Holy Week

Palm Sunday starts holy week. Holy week marks the last week of Jesus' life. Many churches (including mine) have services that help us to celebrate (remember) this last week of Jesus' life. On Thursday, we will be having a service that remembers Jesus meeting with His disciples, instituting the Last Supper, washing their feet (as an example of how they should serve others), and getting arrested. Then on Friday (Good Friday) we remember Jesus being found guilty, flogged, and crucified. Jesus' death is not to be forgotten, as it is a sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins. Then finally, we come to Easter Sunday. While this is probably the most attended day of church, many people don't fully understand the significance of Easter. It is the day that Jesus was raised from the dead. Jesus is no longer in the tomb, but has been raised to life and now reigns in heaven.
Some people hear about all of these services, and wonder if it isn't a little much. Why all these services? My response, is that if Jesus Christ can make the commitment to go through it all, then I think we can make the sacrifice of our time to remember and honor God. I know for me, as I perform the services, I am brought into a better sense of realization of how much God loves me, and the extent He went to so that I could be free from my sin, and have eternal life.
There is a wonderful poem I read yesterday in the service that I would like to close with here; it is simply called JESUS.

He is more than a keepsake to be hidden away.

He is the Keeper of my life, keeping me each day.

He is more than an heirloom, that’s handed down to me.

He has made me an heir to His royal family.

He is more than a companion, who walks by my side.

He is the light leading before me; He is my guide.

He is more than a servant, fulfilling all my whims.

He is my Lord and my master, with me serving Him.

He is more than a man who lived and walked the earth.

He is King of the universe from a holy birth.

He is more than a stranger who comes to eat and rest.

He’s the Host of a heavenly banquet—I’m His guest.

He’s the reason for living: I in Him—He in me.

Jesus is my all in all throughout eternity.

What could you give to God this week to show your thanks? How are you going to remember Jesus' last week of His life? May you have a blessed Holy week.

Attitude and Action 2

C. S. Lewis, writing to an American friend, said this about reflective exercises: “We all go through periods of dryness in our prayers, don’t we? I doubt…whether they are necessarily a bad symptom. I sometimes suspect that what we feel to be our best prayers are really our worst; that what we are enjoying is the satisfaction of apparent success, as in executing a dance or reciting a poem. Do our prayers sometimes go wrong because we insist on trying to talk to God when He wants to talk with us. Joy tells me that once, years ago, she was haunted one morning by a feeling that God wanted something of her, a persistent pressure like the nag of a neglected duty. And till mid-morning she kept on wondering what it was. But the moment she stopped worrying, the answer came through as plain as a spoken voice. It was, “I don’t want you to do anything. I want to give you something”; and immediately her heart was peace and delight. St. Augustine says, ‘God gives where He finds empty hands.’ A man whose hands are full of parcels can’t receive a gift. Perhaps these parcels are not always sins or earthly cares, but sometimes our own fussy attempts to worship Him in our way. Incidentally, what most often interrupts my own prayers is not great distractions but tiny ones—things one will have to do or avoid in the course of the next hour."
What great words reminding us that God speaks to us. When we listen the message of God can enter our hearts. We absorb the verse or the story of scripture, and it affects us, touches us, changes us. But we cannot come to God with a selfish attitude. In fact, we cannot come to God with any attitude at all. We need to humble ourselves before God if we want to receive anything from God.
How can God challenge you in regards to your attitude this Lenten season? Give yourself over to God, and receive all that God has for you, then you will act the way God desires You to act; the way God created you to act!

Attitude and Action

The christian faith can be challenging. It isn’t just about believing. If you believe, but it doesn’t make a difference in your life, then your belief is in vain. For our faith to be real, we must be able to see change in our lives. Our faith will be evident in our attitudes and our actions.

As the apostle James tells us in James 2:14-18, “What good is it my brothers and sisters, if you say that you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill;’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So, faith by itself, if it has no works is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.”

When our inner garden is right with God, when our spirit is being tended to and is healthy, we will see fruit in our lives; the fruit that the apostle Paul talks about in Galatians 5:22 when he talks about the fruit of the Spirit. He says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control…” Now this doesn’t mean that these characteristics are perfectly at use in your life at all times. But it does mean that you should be growing in each of these areas, and that you should be working to better yourself in each of these areas!

Isn’t this why Jesus was frustrated with the disciples at the garden of Gethsemene. Jesus expected the disciples at this point in their training to be able to support Him with prayer and encouragement. Jesus expected them to be willing to sacrifice some for Him. But instead they kept falling asleep. Did this mean the disciples were failures? No, it meant that they still had a lot of growing to do. But they did have the right attitude, even if they didn’t have the right actions at the time.

