Perhaps you've heard the term "nay-sayer" and know that it refers to someone who doubts and is contrary to pretty much everything that is presented. Today I'm coining a new term, "nay-prayer." By this, I'm referring to anyone who doubts or is contrary to anything regarding prayer or for whom praying seems to do nothing but increase doubt and negativity toward God. Pretty much describes all of us at some times or in some ways, doesn't it?

I believe that God intends prayer to be communication between us and him that is anchored in an established relationship of trust, love, and knowledge of one another. However, the opposite is very often true; prayer is borne out of a need or desire we have for a specific outcome and our trust, love, and understanding of God is formed from the results. In other words, instead of trusting God and knowing his character before we pray and regardless of the outcomes, we judge God's character and faithfulness by whether or not we get what we want. This creates "nay-prayers" for sure.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus, who was not hindered by sin nor a lack of faith, did NOT get what his heart desired - he did NOT get the cup of suffering he was about to drink taken away from him as he asked. He did find the strength and peace to carry out God's will, and he found it in the Faithful One he already knew loved him. His relationship with his Father was not at stake with the outcome of his request to be spared that deep suffering.

- Rob

Do you feel like your fate is sealed? Does it seem that your situation will never change? On Father's Day we heard differently.

In Daniel 6 Daniel's fate also appeared to be sealed.

17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel.

As we read on however, we learn that God had more to say about Daniel's situation.

19 At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions' den. 20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?"

21 Daniel answered, "O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king."

Could it be possible that God has more to say and more to work out in your situation as well? The same God who saw Daniel's sealed fate is still at work today and is still able to rescue. Serve Him continually, regardless of how your circumstances look, and watch for Him to be faithful to you.

Philippians 4:6
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

-Angela


Edited: 06/22/2010 at 8:28 AM by abeise

A heart to offer
A soul to give
An old life to die to
A new life to live

Our ransom is paid
Freed from the past
Called to God’s service
Equipped for the task

Armored with boldness,
With faith, truth and right
Conquer the Darkness
And Walk in His light

“… Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past. Look at the new thing I am going to do, it is already happening. Don’t you see it? …” Isaiah 43:18-19

When my children were pre-schoolers, I had them all in the van one day and my 4 year old said from the back of the van, "Mommy, does the Bible say not to worry?" I told her that it did, feeling very spiritual as I quoted: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

Then she said, "So does that mean that worrying is a sin?" That's when I stopped feeling so spiritual and realized that God had just used my 4 year old to point out my sin to me.

In the women's summer class we're doing the book Respecatable Sins: Confronting the Sins we Tolerate. Today I'm reading about anxiety. Here I am, almost 20 years later, and I'm once again aware of my tendency to worry and my lack of trust in God to take care of me and the people I care about in every way.

"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Don't worry about anything, tell God what you need, thank Him, then you will experience His peace.

I will experience His peace, not because He will do everything exactly they way I ask Him to in my prayers. But the asking and then thanking reminds me of how He has already been faithful to me and that I can trust Him to continue to be faithful.

I want the peace of God to guard my heart and my mind. But I have to choose to lay down my anxiety and trust that He is good and able to care for me!

-Angela (recovering worrier)

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, "Be gone!" - Isaiah 30:20-22

I read this yesterday in my daily reading, and I love the imagery here. Our teacher opening our eyes and ears to see him and hear his direction with the result that we see our idols for what they are - unclean things or filthy rags.

Lord, in the midst of affliction and adversity, show yourself to us and guide us away from the things that have stolen our hearts...our hearing...our sight; and lead us to you. Amen

- Rob

Obedience and Abiding go hand-in-hand. Check this out from John 14 and see if you can see the relationship.

"If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

...If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."

- Rob

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world." - John 17:20-24

Jesus prayer for his disciples, the original twelve and all who would believe after them, is that we would "be in" him (think "ABIDE") as he and the Father are in one another. The results of such an abiding according to Jesus' prayer are a strong witness to the world, display of Christ's power, unity among believers, and a nearness to Jesus that he longs for. Could it be that if we are not abiding the opposite would prevail; a poor witness to our faith, bearing no fruit for the Kingdom of God, dissension and quarreling among believers, and a distant relationship with Christ?

Abide and obey.

- Rob

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. - John 15:4-12

This is the first, and really the best evidence for the theory I proposed in my last post - that the NT after the Gospels really boils down to "abide and obey." Jesus really could not say it any clearer. We must abide or wither and die spiritually. And we must obey his commands to "remain" (or keep abiding) in his love. And the primary example he gives for obedience is to love others as he has loved us.

- Rob

Over the next few days, we'll be having a conversation about what I see as the basic call of the New Testament after the four gospels. I'll lay out my proposal in this post and then take a look at Scripture over the next several days to see what it has to say.

If the call of the gospels is "repent and believe," I think the call of the remaining books is "abide and obey."

Abiding means "living in" or "making one's home in." The call of the New Testament is to make our home in Christ as he and the Father make their home in us through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Abiding is an active verb and includes daily scripture reading, prayer, meditation, worship and many other creative ways in which we place ourselves in God's presence.

Obedience is pretty straight forward - to do what we are told. Did you bristle when you read that stated so bluntly? It's not easy for individualistic, self-reliant types to simply do what we're told. When we abide in Christ, the Spirit directs our thoughts and actions to those of Christ, and obedience is our following that direction. It involves submitting to God - recognizing God id God and we are not. (Sound familiar from this past weekend?)

Here we go!

- Rob

The mission trip to Guatemala turned out to be more than anyone expected or signed up for! In order, here is what they experienced:

earthquake
volcano
flooding
mudslides
a night stuck on a bus trying to get to the airport

They also experienced the grace of God in a very real way as they made connections down to the second, peace that they should not have had, and grace as they finally got on the plane and home safely.

Brett will be writing in the next day or 2 to give a full report. He told me that he was amazed and grateful for how awesome his team was, how calm they stayed and how well they followed!

Bless the Lord for their safe return. And we bless the Lord for what a blessing they were to the people there!

-Angela

Edited: 06/01/2010 at 11:29 AM by abeise