Tag: Pray

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

Ep.382: Suffer.

Ep382. Suffer. 

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

I knew a lady with soft tissue damage. Car accident. The doctors didn’t have solutions and the insurance company was unfriendly. She felt stuck and I listened to ask that age-old question, Why does God permit this to happen? 

I commented that the church we attended together had a theology of healing, but no theology of suffering. This was a new idea to her: a theology of suffering? 

In the book of 1 Peter, two of the most frequent words are submit and suffer. Peter’s encouragement: endure suffering faithfully.  

He instructs slaves: Submit, even if your master mistreats you. Better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil (1 Pet 2:18-20). He instructs all Christians: Don’t be surprised when a fiery ordeal tests you (1 Pet 4:12). Why? Because all over the world believers experience suffering (1 Pet 5:9). Perhaps we are next in line. 

My preference is not to suffer at all! But Peter explains that Christ suffered for doing good, and so should we (1 Pet 4:13). 

Consider three things that cause us to suffer. 

1. First, we suffer because other people sin. All of us have father-wounds and mother-wounds from parents who were less than perfect. Entire nations endure suffering caused by power-hungry, violent, and corrupt leaders. By design or accident, by sin or carelessness, we humans cause each other to suffer. 

2. The second cause of suffering? Our own sins and misadventures. As Billy Joe Shaver sings,
      The devil made me do it the first time,
      The second time I done it on my own.
                              – Billy Joe Shaver, The Devil Made Me Do It 

It’s no surprise that we suffer from poor choices. A used car I chose required endless repairs and body work, until finally the engine broke beyond repair on a street in front of a liquor store. Too often I hit “send” on angry emails, putting friendships and relationships at risk. I should learn to choose better.

3. And third, suffering is part of living in a broken world. Families wiped out by a hurricane. Crops lost to insects, war, or drought. Race wars, ethnic cleansing, child soldiers. A recently retired couple planned to travel together, but he got Alzheimers. Now she travels to the dementia unit to see him.

I don’t want to end like that! I exercise and eat healthy to slow down aging. Doctors prescribe painkillers and psychology supplies self-help books. But at best I can only delay the end. I don’t get to choose whether my journey will be easy or painful. 

Peter teaches us to endure suffering. Like Christ did. When we cannot eliminate life’s aches and pains, Peter invites us to walk through them with Christ as our companion. 

Let’s pray. 

O father, Jesus wanted to escape the cross. We want to escape our scrapes and pains. 

But wherever we run and wherever we hide, suffering finds us. Give us grace to endure, to take courage because Christ suffered. To take hope because he promises a new world free of pain and tears and decay and death.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Where our path leads through fire or flood, as our bodies age and crumble, give us grace to walk with Christ, until at last we meet you face to face. 

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube