Daily posts are back! Here's today's:
11.25.13
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Saturday, November 9, 2013
IS FLUENCY MY GOD? | PART 3
PART 3
“This, then, is how you should pray:”
The first words in Matthew 6:9 should not be taken lightly; and it’s better than any preface I could give as we now make it to the real substance of this text.
So far, we’ve looked at everything Jesus tells us prayer is not — but after all that He says and implies about how prayer had been abused, His model for how we are to pray might seem awfully simple. It’s short and direct, but more powerful than any words I could string together or ramble off. Do not neglect the gravity of what is happening here: This is Jesus, God in the flesh, instructing His creation how to call upon and communicate with Him. It is more humbling than a warrior king leaning to hear a toddler’s broken speech. Do you realize that this is God teaching us how to pray from the perspective of the recipient of prayer? Nobody else has that ability.
Look at how short the model prayer is; by our system of chapters and verses, it’s under ten verses. If any man was asked to demonstrate a model for prayer, how much exponentially longer would it be? Yet this is God. He didn’t only come up with the idea of prayer - He invented existence. And His model of prayer isn’t even a dozen verses long.
Look at how short the model prayer is; by our system of chapters and verses, it’s under ten verses. If any man was asked to demonstrate a model for prayer, how much exponentially longer would it be? Yet this is God. He didn’t only come up with the idea of prayer - He invented existence. And His model of prayer isn’t even a dozen verses long.
“Our Father in Heaven…”
Jesus begins His prayer by addressing it to the Father. And while it may seem obvious why this is important to prayer, there are many religions in which people believe their prayers are heard because they have prayed to some entity other than God. Do some research about the idea of “shaliach” in certain sects of Judaism or the Catholic practice of praying through Mary. While it’s beyond the scope of this post to go into detail about these things, you need to understand that there are many counterfeits to the truth about God and what He tells us in Scripture.
It’s crucial to see that Jesus is setting a record straight here: prayer is directed to God and nobody else, despite what other teachings insist.
It’s crucial to see that Jesus is setting a record straight here: prayer is directed to God and nobody else, despite what other teachings insist.
And how much more this must say about God and His desire for intimacy with those who are in Him. Think of anyone you know who has a position of power: a dean, an employer, a judge, a minister, you name it. Even if you are close to them, how much time do you think they could give of their day to speak with you? And how much easier is it to just shoot a quick text or email? Or leave a message with an assistant? And yet the most powerful One of all has commanded us to speak to Him directly. We need no prior-given authority or permission to approach God — He has instructed us to simply pray to Him and Him alone.
“…hallowed be your name.”
Jesus seems to be speaking straight into our twenty-first century culture - a time when God, even when acknowledged, seems to be made so little of. The Greek word translated as “hallowed” means “to make holy” or “to sanctify/set apart as special”. Accordingly, the word that we see as “name” means so much more; it refers to God’s identity and character and not just a word to refer to Him. Jesus isn’t simply complimenting God for the name “Yahweh”, but saying “let Your identity be made much of and seen as holy”. He’s asking God to make Himself famous.
That may seem weird. After all, God’s already God. God needs no one to grant Him permission to be made famous. But when God becomes famous in a person’s own heart, that person wants to make God famous in the hearts of others. I’m sure there are oceans of meaning that I’m missing here. But there’s certainly no less than this: Jesus wants our prayer to be that God would be glorified.
But what does glory really look like? The word “glory” can seem so meaningless when we say it and hear it said so often without being reminded of what it means. I believe it was only about two years ago that I really started realizing what glory is. And I realized it by having my eyes opened to some of the things I didn’t realize I was glorifying - which is, to use the best word, idolatry.
As I’ve said before — this may seem off-topic, but hear me out:
As a young guy who grew up with all kinds of computers and electronic gadgets, I know what it’s like to yearn for that next toy. I can remember being a kid, scrubbing boats and mowing lawns for a few dollars at a time so I could save up for whatever handheld game system had recently come out. I remember when my dad brought home a computer with Windows 98 on it and I was blown away by how the Start menu had been updated with animation. I remember camping out in our back yard with my step brother so we could play the original Pokémon Gameboy games all night. I became a tech-savvy adult who always keeps up with the latest and greatest devices and updates. It’s not simply that I liked technology, but I had let technology shape how I thought and acted without ever really deciding to place it so high in my priorities. I’ve always marveled at the newest amazing feats of technology. When they come out with something new and cutting-edge, I’ve always been there to say “that is so cool.” The best summary would be to say that I’ve always been left impressed.
