Daniel Darling's Blog, page 43

Teach Us to Pray: Introduction

The Lord’s Prayer is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. I love reading it, reciting it, and preaching through it.

So today I am starting a ten-post blog series, Teach Us To Pray, where we will look in depth at the Lord’s Prayer. The first two posts will be an introduction to prayer and what we can learn from how Jesus prayed. In the remaining posts, we will go line by line and examine what we can gather from His words.

The Lord’s Prayer, one of the most recognized passages of Scripture, is one of three foundational documents – along with the Ten Commandments and the Apostle’s Creed- of all branches of the Christian Church. This prayer has comforted and strengthened millions throughout the centuries. It may be the one part of Scripture that almost everybody knows, even those who are not followers of Christ or those who have yet to dust off the cover of the family Bible. And yet in many ways, these words are so familiar to us that we almost don’t know them.

I want to go deeper into the heart of Jesus’ instructions on prayer here. But before we look at the specific verses of this prayer, there are three things we can learn about prayer in general from Jesus’ words:

1)   The Humility of Prayer

To pray with humility does not mean we all called to pray weak and unsubstantive prayers. Instead, when we look at the prayers of Jesus, we see a model of what true humility looks like – the absence of pride, the exaltation of the Father.

Jesus makes three reflections about the humility  of prayer. First, our motivation for prayer must be worship, not public acknowledgement. Jesus says:

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” Matthew 6:5 (ESV)

Second, Jesus says our best prayers should be private, saying:

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:6 (ESV)

Jesus isn’t saying that all prayer should be private — public, corporate prayer has always been expected of God’s people in worship. But oftentimes, people want to be seen as “prayer warriors.” The ironic thing about being a prayer warrior is that nobody should know you are a prayer warrior.  The minute we seek to be “known as someone who prays well” is the minute we have our earthly reward. The fervency of our public prayer should come as an outflow of our private prayer.

Lastly, humble prayer is simple prayer. Jesus says:

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Matthew 6:7-8 (ESV)

Genuine and authentic communication is what separates humble, dependent, Christian prayer from religious prayer. Many religious people feel there is actually power in the phrasing of prayers. Though it’s a good habit to regularly recite prayers like the Lord’s Prayer, speaking these words means nothing if our hearts are not right before God.

Some of the most eloquent prayers in the world have bounced right off the ceiling. And some of the simplest, ugliest prayers reach the gates of Heaven and the heart of God. We should not pray to be seen and noticed. We should pray to bow ourselves in dependence before a holy God.

2)   The Assumption of Prayer

The second point of Jesus’ instruction on prayer is simply the assumption of it. Notice Jesus doesn’t say if you pray, but when you pray. Jesus is assuming those who call him Lord, those who are his followers, will actually pray.

Jesus said in Luke 18 “men ought always to pray and not to faint.” As God’s people, we are called to prayer. Jesus himself was a man of prayer, taking long stretches to go into seclusion and pray. And when you look at the early church, you see that they were fueled by prayer.

But not only is it assumed we will pray, God commands us to pray.

Jesus says in Matthew 5 “Pray for those who persecute you.” Ephesians 6:18 says, “And praying in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” Likewise, we are instructed in Colossians 4 to devote ourselves to prayer, “being watchful and thankful.”

You will be hard-pressed to find a Godly man or women who wouldn’t testify to the crucial nature of prayer in their lives.

I’m deeply convicted by this. Perhaps the sin we are all most guilty of, myself at the top of the list, is the sin of prayerlessness. We can have programs and ideas and we can preach and teach and disciple, but if we are prayerless, we are operating under our own power.

3)   The Possibility of Prayer

The third thing we realize when we look at scripture is we can’t dwell too long on prayer without realizing the miracle of it. We take this for granted, but to have access to the sovereign and supreme God of the universe through Christ is nothing short of a miracle.

Do you realize this?

