Tuesday Talks (CALLED Session 2)

This will be the first of three posts on Spiritual disciplines. Of course I won’t cover all of them in three posts, but I will cover as many as possible.

The first one will be prayer, mainly because it’s hugely important in our Christian walk. I would say that after the consumption of God’s word (reading the bible), prayer is THE most important aspect of our relationship with God.

What I’ve noticed is we get so caught up in our “everything right now” culture that we approach our relationship with God that way. As long as we accept Christ as our Savior, the rest of our relationship will work out. We act like just because we did the “hard work” of accepting God’s FREE gift of salvation that we’re good. As if the work is done, and now it’s up to God. But that’s not the case. We have work to do. There are things that help build our relationship with God that we need to discipline ourselves to do. Prayer is one of those things.

It is so important to not only understand, but believe that prayer is our life line. It is our connection to the Divine. Sadly most Christians look at prayer as either a duty or reserved for moments of desperation. But, it’s neither of those. It’s a benefit of our relationship with God. We get to talk to Him. We get to commune with our God without going through a priest. In order to grow deeper, EVERY relationship requires communication and that’s what prayer is. The bible is God’s means for talking to us and prayer is our way of talking to Him.

I think another problem that a lot of Christians have with prayer has to do with the fact that there are past prayers that they prayed that weren’t answered they way THEY wanted. When that happens they begin to question whether God even hear their prayers. 1 John 5:14 & 15 reassures us that God hears us when we pray. It says:

14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.

Andrew Murray said it this way, “Faith in a prayer-hearing God will make a prayer-loving Christian.”

I tried really hard to figure out what to say about prayer, but then I thought who better to teach on prayer than Jesus. Jesus tells us how to pray in Matthew 6:6-13.

6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Jesus is telling us that we need time alone with our Father. There are numerous times in the NT that Jesus went off by Himself to pray. It is in those moments of silence and solitude that we can focus on God and experience Him.

7 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

So many guys are afraid to pray because they think they don’t have the right words. They think they sound funny or odd. But Jesus is telling us that it doesn’t matter what you say. He says not to babble on just for the sake of talking, because God knows what you want before you even ask for it. Billy Graham said that “Prayer is simply a two-way conversation between you and God.” So talk to Him like it is. This is how Jesus instructed us to pray.

9 Pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,

may your name be kept holy.

10 May your Kingdom come soon.

May your will be done on earth,

as it is in heaven.

11 Give us today the food we need,

12 and forgive us our sins,

as we have forgiven those who sin against us.

13 And don’t let us yield to temptation,

but rescue us from the evil one.

This is a fairly well known prayer model that I learned early on and it covers all the stuff that Jesus prayed. It’s called ACTS.

A – Adoration is to adore God, to worship him and to fulfil the commandment to love him with all of our heart, mind and soul.

C – Confession allows you to clear up the things in the relationship between you and God which are displeasing to Him. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us.

T – Thanksgiving. God is always blessing u and so we need to be constantly thanking God for his blessings.

S – Supplication is to ask God for our needs and the needs of others.

Bottom line is that prayer is a discipline. We have to dedicate ourselves to it. If we are to be men that lead, we first have to seek Him who leads us.

Read:
Matthew 6:6-13

Prayer:
Pray through the ACTS model of prayer.

Put into Practice:
During your prayer time, spend some time being quiet. Don’t focus on the way you talk to God, just talk to Him and let Him talk to you.

In Him,

Bruce

Tuesday Talks (CALLED Session 1)

Your sons will become kings like their father. You will make them rulers over many lands.  I will bring honor to your name in every generation. Therefore, the nations will praise you forever and ever.

~ Psalm 45:16 & 17 ~

There is so much in my heart for this group. With that said, in Session 1 I simply shared the vision that I felt God had given me for this group.

First and foremost there are some things that I know:

First, God so desperately wants the men of Cheyenne to rise up and be the MEN and leaders He created them to be. It is our job to CHANGE and SET the spiritual climate of our homes.

Second and I want to make this point absolutely clear, God ABSOLUTELY honors when women gather together and seek Him. Ministries like WOW do amazing work for the Kingdom. Here at Element we have some absolutely phenomenal woman prayer warriors and I don’t want to discount or down play any of the work that they do and the power they possess. But, imagine what would happen if the men took up arms for them. I truly believe this is not their war to fight. There are some great biblical accounts of women heroes, but biblically it is the men that are meant to be the guardians, the watchmen, the warriors. The women in our lives should be comforted with the knowledge that their men are willing to and do take up arms in defense of them, their families and their homes. THIS is what we, as MEN, are Called to.

Lastly, Every great revival (and I know I’m saying EVERY and that may not be entirely accurate, but it’s mostly true. And besides, I’m sure there were lots of strong women involved) started when men got together to pray. And they weren’t coming together to pray for revival. They were coming together to pray for themselves, for each other, for their families and church and city. And here’s the thing, God heard them and honored their commitment to answer their calling to lead.

