A Correct Prayer Attitude

Posted on November 12, 2008 by Henry Neufeld

A song of ascents.

1To you we lift up our eyes,
You who live in heaven.
2As the eyes of slaves turn to the hand of their master,
As the eyes of a maid looks to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to our God until he shows us favor.
3Show us favor, YHWH,
For we have had more than enough contempt.
4Our souls are satiated
— on the mocking of those at ease.
— on the contempt of the arrogant.  — Psalm 123

Is there a correct attitude for prayer?

Many people have rigid standards for how to pray, the type of language, the attitude one must have toward God, things that one must ask for–or not.  Who must be addressed (Jesus, Father, Holy Spirit), and how much praise and thankfulness is needed as opposed to requests.

In teaching about prayer, the vast majority of questions center around things one should or should not do.  It’s a great deal like learning how to approach a powerful figure, a king, or even just your boss.  What does he like to hear?  What does he hate hearing?  What is likely to open his ears to your request?

But I have found that Biblical prayers tend to confound our best ideas of how to pray.  There are, of course, instructions on how to approach prayer.  There’s the Lord’s prayer, for example, which focuses us on the success of God’s kingdom and just on our basic needs, with the emphasis there on spiritual needs.  Paul talks a great deal about thanksgiving.

But almost any idea that I may have about how to approach God is certain to be confounded somewhere in scripture.  Somebody, somewhere is going to pray in a way that I find theologically questionable.

Psalm 123 is a theologically questionable prayer, but it’s one that comes from the heart.  Many Christians will tell you that if you are being mocked and reviled you should “suck it in” and take it.  It’s not important what people think of you.  After all, Jesus told us that the persecuted were blessed (Matthew 5:10).  Get with the program!  Take in your blessing!

But then you have Psalm 123.  There’s no thankfulness.  There’s just a cry for help because the people are reviled and mocked.  You can imagine what might be behind it.  Perhaps this comes from the time of the exile or after.  There may be plenty of physical deprivation and injury behind it.  But the cry is because they are despised.  They are quite satiated on being despised.  The word used is the same as one would use for being full and satisfied after a meal.

And God saw fit to have this prayer recorded for us in the Bible.  I think that’s because he wants us to know that whatever is bothering us is important enough to take to him.  We may be whining, but that’s OK.  God isn’t going to get angry at us because of that.  We can cry out for mercy regarding anything at all that is bothering us.

God can even fix the way you present your prayers.  He hears better than we can possibly pray!

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Light

Posted on November 10, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

33”Nobody lights a lamp in order to hide it, but rather to put it on a lampstand, so those who enter can see the light.

34Your eye is the body’s lamp. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be well lit. But if it is unhealthy, then your body will be darkened. 35Be careful that the light that is in you isn’t actually darkness. 36If then your whole body is well-lit, and doesn’t have any part that is dark, all will be lighted as when the bright beam of a lamp lights you up.”

Luke 11:33-36 (Henry Neufeld Translation)

I don’t turn on a light and then cover it with a blanket. I put it on a table between the couch and the chair so that Henry and I can both use it to read or play Sudoku. Light is not just a ‘theory’. It is to be a useful and used part of my life.

It is with my eyes that I bring information into my life. It isn’t the only way but it is probably the most used way that I gain information. If I bring useful information into my life, my life will be constructive and positive. That doesn’t mean that I avoid reality. It is that I choose to bring healthy information into my life. I see world events as opportunities for prayer, not as a barometer of my future. I look for ways to improve my internal health not focus on violence as a 60 minute entertainment fix. Sex is about love not about instant gratification that is beyond my control.

As I sit in the break room where I work, a day rarely goes by that someone doesn’t discuss a TV show that I have never seen or rave about a movie that I had not even considered watching. Many might think that my eyesight is narrow and lacking a broad enough scope or even balance. For me it is a very practical consideration that I only have so many minutes in the day and I am carefully choosing how I fill that time. I have also become sensitive that how I spend my time effects …how I spend my time! It is that old saying that “garbage in produces garbage out!” If I fill my mind with sad and destructive ‘stuff’ then my mind replays and rewinds that information, leaving my thoughts stuck in a pit! If I receive encouraging and uplifting ‘stuff’ then my mind dwells on those thoughts and new possibilities and opportunities seem to spark from this overflow!

