Great is Thy faithfulness, O God, my Father; There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not; thy compassions, they fail not– As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.
Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above: Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness; Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided: Great is Thy faithfulness, LORD unto me.
According to the calendar, it is spring in Michigan right now. But we’ve experienced nearly all four seasons in the past two weeks! Some days were mild and sunny, others were rainy, windy, chilly, and a couple of days were even blustery with snow and sleet! Flowers have started popping up, birds have been chirping, even as the snow flies! My hall tree is covered in jackets, winter coats, hats, scarves, and caps. A few days, I’ve been in short shirt sleeves and sunglasses; the next days, I’ve needed a coat, hat, and gloves!
But even in days of chaotic weather, God is faithful! Even when I can’t decide what to wear, God is with me. If it should suddenly snow in June (and that HAS happened in Michigan before), God will not abandon me. Just as each day brings its own weather, each day brings God’s blessings.
Some days those blessings may include sunshine and bird song. Other days may include a much-needed hug from a friend, or a shoulder to cry on. Some days will bring both joy and sorrow, with God in the center of each. Each raindrop, each chattering squirrel, each beam of sunlight– all testify to God’s enduring presence. Each bud on the tree, each new tadpole, each wildflower in the forest, remind me that God is faithful to bring new life out of even the dead of winter.
Spring is a wonderful time to reflect on the goodness of God, and His wisdom in creating seasons– wet, dry, cold, hot, restful, chaotic– God is master of all the seasons, and all the days of our lives. And that is a bright thought, no matter what the weather brings today!
Of course, I DO pray. I pray a lot. I write a blog about prayer. But there are times when I find it hard to pray; times when my prayers seem feeble or awkward; times when I just don’t pray. So how does this happen, and why?
Well, there are many reasons why our prayer life can go through a dry season:
“I’m just too busy.” Sometimes, I let busyness and distractions keep me from spending quality time in prayer. I like to pray first thing in the morning, and last thing at night. But I’m not naturally a morning person, and sometimes, the night seems to get away from me. And my prayer life can suffer.
“I’d rather worry about it.” This may sound like a strange statement, but sometimes, praying about a situation seems like I’m giving up “agency” over the problem. Trusting God and letting go are easier said than done. Worrying about a problem, imagining all the things I “should” be doing, or that others should be doing to fix it gives me a sense of ownership over my circumstances.
“I don’t really want to talk to God about ‘that’.” God already knows my heart and my mind, but I want to hold on to the illusion that God loves me because I’m so good, not acknowledging that God’s love is His gift, not my reward. God wants to hear the ugly parts of my life. Yes, I stand justified by the work of Christ on the cross. I don’t have to wallow in my mistakes or beat myself up over all the ways I “fall short of the Glory of God”. But the more I try to pretend I am someone I’m not, the harder it is to remember why God loves me– He loves me because He IS Love!
“God isn’t interested in this little thing.” OR “God is tired of hearing about this chronic problem.” I can stop praying about something because I expect God to respond like a person– maybe even like me. I get tired of listening to the same things over and over. I get tired of wrestling with the same issues. I want to come to God with a problem and have it solved– quickly, easily, and permanently. But God’s ways are not my ways. And God wants me to trust Him, regardless of the situation.
“I’m not so sure about God right now. I feel let down, abandoned, or unheard.” Doubts and emotions can be so strong– if we let them take over, we will isolate, even from God. Praying during such times can even feel like hypocrisy.
There are many reasons and excuses that can cause us not to pray. I know, because I have fallen victim to them. But ultimately, they boil down to one thing– a choice.
Choosing to pray can be difficult. It involves discipline, faith, humility, and a burning desire to spend time with our Heavenly Father– even when our emotions and circumstances get in the way. It is helpful to remember why I DO pray:
God wants to hear from me. I may not always FEEL this, but the Bible is clear about it– God WANTS a relationship with me, with you, with each one of His children.
God knows the human heart. He knows our weaknesses, and He knows our hurts and how we have hurt others. And He will not turn His back on those who seek Him. There is nothing I can say to Him in prayer that will cause Him to withhold His love, His forgiveness, and His mercy. He is in the business of redemption!