Attitude and action go hand in hand. When we read God’s word, it affects our attitude. Because we begin to have a new attitude, we then seek to put our actions in line with the teaching of God. From exercises like this, we can come to new and wonderful conclusions because the word of God is now entering our private world and not just our mind. And because we have fixed our attention upon God’s word, we can be sure that the Holy Spirit will guide our reflective and meditative thoughts.

Mentoring

About 2 1/2 years ago my church and I had an opportunity to connect with a group called Church Resource Ministries. With them, we enrolled in a program called "Focused Living." The first year of the program is to become focused on our lives and what God is calling us to do. The second year is to bring our gifts to the church and help the church become focused in what God is calling her to do.
At the end of the first year, the individuals are challenged to continue in their growth by being mentored. As a pastor, I was excited to be able to be mentored, and mentor others. I contacted 2 people who might be willing to be a mentor to me (one is a friend of mine who is an elder at another church. I wanted him to keep me on track in regards to my personal calling statement. The second is a minister colleague, who helps me to keep on track ministry wise).
On top of my mentors, I have been regularly mentoring 6-8 people. This is a great opportunity, because the mentoring sessions are about me helping them to stay focused on the call God has given to them. Because it is easy to get sidetracked in life, I am able to meet with them every 2-3 weeks, and remind them of the goals, and help them to move forward. I also am able to encourage them in who they are, and challenge them with who God has made them to be, and continuing to make them.
If you do not have a mentor, then I encourage you to think about someone who can mentor you. It could be someone who could serve as your spiritual guide, coach, counselor, model, or even teacher. We all need to be mentored, because without it, we stray off course and keep ourselves from bearing the fruit God has for us.
You might also consider how you could mentor someone else. What a joy this is in my life. If you have any comments, or any questions, e-mail me at pastorchrislogan@yahoo.com.

Control

I was thinking today about how people like to be in control. That is why remote control's are so popular, because we like to be able to be in control of what we watch (that and we're lazy!). In life, we want to know what is happening from day to day, week to week, month to month. Although not all people like to be in control, we all want to have some control over our lives.
However, being in control keeps us from letting God lead us. When we are in control, then God can't be. Somehow we have to learn to let go of our lives, and give God control. This is where trust comes in. If we trust God, then we should be able to give up control. If we don't trust God, then we think that God won't do what is best for our lives.
Part of this area of trust and control is what Matthew 6:21 says, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." When we treasure something that is different than what God wants for us, then we will wrest back control from God. We begin to worry about our lives, and that we aren't getting what we think we need. But then a little later in Matthew 6 Jesus talks to us about worry...Matthew 6:25-27, 34- "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?... Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
God really does know what we need, and God is in the business of providing for us. Where is it you don't trust God? Where is it in your life you need to give God more control? Trust God today, and let God take away the worry of life.

Hard to be a pastor

A pastor friend of mine, Rev. Mark Roberts, did a blog not too long ago about the hardest thing about being a pastor. I thought I'd tackle this subject as well (with some help from his blog). Mark talked about one of the hardest aspects of being a pastor is the expectation people put upon their pastor. Here is a list from some of what he said:

• To be good oral communicators and to have truthful theology.

• To be caring counselors, good listeners and people of prayer who can help folks get through hard times and grow in their faith.

• To be present in personal emergencies, like unexpected hospitalizations or deaths in a family.

• To guide then through the intricacies of planning and performing weddings and memorial services.

• To be visionary leaders who can help churches both remain strong and grow in their ministries.

• To be wise and attentive managers of staff (if that’s in our job descriptions).

• To be decent writers, at least for the church newsletter and for other pastoral communications within the church.

• To be able to respond intelligently to a myriad of personal and theological questions.

• To be readily available to the congregation.

• To represent the church well in the community.

• To live exemplary moral lives.

• To be prayerful both in public and in private.
As I look at this list, I can see why there are times I get overwhelmed or frustrated. It is impossible for any one person to be all these things. And yet churches do expect this from their pastor. Maybe it is because they need their pastor to be all these things for them. Maybe it is because they long to have these qualities in themselves. Maybe it is because people see pastor's as being above most people in their spirituality. But whatever it is, it is unrealistic.
Just for me to admit that I can't be all these things to my congregation is helpful. As I admit this, it helps me to know that I can't be a pastor on my own, I need God's help and God's strength, and God's guidance. It also helps me to realize that I need to understand who God created me to be, and life within my giftedness. If I can do that, then it will lead me to involve others around me who are gifted in ways that I am not.
In a more general sense, all people live their lives with unrealistic expectations. These expectations come from themselves and from others. And when we try to live our lives meeting unrealistic expectations, we will find ourselves frustrated, hurt, and/or angry because we cannot fulfill the demand.
So, I want to challenge you to think about the expectations you have for your life, and that others have for you. What expectations are unrealistic? Seek to live within the context of life God has called you to live. Seek to live your life utilizing the gifts God has blessed you with. And if you do, your life will be so much more fulfilling and purposeful!