Very often this passage of Scripture can be seen as so spiritual that the practical, basic premise is missed. We consider how we should look with our spiritual eyes and grasp the deep ‘light’ of God and forget that within a day we take in gallons of more surface information that can drown our spiritual eyes in darkness before they even get a chance to open! Yes, it is good to consider how God may be moving in this moment of my life but let me not look so far into the heaven-lies that I miss how Jesus is walking right in this moment!

For every hour that I spend crying out to God to reveal Himself, may I spend two hours thanking Him for the numerous ways He blesses me with good health and sunshine. For every moment that I receive a vision of God’s plan, may I spend minutes just being obedient without demanding first an explanation.

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)

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Backbiters!

Posted on November 7, 2008 by Henry Neufeld

28Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers, 30backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. – Romans 1:28-32 (WEB, emphasis mine)

[Love] doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. – 1 Corinthians 13:6 (WEB)

(This is Henry)

Yesterday while driving home with Jody from her work, I commented on the stories that have been passed around about Sarah Palin by anonymous staffers in the campaign. It’s not Democrats or liberals who are starting these stories—it’s people who are supposed to be on her side. There’s no benefit in it, whether the stories are true or not. How does one deal with anonymous stories? It’s impossible to respond. It’s simply malicious—saying nasty things because one is feeling hurt pride and, well, nasty!

This isn’t a political column, however. What occurred to me after that conversation is that I have seen things that are equally nasty in churches amongst believers. Gossip, and indeed slander, is pernicious. It’s so easy to get caught up in it. It’s so easy for stories to get twisted and even turn into something so false that one has trouble figuring out how it started. Gossip is often anonymous, or the names involved get into such a long change that nobody is sure any more. I like the word the World English Bible uses—backbiting. It really describes what’s going on.

And gossip is hard to resist. People come and tell us a story and it’s just so interesting, and we don’t really feel hostile to that person, so what’s really wrong with it. Besides, we don’t want to judge the person who’s telling us the story either, do we?

The political folks have a good excuse, at least in their view for passing on gossip. First, it’s “news” that the story existed. They’re not passing on unsubstantiated gossip; they’re telling the story of an anonymous aid and how he’s behaving. Then the next news outlet isn’t really passing on gossip; they’re just telling us how some other news outlet is passing on this unsubstantiated rumor. Horrors! Yet at the same time, the rumor is repeated.

Our church excuse is often prayer. “I don’t want to be a gossip; I’m just telling you this so that you can pray for the person more specifically.” Ask yourself whether God might not already know “more specifically” about that person than you do, and all you need to do in prayer is mention their name.

In Romans 1, Paul is pointing out how truly wicked the gentile world actually is. In chapter 2 he’ll get around to pointing out the failures of the Jewish world before making sure in chapter 3 that we understand that nobody—neither gentile nor Jew—gets it right.

That list of sins I quoted above is not designed as some catalog of things that are wrong. It’s the evidence Paul is presenting to show that the human attempt at righteousness is a failure. And one evidence of the failure of human righteousness is gossiping, backbiting, or slandering.

The response, of course, is the Holy Spirit in our lives, which will lead us to 1 Corinthians 13, a chapter many of us, myself certainly, need to read daily. We hear Romans 1 preached very frequently about homosexuality, but we need to hear it speak to us about our temptations and our sins. I’m going to guess that many more readers of this devotional are tempted to gossip than are tempted by same-sex lusts. In 1 Corinthians 12-14, we often hear the gifts of the Spirit as the topic, with efforts to catalog the gifts, decide how they are to be used. Alternatively, we hear love preached from 1 Corinthians 13 without regard to chapters 12 and 14. But here Paul is not talking directly about gifts; he’s talking about how the Holy Spirit works in a congregation.

In whatever case, he’s telling us, the work of the Spirit is characterized by love. If the Holy Spirit is working in you by love, He will not by gossiping and slandering. Self-sacrificing love is the defining characteristic of the true work of the Holy Spirit.

Conversely, the one way you can manifest true, self-sacrificing love is if God’s Spirit does it through you.

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Just and Right for All

Posted on November 6, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people.

