I’ve written previously on why I favor the observance of Lent for those interested.

My goals for Lent this year were certainly acheivable for an ascetic like me:

Fast 1 meal a day (or the equivalent)
Record what I eat
Have a significant Quiet Time each day
Follow along with the 40 Day Prayer Guide
Pray daily for passion for the lost

Confession. I botched every last one one of them. Big time. Of the 40 days, I probably skipped a meal only six or seven times and recorded what I ate only four times. I went for a period of two full weeks without a single Quiet Time and was sporadic much of the rest of the time. I only did 10 out of the 40 daily prayer assigments, and I didn’t pray for passion for the lost much at all. All in all, I think I succeeded only about 25%. In summary: I gave up God for Lent.

How could this happen?!!! I mean I’m a pastor. I’m supposed to be holy or something, right? Well I didn’t fail because the goals were too difficult. So then why did I? I suppose I could offer excuses: I was sick for two of the weeks and our family ended up on the Mexico trip. But the truth is that I failed them mostly because they became less important to me than me. I’m ashamed to admit all this to you readers, especially bursting your bubble about pastors being holy and all!

So was Lent without value this year? Hardly. Failing so miserably has had several good effects. That’s one thing I love about Lent–it has value whether you succeed or fail.

The primary thing I learned from all this is my inability to produce anything good on my own and how I need to utterly depend on God. Just as the Law was given to point out our inability to keep it, Lent this year had that same effect on me.

Providentially, I just picked up a book about Jonathan Edwards’ resolve where he reflects on his own broken resolutions. He confesses “If God should withdraw His Spirit a little more, I should not hesitate to break my resolutions and should soon arrive at my old state. There is no dependance on myself…What a miserable wretch without the assistance of the Spirit of God…How weak do I find myself!
O let it teach me to depend less on myself and be more humble.”

I learned from Edwards that my job is not “to do” such resolutions at all but rather to “humbly entreat God to do” such things through me. I should never again set goals without making my primary focus to beg God to accomplish them through me. To take it even further, I essentially need to retitle all my “to do” lists–for apart from Him I can do nothing.

A second thing my Lenten failure gave me was a renewed appreciation of Jesus. He made an infinitely hard commitment and He stuck to it without letting himself get in the way. Even when offered the gall to anesthetize the pain of the crucifixion He refused–choosing to experience the full wrath of both God and man. He went all the way for us. He followed through on what He said He would do. (It’s a good thing the Savior was Him instead of me or we’d all be doomed!)

The last thing Lent taught me this year was a greater understanding and experience of the grace of God. Though I was failing Him miserably all throughout Lent He continued to bless me immensely during that time. My self-centered, neglectful treatment of Him was insulting and deathworthy, and yet for some reason He responded to me with abundant blessings. And looking at it from an eternal, judicial perspective: although I have shown myself once again to be helpless in the flesh, He continues to clothe me with the very Righteousness of Christ as if I had never sinned! Amazing grace indeed!

So what next? Well, even though Lent is officially over, I’ve decided to redo my unfinished Lenten resolutions, completing them the right way–by humbly entreating God to get them done! This time I’ll be giving up me for Lent.

I talked to the youth group tonight about how we need to grow in the area of prayer. If we don’t ask God to move powerfully in hearts and lives this year, then we’re doing everything from our own strength.

One opportunity for a prayer focus is going to be something we’ll call “The Prayermobile.” Each Saturday night from 9-10 pm we will be driving the mini-bus to various locations around town so we can pray specifically for those places. (Examples of locations are schools, city hall, firestations, other churches, Planned Parenthood, etc.) I’m committed to this: you can meet me by the buses every Saturday at church at 8:45 sharp. We’ll return by 10:15.

Also, during my lesson on prayer tonight, i handed out my list of prayer exercises, which also might be useful for some of you who weren’t there, so i’ll post it below.

