Hebrews 13:13

Why Pray? 10: When we are being disciplined

2009-03-19T13:11:00.003-05:00

“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14)

What could be more serious than the plague? More awful than drought or pestilence?

Bear in mind that God is not saying that there just happened to be a drought, or that unfortunately there was a bubonic plague and he hopes that his people can learn from the experience or see a silver lining. God said that he made these things happen. He deliberately, with planning from eternity, sent these disasters onto the heads and into the midst of his own people.

But what could his people have done that would warrant a punishment like that? How could sending those things be a proportionate response to anything?

Because sin separates us from the only thing we absolutely need: reconciliation with God.
More than health, comfort, family or even life, if we do not have reconciliation with God then we do not have anything.

God could have done nothing of course, or put up a small sign somewhere. But he loved his people far too much to wash his hands of them or merely hint at what needed to be done. They were His people, and he wanted them with him – wanted it enough even to do that to them.

How do you react when bad things happen to you? It is tempting to think that perhaps evil is having its way in your life, or God is staying away for a while. If we have a keen sense of our own sin perhaps we think God is punishing us in a merely punitive way, as if Christ didn’t really take all the punishment for our sin and God needs to hit us now and again so that justice can be satisfied. And yet His discipline is only, ever meant to draw you into a closer walk with Him.

Turn back to God in prayer and humble repentance. Your suffering may be discipline to bring you back from sin, or to prove your faith, or to prepare you for service…ask him that whatever the reason, he would draw you close in constant repentance and reliance on him, and that he would give you his comfort.

This should be a central focus of our prayer life at all times but it isn’t which is why God needs to send reminders. Sometimes they are gentle ones, sometimes they are reminders that make us smile as we fall before him. But sometimes his reminders are in the form of painful discipline

As the author CS Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world”.

Why Pray? 9: To be filled with the knowledge of His will

2009-02-05T08:48:00.003-05:00

“For this reason [your faith and love], since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding…in order that you may a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way…” (Colossians 1:9-10)

Do you have a lot of knowledge about anything? It’s all relative isn’t it? After all there are some people if I talk to them about Scripture they might think me knowledgeable and I know there are others who would consider me ignorant. So does it not depend on who we are comparing ourselves to?

But Paul doesn’t invite the Colossians to compare themselves to anybody, or hope that they have more knowledge than some other group of Christians. He wants them to be full of the knowledge of God’s will.

Every time we make a decision about how to spend our money, who to be friends with, what job to take, where to live or who to marry. Or we are about to pursue a line of thought or speak our opinion there are many thoughts in our mind. Some of these may have been prompted by the Spirit, others by our sinful nature and somewhere between that first thought and the resulting word or action, our idea passes through a lens.

The lenses in spectacles are designed to correct the flaw in our eyes, whereby for some or all of what we see the signal sent to the brain normally gives a distorted picture. If that lens covers our eyes and has no flaw in it, all the light that enters our eye is perfectly redirected so that we see clear, focused pictures. But until that lens is big enough and totally pure, there will inevitably be times when we still have a distorted or blurry view.

God’s will in our heart is like that perfect lens, redirecting and refocusing our thoughts and inclinations. If we are filled with that knowledge we see the perfect picture of what is pleasing to God with every thought and every inclination being brought into a godly focus.

Note the path of which this knowledge is a part. It started at the Colossians’ faith and love, moving through spiritual wisdom and understanding into knowledge of God’s will, resulting in a life worthy of God’s calling that is pleasing to him.

Ask God for that faith and love which leaves room for spiritual wisdom and understanding. Ask him to fill you with the knowledge of his will so that every thought and every inclination is turned to him with no room for anything else.

Why Pray? 8: For those warned about sin

2009-01-28T16:23:00.002-05:00

“Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die.” (Genesis 20:7)

Genesis tells you things that are not comfortable to hear. One is about the deceit of Abraham, who twice pretended Sarah was not his wife so that when entering unfriendly territory he would not be killed when the King wanted to take such a beautiful woman for a wife. On this occasion King Abimelech (whose town was near Philistia) brought her into his household.

