Make prayer the strategy

” . . . I began to learn not to pray about any strategy, but to make prayer the strategy.”- Greg Pruett, President of Pioneer Bible Translators

Max Lucado continues Chapter 12 of Glory Days by reminding us that, in order to outwit the devil’s deceit, we must consult God in everything and . . .

2.  Call on God for great things.  Because Joshua made an alliance with the Gibeonites, five other Canaanite kings saw the Gibeonites as traitors and attacked with their armies.  Having marched all night from Gilgal, Joshua counterattacked the five kings.  Although the five armies quickly retreated, Joshua knew he needed more time to achieve victory.  So Joshua asked God to stop the sun (Joshua 10:13).  The next verse records God’s response:

“There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.”- Joshua 10:14

The Lord chose to hear and heed Joshua’s request.  Max’s friend, Greg Pruett, experienced God’s answer to prayer after he was asked to assume the presidency of Pioneer Bible Translators in 2008.  That year a great recession was sucking dollars out of the economy, and this trickled down to that ministry in the form of fewer resources and donors.  Greg knew only one way to respond- prayer.

By the end of the fiscal year, God had provided- although there was no tangible explanation for God’s provision.  All Greg had was God and prayer.

Today’s question: How would you respond to Greg’s comment about prayer?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “God and prayer”

 

Make prayer the strategy

The throne of grace

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need.”- Hebrews 4:16

As Max Lucado begins Chapter 12 (“Pray Audacious Prayers”) of Glory Days, he notes two occasions when Martin Luther boldly approached the throne of grace for the healing of (1) a coworker as well as (2) his good friend Frederick Myconius.  Yet, Pastor Lucado notes, for may people boldness in prayer is an uncomfortable thought.

Joshua’s prayer life, Max adds, teaches us what happens when we don’t pray as much as it tells us how to pray.  Following the gathering at Shechem, a group of men presenting themselves as hapless strangers from a distant place entered Joshua’s camp.  Joshua and the elders didn’t detect the ruse because they didn’t seek the counsel of the Lord (Joshua 9:14).  Standard Hebrew practice was to pray first, ask later.

Max states it is important for us to learn from Joshua’s mistake.  This requires two essential actions on our part.

1.  Consult God in everything.  We need to do this consistently and immediately.  At every decision and crossroads we must acknowledge and heed Him.  If we regularly consult Him, God will disclose Satan’s craftiness by giving us enough light to take the next step.  Max concludes: “Glory Days are such because we learn to hear God’s voice telling us to turn this way or that way.”

Today’s question (from the study guide): Do you know someone who prays boldly?  Why do you think that person can pray so boldly?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Make prayer the strategy”

The throne of grace

Voices, choices, and consequences

“Life comes with voices.  Voices lead to choices.  Choices lead to consequences.”- Max Lucado

“Obedience is the key to all doors.”- C. S. Lewis (Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C. S. Lewis)

Max Lucado begins Chapter 11 (“Voices, Choices, and Consequences”) of Glory Days by discussing the Israelites’ pilgrimage to the Valley of Shechem following Joshua’s decisive victory at Ai.  Once they reached the valley, Joshua set about the task of building an altar to the Lord.

Unlike the custom of ancient Near Eastern kings to commemorate their military achievements by writing about their conquests on huge stones covered with plaster, Joshua celebrated God’s law.  The key to the Israelites’ successful military campaign wasn’t the strength of their army but their resolve to keep God’s commandments.

Pastor Lucado reminds us that this assembly in the Valley of Shechem took place in the midst of an invasion, smack-dab in the middle of enemy territory.  Max comments that they pressed the Pause button on their physical battle in order to fight a spiritual one:

“Heeding God’s Word is more critical than fighting God’s war.  Indeed, heeding God’s Word is fighting God’s war.  Conquest happens as covenant is honored.”

The voices of life await us.  While we can’t eliminate their presence, we can prepare for their invitation.  We have been bought with a price and are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  Resist the devil, and he will flee (James 4:7).  Max concludes:

“Choose obedience.  And as you do, you can expect . . . the blessing of God’s favor.  This is no guarantee of an easy life.  It is the assurance of God’s help.”

Today’s question (from the study guide): What voices do you listen to most often?  Are you drawn to the loudest voices?  Or the most persistent?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “The throne of grace”

 

 

 

Voices, choices, and consequences

Back in the box

Lionel standard gauge New York Central Observation Car #86; hand-painted figures of man, woman, and red cap, circa 1927.

“Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world.”- 1 Timothy 6:6-7

“Contentment does not come when we acquire enough.  It is a product of the way we think.”- John Ortberg

On the occasional fall/winter Sunday afternoon the Henning family was home, one of my dad William’s favorite father-son activities was setting up and running his 1927 Lionel standard gauge train set.  This was a labor-intensive operation.  Three large boxes were lugged down from our unheated attic.  Then all cars, tracks, and accoutrements were freed from their newspaper cocoons.  After the newspaper skins were returned to their boxes, assembly began.

Dad had a model track layout that took up the entire living room and extended into the dining area.  Dad and I would alternate running the passenger and freight cars.  Before dinner could be served, the entire assembly was taken apart, rewrapped, and placed back in the box.

