Reflection 11 - the one about prayer and online shopping

On Sunday Graham was looking at Daniel’s prayer from Daniel 9. It is good to listen in on people like Daniel as they pray as we can learn so much from them. If you’ve not had a chance to listen yet you’ll find it here: https://youtu.be/Pu82R7FIqhs 

I don’t know about you, but I can very easily get frustrated and impatient when things don’t happen right away. That can be especially true with my computer. I turn it on and I expect it to be ready to go within a few seconds. But sometimes it won’t connect to the internet, or a web page will take about 3 seconds to load.

With online shopping you do have to be a little more patient – you don’t expect to order something and have it right there (unless it’s a digital download or a Kindle book, of course). But you certainly don’t expect it to take any longer than a day. If I order it today, I expect to have it by tomorrow.

Of course, it hasn’t always been this way. I remember when cereal packets used to have special offers – and my sisters and I would argue about whose turn it was this time for the free gift. But first of all, we’d have to spend weeks collecting enough tokens from the special packets. And then we’d send them off with the form in the post – and then weeks later the bowl, spoon, badge or book or whatever it was would turn up in the post.

This expectation – see, click, get – can very easily carry over into our prayer life. 

On Sunday, Graham highlighted that we need to be serious and passionate in our prayers and mean what we say. I’m assuming that the prayer we have recorded here in verses 4-19 is a summary of a much longer period of prayer given that it was accompanied with fasting and the wearing of sackcloth and ashes.

There is certainly a time and place for, what are sometimes called, ‘arrow prayers’. Quick, short prayers, fired off in a moment. That time someone shares some personal news with us, or asks us for advice – “Lord, give me wisdom to say the right thing. Amen.”

But we need to make sure that there is more to our prayer life than this. We know Daniel’s habit was to go to his room and pray three times a day. There were also times when he spent longer periods in prayer and fasting. What prayer habits do you have? What prayer habits would you like to develop?

Why bother praying?

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

Our Core Values: Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful.

At CBC our Vision helps us to understand where we are headed, and our seven Core Values shape everything that we do and say.


Today is the last in our series of Friday posts looking in more detail at each element of our Vision and Values. If you missed any of the series then click on the links above or to see the whole series at once use the Labels at the bottom of the page.

Today we're looking at what it means to be a prayerful community. As I have said before these values are not listed in any order of importance which may suggest that prayer is the least, or the most, important of our seven core values - but prayer is vital - in that without it we can't do anything.

Now, clearly that last statement is not true. There are plenty of people who do a lot of things without giving any time to prayer. And many of them will be successful at what they do. But there will be at least two reasons for this.

First, God is a gracious God who sometimes will work through us in spite of our efforts to do things in our strength. But we should not presume on this. Being humble and prayerful acknowledges that we can't do things in our strength without God; it acknowledges that we don't know best and that we need to listen to God for his guidance and wisdom; it acknowledges that all that we are and all that we have has come from God. We live with a constant battle against self and pride and a lack of prayer often reflects an attitude of self-reliance.

The second reason is to do with the way that we measure success. Being biblical requires us to see things within the overarching, big picture that spans from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22; to see things in terms of the Kingdom of God. Often we can fall into the trap of seeing things as successful because we're measuring them with the wrong measure. So if we want to ensure that what we do has eternal and kingdom value and consequences then prayer is vital.

Why do many of us find prayer so hard? I guess we've already touched on one answer to this question - we're proud and self-reliant. Another answer to this question is that prayer doesn't work. Prayer doesn't make a difference. I'm sure we've all been in situations where we've prayed for something to happen - someone to recover from a serious illness, to find work after a prolonged period of unemployment etc - and either nothing has happened or the situation has actually got worse. So what's the point in praying?

I guess if our understanding of prayer is - we ask God for something, God does it - then I'd have to agree: prayer doesn't work, so what's the point.

