eden). But even if we trace the first days of the Church back to the first century AD (Pentecost), the percentage is still small. For most of the Christians who have ever lived in this world, the devotional life, as is commonly defined as including Scripture reading and/or study, was not an option. So how has God measured their faithfulness? I suggest two ways; the same two ways he measures mine, and yours.

The first is one's commitment to prayer. Christians have not always had personal copies of Scripture, but they have always prayed. I am not going to attempt to talk about prayer as a subject. I simply mention it as a mark of Christian fidelity throughout history.

The second mark is one's commitment to the Church - God's other people with whom we are one body, one flock, one bride, one building, etc. Christians have not always had personal copies of Scripture, but they have always had each other. And so I mention this as well.

The access believers have historically had to Scripture has been the preaching and teaching of believing pastors, prophets, and priests. For most of the Church's existence, it has pleased God to have His people ultra-dependent on the Bible teachers of their local congregations. I suggest that the pattern continues and the fact that we have access to our own copies of Scripture has not left us any less dependent on others for a right understanding of God's written revelation. Again, I think it's generally good that so many can so easily have access to God's Word. But an unhealthy side-effect of this has been to devalue the word ministries of God's particularly gifted and otherwise qualified spokespeople. The way saints of old showed devotion to Scripture was by listening to it preached and taught in their congregations and then praying to love and believe and do what they had heard. I believe this remains God's way for us today.

The Church matters. Churches matter. Jesus gave Himself for the Church and is returning for the Church. He is sanctifying the Church and preparing rooms in the Father's house for those who form the Church. The weekly gatherings of the Church congregations (which I would argue should normally occur on Sundays) are not optional events. They are actually mandatory, because they are needed. If only we could see how fragile we are as individuals, and how God has designed His Church to accommodate such weaklings, and to strengthen them.

So if you or I have a thriving devotional life, but are not committed to prayer and God's people, we are selfish, unbiblical, and less than fruitful. And I don't believe we will long stand the assaults of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The Stomach-Soul Connection

"Prayer is the reaching out after God and the unseen; fasting, the letting go of all that is of the seen and temporal. While ordinary Christians imagine that all that is not positively forbidden and sinful is lawful to them, and seek to retain as much as possible of this world, with its property, its literature, its enjoyments, the truly consecrated soul is as the soldier who carries only what he needs for the warfare. Laying aside every weight, as well as the easily besetting sin, afraid of entangling himself with the affairs of this life, he seeks to lead a Nazarite life, as one specially set apart for the Lord and His service. Without such voluntary separation, even from what is lawful, no one will attain power in prayer. . ."

Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer, page 83, Commenting on Matthew 17:19-21 where Jesus explains to His disciples why they failed to cast out a demon. It has to do with their unbelief tied to their lack of fasting.

Murray's book is useful not only for the content but also the structure. The chapters are normally around 5 pages making it easier to get through them. Each one gives commentary on one Scripture text containing one lesson from Jesus on prayer. The simple form lends itself to accessibility, especially to those not given over to learning by reading. To purchase the book inexpensively, go here.

I do think the book is worth reading for its content, yet I am suspicious of some of that content. In my way of understanding sinful Christian humanity, it seems to me that the goals set forth are perhaps unattainable. For example, in Chapter 20 titled "That the Father may be Glorified," in only one paragraph the author speaks of the Christian praying as being in perfect harmony with Him [God] and having our whole being consciously yielded to the inspiration of the Word and Spirit and our prayers bringing us into perfect unison with the Beloved Son in the wonderful partnership He proposes. 

While I believe in God's ability to do such, I do not believe He does such. If I am wrong here I do pray He correct me. As of now, my understanding of human Christian sinfulness does not permit me to expect what Murray holds out as what ought to be the Christian experience in prayer. 

My other concern is that the book overwhelms and discourages with its many demands for a certain kind of praying. Murray means to unpack Bible texts regarding prayer. That's good. That unpacking though has me wondering if I might ever pray for even five seconds in a way that pleases God. Murray offers so many demands that, to begin with, I can't keep up with them. I am through Chapter 20 of 31 chapters. I hope in the end Murray will offer a simplified summary that sets a sound trajectory for our praying and does not depress me. 

A Life Without Prayer

"Bibles read without prayer; sermons heard without prayer; marriages contracted without prayer; journeys undertaken without prayer; residences chosen without prayer; friendships formed without prayer; the daily act of private prayer itself hurried over, or gone through without heart: these are the kind of downward steps by which many a Christian descends to a condition of spiritual palsy, or reaches the point where God allows him to have a tremendous fall. This is the process which forms the lingering Lots, the unstable Samsons, the wife-idolizing Solomons, the inconsistent Asas, the pliable Jehoshaphats, the over-careful Marthas, of whom so many are to be found in the church of Christ. Often the simple history of such cases is this: they became careless about private prayer. You may be very sure men fall in private long before they fall in public." -- J.C. Ryle, A Call to Prayer, page 18

I am reading the booklet by Ryle. But if you want a free copy of the thing, get the pdf here.

The Highest Part of a Christian's Life

"I feel sure that as long as we look on prayer chiefly as the means of maintaining our own Christian life, we shall not know fully what it is meant to be. But when we learn to regard it as the highest part of the work entrusted to us, the root and strength of all other work, we shall see that there is nothing that we so need to study and practice as the art of praying aright." 

 Andrew Murray (1828-1917), from the Preface of his book With Christ in the School of Prayer

Sunday Post for Shepherds --The Faithful Gaze

For our times of ignorance and their fruit called distress:

"We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You."

Jehoshaphat to God, 2 Ch 20:12

"To you I lift up my eyes, 
O You who are enthroned in the heavens!

Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,

as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress,

so our eyes look to the LORD our God, 
till he has mercy upon us."

The Psalmist, Ps 123:1-2

". . .looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. . ."

He 12:2

Packer on Prayer

"The goal of Christian prayer is not to manipulate God into doing our will but to further the doing of his will, in our own lives as much as anywhere else. Petition, based on promise, is the essence of such prayer, which God delights to inspire, to hear and to answer. . .Prayer is not easy, and although spontaneity is of its essence, we have to make a dogged discipline of it, or else it will get crowded out--Satan will see to that."

J.I. Packer, "Knowing Christianity", p98

God Wants Us To Complain. . .To Him

Take a look at Jon Bloom's explanation of this.

A Monday Post for the Flock

A Juniper Tree - like the one that Elijah (my favorite Old Testament character; duh) sat under and prayed to die (1 Kings 19).
 

Mondays can be cruel to pastors; especially if they aren't happy with the day before. I imagine that many of the 1500 or so pastors that quit each month do so on a Monday. So I urge you to pray this for your pastor(s); that he will, in keeping with the Apostle Paul's instructions in the pastoral letters: 

1. Stay where he is (1 Tim 1:3)
2. Protect the church from false teaching (1 Tim 1:3-4, 6:6; 2 Tim 1:13-14; 2:25; Tit 1:9-13, 2:15)
3. Keep the faith & a good conscience (1 Tim 1:19, 4:16, 6:12-14)
4. Pray (1 Tim 2:1-2, 8)
5. Lead men and women to embrace their God-given roles (1 Tim 2:9-12; Tit 2:1-6)
6. Enforce pastor/elder & deacon/deaconness positions, qualifications & rewards (1 Tim 3:1-16, 5:17-22; Tit 1:1, 5-9)
7. By laboring in, striving toward, taking pains with, being absorbed in, & paying close attention to, keep and teach sound doctrine (1 Tim 4:1-16, 5:1-7; Tit 2:1, 7-8)
8. Avoid foolish controversies & lead others to do the same (1 Tim 4:7; 2 Tim 2:14, 23; Tit 3:9)
9. Discipline himself for the purpose of godliness & be an example of it (1 Tim 4:7, 12, 6:11; 2 Tim 2:19, 22, 3:14-15; Tit 2:7-8)
10.  Give attention to the public reading, teaching & preaching of God’s Word (1 Tim 4:13, 16;  

2 Tim 2:15, 4:2; Tit 3:8)

11.  Exercise his spiritual gifts (1 Tim 4:14)
12.  Relate properly to all within the congregation (1 Tim 5:1-16; Tit 2:6)
13.  Perform church discipline (1 Tim 5:19-22; Tit 1:9-13, 3:10)
14.  Keep an eye on his health (1 Tim 5:23, 4:8)
15.  Teach his people to submit to their authorities (1 Tim 6:1-2; Tit 2:9-10, 3:1-2).
16.  Instruct the rich on the danger of trusting their wealth & on its good use (1 Tim 6:17-  19)
17.  Not be ashamed of Jesus, but embrace suffering to follow Him (2 Tim 1:8, 2:3, 3:1, 4:5)
18.  Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim 2:1)
19.  Teach the teachers who will then teach others (2 Tim 2:2)
20.  Think about what Scripture texts mean (2 Tim 2:7)
21.  Remember Jesus Christ (2 Tim 2:8)
22.  Be sober in all things, do the work of an evangelist & fulfill his ministry (2 Tim 4:5)
23.  Seek God for a tamed tongue (2 Tim 2:16; Tit 2:7-8, 3:8)
24.  Keep an eye out for trouble-makers (2 Tim 4:14-15)
25.  Be diligent to meet pressing needs (1 Tim 6:18-19; Tit 3:13-14)
26.  Help other pastors in a timely manner (2 Tim 4:9-13, 20; Tit 3:12)
27.  Establish order in the church (Tit 1:5)