God mercifully prevented Abimelech from the adultery he was about to commit with Sarah, and gave him the instruction with stark warning about sending Sarah back to her husband. Abraham, the very man whose deceit helped pave the way for Abimelech’s temptation would God promised then be praying for him.

But what would Abraham be praying for? Preservation of Abimelech’s life? Forgiveness for a crime he had not yet committed? He would have had on his heart the physical evils that Abimelech and his family was threatened with, asking God to preserve them from those punishments.

Was that it? It was God’s will that Abimelech be spared the consequences of his sin. Abraham would surely be praying that he would obediently turn to the one true God so that he would be saved.

Of course, God was no more giving Abraham the power to forgive sins than he was giving it to the disciples in Matthew 18:18. When God promises Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse” (Genesis 12:3) he was not performing an exercise in real-life ‘Bruce Almighty’, as per the Jim Carrey film. Rather he was affirming that his presence with Abraham would be uniquely strong among the people of that time, and that Abraham would pray in the Spirit and will of the Father.

All around us are the consequences of sin: our sins and the sins of others. But even sins past, sins present and sins future can be used for God’s glory. Paul tells us in Romans 9:22-23 that God uses his judgement on sin to show his mercy to his people, so we can be praying for people in that light.

When there are wars and rumours of wars, where there is sadness, ill-health and personal tragedy we should be full of real, active compassion for the immediate suffering. And the example of God’s instruction to Abraham may encourage us to pray that God would show people the original cause of suffering - sin. God wants to take away our sin and nail it to the cross of Christ, but we first need to be aware of its consequences.

And next time someone you love has in front of them an option to step into sin, pray for them that God would help them to see that sin for what it is: death.

Why Pray? 7: When God's commands don't seem to make sense

2009-01-22T02:24:00.003-05:00

“After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch…, I prayed to the Lord…’though the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, you, O Sovereign Lord, say to me, ‘Buy the field…’.” (Jeremiah 32:16 & 25)

Imprisoned by his own king for prophesying bad news and under siege from the Babylonian army, Jeremiah was told by God: “I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon…If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed” (v.4-5).

Yet he also promised that Judah would be restored to its own land…at some unspecified point in the future.

And then he wanted Jeremiah to buy a field.

So Jeremiah bought the field.

It is only after buying the field - trusting God at his word - that the prophet approached God to enquire. He did not demand that God prove himself but he wanted to talk the whole thing over and get some resolution about the obedience he had already committed to. It is that last part; the obedience “already committed to” that stands out as real faith.

It would have taken no kind of faith for Jeremiah to say to God, “I hear what you’re saying about buying the field but I need you to show me how that makes sense first and then I’ll do it. I want to see some evidence that I won’t lose out”.

God tells us every day to do what makes no sense in worldly terms. He tells us to push beyond the comfortable to the eternally glorious; to serve him instead of pursuing stuff and money. He wants you to tell people about the cross when they think you idiotic for doing so, to serve people who will throw your love back in your face. He says that everything we see is to be put aside for the sake of what we don’t see and that our reward for what we sacrifice on earth will ultimately not be on earth.

And when we point our lives heavenwards in faith day by day, then we are to go to him for assurance, acknowledging God’s sovereignty and simply laying out our situation before him. Jeremiah did not wait for his hope to wane before going to God as some kind of last resort – the prayer for assurance followed the act of obedience.

And God wonderfully comforted Jeremiah with the words, “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” (v.27).

Rick Warren's Prayer

2009-01-21T07:59:00.005-05:00

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.”
(1 Timothy 2:1-3)

With that in mind, let's thank God for the witness of our fellow jar of clay Rick Warren when he prayed this yesterday at the history-soaked day that was President Obama's inauguration:

Almighty God, our Father:
Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone.It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory. History is your story.

The Scripture tells us, “Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today, we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African-American president of the United States.

We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity.

Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans—united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you—forgive us.
When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone—forgive us.

When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve—forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes—even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all.

May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.

And may we never forget that one day, all nations--and all people--will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, 'Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus—who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Why Pray? 6: To be glorified

2009-01-17T23:21:00.002-05:00

“We pray this so that the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 1:12)

We are here to glorify God. Hopefully we have a good handle on that, but did you know that God wants us to be glorified in Him also?

