Tag: Daniel Westfall

Ep.387: Exorcisms, Healings, and Vocations.

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

Last time, we looked at Mark’s gospel, where he wrote good news about Jesus the Messiah, son of God (Mark 1:1). 

After reporting Jesus’ baptism and temptation, Mark moves on to how Jesus launched his mission. Goes like this . . .

Walking by Lake Galilee, Jesus says to a couple of fishermen, “Dudes! Time for a job change. Follow me. I’ll teach you to fish for people” (Mark 1:16). Really? Do people need to be fished for? Mark offers no explanation. 

But Simon and Andrew, the fishermen, abandon their gear and start following. As do James and John, the next fishermen Jesus calls. 

Then Jesus teaches in a synagogue. Listeners say, “This is amazing. This man knows what he’s talking about.” But disappointingly, for me at least, Mark doesn’t explain what Jesus was teaching.   

Suddenly, Jesus’ lecture is interrupted by a man shouting, “I know who you are. You are God’s holy servant. You’ve come to destroy us” (Mark 1:24). 

Jesus on a mission of destruction? Who does he want to destroy? 

Not the man who’s shouting. Because Jesus blames the man’s outburst on an evil spirit who inhabits the man. Jesus tells the spirit to shut up and get lost. The spirit protests, throws the man into spasms, and leaves. The man is freed and the crowd is impressed. This man Jesus doesn’t just teach, he puts his teaching into action! 

Next, Jesus visits Simon’s home and heals his mother-in-law of fever. Good news about healing and exorcism travels fast, so that evening the whole town brings the sick and afflicted to Jesus.

What do we learn from Mark’s story? Here are three suggestions. 

1. So far in the story, the good news that Mark promised seems to be about making people whole, freeing them from disease and demons. 

2. So far in the story, only John who is now in prison, and demons that were cast out recognize Jesus as the son of God. The disciples and crowds are impressed with his teaching and healing, but they don’t yet make the connection with his divine identity.

3. So far in the story, Jesus’ actions seem random–healing here, calling fishermen there, a synagogue or two in between. Where is he going with all this? Does he have a clear mission? Stay tuned.

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we want the good news that those in Mark’s story experienced. I don’t know demons to be exorcized, but I do know people who need to be healed from addictions or arthritis or failing vision or cancer or Alzheimer’s.

O Jesus of Mark’s story. Do you still do those things today? Or do you have a different mission now? 

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.386: In the Beginning.

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

Mark’s gospel begins, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus”. This is a different take on the beginning than Genesis which says “In the beginning, God created” and than John who says, “In the beginning was the word”. 

Mark the gospel writer is a storyteller. Starting at the beginning, he moves the plot along quickly, with a minimum of description, background, or character development. 

Here’s how. 

First he rolls the credits. Only the main actor is highlighted: Jesus the Messiah, son of God (Mar 1:1). Mark doesn’t explain what Messiah means, or how Jesus is the son of God. We‘ll have to figure that out from the story.  

After the credits, Mark introduces a character who introduces Jesus. That’s John the Baptist, the eccentric desert-dweller wearing a camel hair shirt, eating locusts, and baptizing people in the Jordan River. Mark tells us John’s story began in the Old Testament when the prophet Isaiah said, “Someone will come to announce the Messiah.”  

That someone, says Mark, is John.

As the introducer, John says, “Don’t look at me. Look for someone important.” But what does important look like? John says, “Important doesn’t baptize in a river like I do. He baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”

Suddenly Jesus shows up at the Jordan River. But he doesn’t start baptizing people with the Holy Spirit. Instead, he steps into the water to be baptized by John. Just like everyone else. 

But when Jesus comes up soaking wet, surprise! A crack in opens in heaven above him. A dove floats down on Jesus. That, says Mark, is the Holy Spirit entering the story. Then a voice from heaven says, “You are my son. I love you. You’re doing a great job” (Mar 1:11).  

Clearly, heaven has a high opinion of Jesus. Clearly, he’s important. So what does heaven do? The Holy Spirit, the dove, sends Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan for 40 days. A tough beginning for whatever Jesus plans.  

After the wilderness experience, Mark brings Jesus center-stage for some serious action. But first, he doesn’t want John (the introducer), competing for attention. So Mark reports John the Baptist is thrown into prison. 

With John in prison, Jesus starts preaching. His message? Good news. God’s kingdom has come. This kingdom sounds like good news for everyone but John, who’s stuck in Herod’s kingdom in prison. And we’re not sure what it will mean for Caesar’s kingdom.  

Let’s pray. 

O father, Mark introduces big themes in his quick-moving story. 

  • The theme that his good news is the sequel to Old Testament history. 
  • The theme that John’s water baptism anticipates a baptism in the Holy Spirit. 
  • The theme that Jesus is special, because the dove and the voice from heaven approve him. 
  • The theme that Jesus suffered temptation like us. Forty days in the wilderness. 

O father, give us ears to hear the story behind the story. The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, your son. The beginning of good news about who we are and who we can become. Give us grace in the wilderness of our lives, to walk with Jesus through his life. 

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.385: The Lion, the Crown, and the Angst.

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

Chapter 5 of 1 Peter tells us about the lion, the crown, and the angst.

First the lion. Peter says, “Be alert and clear-minded.”  Why? Because, he says, your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8). 

I haven’t encountered the devil as a roaring lion, so I’m not sure what to do with Peter’s description. I resonate more with images of the devil as a slick salesman using artificial intelligence to assess my interests, and to develop sketchy products to empty my wallet. Sounds like Amazon.com’s business model. 

In CS Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, a senior demon suggests strategies to help a junior devil tempt his human. Don’t try to frighten him, says the senior devil. The safest road to hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, milestones, or signposts” (Screwtape Letters, chapter 12).

Ah yes, the busy, broad, and meandering road that takes us go wherever we want to go. It’s all about the journey, not the destination. 

Or is it?

On the second topic, angst, Peter says, “Cast your anxiety on God, because he cares for you” (1 Pet 5:7). Many of us moderns live with an undercurrent of anxiety. A friend’s email address is “Perpetual Angst”. I’m familiar with some of his difficulties, but I’m not sure how to help him give his anxiety to God. 

A third topic Peter raises is a crown. He says, “Be shepherds of God’s flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away” (1 Pet 5:4). I watched a few seasons of the Netflix drama The Crown, a history of Queen Elizabeth. I’m not sure I am suited for or want a crown like that. But perhaps the crown God offers is not golden headwear, but the satisfaction of his approval when he says “Well done!”

When theologian Stanley Hauerwas taught in a Catholic university, he noticed colleagues with lives of quiet serenity attending with love to the everyday, not needing to be recognized as making a difference (Hannah’s Child: A Theologian’s Memoir, p. 95-96). Yes. That’s what I want my life to be, one that quietly defeats the lion and the angst, and serenely earns a crown of glory.

Let’s pray the blessing at the end of 1 Peter. 

May the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever (1 Pet 5:10-11). 

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.384: The End Of All Things.

Ep384. The End of All Things.

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

“The end of all things is near,” says Peter (1 Pet 4:7).  

Wow. What will he tell us about the end? A vision of Armageddon? New insight into the rapture? A prophecy that the world will self-destruct? 

Nope. Listen to the rest of Peter’s statement.

“The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray” (1 Peter 4:7). 

Pray? What a letdown. I want to know what Peter knows about the end of the world. But he’s not telling. Just pray, he says. So today, let’s consider what he says about the motive and two requirements for prayer. 

Two thousand years ago, Peter said our motive for praying should be because the end is near. It must be a lot closer now. Sometimes watching the news, I wonder how long the world can last. 

But Peter is’t peddling conspiracy theories about the end. He’s not suggesting we become preppers, or take hard-line positions on vaccinations, or build fortified retreats in the wilderness. He doesn’t lecture on how to read the signs of the times. No, he suggests we pray. 

So what are his requirements to pray? He says: Be clear-minded. Be self-controlled. 