Psalm 118:5 the writer reminds us that God answers us when we pray. It says, “In my distress I prayed to the LORD, and the LORD answered me and set me free.” Make no mistake that we, as Men in the church, should be in distress for our families and for our city. We live in a city that stands #1 in the nation for divorce, where we rank 23rd in the nation for teen pregnancy (we have a 65% state wide teen pregnancy rate), where 10% of our state lives in poverty, we have an out of control drug problem (with I25 being a main thoroughfare for that problem), there are people addicted to pornography, there’s abuse and all sorts of other crap. We LIVE in a state of distress. And when we get together and cry out to our God, He answers. And His answer is freedom. We receive freedom not to sin, freedom to lead the way we’re called to and in that He equips us to change the spiritual climate of our homes and of our city.

Read:
- Psalm Psalm 118:5 and reflect on what is means that our God not only hears our prayers, but answers them.

Prayer:
-  For God to make clear and solidify our calling as leaders and to point out areas where we lack in our leadership.
-  That the men of Cheyenne would rise up and lead their homes, work places, churches and the city.

Put into Practice:
- Set time aside each day (it doesn't matter when) and spend it in prayer to our God.  Remember, it's not about the things you say or how you say them, but just that you talk to Him.

Say the Words

A couple nights (Monday, I think) ago I was praying before bed about something I really didn't want to be praying for or about and God hit me with something that wrecked me. So here it is.

Shortly after my wife left back in September God began prompting me to pray for a variety of things involving her. One of the main reasons, I believe, had to do with God healing my hurt and helping me to forgive her. Part of me wanted the prayer to be fulfilled (primarily because I didn't want that anger, but more importantly my boys needed her), but the other part of me wasn't ready for that much kindness (whether I was ready or not, God was so it didn't matter). Regardless what the reasons, with mixed feelings I was obedient and began praying for her.

Since September, at God's directing, I've been praying almost the same prayer everyday. I make sure to pray it at least once during the day by myself and once with my boys. Over time, I began to really feel God begin to heal my heart and a definite release from the hurt and anger toward her. However, recently some of that anger has resurfaced based on some very specific events (I'll get back to this part). Point is, whether I wanted to pray for her or not, I did, even through the times where she made me mad. Then as if that wasn't enough, during my lunch break on Tuesday (after the God wrecking night), God prompted me to pray for the guy my wife is currently with. I know, it made me ill too. If there's two things I've learned through all this it's: 1 – God expects you to do what He tells you to. 2 – He doesn't like to have to say it twice. So, with a pit in my stomach, I prayed for him. I almost asked God not to make me do it again, but figured that'd be fruitless.

So, back to the God wrecking me night, Monday I hadn't yet prayed it at any point during the day, so I included it in my prayer before bed. I said my prayer and said amen. After praying I was unusually irritated with the whole having to pray for her and him thing, so I thought something along the lines of, "I'm really tired of praying this, why am I still doing it." Almost immediately I felt like God answered, "I don't care if you're tired of it and because I said to keep doing it." How do you argue that point with God? So I shut my mouth. Then God wrecked me.

Here it is: I really felt like God was trying to make the point that He doesn't need me to want what He prompts me to pray for. I really felt like He was saying that sometimes He just needs us to say the words, in prayer to Him, so He can fulfill that prayer and prove His power for our sake. God doesn't need us to ask for something for Him to be moved to action. He's not a genie sitting around waiting to grant our every wish. God has a plan, a perfect plan, and is going to accomplish the things He wants and needs to see that plan come to completion. Basically, I think God was like, I want you to pray for this, I'm going to make it come to pass (whether you want it or not), I'm going to crush any misconceptions or notions you have about me, and I'm going to use it to grow you. I immediately ran for my bible (well, biblegateway.com anyway) and started looking for a story that might confirm some of that line of thought. I even asked a friend and he referenced the story of Jonah and Nineveh (Here). That kind of fits, but not exactly what I was looking for. The only place I could find that God told some one to pray when they weren't really wanting to, was when Jesus was in the garden and caught his three disciples sleeping. The NLT says, “Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!” Matthew 26:41. But I think the way The Message translates it is maybe more applicable. It says...

“Stay alert; be in prayer so you don't wander into temptation without even knowing you're in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there's another part that's as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire."

There was part of me that was eager and ready for anything in God (that's why I was obedient and prayed...because He's amazing and I love seeing him work), but there was also a part of me that wanted to be lazy and not do the work I didn't think was worth doing. It would have been easy not to pray what God wanted, but that would have lead me down a pretty dark road of disobedience (I'm sure of it – if you compromise obedience in one area, it gets easier to do each time).

So that's what God hit me with. If He says pray about something, you pray about it. I think sometimes He just wants us to say the words, He gives us, out loud, so we can hear them said. If we do that, that makes them more real, more solid, you can't take them back. The main thrust of my prayer for my wife had to do with her coming back to God. The next day, I found out that she began emailing specific mutual friends (and she emailed our boys) and asked for forgiveness from all of them. She even told one of them she found and is attending a good church. That may be small and she still has a long way to go, but that's how it begins. He's amazing!