God’s ways are not my ways. If I feel that God is distant because I don’t see Him clearly, or hear Him directly, that doesn’t mean He is not there. Often, I don’t want to rely on Faith– I want proof of God’s favor; I want proof of God’s protection; I want to be able to “prove” God to others, and to justify myself. Prayer in the midst of doubt and pain is the very act of dying to that need and talking to God “anyway.”
There are still times when I don’t pray as often or as earnestly as I feel I should. But, like anything else worth pursuing, it’s worth the journey and the occasional struggle. It doesn’t get “easy”– but it does get easier, and richer, and more fulfilling.
If you haven’t been praying lately, or if prayer has become dry– DON’T GIVE UP. Don’t beat yourself up. Get up, dust yourself off, and keep on in the struggle. And if prayer has been wonderful and refreshing lately, WONDERFUL! But don’t trust in the feeling of powerful prayer– trust in the One to whom you are praying! He alone makes the pursuit worth it all.
I’m late writing this post today. The new year is unfolding faster than I had planned, and I come to this day unprepared.
But that’s kind of the idea behind Epiphany. We focus so much on preparation during the Advent and Christmas season that the season which follows can be lost in the shuffle of “getting back to normal.” Even at the historical birth of Christ, there was a real focus on everyone “getting back to normal” after the hustle and bustle of the census and the travel-weariness it generated. Very few people were focused on “Christmas” because Jesus was still considered one small child in a land of thousands of others. There were no Christmas traditions, no trees to un-decorate, no gift wrapping to put away for next year, no leftover cookies to finish eating. And then, twelve days after the glorious events of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we celebrate Epiphany.
Also known as Kings’ Day, or Twelfth Night, this is the date we celebrate the arrival of the Magi (Kings or Wise Men) who traveled to Bethlehem to see the newborn King of the Jews. They did not arrive at the same time as the shepherds, and the account in Matthew has them visiting Mary, Joseph, and the Baby in a house. We must assume that Joseph found better accommodations for his family as the rush of census-taking waned, and yet he wanted somewhere safe to stay while the baby was still so small. The Magi came unannounced, unexpected, and “late” in the story.
The word “Epiphany” means a revelation or manifestation of something supernatural. The shepherds had gone through an epiphany when the angels appeared to them in the fields and told them to go to the manger on Christmas Eve. But the Magi, who had been following the star for months, finally had their Epiphany upon seeing the young child several days or even weeks after His birth. We don’t know that it was actually on the twelfth day after Jesus’ birth, but at some point, the Magi arrived at their destination and saw God in the Flesh! And their lives would never “get back to normal!” And their visit was a revelation to Mary and Joseph as well. The Kings brought expensive gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. They also brought the revelation they had received about the threat of Herod and the need to leave Bethlehem. If Mary and Joseph thought the worst was over, they were shocked into action by the warning of the Magi.
And yet, we celebrate this moment in time, this further revelation that a tiny baby was going to change everything. This knowledge that the Wise Men of Old held, and we can hold today– an encounter with Jesus is a revelation of the supernatural–this baby is GOD in the FLESH, GOD with US, GOD living AMONG us, GOD dying FOR us, GOD who will RETURN to REIGN over us. Nothing will ever be “normal” after such an encounter!
And I hope that can be said for all who read this– that we have encountered the Messiah; the Holy Son of God and Son of Man–and we have been forever changed! There is no end to the season of wonder and delight; there is no need for bright lights and tinsel-topped greenery, and no need to put away the joyful trappings of what His arrival really means.
Epiphany should “sneak up” on us– any day, anywhere–it should amaze us and surprise us with Holy wonder as we encounter the reality of “Emmanuel–God with Us!” And it should cause us to respond with prayers. Not only joyful prayers and prayers of thanksgiving, but prayers in our weariness, prayers in our anticipation of days to come and trials to face. Just like the Wise Men, we may have a long and even difficult journey in 2025. But at the end of it we will encounter God– not as a sweet baby in the manger but as our Lord, as well as our constant companion, our champion, and our heart’s desire!