Do We Know How To Pray?- Part 11

In October of 2006, the St. Louis Cardinals beat the N.Y. Mets in game 7 of the National League Championship series, IN NEW YORK! This was largely because of a man named Jeff Suppan. Suppan is a pitcher for the Cardinals, and he pitched so well in the seventh game (as well as in an earlier game the Cardinals won) that he was voted the MVP of the series. Now, when he got this award, was he the only one celebrating? NO. The whole team was celebrating, because they knew that by his strength, he helped the team to victory, and into the World Series! Even though he was the MVP, it was considered a team effort.

Jesus is our MVP, because He is the one who makes victory possible. But we are ALL a part of the winning team! Through faith in Christ we have access to the power of God which enables us to overcome temptation and evil. Through faith in Christ we have the understanding we need to live life with fullness and depth and meaning.

As I close this series, I want to pose these questions: What settings are you in when you fall? Avoid them. What props do you have that support your sin? Eliminate them. What people are you usually with? Stay clear of them. There are two equally damning lies Satan wants us to believe: 1) Just once won't hurt. 2) Now that you have ruined your life, you are beyond God's use, and might as well enjoy sinning. As the great preacher Charles Spurgeon once said: "Learn to say no. It will be of more use to you than to be able to read Latin." Now you might never thought that knowing Latin would be important, but in Spurgeon's time it was important. The point is, as we trust ourselves to Jesus Christ, He will help us to say “NO,” and that is greatly important. The Lord's Prayer should give us renewed hope that we can know God, live out the "Kingdom of God" here on earth, have our basic needs provided, and overcome temptation and evil, this day and every day, as we follow our savior and Lord Jesus.

Do We Know How To Pray?- Part 10

One of the books my kids used to love to read is the frog/toad stories. The series is about the adventures of 2 friends: one a toad and the other a frog. In one particular story, Toad has baked some cookies. The smell causes him to eat one of the cookies, which tastes so good he runs over to Frog’s house so that Frog can enjoy them too. Frog eats a cookie and loves it so much that he has to eat another one. Together Frog and Toad eat many cookies. But then Frog says: "You know, Toad, I think we should stop eating. We will soon be sick." Then Toad responds: "You are right. Let us eat one last cookie, and then we will stop." So they eat one last cookie, but there are still many cookies left in the bowl, tempting them. So they have another./ Frog suggests to Toad: “To stop eating we must have willpower.” “What is willpower?” Toad asks. “ "Willpower is trying hard not to do something you really want to do," says Frog. "You mean like trying hard not to eat all these cookies?" asks Toad. "Right," says Frog. And so frog puts the cookies in a box. But they know that they can still open the box. So then Frog ties some string around the box. But they know that they can cut the string. So Frog puts them up on a high shelf. But they know they can still get them with a ladder. So Frog puts the cookies outside for the birds, and the birds fly off with them. "Now we have no more cookies to eat," says Toad sadly. "Not even one." Then Frog says: "Yes, but we have lots and lots of willpower." To which Toad replies: "You may keep it all, Frog, I am going home now to bake a cake." (Ray & Anne Ortlund, Renewal, Navpress, 1989, p. 73-74.)

To overcome, we need help. We have to admit that we cannot heal the brokenness of our sin on our own. We have to understand that Christ is to be the King, the ruler of our lives. Think about the question, “Are you a leader or a follower?,” hopefully the answer is that you are a follower; a follower of Christ the King.

Who gives us strength when we are feeling weak? JESUS CHRIST. Who guides us in right paths when we go astray? JESUS CHRIST. Who picks us up when we fail or fall? JESUS CHRIST. Who is there to help us to overcome the evil in the world; the evil in my life? JESUS CHRIST. As the well known writer C. S. Lewis once said: “The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.” That is what Jesus does for us.
Jesus knew that people could become defeated in life. He saw that defeat take place in people's lives through physical disease, monetary wealth, and confused priorities. Time and time again He saw people not living the abundant life He had come to give. Jesus knew that to have abundant living, we would need to not only know the Lord’s Prayer, not only pray the Lord’s Prayer, but live out the Lord’s Prayer. This last phrase of the prayer, “but deliver us from evil,” tells us that to have abundant life, we must overcome evil, and this evil can only be overcome by celebrating the holiness of God, celebrating the intimacy we have with God, setting aside our will for God’s will (a will which comes to us from heaven), and being centered on a trust that God will provide for our needs.
This closing petition should not be a surprise to any of us, for this petition demands from each one of us the recognition that this world is filled with evil forces and evil powers. It is a petition which clearly recognizes that we do live in a world which none of us ever escapes involvement with, nor the consequences of, these forces of evil. Without this final petition, the prayer would not be complete, because we have to acknowledge the existence of evil that can be at work in our lives. For Jesus to ignore this reality would not be helpful to us, because this area of life is what can trip us up the most. And so, in the midst of such powers of evil, our Lord teaches us to pray that the Father would deliver us from evil; the evil that to our dismay, sometimes thrives in this world. It is like the story that Jesus told of a farmer who spends his entire life cultivating his field and then planting good seed, only to discover that all along there is an evil force at work to destroy all of his good efforts./ As we live in this world, we live in a world where evil can affect us, and that we, in many ways, are powerless on our own to bring about our own deliverance from it. But this prayer reminds us that evil does not win; Christ is the victor, and in Christ we have victory as well.

