Archive for January, 2010

House of Prayer

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He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves. – Matthew 21:13.

As the Scriptures declare in Isaiah 56:7 and Jesus echoes in Matthew, the temple of the Lord is to be called a house of prayer. In modern Christianity, we know the temple to be not a building, but each Christian (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 6:19) and the Church as a whole (2 Corinthians 6:16, Ephesians 2:19-21). Is the temple still called a house of prayer?

In Keith Drury’s The Wonder of Worship, he mentions that far more Christians believe in personal devotions than actually have them. He also tells of how corporate prayer has been suffering recently (especially in the Evangelical, non-mainline churches) and congregational participation in the public prayer is way down. Corporate prayer has gone from worshiping together with prayer to waiting for Pastor to get through the prayer request list so we can take our kids out to the children’s service or get a cappuccino before the sermon gets going.

The challenge then, quite simply, is developing each part of the body and the body itself to be houses of prayer. There are so many ways to do this. From a class I’m in right now, I’ve heard strategies such as physical reminders to pray, integrating the Lord’s prayer  into your day, praying more often, praying more conversationally, praying through a lectionary or other prayer guide, or following ancient church customs of praying at 3 to 9 set times per day. A Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster says that the best way to learn to pray is just simply to pray.

Praying is an absolutely vital piece of our worship to God, which is why the house of worship is also to be known as a house of prayer. A Korean pastor I heard speak once said that the only reason churches are flourishing in his country is because they have a sunrise prayer service every morning. It was vital to their survival. In the same way, we should treat prayer as absolutely vital to the survival or our faith and worship. We should be always in thanksgiving, praise, supplication, and confession, and listening for God’s next movement in our lives.

Pray without ceasing, says 1 Thessalonians 5:17, and although it sounds unattainably difficult, it is the goal set for us if we are ever to be known as houses of prayer.

-Zachariah

Give my life

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O Lord I give my life to you – Psalm 25:1.

David starts out the twenty-fifth Psalm with these simple yet weighty words. Behind the straightforward subject, verb, and object lies a deep implication. David isn’t interested in giving parts of his life to God… he is giving his life to God, in its entirety. Much in the way that you don’t give half a Christmas present, David isn’t giving a half gift.

I hear this theme echoed in the worship songs of today. For example, the extremely popular song “Mighty to Save” features the lyrics, “I give my life to follow everything I believe in.” People today still realize the importance of giving up their life to Christ, or else they wouldn’t care to sing about it. But there is still a bit of a disconnect between singing about something and applying it to life. Psalm 25 gives us three different components of our life that lead to total surrender, the giving up of our past, present, and future.

Past

Surrendering your life means letting God follow through with His unfailing love and letting Him remember you not according to the rebellious sins of your youth, but in the light of His unfailing love and mercy (Ps. 25:7). Despite your many sins, they are atoned for, so that the name of God is lifted high and His power and love are known. (Ps. 25:11).

Present

Giving your life means coming alongside God as a friend who will teach you His ways and promises if you have respect for Him and His holiness. (Ps. 25:14) He is leading with love if we will follow with obedience (Ps. 25:10). We must keep our eyes ever on the Lord in the surrendered lifestyle.

Future

God endures with His promises, and He lays out for us the path to follow in the times to come. (Ps. 25:4,8,12). David writes that He is continually leading us down the path of righteousness “with unfailing love and faithfulness,” so long as we obey His demands (Ps. 25:10).

These are really just a few hints about achieving the total surrender that is a lifetime and takes a lifetime to accomplish. Continue to think on the extent that your life should be wholly surrendered and make the tweaks necessary to shape your life around God’s design for it.

-Zachariah

Clear distinction

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In Exodus 7-12, Moses is given ten different plagues to demonstrate God’s power and discredit the power of the Egyptian gods. Early on in the plagues, Pharaoh’s magicians could easily duplicate the plagues by their own dark magicks, causing water to turn to blood and frogs to arise, but then they failed to produce gnats. Very quickly there was a clear distinction between the powers of God and the powers that the Egyptians relied on.

Later on in the plagues, God makes a clear distinction between His people and the Egyptians. The plague of flies only affected the Egyptians (Exodus 8:20-23) and the death of livestock only affected Egyptian livestock (Exodus 9:1-4). Goshen, the region the Israelites occupied, was the only place spared in the hailstorm (Exodus 9:26) and the plague of darkness (Exodus 10:21-23). The Israelites also were clearly made distinct in the passover that killed the firstborns males.

God also has a host of purposes throughout the plagues. He wants to show that He is Lord and present in the land of the Israelites (Exodus 8:22). He wants the Egyptians to recognize that there is no one like Him in all the earth (Exodus 9:14). He wants to show His power and spread His fame throughout the earth (Exodus 9:16). He wants to display miracles among those who are outside of His chosen people (Exodus 10:1) and leave a legacy that is told throughout the generations of God’s chosen people (Exodus 10:2).

The primary purpose that God has in all of this, despite all these already great purposes existing, was to make a clear distinction between His people and the people of the world. He explicitly tells of which miracles point out this distinction. In the end, the Israelites become physically removed and distinct from the Egyptians, leaving to be their own country in the Promised Land.

From history we know that Israel did have problems with staying clearly distinct from pagan neighbors, and this got them into trouble through the years (See Ezekiel 22:26 and context). From the New Testament we know that even under the New Covenant of Jesus’ blood, we are to be clearly distinct from the world around us who has not yet been grafted into the family of God. Romans 12:2 is a commonly quoted passage on this topic, but 1 John 2:15-17, James 4:4, Ephesians 2:1-10, and Jesus’ High Priest prayer in John 17 all have great things to say about the difference that is and should be between the world and the family of God. Paul goes as far in Galatians 6:14 to say that the world is crucified to him and he to the world.

