Sunday School

Well, it's that time of year again. The time where we give out the awards, promote youth to the next class, and gear up once again for another year of Sunday School.

This year at Salem, while many things will remain the same, some others will change. The Youth and Adult Sunday School classes that have been offered in the past will continue to be offered. However, we will be starting a new class called Connect: Where Life and Truth Intersect. This class will be an opportunity to discuss real life situations in the light of scripture. Issues such as Forgiveness and Trust, Family and Balance, Standing and Serving among others.

What makes this class different is what is found out here. There will be blog entries each week for this class. They will be an opportunity to catch up in case you missed a week and they will be an opportunity to continue our discussion. Many times 11:00 comes quickly and our discussion must end prematurely....this blog is an opportunity to continue our discussion beyond Sunday morning.

I hope this class can provide some insight into various areas of your life in light of Scripture. I also hope that we can learn from one another and how God has worked in our lives.

To access the class simply click on the Connect link to the right.

In His Grip
Kevin

Annual Conference

Fresh off our annual pilgrimage to Lakeside for Annual Conference, here are some links to help you find out what went on:

The Work

The Fun

Enjoy.......

Literature in Scripture

So far in this study we have looked at the origins of the Bible, the various translations of the Bible and this week we are going to look at the various types of literature in the bible.

The Bible is not, from one perspective, truly a single book: it is a library. The books of the Bible exist in many different genres (remember that word from High School!!) – (genre simply means type) of literature. There are many different types of literature in the Bible. For example, there are historical narratives; collections of hymns, proverbs, letters, etc….. and within each of those books there are a wide variety of forms (short stories, poems, parables, proverbs, sermons, and laws). I know what you are asking…….OK, so what? Why do we need to know what type of genre and form a particular piece of scripture is? The reason is because it could affect our interpretation. If something is considered as wisdom literature and not historical narrative then we know that the sequence of events or the events themselves are not as important as the teaching that is being conveyed. If we know a particular text is historical narrative then we know the story that is being told, actually happened and is not merely symbolic to prove a point.

Understanding this and knowing the difference can significantly help us in understanding what we are reading. So this week and next we are going to cover the following genres of the bible: Epistles, Narratives, Gospels, Prophetic, Parables, Law, Psalms and Wisdom literature.

So let’s look first at the genre of Epistles. An epistle is simply a fancy name for one of the letters of the New Testament. For example: Romans, Galatians, I & II Corinthians, Colossians, etc are all examples of epistles. These were letters written by a particular author for a particular audience in a particular situation. So to fully understand what is happening in the letter, we need to understand as much as possible about the context in which it was written. What is the purpose of the author in writing the letter? What behavior needed to be corrected or doctrinal error that needed to be set right? Why does the author go about it the way that he does?

For example, in the Corinthian response letters, Paul is responding to things he has learned about the Corinthian church from two different sources. First, he has received a report from members of Chloe’s household (1 Cor 1:11) about some of the things that were happening in the church in Corinth. Second, the Corinthian church themselves sent Paul a letter asking him various questions (see 1 Cor 7) about topics such as food sacrificed to idols, the veiling of women, spiritual gifts, etc. Therefore, Paul’s reason for writing to them was to respond to this information that he had received. One of those responses has to do with the many divisions within the Corinthian church such as separation at the Lord’s Table to elevating certain spiritual gifts over others. These divisions were not just divisions within the church but reflected a culture that was highly intellectual and prided themselves on elevating their line of thought over another. One of the major events in those days was intellectual debates they held within the city. Orators from all around would come into Corinth and debate one another on particular topics. Each orator would use a particular style of argument or persuasion to win others to his side. Then the people would cheer for those they liked much like we cheer for our favorite football team today. Many times it did not matter the content of the argument as much as the style the orator used. People would pick their favorite style and root for them. This spilled over into the church and created divisions among Christians. If you look at 1 Corinthians 1, Paul says “What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another ‘I follow Apollos’; another ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ’….. What Paul is referring to is the time period after he left Corinth and Apollos followed him as the preacher of the church. Now each man had his own speaking style but the church, as their cultural norm, began to compare Paul and Apollos and the way in which they preached the Gospel. From this, factions were created of those who preferred Paul and those who preferred Apollos. Whereas Paul responds, “Is Christ divided?” They were all preaching Christ, so what does it matter which style is used. In fact, Paul says in 1 Cor 2:4, "My message were not with wise and persuasive words..." This is the essence of the epistles. A particular place, a particular situation, in a particular culture to which a particular response is given. It is from this response that we can begin to build a theological base for our beliefs and actions today. Take this situation in Corinth, for example, the same thing happens today. When one pastor leaves a church and another comes in people will naturally compare the new pastor to the old and choose a side in which to stand. But when we look at the words of Paul, we can simply ask “Is Christ divided?”

Now narratives are a totally different story. In fact, narratives are a story. Narrative literature are stories retelling the historical events of the past in order to give meaning and direction for a given people in the present. This differs, however, than typical narrative stories in modern literature because all of the individual stories work together to tell God’s story and his work throughout history. Hundreds of individual stories from hundreds of different locations including thousands of different people all work together to show God’s redemptive work throughout creation.

