Tag: Prayer

Woman sitting cross-legged on a blanket meditating on a mountain overlooking a valley at sunrise

Morning Musing: Philippians 4:6-7

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“Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Our world is awash in anxiety. It’s popular in many places to have a therapist or counselor these days which is a good thing, but the very fact that so many feel like they need that help is an indication of the problem. The truth is that many more people could use it than actually get it. Yet while there is undoubtedly anxiety that is genuinely clinical, a great deal more of it is more situational in nature. It is the result of not having the worldview resources to deal with the challenges life throws our way from time to time. Christianity has such worldview resources, and one of the best of them is right here. Let’s take a look.

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Digging in Deeper: Philippians 1:1-5

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“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus: To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi,  including the overseers and deacons. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

“‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said, ‘to talk of many things: Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—of cabbages—and kings—and why the sea is boiling hot—and whether pigs have wings.’” Those words from the Lewis Carroll poem, The Walrus and the Carpenter, have since eighth grade meant it is time to make a change. It was just our class seating chart in Mr. Brock’s eighth grade algebra class. Today it means that our journey together through the Scriptures is heading off in a new direction. Romans is officially under our belt (along with Exodus, Amos, and Mark). Next up will be Paul’s letter to the Philippian believers. We’ll start right where Julie Andrews helpfully identified is a very good place to start: the very beginning. Let’s dive in.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 15:30-33

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“Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in prayers to God on my behalf. Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, that my ministry to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, and that, by God’s will, I may come to you with joy and be refreshed together with you. May the God of peace be with all of you. Amen.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Jesus’ brother, James wrote in his letter that part of the reason we don’t receive from God all that we could is that we don’t pray for it. We don’t ask for it. The fact is that our prayers are usually small. We ask for people we know to get well or have an easier time dealing with one physical issue or another. And that’s about it. Those aren’t bad prayers, but they aren’t necessarily kingdom-advancing prayers. Paul here is asking for prayer from the believers in Rome. Let’s talk about why he places so much emphasis on this, the kinds of things he is asking them to pray for, and what this all might mean for us.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 12:12

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“Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

As a longtime fan of the Kansas City Royals, I know what wishful thinking is. A decade ago now, all the metaphorical baseball planets aligned, and we were genuinely really good. Since then? And for most of the thirty years before then? Not so much. In just the last 25 years alone they’ve lost more than 100 games seven times, and gotten close to that grim marker of a truly terrible season another four times. And yet in almost every season there’s a stretch when they actually look like they’re going to be a real baseball team. The fans start getting excited. And you let yourself think, “This is finally the season they’re going to turn it around.” But they almost never do. Instead, we have learned to be patient in affliction and persistent in prayer. Real hope, though, has not given us much reason for rejoicing. As it turns out, all three of these ideas are commands Paul issues next in his list of lifestyle characteristics of a follower of Jesus. Let’s keep rolling with him.

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Spiritual GPS

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Over the past couple of weeks, we have been talking about prayer. We have talked about what prayer is (a conversation with a God who loves us), and one powerful thing prayer can accomplish in our lives (bring God’s peace). But experiencing these things doesn’t seem to be something we can do on our own. We need help. Thankfully God provides that help for us. As we wrap up our series, Talking to God, today, we are talking about this help and how we can receive it.

Spiritual GPS

Alright, I’m going to split the room into two groups for a minute this morning: those folks 40 and up, and those folks 40 and under. Now, for the first group, do you remember navigating new places before GPS? I remember needing to drive around the city of Phoenix for a couple of days many years ago. Before my trip down there, I got on Google Maps and printed out individual maps of all the places I needed to go—several of them actually. I’m not any good with written or spoken directions. You can tell me how to get somewhere and it will zoom in one ear and out the other. I have to actually see it so I can form a mental map. Then I’m good to go. I suspect that most folks of a certain age have distinct memories of pulling out a map of a new city or maybe even a whole atlas for a long car trip, and navigating your way to your destination. 

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