What I Do When I Go Out to Pray

 

One of my praying places on Lake Erie

Someone who attended one of my conferences sent me this question: "When you go out to pray, what steps do you take?"

Here's what I do.

I go to a "place of least distraction," which is away from my home and office. One of these places for me is at our local state park on Lake Erie. I go there to pray even in winter, but usually stay in my car, facing the lake.

I bring three things: my Bible, my journal, and a devotional book (like a Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, Dallas Willard, or Eugene Peterson book). 

I often bring a cup of coffee with me.

I find a place facing the lake. I sit. At this point I am almost always focused on God. I have done this for so many years that I am filled with expectation.

Currently I am slowly, meditatively, reading through Proverbs and the Gospel of Luke.

As I read, it is common for God to speak to me, either mediately through the Scriptures, through the creation, or immediately. When this happens, I write it down in my journal. My journal is a record of the voice and activity of God, for me.

If my mind wanders, I note where it wanders to. When it wanders it is always to a burden. Sometimes the burden is from God, and I pray about this (e.g., I feel burdened by what a friend is going through). Otherwise, following 1 Peter 5:7, I burden-cast.

When I am deburdened and detoxified (confession of any sins), hearing God happens more often. I may at that time read out of a devotional book. Usually, I get only a few pages (if that far), when I feel God is again speaking to me. At that point I write in my journal what I hear God saying.

All this is my usual experience. It does happen, occasionally, that I hear little or nothing. At other times, I cannot write my thoughts fast enough.

I feel no pressure to make something happen. I do not evaluate my time with God quantitatively. It is always productive, even if I see no immediate results.

Almost always (99%), I am refreshed, renewed, healed, directed, corrected, at peace, with great thanksgiving.

***
My two books are Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.

Leading the Presence-Driven Church 

I am now writing How God Changes the Human Heart (A Phenomenology of Spiritual Transformation) (Hopefully summer 2021).

Why I Believe Praying Works

(Monroe County)

(From my book Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.)

I pray because prayer works. If I thought prayer didn’t work, I would not waste my time praying. 

Prayer works by actually praying, a lot. To pray is to be in relationship with God. Deep interpersonal relationships communicate, a lot. 

Praying “works.” What does this mean? As I see it: 

Praying brings me into relationship with God, experientially. I meet with God, in prayer. 

I experience and sense the presence of God, with me. This is important because experience, not theory, breeds conviction. 

I engage and co-partner with God in his redemptive mission. 

I experience God’s guiding hand, and can empirically corroborate this. I have multiple accounts of this written in 3500+ pages of journals over the past forty years. I have read countless stories of God's guidance from among the 4000 students and pastors I have taught. 

I have seen things happen and change as a result of praying. I have hundreds of journal pages attesting to this. I can make a case for the causal efficacy of praying as co-laboring with God. 

A life of praying recalibrates, daily, my heart to the heart of God. 

A life of praying has changed me. For the better, I believe. Note: for the Christian theist “better” is understood in terms of the “best” that is Jesus. 

A life of praying renders me less anxious, less fearful, and less lonely. Again, this is a palpable, existential, living reality.

Praying changes things and changes me. I experience brokenness within and see breakthrough without. Therefore, I pray. 

The 4th-century theologian John Chrysostom, in a moment of joyful realization and remembering, wrote on the efficacy of praying: 

The potency of prayer hath subdued the strength of fire; 

it hath bridled the rage of lions, 

hushed anarchy to rest, 

extinguished wars, 

appeased the elements, 

expelled demons, 

burst the chains of death, 

expanded the gates of heaven, 

assuaged diseases, 

repelled frauds, 

rescued cities from destruction, 

stayed the sun in its course, 

and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt. 

Prayer is an all-efficient panoply, 

a treasure undiminished, 

a mine which is never exhausted, 

a sky unobscured by clouds, 

a heaven unruffled by the storm. 

It is the root, the fountain, 

the mother of a thousand blessings. 

(From The Divine Liturgy of St John Chysostom)

I pray because praying works. 

Prophecies - How to Discern the True from the False (From James Goll)

(Maumee Bay State Park, Ohio, on Lake erie)

I'm on the leadership team of Holy Spirit Renewal Ministries. This past summer we had a wonderful online mini-conference with Robby Dawkins and James Goll.

I've heard Robby several times - what a great activist for Jesus and the Kingdom!

This was the first I'd heard James speak. I, and many of our people, were greatly blessed. You can hear James's message HERE.

James is a prophetic voice I pay attention to, as do many other Christian leaders I admire.

This is important, because crises like the pandemic (Y2K, plagues, wars, economic meltdowns, etc.) bring out many false prophets. 