We began life alienated from God by our sin. In the Garden, before the Fall, Adam and Eve literally walked with God. But sin is a barrier that keeps us from God. But God, through Christ, is the bridge. He’s the way to God. And because Jesus conquered sin and death at the cross and resurrection, we now have access to the God of the universe. Hebrews 4:16 says we can come boldly before His throne.

Not only can we come boldly because of the resurrection, but we can come at any time. He will always hear us. As we see in Romans 8, there is nothing that can keep us from approaching the Father.

The poorest, poverty-stricken, sin-laden follower of Jesus has access to the most powerful presence in the world. What a miracle that God hears our requests and acts on them, that He works on our behalf! In Romans 8, we are also reminded that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and helps us with our prayers. We not only have an audience with the Almighty, but we have the Spirit to guide us and the Son to intercede for us.

The miracle and accessibility of prayer should compel us to act on this unchanging truth.

It is my hope that over the next few weeks, these words, although familiar, will come alive to us again as we examine Jesus’ words, teaching us to pray.

The Way Home: Episode 77 featuring Andrew Wilson

How does God use the birth of a special needs child to challenge your faith? Andrew Wilson joins the podcast to talk about The Life We Never Expected[image error], his brand new book on parenting a child with special needs. Andrew is a pastor, theologian, and columnist for Christianity Today. He joins me to talk about human dignity, parenting, and what a truly pro-life church looks like.

Show Notes

Twitter: @AJWTheology
Website: thinktheology.co.uk/authors/21
Book:  The Life We Never Expected: Hopeful Reflections on the Challenges of Parenting Children with Special Needs [image error]

Learn more about the 2016 ERLC National Conference here.

Hannah’s Prayer for 2016

She was an otherwise unknown Middle-Eastern woman. Because of her inability to bear children, her husband took a second wife, who bore him several children. She was publicly shamed for her infertility.

Hannah had few resources, no agency, diminished status. She lived in a time of great distress for God’s people. The end of the book of Judges describes a period of great moral decline, of anarchy, of a lawless and violent culture. The spiritual state of Israel was so corrupt that Hannah’s fervent prayer in the temple invited shock and surprise from Levi, the priest. The priesthood itself was corrupt, as Levi’s sons would be rebuked by God for their debauchery and disobedience.

The world, Hannah’s world, was hopeless on every level. She could not bear children, bringing sorrow on her and her husband. There was no good leadership at any level in her country. God’s people were compromised and drifting from the truth.

If you were looking at this situation from the outside, you’d have many reasons to lament. How will God’s promises to establish a people forever be fulfilled when those people are intransigent and clamoring for a king other than Yahweh? Who will rule the next generation of Israel? And what good could come from the barren womb of this faithful daughter of God?

Of course the answer is in Hannah’s powerful prayer, after God granted her request to bear children. God works and is working when we least expect Him to, when the signs around us point only to despair.

And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and on them he has set the world. “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” (1 Samuel 2:1-10 ESV)

What a powerful promise from a sovereign God. A nation in trouble. A fearful people. A powerful God. From this faithful, powerless women could come Israel’s next great leader, Samuel. And from similarly unlikely circumstances in an even more troubled Israel would rise another deliverer for God’s people. Hannah’s prayer is so strikingly similar to Mary’s prayer, recorded by Luke in Luke 1:46-55.

Mary, an unmarried, unremarkable, unknown Middle-Eastern women in a poor family would be the unlikely bearer of the Messiah. This deliverer would be better than Samuel and would the the true prophet, priest, and king, not only for Israel, but for a people from every nation, tribe and tongue.

He raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts the need from the ash heep. He makes them to sit with princes. 

I’m reading this prayer today as a prayer of hope for 2016. As I write this, news comes scrolling across my social media timeline in a nonstop barrage of horror. Hundreds killed in a car bomb in Baghdad. A rabbi’s family gunned down in their car in the West Bank. Heroes from International Justice Mission murdered for fighting against the trafficking of people for sex and profit. There seems no end to our weeping.

