Home from my trip, I'm still thinking about that book title, Armchair Mystic. What is it about our prayer lives as evangelicals that is missing? Could it be that we've turned into a bunch of "me" centered whining babies? Our prayers at best often amount a string of perfunctory "thank you" clauses and a very vague and general confession of sin (how often do we get into specifics like greed, pride, gossip, lust, or hate?). At worst our prayers are little more than a wish list (or for some, an attempt to invoke god-like powers to "claim" their blessing) of things we thing we need to be happy. Our prayers are a mile wide and an inch deep. Why is that?
Maybe we've missed the point of prayer. Prayer is about communion with God. We listen to God in his word, but we need to learn to "listen" to God in prayer, too. How do we do that? First we need to know God. Here I'm not talking about merely intellectual awareness or having in our minds a string of facts about God. I'm talking about contemplating who God is in prayer. This involves praying theologically informed prayers. Prayer should be the joining of heart and head in a mystical union that seeks to know God as you would know any person.
With that in mind I offer the following suggestions: (1) learn what God's attributes are; (2) learn what Scriptures support our belief in the divine attributes; and (3) pray through those attributes in contemplative prayer using Scripture to reinforce your awareness of God's greatness and his presence in your life. Let prayer become a practice of the presence of God. Now, to do this you're going to need to read a bit of theology. I would recommend something like Millard Erickson's Introducing Christian Doctrine, 2nd ed. It's concise, readable for the layman, and scripturally grounded. Learn to live life corem deo, in the face of God, and you will learn how to "pray without ceasing," for all of life will become some form of prayer--of the practice of the presence of God.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Take a Stand for Prayer, Part 3
I've mentioned that prayer is a discipline. It is work. And this kind of prayer is something I believe we are unaccustomed to in our world today. Yesterday I sat on a plane and visited with a lady from New England who was reading a book by a Jesuit author entitled Armchair Mystic: Easing into Contemplative Prayer. I asked her about the book, assuming she might be a Catholic. She said the book was good. She's a divinity student, a Protestant, and the book was assigned to her in a spiritual formations class.
In reality this is an area where the Orthodox and the Roman believer may have one up on us evangelicals. The Catholic tradition understands well the power of mystery in the contemplation of God. It's not that this is not a part of our Protestant heritage. The Puritans entered into this very well. It is that it has become a lost art among evangelicals since the Enlightenment and the advance of a analytically "methodological" approach to everything. To borrow from St. Augustine, we seek to understand in order that we may believe, getting the cart before the horse.
How can you and I counter this in our own lives? First, I think it would be useful to approach the Psalms from the perspective of seeing them as meditative prayers. That, after all, is what they are. Learn to pray the psalms, and then learn to model your prayers after them. Secondly, look at other prayers in the Bible. Do the same with them as they fit your circumstances. Above all, do that with the Model Prayer in Matthew 6: 9--13. Thirdly, set aside time for prayer in a place where you will not be disturbed and focus on God, his grandeur and majesty, holiness and infinity, and learn to contemplate his perfections. Let yourself get lost in the wonder of Who God is.
In reality this is an area where the Orthodox and the Roman believer may have one up on us evangelicals. The Catholic tradition understands well the power of mystery in the contemplation of God. It's not that this is not a part of our Protestant heritage. The Puritans entered into this very well. It is that it has become a lost art among evangelicals since the Enlightenment and the advance of a analytically "methodological" approach to everything. To borrow from St. Augustine, we seek to understand in order that we may believe, getting the cart before the horse.
How can you and I counter this in our own lives? First, I think it would be useful to approach the Psalms from the perspective of seeing them as meditative prayers. That, after all, is what they are. Learn to pray the psalms, and then learn to model your prayers after them. Secondly, look at other prayers in the Bible. Do the same with them as they fit your circumstances. Above all, do that with the Model Prayer in Matthew 6: 9--13. Thirdly, set aside time for prayer in a place where you will not be disturbed and focus on God, his grandeur and majesty, holiness and infinity, and learn to contemplate his perfections. Let yourself get lost in the wonder of Who God is.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Take a Stand for Prayer, Part 2
Confession time. Several years ago I was the pastor of a church while I was in seminary. The church was a country church with its share of problems. I had a rough two years at that church that ended bitterly. I did a lot of things right, but I did one thing wrong. I didn't pray as I should have. I had all kinds of good excuses, too.
I was commuting daily to seminary (three hours a day). I had to study. I had one baby and one on the way. I had to visit people, both church members and prospects. I had to prepare for three services a week. There just didn't seem to be enough hours in the day.
My preaching was theologically orthodox. My pastoral care of my people was adequate. But I was spiritually dry. Why? Because my prayer life was barren, and as a result my ministry was fairly barren, too. I think I baptized three people in two years.
This morning I'm rushing to get to the airport and struggling with finding time to pray. Oh, I'll pray on the plane--just before take-off and as we land. I love to fly. I hate take-offs and landings.
Your single biggest preparation for the day is what Luther discovered--prayer. "Pray without ceasing."
I was commuting daily to seminary (three hours a day). I had to study. I had one baby and one on the way. I had to visit people, both church members and prospects. I had to prepare for three services a week. There just didn't seem to be enough hours in the day.
My preaching was theologically orthodox. My pastoral care of my people was adequate. But I was spiritually dry. Why? Because my prayer life was barren, and as a result my ministry was fairly barren, too. I think I baptized three people in two years.
This morning I'm rushing to get to the airport and struggling with finding time to pray. Oh, I'll pray on the plane--just before take-off and as we land. I love to fly. I hate take-offs and landings.
Your single biggest preparation for the day is what Luther discovered--prayer. "Pray without ceasing."
Monday, October 26, 2009
Take a Stand for Prayer
This week I want to think about prayer. Praying is something all Christians talk about but most do far too little. I'm talking about myself here, too. The thing is, the prayer life is a private life. There is little accountability regarding time spent in prayer. Do you know how much time your pastor spends in prayer? Does he know how much time you spend in prayer? Would you each be embarrassed if the other knew?
Martin Luther is attributed with saying, "I have so much to do that I can't get it all done if I don't spend the first four hours of each day in prayer." In our society we look at that and say, "What?" Most of us have a hard time sustaining four minutes in prayer, and then in the back of our minds are the nagging thoughts of all we have to do that's not getting done because we're just "sitting" there. And we're just sitting there because we haven't really entered into the work of prayer. Our prayers are not earnest. They are not Spirit led. They are perfunctory. Shakespeare aptly wrote in Hamlet,
"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts never to heaven go" (Hamlet, Act III, Scene III).
Prayer is a discipline, partly of the mind, and partly of the heart. If the heart is not transformed to love God no amount of discipline of the mind can effect genuine prayer. Jonathan Edwards considered prayerlessness the tell-tale sign of a false Christian--one who is Christian in name only and not genuinely saved (see his sermon, "Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer" in vol II of The Works of Jonathan Edwards). Is it any wonder that our pulpits lack power, our witness is weak, and our world is the state it's in? We wring our hands and work our minds looking for the "method" that will bring the desired result but fail all the while to tap the power, the only power, than can effect real change in us and in our world--the power of God through Spirit driven prayer.
Martin Luther is attributed with saying, "I have so much to do that I can't get it all done if I don't spend the first four hours of each day in prayer." In our society we look at that and say, "What?" Most of us have a hard time sustaining four minutes in prayer, and then in the back of our minds are the nagging thoughts of all we have to do that's not getting done because we're just "sitting" there. And we're just sitting there because we haven't really entered into the work of prayer. Our prayers are not earnest. They are not Spirit led. They are perfunctory. Shakespeare aptly wrote in Hamlet,
"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts never to heaven go" (Hamlet, Act III, Scene III).
Prayer is a discipline, partly of the mind, and partly of the heart. If the heart is not transformed to love God no amount of discipline of the mind can effect genuine prayer. Jonathan Edwards considered prayerlessness the tell-tale sign of a false Christian--one who is Christian in name only and not genuinely saved (see his sermon, "Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer" in vol II of The Works of Jonathan Edwards). Is it any wonder that our pulpits lack power, our witness is weak, and our world is the state it's in? We wring our hands and work our minds looking for the "method" that will bring the desired result but fail all the while to tap the power, the only power, than can effect real change in us and in our world--the power of God through Spirit driven prayer.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Love the LORD Your God, Part 5
"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all you are and have" (Deut. 6: 5, my translation). Jesus interpreted the final words of this verse as "with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12: 30 NASB). The Hebrew of Deuteronomy 6: 5 could literally be rendered "muchness" or "all you have". The word is usually taken for "strength". Strength need not be limited, as we're prone to think, merely to physical prowess. What God calls for here is putting everything you've got into loving him--your worldly possessions, your physical body, your intellect. Quite literally, God wants everything from you. He wants it all at his disposal. The emotions and will were discussed under the heading of "heart", and the total person was discussed under the heading of "soul". What's left?
Jesus said we're to love God with our "minds" or our intellect. Your ability to think and reason should be at God's disposal. You are called to "think God's thoughts after him" as one theologian put it. You are called to the task of learning to do theology well. Everyone does theology. Some do it better than others, but even the atheist has a theology, although his is the most minimal. Whatever your field in life, whether you're a plumber or a physicist, you should put your mind at God's disposal to look for his glory in all the things you see, experience, and think about. Believers are not called to follow blindly. Christian faith is not a "leap in the dark." You are called to use your mind and think. Sanctified reason is both a blessing and a command for the believer. "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Phil 4: 8 ESV).
You are also called to love God with all you have. Everything you have, from your health to your wealth (be it little or much) is a gift from God, and you are his steward over it. He did not give it to you to squander on the trinkets of the world in what Bunyan called "Vanity Fair" (Pilgrim's Progress). Churches spend a lot of dollars building new, lavish facilities when they could be spending that same money launching a new church across town or sponsoring missionaries in a third world country. Christians buy the best and latest things even though what they have is just fine. The extra money they spend could be used to feed hungry children somewhere or support mission work. Think before you spend. Ask yourself, "Do I really need this, or is it a luxury?" "Is there some better use I could put this money to?" "Will God be glorified in this purchase?" Take a stand and love God with your thoughts and with your possessions. "Do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor 10: 31).
Jesus said we're to love God with our "minds" or our intellect. Your ability to think and reason should be at God's disposal. You are called to "think God's thoughts after him" as one theologian put it. You are called to the task of learning to do theology well. Everyone does theology. Some do it better than others, but even the atheist has a theology, although his is the most minimal. Whatever your field in life, whether you're a plumber or a physicist, you should put your mind at God's disposal to look for his glory in all the things you see, experience, and think about. Believers are not called to follow blindly. Christian faith is not a "leap in the dark." You are called to use your mind and think. Sanctified reason is both a blessing and a command for the believer. "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Phil 4: 8 ESV).
You are also called to love God with all you have. Everything you have, from your health to your wealth (be it little or much) is a gift from God, and you are his steward over it. He did not give it to you to squander on the trinkets of the world in what Bunyan called "Vanity Fair" (Pilgrim's Progress). Churches spend a lot of dollars building new, lavish facilities when they could be spending that same money launching a new church across town or sponsoring missionaries in a third world country. Christians buy the best and latest things even though what they have is just fine. The extra money they spend could be used to feed hungry children somewhere or support mission work. Think before you spend. Ask yourself, "Do I really need this, or is it a luxury?" "Is there some better use I could put this money to?" "Will God be glorified in this purchase?" Take a stand and love God with your thoughts and with your possessions. "Do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor 10: 31).
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Love the LORD Your God, Part 4
In Deuteronomy 6: 5 God commands that his people love him with all their "soul". Here the Hebrew word is nephesh and indicates the totality of one's being. The heart speaks to the inner, immaterial part of the individual, but the nephesh speaks to the whole person--what we would call body and soul. Where the heart leads the body will follow.
In practical terms this means that if you love the Lord people will know because they'll see it in how you behave. Your body will be consecrated to his purposes, not your own gratification. Jesus said it this way: "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14: 15 NASB). The person who says he loves the Lord but lives in willful sin lies and is deceiving himself. Obedience isn't the source of salvation. It is a distinguishing mark of salvation. The one who loves the Lord will open his heart and his hand to the poor. The one who loves the Lord will speak the truth. The one who loves the Lord will be faithful to his/her marriage vows. The one who loves the Lord will keep himself/herself sexually pure outside of marriage in thought and deed. The one who loves the Lord will not envy the blessings of his neighbor. In short, the one who loves the Lord will live a life of integrity, of righteousness, fulfilling the second table of the Law just as much as the first table.
Take a stand. Demonstrate your love for God by living the life that honors him. Take up the challenge issued by Paul to strive for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3: 14). Make a difference where you live by demonstrating that the Christian life is a life that is different, and different in a good and positive way. "Love the LORD your God with all your soul."
In practical terms this means that if you love the Lord people will know because they'll see it in how you behave. Your body will be consecrated to his purposes, not your own gratification. Jesus said it this way: "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14: 15 NASB). The person who says he loves the Lord but lives in willful sin lies and is deceiving himself. Obedience isn't the source of salvation. It is a distinguishing mark of salvation. The one who loves the Lord will open his heart and his hand to the poor. The one who loves the Lord will speak the truth. The one who loves the Lord will be faithful to his/her marriage vows. The one who loves the Lord will keep himself/herself sexually pure outside of marriage in thought and deed. The one who loves the Lord will not envy the blessings of his neighbor. In short, the one who loves the Lord will live a life of integrity, of righteousness, fulfilling the second table of the Law just as much as the first table.
Take a stand. Demonstrate your love for God by living the life that honors him. Take up the challenge issued by Paul to strive for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3: 14). Make a difference where you live by demonstrating that the Christian life is a life that is different, and different in a good and positive way. "Love the LORD your God with all your soul."
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Love the LORD Your God, Part 3
In Deut 6: 5 Moses commands that you "love the LORD your God with all your heart." What does it mean to love God with all your heart, and what hinders people from doing that? In the Hebrew Bible the "heart" refers to "the totality of man's. . . immaterial nature" (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 1: 466). It is more than mere emotion, as we so often think of the heart today. It is the will and one's thoughts as well. With this in mind, loving God with the whole heart means loving God as an act of the will, being devoted to God in your thoughts, and being affectionately attached to God. That sounds pretty comprehensive.
What keeps people from loving God with their whole hearts? First and foremost, I think, is self-love. Today people are encouraged more than ever to love themselves, even in popular preaching (note Robert Schuller). Whitney Houston sings about the "greatest love of all" being the ability to love yourself. But what does the Bible say about self-love? Jesus calls his followers, not to self-love but to self-denial: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me" (Matt 16: 24 NASB). Rather than thinking that I have some good in me whereby to please God and earn his favor, I need to recognize with Paul that "nothing good dwells in me" (Rom 7: 18 NASB), and so the first step in loving God is renouncing myself, abhoring and loathing my sinful self as something worthy only of God's wrath.
Another barrier to loving God as we ought is loving the world. "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2: 15 NASB). One of the biggest challenges facing Christians in the affluent West today is love of the world, or worldliness. We've become obsessed with games, television, sports, and a host of other insignificant trivialities. We entertain ourselves to the edge of moral bankruptcy. Church services in many places are either nostalgic adventures into beloved tradition or mere entertainment. Instead of putting money into missions and church planting we build bigger and more lavish buildings. The thing is, we do a lot of this in the name of God and under the pretext of honoring him. In reality we do it for human pride and show that we really don't love him.
True love for God shows itself, not in the accumulation of wealth and possessions but in an open heart to the needs of others. How can you love God and not love others? How can you say you love God and not share the greatest news of all time--the good news of salvation in Christ--with other people? Why does the State feel a compelling need to get involved in relief for the poor and help for the sick? These are things that Christians should be taking care of voluntarily. The State shouldn't even have a pretext for getting involved. If only believers would do what they're supposed to do in caring for others there would be no basis for a welfare state. What will you do today to stand and show your heart's love for God?
What keeps people from loving God with their whole hearts? First and foremost, I think, is self-love. Today people are encouraged more than ever to love themselves, even in popular preaching (note Robert Schuller). Whitney Houston sings about the "greatest love of all" being the ability to love yourself. But what does the Bible say about self-love? Jesus calls his followers, not to self-love but to self-denial: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me" (Matt 16: 24 NASB). Rather than thinking that I have some good in me whereby to please God and earn his favor, I need to recognize with Paul that "nothing good dwells in me" (Rom 7: 18 NASB), and so the first step in loving God is renouncing myself, abhoring and loathing my sinful self as something worthy only of God's wrath.
Another barrier to loving God as we ought is loving the world. "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2: 15 NASB). One of the biggest challenges facing Christians in the affluent West today is love of the world, or worldliness. We've become obsessed with games, television, sports, and a host of other insignificant trivialities. We entertain ourselves to the edge of moral bankruptcy. Church services in many places are either nostalgic adventures into beloved tradition or mere entertainment. Instead of putting money into missions and church planting we build bigger and more lavish buildings. The thing is, we do a lot of this in the name of God and under the pretext of honoring him. In reality we do it for human pride and show that we really don't love him.
True love for God shows itself, not in the accumulation of wealth and possessions but in an open heart to the needs of others. How can you love God and not love others? How can you say you love God and not share the greatest news of all time--the good news of salvation in Christ--with other people? Why does the State feel a compelling need to get involved in relief for the poor and help for the sick? These are things that Christians should be taking care of voluntarily. The State shouldn't even have a pretext for getting involved. If only believers would do what they're supposed to do in caring for others there would be no basis for a welfare state. What will you do today to stand and show your heart's love for God?
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