Prayer by Timothy Keller

I have always struggled with a consistent prayer life. I found the book “Prayer” by Timothy Keller to be extremely helpful in getting this part of my spiritual life on track. Specifically the two chapters I have outlined below. Using the Lord’s Prayer as a guide has really kept me from just using my prayer time as a “Santa Claus” list of wants. Also, dedicating myself to prayer time in the morning and a shorter prayer time as I go to bed (that includes a Psalm) has helped me to start and end my day well.

Two other things that have been helpful to me (and may or may not be to anyone else)…. The first is that when I am particularly tired, unfocused or have something heavy on my heart, I type out my prayers in a journal. It keeps me from becoming distracted or falling asleep and also I find that in the writing of the prayers I become aware of things I didn’t even know I was thinking. And the other goes back to C.S. Lewis (I know, imagine that). This is a quote from Screwtape Letters (whom was a senior demon telling a junior demon how to keep his human from grower closer to the Lord), “At the very least, they can be persuaded that the bodily position makes no difference to their prayers; for they constantly forget, what you must always remember, that they are animals and that whatever their bodies do affects their souls.” I have found that kneeling during my prayer time puts me and the Lord in our proper places. And in doing so with my body, helps me also get my mind to the proper place.

 

Chapter 8: The Prayer of Prayers

• Augustine, Luther and Calvin all developed their instruction on how to pray mainly out of their understanding of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). This chapter goes into these three men’s insights line by line of the Lord’s prayer and how we can use the Lord’s prayer as a mode that will have all of the components that should always be a part of our prayer time with the Lord.
• We must keep the Lord’s prayer from just becoming a ritual, by not simply just praying the words, but by understanding each part and praying each part’s truths through our our thoughts and what is actually going on in our lives.

 

• “Our Father Who Art in Heaven”
  • This should cause us to be blown away by the fact that the God who could have justly judged us all severely, instead implants a comforting trust in our hearts through His fatherly love.
• “Hallowed Be Thy Name”
  • This is a call that God’s Holy name be glorified among all nations. It is our time to praise God for who He is and thank him for his goodness in our life
• “Thy Kingdom Come”
  • We are asking God to so fully rule us that we want to obey him with all our hearts and with joy. And we yearn for the day when God’s kingdom comes in full to make all things right.
• “Thy Will be Done”
  • We ask God to grant us the grace to bear whatever it takes that we fully lie down our own will for our lives and take up the Lord’s will; acknowledging that the Lord knows best and we must trust him even when we don’t understand or like how he is bringing about his will in our lives. We echo Jesus’ words from the Garden of Gethsemane. It is an opportunity to give those things over to the Lord that we know we are hanging onto, that we are trying to accomplish on our own and our keeping us from falling submitting to God’s will.  
• “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”
  • This is when we pray for the needs of ourself and others. We must be careful not to turn this into a list of wants. Augustine suggested we pray that God give us neither poverty or riches (Proverbs 30:8). It is also a time not to pray just for individuals, but for needs throughout the world; that the poor would have their daily bread, that those being exploited would be treated justly, etc.
• “Forgive Us Our Debts as We Forgive Our Debtors”
  • This is the time when we search our hearts and lives in order to confess honestly before the Lord. Luther said this should not be a demeaning experience, but that if regular confession does not produce an increased confidence and joy in your life, then you do not truly understand salvation by grace. In addition, this is also a time to make sure there is no one we need to forgive, for it is hypocritical to seek the radical forgiveness of God, yet be unable to forgive those who have wronged us.

• “Lead Us Not into Temptation”
  • This is not praying against being tempted, as this is inevitable and brings about spiritual growth. Instead, it is praying against “entering into temptation” (Matt 26:41), which means to entertain and consider the prospect of giving in to sin. Take time to pray against those things that you know are common temptations to you. While also considering those that might not be so obvious, like the temptation to be judgemental of co-workers or of the feeling self sufficiency in your wealth.
• “Deliver Us from Evil” (or the evil one)
  • Luther said this is to pray against specific evils that come from the devil’s kingdom, while Augustine felt it was praying for deliverance against the remaining evils outside of us (as opposed to, “lead us not into temptation” being evils inside of us).