First, clear-minded. I’m not sure why Peter thinks mental confusion might hinder prayer, though I agree there is much unclear thinking among Christians. I’ve read Christian books on biblical inerrancy, sexuality, abortion, political tribalism, and what the gospels really mean. It’s all a bit confusing.

In my twenties, a friend raised in the same conservative evangelical culture as I rejected Christianity. His take: legalism, an anti-intellectual stance, and the insular culture made Christianity irrelevant in a modern, scientific, evolutionary era.

I said to him, “We were not taught historic Christianity. Not at all! It was a version based on changeable cultural norms and intuitions that suited the way they thought and the way they wanted to live . Even their scripture interpretation was based on an early 20th century conservative way of thinking, not on timeless truth.” 

I continued, “Before rejecting Christianity, look at two thousand years of Christian history and thought, not just a recent, culturally conditioned version of the faith.”

For me, thinking clearly about Christianity has been a life-long project. Trying to separate truth from culture. Wheat from chaff. Gold from gravel.

Peter’s second requirement for prayer? Be self-controlled. This is a problem for moderns like me. Being self-controlled means not overeating, not watching internet porn, not surrendering to empty despair. Not giving way to anger in relationships, or to hate in politics.

To be clear-minded and self-controlled is to choose what I think about and to choose how I act. To follow Paul’s advice to think about what is noble, right, pure, and lovely (Phil 4:8). To choose a way of life that follows Christ.

Let’s pray. 

O father, Peter tells us to pray because the end of all things is near. He urges us to be clear-minded and self-controlled. 

We ask for the gift of clear thinking. Give us discernment when we surf the net and watch the news. Help us see the difference between truth and lies, between news and opinion, between sober judgments and baseless accusations. 

Help us see the difference between our weird and wandering culture and the kind of Christianity you would have us follow.

Give us the grace of self-control. Help us eat healthy, without overeating. Help us to avoid doom scrolling and mindless surfing. Form us, shape us, mold us by your word and your truth and your love until we become fully human, restored into the image of Christ.

And at the end of all things may we find our refuge in you. 

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.383: Hindrance to Prayer.

Ep383. Hindrance to Prayer. 

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

I am taken aback by Peter’s instruction when he says to me,
    Husbands, be considerate and treat your wives with respect . . .
          as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, 
          so that nothing will hinder your prayers (1 Pet 3:7). 

Hinder my prayers? I thought prayer was between me and God, not between me and God and my wife.

I experience lots of hindrances to prayer. Laziness is near the top. How much easier to watch YouTube or read a novel than pray. In fact, if you want a good mystery story, my wife and I are enjoying The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. But I am distracted. Back to prayer.

I hinder my prayers by scrolling social media or puttering around the house or listening to great worship music. And now, Peter adds, by not being careful how I treat my wife. 

Peter and Paul tell wives to submit. Bible interpreters wrap themselves in knots trying to explain, or explain away, what that means. The Message Bible and the Voice don’t even use the word submit when they say how a Christian marriage should work. 

For me, the work of marriage starts with Peter’s warning. If I’m not considerate and respectful, if I don’t treat my wife as an equal heir of salvation, my prayer life will disintegrate. 

What do you think? Is Peter preaching to me? Or is he meddling in my private life? Why doesn’t my prayer life depend on my theology? Or on a high view of scripture? Or on agreement with Peter’s patriarchal view of relationships?

Nope. Out of nowhere, he hits me with a rule of life. If you want to pray, he says, have sympathy with your wife’s difficulties in life and health. Respect her. Honor her. Lose your sense of male superiority and entitlement. Be careful of her preferences and interests. 

Your prayer life depends on it.

Let’s pray. 

O father, you created Eve as a companion for Adam. But how little we moderns understand companionship. 

Today you do not question my theology, but my behavior, how I treat my wife, my companion and partner. Are you suggesting that what I do is more important than what I say I believe?

Like the parable of the sheep and goats. You sent away those who said, “We preached and prophesied and did miracles.” You welcomed those who fed the hungry and helped the poor. 

Help me to lose my culture of privilege. Help me treat all your children with honor and respect, until I can pray wisely and graciously, without hindrance.

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube