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Archive for the ‘General Discipleship’ Category

Gaining Greater Confidence in Prayer

Posted in Devotional Prayer, General Discipleship, tagged , , , on January 7, 2013 |

As some of you may know, I work as the Director of House of Prayer Edmonton (HoPE). Each week we choose a Scripture as a specific focus for devotional prayer and this past week we were looking at Psalm 33; therefore I want to share a few thoughts from Psalm 33 on how we can develop greater confidence in our prayers.

The Psalm opens with several verses exhorting us to praise God (v. 1-5) and then describes why God is worthy of such praise.

By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.  The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.  From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind;from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth… -v. 6-14 (selections)

The Psalm continues with the incredible promise that “the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine” (v. 18-19).

Here’s what struck me: the entire focus is on who God is, not on who we are! When we pray we are speaking to the one and only true God who formed the universe, who watches all the plans of world leaders and establishes His plans for the earth. He is the God who ‘sees all mankind’ and ‘considers everything they do’ and who has ‘unfailing love’ for us.

The way to develop greater confidence in prayer is to focus on the truth of who God is, as revealed to us in the Scripture. The Psalmist (likely King David) is speaking about God’s ability to deliver people from the most dire circumstances -famine and death! In the midst of such circumstances, David emphasizes the nature and character of God. This may seem impractical to out modern western minds, however nothing could be further from the truth. We have a great ability to focus on ourselves and our immediate surroundings; just think about most people’s conversations at the local donut shop! We love to recount our circumstances and problems that we are facing. The problem is, that focus will actually weaken our confidence and even our motivation to pray!

When our perspective is on God’s power to form the entire universe, his continual involvement in the realities of the world, and his unfailing love towards us, we will have greater confidence in our prayers. This confidence can grow to the point where we are able to rejoice and trust God (v. 21), even in the most challenging circumstances of life!

I will conclude with verse 22:

May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

Amen!

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The Glory of Ministering to God

Posted in General Discipleship, Intercessory Prayer, tagged , , on March 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

One of the most glorious aspects of our identity as Christians is that we are allowed and invited to minister to the eternal God of all creation! It is also one of the least talked about and least understood aspects of our relationship with God.

Revelation 5:10 says “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” As Christians we have a priestly role as the ones who will serve and minister to God. For most believers this sounds good but also a bit mysterious and usually is relegated to something that ‘we’ll figure out when we get there’!

We may not fully grasp the magnitude and nature of this identity and role until the age to come, but it is critical for us to grow in our understanding of this now, in this age, because it has significant consequences for our lives.

King David was one of the first people who really understood this reality. The Lord spoke about it in great detail to David and called him to set up a worship and prayer ministry that came to be known as the ‘tabernacle of David’. Essentially, David set up the first night and day house of prayer, where singers, musicians and intercessors came together and ministered before God in different shifts, and it continued literally 24 hours a day!

There is a lot to say on this topic but let me offer the following summary to stir your thinking:

  1. In King David’s day, the tribe of Levi was set apart for this priestly ministry: “…the LORD chose them (the Levites) to minister before him forever.” -1 Chron. 15:2
  2. In Isaiah’s day, the Lord revealed that his desire was that Gentiles (non Jews) would also be invited into this priestly role as those who would minister before the Lord. “And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him…these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer.” -Isaiah 56:6-7
  3. Jesus came to announce that the Kingdom of Heaven was coming to the earth and told us to pray: “…your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” -Matt. 6:10. This makes it clear that God wants to be ministered to on earth as he is ministered to in heaven.

Let me recap what I’m getting at:

  1. God has said that he desires to have people come before him and minister before him forever and enjoy his infinite glory and splendor.
  2. Since he wants this to continue forever, it means this desire did not stop with the establishment of the new covenant and it is still God’s desire in 2011! God’s plan has been to make it possible for non-Jewish people to be able to serve the Lord in this priestly way.

This is an honor and privilege beyond description! If you went up to the 24 elders in heaven who are gathered in worship around the throne of God, there is NOTHING you could offer them that would tempt them to even consider leaving their role of ministering before God!

We need a greater revelation of the glory and splendor of the God that we love and serve and the honor that has been given to us to come and minister before Him!

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An Urgent Call to Kneel in Order to Stand

Posted in General Discipleship, Prophetic Prayer, tagged , , , , on March 14, 2011 | 1 Comment »

World events in recent days and weeks require a sober-minded response on the part of Christians and especially Christian leaders.