 

Chapter 15: Practice: Daily Prayer

A Pattern for Daily Prayer (This comes from Selwyn Hughes’ contribution to a book entitled My Path of Prayer, which contains short essays by Christian leaders on their main pattern of prayer)

• Praying as soon as possible after waking
• Read a passage of scripture to meditate on, including a Psalm
• Take a moment to “still your mind” and remind yourself of God’s presence
• Begin to pray
  • Start with adoration, praise and thanksgiving
  • Then, self-examination, confession and repentance
  • Lastly, Petitionary prayer for self, those he knew, the church and the world
• End by stilling the mind again to be sure you have had heard from God what especially he wanted you to learn that morning

 

Praying the Psalms

 

• There is more than one way to pray the Psalms

• Verbatim prayer – pray the words of the Psalm back to the Lord as written

• Paraphrase and personalize

• “Deliver me from my enemies” turns into a prayer for the Lord to help you with temptations or spiritual traps you might fall into.

• Responsive Praying  – Take themes and statements to stimulate adoration, confession and supplication

 

• • • Psalm 116:7 – Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you — So, you pray, “O Lord, my heart does not rest in your goodness, it is never consoled as deeply as it should be by your grace. It is too restless. Help me to know you – – let your goodness be so real to my heart that it is completely at rest.

Echoes Through Eternity

• “He (God) therefore, I believe, wants them (people) to attend chiefly to  two things, to eternity itself and to the point of time which they call the Present. For the present is the point at which time touches eternity.” (C.S. Lewis, Screwtape Letters)

 

Echoes Through Eternity

I fell asleep and began to dream;

A Spirit dressed in white came to me.

He beckoned me to follow;

And I followed with much curiosity.

 

I followed the Spirit into the past;

Back, back, and further, until…

We reached the happy memories of childhood

And for a moment time stood still.

 

We began to travel once again.

Peering in on teenage years gone by.

The great expectations of first love;

And the heartbreak that made me cry.

 

Then forward we rushed on;

Watching me with a graduation cap upon my head.

Pausing at the alter of my wedding day;

And gazing as I tucked each of my children into bed.

 

 

The Spirit then stopped and looked at me.

He seemed to wait for me to speak;

So, I asked, “Spirit, Can you take me to the future?

Show me next year, next month, next week?”

 

“No, the future is not yet certain,”
The Spirit answered  me in reply.

“For the choices that you make each day

Will determine what happens in the by and by.”

 

“Do not waste your time on moments not yet here;

It will only give you hopes that may never be.

Do not waste your thoughts upon what is to come;

It will only give you fears that never become reality.”

 

 

“But let me take you past your future;

Let me take you to eternity.”

What I saw……well I can not describe

For there was a light so bright it blinded me.

 

What I heard…..well I can not really tell you.

For there was a deafening sound, like waves upon a shore.

What I felt…..that I can try to tell you.

For even now I am longing to feel it once more.

 

An anticipation that I can hardly describe;

I don’t know exactly what for, but maybe it will be clear later.

But it was met beyond my wildest dreams,

And followed instantly by an anticipation even greater.

 

 

We then left this eternal realm

And I could tell it was time for the Spirit to go.

But as he walked away, he turned and said to me,

“There is one time that I did not show.”

 

“It is the most important time you have in this life,

The time we call right now, you see;

For only in the present can we do things

That will have echoes throughout eternity!”

A Poem of Praise

“The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.” (C.S. Lewis, “Reflections on the Psalms”)

I have started to read a Psalm or two every night before bed and I have found what C.S. Lewis said to be very true. So, this is my first very feeble attempt to write a “Psalm-like” praise to the Lord.

 

I stumble in my walk with

You Yet You steady my step

I veer off the path of righteousness

And Your light guides me back

 

God, You are faithful beyond measure

You’re goodness is without limit

Your love endures through all eternity

And Your kindness never fails

 

My dedication to You is lacking

But You let me try again

My promise to You are not always kept

But I hear Your gentle whisper, “I forgive you”

 

God, You are faithful beyond measure

You’re goodness is without limit

Your love endures through all eternity

And Your kindness never fails

He Was a Traitor!

It seems that often without knowing our young children articulate a profound truth that is far beyond their years. This is what happened the other day when I was reading with my son. Victor Jr. is 7 years old and in the second grade, but a very deep thinker for his age. He has an amazing imagination and when he is into a good book, he is fully drawn in. He lets what is happening become real and it fully invades all areas of his life. It is also able to evoke from him both deep thought and intense emotion.

Victor and I  were reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe together. (If you haven’t read this book, you should.) But, in order for this story to make a little bit of sense you need to know that Aslan is a talking lion in the magical land of Narnia. He is a good lion and a “Christ-like” character. Edmond is a boy who enters Narnia with his two sisters and brother through a magical wardrobe. He becomes involved with the evil character in the book, The White Witch, even though he is warned by his siblings and Mr. and Mrs Beaver how wicked she is.

We had reached the point in the book where because of rules that Edmond has broken, the deep magic in the land demands he pays for what he has done with his life. But, there is an ancient law that allows someone innocent to take his place. And this is just what Aslan does. There is a very moving scene where, although Aslan has power to destroy his enemies with ease, he allows them to take him captive. Aslan’s mane is shaved and he is beaten and mocked by the White Witch and her minions. And finally Aslan is tied down to the stone table and sacrificed in place of Edmond.

While I am reading this part of the story, I look over and Victor has covered his head and is hiding under the blanket. He is crying and does not want me to see. He has been so deeply moved by what is happening to Aslan that it has brought him to tears. And then he takes his head out of the blanket and asks a question that for him is truly about Aslan and Narnia, but that in reality has deep theological significance. “Daddy,” he says between sniffles. “Why would Aslan die for Edmond? He was a traitor!”

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

And there you have it. From the mouth of babes… You see, I like to look at things deeply. I like to reason and research. To take every perspective and every angle on a topic into consideration. And I do this with my faith as well. Over the past few years it has raised questions like, “What is praying Jesus into your heart and where did it come from?” “How do I reconcile a loving God with the total annihilation of towns in the Old Testament?” “What proof is there for my faith and for eternity outside of the Bible?” And I truly believe these are good questions to ask. And that we should constantly be seeking digging deeper to truly be sure of what we believe.

William Barclay says in his commentary on the book of Mark, “With all God’s grace and glory before him he can go on learning for a life time and still need eternity to know as he is known.” And it is true that no matter how much we seek and learn, there will always be more to try to understand of our Lord. Yet in another part of that same commentary Barclay also says, “God gave man a mind, and it is man’s duty to use that mind to think to the very limit of human thought. But it is also true that there are times when that limit is reached and all that is left is to accept and to adore.”

And in that moment my 7-year-old brought me to a moment where I was just meant to adore. He reminded me why the Gospel of Jesus Christ truly is good news. In that instant, it was time for me to stop making everything so complicated and remember why the message of Jesus Christ can be only be accepted when we do so like a child. For what we seem to so often be blind to as adults, Victor Jr. was able to see so clearly in the magical land of Narnia. The truth is the same question that Victor asked about Edmond and Aslan, we must all ask for ourselves. “Jesus, I am such a traitor! Why did you die for me?” And it is only in that admittance of our own sinfulness, that has made each of us a traitor and enemy of God, that the gospel becomes good news.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

This is the first step. And it is the step that holds so many back. While almost everyone believes that they could become a little better person and (whether it is by self-determination or a belief in God) it’s all good if you are working at being the best you that you can be. But this is not the case. This is not the truth. It is so much more than just being a better person.

