Prayer and Silence

I have been reading through Acts recently, and something of a trend has struck me…  Prayer.

“All these were continually united in prayer…” Acts 1:14

“And they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayers.” Acts 2:42

“Now Peter and John were going up together to the temple complex at the hour of prayer…” Acts 3:1

“When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken…” Acts 4:31

And the story continues.  It seems like all of the amazing miracles we hear about were preceded by prayer in some form, yet we always hear about the miracles and seldom hear about the prayer.  And this is a trend that can not only be seen in Acts, but also in Jesus’ life here on earth.  He was constantly trying to find a place to commune with God on a one to one level.

How should this play out in our life.  I mean if I examine my life, it would be hard to say that I am devoted to prayer.  I wonder why or when God is going to choose to do amazing things through me, yet I’m not listening or petitioning for change.  I wonder why I struggle with sins over and over, yet I am not before the throne of God begging for faith and strength to withstand temptation.

One factor in this discussion might be our modern lack of silence and meditation.  We are constantly surrounded by noise, responsibilities, and distractions.  We have our tv’s on at home, get in our car and turn the cd player on, get out of the car put the ipod on, and repeat.  When was the last time you spent 30 minutes in silence?

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that God will not reveal Himself if things are not silent.  Obviously God is speaking every time we open our Bibles.  Yet, when do we let ourselves soak those truths into our minds?  When do we converse with God about things we don’t understand?  When do we just meditate on God’s attributes and creation?  Why would we want to miss out on all of this?

Jesus suffered and died to bring us reconciliation with God.  We have relationship with God through Jesus.  What are we saying if we profess our faith in Jesus and ignore spending time in the relationship that this faith brings?  May God help us to be faithful in obedient prayer and meditation.  May He show us amazing truths and blessings as we run after Him in prayer.

The Unfortunate Trend

Oh Lord, King of Israel, Holy One, Savior of Your people, Maker of heaven and earth, I humbly come before you this morning.  Throughout the history of Your people, the one’s whom You have called through Your grace and mercy have failed You on their own.  They have been stubborn, prideful, greedy, and hard-hearted.  I admit Lord that I am the exact same way.  I have failed you, and I have looked out for my own interests and satisfaction at the expense of Your worship and admiration.  I confess this to You, and I pray that You would forgive me.  However, I look at Your people through history, and I see another trend.  When they deny themselves, listen to You, and follow Your leading, amazing things happen.  People are healed, the oppressed are set free, and Your people truly live a blessed life.  Lord I pray that you would give me faith and power through Your Holy Spirit to live this kind of life.  Lord, I know that I have nothing to offer you and that I have failed You so often, but I pray that You would have mercy and give me grace to be able to follow You.  I pray this not for my own benefit, but for Your glory.  I desire to worship you from a pure and clean heart, for You truly are worthy.  Lord, I pray this in the name of Jesus, because it is only through Him that I will ever be able to approach Your throne of grace and mercy.  Amen.

Unmatchable Gift

Oh Lord and Master, You are the one who made heaven and earth. You made all peoples, by your grace You have called me out of this world to be part of Your kingdom. I do not understand the great love and mercy that accomplished this, but I thank You and praise You for this unmatchable gift. I pray now that You would grant your slave boldness to speak and live the Your good message while You stretch out Your hand to accomplish great things in the name of Jesus. All glory in heaven and earth be given to You. Through the name of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit I pray. Amen

The Seed

In a powerful moment, right after receiving the Holy Spirit, Peter proclaims that although the Jews crucified Jesus, God has raised Him from the dead.  In this act, He has ended the pains of death, because it was not possible for death to hold Him.  And this is not something new, but David the great king prophesied that, “He was not left in Hades, and His flesh did not experience decay.  You have revealed the paths of life to me.”  Therefore, through Jesus we find the path to life.  A life everlasting that is free from the pain of death.

However what example did Jesus give?  What are the paths of life?  If we look at Jesus life, we are left with a few essentials.  Obviously, we could (and should by the way) spend our whole life trying to understand more about Jesus, but a few hugely important factors jump out of the pages of scripture right away.  These are humility, love, obedience, self-denial, sacrifice, and death.  Wow… those sound great don’t they?  I’m sure you are wishing that you could have a little more sacrifice and self-denial.

It is true that this is the life of a true Jesus follower.  Jesus even tells us that we must seek to lose our life, not find it.  What is the purpose of all of this self-denial, humility, obedience?  That doesn’t really seem that the obvious path to life.  That almost sounds like some sort of prison.  However let’s take a closer look.

First of all, Jesus whole purpose for existence was to point towards God the Father and reconcile us to Him.  His life was not at all about Himself or proclaiming His message.  He says that whatever He says and does is directly from the Father.  He is constantly pointing towards the Father.  In this way, He could have never been prideful, disobedient, or self-seeking.  Therefore, if we want people to find God, we must deny everything about ourselves and constantly be a reflection of God.

Second, we can see that this really is the way to life, and not just life in eternity.  We don’t deny ourselves hoping that we were selfless enough to make it to heaven.  We deny ourselves and follow Christ because it is the only true way of living now.  When we follow Christ and die to ourselves a whole new world opens up to us.  This is a world of love, hope, joy, comfort, and freedom.  We are free from the pressures of success in the world.  We can comfort those in need, because we are not holding on to our possessions.  We can experience true love, because we see God’s creation in those around us.  This is not prison by any means.  This is what Jesus talked about when He said that a seed must die to live.

If we look at what happens later to Peter and the early church.  We see true life.  Poverty is ended in their midst.  They meet together in true fellowship and love.  Sickness is healed.  Freedom and justice is proclaimed in a evil empire.

Amazing… Life through death and resurrection.  May we all be resurrected anew today and live the life only God can give.

Intersection of Heaven and Earth

“When the Israelites were in the wilderness, the intersection of heaven and earth was at the tabernacle.

When the Israelites had a city, the intersection of heaven and earth was at the temple.

When God sent His Son, the intersection of heaven and earth was Jesus.

And then God gave His Spirit, and the intersection of heaven and earth is us.”

Bill