21 IDEAS TO IMPROVE YOUR PRAYER LIFE
Chose several to experiment with.

1. Write down a relationship goal, declaring where you want to be in your relationship with God. Admit where you’re at, make things right, pray toward that goal.
2. Purge your prayers of routine-ness. Make each one fresh and one-of-a-kind.
3. Pray out loud, or at least move your lips to involve more of you and to avoid distractions.
4. Use a variety of body positions. Kneel for confession. Open your eyes and look heavenward for requests or praise.
5. Get uncomfortable. Don’t let sleepiness keep you from focusing. “A desire for God which cannot break the chains of sleep is a weak thing and will do but little good for God after it has indulged itself fully.” The Power of Prayer by EM Bounds
6. Sing a worship song or listen to a CD, while thinking about the words. Don’t sing praise songs with your heart disengaged. (Matt 15:8)
7. Write out prayers to help you focus and to measure answers later.
8. Set a minimum time goal to make sure you’re not neglecting God with your time.
9. Take occasional extended times in deep prayer, rather than short, shallow prayers.
10. Give Him your firstfruits: For many this is at the beginning of your day.
11. Write down everyone and everything you believe God wants you to be praying for regularly. (i.e. start a prayer list.)
12. Force yourself to pray for only eternal things if you tend to get caught up in the here and now.
13. Force yourself to submit mundane decisions to him if you tend to not involve God in your daily life.
14. Never say “Amen” for a whole day, keep a continual prayer going all day.
15. Simply thinking about God, his Word, and his creation is a type of prayer called “meditation”. (Examples: Ask: what has God rescued me from? Count your blessings. Think about some attributes of God. Reflect on how God’s love is different from man’s. Be thankful A-Z through the alphabet. Think about people God has blessed you with. Think about what Jesus went thru for you. Think about your specific sins.)
16. Pray with someone else, which helps if your mind tends to wander and it also gives you a glimpse of how they relate with God. Ride the Prayermobile!
17. When praying with others, focus on their words & agree with them. Prayermobile!
18. When someone asks for prayer, pray immediately, on the spot!
19. Practice praying FOR your enemies.
20. Go to a specific location for a different prayer focus. Ride the Prayermobile!
21. Read a good book about prayer, such as “the Practice of the Presence of God” by brother Lawrence or Fresh Wind Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala, books on prayer by EM Bounds or a biography of a prayer warrior like George Muller.

I’m reposting this blog post from four years ago because I see the same issue happening today. In their passion to overthrow Mr. Obama, people are seeing a win by Mr. Romney as our “only hope”. It comes off as if he’s the savior that our country needs. I’m not saying we can’t have good reasons to support a candidate who reflects our views, but I am reminding us that the only Savior we really need is Jesus and that He can be glorified equally well through any candidate.

And let’s be careful about our character in the process. Let’s be sure our passion to support who we think is best doesn’t cause us to behave in unChristlike and unloving ways towards those supporting other candidates. Our spiritual impact on others is much more important that our political impact on them.

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Sept 8, 2008.

Yesterday in Sr. High, Glenn Schillinger gave a great lesson on the book of Jeremiah. He pointed out that the book reveals things that are true about God’s nature. One such truth is the reality that God will sometimes chose to bring calamity upon his people to chastise them for their idolatry or awaken them from spiritual complacency.

This may sound blasphemous: God brings calamity? How can this be? This seems to contradict everyone’s favorite verse from the same book, Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” But if we read this verse in context, we see that it is written to the Israelites after the Babylonians had just invaded their land, ransacked their nation and kidnapped the majority of them, hauling them far away to Babylon. And God was going to leave them there for 70 years—essentially the rest of their lives. His oft-quoted promise was speaking of the ultimate hope of prosperity for his chosen people, but certainly not their immediate relief.

If you read the whole chapter, you’ll see that our favorite verse is no more than a glimmer of light in a mostly dark and turbulent sea. God is in the midst of severely chastising his people for their waywardness.

And he takes full credit for this.

For example, read God’s message to those who were left in Jerusalem at that time: 29:16 but this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your countrymen who did not go with you into exile- 17 yes, this is what the LORD Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like poor figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. 18 I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth and an object of cursing and horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. 19 For they have not listened to my words,” declares the LORD, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the LORD.

Yikes! That sounds harsh! And just a few verses later he says this to those who prophesied lies in His name: 29:21 “I will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes.”

As you probably know, Nebuchadnezzar was an evil dictator, known for his brutality. Yet, three times in the book, God refers to Nebuchadnezzar as “my servant”. I’m not making this up—read it for yourself!

This idea of God sometimes choosing to bring calamity on His people flies in the face of the current trend in our culture towards the feel-good health-and-wealth Prosperity Gospel. We wrongly assume that God only works through peace and safety, economic prosperity, liberty, capitalism, and freedom. It’s unthinkable to us that God might actually want us to undergo distress or inhibiting circumstances for some higher purpose.

That brings me to the election at hand. I’ll begin by saying what most of you know—that neither candidate excites me. But if McCain were to win, I admit I’d feel better. But comfortable feelings are not the point here.

I see Christians who so badly insist that McCain absolutely must win this election. They are adamant that it is God’s will for our nation that McCain defeats Obama. That an Obama win could only be of Satan. I think that’s putting God in a box. It’s telling God He can only work through the Republican party, or through capitalism, or through libertarianism, but not socialism. Can’t God work his purposes however He pleases? Does God need to conform to our understanding of how the world should best operate? Would God’s hands be tied if Obama wins? If God could raise up “Nebuchadnezzar, my servant”, could he not just as well appoint “Obama my servant?”

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should be indifferent about the election or that we can’t have preferences or that we shouldn’t vote. I’m just saying that we shouldn’t presume that God’s path must go according to our preconceived notions. I have to consider that God might be voting for someone different than “my guy” because He knows his great purposes and I don’t.

