Tag: spiritual growth

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“Standing Down” to Pray

Several years ago the secretary of the navy ordered what he called a two-day stand down for the entire United States Navy. There had been too many accidents at naval installations and ships in a short period of time. He instructed that all officers and enlisted personnel spend two days reviewing all procedures and safety policies. An entire military service stopped what it was doing to look inward and evaluate itself.

It might be a good idea if the churches of America would slow down and do the same thing. Many congregations are busy with activities, most of which are well-intentioned. But what if we stopped what we are doing long enough to think deeply, to repent of worldliness, and to pray for the spiritual wellbeing of God’s church?

The church of which I am a member has been doing this. Our pastors have initiated a weekly time for folks to come together for no other purpose than to pray for the health of the church and its witness in our community.

I have been attending church prayer meetings all of my life. It seems that many, if not most of the prayers that are offered have to do with people’s physical ailments. Prayers for health and healing are appropriate. But when I read the prayers of Paul in the New Testament, I notice that they put the emphasis on spiritual, not physical health.

An example is found in Ephesians chapter 3. There is nothing in Paul’s prayer about material prosperity, nothing about physical healing, nothing about earthly success, or deliverance from difficult circumstances. It is a prayer for the church to experience God’s love, power and fulness. When was the last time you were in a prayer meeting when somebody asked God for these things?

Here is an example of how we could be praying for ourselves, and for fellow believers in our churches.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and upon earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power through his Spirit in your inner being, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled  to the measure of all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-19).

Strength

Here is a prayer that the church may receive and experience God’s power. This is the strength that comes from the Holy Spirit who lives in the hearts of believers. The prayer that Christ may “dwell” in our hearts is a prayer that he may make himself at home. He is not to be treated as a visitor or a guest, but is to be the master of the house! This is where our spiritual strength comes from.

Stability

Pauls’ prayer mixes agricultural and architectural metaphors. “Rooted” means deeply planted into Christ. “Established” means built solidly on the foundation of Christ. The New English Bible translates this “deep roots and firm foundations.” What a prayer for us to pray for one another!

Knowledge

Once we have been planted and built, the result the Lord desires for us is that we may comprehend, or understand by deep experience a knowledge of Christ’s love. His love is wide enough to encompass people of all nations, long enough to last for eternity, deep enough to save the most hardened sinner, and high enough to bring us to God in heaven.

Fulness

This is a prayer that the church may experience  the fulness of God in Christ by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Surely after the rapture, when we no longer battle besetting sins and human limitations, we shall see Him face to face and live in the fulness of his presence. But this is a prayer for our lives now. This is a prayer for the church’s sanctification and growth toward maturity.

What a bold, audacious prayer! It is worth “standing down” to pray this way. It is an example to us of how we may pray for spiritual health in our churches and for revival in our nation, not to mention the experience of Christ’s love for ourselves and others in all its dimensions.

Pastor Randy Faulkner.

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Being and Doing

When Howard Hendricks was a student at Wheaton College, his mentor, Dr. H.C. Theissen told him, “Hendricks, master the Master’s life!” On that basis, Hendricks devoted himself to the lifelong study of the four gospels.

One of the advantages of reading and re-reading the gospels, is to show us how we may “learn from” Christ (Matthew 11;29). The apostle Peter reminds us of the importance of following “in his steps” ( 1 Peter 2:21). This is discipleship.

There is a phrase in Mark 3:14 that illustrates this. When Jesus called his twelve disciples, it was so that “they might be with him and that he might send them out. . . .” I cannot help but notice how being with Jesus precedes doing things for Jesus. Before the Lord sent them out he wanted them to spend time with him.

He chose Philip, Nathaniel, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the zealot, Andrew, John and James, the sons of Zebedee, and Simon, whom he nicknamed Peter. He chose them to be his apostles and to learn from him. (Judas Iscariot heard and saw, but he did not listen and learn.)

What did the Lord want these men to learn from him? He modeled perfect holiness and taught compassion, servanthood, prayerful dependency upon the Father in heaven. He was the embodiment of sacrificial love. He cared for the weak, the poor, the marginalized. Their being with Jesus was for the purpose of their learning from him the principles of God’s kingdom.

Many people seem to think that the first requirement the Lord puts upon us is to do something for him. But the first requirement in discipleship is not doing but being. Jesus is primarily concerned with what we are becoming. He wants to remake us in his image. This is a process called sanctification. He wants us to be like himself (Romans 8:29).

Are you spending time with Jesus? Is there a part of your day when you have uninterrupted fellowship with him? A time when he speaks to you through his word and you respond to him in prayer? Some call it private worship, some call it daily devotions, some call it a quiet time.

It doesn’t really matter what you call it. What matters is that there is the cultivation of a growing relationship with Jesus. Out of that “being” relationship flows the “doing” of effective ministry.

E. M. Bounds, in his classic book Power Through Prayer wrote, “Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still. He will never talk well and with real success to men for God who has not learned well how to talk to God for men.”

Just as certainly as the Lord invited ordinary men to be with him, so he invites you and me to spend time with him. 1 Corinthians 1:9 says, God “has called you into fellowship with his Son. . . .”

Pastor Randy Faulkner