But is that what prayer really is? Certainly asking God for things is a part of prayer and is biblical. And there are those within CBC who can witness to the fact that sometimes God does answer our prayers in a supernatural and miraculous way. But prayer is much more than that. It is also about deliberately putting yourself in a place where you invite God to show you his perspective, to remind you of that big picture, to remind you of truths that sometimes we forget. I'm sure there will be a quote somewhere, by someone, along the lines of prayer not always changing the situation we're praying about, but changing us within the situation. Giving us peace or hope or strength or forgiveness or love in a situation where without God we would be anxious, despairing, tired, bitter or full of anger and hate and revenge...

So part of what it means to be prayerful as a church involves acknowledging that we can't do anything of true value without God. Acknowledging that we rely on God's wisdom and guidance and not on our own good ideas and abilities. It is also a commitment to seek God's perspective and to see the big picture. And this all means time - spending time, either as individuals, or pairs, or small groups, or as a whole church in prayer - talking to God and creating the space to listen to God too.

Be careful what you ask for

Only one post for the whole of January is not very good - so I'll double my tally by squeezing another post in on the last day of the month, and try to do better in February!

At church we have continued following the E100 Bible reading programme, looking at Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, two weeks ago, Joseph last week, and yesterday we looked at the first part of Moses' life - covering Exodus 1-14.

What are you passionate about? What are the issues that really get you going? What stories on the news really make you angry? What is the topic of conversation around the coffee table at work that turns you from being quiet, shy and retiring into a red faced, finger wagging, table banging, jumping up and down orator?

Maybe it is a global issue - such as trade justice; a national issue - such as cuts in local services; a local issue - such as the closing of a local children's centre.

Whatever it is, do you care enough to pray about it?

Moses was passionate about the oppression of his people - so much so that he killed an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite (Exodus 2:12). The people were crying out to God to save them from slavery and cruelty. And eventually God speaks to Moses and says to him, 'I have seen...I have heard...I am concerned...I have come to rescue...'

I wonder if Moses, in the midst of his fear, thought something along the lines of, 'about time...we've been waiting long enough...'?

But then horror of horrors - God reveals his plan to Moses. God says, 'I have seen...I have heard...I am concerned...I have come to rescue...so now, you go. I am sending you...'

What am I passionate about? What are you passionate about? Is God saying, 'Yes, I have heard and seen, yes I do care, and I'm going to send you to do something about it'.

Is God asking you to get involved and be a part of the answer to your own prayers?

A Summer of Sport

If you enjoy watching sport on TV then the last few weeks have been great. The football World Cup still has a few days left to go, we've had two weeks of Wimbledon, there has been the cricket between England and Australia. Just a few days ago the Tour de France started. And next year is the London Olympics.

Of course there are those who hate having their regular TV schedules messed around with in order to accommodate '22 grown men kicking a bag of air around!' Maybe you're one of those people. (There are other channels).

If you'd lived in the first century in the world influenced by the Roman or Greek Empires then sport of a different nature would have been a big part of city life. Chariot racing, the Gladiators, the Olympics...all played a big role in life.

And last Sunday we looked at a few verses in the New Testament where the writers pulled out some of the similarities between what is required to be successful in sport and what is required to live the Christian life.

One example is 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Just as the top athlete goes into strict training - watching what they eat, making sure they get enough sleep, following a carefully worked out training schedule etc - as a Christian I need to realise that growth and maturity will not just happen. There need to be disciplines (such as Bible reading, prayer, coming to church, learning Bible verses) that I need to be developing. This will not come naturally, it will require sacrifice and will at times seem like hard work.

An athlete makes these sacrifices for the hope of an Olympic gold medal. But for the Christian there is a much greater prize.

Online Bibles

This coming Sunday evening we are going to be doing the third is our once a month series looking at different methods of studying the Bible, based on Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods.

This week we are looking at Thematic Bible Study - where we will learn about searching the Bible to see what it says on a particular theme. This involves picking a theme, choosing a few questions to ask, and then searching the text for a variety of key words.