False prophecies abound on the internet. I have heard so many false prophecies over my fifty (!) years as a Jesus-follower. Most of them have only...

...produced fear in people, 

...caused people to get defensive and retreat from the battle (my Jesus took authority and calmed the storm, rather than saying "Look out disciples - here comes the big one!"), 

...are non-victorious (my Jesus is still the Lion of Judah, and on the offense, not hunkering down in a bunker!), ...

...and have never come to pass (I can't remember a time I heard a false prophet repent of this, and ask for forgiveness for all the anxiety they produced in good people).  

I believe in the manifestation of prophecy. 

I desire to prophecy. (Christians - read THIS.) 

So, for followers of Jesus, how can we discern the true from the false? Here's what James Goll says in his book The Seer. 

1. Does the revelation edify, exhort, or console? “But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation” (1 Cor. 14:3). The end purpose of all true prophetic revelation is to build up, to admonish, and to encourage the people of God. Anything that is not directed to this end is not true prophecy. Jeremiah the prophet had to fulfill a negative commission, but even his difficult message contained a powerful and positive promise of God for those who were obedient (see Jer. 1:5,10). First Corinthians 14:26  sums it up best: “Let all things be done for edification.” 

2. Is it in agreement with God’s Word? “All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 3:16a KJV). True revelation always agrees with the letter and the spirit of the Scriptures (see 2 Cor. 1:17-20). Where the Holy Spirit says “yea and amen” in Scripture, He also says yea and amen in revelation. He never, ever, contradicts Himself. 

3. Does it exalt Jesus Christ? “He will glorify Me; for He will take of Mine, and will disclose it to you” (John 16:14). All true revelation ultimately centers on Jesus Christ and exalts and glorifies Him (see Rev. 19:10). 

4. Does it have good fruit? “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits…” (Matt. 7:15-16). True revelatory activity produces fruit in character and conduct that agrees with the fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Eph. 5:9; Gal. 5:22-23). Some of the aspects of character or conduct that clearly are not the fruit of the Holy Spirit include pride, arrogance, boastfulness, exaggeration, dishonesty, covetousness, financial irresponsibility, licentiousness, immorality, addictive appetites, broken marriage vows, and broken homes. Normally, any revelation that is responsible for these kinds of results is from a source other than the Holy Spirit. 

5. If it predicts a future event, does it come to pass? (See Deuteronomy 18:20-22.) Any revelation that contains a prediction concerning the future should come to pass. If it does not, then, with a few exceptions, the revelation is not from God. Exceptions may include the following issues:

- Will of the person involved. 

- National repentance—Nineveh repented, so Jonah’s word of judgment did not occur. 

- Messianic predictions (they took hundreds of years to be fulfilled). 

- There is a different standard for New Testament prophets than for Old Testament prophets, whose predictions played into God’s Messianic plan of deliverance.

6. Does the prophetic prediction turn people toward God or away from Him? (See Deuteronomy 13:1-5.) The fact that a person makes a prediction concerning the future that is fulfilled does not necessarily prove that that person is moving by Holy Spirit-inspired revelation. If such a person, by his own ministry, turns others away from obedience to the one true God, then that person’s ministry is false—even if he makes correct predictions concerning the future. 

7. Does it produce liberty or bondage? “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father’” (Rom. 8:15). True revelation given by the Holy Spirit produces liberty, not bondage (see 1 Cor. 14:33; 2 Tim. 1:7). The Holy Spirit never causes God’s children to act like slaves, nor does He ever motivate us by fear or legalistic compulsion. 

8. Does it produce life or death? “Who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). True revelation from the Holy Spirit always produces life, not death. 

9. Does the Holy Spirit bear witness that it is true? “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him” (1 John 2:27). The Holy Spirit within the believer always confirms true revelation from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of truth” (see John 16:13). He bears witness to that which is true, but He rejects that which is false. This ninth test is the most subjective test of all the tests we’ve presented here. For that reason, it must be used in conjunction with the previous eight objective standards.

Goll, James W.. The Seer Expanded Edition: The Prophetic Power of Visions, Dreams and Open Heavens (pp. 93-96). 

See also James's book The Prophet; Creating and Sustaining a Life-Giving Prophetic Culture.

How Progressive Christians are Twisting the Gospel

 Today a friend sent me this article. It's helpful. I'll address some of the issues in this article in my coming blog series "Deconstructing Progressive Christianity" (Why I could never call myself a "progressive Christian").

"Here's How the New Christian Left Is Twisting the Gospel" 

God's Chosen Fast, For Such a Time as This

 

                                                 (Warren Dunes State Park, Michigan)

Some in our church family have chosen to fast and pray, for periods of time, up to and through the Inauguration. That's a good thing, right?