The challenge or real life application of today’s post is clear distinction. What are you doing, what am I doing, what are we doing that sets us apart from the world? In what ways are we shining as only Christ’s light can shine? How are our words and actions reflecting the difference Christ has made in our lives? Are we living clearly distinct?

For me, and maybe you too, this is a difficult challenge. So often we are just like our pagan neighbors, focused on selfish and material things, rather than selfless things and holy things, and when this is the case Christianity takes a backseat because it isn’t anything new or different to those who get it. We know this is otherwise; our personal worlds are changed by Christ… but is that being clearly demonstrated in our lives?

The challenge is deep, but the cost of being indistinct is lives. The lives around us who are not seeing the example we should be of Christ to them.

-Zachariah

Focus and purpose

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So Moses does what God tells him to and demands that Pharaoh let the Hebrews go and worship in the desert, but the Pharaoh sees this action as a sign of Israelite laziness and increases their workload. This gets the Israelites angry at Moses, on top of the Pharaoh himself being upset at Moses.

So Moses, like a standard Judeo-Christian, turns the blame to God. Exodus 5:22-23 tells us he “went back to the Lord and protested, ‘Why have You brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did You send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!’”

Ever had the nerve to tell God that He’s doing nothing in your situation? Probably. I’m pretty sure I have too. But take a look at the exchange between God and Moses here. Moses is focusing on all the things he has done and all the things he thinks God isn’t doing.

God takes this in Exodus 6 and reverses the focus, putting the emphasis on what He was doing and giving it a purpose. He says that He is aware of His covenant with the Israelites (Ex. 6:5), He’s going to free them and rescue them, and He will redeem them with His powerful arm (Ex. 6:6).

The purpose behind this redemption and rescue and giving of the promised land (Ex. 6:8) is so that the people of God, chosen by Him, will know that He is the Lord their God who freed them from their oppression (Ex. 6:7). In Exodus 6:7, God doesn’t say they will know that He is the Lord God, but the “Lord your God.” The purpose is personal: salvation so that they knew He was their God in a divine relationship with them.

Not only do we have this story readily available in our Bibles, but we also have stories time and time again of God making Himself known as a personal God by saving His people, climaxing in the ultimate salvation of the sacrificial atonement of Christ saving all who believe.

Down in chapter seven, God lays out how the Moses-Aaron partnership will work. The amazing part of this is how the events line up. If you read through Exodus 7:1-5, first God tells Moses what to say, then Moses tells Aaron what to say, then Aaron tells this to Pharaoh. But God hardens the heart of Pharaoh for the purpose of multiplying the signs and wonders that point us to Him and then God brings down his fist and rescues the Israelites while also enacting justice on the Egyptians. And in this chain of events, both Israelites and Egyptians were going to know that God is Lord. Even though the actors in the story did work in delivering a message to Pharaoh, everything starts at God for His purposes and is finished by God for His purposes.

My Psalm reading today was Psalm 23. You’ve probably heard this Psalm before… “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” So, I want to just touch on a few themes I see. The first is providence. In the NLT, I shall not want is translated as “I have all that I need” (Ps. 23:1). God also provides strength (Ps. 23:3), a feast, and an overflow of blessings (Ps. 23:5). Secondly is presence. He is leading each of us (Ps. 23:2), is close beside us (Ps. 23:4), and is in pursuit of us with goodness and unfailing love every day (Ps. 23:6). Also, the Psalmist writes that we will live in the Lord’s house forever (Ps. 23:7). Lastly is purpose. Much like above in Exodus, God actions have purpose. It says in Psalm 23:3 that the guidance He give brings honor to His name. Psalm 23:6 confirms that unfailing love and goodness are driving forces behind the tender, Shepherd-like care that God provides. Providence, presence, purpose. They all start with the letter “P”, which is a memory trick, so you have almost no excuse for forgetting these truths of God.

I hope today’s post helps you think about your focus in the way you live life and serve God, and reminded you of the purposes of God that shine through and drive our actions if we are loving Him and keeping His commands.

-Zachariah

This post is retroblogged. I published it after the date the devotional goes with, but adjusted the date to fit the blog calendar.

Send anyone else

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Exodus 4 puts us right in the middle of an argument between God and Moses. God is calling Moses to confront Pharaoh and tell him to let the people of Israel go. Moses continues to argue that he is not a good public speaker. But God turns the tables against Moses in Exodus 4:11-12:

The the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.

And again Moses pleads, “Please, send anyone else!” So God bring Aaron into the picture, but there is a catch. Moses still has to come along for the ride, and Aaron will only say what Moses tells him. Moses still has to do the speaking, it’s just going to be heard through Aaron.

Long story short, as much as Moses begged God to send someone else, God still found a way to send him. We can fight our calling, but God is the one who decides who will speak and who will hear. God will use us to His purpose and glory, even if we may not plan on it. Each of us has a specific calling on our lives, and God cannot send anyone else to do it. Only you can accomplish your purpose, and only I can accomplish mine. The question is how much we will rise up to accomplish it. Moses hid behind the Aaron, and Aaron convinced the elders who in turn convinced the Israelites that they were going back to the promised land. Are we hiding from letting God use us? Are we telling God “no”?

-Zachariah