That kind of impression is exactly (part of) what glory is. And the glory I’ve given to technology for so long without realizing it is about the same ratio to the glory of God as an atomic quark is to the universe - and even that analogy breaks down. There’s nothing wrong with being impressed by impressive things. But how much more are you and I impressed by things that seem to small and insignificant when compared to all that God is?
That may seem weird. After all, God’s already God. God needs no one to grant Him permission to be made famous. But when God becomes famous in a person’s own heart, that person wants to make God famous in the hearts of others. I’m sure there are oceans of meaning that I’m missing here. But there’s certainly no less than this: Jesus wants our prayer to be that God would be glorified.
But what does glory really look like? The word “glory” can seem so meaningless when we say it and hear it said so often without being reminded of what it means. I believe it was only about two years ago that I really started realizing what glory is. And I realized it by having my eyes opened to some of the things I didn’t realize I was glorifying - which is, to use the best word, idolatry.
As I’ve said before — this may seem off-topic, but hear me out:
As a young guy who grew up with all kinds of computers and electronic gadgets, I know what it’s like to yearn for that next toy. I can remember being a kid, scrubbing boats and mowing lawns for a few dollars at a time so I could save up for whatever handheld game system had recently come out. I remember when my dad brought home a computer with Windows 98 on it and I was blown away by how the Start menu had been updated with animation. I remember camping out in our back yard with my step brother so we could play the original Pokémon Gameboy games all night. I became a tech-savvy adult who always keeps up with the latest and greatest devices and updates. It’s not simply that I liked technology, but I had let technology shape how I thought and acted without ever really deciding to place it so high in my priorities. I’ve always marveled at the newest amazing feats of technology. When they come out with something new and cutting-edge, I’ve always been there to say “that is so cool.” The best summary would be to say that I’ve always been left impressed.
That kind of impression is exactly (part of) what glory is. And the glory I’ve given to technology for so long without realizing it is about the same ratio to the glory of God as an atomic quark is to the universe - and even that analogy breaks down. There’s nothing wrong with being impressed by impressive things. But how much more are you and I impressed by things that seem to small and insignificant when compared to all that God is?
A few days ago, the Daily Post was a talk from Louie Giglio from Chris Tomlin’s How Great is Our God tour. While I don’t agree with every Louie has ever said, I love his effort to magnify God. When the slideshow of star sizes rolls through from earth to the largest stars that we know of, each object in the presentation seems to blow the previous one out of the water. There’s a point at which your brain turns off, stops trying to understand how big something is, and simply says “yup, that’s awfully big.” The year prior to that message, he delivered a similar self-titled sermon on the Indescribable tour that was equally inspiring. This idea from Psalm 19:1 says that “[t]he heavens declare the glory of God” and “the skies display his craftsmanship.”
When you start to see that God is bigger than anyone’s scope to see, the words in Revelation that say He “was, and is, and is to come” take on new meaning. See that the Scripture does not say that He “became, currently is, and, by our best guesses, will likely continue to be”. Those words seem not to imply that He is simply more than we are, arrived before we did, and will outlast us, but that He is infinite. And the only way we can have any kind of life that is eternal is by the One who is eternal.
To pray for God’s name to be lifted high is the fruit of a healthy concept of God. I know of a pastor who says “the most important thing about you is your concept of God”. If your concept of God is so small that you do not see the necessity of praying for people to see his fame and glory in such a way that they would be impressed by it and imprinted by it, then how can you expect that god to have carried out a task as eternal as your salvation? A small god could not have done with Jesus did on the cross - taking the punishment and wrath due every person who would ever place their trust in Him to do so.
And remember what Jesus has already told the disciples at this point - that God wants you to make this prayer in private. The infinite God wants intimacy with you. Is that not comforting and awe-striking at the same time? Can you see why having a “fear” of God is talked about so often? I’ve heard it compared with a healthy fear of a father’s rebuke - but it’s certainly more than that. You don’t simply choose to fear God; rather, you understand what Scripture says about God, see that it is true, and realize how fearful the infinity of God is. Surely part of the reason the Bible says that He will be worshipped forever is because the worship will never be finished and never reach a stopping point - just as his glory will never end.
DAILY POST | 11.9.13 | HOW TO WRITE A WORSHIP SONG IN 5 MINUTES OR LESS
It's already Saturday, folks! Tomorrow will mark the first entire week of Dailies! Today also marks one week since the first full-length post - which will be fixed tonight!
In the mean time, here's the daily for today.
11.9.13
Friday, November 8, 2013
Thursday, November 7, 2013
DAILY POST | 11.7.13 | GOTQUESTIONS.ORG
It's a little late today, folks! But here's the Daily, nevertheless.