Narratives are not allegorical stories with hidden meanings. While there many be aspects of a story that are hard to understand, the basic assumption is that they really happened. For example, Moses going up and down Mount Sinai in Exodus 19-34 is not an allegory of the descent and ascent of the soul to God as some would infer. But it is the retelling of Moses actually going up and down the mountain. While there are other types of literature that have allegorical meaning, it is important to know (and impacts our interpretation) that it is not contained within historical narratives.

Another concern when it comes to narratives is that we cannot insert a meaning into the text that was not intended when it was written. This concept applies to all of scripture, A TEXT CANNOT MEAN SOMETHING TODAY THAT IT DID NOT MEAN TO THE ORIGINAL AUDIENCE. Much harm has been done in teaching scripture because we want to insert our meaning into the text when the author never intended for it to mean that.

Some helpful hints when reading a narrative, find the basic components of the story. Who is the narrator and what is their role in the story? What is the scene? Where does the story take place? Who are the characters? What is the dialogue between the characters and between the narrator and the reader? What is the plot of the story?

Examples of narrative texts would be: Genesis, Joshua, Judges, I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, I & I Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jonah (some people would debate this, however, I believe that Jonah is a historical story), the Gospels, Acts, and so on.

I hope that begins to give you a little insight as to the different types of literature in scripture. Next week we will tackle a couple more forms.

In His Grip
Kevin

Lecture

I just found a lecture from Ben Witherington (Renowned NT professor at Asbury Seminary in Kentucky) talking about our topic for this week - choosing a translation. Take a look - good information.

http://media.asburyseminary.edu/flash/courses/nt520/choosingtranslations.php

What’s With All the Translations…

Sorry with the delay in the posting…..course load is heavy this quarter.

Last time we talked about how the Bible came about and how it was assembled by the early church. This week, let’s look at a common question……why are there so many translations?

Walk into any bookstore and you will find a multitude of bibles on the shelf. Life Application bibles, Youth bibles, devotional bibles, study bibles, study bibles that applies to the devotional life of youth bibles…….you get the picture. These are merely different versions of scripture that publishers promote to try to capture a particular corner of the market. Many of these bibles have comments within the text that help the reader understand what is going on. For example, the NIV Study Bible gives many good comments as to what the particular text is saying. Whereas, the Archaelogical Study Bible gives many comments on the archaelogical evidence that has been discovered regarding to specific passages in scripture. Regardless, these are simply different bibles that help the user read the bible through a particular lens.

What I want to talk about today is different translations of scripture. If you look on the side of your bible you will find letters like these…..NIV, TNIV, KJV, NKJV, RSV, NRSV, NCE, AMP, NASB, NLT, The Message, and so on…………………What are these and why are there so many?

To understand this……….let’s go back to the beginning.

The bible was originally written in three different languages: Hebrew (the vast majority of the Old Testament), Aramaic (a sister language to Hebrew used in ½ of Daniel and two passages in Ezra), and Greek (all of the New Testament). Now most people do not know all three of these languages, therefore, they must be translated into languages we do know. Jewish scholars first did this in the 3^rd century BC by translating the Torah (1^st 5 books of the OT) into Greek. Later the entire Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, called the Septuagint. The Vulgate is a 5^th century translation of the bible into Latin. This has progressed throughout history giving us a total of over 2,400 languages in which the bible has been translated.

Fortunately for us, the bible has been translated into English so that we too may read God’s word. However, not every translation is the same. Part of the work of the translator is to interpret what the original text was saying and conveying that into English. Take 1 Corinthians 7:36 for example:

NIV translates this as

- If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if she is getting along in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married.

NAS translates it as

- But if any man thinks that he is acting unbecomingly toward his virgin daughter, if she is past her youth, and if it must be so, let him do what he wishes, he does not sin; let her marry

KJV says

- But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry

NLT says

- “But if a man thinks he ought to marry his fiance because he has trouble controlling his passions and time is passing, it is all right; it is not a sin. Let them marry

RSV

- If any one thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry--it is no sin.

As you can see, the translators of these different bibles have interpreted this verse in different ways and used different wording to convey that meaning into English. This is because translators have a decision to make in how they are going to translate the words. The translator must ask himself or herself, “Am I going to stick exactly word for word with the original text and simply repeat what it says? Or am I going to capture the meaning of what the original language was trying to say?” Leaning too far on either end of the spectrum can leave the bible difficult to read or implying meanings that were never meant to be implied.

For example, if we were to translate John 3:16 just as it appears in the Greek it would read as follows:

“For thus loved God the world, that the Son, the Unique One, he gave, that everyone believing in Him may not perish but have life eternal.”

At the other end of the spectrum, The Message translates it as:

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.”

As you can see, there is a lot of work and technique that is involved when translating the bible into a specific language. From my standpoint, the best translation remains as faithful as possible to both the literal and the meaning.

Popular Literal Translations
KJV, NKJV, NASB, NASU, RSV

Popular Translations that convey meaning
NLT, GNB, Living Bible, The Message

There are some that have found a balance between both of these, they include:
NRSV, NIV

So when you see all of the different translations on the bookstore shelf, what you are seeing is the attempt of the translators to give you insight into the literal form of the text as well as the meaning behind the text.

