prayers

Faith and Persevering Prayer

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By Linda Rex

October 16, 2022, PROPER 24—Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what it is that I really believe about God and his attitude towards me as one of his creatures. On a good day I believe God is loving, compassionate and kind, but on other days, I find myself responding to life and circumstances as though God is grumpy and wishes he hadn’t bothered with creating these annoying creatures, of which I am one.

Granted, when life isn’t going well and it seems as though my prayers are hitting the ceiling, it is easy to project onto God the face of the people in my life who have rejected or hurt me when I failed to measure up to their expectations. When God doesn’t answer my prayers in the way I expect, or doesn’t seem to care when I am struggling and barely getting by, it’s very easy to believe that God is indifferent or even angry with me for some reason.

As I was putting together the study questions for this Sunday, I was reminded that my inner view of God and his attitude toward me directly impacts how I pray to him, or if I even pray to him at all. Of course, I wouldn’t pray at all if I didn’t believe there was a God to pray to. And I wouldn’t even try to pray to the God there is, if I believed he didn’t want to hear what I had to say. What would be the point?

But there are times when what’s in my heart, what I’d really like to say to him, I’m really not sure he would want to hear. What if all I want to do is yell at him and tell him how disappointed I am in him? Would that even be appropriate? Actually, I know that it is—I know that God wants to hear my all prayers, and treasures and protects my heart, but at times it’s just easy to question whether I can simply be real with God and to not be open with him.

Right before the passage for today in Luke 18:1-8, Jesus was talking with his disciples about things having to do with his death and resurrection, and with his second coming. He began to tell a story to help them be encouraged to always pray and to not lose heart. Like when he told the story of the dishonest manager, Jesus used a negative character, an unrighteous judge.

A widow, someone who would have been considered vulnerable and helpless, approached the judge and asked him to defend her against her opponent, who apparently was taking advantage of her. The judge, being a godless and irreverent man, refused to help her. The widow in Jesus’ story continued to go back to the judge and plead for him to assist her. Eventually the judge said to himself, “I could care less about what God or anyone else thinks, but if I don’t do something soon, she’s might give me a black eye!” So, he interceded on her behalf, simply to avoid any more harassment from her.

In contrast to the unrighteous judge in this story, Jesus said that his Father would “bring about justice for his elect who cry to Him day and night.” He said that God’s intent was to help right away and not to delay his response. God isn’t indifferent or insensitive to what is going on in our lives. But then Jesus said, “when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

At first glance, it may seem a little off for Jesus to ask this question. But really, it goes back to story and the point he had been trying to make. What we believe about who God is does affect how we approach him in prayer. Do we believe God is listening and wants to hear what we have to say? Do we believe God has our best interests in mind? Do we believe that when God doesn’t seem to answer that there may be a good reason for it, and that it’s not because he doesn’t care or that he’s condemning us? In Christ, our relationship with God is secure enough that we can be frank and real and open with him. But are we?

Who is this Son of Man who is coming again one day? And what kind of God is this that will be intervening in human affairs when Jesus returns? These are critical thoughts we need to wrestle with—is the God who will return to restore all things when Jesus returns a punitive, indifferent God or is he a God who bears our flawed human flesh which he himself took through death into resurrection and ascension? Is this Son of Man a God who is only interested in destroying “bad” people or is he the God who is once and for all removing from our total human existence all evil, sin, and death, and making everything right?

God’s intent and purpose in Christ is to renew all things and to bring all of us into right relationship with himself. If God is for us, who can be against us? He loves us and wants us to participate with him in this process, and one of the ways we do that is in prayer. Effective prayer doesn’t begin with us, but within the inner life of loving relationship between the Father and the Son in the Spirit. By the Spirit, Jesus shares with us the heart of the Father, then we are moved to pray, and our prayers back to God are lifted by Jesus in the Spirit to the Father, made exactly what they need to be in each moment.

As we participate with the Father and Son in the Spirit in what they are up to in the world, we pray. We may not see the results we think need to be happening, but realizing that prayer is birthed within the Trinity, we can trust that God is still at work in the situation and is bringing about what is best for all involved. So, we continue to pray—persevere—having faith that our trustworthy God isn’t going to let us down. We keep in close relationship with God because he loves us and is including us in what he is doing in the world, and we want to see things from his point of view and have his heart about it all. Jesus is entirely sure the Father will do what is needed and his faith poured into our hearts by the Spirit enables us to trust the Father as well, and encourages us to keep praying.

Jesus sent the Spirit from the Father so that each of us can experience life in relationship with God and be a part of what God is doing in this world. When we need faith and we need the ability to endure or persevere, we look to Jesus, who is the source of everything we need for life and godliness. Jesus himself is the source of the faith he is looking for—a gift which comes to each of us in the Spirit. Prayer is one way in which we actively participate in the wonderful relationship God has given us through Jesus in the Spirit. And faith in our trustworthy God is a gift Jesus gives us to enable us to persevere when it seems that no answer is coming.

