Tag: Pray with me

Ep.088: Walk on Water.

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

In John chapter 6 after Jesus lectured the crowd about free lunch and spiritual food, he disappeared for a while. That evening, the disciples set out across the Sea of Galilee in a boat and as it grew dark, the wind picked up. The waves grew rough and rowing was difficult. Sometime in the night, they saw a figure walking on the waves toward the boat. They were afraid.

The figure on the water said to them, “It’s me, don’t be afraid!”. They recognized him as Jesus and welcomed him into the boat. 

Let’s pray. 

Jesus, often we feel like the disciples at night on that rough sea, lost in the dark, making no progress. 

We feel this in our bodies as they age and deteriorate. Once we were healthy and carefree, we now know sickness and pain. Some of us survived chronic fatigue, and now row cautiously through life, conserving our limited supply of energy and health. Some of us live with Krohn’s disease or fibromyalgia, rowing through nights of pain. Some of us have mental health issues, caught in bipolar swings or self-harming obsessions. And some of us are fortunate enough to be aging normally, feeling the onset of arthritis and forgetfulness, fearing the signs of dementia. 

Jesus, you who had a body, you who walked on water, come to us in our pain and distress. Climb into our boat, take us where our rowing cannot go. 

Jesus, thoughts and dreams disturb our nights and take away our rest. We obsess about health, family, jobs, and the politics of our world. We imagine a comfortable life with more money, better friends, a richer love life, and a more fulfilling job. Why does no one see our hidden talents, our inner beauty, our real potential? Is there no end to this lethargy and resistance through which we row? 

Jesus, walk to us on the water of our troubled thoughts. Still the storm, steer the boat, take us where cannot row. 

Jesus, we rise and fall on waves of emotion. Some waves are high with hope and grace, some plunge us into troughs of despair. Sometimes there is joy and laughter, sometimes pain and loss. We ride the waves and keep rowing, but the harbor is never near.  

Jesus, come to us on the sea of our emotions. Join our journey, share our joys, comfort our pain, soothe our losses. Row with us through the rough seas to calm waters. 

Jesus, we feel our spiritual life going nowhere. We read the Bible, but it seems dry and tasteless. We say our prayers, but they bounce off an iron ceiling. We try to meditate but our thoughts are lost in distractions. We lift our hearts to worship, but they sink into the waves of busyness.

Jesus, walk to us on the sea of your spirit. Rescue us, live your life in us, take our spiritual lives to places where we cannot row. 

Jesus, we sink in many difficulties. But we hear again your word, that our duty and glory is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Oh you who walk on water, walk to us on the sea of life, take us where we cannot row, take us where we need to go. 

Amen. 

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

Ep.087: Psalm 35: Brandish Your Spear, God.

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

In Psalm 35, the poet asks God to punish his enemies. He suggests that God should:
– Brandish spear and javelin against them (v. 3)
– Turn them back in dismay (v. 5)
– Clothe them with shame and disgrace and confusion (v. 26)
– Make their path dark and slippery while an angel of the Lord chases them (v. 6)
That’s an ominous list of curses. I don’t want this poet as my enemy! 

The psalm suggests the poet’s enemies are pursuing false legal claims against him. He says he tried to help his accusers–when they were sick, he wept over their distress (v.14). He fasted and prayed for their healing (v. 13). So much for gratitude–his enemies did not respond in kind. So now the poet is in trouble, his enemies gather gleefully (v. 15), they slander and mock and gloat (vv. 15,-16, 19). They invent false accusations (v. 20). They hate without reason, they sneer and crow (vv. 19, 21) and repay evil for good (v. 12).

In verse 17, the poet calls on God to take action saying, 
  How long, Lord, will you look on?
      Rescue me from their ravages,
      My precious life from these lions. 
The poet says, “The lions attack me, God. Rescue me from their jaws.”

If God does this, the poet promises:
    I will give you thanks in the great assembly;
      among the throngs I will praise you (v. 17).
    My tongue will proclaim your righteousness, and
      your praises all day long (v. 28).  

Let’s pray. adopting the poet’s worldview and language for our prayer today.. 

Lord, bring shame and disgrace on those who gouge insurance companies to profit illegally. Like the man who needlessly hit his brakes so my relative would rear end him, doing almost no damage to the vehicle but enabling a $20,000 payout. 

Lord, bring shame and disgrace to insurance companies and their lawyers who reject legitimate claims from poor people who can’t afford to fight.

Lord, bring shame and disgrace to politicians who game the system for personal benefit instead of promoting the common good. Bring shame and disgrace to citizens who complain endlessly about the politicians but don’t vote or participate.  

Lord, bring shame and disgrace to those who profit from soul-destroying businesses like gambling and pornography and drug addiction and violence. Rescue their victims. 

Lord, bring shame and disgrace to those who return evil for good: to managers who lord it over employees, to parents who abandon spouse and children, to lovers who violate trust and betray confidences. 

Lord, bring shame and disgrace on the promoters of injustice and violence in the world and in our personal lives. Hide us and protect us in the powerful name of Jesus, from divisive politics, rampant consumerism, oppression of the poor, and religious hypocrisy. 

And Lord, as you rescue us and our world, we will give you thanks and praise. We will say with the poet, 
     The Lord be exalted,
         he who delights in the well-being of his servant.
     We will proclaim your righteousness,
         your praises all day long. (vv. 27-28).

Amen.

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

Ep.086: Free Lunch.

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

In John chapter 6, a large crowd followed Jesus into the wilderness. Jesus said to Philip, “Where will we buy bread for these people?”–clearly a trick question, because Jesus wasn’t planning to buy bread at all. Philip said, “That’s expensive. We don’t have enough money.” On hearing this, Andrew said,  “There’s a boy with here five buns and two small fish.” So Jesus multiplied the fish and buns to feed the crowd. There were baskets of leftovers and the people said, “Wow. Free lunch. We like this prophet.” 

They liked him so much that they followed him the next day. Jesus said, “All you want is another free lunch! But what you really need is the bread of God that comes from heaven and gives life to the world.” The crowd  replied, “Is that like free lunch every day? We’re in!”

Then Jesus dropped a bombshell. He said, “I am the bread of life that came from heaven. Anyone who comes to me will never go hungry. Anyone who believes in me will never be thirsty. The bread you need is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”  

The people said, “That’s crazy talk. What kind of bread are you? You’re not from heaven. We know your father and mother and your home in Nazareth. You are just a peasant like us. We’re not cannibals; we can’t eat your flesh.”

Once again Jesus’ teaching led the people into mystery and confusion. Some of the things Jesus did were really attractive– making wine, providing free lunch, healing the paralyzed. But some of his sayings are just crazy: be born again, eat my flesh, drink my blood, take up your cross and follow me.  

Let’s pray. 

Jesus, we’re never sure how you move from literal meanings to metaphors. We understand  free lunch. But when we come back the next day, you stop the food truck and suggest we eat your flesh. If you were a salesman, we’d press charges of false advertising or bait-and-switch. 

Jesus, so much of our life is physical. We eat and shave and sleep and shop. But how can we connect with the spiritual world? Will Donald Trump teach us how to cut a deal with you? Will Justin Trudeau coach our smile and and furnish our wardrobe? We need your metaphors, Jesus, to guide us into a spiritual life, to give us a vision of the kingdom of heaven. In our darkness, shine your light. In the silence of the universe, speak your word. When we are hungry, feed us with your body. When we are thirsty, help us drink your water.

Help us to see through your impossible metaphors to the new experience you offer us, to the new relationship you invite us into. Jesus, we receive your  words as gifts. Help us to be born again, to eat your flesh and drink your blood. In our daily routines of eating and sleeping and working and playing,  help us live a new life in the spirit. 

Amen.

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

Ep.085: Psalm 34: No Broken Bones.

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

Psalm 34 paints a bright picture of hope against a bleak background of suffering and terrors that break the heart and crush the spirit. Poet Luci Shaw wrote, 
    A piece of hope spins out
    bright, along the dark, and is not
    lost in space. . . 
    (Luci Shaw, “But Not Forgotten” in Listen to the Green (Colorado Springs: Harold Shaw Pub, 1973) 

Yes, that summarizes Psalm 34.

The first part of the psalm is a hymn of praise as the poet tells how the Lord delivered him. The second part encourages us to seek God because he rewards those who seek him. The last part is another section of praise for God’s deliverance. 

When my brother was in his early twenties, he suffered a broken hip on a mission trip to Sudan. He declined their medical treatment when they produced a used needle to inject painkillers. Back in Canada, he spent a year in and out of hospitals trying to save the hip. It never recovered, so the doctors finally fused it with a metal rod. My brother said that verses 19-20 of Psalm 34 tormented him all year. They read,
      The righteous person may have many troubles,
        but the Lord delivers him from them all;
      he protects all his bones,
        not one of them will be broken.
In the hospital, as my brother lay awake long nights in pain, he did a lot of thinking and feeling about that verse, “God protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.”

Perhaps our spiritual lives are more complex than naming and claiming the simple, straightforward promises. My brother’s experience connects with my prayer life. Jesus’ promise:  “I will do whatever you ask in my name” (John 14:13) does not work for me every time. In Psalm 34, the bright promises are painted against a backdrop where the poet describes the experience of the righteous as afflicted, troubled, fearful, crying, broken-hearted, and crushed in spirit. God is always present to us, sometimes protecting our bones or healing them, sometimes strengthening us to endure seemingly endless troubles.

Let’s pray. 

     I sought the Lord and he answered me,
        he delivered me from all my fears (v. 4).
Yes, God, you are the one who can drain the swamp of our fears.

      Those who look to you are radiant;
        Their faces will never be ashamed (v. 5).
May it be you, God, and not the cosmetics industry, who brings light to our eyes and joy to our faces. 

       This poor man called, and the Lord heard him,
          And saved him out of all his troubles. 
Yes, Lord, you hear, and you deliver us from our troubles (v. 6). 

        Taste and see that the Lord is good,
            Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him (v. 8).
Lord, we have tasted that you are good. We feel it when your face shines on us, we feel it when you give us peace in our confusion and light in our darkness. Turn our tasting into feasting, until we experience with all our heart that you are good.  

          Whoever loves life
             and desires to see many good days,
          Turn from evil and do good;
            Seek peace and pursue it (vv. 12, 14).
Yes, Lord, we love the life you offer — not a life of wealth and safety and escape from troubles, but a life of turning from evil to do good, a life of pursuing peace.

       The Lord is close to the broken-hearted,
            and saves those who are crushed in spirit (v. 13). 
Lord, we feel the brokenness of our spirit, our life, our world. Thank you for drawing near to broken hearts and crushed spirits.

        The Lord will rescue his servants;
            No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned (v. 22).
Thank you for looking out for us. Thank you for freeing us from all condemnation. Thank you for being our refuge in life and our hope in death. We wait quietly in your presence.

Amen.

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

Ep.084: The Healing Pool.

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

In John chapter 4, Jesus offered living water to the woman at the well. In John chapter 5, we have another story about water. Jesus went to the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem and he met a man who had been sitting by the water for 38 years, waiting to be healed. The man’s story was that when the water moved, perhaps stirred by an angel, it healed people. Sadly, the man had no one to help him get into the pool when the water moved. Someone always got in ahead of him. 

Jesus didn’t talk with the man about water. Instead, he asked, “Do you want to get well?” The man replied that someone always beat him into the water.

Jesus said, “Pick up your mat and walk.” And for the first time in 38 years, the man picked up his mat and walked. The command of Jesus became this man’s healing pool. Jesus’ word baptized him in life-giving water. 

Let’s pray. 

Jesus, we are the paralyzed man. For too many years, we have been stuck in a routine of family and work and church and busyness, but inside we ache with emptiness and loneliness. We long to be immersed in water that will heal the pain and ease the memories and silence the dark voices within. But all the sermons and Bible studies, all the scoldings and seeking haven’t healed us. Our angst continues, self-doubt grows. Depression hovers in the background, darkness threatens our souls. We set out to be saints, but we remain champion sinners. 

Jesus, we hear you ask us the question you asked the paralyzed man, “Do you want to be healed?” Shockingly, your words expose our willingness to be content with half-hearted religion in unhealed hearts. We try to bathe in your healing waters, but we remain sick. Who will help us into the water? What can bring us healing? And when we give up, we hear you say again, “Do you want to be healed?”  

Yes, Jesus, we do. But our chains are too strong, our paralysis is unyielding, our corrupting thoughts too deeply embedded. O Jesus, we need living water. Free us from our pool of paralysis, stir the water of our lives, speak your life-giving word, immerse us in your healing fountain. Teach us to pick up our mat and walk.

Amen.

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