Why do you need to know this? Because in selecting a bible translation to study, one needs to be aware of the methods that the translator used in creating the translation. Based on this, your understanding of a particular passage may change. Thousands of times in the Old Testament the King James translators followed the Hebrew word order so strictly that is does not produce an easily understandable English version. Other differences you will find is the ways weights, money, and measures are used. Are the original words used for are the modern equivalents used. Another difference, which has made the news lately, is conveying gender within scripture. For example, in the King James Genesis 1:27 reads, “So God created man in his own image…”. But in the TNIV is says, “So God created human beings in his own image….”. The purpose of this is to avoid excluding women from passages that are spoken to or about people in general.

Another factor in considering a translation is the question, what sources were used in the creation of the version. As we all know, we do not have the original letter that Paul wrote to the Galatians nor do we have the original Gospel that Matthew wrote………….in fact we do not have the originals of any part of the bible. All we have are copies of the originals. In ancient days, scribes would sit down and copy (by hand) a particular letter, Gospel, etc. These copies are called manuscripts. This continued all the way up to the invention of the printing press. So whenever someone needed a copy of the scripture, it was done by hand. Some of these copies are very old and some are more modern. However, problems with this method did exist. Sometimes scribes would make a mistake with a letter or a word, then that mistake would be copied over and over and over again. Sometimes scribes would take the liberty of adding text to the original. Take a moment to open up your bible to the ending of the Gospel of Mark. If you have some type of study bible, you will see a note that states something to the effect that Mark 16:9-19 are probably not part of the original text that Mark wrote. More than likely this is because some scribe and some point in time decided he wanted to add to what Mark said, he thought this sounded better. Therefore, when it was copied and copied and copied and copied, eventually it worked it’s way into the scriptures.

The way to combat this is through a process called textual criticism. Textual criticism looks at all of the copies that we have and tries to determine what the actual text said. Today we have over 5,000 of these copies (either whole or partial) of the New Testament alone. No two of them are exactly alike. So through textual criticism, scholars sift through all of these copies to find what the majority of them say……this becomes the text that is used. The versions that are different become the variant reading of the text. If you look through your bible you will probably notice certain words that have a note at the bottom of the page that says something like “Other ancient authorities read…….”. This is the variant reading.

A direct impact of this comes in the King James. The King James Version was published in 1611 and the only Greek Manuscripts available at the time were late copies that had accumulated the mistakes of 1,000 years of copying. Other, modern translations, have utilized older manuscripts that have been discovered since 1611. Therefore, the Greek that is used in the modern translations is, arguably, better than that of older versions.

So how do you choose a translation? First and foremost, you need to decide what this bible is going to be used for. If it is going to be used for daily devotions, casual reading, or any of the such…….I suggest that you choose the version that you are most comfortable with. If you grew up with the King James, then by all means, buy a King James. I did not grow up using that version, so the “thou’s” and “thee’s” are difficult for me to get by. If you are more comfortable with a modern translation, then buy a modern translation. A good recommendation for this would be the NIV Quest Study Bible.

If you are purchasing this bible to be one of your sources for exegetical study of scripture, then your focus is on how the scripture was translated. The New Revised Standard or New American Standard are great choices for this. The NIV is acceptable for exegetical study, although it would not be my first choice. Whichever you choose as your primary text, make sure you do not exclude other versions for further insight. For example, I use the New Revised Standard for my in-depth study and then change that over to NIV for Sermons (simply because 90% of the people in the pews are using the NIV – and I want to connect with them. If there is a word that I do not like how the NIV translates it…..you will hear me point that out). However, there are times when a different translation may give you more insight into a word or phrase that your primary translation does not give.

This is probably more information that you wanted to know but I think it is important to understand what you are reading and how it was developed.

Next Week ….. We will be looking at The Types of Literature in Scripture.

In His Grip

Kevin

Why?

Why?

Each week preachers fill the pulpits of churches around this country and proclaim truth out of one source, God’s Word. Everyday we are told that we need to get into this book and read it, understand it, allow it to fill our lives. We are told that God’s Word is like an All You Can Eat Buffet, never ceasing to fill us up for eternity.

But many people today say, “Well if the Bible is so great, then why are more people not reading it?” Good Question. Here are some responses that I have heard.

3. “It’s Old and Boring” – Many people say the bible is not relevant to my life today but that’s simply not true. Yes, the Bible was written many years ago and in a different culture than what we live in but it continues to have profound impacts on people’s lives today.

2. “I Forget To Read It” – These people get fired up at church on Sunday morning about the Bible, but by the time Monday rolls around, they are occupied with other things. The Bible gets lost in the shuffle.

1. “I Don’t Understand It” – Many, many, many people do not read the bible because they feel they do not understand it. This happens for a number of reasons. Maybe they start reading in the wrong place. Starting in Genesis 1 is great until you get to this person beget this person….this person beget this person….this person beget this person…..on and on and on. Before long you are lost. Other people want to start in Revelation. Starting in Revelation is like a first grader trying to do calculus. You have to know that 2+2=4 before you can move to the next level. Others pick up a bible for the first time and use a translation that is difficult to read.