2 Samuel 8:15 (NIV)

This one line in the middle of this book jumped at me today. David had power over all of Israel. This was not because he was ‘high profile’ because he was on TV every night or had stories running every day in the local newspapers and magazines! He had sovereignty because he was God’s anointed ruler and the people (even the enemies) believed in the power of YHWH! They had HOLY FEAR and true HOLY WORSHIP!

David did what was honorable and moral in all his decisions for his people, for all his people. I am reminded of an American president, Abraham Lincoln, who had ‘sway’ during one of the most divisive periods in our country’s history. He not only had to navigate the country through a civil war but he also had to think about setting the country on a course of healing. I have often wondered if he had lived would it have taken 143 years for our country to elect a black president. President Lincoln refused to punish the Confederate leaders but instead sent them home so they could begin spring planting. Again, I wonder if his plans to financially help them would have helped them to move on and begin with a new philosophy of living. Instead, at Lincoln’s death the ‘helping hand’ was withdrawn and the southern states took decades to recover, leaving bitterness and hate. 143 years…May I again say to myself how important it is for me to pray for my president and leaders! May they make honorable and moral decisions for all the people!

David also did what was true and best for his all his people. I look at that sentence and I think of what I read in the media. David did what was just or true. He didn’t do something and then ‘spin’ it so it sounded like the truth. It was true! I wonder if his son, Solomon, growing up with this example – maybe that was why he asked God for wisdom. He wanted to also do what was best.

How do you know what is best? I think that is a good question. When I think about being the president and having the responsibility to make decisions for over 300 million people – ‘overwhelmed’ doesn’t begin to describe it! I’ve heard candidates say they were ‘bitten by the presidential bug’. I believe that means that people may have a ‘call’! When I am doing my ‘call job’ – I am past happy! I can be busy and multi-tasking and I and physically or mentally tired but I am happy! When I am working and listening to God and doing what He wants every step of the way – I am doing what is best. David gives us a great look at how to (and how not to) listen to God and do what’s best. And there’s the answer. God knows what is best because He can see it all. He gives me a brain to use for knowledge and His Spirit to give me wisdom and faith to trust Him.

God didn’t call me to be queen or president but if I seek Him then, within my call, I will be doing what is just and right for all the people He puts in my path.

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God, President-elect Obama, and Me

Posted on November 5, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;

a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.

You love righteousness and hate wickedness;

therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions

by anointing you with the oil of joy. Psalm 45:6-7 (NIV)

Last night was history-making for our country. In my life time our country has gone from horrific racism to now electing a black American as president. Amazing! I watched Pastor T. D. Jakes struggle to control his tears as he remembered his grandfather being killed just because he was a negro and now he sees the 44th President of the United States will be Barack Obama.

This Scripture and so many others have spoke to me the last few months about how God is on the throne of heaven and His Kingdom will have no end. God speaks to us whether we are Republican or Democrat, black or white, national leaders or leaders in whatever area God has ordained. God will speak to President Obama just as He faithfully spoke to President Bush and the 42 presidents before them. Will he listen? Well, that’s a question I ask myself every night when I go to bed: Did I listen to You today, Lord? Did I hear You and obey? Did I please You, Lord?

So let us pray. Let us pray for ourselves and our leaders. Let us rejoice that God knows what He is doing and that I have an opportunity to pray and serve my country…on my knees.

Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain…

For this God is our God, for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.

Psalm 48:1, 14 (NIV)

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God’s Plan is My Plan

Posted on November 4, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority.

Luke 4:31-32 (NIV)

Have you heard good preachers and teachers? Have you just wanted to sit and sit and just listen? Fill notebooks with the wisdom that they share? Go and mull over the words, letting them take root in your life and grow some good fruit? And know you can go back and soak up some more?

The people of Capernaum brought sick and dying people to Jesus and He healed. (vv. 40-41) They also brought their agendas to Him! They had a plan for Him. “Stay with us, Jesus. We love what You say and do! You’re the best!” They wanted to plan Jesus’ itinerary – direct His course. They had a good idea to keep Jesus in their town. It wasn’t God’s idea however.

At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, “I preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” vv.42-43

Jesus resisted the flattery and pull of the people and stayed to the course that the Father had given Him. Could all these people be wrong? YES! Jesus turned His back on that pastorate call and followed God’s will. He left some sick people not healed and some questioning people not taught so He could follow the call that was just for Him – unique to Him from the Father. He trusted that the Father had the plan and would care for those people left behind – in the Father’s time and plan for them.