I’m also distressed by a leadership void in the culture. Where are the heroes, the leaders, the good men and women to step up and lead our communities? What’s more, it seems that even God’s people are often willing to bend their theology to popular sentiment, to baptize sin as virtue and vulgarity as leadership.

But reading Hannah’s prayer keeps me from despair. It reminds me that the next great leader in the culture and perhaps in the church could arise from the least likely of places: the home of undocumented immigrants, and orphanage in Russia, or the gritty housing projects in an American inner city. We should despair only if less sovereign than he was in Hannah’s day. We should despair only if our faith is in the princes and powers and structures of this world. We should despair only if Jesus Christ, who promised to build his church and return as reigning King, is still buried in a rich man’s tomb outside Jerusalem.

Otherwise, in the midst of despair and hopelessness, of failed promises and crumbling institutions, when all of our resources and agency leave us powerless, we can say, with Hannah, with Mary, and with countless saints of old, “There is no rock like our God.” We, who have been made, by Jesus, to “sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor” should be, of all people, most joyful.

Long Thien

The Way Home: Episode 76 featuring Matthew Soerens

How should Christians respond to the greatest refugee crisis in recorded history? Matthew Soerens is my guest. Matthew is the U.S. Director of Church Mobilization for World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals. He is the coauthor two books, the later forthcoming – Welcoming the Stranger and his latest book, Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugee Crisis [image error] , which will be released by Moody Publishers on July 5. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College and his master’s degree from DePaul University’s School of Public Service. In addition to the books he has authored, he has written for publications such as The White House, Christianity Today and Lifeway, but most frequently blogs at g92, a culture-shaping movement seeking to equip the next generation of Christian leaders for an effective, biblical response to immigration. Matthew is one of the most eloquent and knowledgeable experts on refugee care and immigration issues.

Show Notes

Twitter: @MatthewSoerens
Website: worldrelief.org
Book:  Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugee Crisis [image error]

Learn more about the 2016 ERLC National Conference here.

The Way Home: Episode 75 featuring Ryan Reeves

Is America a Christian nation? Ryan Reeves, assistant professor of Historical Theology at Gordon-Conwell answers that question on today’s podcast. Ryan also serves as Dean of the Jacksonville campus. Ryan is an adjunct professor for Reformed Theological Seminary and teaches during the summer at Campus Crusade for Christ. He has a Ph.D. from Cambridge University and two masters from Reformed Theological Seminary. Ryan has a terrific blog on historical theology and church history at The Gospel Coalition. He joins me to talk church history, religious liberty, and if he has the deepest voice in the PCA.

Show Notes

Twitter: @ryanmreeves
Website: blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/ryanreeves
YouTube

Learn more about the 2016 ERLC National Conference here.

Some Father’s Day Articles

This Sunday we celebrate Father’s Day. Here are some of my reflections on fatherhood from past years:

What Dad Taught Me: 5 Invaluable Principles I Use Every Day:

Dad was a blue-collar guy, a licensed plumber, who has always been known for the quality of his work. It wasn’t the specific job he did but the way Dad carried himself that taught me the most about life, about manhood, and about living out the gospel. These five lessons are ones I’ve adopted as I seek to honor the Lord with my life.

It’s Never Too Late To Become a Great Dad – Interview with Jim Daly

The president of Focus on the Family talks about his own tumultuous childhood and makes the case that men can become good fathers in their own generation, despite their upbringing.

Ten Things Nobody Tells You About Becoming a Dad

This is my most popular blog post, written a few years ago. All ten things hold up pretty well, I think.