Romans 13:1 says that all government authorities are appointed by God—and that includes elected officials! This is one of those mystical juxtapositions of God’s sovereignty and man’s will working in tandem. This passage tells me that God’s will is going to be revealed on election night—one way or the other.

So after I’ve cast my vote for _________? , I’ll stay up late not to wring my hands in defeat or to celebrate in victory that “my guy” won. I’ll stay up late because I’ll be curious to see whom God has appointed and I’ll fully expect Him to use the election results for His ultimate glory and our ultimate (but not necessarily immediate) good!

Yesterday was the “National Day of Prayer.” It’s become a tradition for Christians in the Cedar Rapids area to gather at noon across from City Hall on Mays Island for a time of corporate worship and prayer. This year something amazing happened.

As a reaction against the NDOP, atheists recently instituted what they call the “National Day of Reason.” We heard a group of them were coming to Mays Island and there was more than a bit of concern about what might transpire between the groups. I didn’t know if the atheists were coming to protest or ridicule or cause a disruption, but my real concern wasn’t about them at all–personally I was more concerned that the Christians would overreact and go into “attack mode.” I talked to Charles Daugherty, the leader of our rally, and volunteered to go on “atheist duty” (to basically protect them from us!)

When I arrived at the park, the atheists were already there, about 8 of them. They had established themselves on the lawn near the sound table, about 3/4 of the way back from the stage. I noticed they had several cardboard signs, a rubbermaid tub full of unknown items, and a few personal belongings. The signs said things like “Day of Reason,” “Act Now,” “Please Donate to Help Veterans,” and “They Served You, Let’s Serve Them Back.”

They were very respectful and non-obtrusive so fortunately, there was no need for me to diffuse any over-zealous over-reactions from Christians. So instead, Pastor Tye Male and I simultaneously decided to use this opportunity to show them the love of Jesus.

It was easy to talk with them. There were several Kirkwood and U of Iowa students there, most holding signs, one videotaping. Their leader was Dr. Lydia H, professor of Humanities and Philosophy from Kirkwood — a delightful person. I asked her about the causes they were supporting (veterans relief and Waypoint), which led to some great discussion of what community needs we can meet by taking action. I was glad to share that our church has done service projects at Waypoint as well as serving breakfast to homeless veterans at the HD Youth Center. She seemed happy when I talked about the new emphasis I see in the church community to do a better job of addressing issues of injustice and poverty in the world.

I also talked to Jordan, a college student, who had the words “Invisible Children” on his shirt. We had a great discussion on the movie he had seen which depicts the horrid conditions in Sudan. It made me want to find out more about what can be done to help there.

Meanwhile, Tye connected with the group using his involvement in the Kirkwood Jazz Ensemble as a bridge to friendly dialoge. His life stories and winsome personality endeared them to him. I think they were surprised when we finally told them we were pastors!

During all this time, the prayer rally was going on around us. Almost a dozen prayer leaders took turns at the stage, each focusing on a different topic. The atheists were occasionally paying attention (when Tye and I weren’t talking)! When we got to the “Pray for our Military” section, I noticed that one of the college students picked up the “Please Donate to Support Our Veterans” sign and held it up as he done earlier. At that moment, I felt compelled to do something unsual. I walked up to the guy and said, “Why don’t you let me hold that sign for you–a lot of people here know me and it might help bring in more funds.” So for the remaining 20 minutes of the rally, I stood there holding that sign over my head. Me and the atheists standing together to make a difference in the world. What a sight! By the time the rally dispersed, $71 had been donated, which pleased and even overwhelmed Dr. Lydia.

Two more things happened that I saw as amazing. One college girl who was carrying a sign reading: “Act Now–Day of Reason” did something shocking about half-way through the rally. I watched her find a sharpie marker and add two words at the top of her sign. “Pray then…” What a significant change of disposition for an atheist to encourage Christians to pray before acting!

After the rally ended we were tearing down the stage and sound system and loading them into a trailer. That’s when the other amazing thing happened: the atheist college students came over to help us load! I was blown away! And to think we were expecting a rumble!

I was actually sad to say goodbye to my new atheist friends. Before we left we all thanked each other for being there, reaffirmed a commitment to work together in our areas of common interest, and expressed the hope that we’ll see each other at the next Day of Prayer/Day of Reason–if not before!

Many of you are wondering how we ended up responding to the Day of Silence (mentioned in my post below). In youth group this past Wednesday, we talked about how we might respond. One idea was to give participants a card like the one above (I had made 300 copies and they were almost all taken). At least one student plans to hand out cookies to the participants as a way to show love. And another student was thinking about actually participating in the silence.

I’ll post a comment with reports on how it goes tomorrow.