Why Pray?

Why do we pray? 

I am in the midst of studying for my sermon this Sunday.  My text for Sunday is James 5:13-20.  This passage is about prayer.  As I have been studying this passage, the opening question struck me.  Why do we pray?  Prayer is almost universal.  I have not yet met a person who responds negatively to prayer.  In the last few weeks, I have started asking my servers at restaurants if there is anything that I can pray for them about when I pray before my meal.  So far, I have not had anyone who responded negatively.  Some have given shallow answers, some have expressed how often they pray, but none so far has told me not to pray for them.  Most people are open to prayer and when push comes to shove desire prayer.  People who don't attend church or don't claim belief in God will still seek prayer when they or a member of their family becomes sick.  Something deep inside of us resonates with prayer.  We have a need to cry out to something or someone greater than ourselves when tragedy strikes.  So, why do we pray?  We pray because we need to pray.  We need something or someone to be out there to intervene in our lives.  But ultimately, we pray because God is and God cares.  We pray because God hears our prayers.  We pray because God can change our reality, though he doesn't always.  We pray because it makes a difference.  Not every prayer is answered in the ways that we want.  But every time that I have prayed fervently for something, I have been changed.  My prayer may not be answered the way I want it to be, but my prayers have been effective. We pray because the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective!

A Rebel in Disguise

I grew up as a good kid.  You could ask my parents, my teachers, my coaches, and I am sure they would say that I was a good kid.  I was not a rebel.  I went to school.  I did my homework.  I participated in practice regardless of playing time.  I went to work.  I came home before curfew.  I was termed by some a "goody two shoes."  I was a good kid.  I was not in rebellion, at least not in the way we think of rebellion.  We think of rebellion as open outright defiant rebellion.  I have had childhood friends who went through outright rebellion.  They were raised a certain way.  They were in Sunday School alongside me.  They went to church Youth Group in middle school.  Then in high school, they rebelled against what they had been taught or what their parents had tried to instill in them.  That is what we usually think of as rebellion.  In that sense, I have never rebelled.  But, I have been in rebellion.  Open rebellion is easy to see.  Yet, my rebellion was not easy to see.  I was a rebel in disguise.  I looked right on the outside but on the inside I rebelled.  I found ways to passively rebel.  In my private life, I would consume myself with my wants and desires.  I made my heart all about me.  From the outside, I looked good but on the inside I was rotting.  Covert rebellion is dangerous.  It can go on for years without any notice, with no one knowing.  The longer covert rebellion goes on the worse our heart condition becomes until eventually covert rebellion becomes outright rebellion.   It allows us to become cold, calloused, and hardened.  My rebellion pushed me away from God and away from those I love.  I was selfish and arrogant.  My relationshps suffered.  My heart suffered until I let others see a glimpse of my interior world.  They confronted the calloused state of my heart.  Through their courage and God's abundant grace, I repented of my rebellion.  That change allowed me to renew my relationships and find peace again.  Rebellion leads to misery, repentance returns us to grace. 

Faith That Changes

As I studied for this past Sunday's sermon the same word kept coming to mind.  Repent.  I remember the first time I was taught about that word, I was a 4th grader at camp.  The counselors told us that to repent meant to switch teams.  It was like going from one side to the other.  It would be like doing what my dad did when he stopped cheering for the St. Louis Cardinals and became a Chicago Cubs fan.  He changed teams.  Too bad, it was to the wrong team.  To repent means to change. At camp, I thought to repent was a one time action.  I would do it once and I would be good.  Jesus and John the Baptist called people to repent during their ministries.  "Repent for the kindom of heaven is near."  I have learned since that time as a 4th grader that repentance is an ongoing process, not a one time action.  Jesus calls me to repent daily.  Each time I discover some area of my life that is not pleasing to Jesus, I repent.  I turn from that sin and I move back to God.  I repent.  God has been showing me lately that my I need to repent from fear.  I have been afraid of other people's opinions of me.  I have been afraid of speaking up and speaking out.  I have been reminded that I have no need to fear, so I repent from fear and turn back to God. 

What do you need to repent from? 

How can you make repentance an ongoing part of your life? 

Real Faith changes when it continually repents.

