How do YOU pray?

Do you pray like the overwhelmed, woebegone father in Mark 9 who said to Jesus, "...if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” ?

Or do you pray like the apostles in Acts 4, "grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus"?

Ephesians 3:20-21 says "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

In Ephesians 1:19, 20 Paul tells us that the power within those of us who are believers is "according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead." In other words, the power that is within us is the SAME power of God that raised Jesus from the dead.

Friends, if this is the power within us, why do we so often pray, "IF You can do anything..."? Why do we pray half-believing, mealy mouthed prayers like this, when we can instead ask for boldness, signs and wonders?

Well, it's because we're human. Hezekiah led one of the greatest revivals in Israel's history, yet when the enemy king threatened him, he was shaking like a leaf. Gideon and his 300 men ended up routing 135,000 Midianites--but before that, he was hiding in a winepress and needed three proofs from God that He really was going to do what He said He would do through him. We're flesh, we're frail, we're fallen.

And God knows that. And Jesus loves to show Himself strong on behalf of those of us who say, "I believe, help my unbelief!" like the man in Mark 9. Jesus told him all things were possible for him who believes (even imperfectly, thank goodness), and healed his son. I've definitely been this man many times in my prayers, and God has been so gracious with me.

We're ordinary people who have the power of an extraordinary God within us: 
"The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit." James 5:16-18

See, it's not about who we are. It's about the power that works within us. God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us. So we pray...expecting that Someone far greater than us has the power to effect answers through our prayers. 

The result of praying Acts 4:29-30 kinds of prayers? Why, verse 31 of course:
"And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness."

And "...to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

So today, pray like you mean it and expect God to show up.

No loose ends

"So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12

I have a friend whose 17 year old son has been very, very sick for 4 years. He is the only person in the United States to have three particularly serious medical conditions simultaneously. At this moment, he has been in the hospital for nearly three months and is gravely ill. They are having to talk about the worst even as they pray fervently for a miracle. 

I am praying with them. Prayer moms are praying with them. Our youth group and youth leaders and youth pastor are praying with them. 

About three weeks ago, the first TSA agent to be killed in the line of duty was shot repeatedly by a disturbed man. He was a loving family man who left behind a wife and two kids. I kiss my husband goodbye each day now with a new seriousness, a new heaviness that this man could have been him. 

And I am six months away from a big birthday. I won't tell you which one. I'll just say it's a big one. 

I feel myself not as strong or as mobile as I used to be. I creak a bit in the mornings when I get out of bed. By the end of the day I am often weary. I value being at home and quiet, while in younger years I was so ready to be on the go. 

I find myself shutting my mouth a lot more these days, choosing fewer battles. My adult sons don't want to hear what mom has to say, any more than I wanted to hear what my parents had to say when I was their age. I trust God a lot more often to handle things with them. He'll perfect the things that concern them way better than I can. 

Life is somehow just a bit more precious to me lately. I really thank God for my bed, for sunrises and sunsets, for simple things in my days that are simple blessings. I thank Him for quiet mornings and the smell of my almost-10 year old who probably won't let me hug and smell him for a whole lot longer. I notice things like the smiles of little children I pass on my walk. 

I'm not old :-)  but I am, for the first time in my life, feeling like I am headed that way. I'm not sad about it, but I do think about regrets of my younger years. Sometimes I wish I still had the energy to dance a ballet or play vigorously in the park with my young kids. Oh wait, I don't have toddlers or little ones anymore....

Teach me to number my days, Lord. Teach me to live wisely and well (as the Message puts that verse). Teach me to really make every day count. I think it's at this stage of life that we begin to realize, as Moses did when he wrote Psalm 90, that every day is a gift and we can't take it for granted. It's at this age that we realize, perhaps, that we have a limited number of days left. Teach me how to finish my race well, whether it goes one year more or 30 years more. Make me mindful of the legacy I can leave behind if I do this wisely. 

At the funeral for the TSA officer, his family member said something that really struck me: that he had lived life so much in love with his wife and his kids that he died with "no loose ends." That's how I want to end my days here on this earth, before I see my Savior face to face and live with Him for all eternity. 