11.7.13
Also- part 3 of the "IS FLUENCY MY GOD" series will be posted soon. Thanks for your patience and support. Any success of The Stuttering Christian is surely of God and not of my own effort; it's so comforting to think that He is blessing whatever is happening here.
Also also - if you've tried to download the wallpapers from the Daily a few days ago, you may have gotten stuck with a nasty, scaled-down version of the images. I'm in the process of fixing those tonight!
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Monday, November 4, 2013
A QUICK MIRROR SHOUTOUT
A lot of my readers come from my mirror blogs here on Blogger, Wordpress, and Tumblr. I'm incredibly thankful for all that these blog providers have done in aiding me to do what God has led me to do.
As I said in my "BIGGER THAN BLOGGING" post, I'm not content with TSC simply being a blog. Honestly, there are enough blogs in the world. That said, there's a lot of growth going on at thestutteringchristian.com.
Today, we begin the congregate post feed simply titled "DAILY POSTS". It's a feed for posts that are quick and dirty, short and sweet. With my blog posts taking shape as a feed of devotional writings roughly about and out of stuttering, there was a need for a place to share the daily in-and-out posts.
For the time being, these will show up on the mirror blogs as titles with links to the main site (and maybe a graphic).
Take a gander at the first daily here.
As I said in my "BIGGER THAN BLOGGING" post, I'm not content with TSC simply being a blog. Honestly, there are enough blogs in the world. That said, there's a lot of growth going on at thestutteringchristian.com.
Today, we begin the congregate post feed simply titled "DAILY POSTS". It's a feed for posts that are quick and dirty, short and sweet. With my blog posts taking shape as a feed of devotional writings roughly about and out of stuttering, there was a need for a place to share the daily in-and-out posts.
For the time being, these will show up on the mirror blogs as titles with links to the main site (and maybe a graphic).
Take a gander at the first daily here.
Friday, November 1, 2013
IS FLUENCY MY GOD? | PART 2
PART 2
Before you read the rest of this part of the series, read the scripture in Matthew 6:1-14. Find other translations and read them. Look up the greek words on Biblehub. More importantly, read the surrounding chapter of the book. Anything you or I could write about this passage of scripture will never be scripture, right? We’re simply adding our two cents. It will never have impact in our lives like the original text. So read it for yourself and allow the Spirit of God to do His thing. Otherwise, you’re abusing the commentary, the Scripture, and your heart by withholding yourself from the Source and putting the run-off in its place. It’s like drinking coffee in place of every meal. Eventually your body will flip out and implode on itself.
In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus gives the disciples the model of prayer. But before He show us what prayer is, He tells us what prayer isn’t.
Verse 5 - “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”
We can figure that Jesus is talking about groups like the Pharisees in this verse. But regardless, we can derive that public prayer had become popular. This will be a little off-topic, but hear me out on this:
If you’re a Christian who has ever battled pride, you can think of somebody you’ve met who has been extraordinarily skilled at something. And chances are good that they didn’t have to work nearly as hard on that skill as you and I would have needed to in order to become as skilled as they are. There’s no denying that they have been blessed with a talent. I see this in the field of music more than anywhere else. I have met people who seem to have been bred for playing a given instrument. My college room mate is one my closest friends and brothers in Christ - and I suspect that he secretly had lip surgery to shape his mouth for playing bass trombone. One of my other groom’s men is currently completing his graduate degree in vocal performance; his talent turns heads everywhere he goes. My fiancée, a flautist, has perfect pitch (Google that one) that is nearly perfectly accurate. Seriously, it’s a like super power.
But think about what a great responsibility has any Christian with such talent. The same God that gave the sun the ability to provide us with energy for the duration of His use of our little planet and plotted the very gravitational pulls of every orbit of everything our solar system and in the galaxy (and every other galaxy) in such a way that earth is not frozen or scorched has placed mind-boggling abilities in the hands of sinners with the privilege of using them for Him. Imagine the temptation; you can choose fame by your own ability or obedience in the laying down of your ability to point the fame back to God. Unfortunately, the former is so easy to do. I see it in my life and in the lives of others. I can only imagine how I look in the sight of God when I’m in the spotlight, ignoring that it’s by His mercy and grace that I have any ability at all. It’s as if someone saved me from a burning building in my sleep and, in an interview with the local news station, I neglected to mention it.
If you’ve been given the gift and ministry of prayer (and there are people who have been given the ministry of prayer), why would the same temptation not exist? How easy would it be in the time of Jesus to go out before a crowd of people show off how educated, how relevant, how well-versed you are with a big, ornate prayer?