This is where I want this blog to go. How do I understand what I am reading? Where did it come from? What’s the difference between an Epistle and a Gospel? Why are there so many translations? What about other books that I see on TV but are not in the Bible? How do I understand a passage more in-depth?

These are all topics that we will get to but today we will look at, Where did the Bible come from?

So where did the Bible come from? Did God do a flyby and just drop it down out of the sky? Did God sit down at his big oak desk with scrolls and a quill and begin churning out page after page of text? Did people on Earth just have a great idea and claim it was from God (Some Cable Networks want you to think this). In fact, we believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God. Inspired means God-Breathed. God-Breathed the words of the Bible into his human authors. Yes, there were human authors but the words that were written were the very words of God. Just like a sailboat catches the wind that carries it along the water, the sails of humans caught the words of God in their hearts and minds and recorded them on the paper, which we know as the Bible.

Now I need to further clarify the word inspired. There are many different theories of inspiration today:

- Intuition – this is the thought that the inspired word of God is like a gift given to an individual. Like an artist has a gift, or natural ability, to paint beautiful scenes…. this theory states that the authors of scripture had a natural ability to write these words on paper. The problem with this theory is that the authors of Scripture are then no different than great philosophical thinkers such as Plato and Buddha. There is more to it than that. God is in it…not just man.

- Dynamic – the dynamic theory emphasizes the combination of divine and human elements in the process of inspiration and the writing of the Bible. The Spirit of God works by directing the writer to the thoughts or concepts, and allowing the writer’s own distinctive personality to come into play in the choice of words and expressions. The writer is then expressing a divinely inspired thought in his own words.

- Verbal – the verbal theory insists that the Holy Spirit’s influence extends beyond the direction of thoughts to the selection of words used to convey the message. The work of the Holy Spirit is so intense that each word is the exact word God wants used at that point to express the message. (This is the View We Hold)

- Dictation – the last theory of inspiration is dictation or that God actually dictated the Scriptures to the authors. Passages where the Spirit is depicted as telling the author precisely what to write are regarded as applying to the entire Bible. Think of the author being in some kind of dazed trance just writing out the words God has told him. It wasn’t like John said, “Okay. Now let’s do Chapter 3 verse 16. ‘For’ – Okay, got it. What’s next? – ‘God’ – God it. Next? - ‘so – Got it. – ‘loved’ – Got it. – ‘the’ – Next? – ‘world’ – this is Great stuff God!” The authors of Scripture were more than administrative assistants to God.

The Verbal theory of inspiration is where I stand. While I believe that each word contained from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 is the exact inerrant words that God wanted used at that time we can also see the different styles of writing coming out of each of the authors of scripture.

Now there is no doubt, you have heard of other writings that are not included in the Bible. You have probably seen these big television productions about the discovery of The Gospel of Judas, The Gospel of Mary, and others. In fact there are hundreds of other writings from various time periods that are not in the Bible. Maybe you are asking why are those not in the Bible and why are the ones we have in there? This is called Canonization.

Canonization is the word that used to describe the process of how the church went through all of these writings and decided what were the individual books of Scripture were and which were not. The word “canon” actually means “measuring rod”. So the canon of Scripture is the collection of books that measured up. Now in the process of canonization there were 4 categories that religious writings were placed:

1. Homolegomena – One Word – These were the books that everyone accepted as being the word o God.

2. Antilegomena – These were the books that were initially spoken against. People said, We are not sure about this one. Should it really be in the Bible? These were, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Proverbs, Ezekiel, Hebrews 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation. Most of the doubts centered on authorship but eventually were recognized as sacred Scripture.

3. The third category of writings you have probably heard of, called the apocryphal books. Apocrypha means “hidden” or “hard to understand”. These were also in the pile of books that were examined and measured against God’s authorship. There are 14-15 of these books and a battle exists to this day with the Catholic church as to whether or not these should be recognized. These books, which do not always agree with the canonized books, are used in Catholic bibles and substantiate their teachings on purgatory, prayers to the dead, and others. While we can gain some historical insight to different time periods, these should not be considered books that God wrote.

4. Finally, there is pseudepigrapha which were writings clearly define as not being Gods word without argument. These included stories of Jesus as a little boy doing tricks for his friends, just to give an example.

God wrote a Book. The Holy Spirit communicated the words. Men wrote them down. The early church pulled them all together. This is the book that we should be reading, studying, memorizing, and guiding our lives. If you allow God to work, this book will transform your life.

In His Grip

Kevin

Spiritual Friendship

My apologies for the absence of last week’s blog entry. Between finals at seminary, Easter preparations, and sickness on the home front my schedule got away from me. However, we are back just in time for the final entry of this study on Prayer. (Just as a side note, we will be starting a new study called Use The Tools: How to Read the Bible for All it’s Worth beginning April 6^th)

If you have noticed, all of the entries to date have been focused on our personal prayer life. Whether it is meditation, intercession, praying the prayers others…………..whatever…….everything has been developing a personal life of prayer. In this last entry I want to share with you an approach to prayer that is not personal in nature, rather, it requires others to be effective. ….it’s called Spiritual Friendship.