No loose ends. 

The correct answer is b

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy." John 10:10a

My mom was not expecting, that day she went into the doctor's office, to hear what she heard. She thought she just had a persistent flu. After all, she and my dad had been married an awfully long time, my sister was 18, and they had given up on having any more children. Yet the doctor told her that day that no, she didn't have the flu--she was pregnant! Good news!

Not exactly. At the age of 38, in 1963, that was actually not so good news. Medical science in that day felt that this was a dangerous age to have a baby, so the doctor then advised my mom to terminate the pregnancy because there was a good chance, he said, that she could birth "an idiot."

"...You covered me in my mother’s womb." Psalm 139:13

But my mom, who usually was so obedient to doctor's orders, stood her ground. She refused, and asked for a new doctor. 

See, we have an enemy. He is real, and his purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy, according to Jesus. He would have won an easy battle if he had destroyed me before I had ever been born. But my mom knew to choose life, and let God handle the results of her pregnancy. Thanks, Mom...thanks, God. 

But the enemy had another straight up shot at me when I was about 17, 18 years old--and this time I cooperated with him. Out doing things I shouldn't have been doing, with people I shouldn't have been with, I was right in his targets. I should have been dead many times over, but yet here I am. 

During these times, my mom would bow her head as her wayward daughter went out into the night and say, "God, I don't know where she's going, but You do. Keep her safe." This daughter she had refused to destroy was now seemingly on the way to destruction. In fact, she showed me one night what followed me right to the front door every night when I returned from my wanderings...a demon. It stood at the front door, unable to enter because my dad had built a godly household and my mom prayed. I don't remember what it looked like, but it was there, and I screamed. 

"...your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5:8

I got myself together decently and went on to earn a Master's Degree in counseling psychology--take that, 1963 doctor. However, though dramatic danger and disobedience was over, my heart was till up for grabs. 

Yet, in 1996 I bowed my head, humbled my heart, confessed I was a wretch, and gave my life to Jesus. My husband and I have four handsome sons who know Jesus. My mind is permeated with the Word. And now I pray for kids who are in their own battles, because as for me, God "has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me.." Psalm 55:18a.


"...I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10:10b

Yes and Amen, to the glory of God. 

BOOK REVIEW: The Global War on Christians

You will not want to read this book...but I dare you to.

In The Global War on Christians, by John L. Allen Jr., the author exposes an absolutely horrifying epidemic in the world today: the persecution of Christians worldwide. In the American church, we know that this happens. Every once in a while we remember to pray for the persecuted church. But we have no idea of the enormity of this movement around the world, to our shame and to the hurt of the unity of the body of Christ.

The author informs us that since the beginning of the 20th century, there have been more martyrs for the faith than in the entirety of history: "There have been 70 million martyrs since the time of Christ. Of that total, fully half or forty-five million, went to their deaths in the twentieth century." In just the last 13 years, since the beginning of this new century, 1.3 million Christians who have died for their faith.

The first part of the book, exhaustingly documented with statistics, tells the story of opposition to Christianity throughout the world, country by country. Allen combines statistical overviews of each country's opposition to Christianity with stories of those who were opposed, imprisoned, harassed, attacked, and killed because of their devotion to Christ. The second part of the book examines the response of many to these accounts of persecution, exposing as myth the opinions that "It's all about Islam", "No one saw it coming", "It's only persecution if the motives are religious" and more. The last section of the book takes it forward, theorizing the effect on the Church as this information emerges into our understanding and we begin to react.

This was a difficult book to read, because it constantly confronted me with my ignorance. Born, raised, and having always lived in the United States, I realized how small my world of faith is. I know that I will not be alone in this experience as a reader of this book. It makes me ask myself what can I do? Well, I can pray--for those who are persecuted and for those who persecute them. I can support organizations that minister to the persecuted church. I can talk actively about this issue with others in my life. The most important thing I can do is to "Remember the prisoners as if chained with them--those who are mistreated--since you yourselves are in the body also." Hebrews 13:3

You can find out more about the author here.

I received a copy of this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers for review purposes.