Years later, when dad had downsized from independent to assisted living at Harwood Place, he took five possessions with him: sofa, recliner, TV/entertainment center, kitchen table and chairs, and his beloved Lionel.  Dad’s love of trains replenished him after his routine work week as a chemist testing corrosion inhibitors and continued as a source of contentment as his world grew smaller.  But his eternal joy was nurtured through weekly Bible study and corporate worship.

Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) captured the essence of humanity’s lack of joy: “Men have succeeded in accumulating a greater mass of objects, but joy in the world has grown less.”  Similarly, John Ortberg observes that wise people build their lives around the eternal and squeeze in the temporary- not the other way around.  In other words, we need to decide what will last forever and what goes back in the box.

The material, emotional, and spiritual devastation of our ministry downsizing or vocation loss leaves a huge vacuum.  Kyle Idleman (The End of Me) reminds us God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- stands ready to fill that void:

“There is a deep void that used to be filled with whatever we lost.  That could be stuff or even relationships- none of which are bad in themselves.  But when it’s gone it leaves an aching cavity, and God is there to fill it up with himself.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zByzjJ4nvH8

 

Back in the box

No failure is fatal

“Failure is a form of quicksand.  Take immediate action or you’ll be sucked under.”- Max Lucado

In Chapter 10 (“No Failure is Fatal”) of Glory Days, Max Lucado writes that when we fail, we hear or presume the voices of others are spewing negativity or condemnation.  We join those voices of failure when we disqualify, berate, or upbraid ourselves.  When we do so, Max sadly observes, we sentence ourselves “to a life of hard labor in the Leavenworth of poor self-worth.”

People may not know how to address failure, but God does.  Max states the Bible is written for failures.  God used Joshua’s failure to conquer Ai in order to show us how to handle ours.  God quickly and urgently calls us to get on with life.  Unless we take immediate action, failure will suck us under.  God’s Promised Land offer depends on His perfection, not ours.

No one is immune from stumbling.  What differentiates people is their response.  Pastor Lucado explains:

“Some tumble into the pit of guilt.  Others tumble into the arms of God.”

Perhaps you’ve made some poor choices during the desert, land between time following your ministry downsizing or vocation loss.  Like the prodigal son, it is time to arise and go to your Father.  The apostle Paul wrote of his choice in Philippians 3:13-14 (Phillips): “I leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal.”

Today’s question (from the study guide): Have your failures stuck with you?  To what degree have you felt trapped in the “Leavenworth of poor self-worth”?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: the new Short Meditation, “Back in the box”

 

 

No failure is fatal

Everything begins with faith

“Everything begins with faith.  The absence of it results in wilderness years.  The presence of it results in Promised Land living.”- Max Lucado

When Max Lucado’s three daughters were preschool-age, he played a bedtime game with them he called “Ladies and Gentlemen.”  Max would hold the girls upside down and swing them around, tossing them on the sofa or flipping them over the ottoman.  Never in all those flips and tosses did the girls question what Dad was doing.  They completely trusted him.

In Chapter 9 (“Don’t Trust Stuff”) of Glory Days, Pastor Lucado notes that while Joshua and most of the Israelites trusted God, a man named Achan did not.  Achan blatantly and deliberately violated God’s command that “everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury” (Joshua 6:19, NLT).  They were to completely trust God to meet their needs.  For reasons known only to Achan, he didn’t trust God’s wisdom or His ability to provide and protect.

As only Max can phrase it, Achan “saw the bling and forgot his king.”  In the Promised Land God has established, He is the sole source of blessing.  To the degree we trust God, Glory Days will happen.  Max asks:

“Whom do you trust?  God or King More?  King More . . . loses his value.  He goes out of style.  For all the promises he makes, he cannot keep a single one.  King More will break your heart.  But the King of kings?  He will catch you every single time.”

Today’s question (from the study guide): How has God provided for you in small ways that were still significant?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “No failure is fatal”

Everything begins with faith

Be steadfast, immovable

“Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”- 1 Corinthians 15:58 (NKJV)

“Move from false premises to God’s promises.”- Max Lucado

Maxx Lucado concludes Chapter 8 of Glory Days by noting that the children of Israel used two instruments, the silver trumpet and the ram’s horn.  While the silver trumpet was used to call people to worship, the ram’s horn celebrated a battle already won.  At Jericho, God told Joshua to fill the air with the sound of ram’s horns.  Curiously, though, God told the people to be quiet.

Pastor Lucado states your battle with Satan is just as challenging.  No human effort to overcome your stronghold has worked.  You are ready to blast your ram’s horn:

“But now you come in God’s power with God center stage, Jesus in your heart, angels front and back.  You come, not with hope of a possible victory, but with assurance of complete victory.”

Satan has no choice but to retreat.  Your job is to keep praising and walking.  Max observes that although Joshua knew how many times the Israelites would circle Jericho, he didn’t tell the people.  For all you know, today may be the day your walls come tumbling down.  And the very walls that have kept you out will become the stepping stones onto which you will climb.  Your Jericho will come down.  It is just a matter of time.

Today’s question: How  can overcoming strongholds become a stepping stone toward facing another?  Please share.

Coming Monday: the new Short Meditation, “Back in the box”

Tomorrow’s blog: “Everything begins with faith”

Be steadfast, immovable