Many times we have the mistaken idea that we can manage our faith by ourselves, that the Christian life is some type of do-it-yourself project. Where the more we work, the more we try, the more we pray, the more we study we can grow in our relationship with Christ. “Just me and Jesus, that’s all I need.” When it succeeds that’s awesome, we have made it to a new high point in our walk. However, many times when it does not succeed we feel stranded and alone. Sometimes we will seek out the advice of another in the matter. Sometimes we will simply ask someone to “Pray for me”. Sometimes we will continue on in our personal effort to overcome, never sharing our struggles or our joys with another. All of these are necessary at times….. All of these are needed at times…..but have you ever considered a Spiritual Friend?

In the March-April Issue of “The Upper Room” Devotional there is a story that reads:

“In my search for spiritual encouragement, I suggested to a friend and colleague that we meet regularly to offer mutual support and prayer. For the next five years, “Steve and I took a lunch hour once a week to share our stresses, anxieties, joys, even doubts…..We gave encouragement, prodded the other to new ways of thinking, and always prayed aloud for each other. Mostly we helped each other listen to what God was saying through the raw material of our lives’ routines and milestones.”

What these individuals embarked upon is Spiritual Friendship. A friendship that develops through a mutual desire and hunger to know God more in each of their lives and to share than with one another. While they each maintain a personal life of prayer, study, worship, and devotion ….. they also share that with one another to help uncover other areas in which God may be working in their lives.

This is very different than sharing one or two things in a bible study or Sunday School class. This is very different than asking someone to pray for you during this specific event or period in your life. This is an ongoing friendship with another individual where you are continually seeking and desiring to grow personally and help the other individual grow as well. Someone you meet with on a regular basis. Someone you can call upon in an emergency. Someone who is watching out for your spiritual life as you watch out for theirs.

We find examples of this throughout the Bible. The best example if this being Jonathan and David (1 Samuel 18). Personally….I have had spiritual friends who have held me accountable, who have looked upon specific situations in a different light, etc……But the most important aspect of it was prayer. Not “I’ll pray for you…………(sometime…..maybe……possibly…if I remember)” Not prayer that is taken home and done in private……but prayer that happened right then and right there……aloud……..spiritually joining our lives together before God. Helping one another look after and pursue their respective relationship with Christ. It helped me tremendously. I was able to see things that I had not considered before. I was able to share and get personal feedback on things that I was dealing with (not just once or twice but over the long haul). ……. And, most importantly, this is where I learned to pray in public. Prior to this I was petrified to pray in front of other people. I could not pray at the dinner table in front of family, let alone in front of friends or strangers (never in front of a congregation). But it was here, in a safe environment, that I became comfortable to pray aloud with others present. Being assured and nurtured by those present, my desire and hunger for fervent prayer grew.

Maybe this is something you desire in life. The question then becomes, who could this spiritual friend be? First and foremost it is someone that you trust. Unless the bond of trust exists, you will never reach the depths of your walk with this friend. This trust can be built with someone you do not know or it can already exist in someone you do, however, it must be present. Secondly, the two of you must share an equal concern for one another. Many times we seek the guidance of others to help us through a situation or we guide someone in a particular season of their life. Yet once that season is over, the spiritual guidance typically falls away. A Spiritual Friendship is a reciprocal friendship. Just as any other type of friend, this is ongoing for an extended period of time and continues over many seasons of life. Also, you may want to consider having someone of the same sex as your spiritual friend. While our spouses or significant others know everything about us, there are some things that only another guy or another woman would understand fully. Therefore, having a spiritual friend of the same sex gives you the opportunity to relate at those levels. Finally, remember, it’s all about God. That is our ultimate purpose in all that we do……..knowing, understanding, and glorifying Him.

I hope this series has been helpful in developing your life of prayer. If you desire to continue this development, there is a multitude of books on the subject. A few that I have read and found helpful are listed to the right.

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:9-11

In His Grip

Kevin

Praying the Prayers of Others

Huh? Praying the Prayers of Others………..what does that mean?

Today, in most evangelical churches, the style of prayer that is employed the most is what is known as extemporaneous prayer. Extemporaneous prayer is prayer that is basically telling God what is on your heart. There is nothing pre-written, pre-chosen, or decided ahead of time. It is basically coming before the Lord and speaking as the Spirit moves……..kinda “off the cuff” if you will. Now, I imagine the vast majority of your prayer life would fall into this category (I know mine does), as does the vast majority of the prayers within the church. From the opening and closing prayers to the Pastoral Prayer ….basically everything (outside of the Lord’s Prayer) is extemporaneous.

But have you ever been in a time of Prayer with something on your heart and just not able to express it? It’s there, you know what it is but you just can’t get it out. You know that God knows your heart but you still want to express it to Him…..somehow. Maybe you are new to the faith and not quite sure what to pray. Maybe you have been walking with Christ for years yet realize there is so much more to prayer than what you are currently experiencing. If this is you…..have you considered praying the prayers of others……. or what is known as “Common Prayer”.

Common Prayer is simply utilizing prayers that have been written by others for common purposes. Traditionally, this has taken shape in churches such as the Catholic Church, Episcopal Church, Anglican Church and other “liturgical” based denominations who have written specific prayers for certain purposes within the church. However, there are opportunities for us to use this concept, prayers written by others, within our personal life of prayer.