There are many thoughts and responses by Christian leaders to the Japan earthquake, just as there were many responses to the earthquake in Haiti and New Zealand. In recent months and years many people have quoted Jesus’ prophetic declaration in Matthew 24:7-8 “There will be famines and  earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” Any time you have people writing and speaking about interpreting world events in relation to the ‘end times’ you have guaranteed controversy, so it is with a sigh and a groan that I wade into these topics.

What is on my heart is the response that Jesus himself called for among Christian believers: “Therefore keep watch (and pray) because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” -Matt. 24:42

Here are a few ‘obvious observations’ from Jesus’ dialogue about the end of the age in Matthew 24:

  1. Jesus gave numerous descriptions of the signs of the times, so that we would know them and look for them (see Matt. 24:6-25). He event says ‘”See, I have told you ahead of time” (v. 25)
  2. Jesus told us to learn lessons from the signs in world events. “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: as soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out you know that summer is near. Even so, when see all these things, you know that it (he) is near, right at the door.” (v.32)
  3. Jesus also was clear that nobody will know the specific time of the return of the Lord. “No one knows about that day or hour” (v. 36), and “…the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (v.44)
  4. Jesus wants us to respond to the signs of world events by entering into PRAYER. “Therefore keep watch (and pray) because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (v. 42). Also, Jesus clearly says that he is looking for believers who will be ‘faithful and wise servants’ (v. 45) and that the activity of waiting and praying is what distinguishes the wise from the foolish believers.

Now I want to be very practical and specific at this point: The majority of Christians find it difficult to spend extended periods of time in prayer, by themselves. The reality of the human condition is that we need community. We need to be part of communities of believers who will gather together to watch and pray. If we are going to actually respond in the way that Jesus is calling us to respond, the majority of us will need to find some expression of a community of people who are seeking to go deep in prayer. Yes, some people will be able to do this on their own, and solitary times of prayer are vital and important, however the majority of Christian believers need the support of others around them in order to truly enter into the reality of diligent waiting and prayer before the Lord.

There must be a clear voice that sounds an alarm about the times that we are living in and are heading toward: The days ahead are going to become more difficult and perilous that anything that we have yet seen and we MUST alter the way that we live in order to begin to live lives that Jesus would describe to be faithful and wise.

Right now God is raising up houses of prayer in cities and nations around the world. Many of these are communities of people who are taking the call to prayer and worship seriously. I want to urge you to work to find a local house of prayer in the area where you live and actually get involved and begin to watch and pray! The time for merely talking about how important prayer is but not actually doing it is over! Jesus has warned us that if we do not respond and live as wise and faithful servants who watch and pray then our love for God will grow cold and many will end up being offended at God. However, to the ones who will enter into lives of prayer and worship and extended times of waiting on the Lord will be be able to stand firm to the end and they will be saved! (see Matt. 24:13)

This is NOT a response that is based out of fear; it is the only way to live free from fear in the days ahead! Jesus told us many of the signs to look for and told us ahead of time what to expect, so that we would not be “alarmed”, or full of fear. A lifestyle of prayer and worship is the pathway to live in confidence before God, able to rest in the revelation of his love and sovereign power.

I conclude with a sobering question: How would Jesus describe your lifestyle right now? Are you living as a ‘faithful and wise servant’? These are the questions I am asking myself as I look at my own life! This is the time to throw ourselves into lives of waiting on the Lord in prayer and worship and to call everyone around us to do the same.

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Fixed on Beauty

Posted in Devotional Prayer, General Discipleship, Spiritual Disciplines, tagged , on January 26, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Last week while I was at the House of Prayer Edmonton prayer room there was a specific phrase that I sensed the Holy Spirit highlighting to me. It was a spontaneous worship chorus that was being sung at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (via webstream)

I don’t want to be entertained by the things of the world; I want to be fixed on beauty

This was in the midst of a week when we were focusing on Psalm 27. In Ps. 27:4 King David writes:

One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. (italics added)

Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for entertainment; and no, I do NOT think God exists for my entertainment; far from it! However, here’s the point I’d like to make: We often use entertainment as a means to relax and to renew us. Especially here in western society it is a high value to spend as much time as possible ‘relaxing’ or to use a more common phrase, ‘to chill out’. When we have had a hard, busy week what do we like to do? We want to ‘chill out’ and that almost always involves various forms of entertainment.

What if God was to give us a new paradigm of what it means to ‘chill out’? For most people, to ‘chill out’ almost always means to disengage and mentally check out from everything. But what if we were renewed and restored by being spiritually and mentally engaged with God? What would it look like to be renewed by being fixed on beauty?