Do We Know How To Pray?- Part 9

Temptation is a part of life. But if we want to gain character and strength, if we want to be able to live for God, we have to learn how to let God lead us past the temptation that exists. Satan wants to trip us up and keep us from living a life of following Jesus. In fact we are reminded in 1 Peter 5:8-9, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…” And yet we are given great words of encouragement in 1 Corinthians 10:13,“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

As I continue in my series on the Lord’s Prayer I want to look at the the phrase: “And lead us not into temptation...” Up to this point I have talked about how the Lord’s Prayer is about focusing our prayer on God, being committed to seeing God’s Kingdom come about more in this world, and seeking God and His will for our lives, trusting faithfully that God will provide for us, not necessarily what we want, but all that we need. In this next phrase, we see that it is still about trusting, but trusting that God will give us the power we need to be guided into the right paths.

When you look at the Lord's Prayer, you can see that it is actually a theological statement on the nature of God; a nature which includes who God is, what God desires for the world, God’s providing nature, and God’s presence in our lives in regards to temptation and testing. Jesus teaches us, with this last phrase, that God would not lead us into temptation.

I think for many of us, this might sound like a strange petition; “lead us not into temptation.” Why would God even think of leading us into temptation? The Bible tells us that God is a compassionate God; one who sees our suffering and rescues His people from their bondage. In the Psalms we are told that the Lord is our Shepherd, and we shall not want. Also, that God “hears our cries and lifts us up out of the slimy pit to set our feet upon a rock.” Does this same God seek to lead us into trouble and tribulation? Would God take us to the place of temptation where we might slip and fall?

One of the challenges of understanding the Bible, is that sometimes when the translation from the original language is translated into English, the English word (or phrasing) might seem to have a different connotation to us than the Greek had intended to mean. Let's look at other versions:
The New Revised Standard version says, “And do not bring us to the time of trial…” The Modern English Bible says: “Do not bring us to hard testing…” The King James version and the New International versions say: “And lead us not into temptation…” By doing this word study, we can see that the words used were temptation, trial, and testing. And by doing a little more studying, we can see that it is referring to the kind of testing that challenges us in order to strengthen us.

When Abraham took his son Isaac to Mount Moriah to sacrifice him to God, Abraham was having his faith tested by God. And by faithfully going there, God provided a ram for the sacrifice instead of Isaac. Before Jesus started His ministry, He went out into the wilderness to be tested. Jesus was able to avoid the temptations of Satan. By passing the test, Abraham, and Jesus, and others gained strength and self-discipline. And each time we overcome our temptations, we gain strength to be able to serve God more faithfully.

So, in praying this, we are not asking God to take us into trials or temptations that we cannot bear, but so that we will not go into these trials and temptations alone; we are praying that God will give us His power as we encounter these temptations. In other words, we are saying: “God, do not lead us into trials without your help!”

The challenge for us is that temptations do exist. In fact, there was a recent survey done in Discipleship Journal where the readers ranked areas of the greatest spiritual challenge to them. Here are the top 10…1. Materialism; 2. Pride; 3. Self-centeredness;

4. Laziness; 5. (Tie) Anger/Bitterness; 7. Sexual lust; 8. Envy; 9. Gluttony; 10. Lying.

The survey respondents also noted that the temptations were more potent when they had neglected their time with God and when they were physically tired. Resisting temptation was accomplished by prayer, avoiding compromising situations, Bible study, and being accountable to someone. (Discipleship Journal, November / December, 1992.)

To overcome the temptations in our life, we need to not look at the temptation, but rather to keep our eyes focused on Jesus; the author and perfector of our faith. To pray this petition, “lead us not into temptation,” means that we trust that God knows our breaking point better than we do. We are praying for God to not lead us past this breaking point; we are praying that God would help us to trust and cling to Him, so that we might stay faithful; we are praying that God would overwhelm us with His presence and saving strength. This is what the Lord teaches us to pray!

