On the journey...

And so my journey continues. I feel excited these days. I really feel like I am being called to use my gifts for God in some way, but I don't know how yet. I am excited about our small group and the younger members who are yearning to be closer to God.

I am currently reading the book "Be the Change" by Zach Hunter. Zach Hunter is one of those annoyingly active teenagers who seems to have accomplished so much. God has really used him and sometimes I wonder why I haven't been used in the same way. I think it is part of the corruption of ministry for us to forget that God values high profile ministry as much as he does one of His people touching the life of one person who needs it. While I hope to be inspired by this book I need to keep that in mind.

I just finished the book "Jesus Wants to Save Christians". I really found it to have some interesting insight and I will be writing more about some of the issues it raises soon.

God Reaching Out

Apparently it's Christmas time. It seems everyone enjoys this time of year, however to Christians it should be even more significant. This is the time we celebrate the the event which started it all. I usually stop and read the gospel account of the Christmas story, however I usually find that I don't get much from it. Let's face it, I can more or less recite it from memory in several different translations. We hear it every year, at church, at home, on TV and on those PSA pieces on Christian radio.

Today I came to do my Bible reading and realized that I was done the study I was on. When this happens, I usually head on over to BibleGateway.com and read their passage of the day. Not suprisingly, it was part of the Christmas story. The passage today was the story of the Magi. I read the online commentary that goes with this passage and it set me off on a train of thought that I had never persued before. Have you ever considered the significance of the Magi? First of all they were pagans, not only pagans, but astrologers. Astrology was not a welcome profession in the Jewsih world. Yet here they come, and they must not have come quietly. We all know they brought expensive gifts, yet they got in to see Herod. It is therefore safe to assume that they probably came in a large caravan with a lot of fanfare. They probably expected this new King to be found in the royal court. The problem is, He wasn't there.

Disturbed at the notion of a new Jewish King, Herod calls in the religious leaders to ask them about the Messiah. Here's the kicker, these leaders figure out what town the Messiah would be in. Do they care? Do they go with the Magi to worship the One their people have been waiting for? No. Those who came to worship Jesus were foreigm pagans. There's other examples like this throughout the Bible. Consider Philip and the Etheopian Eunich. This man was far from being in line with the accepted religios culture of the time, yet he is seeking Jesus and Philip leads him to salvation. God reaches out to all, and often to the ones we least expect it. By using a star to mark His Son't birth, he reached deep into the pagan world of astrology, and touched the heart of people most would not have expected to worship the Messiah. Today in our world, God wants to reach into the cultures that are entrenched in beliefs that take them far from Him. His arms are open.

What if his people prayed?

What if His people prayed
And those who bare His name
Would humbly seek His face
And turn from their own way

What if his people prayed? It is a convicting question asked by the band Casting Crowns. The first thing we would have to ask ourselves is, what is prayer? The simple answer is that prayer is talking to God. Often we say that when we pray we are coming into God's presence. We, these earth dwelling creatures, are in the company of the Almighty. Just think about that for a minute. Do we take prayer seriously enough? Do we really see it as the weapon it is?

What if the armies of the Lord
Picked up and dusted off their swords
Vowed to set the captives free
And not let satan have one more

When Jesus was being arrested he said "[p]ut your sword back where it belongs. All who use swords are destroyed by swords. Don't you realize that I am able right now to call to my Father, and twelve companies—more, if I want them—of fighting angels would be here, battle-ready?" (Matthew 26:53, The Message). If we are willing to accept that Jesus was fully human, would he not be making this request through prayer? Look at the power Jesus knew that there was in talking to the Father!

Last week I attended the funeral of a friend. Sadly, it is not the first time I have sat and reflected on the short life of one of my peers. This time it was my friend Pat. About two weeks prior to his death he was taken into hospital with terminal cancer. Of course I prayed. I have prayed all my life. I have prayed for my own needs, I have prayed for the salvation of others and I have certainly prayed for healing. Something was different this time though. Pat was terminal. There was no hope. I must confess that I accepted this diagnosis and found myself praying for his comfort and salvation, but not for his healing. Why? Because Pat was terminal, there was to be no healing. I was challenged though by a friend, why not pray for the miracle? I began to question this, why not? Why not ask God to intervene in a mighty way. I realized though that I could not pray for this miracle, I did not know how to.

Hebrews 11:6 says "[i]t's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him." So often we think of Matthew 17:20 where Jesus says that if we had the faith of a mustard seed then we could tell a mountain to move and it would. The faith of a mustard seed, (The Message says a poppy seed) that isn't very big. Is my faith that small? Well, yes and no. This is why I had a hard time praying for Pat's healing. I had all the faith that God could heal Pat. I have faith that God could move a mountain. But if I come before Him and ask Him to do it, do I have faith that He would? That is where my faith falls short. That is why so often prayer is a blunt weapon in our hands. We do not doubt that God can do it, we just doubt He will. This is what I am praying for now. I prayed that God would give me the faith I needed to pray for Pat's healing, and I continue to ask Him to give me the faith to ask great things.

Obviously Pat was not healed. It was a hard time for so many and it doesn't bear thinking how different it would have been had the miraculous happened. However, a great work was done through his illness. I truely believe that he accepted Christ and that through that, and through the acts of love performed by the Church, many were ministered to. Let's continue to pray that names may be added to the book of life. God can do it, and in this case I believe He will.