Now I have to be honest, when I first heard of this I was a bit skeptical. How in the world could a prayer that someone else wrote be helpful to me? These are just “canned” prayers…..why would I want to do something like that? Is this really even prayer….just reading someone else’s stuff?

Then, during a time of spiritual dryness, I read this short prayer from St. John of the Cross, “My Spirit has become dry because it forgets to feed on you.”

Wow!! That’s Deep!! That’s it!! That’s exactly where I was and what I was feeling……and that nailed it!!

That’s when I quickly realized there is so much more to prayer than what I was experiencing in my time with the Lord. Here’s another one:

“God, of your goodness give me yourself for you are sufficient for me. I cannot properly ask anything less, to be worthy of you. If I were to ask less, I should always be in want. In you alone do I have all.” - Julian of Norwich

You may think that this type of prayer is too rigid or liturgical, let me suggest that incorporating it can add freedom to your time with God. Here’s how:

- They can “Prime the Pump” as we say. Just as meditating on scripture draws us into a deeper focus on God, incorporating these prayers can bring us to that same place.

- It may help us to articulate the yearnings of the heart that we could not express before

- It gives us insight to the prayers of others so that our life of prayer may be expanded

- It guards against the temptation to be spectacular and entertaining in prayer

- It helps us to avoid being content where we are at

If you are interested in trying this let me suggest a few resources. First, The Oxford Book of Prayer which contains the prayers listed above and many, many more. You can purchase this used for $5 (see link to the right) and is well worth the investment. Not into books? I found a website that leads you through a time of prayer using written prayers. It’s called Sacred Space and it gives you a daily devotional reading and then a series of prayers to begin to draw you into the presence of God. If you don’t mind sitting at the PC and praying……..it’s cool.

Extemporaneous prayer still remains … by far …. my #1 style of prayer. But the inclusion of other’s prayer…the giants of the faith, the saints of yesteryear, those who are on the same journey that I am on … has added a new dimension to my life. Remember, a full life of prayer contains infinite variety…. and one of those ways is through the prayers of others. I pray that this will help you to take the next step in your walk with Christ.

In His Grip

Kevin

Elbow Prints....

One of the aspects of prayer that we have not discussed yet is intercessory prayer. You may ask, what is intercessory prayer? It’s simply praying on the behalf of others. We pray this type of prayer all of the time: A friend who is in need, A child who has chosen the wrong path, A family member who is sick, on and on. But all to often, in many of our lives, this type of prayer can very easily turn into a grocery list of people and needs that we are lifting up to God with no real fervor or passion. “Bless Aunt Sally.” “Be with Uncle Jim in Surgery.” “Protect Billy…” Yet when we look at this type of prayer in scripture, this isn’t the case.

Take a moment and find a bible …………………….open it to Exodus 17:8-13………and read the account that takes place.

While Joshua was out fighting the battle, what was Moses doing? Praying!! Was he just praying “Lord, Protect Joshua…”? NO, he went to the top of the hill and raised his hands in prayer over the battle. While Joshua was engaging in the physical combat, Moses engaged in the spiritual combat. Evidently Moses is the one who had the harder task, for he was the one who was left tired. This is not the only example; Abraham intercedes for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18) Moses intercedes for the people of Israel (Ex 32), and the list goes on. Read the accounts….. they were fired up!!

In the NT we are assured that Christ intercedes for us. In Romans 8:34 we read, “Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Do you think that when Jesus is standing before the Father he is saying, “Oh yea, by the way, don’t forget Jim down there with his surgery today.” NO WAY!!

In the Greek, the word for intercede is “entunchano” which literally means to plead, to appeal. It has a sense of passion that goes along with the prayer. Hebrews 7:25 says, “Therefore he [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede (or to plead / to appeal) for them.” Do you see the power in this? He lives for this!!! Henry Nouwen writes, “When we come before God with the needs of the world, then the healing love of God which touches us touches all those whom we bring before him with the same power.” Just was Jesus is before the Father pleading on our behalf, we have the power to plead on the behalf of others that God would work in their lives. This is not a list of people to run through on any given day but people whose lives can be changed by the power of YOUR prayer. You do not need any special credentials to do this. You do not need the title of Reverend or Pastor or Father to come before God with this type of power. It is open to all. I am half-tempted to remove the words “Pastoral Prayer” from the bulletin at Salem and change it to “Everyone’s Prayer” because that’s what it is. It is Everyone’s Prayer. It is everyone who comes before God with the names of those whom we wish to bring forth. “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant.” (Daniel 9:17)

What is your prayer on the behalf of others like? Is it simply a list to go through or is it something in which you are passionately engaged with? Is that an indicator of your heart? Remember what we said before, all too often we see prayer as a last resort rather than our first place to run. When intercession is a list are we subconsciously saying “Well….I don’t what will happen but it can’t hurt to pray”? Whereas, when we plead before God is it as saying “I know you are there, God. I still do not know what will happen but I know you are in it and you will handle the situation according to your will.”

Beth Moore tells a story about Joy and Mike, two parents who have a very headstrong teenage son. One evening they forbade him to go out with his rebellious friends but he walked out the door anyway. Joy and Mike were heartbroken.

