Jason's Blog

Original image by Petra Youth Productions

Years ago I heard Kenny Boles deliver a powerful message on unity in the Church. He took as one of his texts 2 Samuel 23:15. In this passage, David called out, “Oh that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!” Boles observed that the mighty men answered the call of their king and risked life and limb to break through the Philistine lines to reach the well. They brought David his much wanted glass of water.

That is what we do when we hear the voice of the king. We surrender our will and do exactly what is asked of us.

What does Jesus the king ask of you? What is His message for you? It could be a whole variety of things:

• If you are offering a gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there at the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift (Matthew 5:23-24)
• Don’t pray to be seen by other people (Matthew 6:5)
• Put my words into practice (Matthew 7:24)
• The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Matthew 9:37)
• Anyone who gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple will certainly not lose his reward (Matthew 10:42)
• If you had know what these words mean ‘I desire mercy not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent (Matthew 12:7)
• I tell you not seven times, but seventy seven times (Matthew 18:22)
• So the last will be first and the first last (Matthew 20:16)

Whatever word that Jesus says to you – even if it is not comfortable for you – listen to your king.  Serve him with the same diligence that the mighty men showed to David.  Fulfill what Jesus asks of you with everything that you have.

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.