Our Father, Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done In Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, Forever and ever, Amen
Jesus taught His disciples to pray when He was on Earth. It is a simple prayer, and it is meant to be used as a guideline.
As we enter a new year, we discard many of the “old” things in our lives, but I’d like to take a close look at how this “old” prayer can breathe newness and vitality into 2025.
Our Father— When we pray, we are praying to a very personal God; one who loves us each intimately. But we are also praying to the God who loves our neighbor, and our “enemy.” He is OUR Father. We can, indeed we must pray for others as we would pray for ourselves. And we must see God as our Father– the one who has both Love for us AND Authority over us. He is not removed from us, but He is not listening for us to dictate to Him what He should do.
Who art in Heaven–Yes, Heaven seems far removed from Earth, and God remains removed from us in the sense that we cannot see him with our eyes or hear him with our ears. But God IS in Heaven– He sits on the throne; He reigns; He rules, now and forevermore. God is not trapped here on Earth; he’s not just passing through on His way to some other galaxy; some other reality. He IS and will always be accessible, glorious, all-knowing, and all-powerful over all that we can ask or imagine (see Ephesians 3:19-20)
Hallowed be Thy Name–The very first three of the Ten Commandments all deal with the Holiness of God and the Sacredness of His Name. When we lose sight of WHO HE IS– when we think of Him as “the man upstairs,” or any other image that fails to acknowledge HIS awesome and majestic Holiness, we lose the very power of prayer. Prayer is not powerful because of WHAT we pray or who we pray for, or even in relation to who WE are in relation to God–it is powerful because of His Name, and His Character, and His Authority.
Thy kingdom come–We have a tendency to pray for the kingdom WE want; the outcomes we want; the visions that we have. Prayer is about more than that– it is about being willing and eager to listen for the outcomes GOD has planned, for HIS kingdom, HIS plans, HIS timing, HIS justice, HIS healing, HIS mercy, and HIS final word.
Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven— Earth, and all the systems we know on earth, are broken and tainted by Sin. When we pray, we pray for something we have not ever experienced fully– that we would know God’s perfect peace; perfect fulfillment; perfect righteousness. Often our prayers are limited by what we know, including the brokenness of our own visions and desires. Prayer should take us beyond those limitations. We need to be open to what HE can do, even when it doesn’t match our expectations.
Give us this day our daily bread— What if we were content to let God give us, not what we want, or wish, but what we NEED for each day? Just enough strength and healing to get through one day of Chemo treatments; just enough peace to deal with the uncertainties we face in the next 24 hours; just enough grace to witness to our co-worker, without expecting an immediate positive response? At the same time, what if we are open to God providing enough “daily bread” to feed 5,000! God is sovereign to give us according to the NEED He sees.
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. When we pray this– REALLY pray this– we must examine our motives for prayer and our actions toward others. Do we want God to forgive us in the same manner and to the same degree that we forgive others? This should be a transformative prayer every time we say it.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil— Jesus never said that God tempts us, such that we should have to ask Him not to. But we are likely to walk straight into temptation if left to our own devices. We need God to lead us away from temptation and protect us– deliver us– from the evil that we will encounter in this broken world. There is a deeper prayer here, as well. We tend to think of temptation and evil coming from various people that we encounter. The prayer here is not to protect us from other people, or the influence of others, but to lead us away from our own desires and protect us from Evil. It may help us with forgiveness (above) when we remember that our true enemy is not an individual person, but the Evil working in them.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory Forever and Ever— We must be careful not to pray for our own kingdom (selfish desires) our own power (separate from God), or our own glory. God wants to know what is in our heart, and He wants to see our heart being discipled and shaped into an accurate reflection of His humility, His mercy, and His Love– that how His Kingdom operates!