5 Things Every Daughter Needs to Hear From Her Dad

I’m a father of four beautiful children, three of whom are girls. My oldest daughter is eleven years old. I love having daughters. There is something about having a daughter that softens a man, adds a certain tenderness to his soul. In that spirit, I’d like to share five things every daughter needs to hear from her father:

5 Things Every Son Needs to Hear From His Dad

Just as there is something wonderful about being the father of daughters, there is something wonderful about being the father of a son. In my house, Daniel Jr (4) and I are outmatched four-to-one by girls, so we sort of stick together to make sure everything is not painted pink, some football gets watched on a regular basis, and that we watch as many superhero movies as Barbie movies. Seriously, though, fathering your sons is a serious job, men. And so in that spirit, I’d like to offer five things every son needs to hear from his father:

photo credit: Sudanshu Goyal

The Way Home: Episode 74 featuring Mark Tooley

What should evangelicals make of the changes in the United Methodist denomination? Today on The Way Home podcast I’m joined by my good friend Mark Tooley. Mark is the president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, as well as the editor of the IRD’s foreign policy and national security journal, Providence. In addition to being a frequent commentator on radio and television, he writes articles for major publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Christianity Today, and The New York Post. As a former staffer for the CIA, Mark is a leading expert on foreign policy as well. He has published three books, his latest being The Peace That Almost Was: The Forgotten Story of the 1861 Washington Peace Conference and the Final Attempt to Avert the Civil War[image error]. A committed United Methodist, Mark is a strong advocate for life and marriage, and is passionate about reaching the public square with the Gospel. Today we’re going to talk about foreign policy, Methodism, as well as his latest book.

Show Notes

Twitter: @markdtooley
Website: providencemag.com and theird.org
Book: The Peace That Almost Was [image error]

Learn more about the 2016 ERLC National Conference here.

The Way Home: Episode 73 featuring Andrew Walker and Devin Maddox

How can pastors equip their people to engage cultural issues? Andrew Walker and Devin Maddox join me to discuss this topic and a new resource from ERLC and Lifeway: The Gospel for Life Book Series.

Andrew Walker is the director of public policy studies at ERLC, the editor of Canon and Culture, and the editor, with Russell Moore, of the new Gospel for Life series. Devin Maddox is a publisher for B&H Books.

Show Notes

Twitter: @andrewtwalk and @devinmaddox
Website: andrewtwalker.com and canonandculture.com
Book:  The Gospel & Religious Liberty ;  The Gospel & Same-Sex Marriage ;  The Gospel & Racial Reconciliation

Learn more about the 2016 ERLC National Conference here.

The Way Home: Episode 72 featuring Jared C. Wilson

How does the uniqueness of Christianity make it compelling? Jared Wilson joins me to answer this question. Jared is a prolific author, a pastor, and the director of content strategy for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Jared and I discuss writing, ministry, and evangelical witness in the 21st century.

Show Notes

Twitter: @jaredcwilson
Website: jaredcwilson.com
Book: Unparalleled: How Christianity’s Uniqueness Makes It Compelling

Learn more about the 2016 ERLC National Conference here.

Passing the Faith Along

Here is a post I wrote for Green Hill Church on parenting as discipleship. A few tips for passing the faith along:

Remember we do this in community. We don’t parent in isolation, we parent in community with the body of Christ in our local church. The church is there to equip, strengthen, and resource parents. And parents should learn, grow, confess, repent, and laugh together as they raise their children to love Jesus.
Rely on the Spirit of God. This job of parenting is bigger than we can handle. This is why we need Holy Spirit power and wisdom. Doing it alone will lead us to burn out or give up on the enterprise all together.
Resources are our friends. There are many, incredible resources out there that make this job of passing the faith along that much easier. In a follow up blog post, I will highlight a few that have been enormously helpful to our family.
Rigidity is our enemy. One family’s version of family worship may look different than the next family. What is important is not how you teach your kids, but that you teach them. Some families do this in a more formal way. Others are more spontaneous.
Rejoice in the privilege of teaching our children. The story we are telling our kids, this beautiful story of the gospel, is the best news in the world. So passing this to our kids is a joy and a privilege.

You can read the whole thing here:

photo credit: Danielle MacInnes