Jason's Blog

It is a bit old school, but I think it is really important to plan ahead and be ready for our Sunday services.  I believe that God is drawing us together for encouragement and transformation.  One small way that you can get ready is to pray the Psalms.

In my previous post, I asked you think about what it would be like to pray the Psalms with Jesus.  So here is an effort to do just that using Psalm 15 to prepare our hearts for Sunday:

Scripture says –

“Lord, who dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless
And who does what is righteous,
Who speaks truth from his heart
And has no slander on his tongue . . . ” (Psalm 15:2-3)

I say -

Father,

I know my own life
The choices that I’ve made this week
Both for you and against you
My walk is far from blameless.

Righteous?  I can’t even use this word with a straight face.
Truth?  Has that been what is in my heart?
I don’t even understand myself.
I’m much more like Jonah – the prophet who ran the other way.
Jonah who knew exactly what he was supposed to do
And fled.

Jesus says -

Who can dwell in the sanctuary?  I love to be here.  I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
I feel complete and entirely at rest on the holy hill
That’s not to say that the holy hill – where the cross is jabbed into the Earth that I made
Is without pain.

I feel the weight of all their sins here.  Even my brother who is praying right now.
But I love him and I want him to know that my holiness, my purity
Covers all his faults.
I welcome him to Your Holy Hill – into our presence.

Here – he is made righteous and can find newness and life.
When He worships, he is not covered over with guilt.
Here, he is free and can change as he listens to Us.

By dwelling with Us, he can learn:
How to treat others –
How to keep his word – even when it hurts.
How to stand for truth and for those who are innocent.

I am ready to share everything with him and invite everyone that he knows
To find life.

My Father,

May they all come and find life and hope when they worship together.
Make every space sacred and pure.
Cover over them and make them new. Even this weekend –

This is my prayer – Amen.

Have you ever been through one of those heavy times in life?  When the dust settles and life begins to crawl along again, it can be difficult to reconnect with God.  After you’ve walked in a traumatic place for a while, everything will seem a bit off.  I find this really true when it comes to prayer and devotion with God.

When you’ve been around death, or sickness, tragedy, the idea of curling up in a chair with the Bible may feel a bit cold.  You might not want to admit it, but “regular prayers” or even a prayer routine may feel the same way.

• So what can we do in times like this?
• Do we just wait around for our feelings to settle back down?
• What if that doesn’t seem to come after a few months?
• Then what?

Let me suggest that you take up the Psalms in a new way.

The writer of Hebrews offers a unique perspective on the Psalms and Prophets.  He highlights the truth that Christ was speaking through the prophets and David.  Consider for example Hebrews 10:5 –

“Therefore when Christ came into the world he said:  ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.  then I said, ‘Here I am – it is written abut me in the scroll, I have come to do your will, O God.’ ”

Though these words were spoken by David, they were in fact Christ speaking.  I like how Dietrich Bonhoeffer explains this principle:

“The same words that David spoke, therefore, the future Messiah spoke in him.  Christ prayed along with the prayers of David or, more accurately, it is none other than Christ who prayed them in Christ’s own forerunner, David” (DBW Volume 5, Prayerbook of the Bible (Fortress, 1996): 159).

Can you believe it?  Christ prayed in David.  How could this be?  How could the future Messiah articulate a prayer in and with David?  A partial answer might be found in 1 Samuel 16:13 where we learn that the Spirit of the Lord came upon David after his anointing.

So what does this mean for you and me?  I have two suggestions:

1.  We can take comfort from the fact that when we don’t know how to pray and commune with God, the Holy Spirit can take up the slack.  Take comfort in the fact that the Spirit can be at prayer in you on your behalf.  He can express what you don’t have words for and fill in every blank (Romans 8:26).

2.  We have a record of Christ praying in David — we call them the Psalms.  All of the words of prophecy and the Psalms were inspired by the one and same Spirit that dwells in us as believers.  We can rest and read the Psalms and allow Christ to pray them in us and for us.  When we take up the Psalms, Jesus is praying and interceding for us.  All we have to do is listen.

In my next post, I’ll show an example of Christ praying Psalm 15.

I find that historic prayers can be helpful in remembering what is important.  Here is one from the Celtic tradition that I found in Tracy Balzer’s Thin Places: An Evangelical Journey in Celtic Christianity (Leafwood, 2006): 39.  I find that the Celts have a way of seeing the world with fullness– a way of living that I deeply desire in my own life.

God be with thee in every pass,

Jesus be with thee on every hill,

Spirit be with thee on every stream,

Headland and ridge and lawn;

Each sea and land, each moor and meadow,

Eachi lying down, each rising up,

In the trough of the waves, on the crest of the billows,

Each step of the journey thou goest.

We see the phrase “filled with the Spirit” once in Paul’s letters (Ephesians 5:18) and repeatedly in Luke & Acts.  What does this actually mean?

• “Choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:3).
• “Stephen full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the Glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55).
• “The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:52).
• “Jesus full of joy through the Holy Spirit said, ‘I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children (Luke 10:21).

1. To be filled with the Spirit is to be someone who is empowered of God
2. To be filled with the Spirit is to be a person of ministry and service.
3. Those who are filled with the Spirit usually have wisdom, courage, and joy.

The Reality

The world that we live in contains plenty of negative emotions and dispositions can can fill us:

• Jealousy (Acts 5:17, 13:45)
• Bitterness (Acts 8:23)
• Deceit (Acts 13:10)

The story of Ananias and Sapphira is a living reminder that Satan can fill our hearts and lead us to lie against the Holy Spirit even to our own deaths (Acts 5:3).

In Us

1.  When the Spirit of God is at work in us – we experience a ‘lightness’ about us.  This is a joy in being delivered from darker things.

2.  We also have a deep sense courage.  Peter and John’s courageous actions in the temple and under a thumb of persecution revealed Jesus to the Sanhedrin.  They could well recognize that these men were “unschooled and ordinary.”  But they could recall Jesus:

He had healed the hurting in the synagogue on the Sabbath – a timely act of kindness (Luke 13:10-17).  They in turn healed a cripple at the hour of prayer at the temple.  They stood with resolve proclaiming Jesus when it was uncomfortable and dangerous to do so.  This was only possible because the Spirit was with them (Acts 4:8-13).

When they were released, the congregation began to pray.  They asked for boldness.  They asked for God’s hand to be with them.  The answer from heaven was swift.  They were filled with the Spirit and they spoke with boldness (Acts 4:31).

Lord,

Enable us to do the work that is needed.  Help us to be receptive to your Spirit.  Open our ears.  Fill our hearts.  Give us courage.