Do We Know How To Pray?- Part 8

The next phrase of the Lord's prayer says "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." There are 2 parts to this statement: being forgiven, and forgiving others.
Jesus tells us to pray for forgiveness. But before they can pray this, they must understand that they need to pray it. That is to say that they have to have a sense of the fact that there is sin in their life.

The trouble is, most people have a wrong conception of sin. They think that those who commit crimes, those who are hurtful to others, those who don’t live respectable lives (whatever respectable means), these are the people who sin. So many people don’t believe that sin has anything to do with them. “As long as I live a good life, I’m okay,” they think.

We all have things we do that affect others negatively, or that hurt others, or that bring some bad into the world. So when we pray “forgive us our sins,” we are acknowledging that we are not perfect, but in fact have sin in our life. And even more, we are acknowledging that only God, through Jesus Christ, can forgive our sins.
But along with being forgiven, we need to learn how to forgive. To understand about the forgiveness we receive from God, through Christ, really comes once we learn how to forgive others. This phrase reminds us that we will be forgiven in proportion to how much we forgive others. So if we refuse to forgive others, or can’t bring ourselves to forgive others, then God will not forgive us. This might sound harsh, but it really isn’t, because human forgiveness and divine forgiveness are linked with each other.
If all we do is ask for forgiveness, we will not understand what it means to receive it. But once we start giving forgiveness to others, we understand what forgiveness is about. We understand that it is not easy to forgive. We understand that it is overlooking the wrong that has been done. We understand we have to rise above the hurt that we feel from being wronged. And we learn that we must seek to understand the circumstances which caused this person to sin. If we cannot put things right with our fellow brothers and sisters of this world, then how can we expect to put things right with God? In forgiving others, we learn how to stop judging, and we learn how to forget. Only then can we receive the forgiveness that God has for us.
The Bible tells us that only Jesus Christ can provide for our physical needs, and our spiritual needs. Only in Jesus can we understand about the need to forgive others and receive forgiveness. Only in Jesus can the hunger of personal peace and meaning and purpose of life come about. May we understand today and always, that God is our provider, our sustainer, and the one who teaches us how to forgive and be forgiven.

Do We Know How To Pray?- Part 7

In my last blog we talked about the phrase in the Lord's Prayer "Give us this day..." I talked about the importance of focusing on the day at hand, and letting any future days not cause us to worry; we are to give the future to the Lord, since we never know what future we may have.
Today I want to look at the end of this phrase "Give us this day OUR DAILY BREAD." First we looked at the word "daily," now we will look at the word "bread."

This word "bread" might appear to mean food, since we eat bread as a food substance. But did Jesus mean it to be used as a symbol for something greater, something significantly larger, something much more eternal? I believe so. So, let’s look at 3 items that will help bring this into better perspective.

1. Dependency- First, what matters most in our lives, in the eternal

perspective, is our dependency on God. One of the dangers of living in the society we live in, is that we can believe that we can make it on our own; that we are self-sufficient; that our future is in our hands; that we make our own destiny; that we are the providers of our own sustenance. But in doing this we forget about God.

The Israelites had this same struggle. They would turn away from God, their

LORD and creator, and forget how God had rescued them out of slavery from Egypt. Time and time again we read in the Bible how the Israelites had to remember the days of old and how God provided for them. When they did this, it caused them to again let themselves become dependent on God.

In teaching us to pray this simple petition, “Give us this day our daily bread,” Jesus is telling us to remember that God created us not for independence, but for dependence upon Him. Our future is not in our hands, but in God’s.

2. The basics- Secondly, when we pray for daily bread, it is referring to our

basic needs. In a time when society gets so focused on the exotic and the extravagant, usually at the expense of the impoverished, I think Jesus wants us not to forget the basics of life, and that God is there to provide for us in the most basic of needs.

God can use us to provide the basics. When we give to help those who are poor and in need, we trust God to use this giving as a means to help provide them the basics of life. In doing this, we are not hoarding our money, but sharing it with others, and we are answering this prayer for another human being.

3. Spiritual Sustenance- Thirdly, we have the basic need of spiritual

sustenance. We are more than just a body, we are a body and a spirit, and our spirit needs to connect with the Spirit of God. This is a need, and yet too many people turn a blind eye to this need; too many people think they don’t need to have a relationship with God. Just as when we eat physical food our body gets hungry again, so we are continually hungry for the spiritual food of worship, prayer, and God’s word.

EX. A number of years ago a man wrote into the newspaper, which started an important dialogue. He wrote that he didn’t think that sermons were important because he didn’t remember any of the sermons he ever heard. The debate went back and forth between those who thought sermons were important, and those who didn’t. Finally, the dialogue ended when one man wrote: “My wife has been cooking me meals for 20 years. I can’t remember most of the meals she has cooked for me, but I do know that eating them has kept my body healthy!”

There is a poem that says:

You cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer in the first person ‘I.’
You cannot say the Lords Prayer and even once say ‘My.’
Nor can you pray the Lord’s Prayer and not pray for another;
for as you ask for ‘daily bread,’ you must include your brother.
Yes, others are included in each and every plea;
from the beginning to the end of it, it doesn't once say 'Me.'

Do We Know How To Pray?- Part 6

Today I want to look at the third phrase of the Lord’s Prayer where Jesus says: “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors…” If we were to visualize the Lord’s Prayer in 2 parts, the first part would be what God may properly expect from us (things like respect for God’s holiness, commitment to God’s Kingdom, and obedience to God’s laws and will), and then the second part is what we may properly expect from God (things like provision for our physical needs, liberation from our bondage to sin, and deliverance from the powers of evil).
Let us first look at the word "daily," and then next time we will look at the word "bread." This request centers around the understanding the word “daily.” The Greek word that is translated as daily is the word episousios. It is a word that Jesus uses to help us understand that we should be concerned with today. Give us this for today, should be our request. We do not know what tomorrow holds, so why worry about tomorrow? Let us pray for God’s provision today, trusting that if tomorrow comes for us, then it is a new opportunity to turn to God and trust God.
As James tells us in James 4:14-15, “Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring… Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.’” Gregory of Nyssa, who lived in the forth century, once made this comment: “He who gives you the day, will also give you the things necessary for the day.”

Do We Know How To Pray?- Part 5

Last time I talked about the phrase "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." It is only when we can each give up our will, and join together in seeking God’s will, that the Kingdom of God can be seen here on earth. Which brings us to the next phrase of the Lord's Prayer: "one earth, as it is to heaven. So how does God’s will come to earth as it is in heaven?

In the beginning of creation, God created all things, including people. And we see that this was taken from aspects of heaven. For example, the river of life that was in the garden of Eden, is in heaven flowing from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1). In Hebrews 9:24 it refers to sacrifice on the cross like the priest of the Old Testament who shed the blood of the sacrificial lamb to remove sins. The phrase here in 9:24 says: “For Christ did not enter the sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one…” The true sanctuary is in heaven. Any sanctuary we have down here on earth is just a small likeness of what is in heaven.

So when Jesus says to pray… “On earth, as it is in heaven,” He is reminding us that God has a master plan, and things on earth are copies in part of what is in heaven. Just like a copy of a painting is not as wonderful and glorious as the original, so what we copy will never be as glorious. But it will be wonderful in its own way, because it is a following of what God has for us to experience.

We can’t lose sight of the fact that God is the expert on life. God created our life; God created this world; God created all that exists. God as the creator knows what the best plans are to be. So we need to trust ourselves to God in this. As Psalm 37:3 tells us: “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.” If we want to experience the best that God has for us, then we must have the understanding and commitment to seek out and follow God’s will.

There is a wonderful poem by Annie Johnson Flint which says:

“God hath not promised skies always blue, flower-strewn

pathways all our lives through; …God hath not promised

sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

But God hath promised strength for the day, rest for the

labor, light for the way, … grace for the trials, help from

above, unfailing sympathy, undying love.”(The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, p. 235, by Charles Swindoll)

God’s desire for us is good. But we tend to doubt this. You might say that you believe this, but your actions speak louder than your words. For example, when you worry, you are not trusting that God can bring good to your life. When you make decisions apart from seeking God, you are not trusting that God’s way is the best way. When you want something that you know God doesn’t want you to have, and you get angry at God, you are doubting that God desires good for you. As the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8:32- “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with Him?” Jesus wants us to understand that God knows what is best, and we need to seek God in all that we do in life. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”

Do We Know How To Pray?- Part 4

In this series on "The Lord's Prayer," I've been talking about how we are too selfish in the way we pray. The Lord's Prayer helps us to remember to pray: "Our Father." Our prayer is to be focused on God, not on ourselves. The God we pray to is holy, and has a name above all names. This God we pray to is the creator of all things, and has given us life and the world we live in.
Jesus then tells us to pray: "Thy kingdom come..."

The kingdom of God was central to the message of Jesus. When Jesus first appeared on the scene, He came “preaching the good news of the kingdom of God.” (Luke 4:43) But what does this mean?

It actually has 3 meanings; past, present, and future. In the past, we see the kingdom of God existing through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and existing through the prophets. But it also had present meaning for Jesus. Jesus wanted us to know that the Kingdom of God was a present reality in Christ; it was here and now. And yet, the Kingdom of God also had future implications. There was an aspect of the Kingdom of God to come. It had meaning for when the end times would come; when heaven and earth would be done away with and a new heaven would come about. So Jesus, in using this phrase, tries to help us understand how the Kingdom can be past, present, and future.

To be in the Kingdom is to obey God’s will. The beauty of this understanding is that the Kingdom is not nations and countries, but you and me. We are each a part of the Kingdom, and together make up the Kingdom. The Kingdom makes a demand of us to give ourselves over to God’s will. It requires selflessness on our part; we must give up our selfish desires and wishes to be able to seek God’s will. It is only when we can each give up our will together, and join together in seeking God’s will, that the Kingdom of God can be seen here on earth. Which brings us next to seeing how God’s will comes to earth as it is in heaven, which I will talk about in my next blog.

Do We Know How To Pray, Part 3

I want to continue today to look at "The Lord's Prayer," and what it says to us about prayer. Last time I left off talking about how this prayer teaches us that we are to pray "to the Father, through the Son (that’s why we close prayers 'in Jesus’ name'), by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Too often our prayers are about wishing for all the selfish things we hope would come true in our lives. Our lives are infected with selfishness. And if the Lord’s Prayer tells us anything about ourselves, it tells us that in every culture, selfishness is one of the most common bonds we share with everyone. We are concerned with the question: “What’s in it for me?” And Jesus tells us that it isn’t about us, it is about God and our relationship to God and our relationship with God.

In Matthew 6:8, Jesus reminds us: “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”/ God knows our needs and wishes. The purpose of prayer is not to be focused on our selfish needs, but to trust God, and be with God, and seek God more deeply. In His travels, Jesus encountered people who only cared about themselves and their own needs. And so in His teaching the disciples about prayer, and in teaching us to pray, Jesus begins the prayer, and continues every petition in this prayer, by directing our focus and attention towards God. Jesus is showing us that we can’t really pray if our focus is wrong.
The Bible is there to remind us that we can’t make it without God. In fact, we were not created to separate ourselves from God, but rather to be in close communion with God. If we spend our lives developing self-reliance from God, ultimately we are not going to make it. We may make it big on earth, according to the world’s terms, but we will lack real purpose and satisfaction in life. We will always have a void, a hole in our lives that won’t be filled, because that hole can only be filled with God’s Spirit. And in that day when heaven and earth as we know them pass away, and only heaven and hell exist, what will we do then? Jesus says it this way in Matthew 16:26- “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
The better our companionship with God, the better our companionship with others will be. That’s what this prayer does, it helps us to focus on God and our relationship with God. We cannot make it all alone. Jesus knew this, and in teaching us to pray the Lord’s Prayer, and in starting the prayer this way “Abba—Father—Daddy,” He tells us that neither does God want any of us to seek to go it alone. God is a perfect Father; one who desires companionship with us, and reliance from us in Him.
As we pray in God's name, we can know it is a name that we can rely on, and to whom we can speak.

Do We Know How To Pray?: Part 2

In my last blog, I gave a general overview of the Lord's prayer. Today I want to start looking more in depth at what this prayer is really saying, and how Jesus is teaching us to pray. The Lord's Prayer opens with these wonderful words: “Our Father…” In this opening salutation, Jesus wants us to understand that we should call to God in a very personal way; we should know God in a very personal way. The word “Father” is the Aramaic word “Abba.” This word is very personal and intimate, because it can be translated as “daddy.”

In our culture today, one of the first words a baby speaks is the word “daddy.” In Jesus’ time and culture, that word was “abba.” This was a society in which the father was expected to be the spiritual leader of the entire household; a society in which the father provided for the majority of the needs of the family; a society where a family’s identification in the community was established primarily through the father.

When Jesus used this word “abba,” father, His purpose was to establish, to clarify, and then to invite each one of us to celebrate the wonderful relationship God wants to have with each one of us. Now this was a very new way of praying. This was not how the religious people of that time were accustomed to praying. One Christian writer remarking about this new kind of intimacy said: “What an incredible revolution Jesus started when He used this word ‘abba’ to describe our relationship with God.” For a community whose prayers had always reflected great distance between themselves and God, Jesus introduced to them the immediacy, and thus the intimacy of a caring God.

God is no longer to be thought of as someone who cannot be reached. God is to be thought of as a loving parent. As a parent, I would be greatly distressed if my children kept distant from me. It is the same with God. God created us, and loves us, and wants to have a special relationship with us. Jesus tells us straight out that this relationship is to be intimate and special like you should have with a loving earthly father.
But along with using such a personal name as “abba” to help us understand the personalness of God, and of this prayer, this opening “Our Father” also seeks to help us understand the focus we are to have in our prayers. The focus is to be on God. Just as Jesus offered His prayers to the Father, so He tells us to direct our prayers to the Father. Our prayers are to be to the Father, through the Son (that’s why we close prayers “in Jesus’ name”), by the power of the Holy Spirit. And in praying this way, we are reminded that the focus is not on ourselves, but on the God to whom we are praying, and seeking, and relying on.
Next time I will continue on the relationship between praying to "our Father" and being selfish.

Do we know how to pray?

Do we really know how to pray? We know how to ask for things. We know how to get frustrated when God doesn't give us what we want, the way we want it, and in the time we want it. But prayer is more about seeking God's wisdom, listening to God, and giving ourselves over to God. It is more than taking time out of our day for a particular "time" of prayer. It is about communing with God throughout the day. (For more on this you can see my blogs on "The Practice of the Presence of God," June 21, 2007 - October 24, 2007)
The disciples realized that they didn't know how to pray. So they specifically asked Jesus to teach them to pray in Matthew 6:9-13. Jesus' answer has become known as The Lord's Prayer. ⁹"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹Give us today our daily bread.
¹²Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.'"
It is a prayer that reminds us of the holiness of God and God's name, the importance of seeking God's will and God's purpose, the understanding that our basic needs are provided by God, our need to be forgiven and to forgive, and seeking God to help us from succombing to temptation. While it is good to know and pray this prayer, it should also be used as a guideline of what prayer is (a communing between us and our creator), and the kind of things we should pray for. Do you notice that there isn't any praying for material possessions, or for fame or success?
In my next blog I will continue this discussion. Tell me what you think.

Taking Away the Decorations

I know that Christmas is a couple weeks past, but I was thinking today about how there is a tendency to let the Christmas spirit fade away once we have taken the decorations away. I love the decorations of Christmas. It brings such a festive atmosphere, but can also bring a let down once they are put away.
However, stated in an article by Vern Farnum, called "De-Decorating," he says: 'De-decorating is our way of getting back in touch with the routine reality of daily life. As we take down the lights and signs of the Christmas season, I hope we will not box away our faith with the decorations. Instead, may we carry with us the lessons of the season as we step back into real world.' "
I believe this is true. First, if it were Christmas all year long, we would lose touch with the more simple aspects of life. Life can't be all decorations, and partying all year long. However, second, we do need to keep with us the love, hope, joy, and peace that Christmas reminds us of. We do need to make sure that we keep the lessons of Christmas (the coming of God into the world to save us from our sins) in the forefront of our minds.
So, as we have now left Christmas, may we seek to remember what Christmas has taught us, and keep this spirit in our every day lives.

Does God want us to be happy?

People seem to place a lot of weight on being happy in life. Even the greeting "How are you doing?" seems to imply whether you are happy or not. So many people work so that they can have the money to "enjoy" life. But there is an important fundamental question: Does God want us to be happy?
I think the answer to this question is "not necessarily." As C. S. Lewis once said, "God isn't concerned with if we are happy or not. God wants us to love, and be loved." But loving and being loved isn't the same as being happy. Because there is pain in life, there will still be love, but not necessarily happiness.
So what do we do with this? If God isn't overly concerned with our happiness, then we shouldn't be either. And the truth is, the less we worry about happiness, the better off we will be. We should have the thinking that the apostle Paul tries to tell us in Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice." At the heart of rejoicing in understanding that God is with us in all circumstances. So whether we are happy or not, we rejoice because we know God walks with us.
Let us try and rejoice more, and worry less about happiness. In the end, God's blessings will carry us through. Let me know what you think (pastorchrislogan@yahoo.com).

Epiphany

Epiphany , meaning 'appearance' or 'manifestation', is the day many Christians use to celebrate the "shining forth" or revelation of God in human form, in the person of Jesus. Some Christians commemorate the visitation of the Magi to the child Jesus on this day. As this is Epiphany Sunday, I wanted to talk a little about a wonderful revelation we find in the Christ child.

There comes a time in life when we realize that we aren’t always strong, or smart or we don’t always win the game. In fact, we often feel weak, and bumbling, and look at only our failures. And so when it comes to living our lives, we go through these periods where we don’t feel too great about ourselves; where we don’t think we have that much to offer.

But in Christ, we can understand a great truth… God can actually use us all the more when we are weak. The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:10- “For Christ’s sake, … when I am weak, then I am strong.”

There were many who thought Jesus to be weak and foolish. There were (and still are) many who don't understand Jesus' birth and death, and think Him weak (that God would even consider taking on flesh, and allowing humans to kill him). But the apostle Paul tells us something wonderful in 1 Corinthians 1:25, "God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength." And also in 1 Corinthians 1:27, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”
As the magi traveled a long journey to receive the truth of the Christ child, understand this: whenever you feel weak, or humbled, or like a failure, know that in Jesus, your weakness can be used for something great when you partner with God. So don't fret, "if God is for you, who can be against you."