Hocus Pocus or Prayer

As a minister, restful sleep on Saturday night is crucial. A couple of Saturday nights ago, my 5 month old son decided to have a restless night. This causes everyone else in the house to experience the same sleep pattern.

By 2:30 AM, Jonathan had awoken about 4 times. My wife and I traded off going into his room and comforting him back to sleep. At 2:30 AM, it was my turn. What resulted must have been a movement of the Spirit encouraging me, as this time rather than pick him up, I decided to pray.

My prayer was simple, but seemingly powerful as God answered the prayer and Jonathan slept through the rest of the night. When I woke up to get ready for church, I said another prayer - this time of praise and thanksgiving that God answered my prayer.

The next night was similar as it turned out that Jonathan was sick. Again, by 2:30 AM, it was my turn and Jonathan had again woken up about 4 times. I tried the same prayer - after all, it worked the night before, right? I am nothing if not a pragmatist. God decided not to answer the prayer and Jonathan woke up several more times.

This incident reminded me of the power and mystery of prayer.

Prayer is not hocus pocus. There is not a set of words in prayer that will guarantee God's answer.

Paul in Romans 8:26-27 says, "the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." (NIV)

Some Christians are deluded into thinking that the power of prayer is in the words that we say - this is erroneous. The belief in the power of specific words is the definition of an incantation - " a written or recited formula of words designed to produce a particular effect." (from Webster).

Incantations are not Christian - they are magic - they are more in line with the world of Harry Potter than the Kingdom of God. Christians must recognize that prayers are not magic - but there is no denying that they are powerful.

1 Peter 3:12 says, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer." (NIV)

God listens to the prayers of his people. When God chooses to answer them - it reveals just how powerful they can be. The power is not in the words that I say, but inherent in the fact that God listens and when he chooses to, God acts.

What a joy and blessing that God listens to the prayers of his people.

How Easy it is to Lose a Thankful Heart

I have two sons that are only 8 months apart in age. Things can be a little hectic at home. The stresses of having a 13 month old and a 5 month old can at times impact my attitude. In other words, I am on occasion un-thankful.

This is quite ironic in the light of a recent request my pastor made last week - he asked me to lead the "Thanksgiving" portion of our prayer service. I am grateful that he asked as the preparation was quite cathartic.

In the days leading up to the prayer service and during my preparation, DFW experienced the snow storm of the century. 12.5 inches of snow fell in 24 hours - a new record for my hometown. It left several without electricity for days.

It is easy for us as Americans to become un-Thankful. When we go a few days without power or “suffer” through a winter storm, or have two children in a year, our hearts can be impacted.

This led to an epiphany -Perspective is often necessary for thankfulness. As a mission pastor, what is better to bring perspective than to look around the world and compare our standard of living to the one experienced by the majority of the people.

Therefore, I turned to a trusted source, "Basic Training for Mission Teams" a training manual published by Lifeway in conjunction with the International Mission Board.

How is this for a little perspective?

If our world had only 100 people

• 80 would live in substandard housing

• 67 would be unable to read

• 60 would be malnourished

• 1 would have a college education

• 7 would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth; all 7 would live in the US

• 70 would be non-Christian; 30 would be Christian

• 30 would have little or no access to the gospel.

God consistently reminds me how fortunate I am. I hope this information will encourage you to be more thankful in your prayers.

Article Du Jour - the Tebow Superbowl Commercial

Florida QB, Tim Tebow

Richard Land reflects on the bruhaha over the Tebow Superbowl Commercial.

I found this point to be particularly interesting:

"The 'pro-choice' movement knows they are losing and that ultrasound machines and commercials like the Tebows’ are confronting the country with the undeniable humanity of each unborn child, just as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin put a human face on the 3 million slaves in America, thus hastening their liberation."

You can access the article here:

http://erlc.com/article/the-tebow-commercial-why-the-heated-protest/

You can see the commercial here:



What do you think about the protest of the commercial?

Sincerity and Prayer

In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." 1 Samuel 1:10-11

Recently, I heard a sermon in which the preacher (not my pastor, Tommy) makes a statement which leads me to conclude that God answers the prayers of his people based on whether or not the prayer was sincere. The preacher was preaching out of 1 Samuel 1. The preacher said the following which sounds reasonable, but is a little dangerous. “It is not the length of our prayer that matters, but certainly it is the sincerity of our prayers that make a difference.” Seemingly, the preacher is drawing the conclusion from Hannah’s example that God gave her a son, Samuel, because of the genuineness of her prayer. However, the scripture has examples of sincere and fervent prayers that God chooses to ignore, such as the prayers of King David to save the life of his son.

1 Samuel 11 describes an affair between David and Bathsheba, which results in Bathsheba's pregnancy. Nathan, the prophet, rebukes David and announces that God has decided to take the life of the baby. According to 2 Samuel 12, David fasts and prays for seven days, asking God to spare the life of his son. David prays sincerely and desperately, but God does not decide to answer his prayer.

Both David and Hannah pray for their sons. Both pray sincerely. God answers the prayer of the latter but not of the former. No one knows why God answers certain prayers while ignoring others. Sincerity does not guarantee that God will answer the prayer.

The preacher, in attempting to encourage a sincere attitude in prayer, exaggerates the power of sincerity. This is not to diminish the importance of sincerity. Christ's parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18 reminds us that sincerity is vital. However, what is more encouraging than my sincerity is the fact that prayer is in the hands of God. God’s people must offer prayers in faith and with sincerity, knowing that ultimately Jesus provides an excellent example for reliance on God in Luke 22:42, “not my will, but yours, be done." (ESV)

A Different Perspective than the Prosperity Gospel

Dr. Tson was a pastor in Romania during the communist years. He was repeatedly arrested, interrogated and tortured for sharing the gospel. Dr. Tson provides a very different perspective than the prosperity gospel - perhaps following Jesus is more than just for our benefit.

Today's article is written by Dr. Tson. Here is an excerpt:

"During an earlier interrogation at Ploiesti I had told another officer who threatened to kill me, 'Sir, let me explain how I see this issue. Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying... Everyone will know I died for my preaching. And everyone who has a tape will pick it up and say, 'I'd better listen again to what this man preached, because he really meant it: he sealed it with his life.' So, sir, my sermons will speak 10 times louder than before. I will actually rejoice in this supreme victory if you kill me...' As long as I tried to save my life, I was losing it. Now that I was willing to lose it, I found it." - Dr. Josef Tson

You can read the article here: Thank you for the Beating