AMEN!–“May it be so.” Our prayers, like our lives, are not perfect. We have not achieved or imagined all that we “should” pray for. God’s Grace is sufficient to cover when we ask for more (or less) than God has planned for us. Our spirit should trust that God will continue the work He is doing to make us more like Him as we pursue His will and His Kingdom (see Philippians 1:6)
This year, we will be tempted to try many “new” things. Some will be good for us; others may not be in our best interest. I hope that this year, we will grow in our pursuit of prayer– that we may find new ways to draw close to God in prayer. But let us not abandon the fundamentals that are included in this “old” and dear prayer of our Lord Jesus.
We are saying goodbye to another year–It hardly seems like we’ve already reached the end of 2024. Time seems to travel faster each year, even though I know I have the same amount of time each day. But it feels like I keep running out of time! At some point, 2025 will “run out” of its designated time. We live in a world limited by time and space.
But God lives outside of earthly time and space– He rules them, bends them, and contains them in His sovereignty. I often write about the omnipresence of God– that He is everywhere. In fact, the only place He is NOT is Hell; and He’s even visited there, once… But God is also omnipresent in time. He IS the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob– always, and all at once, along with being the God of everyone who has ever called and will ever call upon His name to put their trust in Him. God IS in the past; He is ever present, and He is ALREADY in the future, acting and overseeing His plans and purposes.
With the birth of Jesus Christ, God did not step out of time– instead, He inserted Himself into time and space and obeyed the limits He Himself had placed. He came exactly when He had determined, exactly where, and exactly how He had planned. And the same is true of His death and resurrection. His death on the cross was not a moment too soon, and not a single second overdue. Yet, Jesus was at the mercy of the very time and space He had created. Just like us, He was limited to being in one place at a time, and limited to the circumstances around Him.
Nothing shows this better than the story of Lazarus (John 11). A close friend of Jesus, Lazarus became mortally ill. Word was sent to Jesus so He could come immediately and heal Lazarus, but He delayed in coming. He delayed for two days, continuing to work where He was before going to help friend. He knew that Lazarus would not survive. By the time He arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had not only died, but had been buried. Both of Lazarus’s sisters greeted Jesus with the same rebuke–” If you had been here, my brother would not have died…” The God who is everywhere, always, was limited by His physical form, and had to walk to Bethany. He could not continue to work in one area, and be in Bethany at the same time. Nor could He stop time and space so the Lazarus’s sickness could “wait” for Jesus’s arrival days later. But the Sovereign, Omnipresent God had not “run out of time” to save His friend. Even in His human form, in His “inability” to get to Bethany “in time,” Jesus was acting according to His Sovereign plan. He brought Lazarus out of the grave! He was “there” in all of His power and mercy. And He was precisely where and when He needed to be!
As we enter a new year, it comes with limitations–12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, and so on–we can’t see what will happen, or where we will be in March or September. It may seem that God is “late,” or “absent” in our circumstances. We may be tempted to stop praying when we don’t see immediate answers. We may, like Mary and Martha, be tempted to scold the very author of Life when we don’t get the answer we want when we want it.
This year, let us remember that God is beyond time and space. This allows us to trust that He can and will do what is best, when it is best. It also allows us to trust that God can make the most of OUR time as we trust it to Him. We may be limited to 24 hours a day, but we serve a God who can stretch and bend time, and supplement even our smallest efforts and resources with the endless riches of His Grace!
Yesterday was Boxing Day– a day for boxing up the Christmas decorations and finding places for all the gifts we received on Christmas Day. Traditionally, this includes donating things that we do not need or sharing some of our gifts with those who did not receive gifts on Christmas. Not everyone does this on December 26. Some people will exchange gifts on January 6. Some have already donated gifts to others to receive on or before Christmas. Many families leave their decorations up past the New Year; but most people are ready to put away all the trappings of Christmas and move on to other things– last minute cleaning, New Year’s resolutions, looking ahead to changes.
There is a sadness about putting away the lights and tinsel, candles and manger scenes. There is a melancholy that comes with taking down the lights, putting away all the ribbons and greeting cards, the candles and such. We have waited so long for now the wait has ended. And there is something about wrapping up Baby Jesus and putting Him in a box to sit on a shelf for most of the year that seems to mock the very celebration of Christmas. Jesus CAME! Not just for a day; not just as a newborn. Jesus didn’t come to sit on a shelf in the attic, carefully wrapped in paper waiting for His next birthday. He LIVED. He GREW. He LOVED. Jesus, and the message of His life, death, and resurrection cannot be contained in a box. It cannot be relegated to a shelf. Jesus is not just the baby of Christmas. He is the Lord of Life, the Light of the World, the teller of Parables, the Lamb of God, and the Risen Messiah!
But in another way, Boxing Day is completely appropriate for the season. Jesus came to be “regifted” and “passed on” to those in need! Jesus did not stay in the manger; the angels did not camp out with the shepherds; the wise men returned to their homes after giving their gifts. Life goes on! And it IS appropriate to put away the baby Jesus and focus on what comes next– Jesus living out His life and His mission; Jesus preparing for His Ministry, as well as preparing for the Cross and His Resurrection. Jesus returning to Heaven, where He is “hidden” until His coming again.
Today, my prayer is that we will not hide Jesus on a shelf or in a box, but “hide” Him in our hearts as we prepare for the coming year. And, just as we celebrated the Miracle of His first coming, that we would continue in a spirit of Advent as we await His Return! Let us prepare for OUR mission– to share the Gospel and spread Joy and Peace to others, whether with gifts, encouraging words, or just making connections and listening. May we anticipate with wonder and excitement the work He is doing even now among His Disciples and Followers, and the coming Fulfillment of His promises to make all things new!
As we put away the lights, and take down the ornaments, may we save the warm glow of remembering– He Has Come! He is Here WITH Us! Emmanuel! May we let Him shine Through us in the days to come, spreading Hope and Joy and Peace. And may we look forward to the day when we won’t need to unwrap Jesus from a box on the shelf– He will be our very present Source of Light, our King and Ruler, Forever, AMEN!
4 But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law, 5 to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God’s children
6 At just the right time Christ died for ungodly people. He died for us when we had no power of our own.
Romans 5:6 (New International Reader’s Version–emphasis added)
Do you ever wonder at God’s timing throughout the Bible? Why did He take the Israelites up to the edge of the Red Sea and THEN send the entire Egyptian army after them? Why did He allow Haman to trick the king into signing an edict that would wipe out the Jews and THEN send Esther to try to save them? Why did Jesus wait until Lazarus was dead to visit His sick friend? Or God’s timing in our own lives? Why didn’t He make it possible to get the job I wanted when I first applied, instead of nearly a year later? Why is life so stressful all at once? Why does God seem to give me wisdom AFTER I’ve messed up? And yet, God’s timing is perfect. Not that it seems that way–in fact, it often seems like God is not paying attention to timing at all.
Even in Christ’s birth, it seems like the timing couldn’t have been worse–Joseph and Mary forced to travel far from home, only to find that there was no room anywhere for them to rest. And then– THEN–the labor pains began! It was cold, dark, filthy, lonely, and frightening. And not just that evening: the Romans ruled a significant portion of the world with an iron fist. Jews were not forbidden from worshipping God, but they were heavily taxed, regulated, and watched over by their invaders. This newest census was just another part of the bureaucracy and endless government red tape. It seems like it would be the worst timing ever for Emmanuel to appear.
And yet, Scripture says it was “just the right time” for Christ to come. So what can we discover about this “right time?”
God had been silent for 400 years before this– almost exactly the same amount of time the Israelites had been in captivity in Egypt before God sent Moses to lead them out. Coincidence? I’m not so sure…God uses patterns to illustrate concepts. Just as the Israelites had been slaves to the Egyptians, so all of us were slaves to Sin and Death. “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” John 3:14 (New American Standard Bible)
The prophets made hundreds of statements about where and how Emmanuel would be born– some seemed completely contradictory; yet they were all fulfilled exactly. Again, this wasn’t a coincidence– God orchestrated events over centuries until it was “the right time” for them to all come to pass. Only God could have coordinated it all–the census, the genealogy of Jesus, Joseph’s hometown, Mary’s contractions coming THAT night in THAT cattle shed, instead of on the road somewhere, or in a private room where the shepherds couldn’t visit…
The Jewish people had been in exile off and on throughout the centuries; under Rome, even though they were conquered, most of the Jews who had returned to their homeland were still living there, much as they had centuries before. That wasn’t the case four or five hundred years before– it isn’t even the case today– more Jewish people live outside of Israel than in it!
Rome had established its rule over most of the Western World– and with it, they had established a system of roads, common currency, and a complex legal system. All of this played vital roles in the advent of the Savior– from His birth, through His ministry, and even in His trial, death, and the spreading of the Gospel. Before them, the Greeks had established cities and trading centers that would form the basis of the first missionary trips of the Apostle Paul. And they had created a “common” language in which this Good News was first written and spread. Just a few hundred years earlier, the spread of Christianity through letters and traveling ministers would have been much slower, less efficient, and more dangerous. Just a few hundred years later, the Roman Empire would be in shambles; travel would require going through regions separated by differing languages and governments.
To me, one of the most fascinating things to imagine is what it might be like if Christ had not come until our own time. First, there would be no Christianity, and none of the work of Christians over the centuries would have been done. But even if we imagine that all of history had unfolded and the present was much as it is, Christ’s birth would not have happened in the same way. Bethlehem would not be under the rule of Rome. In fact, Israel might not even exist; as it is, it exists in hot contention between the Jews, the Palestinians, and their close neighbors in the Middle East. There would be no census, and no need for Joseph and Mary to travel– and certainly not by donkey! There might be “no room at the inn,” but Joseph and Mary would be sent to a homeless shelter, filled with other hapless travelers. The shepherds, seeing angels, might still be filled with fright– mistaking them for missiles! Even so, it would only take minutes for a team of journalists to arrive with cameras, microphones, and commentary! The message of the angels would be dubbed “false” information or “fake news”, as would most of the prophecies about His arrival. “Fact checkers” would “kill” the story, and Mary, Joseph, and all the shepherds and wise men would be “cancelled” or receive threats.
Or not–I can only speculate. But I can say with confidence that God’s timing, even when it seems odd or “wrong” by our limited perspective, is perfect and worthy of our praise. All that seems “odd” or “wrong” about Christ’s coming when, where, or how He did, is just our limited perspective, and our tendency to doubt whatever we don’t understand.
Emmanuel came! He came at “just the right time” to fulfill all the promises and complete His ministry on Earth. Everything happened just as God designed it. And over two thousand years later, we still “Rejoice!” We sing songs, celebrate, and worship. We breathe in Hope, we give gifts, and we cherish the story of Christmas in hundreds of different ways.
This same God has a plan for us today. Throughout our lives, He sends blessings, allows struggles, and patiently stands by, offering help and hope to each of us. There is not a single detail of our lives that escapes His notice or is beyond His capacity or willingness to restore, transform, redeem, or renew.
We are preparing for Advent season. We celebrate the coming of our Savior, and His humble birth in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. We count down the days with advent calendars, candles, and other traditions. And it can be difficult to wait for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to come.
But imagine those people who lived BEFORE the Advent…those who held the promise, but had not seen it fulfilled. Imagine waiting an entire lifetime without ever hearing the Good News– He is Here! The Messiah has come!
There are promises and hints and prophecies throughout the Bible in what we call the “Old Testament.” And the New Testament is filled with the story of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and rule, as well as the outcome of His mission to bring Salvation and Hope to a darkened world. But in between the two testaments there stretches a period of nearly 400 years when God was silent.
I get frustrated when I have to wait 45 minutes at the doctor’s office! Imagine listening to stories from grandparents and elders about promises made a thousand years before, knowing that there was no word, no glimmer of fulfillment for over a dozen generations or more!
And yet, we celebrate the glory of the fulfillment. And on the strength of that glory, and Jesus’ teachings, we are waiting for His triumphant return. A return that hasn’t come in nearly 2000 years.
The difference for us is that we live in the aftermath of the Advent. He HAS already come. He HAS Risen! He has assured us of His return– with His own mouth, in His own words. How long will we have to wait? Will He return within our lifetime? Christians have been asking this question for almost 100 generations now, but we ask with wonder and hope.
The mystery of Advent has become the mystery of the Revelation. We don’t just celebrate the promise given to Abraham or Moses– we celebrate the ongoing promise of Eternity– past and present and future.
I’m reminded of the classic tale by Charles DIckens– A Christmas Carol– where Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three spirits. He is transported to his own past, sees the present through a different lens, and gets a terrifying glimpse into the future he can expect if he does not repent of his ways. So much of the tale is dark and foreboding, but the ending is rapturous– almost literally. Scrooge’s life has been a narrow life, filled with bitterness, greed, and fear. He spends much of his Christmas Eve adventure wondering about time– how long has Marley been dead? Why appear to Scrooge now? How long before the next spirit will appear? How long will Tiny Tim live? How long has he been haunted– has he missed Christmas Day? Does he still have time to change?
How Long? Ebenezer Scrooge never gets a clear answer about his own future– how long does he have to live? How long will Tiny Tim survive? At first, he is not even sure he HAS survived the night. But he DOES get a clear picture of the glory of hope; the value of time; the joy of promises made and kept; and the true riches of redemption.
We have just under four weeks before we celebrate Christmas Day. In this season of Advent, may we use our time to reflect and rejoice in the promise that was fulfilled so long ago, and in the promise that awaits us for all eternity!
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:7-10 NIV (via biblegateway.com)
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States, once said, “Comparison is the thief of Joy.” Comparison, envy, judgment– they have a way of sapping our joy, our energy, and our purpose, leaving us angry, deflated, and anxious. He knew a lot about the subject. Coming to the office as the result of the assassination of William McKinley, Roosevelt was the youngest man ever to hold the office of president, and it was not expected that he would be capable of fulfilling his duties. He was a blunt, restless, often hot-tempered man– not a smooth and polished statesman. There were plenty of people comparing him to McKinley and others– and finding him on the short end of the comparison! Yet Roosevelt was a man known for his optimism and joy. Even with his bluster, he was rarely seen without a smile and a positive outlook. And that optimism won people over so that he won his reelection bid in 1904, and became one of our most esteemed presidents.
Comparison can creep into all sorts of areas of our lives– we compare finances, status, “likes” on social media, looks, job status, clothes, houses, cars, even shoes! And sometimes, it impacts our prayers. I know people who won’t pray in public because their prayers “aren’t good enough.” They fear that their prayers lack eloquence; that the people listening will be disappointed or bored or even amused or disdainful. And sometimes, I’m ashamed to say, they have reason for their fears! This should never be.
But it isn’t just public prayers that we compare.
I write about prayer; I’m very open about praying, and I receive a lot of prayer requests. I’m honored and glad to be able to share in praying for others. But every once in awhile, I hear from people that they want certain people to pray for them (as opposed to other people). They seek out “prayer warriors”– people who are viewed as being “better” at prayer than others. On the surface, this seems like a wonderful thing– some people are gifted with more time or more opportunity to pray–why not celebrate their gift or promote their ability?
But what about those who are not seen as “prayer warriors?” What about those whose prayers involve months and even years of crying out in groans and tears and unfulfilled hopes? What of those learning to pray?
We can easily fall into the bad habit of comparing our prayers– our style of praying, the amount of time we spend on our knees, the stories of answered prayer and miraculous outcomes, the number of people who come to us asking for prayer… And this can rob us of the joy of spending time with God! God loves each of us for who we are. And He wants to spend time with US– not our neighbor, or the sweet lady at church who prays so beautifully.
I love communal prayer– even though I know there are people who are terrified of praying in groups. I love to hear the individual voices and styles of those who come together to cry out to God. Some are short and sweet; some are convoluted and conversational; some are anguished and passionate– but all reflect God’s heart to communicate and interact with us, and to have us draw near to Him. He never pulls away from us when we stutter or stumble, or forget someone’s name or mix up a request. He patiently listens to our rambling; He reads the deeper heart of our short outbursts– He even hears our unintelligible moans and mumblings (see Romans 8:26)! And His heart is filled with compassion, love, and inexpressible, boundless joy as He hears the sound of one of His precious sheep.
Jesus described Himself as the “Good Shepherd.” He told the religious leaders of His day that the true sheep would recognize His voice over all others. And He spoke of the “thief” who comes only to kill and steal and destroy. This “thief”– Satan– uses certain tricks to steal our joy and take our focus away from God’s love and wisdom. One of his favorites is to whisper comparisons in our ear. And if we listen to his voice, we will begin to look around instead of up; to ourselves and our words, instead of God and the Word of God. But Satan does not use the voice of our Good Shepherd. His words do not bring safety and peace–they bring doubt and discontent.
God will not urge us to comparison– He will always urge us to Communion!
I write about prayer as a pursuit. Prayer is, at once, both simple and mysteriously complex.
It is a simple thing to pray–to direct one’s thoughts and words toward God. It is no more difficult than having a conversation with another person.
And yet it is not the same as talking to another person. God’s ways are not our ways. He is Holy, Sovereign, and Almighty. We come to God in need, but God has no “needs.” He has no need to confide in us, or ask for our help, or plead with us. Instead, He chooses to share with us His promises and His plans. He allows us to be part of His great work, and asks us to be His hands and feet and voice in this world. He pleads with us to come and spend time with Him and walk in relationship with Him.
I spent some time recently reviewing the life of George Muller. https://www.georgemuller.org/ George Muller was born over 200 years ago. He was, by his own admission, a liar and a thief in his early years. But when we came to Christ, his life changed dramatically. His life was a series of miracles that attested to his great faith and active practice of prayer. Muller founded several orphanages in England, and he did all of it through prayer. He never did traditional fund-raising: he never asked anyone for money or donations, he didn’t take out loans, he didn’t find “partners” or “sponsors” to pay for any of the needs. He simply prayed. He prayed for money to buy buildings. He prayed that God would send workers. He prayed for food and clothing and furniture that the children would need. And he vowed to take in any (and as many) children who came.
The stories of George Muller’s faith are legendary. He prayed for money to start one orphanage– he ended up with enough for several! He prayed for supplies– people came and gave furniture. Milk wagons broke down and the milk was donated to the orphanage. One story states that there was no food one morning. Muller prayed. Shortly afterward, he went to the door, and there, on the doorstep, lay a 50-lb. bag of rice. No one knows who left it or how it got there. God showed up in miracle after miracle in Muller’s life. And that doesn’t mean that his life was without struggle or heartache. He agonized over friends who were unsaved; he prayed for them over a period of years. One close friend remained unsaved until after Muller’s death. He experienced the heartbreak of losing his wife. But he was consistent in his witness about the power of prayer.
Muller prayed about everything– as we all should, all the time. (Philippians 4:6, 1Thessalonians 5:17) Little, seemingly unimportant things; huge, seemingly impossible things. God cares about them all. He is the Almighty– there is nothing so big (or so tiny) that He cannot do it! There is no heartache or struggle that He doesn’t want to hear about! Nothing can separate us from His Love (Romans 8:38). No matter what we’re going through, we can bring it to God.
But God’s ways– powerful, compassionate, miraculous– remain mysterious. We can trust that God will hear our prayers. But we cannot predict how, or when, or if He will let us see the answers we seek. Nor can we predict how God will use our simple prayers to impact the world around us! George Muller’s orphanages helped more than 2,000 homeless children survive, grow, and in many cases thrive and contribute to the lives of countless others. And the stories of his faith and the hundreds of small but significant miracles he experienced have inspired generations of people for more than a century and a half! And his story is not unique–we have an amazing “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) throughout history testifying to the power of God to hear and answer prayer in mysterious, miraculous, even mischievous ways! From finding lost keys to feeding multitudes; from protecting kittens to rescuing captives; from stretching budgets to saving souls– God’s ways are mysterious, Holy, and wholly good.
Prayer can be such a simple thing– and it can have eternal impact!
Pursuing Prayer 