At Redeemer I'll be preaching this coming Sunday on "Fasting and Spiritual Warfare." I'll focus on these verses from Isaiah 58:3-12.

A suggestion: read them with me throughout this week, and up to Inauguration Day.

Be counseled, and guided, and exhorted, and broken, and moved by them.

The context was that the people of Israel had been fasting, but no spiritual transformation (changed lives) was happening. So, God give his "chosen fast."

If you are a Jesus-follower, what do these verses say to you, about you? What counsel, what guidance, what exhortation, does the Spirit give you? How, if at all, are you broken and moved by these words?

'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? 

Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' 

"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. 

Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, 

and in striking each other with wicked fists. 

You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. 

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? 

Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? 

Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD ? 

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

 to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

 Is it not to share your food with the hungry 

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - 

when you see the naked,

to clothe him,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, 

and your healing will quickly appear; 

then your righteousness will go before you, 

and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; 

you will cry for help, and he will say: 

Here am I."

If you do away with the yoke of oppression, 

with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry 

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, 

then your light will rise in the darkness, 

and your night will become like the noonday. 

The LORD will guide you always; 

he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land 

and will strengthen your frame. 

You will be like a well-watered garden, 

like a spring whose waters never fail. 

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations;

 you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, 

Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Three Destructive Entitlement Attitudes, and The Cure

                                                  (Playing with my grandson Levi!)

Psychologist John Townsend, in his book The Entitlement Cure, says there are three attributes someone with an entitled attitude has, all of which destroy your health.

#1 - Denial.

Instead of "search me, O God, and know my heart," the person in denial turns her back on reality." She refuses to admit her flaws to herself or anyone else, which eliminates any possibility of deep and satisfying relationships." (p. 64)

Denial keeps her from growing, changing, and transforming.

The person in denial doesn't confess, because the problem is with others, not her. (See James 5:16.)

#2 - Perfectionism.

The perfectionist "beats himself up for failures, minor or major. His standard for performance is perfection, and he offers himself little grace when he stumbles. He constantly scrutinizes and condemns himself, and never makes it to a point of self-acceptance." (p. 65)

#3 - Narcissism.

Narcissists have grandiose views of themselves. Self-grandiosity hides their flaws, "which usually lie buried under deep shame and envy. He is so afraid to see himself as he really is that he reacts in the opposite direction, toward the “I’m special” stance, in which he becomes arrogant and selfish and has difficulty feeling empathy for others." (p. 65)

The entitlement attitudes of denial, perfectionism, and narcissism are accompanied by pressure, stress, and emptiness. 

The Jesus way, on the other hand, is hard because you have to actually face yourself. Townsend writes:

"But his yoke becomes easier (see Matthew 11: 30) because you can then experience his grace, and the grace of others, to bear and relate to your real, authentic self — negative aspects and all. This self can then be loved, forgiven, graced, and helped to become a transformed individual, full of grace, forgiveness, and mercy for others." (Ib.)

***
My two books are:

Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God. 

Leading the Presence-Driven Church.

I'm working on:

How God Changes the Human Heart

Technology and Spiritual Formation

Don't Say "Yes" to Every Desire

 

                                                                     (Rockford, Illinois)

We all live with unfulfilled desires. This is not bad.

"Desire" is: wanting something that one does not have. "Desire" makes no sense without its object. Were I to now think, "I desire to type on a laptop computer," while typing on a laptop computer, that is absurd. 

All desire is, precisely, the lack of an object, or circumstance, or event, or relationship, that one does not now have, with the idea that, if I acquire it, then I will be happy/fulfilled/etc. 

All persons have desires. Every desire, in its moment, is unfulfilled. All persons have unfulfilled desires. Many of them remain so. 

That is good. 

Here, goodness or badness refers to the object of one's desire. A person may desire to get back at someone, to hurt someone, to take revenge. That is not good. It is good for that desire to remain unfulfilled.

James 1:13-15 says:

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Some, perhaps many, of our desires are evil. It is good that we do not act on them. So, if someone has a desire that is not being met, this is not necessarily a bad thing. This relates to what psychiatrist M. Scott Peck told us in The Road Less Traveled, that road being "delay desire-gratification."

Wesley Hill, in Washed and Waiting, writes:

"I’d suggest that living with unfulfilled desires is not the exception of the human experience but the rule. Even most of those who are married are, as Thoreau once said, “living lives of quiet regret.” Maybe they married the wrong person or have the pain of suffering within marriage or feel trapped in their situations and are unable to fulfill a higher sense of calling. The list of unfulfilled desires goes on and on." (p. 72)

Jesus told us to expect unfulfilled desire and to not acquiesce to it. "Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."" (Luke 9:23) Self-denial includes denial of desires for the sake of following after Jesus. 

