On prayer: The perfect place to start … and to stay.

Finding this so encouraging today … thanks for reading.

“One cannot begin to face the real difficulties of the life of prayer and meditation unless one is perfectly content to be a beginner and really experience oneself as one who knows little or nothing, and has a desperate need to learn the bare rudiments. Those who think they “know” from the beginning never, in fact, come to know anything … We do not want to be beginners. But let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything else but beginners, all of our life.” Don Postema, Space for God

When you feel like God is silent …

{Thoughts from Richard Foster’s book on Prayer.}

There is a kind of prayer we don’t often wish to pray. Richard Foster calls it, “The Prayer of the Forsaken.”

It is the kind of prayer that Jesus offered on the cross, “My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me?”

Knowing Christ prayed these words reminds us of this: A season of aloneness, of silence, of nothingness, are not necessarily because God is displeased with me or that I have committed some horrendous offense against heaven. In fact, the two times I have keenly experienced this have been after making significant decisions to deny myself and follow Jesus. One such experience was in San Jose. That was by far the darkest night of my soul, to use Saint John’s language. Heaven was iron. There were no responses. And yet, it does pass. That season was for nine months, and then some of the most glorious blessings followed.

The other season was 4 1/2 years ago, when we’d moved in with my parents and I was coming apart at the seams. Nothing seemed to offer any solace and there seemed no good outcome to our circumstance. That too passed.

Foster calls those times “The Purifying Silence.” Though we often cannot tell, even afterward, exactly what God’s reasons were for His prolonged silence, we can often see a spiritual growth afterward that is unrecognizable in the middle of the storm. The further we get from the incident, the more clear it is.

What is beautiful about these seasons is that we truly realize that we cannot manage God. As Foster says,

“God refused to jump when I said, “Jump!” Neither by theological acumen nor by religious technique could I conquer God. God was, in fact, to conquer me” (p22).

The beauty of unanswered prayer, and of silence, and even of suffering is that we cannot control or manipulate God. And though our wicked hearts can want to at times, there is such a greater, more profoundly abiding peace when we recognize our true place in HIS plans and HIS purposes.

Lastly, I loved Foster’s discussion of the “Prayer of Complaint.” As he says,

“This form of prayer has largely been lost in our modern, sanitized religion, but the Bible abounds in it … The ancient singers (in the psalms) really know how to complain” (p.23).

This really struck me. I seldom complain in my prayers but often complain in my heart! How backwards is that? If I had a problem with Jeff (not even something he’d done wrong but just a problem), and I talked to everyone else about it (and myself) but not him, how ridiculous is that? But we do that with God.

He would rather have honest complaining lovers than pious, proud, hypocritical religious people.

My conclusion through all this is that I purpose to be honest with God and to wait patiently on God. When He is silent, He is still God. I can complain and pour out my heart and draw near to Him, but understand that He is in no obligation to respond to my beck and call. When He sees fit, in His infinite love and abounding wisdom, He will hear my call and come near. He’s promised He will.

{Revisiting these thoughts from a few years back.  Thanks for reading.} 

Prayer for the persecuted … and the persecutors

I played her hurtful, stinging words again and again in my mind. Like a child touching a wound over and over again. And every time I touched it, it hurt worse.

My mind began to spiral down, a tailspin of self-pity. Why? Why did I deserve to be treated like this?  Slowly I slid, I could think of little offenses, of slights, of insults … sliding, sliding, sliding …

Wait! This is not where I want to go! God is so gracious, His word is clear: Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ (1 Cor 10:5).

I start talking to myself instead of listening to myself: Thoughts, I command you to obey Christ!  Love keeps no record of wrongs, it does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant  and does not demand its own way, it believes the best, always hopes, always endures.

And it never fails. 

He brings the Word to mind, cleanses out the filth.

And He gives me a little perspective of what persecution really is. 

Pastor Chandler in South Asia, opposed from every direction, even denied a place to live so he and his family slept in the church. Or Nihal Gohain who was dragged out of his shop and beaten severely, because he was a Christian. Or Bandhu Pillai and his family who were cut off from all family when they received Christ and even not allowed to use the village well, forcing the family to walk to another village to get water.Or Pastor Bashuda who was attacked on his bike and literally beaten unconscious and left for dead. Three months later he is still suffering excruciating pain in his head and is asking for prayer.

Oh Jesus, we desperately need your perspective. 

Beautifully, the answer to all of this–whether real persecution of the kind that’s in our heads–is the same:

Prayer.