One study I am looking forward to doing, in the not too distant future, is looking to see the things that Paul prayed for the churches he was involved in.

I will search on the words pray, prayer, prayers etc (pray*) from Romans to Philemon; and will ask the questions:

1) What does Paul pray for others?
2) What will be the outcome of these prayers?

One way of generating a list of verses would be to look in a concordance. But I have recently been directed to an online Bible that allows you to search part of the Bibles for words or phrases. If you're interested in this sort of thing, it is worth checking out. Click on the link below.

www.blueletterbible.org

Why Worry?

We worry about all kinds of different things - finances, exams, death, relationships, work, health, the future... And worry has all kinds of effects on us - lack of sleep, don't eat, eat the wrong things, get more worried, make poor choices, suffer from poor health... One thing that we can say is that worrying doesn't help the situation improve. Bobby McFerrin sings,

...Don't worry, be happy, In every life we have some trouble, When you worry you
make it double, Don't worry, be happy...

In Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus tells us that there is no point worrying because it won't make any difference - 'who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?' But unlike Bobby McFerrin, who offers a negative reason as why not to worry - it won't make things better - Jesus offers us positive reasons as why we should not worry.

First there is the truth that God loves us and knows what we need. We are valuable to God - he loved us so much that Jesus died on the cross. And so if we believe that God is in control, that He loves us, that He knows what we need - why worry? Then Jesus tells us that when we put God's priorities first the other stuff will also be taken care of. This means doing the things that God wants. It means that we listen to God's voice rather than the voice of the world. God tells us that He created us, that He loves us, that we're special and valuable...and yet we worry because we're too tall, or too short, or too large, our nose is wrong, we want this bit smaller and those bits bigger...God says that it's what's on the inside that matters...and yet we worry because we don't have the right shoes, and labels and the latest phone...We worry we don't have enough to buy that latest car, we strive for a better job in order to buy more stuff, and yet half the world lives on less that $2 a day.

So what do we do when there are things we're worried about? Philippians 4:6-7 gives us a strategy. First we pray - we talk to God about it. And when we pray we make a conscious effort to remind ourselves and give thanks for all the stuff that God has done for us before - this puts things in perspective. The same God who helped us before can do it again. And then we allow God to give us a peace that you can't explain - but it is an amazing thing to experience.

I know it's tough, and it's something we all struggle with, and don't worry that you worry, but let's try, with God's help, to be a little less worried this week.

Click here to listen to this message.

Aladdin's Three Wishes

According to the popular Christmas pantomime when Aladdin rubbed his magic lamp out popped a genie who could grant him three wishes. For many who claim to be Christians this is the way they view God and prayer - summoning God when it is convienient (i.e. when they're in a crisis) with a wish list - success in a job interview, healing, that there will be a free parking space ... God is interested in all these things but prayer is much more than a wish list, and God so much more than a pantomime genie. And whist these things are important - they are not the most important things.

When Paul prays for the Christians in Ephesus (Ephesians 1:15-23) he prays 4 things for them. 1) That they would know God better. 2) That they would know the hope to which God has called them. 3) That they would know that they are a part of God's inheritance. 4) And that they would know God's great power at work in them.

If God were to grant you three wishes what would you ask for? I wonder how many people would 'waste' one of their wishes on 'knowing God better'! Yet for Paul there was nothing more important (e.g. Philippians 3:10). But as a Christian I should be doing all I can to know God better.

Many might ask for the power of God - wouldn't it be great to go round healing people with just a touch, turn water into wine, raise the dead... But I wonder whether my ego could cope with that kind of power. Would I use it or abuse it? Yet this power is available to us. But why don't we see it more? Maybe God protects us from ourselves. Maybe there is a reason that this is at the end of the list. Maybe other things need to come first: faith in Jesus and love for all God's people (v15); a deeper knowledge of God (17); a life that brings hope to those around through acts of kindness which point to the possiblity of new creation; and the joy and inner confidence in knowing who we are in Christ, that comes from seeing yourself as a part of God's inheritance (18).

The God who Chooses

In our Sunday morning series so far we have seen that God called Abraham from Ur and promised him both land and descendants. Abraham is content that the promise for land may be in the future, but obviously the promise of descendants needs to start being realised in his life time! This brought crisis number one. Both he and his wife were too old to have children - but God over-ruled and Isaac was born. Then Isaac needed a suitable wife - and God led Abraham's servant to Rebekah. Now, today, in Genesis 25 we find that Isaac and Rebekah are unable to have children - could this be it for God's promise to Abraham?

So Isaac prays and God answers (v21). I wonder how many times Isaac prayed before God answered. Just once? Every day? Isaac married at 40 (v20) but by the time Esau and Jacob were born he was 60 (v26). That's plenty of time for all kinds of doubts about the promises of God to creep in. That's a long time to hold on to your faith whilst living among nations who worship other gods.

In response to Rebekah's question (22) God reveals that He has chosen the younger twin ahead of the older twin (23). This is theme that we have already encountered in Genesis (e.g. Abel ahead of Cain, Isaac ahead of Ishmael) and a theme that will run throughout the rest of the Bible. David, the youngest of eight brothers will be king (1 Samuel 16). On into the NT we find that if we want to be first we need to be last (Mark 9:35). If we want to gain life we need to lose it (Luke 9:23-24). And that God chooses the foolish, weak and lowly things of this world to overcome the wise, the strong, the powerful and influential (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).

When God chooses He does not choose as the world would choose. It is not like being picked for a team in the school playground - where those who are no good are left to the end, and even then no one wants to pick them. But God chooses those whom the world rejects because these are the kind of people who will allow God to work in and through them - the kind of people who will rely on the power of the Holy Spirit in them rather than on their own abilities and talents.

Listen to this message by Pastor Keith at Willesden Green on 21 October 2007

I'm not a surgeon - I just spend a lot of time in hospital!

Some of you may be wondering about the story behind the photo - well you'll have to continue wondering. I'm not a doctor and have no inclination to be one - an episode of Casualty a week is about as far as I go on that front. But my daughters are trying their best to ensure a better than average knowledge of the workings of paediatric intensive care departments within the best hospitals in the UK.

This last week we've been at the Royal Brompton for heart surgery on our youngest daughter who is only 11 weeks old. She is recovering extremely well, and we give God thanks. The doctors have commented on how well she is doing so soon after such a major operation. But then we should not be surprised because so many people have been praying for her and for us. We know of people in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America - and if you've been one of them 'Thank you so much!' But thankfully the answers to our prayers are not dependant on the numbers of people praying (just as they're not dependant on the length of our prayers etc.) but on the God to whom we pray. He is the Almighty One.

I guess many of us experience times in our lives when we ask the 'Why?' question of God. Certainly when our daughter was diagnosed we asked 'why?' We know that God is able to heal, so why have to go through an operation?

We praise God that our daughter is doing so well, but acknowledge that some of you may have prayed for family members who were ill and they died. And for you I guess the 'why?' question is that much more pressing and answers much harder to come by.

I have been reading the Old Testament book of Ruth this last week, especially chapter 1 where Naomi loses her husband, her sons don't produce grandchildren, and then her two sons die: leaving her with nothing in a foreign land. And yet her faith in the God who provides is so strong that Ruth wants to leave her home to commit herself to Naomi's God - to trust herself into His care and to trust Him for His provision. Which is remarkable when you consider Naomi's testimony to this point (famine, death and loss).

Someone has described life as a tapestry - with a beautiful picture being created on one side, but knots and tangled threads on the other. At times all we see is the underside, the back of the picture. Faith is not necessarily seeing the 'right' side. Faith is believing that there is a right side even though I can't see it.

No doubt Naomi asked the why question. But more of that another time...