Faith That Transforms

This past Sunday, we continued our series "Real Faith" on the book of James.  This week, we looked at James 1:19-27.  We zoned in on how real faith is demonstrated by transformed lives.  James ends this section with this verse, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  James sums up this section by reminding us that transformation occurs when we have two important things happening in our lives.  He says care for oprhans and widows, which means to help the helpless.  He is urging us to social action.  Real Faith acts.  It is not about knowing or believing the right things.  That is part of it.  It is about doing the right things, helping the helpless.  The second thing is to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  He is calling us to pursue holiness, to rid ourselves of moral filth and decay.  Real Faith pursue holiness with passion and acts to help the helpless.  As an action out of the sermon, we had representatives from Love146 share with us how to get involved to help in the fight against human trafficking. 


Here are some ways that we can help (from 146 ways to get involved):


1) Memorize and share the statistics about child sex slavery
2) Post Love146.org as an interest on your facebook page
3) Write Love146.org on all your paper money
4) Send the video of Love146.org on youtube to family and friends
5) Organize a Love146 house party and invite your friends
6) Tell people about Love146.org on your voicemail message
7) Organize a Love146.org Task Force in your area


Real Faith Helps the Helpless...Love146.org

WCNE!

3 of the last 4 weeks, I had the privilege to serve as the speaker for workcampNE.  workcampNE is a christian camp that serves elderly, disabled, and under-resourced residents of the Northeast.  This year, we served 2 weeks in the Kennebunk, ME area and 1 week in the Sunapee, NH area.  The first two weeks in Kennebunk were high school and the 1 Sunappe week was Middle School.  It was blessing to see these students serve God and others with all their heart.  Lives were changed!  It was a great 3 weeks!  Way to Go workcampNE! Great job!

The Shack and Other Readings

Well, so much for posting every couple weeks.  I can give excuses that are plausible and reasonably legitimate.  November led into the Holiday Season.  Thanksgiving is the gateway into Christmas then New Years.  Ministry and work became very busy following Thanksgiving.  Then, Joanna and I traveled back to IL for 11 days on Christmas.  Once we returned to the NH the next couple weeks I was focused on getting back to normal and catching up on what I had gotten behind on.  Now, I have caught up and have implemented some new disciplines into my life.  New in sense that a used car is new.  I did not think of them and have done these disciplines before but I have not consistently done them in awhile.  In January, I started a year long Bible reading plan.  By Dec 31, I will have read every verse in scripture in a year.  I am currently in the book of Exodus and the gospel of Matthew.  Bible reading is not one of the new disciplines.  I have been devotionally reading the Bible for many years, but this is my first time with a read the Bible in a year plan.  The second discipline came out of listening to Dr. William Lane Craig's Reasonable Faith podcast.  In one of the podcasts, Dr. Craig spoke about his personal devotional time.  He mentioned the he reads at least 2 pages a day of book on Church History (the actual work escapes me at the moment).  Inspired by this, I have begun to read at least 2 pages a day of Theology for the Community of God by Stanley Grenz to sharpen my theological thinking.  I am planning on reading The Gagging of God by D. A. Carson following Grenz' work.  As an added piece to my devotional time, I am reading 1 chapter a day of a christian living/leadership/ministry related book.  Tomorrow I will finish Revelation's Rhapsody: Listening to the Lyrics of the Lamb by Dr. Robert Lowery.  (If you have not read this book on Revelation, you should!  I can't recommend this book highly enough!)  I am also in the middle of Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan.  It has been a challenging and inspiring read so far.

On a separate yet related note, I finished reading The Shack by William Young last week.  I had heard mixed reviews but I was interested.  I thought it was a very good book.  I did not find anything that I completely disagreed with in the book.  I though his portrayal of God was consistent and understandable in the story.  The picture he painted of Jesus was beautiful.  I was moved by the scene of creation worshipping Christ.  I long to see that day when all will be set right and I see my Savior.  I was reminded while reading the Shack and Theology for the Community of God that God is love.  Love is not just an attribute of God, but love is a part of who God is.  The love I see and experience today is a shadow compared to real love.  The love I try to give is weak compared to the love of God.  This does sadden or frustrate me.  Instead, I am in awe.  I am in awe that God is love and that he has revealed that love to me through his Son.  The scars my Savior bears are the wounds of love.  He carries them so that all will know the depth of his love for me!

What are you reading?

What are your thoughts on The Shack?

Dave