Waiting on Answers to Prayer

I don't know about you, but perhaps there have been times when there were requests we made to God again and again and we wondered if He is ever going to answer. Prayers for the salvation of a loved one, requests for help or even victory in overcoming a recurring sin have been uttered again and again with no seeming response from our Heavenly Father. Recently, I have been reading Steve Miller's book, C.H. Spurgeon on Spiritual Leadership. In the book, Miller highlights the different aspects of Spurgeon's leadership. The first chapter describes Spurgeon's commitment to prayer personally and for ministry and I was particularly caught by these two quotes,

"Frequently the richest answers are not the speediest...A prayer may be all the longer on its voyage because it is bringing us a heavier freight of blessing. Delayed answers are not only trials of faith, but they give us an opportunity of honouring God by our steadfast confidence in Him under apparent repulses."

"God's answers have never come too soon nor yet too late."

Be encouraged today that if there are prayers that have been uttered 10, 100 or 1000 times, God has heard and He will answer in His perfect time and in His perfect way. He simply calls us as His children to trust Him and to call out to Him in dependence.

Avoiding Extremes in Missional Thinking

Recently, Justin Taylor posted this excerpt from Tullian Tchividjian's upcoming book, Unfashionable

"There’s a major difference between having a tribal mindset and a missionary mindset. The highest value of a tribally minded person is self-protection. They ask questions like: Since I feel the safest around those who are just like me, how can I protect myself from those who are different than I am? So they intentionally surround themselves with people who think the way they think, like the things they like, and despise the things they despise. As a result, they live with a sense of superiority, looking down on those who are not like them (for half my life I was convinced that surfers like me were far cooler than anyone on the face of this earth).

In contrast to a tribal minded person, the highest value of a missionary minded person is not self-protection but self-sacrifice. A missionary minded person is a person that exists, not primarily for himself but for others. She is a person that is willing to set aside personal preferences in service to those whose preferences are different than hers. Missionaries are people who are willing to be inconvenienced, discomforted, and spent for the well-being of others. The Gospel of Jesus Christ demands that we be missionary minded, because the gospel is the story of God sacrificing himself for others."

Here from my cheap seats is the problem in dividing the two groups and talking in extremes. First, the Bible talks at length about our necessity to be connected to other Christians. Jesus says that others will know that we are His disciples if we have love for one another, this meaning primarily other disciples [John 13:35]. Paul agrees saying in Galatians 6:10 that, "as we have opportunity to do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."

We are called to be tribal in gathering around ourselves other believers for our encouragement, support and in loving them we display our Savior to the watching world. However, there should be no sense or thought of superiority because it by grace expressed through the Cross that Christians can experience relationship with one another and reflect the love to which we are called. And when this happens, Christians should realize the call and joy to share this great message with those around them that don't know this.

It really is about avoiding extremes in this discussion and really it's about being a tribal missionary. Tribal in being connected first to the church [the tribe] for instruction, encouragement and support and then being a missionary in going out everyday realizing the joy of sharing about the tribe and how to get connected to it through the Master.

Sweet and Sour Words

My wife and I had the opportunity to go and hear one of our favorite artists at Prospect Park on Saturday night [essentially for free, what a blessing!]
This woman is not a Christian, but is a great songwriter that writes and sings great stories. She is a rather unassuming and gentle singer, sweet really. But here is the lesson in opposites, this sweet singer who sings with a soft voice between songs would fill the void with profanity laden discussions. While it was disappointing, it brought to mind this verses,
"From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water." [James 3:9-12 ESV]
The humbling reality is that as I considered those verses, it struck me that my tongue still needs much work. How often do I pray and thank God and then speak in a harsh tone to my wife? I need to be aware of the battle of sweet and sour words coming forth from my mouth and recognize that I need Jesus to help me guard my tongue, day by and moment by moment so that I am pouring out fresh words instead of salty ones.
The question today is how is our tongue doing?

Where is legalism creeping in?

CJ Mahaney in his book the Cross Centered Life defines legalism as

"..seeking to achieve forgiveness from God and acceptance by God through obedience to God."

and this thought can creep in so subtly, whether it's missing a Bible reading in the morning or committing that same sin again, we can think in those moments that God loves me less. But the reality is, when we come to Christ, repenting of our sin and trusting in Jesus full and final payment for all my sin, the wonderful truth is that God sees me in Christ as one who has always obeyed. As Jerry Bridges describes in his book, the Gospel for Real Life,

"...all that Christ did in his life and death is effective for us because we are legally united to Him."

And so instead of looking at obedience as our way of keeping our righteous standing before God, let us consider it instead our obedience as opportunities for us to express our love to God for His Son with our lives. Legalism sees Christ's death as insufficient but Christ calls us to remember His cry from the cross. "It is finished!" Our full and final forgiveness is settled through the death of Jesus and through His perfect sacrifice, His perfect life is transfered to us.

So, where is legalism creeping in for us?

Lawlessness

As I watched a guy in the subway station sneak through the ticket lane [or as they call it in the city fare hopping], my first thought was anger, "Doesn't he see the signs everywhere telling us that's against the law? Doesn't he know that's going to cost us more money now so the law can go after people like that?" Then I realized, I break the Law all the time even though God give me clear signals and warnings that it's going to cost me. Like when I look down a sweet pair of shoes on another person and covet or when I desire sleep instead of reading Scripture putting myself before God.
Thanks be to God that His son's perfect obedience to the Law is transferred to me at salvation, without that I would be guilty a hundred times over.
So before we get angry at another breaking the law, we must ask ourselves where am I tempted or where I am right now a Law breaker?

The Good and the Helpful

I'm back and hopefully will be posting here 2-3 times a week [better to be realistic]

The Good

Being in the city provides amazing opportunities to meet people, whether standing in line in a busy Target, sitting on the subway, getting off the subway as Ellie has a meltdown only to meet a man who buys you a delicious frozen yogurt, to walking in Park Slope and being welcomed by many new neighbors.  It is great to be in the city and to have the opportunity to meet so many people. 

The Helpful

While it is great, nothing has come easy this first week and in this [whether the four trips to Staples in one day, being rejected for a cellphone, or having to prove the church is a legitimate thing to the cable company] but in all this it has a wonderful way of revealing idols of the heart, control, ease, finding peace in things other than God and that is just a start.  In the fast pace of life and many things being out of your control, we can look for peace and security in other things but thanks be to God that in these times God shows us where our treasure is, which shows us where our heart is.

God thank you for the city