The next day the son angrily asked his mother, “Have you been praying for me again?” She said, “Son, I always pray for you…..but how did you know?” He responded, “Because there were elbow prints on my bedspread!”

Joy’s elbow prints were a result of her passion as she knelt by his bed and begged for an end to his rebellion. Does your prayer life for others have elbow prints? If not, today is the best day to make a pair.

In His Grip
Kevin

A Direct Line.....

In the world of business you can often tell how important someone is by finding out how many people you have to “go through”, in order to speak with them. You telephone, hoping for a word with the chairman of the company. So you get the front desk, who puts you through to the main office suite. You get the person at the front of that. She or he puts you through to a secretary. They put you through (if your lucky) to the Great Man’s Personal Assistant and that’s probably it for the day. The Great Man is busy…….or he is in a meetinig……or he’s playing golf…….or taking a nap. Three, four or five people to charm your way around, and you still can’t get the man.

The ancient world was often like that as well. If you came from the country and hoped to see the king or queen, you wouldn’t just walk straight into the royal palace. You would meet a sentry at the gate. Then, if you were allowed past, you would be handed over to a junior official….then a senior official…….an so on. Probably never getting near the royalty.

But it isn’t like that in the kingdom of God.

The followers of Jesus Christ have instant, immediate, direct and valued access into the very presence of the living God. God has an open door policy with those who live in Him and the way through that door is prayer.

But many times we stand at the entrance to that door, not quite sure how to go through.

We know that we want to pray ……..but somethings holds us back

We know that we should pray ………but we are hesitant to do so

……..but we don’t know how

……..but we don’t know what to say

…….and the list goes on

These are barriers that WE place in the doorway of prayer -- the door is open and clear from God’s standpoint – these are barriers that we place there. They inhibit our connection with God. They dampen our conversations with Him. It does not matter if you are new to the faith or have been walking with the Lord for many years, for many of us, there are obstacles that exist in prayer. Last week we talked about centering prayer and using silence and focus on God to bring us into communion with Him. This week I want to take that to the next step and give you a format of prayer that will help to facilitate your conversation with God.

Now, please don’t get the wrong impression when I say “format” to prayer. God accepts our prayers just as we offer them. “In the same way that a small child cannot draw a bad picture so a child of God cannot offer a bad prayer.” But in suggesting this format I hope it expands your growing love relationship with Christ through elements of prayer and eliminate many of the obstacles that stand in the way of the door.

The format that I want to pass along to you is -- ACTS

A - Adoration

C - Confession

T - Thanksgiving

S - Supplication

If some of the obstacles that I described above exist in your life of prayer then consider following this format the next time you spend time with the Lord.

Adoration

To adore God is to appreciate God in our mind and in our heart and to tell Him so with our lips. This is simply taking a moment to praise Him for who He is. He is deserving of your praise. For example, “Father, thank you for who you are. I praise you for what you have created. To see your greatness causes my heart to be filled with joy.”

Adoration is all throughout scripture, just talk a walk through the Psalms.

“I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.” – Psalm 7:17

“I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.” – Psalm 9:2

“I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.” – Psalm 63:2

Confession

An integral part of our time with God is confessing of the places in life where we have stumbled. Our sin is what seperates us from God but confessing those sins in prayer is what clears the way for a deeper relationship with Him. Maybe you ask, why do I need to confess my sin…..God is all knowing….he already knows of my sin. Why do I need to say it? Yes, God is all knowing and He does know of the sin you have committed. But in confession we are recognizing our own awarenesss that we have fallen and we are telling God we seek His forgiveness in the matter. It does not matter if we think it is “no big deal” or “just a little sin” we are not in the position to determine what sin is small and what sin is big, that is God’s job to judge. To us sin is sin, whether it’s a little white lie , gossip, or an extended adulterous relationship……………and we must confess it to God.

“God I have sinned against you by ____________________. Father I know this is seperating me from you and I want to confess it to you. Please forgive me. Please wipe this from my life and give me the strength to change my ways.

Psalm 51 is an excellent example of confession.

Thanksgiving

What has God done in your life? Where have you seen His hand at work in your life? What are you thankful for? Take a moment in your time of prayer to simply give thanks for what He has done. Just as you tell others Thank You for what they have done ….. tell God Thank You for what He has done.

“Father, Thank You, for what you have done in my life. Thank You for my health, my family, what you have provided. Thank You for wanting to have a relationship with me and for sending your Son to die so that the sins that I have committed are washed clean. Thank You!!!!”

Look at the opening to just about all of Paul’s letters…..nearly all of the start with the words “I thank God…”

Supplication

Supplication? What in the world is supplication? The dictionary defines suppication as “to ask for humbly or earnestly, to petition”. This is where you submit requests to God. Maybe there are things you are asking for in your personal life that you desire God’s intervention in. “God I need your direction in this aspect of my life.” “Lord, help me to be a better man.” Or even, “God we have a serious financial need this week, I know you will provide.” Maybe it’s lifting up a famiy member or friend…..health concerns…..whatever it may be….supplication is lifting your requests to God.

Matthew 21:22 assures us, "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."

