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

Today, a quick look at Jonah.  

Here’s the story: God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. His assignment was to warn the citizens that if they didn’t repent, God would destroy the city in 40 days. That’s like God sending you or me to the capital city of today’s evil empires — Washington D.C. or Beijing — to threaten destruction and preach repentance. Jonah wasn’t impressed. He liked the idea of God destroying Ninevah. So instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah took a Mediterranean cruise in the opposite direction, to a city where he could wait comfortably for news that God had carried out his 9/11 on  Nineveh.

But God wasn’t so easily deterred. Jonah’s cruise encountered a fierce storm, and Jonah told the sailors he caused this by disobeying God. “Throw me overboard!” he told the crew. They did. The storm stopped, the ship was saved, and God provided Jonah a prayer room in the middle of the ocean — in the belly of a whale. Jonah took the hint and did some serious praying. Soon the whale got indigestion and vomited him up on the land. God said to Jonah, “Did I mention Nineveh?” and Jonah replied, “OK, maybe I’ll go.”  So he preached to Nineveh until the king and the people of that evil empire sought God and changed their ways. God decided not to destroy the city after all. 

Jonah found this outcome intensely annoying. He pouted and went to the desert and said, “God, this is exactly what I warned you about. I was only trying to protect you from yourself. You bill yourself as loving and compassionate, but you had already given Nineveh all the love and compassion they needed. It was time to destroy them. But I preach a bit, and they repent a bit and you go all soft and decide not to punish them? How is that helpful? You were well on the way to implementing regime change in Assyria, but now we’re back at the unhappy status quo.”

God responded by providing another prayer room for Jonah. A leafy plant grew up over Jonah’s shelter in the desert, and he was comforted by the shade. But the next day, the plant died and Jonah was angry. God said to him, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” Jonah replied, “Yes, it is. I’m so angry, I wish I were dead!” 

God said to him, “You have compassion on the plant that gave you shade? I have compassion on all the people I have made, even the ones in the evil empire.” 

Some lessons from Jonah:

1.    First, sometimes God is not a fan of violent regime change to solve the problem of evil. I wish someone would preach that message in Washington and Beijing.

2.    Second, God is a fan of all the people he has made. He prefers mercy to punishment, but he thinks the merciful approach works best when people seek him and turn away from evil. 

3.    Third, a Mediterranean cruise might not be the answer to your current set of spiritual problems. You might just bring yourself and your troubles along on the cruise, and then where would you be?

4.    And finally, God kept providing prayer rooms for Jonah, even when he was disobedient and angry. Why don’t you tell God you need a prayer room, or maybe use the one you have? 

Let’s pray.

Our father, you love all the people you created. Send your prophets to Ottawa and Washington and Beijing and Mogadishu and Moscow. May the evil empires find their way to repentance and new life, instead of violence and perversion and destruction.

Amen. 

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

Richard Foster: Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home (New York: HarperCollins, 1992) 

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

Book Review day has come round again!  Today we look at Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard Foster, a Quaker theologian and author of the book Celebration of Discipline.  

A friend introduced me to Foster’s book on prayer when I was in my mid-fifties. He knew I was interested in prayer, so he suggested I try each of the 21 types of prayer the book describes.

I ordered the cheapest copy of the book I could find and when it arrived, my teenage son and daughter saw I had received the large print edition. Oops! I assured them it was a mistake, that I really wasn’t that old, and that I really did not need the large print. However, they made so many jokes about my eyesight and age that  I considered throwing the book at them, or throwing it away.

Instead, I read it and liked it. Following my friend’s suggestion, I spent 21 weeks praying by the book, using a different type of prayer each week. That was a good experience. It broadened my thinking about what prayer is and what it can be, and it gave me new tools for praying about myself and others. 

So what are the 21 kinds of prayer? Here are some chapter titles: Simple Prayer, Prayer of the Forsaken, The Prayer of Rest, Praying the Ordinary, Radical Prayer. At the end of each chapter, the author provides a sample prayer in that genre. 

For example, the chapter on Healing Prayer has wonderful examples of people who were healed by prayer and medicine, or by prayer alone. Foster’s end-of-chapter prayer says: “My Lord and my God, I have a thousand arguments against Healing Prayer. You are the one argument for it . . . . You win. Help me to be a conduit through which your healing love can flow to others.  For Jesus’ sake.” 

Foster talks about spiritual warfare in the  chapter Authoritative Prayer and presents a helpful concluding prayer. “In the strong name of Jesus Christ I stand against the world, the flesh, and the devil. I resist every force that would seek to distract me from my center in God. I reject the distorted concepts and ideas that make sin plausible and desirable. I oppose every attempt to keep me from knowing full fellowship with God.”

I like that phrase, “I reject the distorted ideas that make sin plausible and desirable.” That’s what I’ve been trying to pray, but I haven’t had the words for it. 

That’s today’s book Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard Foster. It’s worth owning, but only if you use it. And if your eyes are a bit weak, I might even trade my large-print edition for a copy in regular size print. 

Let’s pray, using the benediction which concludes Foster’s book.
May you now, by the power of the Holy Spirit, receive the spirit of prayer. May it become, in the name of Jesus Christ, the most precious occupation of your life. And may the God of all peace strengthen you, bless you, and give you joy.  

Amen. 

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

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

When Daniel, who is famous for his episode with the lions, read the prophecies of Jeremiah, he learned that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. Now that those years were almost over, Daniel prayed that the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple would occur on schedule, saying: “I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and . . . sackcloth and ashes.” His prayer included confession and request: “Our sins and the sins of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn. . .  . Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay” (Dan. 9:16, 19).

While Daniel was praying, the angel Gabriel came to him and said, “As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.” Gabriel’s word was an explanation of the future. Yes, God would honor Jeremiah’s prophecy and Daniel’s prayer. Jerusalem would be rebuilt and a new anointed king would come. But an evil ruler would also come, and he would kill the anointed one and destroy the restored Jerusalem and the rebuilt temple (Dan. 9:25-27).

Thanks, Gabriel, for this helpful and encouraging answer to Daniel’s prayer. Jerusalem will be rebuilt and the anointed king will come. But then history will repeat itself with the murder of the king and the destruction of the city.

Daniel wasn’t exactly happy with this answer, so two years later, he fasted and prayed again. He says, “At that time I . . . mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no . . . wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all. . . .”  At the end of three weeks, an angel appeared to Daniel and said, “Since the first day you . . . [started praying] . . . your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, . . .  [but] soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come” (Daniel 10:12-14). This seems to describe angelic warfare where Michael, the protector of Israel (Dan. 12:1) is fighting against demonic princes of the Persian and Greek empires.

Daniel’s experience of prayer raises questions about the relationship of human prayer to what happens among angels and demons in the heavenly realm. I offer three observations.

1.    First, our western secular worldview that earth is earth and heaven is heaven, and rarely the twain shall meet is clearly wrong. Daniel met and interacted with warrior angels who were protecting Israel (Daniel 12:1), fighting against the demonic princes of Persia and Greece (Daniel 10:20), and carrying messages between heaven and earth.

2.    Second, in Ephesians 6:12-13, Paul describes a similar state of affairs when he says, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God. . . .” In my early twenties, I struggled with depression and guilt and isolation and fear, but I refused to see my difficulties as spiritual warfare. I assumed that my biggest problem was me, not the rulers and authorities and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. But still, I regularly followed Paul’s advice, praying to put on the armour of God. My mind rejected Paul’s view of spiritual warfare at the same time my prayer life implemented it.

3.    Third, Daniel’s prayer was heard immediately but it took Gabriel three weeks to get through with an answer. Sometimes I pray for simple stuff, like more self-control in my eating — less chocolate, less snacking, more vegetables, etc. Years ago, after someone pointed out Daniel’s experience to me, I noticed it often took about three weeks for me to begin receiving an answer that enabled my self-control. One of my difficulties in prayer is keeping a request in focus for three whole weeks! That’s a long time in the earthly realm I live in.

Let’s pray.

Our father, help us not to concern ourselves with “things too wonderful for us” (Psalm 131:1), or to entangle ourselves in battles better left to angels and demons. But we believe that our prayers influence a heavenly realm we only perceive dimly. And we believe the heavenly realm influences our lives. Guide us in this spiritual battle, Lord, make us good Christian soldiers.

Amen.  

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

Footnote: For a helpful discussion of spiritual warfare, see: Gerald Ediger in the journal Direction: A Mennonite Brethren Forum, Fall 2000 · Vol. 29 No. 2 · pp. 125–141 Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare in Historical Retrospect. Online at as of June 15, 2019 at https://directionjournal.org/29/2/strategic-level-spiritual-warfare-in.html.

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

Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd”, is a favorite psalm. A friend recently asked why I thought Psalm 23 is often used at funerals. I replied, “Because it’s comforting to think of Jesus leading someone through the valley of the shadow of death and giving them rest in quiet pastures beside still waters and inviting them to dwell in his house forever.”  I said, “The funeral would feel very different if the text was Psalm 22, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”

At first glance, the psalms seem to be placed in a random order, but I think there is wisdom in placing Psalm 23 after Psalm 22. After meditating last week on, “Why have you forsaken me, God?”, we are ready this week for the comforts of the Shepherd Psalm. Part of the genius of the psalms is to open our lives to a wider experience of God. If last week was filled with abandonment and despair, perhaps this week God will be present to us as a shepherd. If last week God was a sheepdog nipping at our heels, herding us into the corral of righteousness, perhaps this week he will lead us gently into green pastures, to a table overflowing with food and wine.

Let’s pray.

Jesus, we walk in a dry desert world. We drink our fill of news and Facebook and movies and meetings and shopping and work and play. But still we are thirsty.
    Lead us, good shepherd, beside quiet waters. In silence may we drink from your river.

We walk in a barren world. Our road is littered with plastic and pop cans and broken glass, we walk on asphalt and cement through in a haze of pollution and smoke.
    Lead us, good shepherd, to green pastures.

We walk in a noisy world. We hear the sound and fury of sports and advertisements and celebrity gossip and politics and wars. But our souls are empty and wasted.
    Restore our souls, good shepherd. Breath into us the breath of life.

We walk in a wasteland of evil. The world, the flesh, and the devil are ever near. “We see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds we hear” (John Bode, hymn O Jesus, I Have Promised).
    Lead us, good shepherd, in paths of righteousness for your name’s sake.

We walk in a world of sickness and death, in a valley strewn with the wreckage of accidents, natural disasters, cancer, moral failure, and mortality.
    Walk with us, good shepherd, in this dark valley. May your rod and your staff comfort us and deliver us from anxiety and fear.

We walk through a land filled with enemies. The world invites us to escape into pleasures of mind and body, to choose philosophies of existentialism and despair, to numb our pain with drugs and music.
Prepare for us a table, good shepherd, in the presence of our enemies. Feed us true food, serve us true wine. Anoint our heads with oil, fill our cups to overflowing.

We walk in a world filled with violence and abuse .
Follow us, good shepherd, with goodness and mercy all the days of our lives, until we dwell in your house forever.

Amen

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

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

I asked my parents once why they named me Daniel.  They said “Because we liked the name, and because it’s in the Bible.”

The Book of Daniel tells stories about his life while he served in the court of Babylon. He interpreted bizarre dreams for King Nebuchadnezzar and mysterious handwriting on the wall for King Belshazzar. Daniel’s three friends were thrown into a raging fire but were unharmed. Daniel was thrown to the lions but was not eaten. Daniel had a series of disturbing dreams about an apocalyptic future where evil dictators persecute the saints, where the whole earth experiences disaster and chaos, and finally a son of man comes riding on the clouds of heaven to sort it out. I can see why the Hebrew Bible doesn’t group Daniel with the prophets, but with the Ketuvim which are books of miscellaneous writings and poetry and history and stories.

Today we look at Daniel in the lions’ den. An upper class Jewish exile serving in the Babylonian court, he was a true survivor. He outlived King Nebuchadnezzar’s mental health problems and transitioned successfully to the Medo-Persian rule when they deposed the Babylonian king and claimed the empire. King Darius the Mede made Daniel a chief ruler in his administration, where Daniel gained both power and powerful enemies. His enemies scrutinized Daniel’s administration for signs of corruption or negligence, but when they came up empty, they decided to go after his religious life. (In my years as a working man, I’m fortunate that nobody scrutinized my management or my religious practices for corruption and negligence).  

Meanwhile, Daniel’s enemies arranged for King Darius to proclaim a new law: For 30 days, no one could pray to any god or human except the king. Violators would be thrown to the lions. Daniel, of course, ignored the law and continued praying three times a day at an open window facing Jerusalem.

When Daniel’s enemies reported this to Darius, the king realized he’d been had. But it was “the law of the Medes and Persians” that even the king could not immediately repeal his own law. So he regretfully threw Daniel to the lions, spent a sleepless night worrying, and in the morning hurried to the lions’ den and shouted “Daniel, has your God been able to rescue you?”

Daniel replied, “My God sent his angel and shut the mouths of the lions.” The happy king had Daniel pulled out and the tricky advisors thrown in. When I was a child, my favorite bit was the statement that  “Before [the advisors] reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones” (Daniel 6:24). I wonder if I should talk with my therapist about why I found that so satisfying?

Instead of drawing lessons from Daniel’s experience, I give you two pictures from his story.

First, the classic picture of Daniel standing safely among the lions. It has inspired many artists.

And second, the picture of Daniel praying at his window. Over the years, my religious life has shifted from fantasizing about becoming a major Christian politician like Daniel, giving dream interpretations and advice in the high courts of international intrigue, to a more simple vision of a life spent praying at some window. I hope your life takes a similar direction.

Let’s pray.

Our father, we see the picture of Daniel standing quietly among the lions. Teach us to live among our lions with faith and wisdom and integrity.

And we see the picture of Daniel praying at his open window, facing Jerusalem where your temple was in ruins and your people lived in poverty.  May we pray faithfully as he did.

Amen.  

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

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

The prophet Ezekiel lived at the same time as Jeremiah. He was exiled to Babylon in the first round of deportations, along with King Jehoiachin and much of upper class Judah. So while Jeremiah was prophesying in Jerusalem, Ezekiel was prophesying in Babylon.

Ezekiel is responsible for the famous prayer metaphor, “stand in the gap”.  He quotes God by saying, “I looked for someone . . . who would build up the wall and stand . . . in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger” (Eze. 22:30 – 31).

This raises two questions:
First, what does it mean to stand in the gap?
And second, it seems to me that Jeremiah and Ezekiel were busy standing in the gap, so why couldn’t God find anyone to do the job?

First, what it means. Imagine a fortified wall, like the Great Wall of China or the wall Israel built against Palestine or the one President Trump wants along the Mexican border. Wherever there is a door or a gap in the wall, you need guards to keep out the undesirables. So the guards stand in the gap to protect the mother country.

One example of standing in the gap occurred during the exodus from Egypt. When God became angry at the Israelites for making a golden calf and calling it their god, Moses intervened. Psalm 106 tells the story this way:
    So [the Lord] said he would destroy them –
       had not Moses, his chosen one,
    stood in the breach before him
       to keep his wrath from destroying them (Ps 106:23).

Moses faced down God’s anger. He advised God that it was a bad idea to destroy the unfaithful people, and he persuaded God to change his mind.

Today, websites such as “Guardians of the Gap” and International House of Prayer in Kansas City are created by people who want to stand in the gap for their nation. A quick study of modern movements shows that they change the vision Moses and Ezekiel created in these ways:

1. They assign God’s interest to all nations of the world, not just to his special people Israel in Old Testament times. So they encourage “standing in the gap” for your nation, wherever it is in the world, even if the nation doesn’t have a contract with God like Israel did.
2. They don’t say much about facing down God’s anger and advising him not to act on it. God’s anger is a topic that gets lots of publicity in the Old Testament, but not much today.
3. They suggest a broader application than just standing in the gap to prevent national disasters like the exile. They stand in the gap for people they know, for churches, for parachurch ministries, and of course for various countries. Ezekiel might be surprised, but probably not opposed, to see how his turn of phrase has become a standing metaphor for Christian prayer two and a half millennia later. I’m pretty sure that two and a half millennia from today, my turns of phrase will be long forgotten.

Let’s pray.

Our father, the people of Israel didn’t create just a gap with the golden calf, they pretty much demolished their relationship with you. But when Moses argued on their behalf, you changed your mind and did not destroy them. Jeremiah and Ezekiel stood in the gap for Judah, watching the people violate their contract with you. But these prophets were unable to avert your fierce anger, and Babylon destroyed the city, the temple, and the political system.

Our father, are you angry with our western civilization as you were with Judah and Jerusalem?  Are you angry with modern Israel for their sins against you and their neighbours? If we stand in the gap, confessing the sins of our country, asking you to lose your anger and spare us from judgment, will you do it? In our time, are you willing to preserve our nation — our civil society and our national security and our way of life? Where does your kingdom fit into our world of 21st century nations?

Our father, shelter us under your wings of mercy. Help us keep faith with Christ in our living and our dying. Be our God and our Saviour in the preservation of our civilization or in its judgment and destruction.

Amen.  

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