Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me.”

Not long after 600 BC, the Babylonian empire conquered Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel. They destroyed the city of Jerusalem and took many people captive to Babylon. This Babylonian captivity of Israel lasted about 70 years (Jer. 29:10) until Persia overthrew Babylon and implemented a new empire.

During this time, an Israelite exile name Nehemiah worked as cupbearer for the king of Persia. His job was to taste the king’s wine to see if enemies had put poison in it. The upside of his job was that he tasted the best wine in the country. The downside was that nobody would sell him life insurance.  

When Nehemiah heard a report about the poverty and disgrace of the Israelites back in Judah, he fasted and prayed, reminding God of his promise to bring Israel back from exile. That’s the first type of prayer we see Nehemiah use: an extended campaign that included fasting, to draw God’s attention to a matter of deep concern.

During Nehemiah’s prayer campaign, the king said to him, “Why are you looking so sad?” Nehemiah was afraid, because looking sad wasn’t part of his job description and he didn’t have any life insurance. But he answered honestly, “Because the city of my ancestors is in ruins.” The king said, “What do you want?”

“I prayed to God and answered the king,” said Nehemiah (Neh. 2:4-5 )  This kind of prayer is a quick and silent plea in an unexpected moment of crisis. Nehemiah said to the king, “I want to go back to Judah and rebuild Jerusalem.” The king gave permission, and even offered an armed guard to escort him on the journey.

So Nehemiah led a group of Israelite exiles to Jerusalem, where he acted as governor, organized a work crew, and started rebuilding the walls. The local governors were angry and annoyed that political competition was moving into their territory, so they stirred up trouble to hinder construction. They mocked the small crew of wall builders: “If even a fox climbs on your wall, it will fall down.”  Nehemiah prayed, “Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders” (Neh. 4:4-5). This is another Nehemiah prayer, pointing out his enemies to God and asking God to punish them.

The enemies escalated the situation by planning to attack Jerusalem. Nehemiah’s response: “We prayed to God and posted a guard” (Neh 4:9). Sometimes our prayers may need a bit of military support or other practical measures.

After the wall was rebuilt, Nehemiah declared a day of fasting and prayer in Jerusalem, where the people confessed the sin of their ancestors and renewed their commitment to serving God (Neh. 9). This brings Nehemiah’s prayer life full circle, from fasting and praying by himself in Babylon, to fasting and confession with the community in Jerusalem.

After the wall was completed, Nehemiah restored the house of God in Jerusalem and turned the Sabbath from a day of business back into a day of worship.  He prayed, “Remember me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.” A remarkable prayer, asking that his life’s work would not be wasted. He wanted God to remember the good work and the man who did it.

Let’s pray.
Our Father,
Fasting and prayer are out of fashion today. We’re better at short spurts of prayer in moments of crisis. Work in us, God, so our lives will become like Nehemiah’s, a long campaign of service strengthened with prayers of many types.
Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Book Review: John Baillie: A Diary of Private Prayer (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1949)

Hi, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me.”

Today is book review day!  We look at “A Diary of Private Prayer” by John Baillie, a Scottish theologian who served in the First World War, held academic posts in the US, Canada, and Edinburgh, and died in 1960.

In one of his books, Baillie describes his crisis of faith saying, “I remember walking home one frosty midnight from a discussion on the existence of God. Into the deep immensities of a starry sky I hurled my despairing question, but no answer came back.” (paraphrased from The Idea of Revelation in Recent Thought).  Perhaps you have questioned God’s existence like Baillie did. I have. But somewhere in Baillie’s darkness, faith was born; a faith that is expressed deeply and articulately in today’s book.

“A Diary of Private Prayer”, published in 1949, has a morning and evening prayer for every day of the month. As an evangelical, I was raised to be suspicious of prayer books and liturgies. After all, aren’t the best prayers spontaneous expressions of the heart, not rote prayers from a book? But Baillie’s prayers are short, expressive, articulate, and full of heart. Here’s an example:

“O God, who has been the Refuge of my fathers through many generations,
    be my Refuge today in every time and circumstance of need.  
    Be my Guide through all that is dark and doubtful.  
    Be my Guard against all that threatens my spirit’s welfare.  
    Be my Strength in time of testing.  
    Gladden my heart with thy peace; through Jesus Christ my Lord.” (p. 9)

Isn’t that beautiful? O God, be my refuge, my guide, my guard, my strength, and make my heart glad. Simple and pure and direct. I wish I could pray like that.