Jesus’ words are clear and I read them this morning:

“I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven …” Matthew 5:45

Whether we’ve endured a blow to the head or to the heart, whether our body is injured or merely our ego, the answer is still prayer. Pray for those who persecute you (or who just rub you the wrong way).

And pray for those who are truly suffering for Christ.

Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Hebrews 13:3

How? A few ways: (A fabulous and extensive list here.)

1. Pray for clear, bold, fearless declaration of the gospel. 

“Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” Ephesians 6:19-20

“Devote yourselves to prayer… praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; in order that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.” Colossians 4:2-4

2. That they will have genuine joy sharing in the sufferings of Christ.

“…accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one.” Hebrews 10:34

“Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:12

“but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.” I Peter 4:13

3. That their suffering would make them trust God more than every before.

“For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.”  2 Corinthians 1:8-9

4. For their physical protection and deliverance.

 “So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.” Acts 12:5

“For I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance (from jail) through your prayers.” Philippians 1:19

“I hope that through your prayers I shall be given to you (from jail).” Philemon 22

“Now I urge you, brethren… to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea.” Romans 15:30-31

Praying for the persecuted provides us the perspective we so desperately need. 

{Will you join me today, and take 5 minutes and turn our eyes off ourselves and devote those minutes to praying for the persecuted church in our world? If you have time, check out stories at gfa.org or Voice of the Martyrs. Just for some precious perspective to help us pray? Thanks so much for reading … and praying.}

Bless His Name

Kids sleeping in past 8am; can you believe it? Just enough time to say good morning and slip my virtual hand in yours so we can turn our gaze together to the great and glorious King we serve:

I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name

forever and ever.

Every day I will bless you and praise your name

forever and ever.

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.

One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.

On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works,

I will meditate.

They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,

and I will declare your greatness.

They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The LORD is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made. Psalm 145:1-9

Shall we bless His name, praise His name, declare His greatness, and sing aloud of His righteousness?

Let’s.

A Sunday Blessing

[Our prayer for this trip]

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, [Selah]

that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You!

Let the nations be glad and shout for joy, for You judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. [Selah]

Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You!

The earth has yielded its increase; God our God, shall bless us.

God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear Him!

Psalm 67

 

Blessings upon you today…


F is for Fasting

There are things about God that I don’t understand. There are things about life that I don’t understand. And when faced with those things, sometimes it’s best to engage in something else I don’t understand: Fasting.  A few thoughts about this F-word that’s sadly more taboo than others in our culture.

:: Jesus speaks of fasting in the same manner as prayer and giving. A common question is, “Do Christians have to fast?” Well, no. We don’t. But we readily acknowledge that we are to give and we are to pray, and Jesus speaks of these three things in the same breath in the sermon on the mount (Matt 6). He says,

“When you give …” (6:2)

“When you pray …” (6:5)

“When you fast …” (6:16)

Jesus never tells us exactly how many minutes a day we are supposed to pray. He never tells us exactly how much money we are to give. And He never tells us exactly how much He wants us to fast. But He assumes that we will pray, will give, and will fast.

Then why don’t we?  We often think that the “touchiest” subject to address is money and giving, but perhaps in our society addicted to physical comfort, perhaps fasting is even touchier. Richard Foster says,

Why has the giving of money, for example, been unquestionably recognized as an element of Christian devotion and fasting so disputed? Certainly we have as much, if not more evidence from the Bible for fasting as we have for giving. Perhaps in our affluent society fasting involves a far greater sacrifice than the giving of money. (Celebration of Discipline, 66)

Wow. That hit anyone else squarely in the gut?  I can attest that that is true of me. It is way easier for me to write a check than go without food. How about you?

:: Biblical fasting must center on spiritual purposes. Fasting or “cleanses” are very popular now, for good reason. Naturally the disciplines that God designed have stood the test of time and proven beneficial for our health. But biblical fasting must center on spiritual purposes. Which is why I personally suggest that anyone who struggles with abusing their body through starvation, that a different form of fasting be observed (from media or people or another everyday habit). However, truth be told very few of us struggle with starving ourselves.  And, truth be told, “starving” is a word tossed around in our culture that we know nothing about.  Going without food for a meal or a day will starve nothing but our flesh.

But that said, we must be so careful for our motive. Why am I doing this fast? Ultimately the goal of fasting is always intimacy with God. Drawing near. Going without the things satiate our souls so that we can hunger for Him and taste and see that He is good.

:: Fasting is a beautiful way to close the gap between sacred and secular facets of life. What better way to remind ourselves that it is through this earthly body that we are supposed to commune with God. How beautiful that we can dig deep into the spiritual center of our souls through simply pushing aside the plate of food for the day? We don’t have to leave our ordinary duties or buy a new book or go to some conference. A fresh encounter with God is as close as the close of the refrigerator.

I sometimes wonder if God patiently and graciously endures all of our great and grand seeking of Him through contemporary means.  As much as I LOVE worship through music, I’m the first to admit that it is a very flesh-satisfying way to seek God. I love the sound, the feel, the experience. It fills me up, gives me energy, gets me going.  It’s easy. Fasting is the opposite. There’s nothing about it that satisfies my flesh. It’s hard, makes me tired, and makes me feel humble and dependent.

No wonder God prescribes it.

With no guilt, shame, or condemnation, what are your current thoughts about fasting? Scared? Intimidated? Unsure of where to start? Richard Foster has some great words in Celebration of Discipline.

My thoughts? Start small. I began by fasting between meals. You laugh, but it’s true. A step is a step no matter how small. Thanks for reading.

F is for a Friend in need (who is yours?)

Who faces stage IV colon cancer at age 34?

Shawna was the beautiful young pastor’s wife and mom behind the scenes all through my years at Oregon State and the years that Jeff and I served in college ministry in Corvallis. Although she’s only a few years older than me, I always looked up to her as an amazing woman of God. She was always wise beyond her years.  Five years ago Shawna survived the unexpected tragedy of needing to raise her kids on her own, working like crazy, even going back to finish college so she could support her children. And after years of enduring and persevering, God brings an amazing man into her life. They are married–it’s a fairy tale. A dream come true. A story of truest redemption. We all lean back and smile as they ride off into the sunset.

Then Wednesday the diagnosis is confirmed. Stage IV colon cancer.

What? All week long I think of her. Pray, fast, and pray some more. Cry into my pillow, in the shower. Tell God what I think of this crummy plan. I sit and stare at the picture of her with her two young children. Two little lambs who have already suffered. This family’s suffering quota is full, Lord. Don’t you see?

I tell everyone who will listen and so many do and I am so thankful. So while I’d love to talk more about the topic of Freedom that we discussed last week (we’ll hit it next week!), today is a day for Friends in need.

Who is yours?

Who comes to mind?

I love the story, in Luke 5, of the men who carried their paralyzed friend to Jesus. Since they couldn’t get through the crowd, “they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles in the midst before Jesus” (v.20).  Do you know what happens next?

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you …[and turning to the pharisees] But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’–he said to the man who was paralyzed–‘I say to you pick up your bed and go home …” (v.21, 24)

When Jesus saw the faith of the friends, He forgave the man’s sin and healed him completely. Then do you know what happens?

“And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen extraordinary things today.” (v.26)

They saw extraordinary things and they glorified God.

No lie: I have no idea how the miracle thing works today. They see ’em all the time in Africa and not very often ’round here. Stage IV colon cancer is bad.

But God.

I don’t know what God’s going to do, but I read Luke 5 and I see a friend in need, and it seems to me that at least we’re supposed to keep carrying our friends to Jesus. Everyday in prayer. Right?

I know there’s one in your life too. A Shawna. A friend whose diagnosis is hopeless, or whose marriage is hopeless, or whose life just feels hopeless. So today, if you’d join me, I’d like for each of us to just “carry” that friend to this place, this little corner of the world where we meet everyday.

And I’d like to help carry your friend if you’d like to help carry mine.

In the comment section, please share the name of a friend who needs prayer. If you can specify the need (while respecting their privacy), that would be wonderful. Otherwise, just type their name down through the roof to this place, and together we’ll lift them up to our God.

I will pray for your friend if you will pray for mine.

Deal?

Thank you for making this more than a blog. Thank you for letting me into a bit of your world and for entering a bit into mine. And thank for you praying for Shawna. Happy Friday and thanks, as always, for reading.

How to Make Prayer Cards

I shared last week about using my new beautiful stickers to create new Prayer Cards. Here’s what they are and why I love ’em.

::What they are::

I used to make them out of index cards with a bic pen–no nonsense. But why not make them beautiful?  Now, as you know, I made them from textured paper, a colored header, and good black pen that makes me write neatly (is it just me or does your handwriting improve significantly when you use a nice pen?)

There are 8 of them. One for each day of the week and one that says Daily. On my little cards there’s a title and then a list of what to pray for each day. It’s simple but it works for me. I break it up into categories like this and then list specific names under each one.

  • Sunday: WCC staff and elders
  • Monday: Women’s Ministry and Bible study ladies
  • Tuesday: Friends
  • Wednesday: Prayer ladies & WCC prayer requests
  • Thursday: Family, extended family
  • Friday: Loved ones, neighbors, etc. who I want to come know Jesus.
  • Saturday: Foreign Missions work and missionaries

The “Daily” card is our immediate family, my own personal prayers, and any upcoming decisions, etc. Under each header I list out all the names or specific things I need to remember to lift up to God’s throne.  It’s a convicting exercise because it usually shows me how much there is in my life that’s not under the umbrella of prayer!

::Why this helps::

  • Objective accountability: Of course there are lots of ways to pray, but this is just one way to help stay accountable to praying regularly for those in your life.  When I leave it all to chance I find that I pray about my own little stuff about 99% of the time and then I’d run into a friend who was actually going through something hard and realize I hadn’t even prayed for her!  That’s certainly no fun, but I just have to be honest about myself and know that I need something objective to help me keep others in mind. Otherwise it’s pretty much all about me. I especially noticed this with the Foreign Missionaries one. I’d get their newsletters and realize that I hadn’t prayed for then since their last month’s newsletter (if at all!).
  • Helps maintain margin: It is a wise rule to never take on more than we can pray about.  If I have more things going on in my life than I have time to pray for, then there’s a problem! Whenever I take the time to update/create prayer cards it really helps me get an idea of how much is in my life and if it’s too much.  God gives us 7 days a week and if we can’t pray for it during that time maybe it’s meant to be on someone else’s prayer card (and plate!).
  • Portability! I have tried having a big prayer journal in the past and I think they are awesome but it just ended up being too much to carry around with me. I love having these little cards that I can tuck anywhere–usually just in my Bible. I love that I can pull them out at any time and have my beloved prayer needs right before my eyes. I love I don’t have to have the pressure of trying to keep track of all that I’m supposed to pray for. When we write it down we take the pressure off. It’s there, just waiting for us. (I also jot down notes in pencil if there are specific things for a certain time, then I can just erase as time goes on and needs change.)

When we do something like create beautiful prayer cards we’re setting ourselves up for success. We are wise to do all that we can to build godly habits into our lives.  You may have other ideas that work for you–that’s great!  Let’s do all we can to make every moment His.

*I’m also using my stickers for beautiful Scripture Memorization Cards.  More on those later.  Happy praying, happy beauty-making!

What practical tips do you have for building prayer and beauty-making into your life?   For making every moment His?


 

On Stickers

There are two people in my life who are always passing on to me some precious treasure or two.  When they say, “I have something for you…” I smile wide in anticipation because I know it’s going to be good.  One happens to be my mother-in-law. She always arrives with bags filled with wonderful and extraordinarily random items that I love.  Tulip bulbs (already planted in soil inside beautiful pots (!), saran wrap, a coffee-grinder and an unusual vase that she assures I can give to Goodwill with no hard feelings. I rarely do because I love what she gives. If you ever see anything in my home that you think is lovely you can rest assured it comes from her hand.  She has an eye for ordinary beauty and redemptive decorating. Taking what another tosses and creating, truly, a treasure.  I love learning from her.

My other giving friend does much the same.  Her gifts have included hand-me-down-still-in-perfect-condition Uggs, sourdough starter, parenting books, Chia seeds, gorgeous patio planters (with flowers in them!), and an entire basket filled with assorted tea.  Tell me,what could be better?

So recently this friend opened up her purse during our 6am prayer meeting and announced to the other six of us, “I have stickers for you!”

Stickers?

My mind went straight to  the Thomas the Train ones that Dutch sticks all over his face.  Hmm… But she opened up a stationary box and pulled out a stack of small matte sheets of, yes, I suppose you’d call them stickers.

But they were beautiful. Vintage-inspired takes on flowers and birds. Matte, textured, think Anthropolgie.  To call them “stickers” seemed offensive. They were art!  I received them gladly and tucked them carefully in my Bible to await an occasion special enough to merit their use.

They soon found their use.

Prayer Cards & Scripture Memory Cards.

I’ll share more on Tuesday about my love for prayer cards and simple ways to make them work.  But what has struck me recently about them is this:

Beauty fosters discipline.

I am, as you maybe be able to tell, experiencing a shackle-shaking revolution in my little heart of once again learning to embrace beauty.  To love beauty. To value beauty as inherently valuable because all that is beauty points to He who is Beautiful.

Our God is Beautiful.

Perhaps it sounds overly dramatic, but it is a keen enough conviction in my heart that I even have felt led to repent of this–this departure from pursuing beauty.  I had, in the past dozen years, sterilized my life in order to squeeze as much productivity out of it.

I had raped the soil of my own soul in a selfish striving to produce some supposedly spiritual product.

Fruit?

Fruit doesn’t grow from barren soil.

Fruit, real fruit, only grows from soil that is rich. And could it be that seeking beauty–as a way of seeking the reflection of our Great and Glorious God–is one of the ways that we cultivate this ground, one of the ways that we add nutrients and then watch the fruit grown, ripen …

... that a world may taste and see that the Lord is good.

So I slid those precious stickers out of my Bible and got to work on my new prayer cards. I used a smoky blue color marker for the titles and sharp black ink for the names. Then, of course, I finished them off with the beautiful stickers. They are simple, but exquisite to me. And you know what I’m finding?

Their beauty fosters discipline. I find so much delight in how beautiful my prayer cards look, I take care of them and cherish them and love to pray over them. I pull them out each morning like little treasures to behold. I touch those textured stickers, thinking of my friend (who is beauty), of this new pursuit, of cultivating rich soil, of my Great and Glorious God.  My stickers are beautiful.

Just like prayer is beautiful.

My heart grieves for the years I have spent sterilizing my life so that I can produce more shriveled, dried up fruit that no one in their right mind would want to eat.  One bright red, ripe, delicious juicy strawberry from the garden is worth ten tasteless ones shipped from who knows where.  Perhaps our lives are a little like that. Less fruit, but better. Real. And maybe that has something to do with beauty.

Maybe it has something to do with stickers.

Do you see Him in the details of life? He is so beautiful.

Where have you seen Him today?


 

On Stillness

He leads me beside still waters… (Psalm 23:2)

One thing I always notice about getting away (on a vacation or retreat) is how miraculously God allows us to see things from a different vantage point. Though I know we don’t drive to a new locale and physically look back at our life, it is almost as if physically removing ourselves somehow supernaturally enables us to see the daily grind of our days with a startlingly new perspective.

That’s why getting away is so good.

My “get away” was simply a week spent with my kids and parents out at Riversong, their home on the river in the middle of nowhere.  (Jeff was out of town.)  I cooked a lot of beef dinners (because I love you, Dad), went to bed at 8 o’clock each night, and spent precious early mornings with the Father every day.  My days were pretty quiet but His voice was loud and clear.

Creation has a way of bringing perspective. Perhaps it is because it displays God’s invisible attributes of eternal power and divine nature (Rom 1:20).  When we get out into nature we see God’s nature–our man-made creations pale in comparison.  When I stand at the back of my parents’ property, surrounded by nothing but trees, river, birds, hillside–the whole earth is hushed.  In the quiet, still moment my spirit finally slows to a sacred stop.  And in that moment I stare at the rushing water and can finally see things clearly.

In the stillness I can feel that am restless.

In the quiet I can hear that my life is loud.

Without being distracted I can see that I often am.

While I’m there, the trees ask me each morning if I am abiding. The river asks if I am freely allowing God’s divine resources to flow through my life.  The snow that falls reminds me my scarlet sins are gone. The rain and rainbows gives a fresh promise God is not through with me yet. There is so much grace here.

Here in the stillness.

He restores my soul… (Psalm 23:3)

By nature I’m about as still as a hurricane.  My husband says I am a shark–if I stay still I’ll die.  My dad once told me if you stop moving and don’t use your muscles they’ll atrophy and you’ll lose ’em. Apparently I took that to heart because I’ve never stopped moving since.  To be fair, in most of my activity there for the most part a joyful enthusiasm and a striving to steward what God has given me. But also there can be the very unholy frenzy of distraction, control, and addiction to adrenalin.  I don’t like the dust to settle where I can see it, I’d rather just keep it whirling around in motion.

But I’m learning, for moments, to be still.  In prayer, in Scripture, in Sabbath-naps and silent moments in each other’s arms on the couch.  I inhale the smell of Jeff’s neck and I am home. In extra-long rocking chair time with Heidi, in “one more story” bedtime snuggles with Dutch, even in small but priceless moments in Winco of letting Dutch scoop the flour out of the bin into the bag all by himself… in eternally slow, tiny scoops.  Stillness helped me crouch down beside him and memorize his face. He beamed with accomplishment and held up the bag, his trophy.  A moment I would have missed were it not for stillness.

How many moments have I missed?

Of course life does not consists merely of stillness.  I will still continue to be a whirlwind of activity, Lord willing, for all the days He gives me here on earth. But I am thankful for my week away and for a renewed commitment to stillness. In a world where productivity equals value and busyness equals evidence of worth, God’s words speaks cross the grain and restores our souls.

Be still and know that I am God.

I will be exalted in the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth. (Psalm 46:10)