It was a summer morning fifteen years ago, and Linda and I had our suitcases packed. We were excited to be leaving for our annual summer conference in Green Lake, Wisconsin! Linda's father Del was living with us. On that morning his defibrillator went off, twice. 

Linda and I knew that we were not going anywhere. For me, this was disappointing. I do not think that my feeling of disappointment was troubling to God. My God is a compassionate God who feels with me when I am disappointed. My desire to get away to this beautiful conference was denied, for the sake of a greater calling. We stayed with Del, took him to the hospital, and eventually (though a few days late) were able to find care for him and go to part of our conference.

Do not define yourself by your desires. Do not say "Yes" to every desire that struts into your mind and says "Satisfy me." (Remember the plant in "Little Shop of Horrors.")

It is rare to find persons who live this way in our sex-inebriated culture of exponentially unfulfilled desires. Our consumerism not only wants us to say "Yes" to our thirst and obey it, it creates countless other desires, and convinces us that we walk among the perpetually unfulfilled. This is the breeding ground of entitlement and narcissism.

The person who says "Yes" to every desire is a slave, not free.

For those of you who claim to be Jesus-followers, do not be mastered by your desires, but submit them to your heavenly Master.

Draw near to the One who fulfills your desires to be valued and loved.

Christian Student from Nigeria Prevented from Sharing His Faith on a College Campus

 This case goes before the U.S. Supreme Court this week.

A college has banned a Christian student from publicly sharing his faith on campus.

See HERE.

See the Washington Post article HERE. 

Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski

Monday, January 11, 2021

Description:  In 2016, Georgia Gwinnett College officials stopped student Chike Uzuegbunam not once, but twice, from peacefully sharing his Christian faith with fellow students on his college campus. First, officials said he had to get advance permission to use one of two tiny speech zones that made up far less than 1% of the campus and were only open 10% of the week. Despite following these policies, Chike was again prevented from speaking. After ADF challenged the unconstitutional policies, Georgia Gwinnett argued that Chike’s speech should receive no constitutional protection, changed its policy, and claimed it should be able to avoid any penalty for violating Chike’s free speech rights. Two courts agreed. Now the Supreme Court has agreed to hear Chike’s case.

G.R.O.W. - Fear Withers in an Atmosphere of Faith

(Me and Linda, in Asheville)

Fear is a virus. It looks for a person, or a home, to reside in. 

Fear needs a host.

Fear is a virus that cannot survive in an atmosphere of faith. Just as darkness flees when light appears, faith shows fear the exit door.
  
We see the antagonistic relationship between fear and faith when we read this from Psalm 23:

Because you are with me,

I fear no evil.

Because who is with me? Jesus. In John 14 we read that Jesus takes up residence in our home. He is the One who will never leave or forsake us. When Jesus lives in us, fear exits.

Many people and their homes are fear-based. In his book Lifesigns, Henri Nouwen writes: 

"We are fearful people. The more people I come to know and the more I come to know people, the more I am overwhelmed by the negative power of fear. It often seems that fear has invaded every part of our being to such a degree that we no longer know what a life without fear would feel like." 

Nouwen asks us, "Do you dwell in the house of fear, or the house of faith?"

We can grow, and cultivate, an atmosphere of faith. It will be a fear-less, less-fear, environment, as we do these four things.

Give thanks. Make a list of things you thank God for. Carry the list with you. Re-read often. Add to it as needed.

Remember. Make another list, this time writing events where God brought you through hard times, and into the light. Carry this list with you. Re-read often.

Obey. Live a disciple's life. Follow Jesus. We learn a lot about faith as we trust him and follow.

Worship. Live a God-honoring, God-glorifying life.

G. R. O. W.

Fear withers in an atmosphere of faith.

PEACE (Variations on Matthew 5:9)

 

                                                                    (Monroe County)

Here are the words of Jesus, in Matthew 5:9, with variations on the theme.

Blessed are the peacemakers, 

for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who put things together, 

rather than tear things apart.

Blessed are those who, 

more than loving peace, 

make peace.

Blessed are those who stay when the going gets tough,

rather than leave because the going is tough.

Blessed are those who go to the other person,

rather than tell others about the other person.

Blessed are those who deal lovingly with their anger,

rather than sleep on their anger.

Blessed are the problem-solvers,

rather than the complainers.

Blessed are the understanders,

rather than the judgers.

Blessed are the participants,

rather than the observers.

Blessed are the doers,

rather than the talkers.

Blessed are those who wage peace,

not war.