Jesus corrects them (and us):
Verse 6 - “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Jesus brings us back to what’s simple. When you compare it with what Jesus is speaking against, the Savior’s words are profoundly simple. And do you realize how paramount his correction is? Jesus, God in the flesh, is telling his own creation that He would rather be famous in private than the creation be famous in public.
“…pray to your Father who is in secret” Why is Jesus saying that the Father is in secret? Surely it has something to do with how close the Lord wants to be us. Is most intimacy not out of public sight? God has given me and my fiancée the gift of sound communication in spite of my stuttering; It’s because of Him that we have such a healthy relationship. But if I needed to tell her something important, how indirect would it be to take her to the mall and sing an aria to her through a megaphone? What would that say about the intimacy of our relationship? Alternatively, what if I sent her a text from across the room with life-changing news in the stead of talking to her personally?
Jesus is not only showing us how intimate our relationship with our Creator can be, but how intimate He wants it to be. He wants me to be close to Him and He wants me to be direct with Him.
If you’ve been given the gift and ministry of prayer (and there are people who have been given the ministry of prayer), why would the same temptation not exist? How easy would it be in the time of Jesus to go out before a crowd of people show off how educated, how relevant, how well-versed you are with a big, ornate prayer?
Jesus corrects them (and us):
Verse 6 - “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Jesus brings us back to what’s simple. When you compare it with what Jesus is speaking against, the Savior’s words are profoundly simple. And do you realize how paramount his correction is? Jesus, God in the flesh, is telling his own creation that He would rather be famous in private than the creation be famous in public.
“…pray to your Father who is in secret” Why is Jesus saying that the Father is in secret? Surely it has something to do with how close the Lord wants to be us. Is most intimacy not out of public sight? God has given me and my fiancée the gift of sound communication in spite of my stuttering; It’s because of Him that we have such a healthy relationship. But if I needed to tell her something important, how indirect would it be to take her to the mall and sing an aria to her through a megaphone? What would that say about the intimacy of our relationship? Alternatively, what if I sent her a text from across the room with life-changing news in the stead of talking to her personally?
Jesus is not only showing us how intimate our relationship with our Creator can be, but how intimate He wants it to be. He wants me to be close to Him and He wants me to be direct with Him.
Verse 7 - “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.”
“…as the Gentiles do” - Sometimes I wish, when I got saved, an angel appeared and handed me a dictionary with must-know terms for reading the Bible (and maybe some walk-through pamphlets for the book of Revelation. Geez.) I don’t mean to demean my audience - but if you don’t know what a “gentile” is, it’s okay. I didn’t. For the sake of keeping this post on-topic, I’ll explain here.
“…as the Gentiles do” - Sometimes I wish, when I got saved, an angel appeared and handed me a dictionary with must-know terms for reading the Bible (and maybe some walk-through pamphlets for the book of Revelation. Geez.) I don’t mean to demean my audience - but if you don’t know what a “gentile” is, it’s okay. I didn’t. For the sake of keeping this post on-topic, I’ll explain here.
Don’t be mistaken - Jesus’s death was for who ever calls upon His name, regardless of whether they’re a Jew or a gentile (Isaiah 42:1, Acts 11:18, and practically anything written by the Apostle Paul). The greek word for “gentile” there is ἐθνικοὶ (ethnikoi). It can also mean “heathen” or “pagan”. The disciples understood what Jesus was saying better than most of us can. They probably (and I don’t want to try to mind-read into the text) took it as “…do not heap up empty phrases as [people who do not know God] do”.
“…do not heap up empty phrases” - Scripture tells us that Jesus died for our sins and that His death was sufficient to satisfy the wrath of God that we earned (Colossians 1:22, 1 Peter 1:19, Ephesians 2:8-9, and just read the book of Romans). We can sum it up (and we often do) by simply saying “Jesus is enough”. And because the believer is in Christ, Christ is also in the believer (John 15:5-7). The believer also has been given the Holy Spirit (John 14:16). In short, we have God with us already. We don’t need to lure Him in with ornate words. This is just my input: wouldn’t that be demeaning to God? He’s already paid for our transgressions against Him and done everything to show and tell us that He wants to be close to us and know us more intimately and personally than we can imagine. Why else would we, as His church, be called the ‘bride’ of Christ (Ephesians 5)? If a husband has a healthy relationship with his wife, would they ever need to speak as if they had to win each other’s attention?