In the previous verses Paul thanked God for the Thessalonians’ perseverance and reminded them of God’s ultimate vindication of his people. That prompted Paul’s prayer that they live lives worthy of their calling, in part so that they would be glorified in God.

And this is not some isolated idea. For example Paul gives our share in the glory of Christ as one of the reasons for our salvation (2 Thess2:14) and speaks to the Romans of sharing in Jesus’ glory (8:17-18). It is the destiny of every Christian (Romans 8:30). To hear some preachers today you might even think that our glory was the main thing God was working for in our lives, and we should work towards it. It becomes a quasi spiritual version of respect with the goal of our self-esteem and popularity, as if God was concerned to make us more attractive, even though his own son was “Like one from whom men hide their faces…” (Isaiah 53:3).

On the contrary, our pursuit of our glory is one of the biggest ways to ensure it will never happen. Like someone running after a butterfly in hopes it will sit on their shoulder, glory will only be given to those who don’t seek it. It is God’s will that each day of our lives we become more like Jesus. That every morning our increased likeness to the creator of the universe – our Saviour – would bring us glory. And that glory – our glory - is Christ’s; in our becoming more like him through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives (2 Cor 3:18).

The way the moon plays across a harbour is a spell-binding sight and yet the glory of the moon is that through it we see something of the sun. It provides us with light only when it reflects onto us a brightness it can never have on its own. That dull-coloured lump of rock shows us the greatness, power and use of the sun – and that’s no mean thing for a dull-coloured lump of rock!

We are but jars of clay; flawed, sinful, created beings. Despite this God in his grace has granted us increasing glory in our transformation into his own likeness. In that process us we have the joy of helping others to see Jesus through our likeness to him in our lives and words. Until that day when we “will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4).

And that’s no mean thing for a jar of clay.

Can God Judge Me?

2009-01-13T11:46:00.003-05:00

Mark Driscoll (Pastor from Seattle) responds to the question, "If I'm so sinful I can't even choose Jesus what right does he have to judge me? If I can't choose good, judgement against me would be unjust".

Why Pray? 5: For the salvation of those who oppose you

2009-01-09T17:52:00.001-05:00

“…I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.” (Acts 26:29)

Not the best choice of words if Paul was trying to get out of trouble.

Paul’s speech to his accusers caused King Agrippa to query whether Paul was trying to convert him there and then, and this is what Paul said in reply. Far from backing off or trying to appease Agrippa’s sensitivities Paul tells him what he wants and prays for: the salvation of everyone in the room.

Paul was speaking to a room of people opposed to all he stood for.We don’t know that everyone in that room even disliked Paul, but they were all part of a process where justice was abused for money and politics. For a man consumed with the a commitment to the spread of the gospel to all parts of the known world Paul’s incarceration would most naturally have been infuriating to him. And yet he does not seem in the least frustrated, seizing instead on the opportunity to share the gospel with powerful figures.

With the Jews baying for his blood, Paul’s defence to Agrippa that day was not a defence of Paul the unjustly accused, or an attempt to score points against spiritually and intellectually bankrupt opposition. His speech, as his life, was an all-out effort to show the gospel in all its glorious and compelling truth. He was not trying to argue or debate his way out of custody but bring glory to God through bringing Agrippa to repentance and faith.

Many cynical people today say along with Agrippa that we are mad (v.24), or arrogant in our desire to convince people of the truth of Christ (v.28). Our instinct in those situations often will be to justify ourselves, to try and come out well from the conversation, to not be thought stupid or rude, or to agree to differ and move on. We don’t want to make people uncomfortable either with us or with the situation.

Paul did not want people to be made needlessly uncomfortable or offended – he knew the cross would offend them. He wanted everyone in the room to be saved and he wanted them to know that was what he wanted and was praying for. In doing so he knowingly lay himself open to being thought even more “insane” than before.

Do you really want people to know that you pray for their salvation? That your keenest desire for them is that they come to know Christ? Are you comfortable with the idea of telling them?