Often the evening prayers confess the sin and failure of the day. Some people might find these prayers introspective and disheartening. But I have lots of sins and failures, and I find these prayer honest and cleansing and life-giving. Here’s an example:

“I remember with bitterness the duties I have shirked:
    I remember with sorrow the hard words I have spoken:
    I remember with shame the unworthy thoughts I have harboured.
        Use these memories, O God, to save me, and then for ever blot them out.”  (p. 35)

So that’s  “A Diary of Private Prayer” by John Baillie. If you only buy one book on prayer this year make it this one. It’s available online from Amazon, Thrift Books, and Abe Books. It might be in your public library. If you’re good about returning books, and you don’t mind being harassed about due dates, you might even borrow it from me.

Let’s pray, using the words of John Baillie:

“Dear father,
Take this day’s life into Thine own keeping.
Control all my thoughts and feelings.
Direct all my energies.
Instruct my mind.
Sustain my will.
Take my hands and make them skillful to serve Thee.
Take my feet and make them swift to do Thy bidding.
Take my eyes and keep them fixed upon Thine everlasting beauty.
Take my mouth and make it eloquent in testimony to Thy love.
Make this day a day of obedience, a day of spiritual joy and peace.
Make this day’s work a little part of the work of the Kingdom of my Lord Christ, in whose name these my prayers are said.
Amen.” (p. 41)

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hi, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me.”

When Elijah the prophet was ready to move on from this troublesome world, he went across the Jordan River with his disciple Elisha where they saw a chariot of fire drawn by horses of fire. Elijah rode up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elisha picked up his master’s cloak, and began a ministry of miracles that surpassed even Elijah’s astounding record.

What kind of miracles did Elisha do? He helped a widow fill many large jars of oil from one small supply jar (2 Kings 4:5). He prayed over a widow’s dead son and brought the son back to life (2 Kings 4:35). He multiplied food, feeding a hundred men with twenty loaves and some ears of corn (2 Kings 4:42). He healed Naaman of leprosy (2 Kings 5:14). Jesus must have been inspired by Elisha, because he repeated may of Elisha’s miracles.

This brings us to an important and troubling question: Why was Elisha’s prayer life so powerful, and ours is so weak? Here are some possible explanations:

1.    Jesus said, “Ask and you shall receive.” Elisha asked for miracles, and he got them. Maybe we should start asking. But I have asked, and it hasn’t worked for me.  

2.    Perhaps Elisha had more faith than we do. If we had more faith, would God do miracles for us too?
Maybe, or maybe not. I think there’s a spiritual mystery in the space between faith and miracles. It’s not a simple formula like like “more faith equals more miracles.”

3.    Here’s another explanation. God tends to work more miracles in times of crisis and change. In Elisha’s time, the Northern Kingdom of Israel was besieged by foreign powers, so they needed more miracles.

Maybe. But Elisha lived long before the final crisis when Assyria conquered Israel. He lived in the middle ages of the Northern Kingdom, when the people vacillated between God and idols, between military competence and military disaster. Ours is a similar age as western civilization fragments and decays. Much of the Christian church in the west aligns itself politically and culturally with godless leaders, exploitive policies, and unjust economics. If Elisha’s time was ripe for miracles so is ours! But where is the prophet who can bring them?

4.    Here’s another possibility. Perhaps it is God’s fault, not ours, that miracles aren’t happening in our culture. Perhaps in some ages God chooses to deliver his message with miracles. Maybe in our age God wants a different kind of miracle.
– Perhaps he wants people who are free of pornography
– Perhaps he wants people who value inner beauty above fashion
– Perhaps he wants communities who renounce the culture of individualism and learn to live together
– Perhaps he’s looking for a remnant to worship him in spirit and in truth
– Perhaps he’s looking for churches that preach less and love more, that listen to his Spirit

God shares his power freely for the tasks he assigns us. But how can we know what he wants us to do?  We can listen to him in the stories of Scripture, in the fellowship of Christian community, and in the witness of his Spirit in our lives.

Let’s pray.
Our father,
We live in an age of advertising, but your public relations department is silent.
We live in an age of spectacular sports events, but you don’t compete in the Super Bowl and the World Cup.
We live in an age of entertainment, but you aren’t challenging Disney and Fox News for market share.
We live in an age of celebrities, but you aren’t vying with Johnny Depp and Emma Watson for popularity.

What are you doing, God? And what do you want us to do? Help us shut out the clamor of the world and wait quietly to hear your voice. In the silence prepare us to do your work in the world.
Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.