Take the analogy of me and my own soon-to-be bride; it would be weird enough if she suddenly started speaking to me in an attempt to poetic. But if this is only how she spoke to me, I don’t know how we would ever actually communicate. Could she expect a personal and meaningful reaction from me? And if this is how a person prays, then where is the real substance of his or her relationship with God? I already love my fiancée - she doesn’t have to win me over with smooth talk, nor did she ever need to smooth talk me. Throughout the time we spent getting to know each other, I was content with getting to know the real her. She never had to put up a façade. Why would I expect a façade to work with the God who “knows what [I] need before [I] pray”?
“…do not heap up empty phrases” - Scripture tells us that Jesus died for our sins and that His death was sufficient to satisfy the wrath of God that we earned (Colossians 1:22, 1 Peter 1:19, Ephesians 2:8-9, and just read the book of Romans). We can sum it up (and we often do) by simply saying “Jesus is enough”. And because the believer is in Christ, Christ is also in the believer (John 15:5-7). The believer also has been given the Holy Spirit (John 14:16). In short, we have God with us already. We don’t need to lure Him in with ornate words. This is just my input: wouldn’t that be demeaning to God? He’s already paid for our transgressions against Him and done everything to show and tell us that He wants to be close to us and know us more intimately and personally than we can imagine. Why else would we, as His church, be called the ‘bride’ of Christ (Ephesians 5)? If a husband has a healthy relationship with his wife, would they ever need to speak as if they had to win each other’s attention?
Take the analogy of me and my own soon-to-be bride; it would be weird enough if she suddenly started speaking to me in an attempt to poetic. But if this is only how she spoke to me, I don’t know how we would ever actually communicate. Could she expect a personal and meaningful reaction from me? And if this is how a person prays, then where is the real substance of his or her relationship with God? I already love my fiancée - she doesn’t have to win me over with smooth talk, nor did she ever need to smooth talk me. Throughout the time we spent getting to know each other, I was content with getting to know the real her. She never had to put up a façade. Why would I expect a façade to work with the God who “knows what [I] need before [I] pray”?
and finally…
“Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
I don’t think there’s a worth-while analogy that works for this - so I’ll just explain why I love this verse and maybe you’ll agree.
I love that I don’t need to explain anything to God. He already knows. Adrian Rogers once asked “Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God?”. Why would anyone need to explain anything to God for Him to understand? And an even better question: Why does God want me to pray when He already knows what I’m going to say?”. Is there anything else you need from this passage to be able to safely and confidently know that God simply wants to be close to you?
I know I have readers in Eastern Europe, so I apologize to you if this is strictly a Western concept, but I’ve heard it put like this: think of someone with whom you often exchange the words “I love you”. You probably know that, when you see them, you’ll end up saying “I love you”. You already know that you love each other and it’s probably not new information. Yet you still desire to hear those words - but it’s the intimacy you want, not the words.
Prayer is such a simple concept. You might explain it to a child as “speaking with God”. But the more I pray, the more I realize just how true that is. As we get farther into this series, I’m hoping and praying that both you and I would be humbly transformed. And not by my work in writing or your work in reading, but by the Spirit working in us to conform us to the image of Christ. The next part of the series will be about the first handful of the model prayer: “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name”. Read the rest of the prayer (or even the whole book) in the light of those first two lines.
I love that I don’t need to explain anything to God. He already knows. Adrian Rogers once asked “Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God?”. Why would anyone need to explain anything to God for Him to understand? And an even better question: Why does God want me to pray when He already knows what I’m going to say?”. Is there anything else you need from this passage to be able to safely and confidently know that God simply wants to be close to you?
I know I have readers in Eastern Europe, so I apologize to you if this is strictly a Western concept, but I’ve heard it put like this: think of someone with whom you often exchange the words “I love you”. You probably know that, when you see them, you’ll end up saying “I love you”. You already know that you love each other and it’s probably not new information. Yet you still desire to hear those words - but it’s the intimacy you want, not the words.
Prayer is such a simple concept. You might explain it to a child as “speaking with God”. But the more I pray, the more I realize just how true that is. As we get farther into this series, I’m hoping and praying that both you and I would be humbly transformed. And not by my work in writing or your work in reading, but by the Spirit working in us to conform us to the image of Christ. The next part of the series will be about the first handful of the model prayer: “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name”. Read the rest of the prayer (or even the whole book) in the light of those first two lines.
[END OF PART 2 OF SERIES]
[POST MIRRORED FROM THESTUTTERINGCHRISTIAN.COM]
[POST MIRRORED FROM THESTUTTERINGCHRISTIAN.COM]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)