I want to suggest that this is exactly how King David lived and what he described in Psalm 27:4. The context of Psalm 27 is during a very  stressful time in David’s life. His anxiety levels were high and he was surely very preoccupied with what was happening around him. Yet his response was to take extended time to ‘gaze upon the beauty of the Lord’. David lived his life being inwardly renewed by fixing his gaze on the beauty of God.

Think about your week. What will you do on the weekend, or whenever you have time for a break? What role does entertainment have in your life? Does it renew you?

Now I would like to be clear about this: I’m not speaking against good, legitimate forms of entertainment. The problem is that very often we settle for spending so much time on lesser things in the hope that they will renew and restore us that we have little time and patience for what promises to renew us: God himself. The apostle Paul writes that we are designed in such a way that we are renewed according to the true knowledge of God our Creator (Col. 3:10).

I want to encourage you to take time to think about this. The implications are significant. The Scriptures make a bold promise: that you and I will find our greatest fulfillment and inward renewal when we gaze (meaning contemplate or meditate) on God himself!

We need to become more and more like King David, as people who are fixed on beauty!

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Billy Graham’s Thoughts on Prayer Pt. 2

Posted in General Discipleship, Prophetic Prayer, tagged , , , , , on January 23, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Recently Rev. Billy Graham, the famous evangelist, gave a rare interview during which he reflected on his life and expressed his desire to have spent much more time in prayer and worship. In my previous post I wrote about how stunning this quote was in light of all that God has done through his ministry over the years.

While I cannot know what it is like to be 92 years old, as Billy Graham is, one thing is clear: at that age a person spends a lot of time reflecting back on their life but even more time thinking about what lies ahead: eternity with God. The reality is this: our view of the future greatly impacts our present; or put another way, our view of the next age (meaning eternity after we die) greatly impacts our view of the present age.

In these days, God is raising up a world-wide prayer and worship movement on a scale never seen before in history. As we move closer and closer to the time of Christ’s return, the area that the Lord is emphasizing strongly is that of prayer and worship. This is not surprising when we look at Jesus’ words in Luke 18:

And the Lord (Jesus) said, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?“  -Luke 18:6-8

In the context of talking about night and day prayer Jesus asks the question about whether there will be faith on the earth when he returns. This refers to faith in relationship to prayer. Jesus is asking a rhetorical question. He knows the answer, but he is asking it in order to make a strong point. Jesus himself drew the connection between night and day prayer being raised up in the earth and his return.

Again in my previous post, I pointed out that time is a ‘non-renewable’ resource so it is very important that we spend it wisely. Are we investing our time in the things that Jesus values? Are we listening and responding to what the Holy Spirit is saying to believers (the Church) and investing our time accordingly?

I believe strongly that the Holy Spirit is raising up Houses of Prayer all around the world in these days and calling Christians to participate in communities of night and day prayer and worship. Many years ago a prophetic man named Bob Jones heard the Lord refer to these communities of prayer as ‘the house(s) of the watchful and the wise’. At the time of Jesus’ return, he is looking for ‘wise and faithful servants’ (Matt. 24:45).

Here’s the thing about these houses of prayer that God is raising up: they are primarily about expressions of extravagant love and adoration for Jesus Christ our great and beautiful King and Savior who we long see return to the earth. Worship is at the heart of the house of prayer. These communities do works of justice but as expressions of love for Jesus. These communities spend much time in worship and prayer, but as expressions of their deep and abiding passion for Jesus. Billy Graham’s comment about wishing that he has spend more time in prayer, study and meditation, comes from a heart that longs for Jesus. Think about what he said:

I’d spend more time in meditation and prayer telling the Lord how much I love him and adore him and looking forward to the time we are going to spend together for eternity.

Here is a man who is looking ahead to eternity and wishing that he had spent his time differently in this age. There are so many ways for us to spend our time; so many activities that we can give ourselves to. Many things pull us away from the kind of activity that Billy Graham is speaking about. We are living in a historic period in history where God is raising up communities of people who are standing together to give themselves to lives of worship, prayer and meditation on God’s Word. I consider it an incredible honor to be living at time where these ‘houses of prayer’ are being established all over the world. We can connect with others who are hearing the prompting of the Spirit to give themselves to prayer and worship and we can strengthen each other in pursuit of the very lifestyle that Billy Graham spoke of.

How are we spending our time? Are we spending it in ways that we will regret later in life?

Take some time to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you about this issue. Ask yourself, “how am I going to respond to what God is saying to me?”

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