I think (and maybe I'm way off) sometimes He prompts us to pray for and do things that we never expected and never wanted to help build our faith and other virtues. If we only ever prayed for what we want and God fulfilled only those prayers, we'd be spoiled freaking brats. In order to create a heart filled with compassion, forgiveness, love, humility and a burden for the lost, God often times does stuff to make us uncomfortable (at least for me He does – a LOT). Like I said, I wasn't able to find a specific instance where God directed someone to pray for something they didn't want (anybody that knows one, please feel free to comment and share), but I can very clearly see that being something God would do. It's part of His modus operandi (m.o.) to do stuff that doesn't make sense to us.

More than building our faith, I think He might do it to make our hearts fall in tune with His. It's important to pray God's heart often. He'll give us the desires of our heart, but He changes those desires to match His. He desires for EVERYONE to be saved (regardless what we think of the person), that should be our desire too.

Maybe that's what he was trying to teach me. I also think He might have been showing off a bit too, He knows that I enjoy seeing Him do that.

Praying God's Heart,
Bruce

It's Just that Simple

Today my son, Andrew, took a huge step in his walk with the Lord. Andrew was water baptized at Calvary Chapel in Cheyenne, WY. He had been asking me about being baptized for probably the last year or so. He really didn’t understand it, so we never really gave it much thought or consideration. A couple weeks ago, it was announced at our church, Element Church, that they would be having another water baptism on 8 Feb 09.
As soon as we left church Andrew was on it. He asked if he could be baptized. We sat and talked about it, so that I was sure he knew why he was doing it and what it meant. He told me that he knew it was to show people that you have accepted and follow Jesus as your savior. We talked about how it is a public confession of your faith and that it symbolizes, dying to your old self and being buried, then being raised up as your new self, just as Jesus died and was raised. That conversation only served to get him more excited about the idea. So on Thursday, I spoke with Jeff (our churches lead pastor, but also one of my mentors, coaches and one of the few men I look up to and respect very much), and he said he would be glad to as long as Andrew understood the importance of that very significant act. He did, so Jeff said he would. Andrew had been waiting all week for me to talk with Jeff, so when I told him his name was on the list, he replied “YES” and did one of those closed fist, arm pump moves that usually accompanies those type of “yes”.
Finally the day came. On February 8, 2009 at about 4:20pm, Andrew made his public confession of his decision to follow our Lord, Jesus Christ. I cannot, as much as I’ve tried, for life of me put into words just how proud he made me and the awe that I felt by that simple act. I’ve always known just how important water baptism was, but I never understood it the way I did today. Part of that may be because of the spiritual growth spurt I’ve recently went through. There is NO doubt in my mind, I have a deeper and more intimate relationship and understanding of our God then I’ve ever had in my entire life. But I think the fact that it was my boy that made that decision made me understand it different. I think too often we, as adults, try too hard to make everything more complicated than it needs to be. Maybe we feel the more complicated the more grown up it is, because then it’s an adult thing and only we can understand it. But the fact is that so many things in life are simple. Andrew didn’t need to have some philosophical or theological discussion about water baptism for him to know he wanted to do it. All he needed to know was that Jesus did it and it’s just one of the ways we can be like him. That’s it. It’s that simple.
It sheds a new light on what Jesus said in Matthew 18:3. He said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Obviously he did not mean to act like children, but to think in simple ways as children do. I think with that verse and seeing the simplicity in my son's act helped me realize the secret to how you achieve a deep and intimate relationship with God. The relationship that I always saw others had and that I so badly longed for.
So I figure I’ll share it with you… Are you ready? Brace yourself… Here goes. The first thing you need to do is, TALK TO HIM EVERYDAY, by PRAYING. The second is, LET HIM TALK TO YOU AND LISTEN, by READING THE BIBLE EVERYDAY! Praying and reading the bible everyday!!!! It’s that simple. What a concept, who would’ve thought. Those two little actions set the foundation for everything else. Reading the Bible provides God's direction for you. It also provides His comfort and reassurance that he loves you. It provides the blue prints to build a fulfilling and God pleasing life. The Bible provides the truth you NEED to hear (not always what you want to hear) and the knowledge on how to apply and share that truth. Earnest and consistent prayer provides the platform to build faith and trust in God. It gives you an avenue to lament when things go wrong and rejoice when you are blessed. Prayer also changes the way you think and the way you handle every situation.
I know if you follow those two steps, the results will be immediate and amazing. I know from personal experience. The trick is you can't just read it like any other book, you have to seek God's face. You have to really get into the word and ask God to show you what he wants you to know. When I started, it was like God had been waiting to talk to me all these years and he had a lot to say. On that Sunday I first started praying and reading, I was amazed and blessed immediately…I still am everyday and I’ll NEVER go back!