If you have things that are blocking the door of prayer try this way to pray. Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication (ACTS).

REMEMBER----- Its not about the method or the format but about the conversation with God.

As we deepen in this conversation our relationship and love for God grows with it. We pass from thinking of god as part of our life to the realization that we are part of his life. Through this, God moves from the periphery of our life to the center of it.

In His Grip

Kevin

How's Your Prayer Life?

Has anyone ever asked you, “How’s your prayer life?” If so, how did you answer them? If no one has asked you, let me ask you now…..

How’s your prayer life?

Many Christians have a difficult time in discussing their prayer life. Whether it be the cultural attitude that prayer is private, our inability to comprehend it, or whatever……… we tend not to talk about it. I think the biggest reason that we do not talk about our prayer life is because of the gap that exists in what could be and what is.

We know what could be. We have seen the impact that God has had on the lives of others. We read about the great theologians and hear stories of the powerful prayer warriors of yesterday and today and we see how God has transformed them through prayer. Yet when we look at ourselves a prayer life like that is far beyond our reach. We have not experienced anything like that so we would rather not bring up the subject. We do this with many other things….name it. Whether it is sports, academics or even cooking…….if we feel totally outdrawn by others we do not talk about it. I guess it’s our nature.

But this is the exact opposite approach that we should be taking in prayer. Henri Nouwen says, “The more we pray…the more we desire to pray. The desire to spend time with God and God alone is always growing. It creates in us a desire to be with the Lord whom we have seen shining through people and events….” Our desire to pray creates in us a deeper desire to pray. When this occurs our answer to the question “How is your prayer life?” changes. No longer is it avoidance or the giving of a mediocre response but one of “Let me tell you of the transformation that God has done.”

That’s the purpose of this study. To get you deeper into prayer through practical application

The goal is not to load you up with more information on prayer…..the last thing we need is to fill our heads with more information. We Need Action!!!! We need to do something with the information that we already have. Therefore, each week in this study there will be some insight into the depths of prayer but there will also be a style of prayer for you to try. Some of them will be helpful and you may incorperate them into your regular life of prayer……….others may not be that effective. That’s OK….don’t get discouraged. What works for you may not be the way that brings me into communion with God and vice versa. However, the overall effort is to draw you into a deeper life of prayer, regardless of where you are in your walk. Remember the quote from above, the more we pray the more we desire to pray. If you are a new-Christian or have been walking with the Lord for 50 years…….the purpose is the same……to pray.

With this, our focus this week is on centering prayer. Others call this meditative prayer, praying the scripture or simple prayer but the main concept still remains……….Centering prayer does not come from our mind, our knowledge, our throughts or any of the such. Centering prayer comes from the heart.

Centering prayer is not something new. Nor is it a New Age thing. It is an ancient form of prayer that joins mediatation on a word of Scripture with prayer. This prayer may seem mysterious to some because it depends so little on words. We do not give God information about all our needs, projects, ideas, programs, plans and agendas. We don’t suggest things we would like him to do. We simply sit in the presence of God and give him our undivided love and attention starting with His word.

Method

1. Set aside 15 minutes (Set a timer so you don’t have to worry about the time) and settle into a comfortable position.

2. Remove as many distractions as possible…and come to the Lord quiety. Turn your heart to His presence

3. Find a scripture that you enjoy…..a Psalm, words of Jesus in the Gospels…..whatever.

Begin reading the scripture that you have chosen…SLOWLY!!! A word or phrase at a time…..intentionally pausing between and allowing the words to penetrate your heart. Your purpose in this is not to gain some understanding of the text, rather, you are reading in order to turn your mind from outward things to the deep parts of your being. You are not there to learn or read….you are there to experience the presence of God.

4. Once you begin to focus on God and feel His presence……stop reading….let the Lord will meet you there

You will sense the presence of God there with you….no longer are you concerned with the words that you have read but now you are occupied only with God

5. If your mind begins to drift simply read another word or phrase to return to God

As the Spirit begins to move within you and your heart begins to warm imagine the hot coals of a fire there within you. The Hebrew word for Spirit is ruach which means wind or breath. As the wind of the Spirit blows across the coals within you it beings forth, a flame …. A fire…….a passion for God within you just as a flame emerges as we blow on the hot coals of a campfire.

6. Rest in the presence of this. Sense any movement, direction or guidance that He may be leading you in.

7. Continue this process….reading….listening…..resting…..until you no longer sense the movement of the Spirit or you are out of time.

8. Consider starting a journal to describe how God met you on that particular day.

Take time this week to try this form of prayer and reflect on these questions:

- Is not expressing my desires, wants and needs difficult in coming to prayer?

- Is it difficult to remove the distractions from life to focus on God?

- Did God meet you here?

- What happened inside you when you were quiet with God?

Throughout the week log-on to share any thoughts, ideas, comments or insight as to how this form of prayer has impacted your life. I pray that God will meet you there..

I His Grip….

Kevin

This is the Place

You found the spot...

Beginning Feb 10th we will be having our first blog study @ Salem. This focus of this study, coinciding with Lent, will be on Prayer. Each Sunday evening the next component of the study will be posted and all feedback and discussion is welcome.

We'll see where it goes from there....

Kevin