prayer turns heads

There has been so much said and written about prayer, but I realized I haven't ever blogged on this topic. What could I say? What could I add to what has been said? Maybe I can't add much to your knowledge of the subject, but I have pondered prayer. I especially have thought about the effect core assumptions have on how someone thinks, feels and acts regarding prayer.

If you have read earlier blogs and maybe even read my recent book, you would know I see everything through the lens of core assumptions. So, why would my view of prayer be any different?

First, there is the concept of general prayer. This is what people of all religions, and even no religion, do when they are deeply distressed. They cry out to something outside themselves for relief, hoping there is something or someone OUT THERE who can help in their difficult circumstances. The motivation is simply to "cry out" since there is nothing outside themselves that they actually trust can help. This type of prayer is common to all since the beginning of time and likely does not "turn heads." It is not an unusual site.

This general prayer then becomes specific when the prayer is petitioning someone or something OUT THERE that the person praying assumes can help in their difficulty. Both types, general and specific petitions are likely associated with what I have called an "outcome based" orientation. This is human nature. It is natural to make sense of things based on circumstances experienced by one's sensory faculties.

Interestingly, this "outcome based" view of prayer does not escape Christians. I hear way too many sermons and teachings on prayer that are based in the Bible but are heard and understood within the context of desiring God to affect circumstances. I recently heard a good preacher expounding on Elijah's prayers and how God answered him. Implied in everything said about prayer was the circumstantial outcomes associated with praying.

Christians who pray in public may turn heads of a secular society, but are hard pressed to explain why and how God answers prayers when the focus is on the circumstances targeted by the prayers. I heard an old country preacher say one time, "we pray for healing but healing is only a reprieve, we all die sometime." He was not poking fun at or trivializing prayer, he was making a point that prayer is much more or different than getting God to attend to circumstances.

Prayer is not about turning God's head to us, but turning our heads to God. 

Prayer is an abiding relationship with God in which our attention is on the Kingdom in which we live ETERNALLY NOW, not the circumstances that occupy our temporary earthly existence. How God uses circumstances in our life often remains a mystery. Prayer invokes our eyes of faith away from trusting sensory experiences to intimacy with a God that is jealous for our affection. 



This is what glorifies God. When a dying world, left futile in their pointless "crying out," witnesses a child of the King resting completely in the loving arms of the Creator regardless of circumstances, something happens. Their heads are turned, not with a cynical smirk. They just may want to know Him. That's why Christians are here. That's why we have circumstances, both favorable and unfavorable to our human existence.

When we turn our head toward God, we turn our back on our circumstances. This is our way to show the world in whom and what we trust. BTW, isn't that on our coin? Does that seem strange at all? Has our nation turned its back on its basic claim, "In God we trust"? 

Might it be that the core assumption Christians hold dear about "the outcome of things" creates a prayer life that has heads turned toward circumstances?

Receive this blog or not, but at least ponder it .....

Read the scriptures on prayer with the assumption that it is the "source of things" that matters, not "the outcome of things." You can read more about core assumptions and how they affect everything we think, feel or do in my newest book, "b4Worldview: there are ONLY TWO" found on amazon.com     

"her faith is NOW a reality"

I did not want to write this blog, but these words I heard yesterday at the funeral of a Christian will not leave my head. Its like hurricane Florence. These thoughts are slow moving dropping volumes of rain on my soul. When this happens, I can only get relief by writing what is blowing through my head. Thus, this blog is born.

The pastor said these words as a source of HOPE to the family and attendees at a life celebration for a Christian lady who died at age 50 from cancer. It's a nice platitude. I'm sure no one else really latched on to these words, but me. After all, she was known as a person of faith and courage, someone who really stayed true to her faith through much struggle on this earth. I do not doubt this at all. But,

what does this statement the pastor made actually mean? 

Is it an encouragement? Is it even Biblical? Think about these words a minute. What do you think? How do they make you feel?

This is the point. How we understand God's words is what makes us think, feel, and act as we do. Assumptions we have about key words like "faith" and "reality" are what causes us to struggle in life, or not. This statement makes me wonder if the pastor's assumptions are in line with his theology. I have no doubt he is well read and learned about the Bible. BUT, this statement well intended for encouragement is not what God tells us in His word. 

At first glance it may suggest "her faith was not real until her death." That's not an encouragement to me. What do you think?

This probably is not what the pastor meant, but many subconsciously take it that way. AND, if believers actually think this way, what is the testimony to unbelievers. The secular world already has little interest in "faith." Is the GOOD NEWS about some future "reality"? Is this why the Christian life seems irrelevant in the moment to so many?

The assumption in this statement is that "real" must only be what we can directly experience. If we cannot observe something with our senses, then it is not considered "real." Well, faith, by definition, is unobservable evidence. The non-Christian sees faith as foolish and totally irrelevant. While the believer values faith, it seems to many (as referenced in this statement by the pastor) that faith is only "real" once we leave this world. What does this say about the relevance of faith in our life before we die? Is the pastor claiming "death activates faith"? Maybe this is what makes the Christian life not seem much different in this world to non-believers. Maybe this is why hope is viewed as limited to a "reality" beyond our physical life on earth. Maybe this is why there is so much attention by Christians to perseverance, "just hang on til you get to heaven."

Is hope only confidence in how things will be later? Is this the Biblical idea of hope? Is this the Biblical view of "reality?" Does faith have a "reality" before we die?

The answer to these questions flows from assumptions that sit deep within our soul. It is natural for humans to assume that the life we observe and experience with our senses determines our understanding. It is in our human nature to understand our theology through the lens of our circumstances. This makes it natural to miss what the Bible says to us about faith and reality.

For example, we may see prayer as an instrument available to us to get a loving, Sovereign God to act on our behalf, as evidenced in our circumstances. We can be saved, have all the best theology and Bible teaching, but if we assume truths about the Kingdom through our circumstances, then we do not understand faith and reality as God does.

Prayer is an abiding relationship anchored in thanksgiving that takes our focus away from our circumstances as reality to the ever present reality of our life in His Kingdom. Life in this finite realm, one bound by time and space the Bible calls earth, points us to our life NOW that really is an eternal existence in His Kingdom. Faith is a hope (confidence) that our soul (eternal core self) is completely cared for outside our circumstances by a Sovereign King willing and able to do so always, now and forever.

The hold our fallen human nature has on our soul is what makes the Christian life hard. If our natural assumptions are transformed to align with God's view of faith, hope and reality, then life in the Kingdom, even in its physical form on earth, is not so hard.

In other words, "life is hard until it isn't." 

What is normal to you and me is what makes us see life as it is. When it is normal to see ourselves as God sees us, struggles melt away. We don't have to die for our faith to be real.

This message is my passion, the theme of many blogs and especially my new book, "b4Worldview: there are ONLY TWO."

I have pondered this a lot. I think God wishes you to ponder it too......