Thank you, heavenly Father, for including us in your inner relationship with Jesus in the Spirit. Thank you for your gift of faith and enabling us to participate in all you are doing through prayer. Grant us the grace to persevere in prayer, especially when there seems to be no hope. Our hope and faith are in you alone, through Jesus and by your Spirit. Amen.

“Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, “Give me legal protection from my opponent.” For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, “Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.” ’ And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?’ ”       Luke 18:1–8 NASB

[Printable copy: https://newhope4me.files.wordpress.com/2022/10/olitfaith-and-persevering-prayer.pdf ]

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A Citizen’s Prayer

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by Linda Rex

One of the concerns I have as I watch the political debate and the community of faith’s response to it is the constant appeal to Christians in this nation to work through prayer and righteous living to make America great again. There is a subtle message beneath all of this rhetoric which says that somehow we are a special nation, the Israel of God, the chosen people, and if we just repent and turn back to God, everything will all be better. What I’m hearing is, all of this upheaval is just because America has turned away from God, so if all the Christians in America would humble themselves and pray, God will fix everything.

The main text used to defend this position of calling the nation (or the Christians in the nation) to prayer is 2 Chronicles 7:14: “[If] My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (NASB) I have some real concerns about the way this scripture is being used to promote what are, in my opinion, some very nationalistic agendas. I also believe the way it is presented forces us back upon ourselves as the means of getting God to change our circumstances and to remove the consequences of our choices.

The desire to have America great again I assume must be because we want to live freely and abundantly in this nation we call home. It would indeed be a good thing to be able to practice our faith and to enjoy our freedoms without fear or oppression—and for the most part, we’ve been able to do that in this country. But there are forces at work which are making it more and more difficult for us to do this in this country, and that is what drives this need to ensure our domestic felicity, so that our “happy home” will continue to be just that.

Whenever I hear the statement “Make America great again”, I cringe because I am reminded of how post-WWI Germany sought to make Germany great again. This was the cry of the Nazi’s which enabled them to gain political power, and enabled them to promote many of their agendas which otherwise may have been rejected by the German populace. Sadly, the German church at that time also got caught up in this nationalistic momentum to the point they gave the leadership of their church to Hitler himself, and began to promote his faith rather than the truths of the faiths as established by the early church. It was this battle Dietrich Bonhoeffer chose to fight by remaining in Germany when he could have stayed safely in America.

The point is, we need to get rid of our nationalistic focus and turn back to Jesus Christ as being the central “Who” of this whole matter. Looking at this particular passage honestly, through sound exegesis, would help us to do that if we were willing. So let’s begin by reading the passage in the context in which it was originally written:

“Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, ‘I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. ‘If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.’” (2 Chronicles 7:12–16 NASB)

The first thing we see is this was a statement God made to King Solomon after his prayer at the dedication of the temple he built in Jerusalem. God was explaining he had chosen the temple as a place for sacrifices to be offered to him just as Solomon had asked him to. The Lord would hear and answer the prayers of his people Israel when they would humbly seek his face in prayer and turn away from evil. The God, whose Name is Father, Son and Spirit, placed his name upon that house and affirmed his eyes and heart would be there as well.

This whole conversation took place within the covenant relationship of God with his people Israel. This was a reaffirmation of that covenant in which God included this house of worship in his relationship with Israel out of his gracious love toward them. Nowhere in this conversation do we read anything about the nation of America—it did not exist back then, nor was it included at that particular moment in this conversation. The whole discussion was with regard to God’s covenant relationship with his chosen people, Israel, and his desire to love them and to receive their worship and prayer.

When we read the continuing story of God’s children Israel, we find they did not honor their part of their covenant with God, and in time even Solomon’s temple was overrun and destroyed. They did not have the heart and will to love and obey God. They did not humble themselves, repent and pray, or the destruction of the nation would have been delayed as it was in the time of King Hezekiah and King Josiah, who led God’s people into a place of repentance and renewal. Instead, Israel and Judah ended up losing everything God had given them in his gracious love.

This passage, we’ve seen, was a conversation God was having with the king of the nation of Israel with regards to a temple which was eventually destroyed and replaced with another one many years later. Some exiles made their way back, thanks to the Persian king Cyrus, and the temple and the city wall of Jerusalem were rebuilt. In time, a baby was born in Bethlehem, who was the true Son of God and would fulfill in his life, death, resurrection and ascension, all the promises made to Israel, for he stood in their place.

Jesus Christ came as the Israel of God, the Son of God, Abba’s Word, who was both God and man. We see Jesus, who had no sin, repenting and being baptized for his people Israel, and for us, and we see him sharing in Israel’s wilderness wanderings by facing the evil one during forty days of fasting in the wilderness of Judea. Jesus lived the life of obedience, humility and prayer Israel was called to live, but never was able to. In his life, death, resurrection and ascension, Jesus fulfilled all of the covenant God had made with Israel—he did what they never were able to do.

Ultimately, we see Jesus after his resurrection, standing in the presence of God as high priest of Israel and of all humanity, bearing in his being the names of all people before Abba in the Spirit, being the One who is truly humble who prays in the Spirit and in truth for each and every person in our place and on our behalf. It is Jesus’ prayer which Abba hears and answers, and each and every prayer we give is caught up in Christ’s prayers and made acceptable to the Father.

In this same Christ, the barriers between human beings were and are torn down. We learn in Acts the early church had to face the reality God did not distinguish between Jews and Gentiles when it came to having a relationship with God or each other. All nationalism was thrown out the window and replaced with the reality we are all a part of the body of Christ by the Spirit. All were included in God’s grace when it was given, and all are called to faith in Christ and offered eternal life—knowing Abba and his Son whom he sent.

The life we live, no matter our race, ethnicity, nation, tribe and tongue, is bound up in Christ and is held in him in God. Whatever good deeds we do, whatever repentance we may muster up, all comes first from God through Christ in the Spirit. It is Christ’s prayers and intercession which will bring about change in America.

But Christ is concerned about a whole lot more than just this nation. He is concerned about all of humanity. And he is a whole lot more concerned about our spiritual transformation and the furtherance of his kingdom than he is about whether or not America is the most prosperous, paradise on earth. This world is passing away. But our relationship with God, whatever it is, transcends this physical world and will last beyond it. And this is what God wants us to invest our effort, time and energy in.

Abba has work he is doing through Christ in this world. He’s sent Christ on a mission of reconciliation with God and man to be worked out into every part of life by the Spirit. We can participate in this through our humility, repentance and prayer—but apart from Christ and the work of the Spirit, our humility, repentance and prayer is worthless. It’s just a bunch of hot air and will not change a thing, except to make us exhausted, and to fill us with disappointment when things don’t go as we expect.

In a nation obsessed with nationalism and power of the state, the apostle Paul instructed his people to pray for their leaders so they could live and preach the gospel in peace. He also reminded them their loyalty was to God first, and not to the nation. We are citizens of heaven, he said. These are words we can take to heart today, because we also are citizens of the kingdom of God, and are seeking a peaceful environment in which to preach and live out the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But we need to see this as our participation in what Jesus Christ is doing in the world today as we share in his mission of reconciliation. It is his work as our intercessor and high priest which will make the difference in the world today. It is his Spirit who calls us back to him, to repentance and faith. It is Abba who pours into us and our world a different heart and mind. We share in the work of the Trinity as God brings about healing and change. In my mind, this is the heart of this passage, and how we should read and apply it today.

“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1–4 NASB

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.” Philippians 3:20–21 NASB

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Prayer as Participation

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By Linda Rex

Last night I watched one of the episodes of “A.D.” in which the disciples were gathered together praying on Pentecost. The movie showed them repeating over and over the words of the prayer Jesus gave them.

I found this quite disturbing because I have a really hard time believing after walking and talking with Jesus for three years they had nothing else to say to God other than this. Surely they witnessed many conversations between Jesus and his heavenly Father. And the intimacy in that relationship could not have been hidden from them, especially when Jesus spoke about how the Father was in him and he was in the Father.

Inherent within this prayer though is the one lesson Jesus taught his disciples over and over: The kingdom of God was not going to be the kingdom they expected it to be. In other words, the kingdom to come would not be a restoration of the human kingdom of Israel, but rather a kingdom formed without hands—God’s kingdom of heaven established on earth through the Messiah Jesus, an eternal kingdom of divine rule, of God’s will being done, in every part of our human existence.

Sometimes when it is hard to find anything to say to God, it is helpful to be able to recite a prayer from memory. This is why these written prayers, or the prayers given to us in the Bible, are helpful. They provide a way for us to reach out to God in some way, even when our hearts are resisting the relationship.

In truth, prayer is an integral part of our relationship with God. Praying, in whatever form it may take, is our conversation with God. It can be as natural as breathing, as we go through our day and include God in every moment. It can be a spiritual discipline, being expressed in many forms both privately and publically, in which we take our concerns to God and intercede on behalf of others.

But in prayer, we must always remember the direction Jesus gave us—it is God’s kingdom and God’s will we seek to be done here on earth. In other words, we release our personal expectations and desires and allow God to do whatever he believes is best in the situation we are praying about.

God has a lot of unique ways in which he deals with problems. We tend to take a pretty direct approach, asking God to fix things and fix people. But often instead of changing the thing we think needs to be changed in a situation, God opts to change something completely different. And in doing so, he succeeds in bringing about what really matters—the transformation of human hearts and the restoration of relationships.

God’s heart is expressed through and in loving relationships. It is his nature to build, heal and restore. Sometimes God will tear something down so he can build it up again in a new way, or so he can build something entirely different. His wisdom surpasses us so much—we need to trust him to do the right and loving thing in every situation. We need to believe that he is indeed good and that his heart is full of everlasting love and grace for us.

The main thing that the disciples were doing that day of Pentecost was waiting. They were waiting on God, on Jesus to send the Holy Spirit from the Father. Their participation in what God was doing through Jesus was prayer. They prayed and they waited. When the Holy Spirit came and Jesus began to give them direction, then they acted.

Because they were living and walking in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the empowering, transforming Holy Spirit was made evident in a dramatic way whenever the disciples prayed. Their prayers were effective as they were prayed in accordance with the will and purposes of God. They prayed as Jesus directed them to pray and as they were led by the Holy Spirit to pray. So when they prayed, awesome things happened.

When we pray today in agreement with God through Jesus and in the Spirit, things happen—God works in new ways. Through prayer, we participate in God’s work in the world. We are included in his missionary work of bringing his kingdom to earth and accomplishing his will in the world. May we each be diligent in prayer, participating by the Spirit in Jesus’ perfect relationship with the Father, and seeking God’s will to be done in all things through Jesus our Lord and by his Spirit. Amen.

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]’” Mt 6:9–13 NASB

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Eucharistic Prayer

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By Linda Rex

It seems that so many of us go through life trying to fill some deep emptiness within our soul. We are driven by our needs, our hurts, and our losses. We live like we are poverty-stricken and as if we have to beg and plead with God to get him to do anything to help us. It’s as though we feel that we’re all alone in the universe trying to sort out and fix everything on our own.

But the truth is that this isn’t about us at all and never has been. We’re busy striving to fill this emptiness, trying to make life work, thinking we’re starving, poor orphans, when reality we are wealthy adopted children of God Almighty.

But God is calling us to rest, not to striving. God has given us rest in Jesus—all we need for life and godliness are ours. We’ve been given the “two hands of God”, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, and by doing so, God has given us his very self.

It’s not about us, but about the will of the Father worked out through his Son Jesus and in his Holy Spirit. We are bound in union with God in Christ and we share in the family relationship in the communion of the Holy Spirit. We are seated at the heavenly table of communion sharing in Christ’s intimate relationship of love with his Father in the Spirit. So we participate in the life and love of Father, Son and Spirit.

Our response to this rest in Christ is gratitude. Here in Colossians 4, Paul uses the word eucharisti which is translated “thanksgiving” in the NASB. Our attitude in prayer is one of thanksgiving or eucharist. We participate in the thanksgiving, gratitude of sharing in the heavenly life and love.

So our prayer isn’t done in a desperate plea, begging God somehow to consider possibly helping us—as though he was indifferent to our suffering and needs. We can ask, but we do so in an attitude of gratitude, resting in the reality that we are God’s beloved adopted children who he cares deeply for and is protectively watching over. Instead of seeing the world through the eyes of need and suffering, we see it through the eyes of gratitude, knowing we have nothing to fear.

Our life of prayer flows, then, out of gratitude. To live in gratitude requires faith, dependency upon God, living in relationship with God. We grow in our relationship with him, coming to know him more and more intimately and so coming to trust him more and more. We come to see his heart toward us is love and grace. We come to see and admit that we are not the center—he is.

This Eucharistic prayer reflects gratitude that God in Christ has freed us from sin, self and Satan and has given us his gifts and calling in the Spirit. We learn to trust God to do what is needed in each situation in our lives. We find ourselves thanking God more than asking him for things. We live in a relationship with God that is so meaningful we want to share it with others.

He has welcomed us to his table which is full and overflowing. So we are motivated then to invite others to come to the table to eat with us. We begin to pray for others to share in the Triune life. We are moved to share the good news of life in Christ, desiring others to share in the family circle with us. Our gratitude for God’s awesome gift motivates us to share the truth that we have new life in Christ—we are forgiven, accepted and beloved.

Thank you, Father, for your great love for us. Thank you for sharing your very self with us in Jesus your Son and in the Holy Spirit. Grant us the grace to live in gratitude, offering our prayers in an attitude of thankfulness, and inviting others to share in our abundant blessings through Jesus and in the Spirit. Amen.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.” Col 4:2–6 NASB

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