• /
    • Archives / March 2011

Archives For March 2011

Keys to Unlocking Effective Prayer

admin —  March 23, 2011 — 1 Comment

Lent is a great time to talk about the spiritual disciples. These disciplines are so valuable for Christians. It is through the disciplines that we grow in knowledge, faith, and maturity as disciples. If we fail to practice the disciplines we will easily slip back.

Prayer is one such discipline. Prayer is such a valuable gift God gives to us. Yet, it is something that many of us may not be so good at practicing. One of the reasons many Christians might fail to pray is the perceived lack of effectiveness. We wonder if it does any good. So in this week’s email I wanted to share several keys towards unlocking an effective prayer life.

1) Pray. It does not get any simpler than that. The biggest obstacle to God answering our prayers is simply our failure to ask (James 4:2). Put God to the test. See if he will respond.

2) Pray consistently. We are blessed when we pray fervently and persistently. As Americans we often look for instant gratification. When we are not met with the instant gratification we give up. Jesus tells the story of the persistent widow who cried out to the judge day and night for justice. He says, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen one, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?” (Luke 18:7)

3) Pray together. Jesus says, “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:19-20).

There are two aspects to this point. The first is to have more than one person praying. The second is for these believers to pray together. They are not praying separately apart from each other. They are praying with each other. There is a difference praying with someone and praying for someone. Praying with someone implies a physical presence with that other person. As it says in the book of James, “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them . . . ” (James 5:14)

There is a myth running around the Christian Church that the more people we have praying, the more effective our prayers will be. We put the names of people we know on a prayer list and then we enlist an army of prayer warriors to make their appeals to the throne of grace. But we do not find this instruction in the Bible. The Bible says the prayer of a single righteous person is powerful and effective (James 5:16). Based upon Scripture I would rather have one faithful Christian praying with me than a thousand prayer warriors praying for me. It doesn’t matter if I have 2 or 2,000 people praying for me, yet no one praying with me.

On Sunday morning we invite people to sign our connection cards so that we can pray over those needs. The prayer warriors go to work over those prayers. But even more importantly we offer the opportunity for you to come forward and to pray with someone. This is Biblical.

4) Ask for forgiveness. Another important aspect of effective prayer we cannot overlook is the forgiveness of sins. James says, “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed (James 5:16). Psalm 66:18 declares, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not listened.”

Often times our difficult outward circumstances are linked to an inner spiritual condition. We don’t come with pure hearts. We don’t come with pure motives. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3)

Are you praying out of bitterness, anger, greed, selfishness, hatred, covetous? First ask God to work a miracle inside you and to create within you a clean and pure heart. Pray for him to make you right with him.

5) Pray with praise. Prayer is an act of worship. Prayer acknowledges God as the one who is able. Psalm 66:17 reads, “I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue.” Does your prayer acknowledge God is bigger than your circumstance? Is your prayer prayed in faith that God is your healer and deliverer? Prayer is a declaration that Jesus is the victor who reigns over sin, death, and the devil.

6) Pray with humility. Do you come before the Lord with an attitude of I deserve it? We too often put God in the role of servant, but God is not our servant. He is the king. We are his servants. We sometimes treat God like a vending machine. We think if we put the right things in and push the right buttons, we will get what we want. But God is not the one to have his buttons pushed. 1 Peter 5:6 says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”

Effective prayer is not evidenced when I get what I want. Effective prayer is evidenced when the kingdom of heaven invades the kingdom of this world. Effective prayer is evidenced when light shines in the darkness while mercy and grace conquer injustice. Effective prayer is evidenced when God is shown to be the Lord of all creation and is brought glory for his goodness.

7) Pray with thanksgiving. Ask yourself what ingredients are you giving him to work with? Do live with an attitude of gratitude? 2 Thessalonians says 5:18 says to give God thanks in all circumstances. Here is something I have come to learn. Grateful people are grateful people. Ungrateful people are ungrateful people. It doesn’t matter the circumstance. It doesn’t matter how many prayers God might answer. You are one or the other – grateful or ungrateful. Do you give God thanks for the things he has already done in your life? If you are not already giving God your gratitude, what is going to change?

In the end, when we take prayer seriously, we start to hear God speak to us in incredible ways. Most people look at prayer as our way of talking to God. And that is true. But the thing is that when you start talking to God he will start to reveal himself in ways you had never imagined. It is my hope that some of these thoughts will help you to develop a richer prayer life. There are certainly other keys to effective prayer beyond these, so if you have other valuable keys to unlocking an effective prayer life, feel free to share in the comments section.

In Weekly Email , , ,
permalink

Seder Dinner at Lord of Life

admin —  March 17, 2011 — Leave a comment

On Palm Sunday, April 17 at 5pm, Lord of Life will host a Seder Dinner. Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples was a Jewish Passover Seder. Seder is Hebrew for “order” as in “order of worship.” It is a solemn meal which continues to be observed by the Jewish people annually.

Our observance of the Seder will attempt to reconstruct the events of the Seder as it would have been observed by Jesus and his disciples in the upper room. Our hope is that this experience will help to deepen your faith and to grasp the tremendous sacrifice of Jesus in a whole new way. I would like to offer to you a few reasons why you should consider coming to this meal on April 17.

1. To Teach / Tell the Next Generation

An important thing to understand is this meal is a family meal. It is not a romantic dinner between a couple in love. It is a time to gather together as family in much the same way we gather together with our families for holidays. Jesus gathered together in the upper room with his family, the disciples to teach them.

As much as we are able, we want to encourage you to bring your family to come and participate in this meal. This meal is not just about nourishing the body, but it nourishes our souls. This meal was given to the Israelites to teach the next generation the story of the exodus and of God’s mighty deliverance. We have the same responsibility to the next generation in our day and time. There is deep significance in each portion of the meal to help bring the story of Moses and the people of God to life. The goal is for us to hear and participate in the story as if we were there. At one point in the Seder, the leader will say: “In every generation each one ought to regard himself as though he had personally come out of Egypt, as it is written “and you shall tell your son in that day, saying: This is what the Lord did to me when I came out of Egypt.” (Exodus 13:8)

2. To See Jesus as the Fulfillment of the Former Covenant

Participation in the Seder will also give greater insight into the events and significance of Holy Week. In the Passover Seder we not only experience a remembrance of God’s past goodness and deliverance, but we will also be led to anticipate a new exodus and future Messianic era. We will see how the original exodus from slavery in Egypt was a foreshadowing of the coming future deliverance from the slavery of sin. The Passover Seder is a prophecy of our future with the Lord. As he once lead his chosen people out of slavery in Egypt, God now leads us forward to a greater freedom.

After the Lord brought Moses and the people out of Egypt, he made a covenant with the people at Mt. Sinai. Now in the upper room Jesus says to us, “this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20) In the Seder we see the significance of the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday as they relate to what has gone before and what will yet be.

3. We Experience Community

In the past two years which we have hosted this Seder Dinner at Lord of Life, we have experienced a tremendous sense of unity in the community. We experience in an incredible way the bond that unites us. It is a special thing to share a meal together with someone. How much more special is it when we share this meal together where Jesus instituted the Sacrament known as Holy Communion? As we rehearse the events of the exodus and how that translates to the work of Jesus, we grasp ever more how we are on a journey through a desert place together. We are united in this desert place we are going through because we have one deliverer and savior. He is Jesus Christ who says, “I am the way!” Together we follow him just as the chosen people once followed the deliverer Moses.

Getting Your Tickets

If you plan to come to the Seder Dinner, tickets must be purchased in advance. They will be available on Sunday mornings after worship, starting Sunday, March 27. April 10 will be the last Sunday tickets will be available. You will not be able to sign up after that, so get your tickets sooner rather than later. Tickets are $10/person. Children under 12 will be $5/child. Childcare will be provided for the younger children. Free will donations will be accepted for childcare.

In Weekly Email ,
permalink

Spring Ahead

admin —  March 10, 2011 — Leave a comment

Are you ready to spring ahead? It is an annual right of spring. Don’t be late for worship on Sunday! Someone probably will be. Remember to set your clocks ahead this weekend.

While I don’t get excited about losing an hour of sleep, I enjoy talking baseball and seeing the flowers begin spring up. Warmer weather will soon be here!

In Other Stuff
permalink

Praying for God to Move

admin —  March 10, 2011 — Leave a comment

God is at work. He is moving in mighty ways. We pray for him to move in our midst and to set our hearts ablaze for his will and his glory this Lenten season.

Lent is a period of 40 days. 40 days is a significant number often associated with a move of God. It was 40 days and 40 nights that it rained upon the earth in the days of Noah. It was for 40 days that Jesus was tempted in the desert by Satan. Acts 1:3 tells us it was 40 days from the time of Jesus’ resurrection till his ascension into heaven. So 40 days is not without significance and we pray for a mighty move of God during these 40 days.

There is no better time for us to fast and to pray and to ask God to reveal himself in a greater way. There are several things I would ask you to pray about in anticipation and expectation.

The first is the Love and Respect Marriage Conference on April 8-9. As a pastor I know there are many marriage in our church and in our community that are struggling. Hope and healing are both desperately needed. As a church it is important for us to respond to and minister to this need and not to sit back quietly. Let’s pray for God to use this conference to touch many marriages. I am praying for at least 100 couples participate in this conference. I will pray for couples to come and participate whether they are looking to hold together a marriage that is badly fractured or making a great marriage even better. I would ask your prayers to make this happen and to join together in helping get the word out. You can find information at the following link: www.lolchurch.net/loveandrespect

The second big event this Lent is the Seder Dinner to be held on Palm Sunday. The Seder Dinner is the same meal Jesus shared with his disciples on the night he was betrayed when he instituted the Lord’s Supper. The Seder Dinner was part of the Passover Celebration of the Jewish people. My prayer for this event is that this will deepen our understanding of the Lord’s Supper and help us to better grasp the tremendous sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross. I pray for our Lord of Life family, young and old, to come together on this night that our unity as the body of Christ would be strengthened. This is an event about “coming together” so that we might “go out.”

Finally, pray for the observances of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday culminating the the celebration of Easter. Every Easter we have people who will come to Lord of Life who might not hear the gospel message at any other time of the year with the exception of Christmas Eve. Please pray for God to break into their hearts and the transform them by his love that they might know him and live for him. Pray for the gospel to take root in their lives and grow into an abundant harvest. My prayer is that hope might be found by individuals and families that have no hope and their lives would be changed forever.

All this is God’s work, but God uses us to make all this happen. It takes our prayers. It takes our willingness and courage to participate together with him in his work. God does it, but we can help make this all happen. It is exciting to take part in God’s work. Please join me! How great is our God!

In Weekly Email , , , , ,
permalink

Difficult Problems and Simple Faith

admin —  March 3, 2011 — Leave a comment

Last week our family headed to the Wisconsin Dells for a wild weekend vacation at one of the waterparks. Before leaving I wanted to make sure our tires were properly inflated. So I took our family minivan to the gas station around the corner from our house to fill up the tires. After I finished filling the last tire I noticed the sound of hissing air. Pssssssssssssss. I held the air hose up to my ear and did not hear anything. I then put my ear next the tire and sure enough the tire stem was leaking. This is not good. Air was coming out about as fast as I could fill it. We were not going anywhere unless I could get this fixed fast.

Fortunately, there was a mechanic shop next door to the gas station. I quickly drove the van across the parking lot before the tire deflated, walked inside, and said “HEEELP!” The mechanic told me to pull the van into the shop. He pulled out his little tire stem tool twisted the stem on the tire and in about three seconds I heard him say, “next!” It was all fixed and ready to go.

Now don’t you wish every little crisis we face in life was fixed so easily? Rarely do we encounter such simple solutions. To “fix” these crises of life it often seems like we are left choosing the lesser of two evils. There are no easy answers. Sometimes I find myself wishing there was a step by step manual that left no room for interpretation. It would be much easier if life was more black and white and did not have so many shades of grey. As our world becomes increasingly complex, our problems also become increasingly complex. So how do we navigate through life’s challenges, especially when it seems there are no easy answers?

I will give you one word. The word is faith. It is not faith as faith is often defined. Faith is often defined as having a positive attitude in spite of difficult circumstances. I will contend faith is more than a positive attitude. Rather it is confidence in Jesus the Savior. It is confidence that God’s plan will prevail. The pathway may not be the pathway we really want to go down. Sometimes God will take us down a path that we would rather not go, only to bring us to a destination that is beyond anything we could have ever imagined.

The book of Hebrews says, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1 There may be some rough days with incredible challenges. It may not seem like there is much light at the end of the tunnel and that there is no solution in sight. But that is why we look to Jesus, because Jesus is the light. When everything else seems dark, he will shine.

In Weekly Email , , ,
permalink