Ask God to show you what is your heart in the face of cynical opposition. Ask him for less of you and more of him. For a heart that says to those who oppose Christ, I don’t care what you think of me, I just want you in heaven with me.

Why Pray? 4: When in Trouble

2009-01-02T11:14:00.001-05:00

“Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray.” (James 5:13)

When you are hungry: eat.
When you are thirsty: drink.
When you are cold: put a sweater on.
When you are happy: “sing songs of praise” (v.13)
When you are in trouble: pray.

That is the sense of what James is saying in his letter as he tries to reinstall the blindingly obvious to a people prone to forget it.

How much trouble do you have to be in before it occurs to you to pray? Daily stresses and strains, illnesses, a threat to your family? Or is it more that you tend to exhaust every other avenue before coming to prayer? It feels like an admission of defeat sometimes, as if we ought to have been able to fix things ourselves but now that we can’t we are going to play our trump card: Almighty God. Perhaps we have been worried about our health and tried pushing the doctors for a diagnosis before they were ready to give one. Asked for the worst case to see how it felt. Asked for opinions from people who knew even less about the situation than we did. Plotted your own recovery.

Many times recapping situations in my own life I have gone over an issue I am working through, checking to see whether there is anything else I could have done…and then it has dawned on me. I had not yet prayed about it.

For many the notion of prayer being the first port of call in trouble is far from natural. Our attempts to solve the situation, manage our emotions and expectations and relate to others comes on the basis of a self-reliant crisis management. We may become less likely to pray than at other times as we allow ourselves to be fixated on the “trouble” itself.

That is not to say that we do not try to work through any trouble – what James is addressing is our attitude going in. Where are we looking for strength, guidance, hope and courage? In coping with and potentially emerging from the trouble, where are our priorities?

James is not giving us a theological hoop to jump through or adding an obligation to be thought of at times when we are least able to think clearly. No he is pointing out to us what should be the natural, obvious and the first thing we do – even without thinking about it – in times of trouble.

Logically we should go to God as sovereign ruler of all creation, master of history.

Relationally we should go to God as our Father, our Friend and our redeemer.
Emotionally we should go to God as the one source of true comfort.

Most of all, we should go to Him first.

Expectations

2008-12-30T14:40:00.002-05:00

“Dad – what do you think of it?”
“Er…”
“Did you like it?”
“…it was, um, interesting.”
“Oh right…is that a good thing…?”

What do you expect from your child? From your one year old? From your five, 10, 15 or even 30+ year old?

Expectations of achievement or performance are one thing, but moral, parental expectations may feel most pressing. Many people struggle throughout their lives with the crushing burden of (perceived) parental expectations.

So what should we expect? The Bible tells us all to be like Christ – not occasionally like him, or a little bit like him, but absolutely like him all the time! For us or our children to meet that standard is of course impossible but that is what God demands of us.

Perhaps that is why we may sometimes live in guilt. Not the sense of guilt God wants, which leads to sorrow, confession, forgiveness and then peace of mind, but the guilt that can lead to demotivation, even self-hatred and depression.

One difficulty we face is that maintaining high expectations of children can seem harsh and is very tiring. God advises fathers in particular not to “exasperate” their children, which translates at least in part to picking your battles. Telling a child off every time they do something wrong is not necessarily a sign of wise parenting. On the other hand, we need consistency and can easily spoil them by consistently letting them get away with things in the name of trying to be nice. It’s a fine line but I think we should always expect more of our children while having infinite patience with their trying to live as God wants them to.

Infinite patience…hmm. It’s not going to happen, but it can be made a little easier by reminding ourselves of God’s infinite patience with us. He has given us life, our children and everything good we have in our lives. If we are his then he has saved us from our sins and given us eternal life and yet we let him down every day. Despite this he welcomes us back with open arms when we ask for forgiveness. Not once, not 100 times or more, but every time.

Jesus told a parable where a man owed a fortune to the king, at a time in history when debt meant being sent to prison. The king was merciful and gave the man more time to repay his debts. That man, in his ingratitude, then went and had flung into prison a poor man who owed him a few pence.

It’s easy to blow up at our kids when they disobey in exactly the same way for the umpteenth time, and although anger at disobedience may frequently be justified, it wouldn’t do us any harm to bear in mind how many times we have disobeyed God and yet he has unbelievably and graciously welcomed us back. Have you ever had an exchange like this?

“Daddy/Mummy, I’m really sorry.”
“That’s not good enough.”

Ouch.

Often that is because they have broken something, spoilt something or upset someone (something perhaps less naughty than careless) that we come out with a reply like that. The wonderful thing about God of course is that a real sorry is good enough.

Perhaps a key to dealing with our expectations is to look at how God manages his expectations of us. When he told us to be like Christ he was not simply handing out a set of instructions but giving us an example to follow.

We may best serve our children not by trying to turn them into the perfect people we will never be ourselves but by focusing on setting them a good example. They are our first and most important mission field and they will get their idea of what it means to follow God not so much from what we say about it but how we behave.

Why Pray? 3: God is moved by real prayer

2008-12-29T21:05:00.007-05:00

“And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.”
(2 Chronicles 33:12-13)

Manasseh was no ordinary King of Judah and no God-orientated man even generally concerned to do the right thing. He would worship pretty much anything he could find as long as it wasn’t God. Then there was the “sorcery, divination and witchcraft (2 Chronicles 33:2-7). He even used God’s temple to build altars to stars and burnt his own sons to death as an offering to them.

Having ignored God’s reminders (v.10) Manasseh was defeated by the Assyrians who put a hook through his nose and took him to Babylon (v.11), where really the story ought to end in self-destructive regret, remorse and withering away. Except it doesn’t end that way because God wasn’t finished with Manasseh. Instead we read that Manasseh “sought the favour of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers” (v.12).

That’s the kind of thing that makes me tilt my head to the side, wince and say “Oh come on. Of course he sought God’s favour! I’ll bet he humbled himself!”. Without knowing what comes next I’m thinking there’s no way God will fall for it and that the ‘repentance’ is about as sincere as the apology of a man caught with his hand in the till.

But Scripture doesn’t tell us that Manasseh felt mere remorse or that he acted humble, it tells us that he “sought God’s favour” and “humbled himself” – i.e. that he was completely genuine. It reminds me of the simple faith of the thief on the cross who recognized his lifetime of guilt and asked for Christ to save him.

As with the thief, the most remarkable thing is not Manasseh’s turning to God so much as God’s response. In this instance we are told that “the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea”. God first responded to Manasseh by restoring him to his own country and to the throne. We are not told how that restoration transpired or how long it took, just that it happened and Manasseh then “knew that the Lord is God” (v.13).

Manasseh, the most unspeakably immoral king in Judah’s history, prayed and God was “moved” and “listened”.

Are you ever too ashamed to pray? Maybe you have let God down yet again in the way you keep doing, maybe you have spoken harshly to someone again just days or even hours after begging forgiveness for your unpleasantness the last time. Or you have had proud thoughts for the umpteenth time and you can’t possibly go to God with it again.

Perhaps you have done something so awful in your eyes or the eyes of others that you can’t bear to face God even in prayer because you feel his anger would be more than you could handle.

Next time you feel like that remember Manasseh. You have done nothing worse than him, and have not let God down more often than he did, and yet God was “moved” when he humbled himself.

There is no sin too frequent, no evil too heinous that Christ’s blood will not wash you clean if you will but take it to him. Your offering of a humble heart and true repentance deserves nothing, and yet it moves God and he will grant you mercy greater than you can imagine.

Why Pray? 2: Health issues

2008-12-29T20:53:00.005-05:00

10 days in bed with a badly sprained lower back does a bunch of things and one of them is preventing you from doing anything on a computer. Hence the crashing silence after the supposedly weekly 'Reasons for Prayer' started three weeks ago.

It wasn't just the back pain either. After three days I had to call the doctor out as the pain belonged to a different universe than the over-the-counter anti-inflammatories and painkillers I was taking. Unfortunately the codeine I was given produced symptoms (severe chest pain and shortness of breath) that looked remarkably like an angina/heart attack.

An ambulance trip and several tests later it was determined there was no angina/heart attack, but that I had some calcified plaque in my heart unrelated to the symptoms. I was referred to a cardiologist who will do more tests in 6 months before coming to any conclusions about my cardiac health. Meantime the chiropractor referred me to a dermatologist and she took a little chunk of mole real estate today for a biopsy.

Probably the overriding lesson in all of this for me so far has been what Paul the Apostle was learning in dramatically more unpleasant circumstances:

"But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." (2 Corinthians 1:9)

What has been surprising and humbling is how the Lord has helped me to realise a little more how many things I have to thank him for and how much I can enjoy gratitude for his mercies to me.

17 things I thanked God for today due to what's happened over the last couple of weeks:

1. The ability to sit...

2. ...and stand up...

3. ...and walk.

4. A good chiropractor

5. Health insurance

6. Early detection of plaque in the heart

7. My biological family

8. My spiritual family

9. The usefulness of pain in preventing further damage

10. Access to God through prayer

11. A heightened sense of God's sovereign power...

12. ...and His grace and love to me in countless ways...

13. ...and my complete dependence on Him in everything.

14. Painkillers (not withstanding point 9!)

15. A good measure of cardiac health

15b. Very early warning of a problem if the news isn't so good

16. Modern medicine and medical services (including the CT scanner, ambulance, hospital, medical staff, ECG, a skin biopsy...etc., etc.)

17. Time to read and pray

"But [God] said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is
made perfect in weakness'." (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Why Pray? 1: Because we can

2008-12-29T16:59:00.001-05:00

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:19-22)

What would it be like to have the ear of the US President? How great would it feel to be picked out for such a privilege even if you had absolutely no political experience? How awesome would it be just to sit regularly in the presence of such power and influence? To see the inner workings of the White House, spend time in the Oval Office and have access to everything and everyone there? What would you do with that opportunity? With an open invitation to drop by whenever it suited you how often would you visit?

I can scarcely imagine how excited I would be. First, receiving word of the opportunity, what it would involve. The awe of being let through all the security checkpoints because the President had personally vouched for me. The excitement each and every time I opened the door to the Oval Office, knowing that today would be something different, that if I had my wits about me I would experience things that would stay with me forever.

The writer of Hebrews has just made the point (10:12, 14, 17-18) that Christ’s sacrifice is a once and for all deal; a fact the Holy Spirit attests to and which means our sin is paid for in full and removed from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). It is because of this outrageous and unwarranted set of circumstances that we have “confidence to enter the Most Holy Place”.

In the Old Testament only the High Priest was allowed to do this, and he was only allowed to do it once a year – to make a sacrifice in the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctum of the temple. This was therefore a shocking and revolutionary thing to say to Hebrew people, on a level of significance infinitely beyond the open invite to the Oval Office. And it is no less revolutionary for us to think of entering the immediate presence of the creator of all things, the eternal God sitting on his “throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16).

It is Christ’s blood gives us that confident access to God’s presence. That was the price paid by God to give us this relationship with God. The opportunity to communicate with him at any time we wish and have him listen to and respond to everything we have to say to him. We have the option any time we want to learn, to go straight to him. No priest to act as mediator because we have Christ. No aloofness on God’s part, no business or busyness that would keep him from us, no hesitance in ushering us in. No sense that perhaps we are not relevant to his grand processes and plans. After all it is our own personal high priest who is in charge of God’s house.

How often prayer feels to us like filling out a tax return – a necessary but unfulfilling task. Like a pile of thank you notes to be written or a shopping list to fill out. We don’t deny it ought to be done but we don’t leap at the chance because we have completely lost touch with what it really is. God is no tax collector, rich uncle or supermarket but would anybody be able to tell if they hear us pray?

We have been granted reason and confidence to approach God directly and boldly, through Christ’s sacrifice wiping out the sin separating us from Him. ‘Obligation’, ‘ought’ and ‘should’ don’t belong in the same sentence as prayer. They don’t even belong on the same page.

Let’s do it, let’s “draw near to God”…just because we can.