God has called me to a path that is unique to me. There are many good ways to use my God-given gifts but only on God-way. When I walk in the middle of God’s way, there is His peace, His abundance in the fruit produced – the path has His characteristics and glorifies only Him!

Remember the story of Jesus showing Peter how to fish? (Luke 5) Jesus tells the fisherman, Peter, to put out into the deep water. Now Peter has fished all night and caught…nothing! He’s tired and wants breakfast and his bed – not more work!

Maybe as he throws the net out as Jesus instructed him, the net touches the water, he looks back over his should at Jesus like – “WHATEVER!” And Jesus begins to slowly smile because He knows Peter is about to get his arms yanked!

Within minutes, the boat is filled with flopping fish! Peter doesn’t care about the smelly fish – He only cares about how bad he smells!

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” Luke 5:8 (NIV)

Jesus has no intention of doing that. He doesn’t abandon us – especially when we realize how much we need Him! He uses us, teaching us what we need to know to fulfill His call on our lives.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” v. 10 (NIV)

Let us keep our eyes on Jesus and our hands to the plow and stay the path that is in the plan from the Father.

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Jesus Knows Me…and Loves me

Posted on November 3, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” John 4:39 (NIV)

How much ‘stuff’ has God forgiven in you? Is there anything you think He cannot forgive? The Sunday School answer is “Of course not!” But is there anything in that dark corner of your life that you do not even want to think about – much less confess? It seems so awful that you don’t even want to give it words and description?

Jesus spoke to this woman. She may have been the one that ‘good Jews’ knew far and near. The one they mentioned when they wanted to feel good about themselves. “Well I have been divorced but not five times like her!” Jesus spoke to her. Being God He probably came to the well at that hour just for her. He does that. Jesus’ words are like rain on a thirsty flower. It changes the flower from droopy and half dead to tall and alive! His love, His healing love can change your life.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. Ephesians 1:3-8 (NIV)

See those words – God has blessed us with all. He chose us before He created the world! God chose to give us His grace – which is undeserved love – freely. No strings attached! The most awesome part of this love is He sent Himself in the flesh – Jesus – to provide a way for us to live with Him by His death on the cross – the atonement for our sins.

Jesus knows everything about us. There are no dark corners that He cannot see. He knows. But when we put the words to that dark corner and tell Jesus about that darkness inside ourselves, He looks at us, not with contempt or disgust but with eyes of love and LIGHT comes into our life. It’s a feeling of peace and of feeling clean. Like the woman of Samaria, we want to tell everyone about the One who knows me … and loves me.

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Jesus: God and Man, a mystery

Posted on October 31, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

The mystery of my Christian faith that is most difficult for me to understand is: Jesus is God and Jesus is man. I find myself focusing on His divine nature; the miracles, wise words, death and resurrection. I miss the human side of Jesus. The side that makes Him a more real and true One who is example and friend.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. Matthew 3:13 (NIV)

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. John 2:1-2 (NIV)

Did Jesus need to be baptized by John? Of course not. Then why did He do it? Matthew tells us as he recounts that God spoke as Jesus came from the water. This was His Son that He loved and He was pleased with Him. He was pleased with Jesus’ obedience. He was pleased that Jesus was showing us about obedience and about the joy of baptism…that moment when you show that you have become God’s child. I was baptized as an infant. My parents stood for me and dedicated my life to God. About 12+ years ago, I made the decision that Jesus was my Savior and I needed a savior! So I decided to go through baptism again. It was a joyous sacrament, the outward sign of my inward change.

Jesus had just gone through baptism then 40 days of satan’s temptation followed by choosing His disciples and then where did He go? To the temple? Back to the desert for some more prayer? Nope. He goes to a wedding. A wedding??? Jesus was on the guest list. Why do you invited someone to your wedding? Maybe because they are a famous acquaintance? Jesus wasn’t famous. He had done no miracles to this point. He was still just ‘the carpenter’. Maybe because they are a friend; someone you want to celebrate this important day with you? People liked being with Jesus. Not because He was God. (They didn’t know that!) He was a good friend to people who probably had known Him for many years. He was a true friend.

Jesus showed me how to be a good person. He didn’t need to study the Torah and go to church but He went to the synagogue. He didn’t need an income but he became a craftsman like His earthly father and provided for His family. He had the task of redeeming the whole world – and yet he walked the dusty roads to Cana to attend a wedding.

Jesus is my Lord, my Redeemer, and my very best friend. I like Him. I love Him. I follow Him because He is God and man.

Posted in John, Matthew | 1 Comment

Opportunity Days to Watch God Work

Posted on October 30, 2008 by Henry Neufeld

“Isn’t this the carpenter?  Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon?  Aren’t his sisters here with us?”  And they took offense at him.      Mark 3:3  (NIV)

“He’s just _____.”   “She’s only ___.”  Ever hear words like that directed toward you?  Whether they were said by someone else or you heard them said inside your head, they hurt.  They pull you down.  Cut you down to the knees.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.

Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Isaiah 53:2-3 (NIV)

Jesus did not have a physical ‘presence’ like Jim Caviezel did in The Passion of the Christ.  He was ordinary.  He was GOD.  But those around did not see halos and bright lights.  Jesus did not ‘look’ like a savior.  He was just a guy to those who saw Him.

Jesus is trying to tell me that it’s not about how suave or cool I am.  It’s not how physically pleasing I am.  It’s about the message that I have.  It’s about the message I bring.  It’s about Words of Life and the Living Water that heals and saves.

Jesus had a life as a carpenter before He left Nazareth for ministry.  He made chairs and tables and bowls.  He got sweaty and dirty.  He was not a rich merchant.  He had younger brothers and sisters and his mother.  A carpenter didn’t make a lot of money.  They would have been considered low class.  They worked and had a social life in a small village.  They were known but not important.  Not the expected Messiah type!

God has given me gifts.  He has blessed me with His loving Hand.  He has a Kingdom plan for me.  It is my choice, every day, to walk His path…or not.  I have had days that I knew could not possibly have anything of God in them and – I was wrong! Jesus shows me the ordinary days are His days.  They are opportunity days to watch God work!

Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious!

Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!  So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you.  All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name.”

Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf!  Psalm 66:1-5 (NIV)

So let us take our ordinary selves – obey our extra-ordinary God – and see what happens!!!

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Joseph: God’s Man

Posted on October 29, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly…

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. Matthew 1:18-19, 24 (NIV)

Matthew begins his gospel with the genealogy of Jesus. Most of us who are modern American Christians have probably not read the first 16 verses of Matthew’s gospel very often. We skip it as something unimportant. How many of us know our own genealogy? How many of us care? I think Matthew states this history for me so that I can see that Joseph came from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and King David. He was a craftsman, a carpenter, in his village of Nazareth, not wealthy but respected in his community. He is engaged to a ‘good girl’ from a ‘good family’. And then she comes up pregnant. Matthew says that Joseph is a righteous man. He is moral, just, and honorable. He does not want to see this girl stoned to death for her ‘mistake’. What to do?

Joseph has a dream. An angel appears to him and tells him just how Mary’s pregnancy came about. The angel says that God’s Spirit – God Himself – impregnated Mary! I cannot imagine what ran through Joseph’s mind as he awoke that morning! Did he just sit in stunned disbelief? Did he slowly get up and begin his day’s work, giving his hands something real and familiar to do while his mind, his heart, attempted to accept this phenomenal news?! Did he wake up with the conviction that “Yes. God said this to me and so I will do this!” or did he struggle to obey? To obey would mean that whatever respect he had in the community was going to vanish. Matthew implies that Joseph woke up with obedience. Joseph had an obedient heart.

Matthew is the only gospel writer to mentions Joseph. In chapter 2, Joseph once again shows that obedient heart and receives God’s instructions to take his family to Egypt, protecting them from the insane behavior of King Herod. Joseph brings the family safely back to Nazareth and that is the last we read of Joseph’s life in the Bible.

Joseph found himself caught in the middle between what his world, his religion, and even his family and friends thought he should do and what God was telling him to do. Have you ever been in the place? Joseph chose God’s path. Joseph listened to God’s voice and responded in obedience. He was a man with a heart for God.

Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth;

Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;

I will glorify your name forever.

For great is your love for me;

you have delivered me from the depths of the grave. Psalm 86:11-13 (NIV)

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