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis puts it like this “…fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement, he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, realizing you have been on the wrong track and get ready to start life over from the ground floor.”

This acknowledgment and ownership that you have willingly done things that go against God. Now sometimes this sounds self-deprecating. It seems to go against the modern psychology of looking yourself in the mirror and reminding yourself that you are somebody. Yet, if each of us takes just a moment to be honest with ourself, it is so painfully honest!

How many times have you had just a thought that was prideful, lustful, hateful, judgmental, and the list could go on. And you knew that thought was not good or kind or loving, yet you entertain the thought and allowed it to grow. You even relished in the thought and indulged yourself in putting yourself up on a pedestal while belittling your neighbor or allowed yourself to act out a fantasy with someone other than your spouse. All the while somehow telling yourself it was okay as long as it stayed in your mind, but knowing that it was wrong.

And this is simply our thought life, but we can certainly move onto our actions. How many times have you known the good you ought to do for another human being and not done it? You saw that a person was having a horrible day, yet you were too busy to ask what was wrong. You shoveled your own driveway and hustled back into your house pretending not to notice the elderly widow struggling to clear hers; after all the football game was on. You joined into the gossip in the break room at work because you just wanted to fit in with your co-workers.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Is it really that hard to see that we don’t ever go a day without actively choosing to think and do things that we know are wrong? That every day when we lay our head down on our pillow we know we are not without fault; that there is at least one regret of “I know I should’ve of” or “Why did I do that?” Yet, I believe for so many this is the offense of the Gospel. This is what stops them dead in their tracks from going any further with Jesus.

But if only we will admit ourselves guilty before the Lord. Confess to Him that we know we choose to do wrong. And that this puts you in the opposite camp of a perfect and holy God; the Good News begins!

And when we throw up our hands and say, “Jesus, I am a traitor! Why did You die for me?” We hear back from the God-man himself, “Because I love you! Because I am the Good Shepherd. I am the Father who has stood at the end of the driveway watching for you and waiting; hoping you would come home. I am gracious and merciful, abounding in love. Because I desire for You to be with me forever in eternity.”

And you see I explained this to Victor Jr. It was in a little simpler terms, but with the same concept. And he seemed to get it. He understood that he often disobeys his mom and I. That there are times he is purposefully mean to his little sister. That he has lied to try to stay out of trouble a time or two. He grasped that each these choices all went against what he knew was right and what God would want him to do. And he understood his need for a Savior.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Dear Lord, May my adult pride does not get in the way my remembering to daily humble myself in the same way. Amen.

Why Do I Need Jesus, Anyway? & The Joy of Guilt

There are those times when you are reading something (or in my case listening to the audio book) and it put together pieces of something that has been on your mind for so long, but all scrambled, into the right place. God gave me one of those moments lately through CS Lewis and his book “The Problem of Pain” in the form of a two-fold revelation.

 

Why do I Need Jesus, Anyway?

The first revelation I call, “Why do I Need Jesus, Anyway?” It is a very obvious, but also very offensive, part of the Gospel message.  And at this point, in our politically correct times, I think many Christians have come conceded it in order not to offend. And when I am honest with myself, it had started to bother me quite a bit lately, and dare I say even offend me. Yet, as Lewis often does, he puts it in a way that made it make sense to me once more.

This part of the Gospel message is often left out of altar calls or a friend or family member’s attempt to “sell Jesus” on all of the wonderful things He will do if you just “ask him into your heart.” I am talking about the need for salvation based on sin, and quite frankly, the vileness, of every human being.  Lately, I had started to ask, “Why would God hold us accountable for this if we are born with no choice but to sin? It we were screwed because of Adam?

Lewis points out that this is an unanswerable question to fully understand the complexity of man’s first sin. Lewis also indicates that he does not hold the story of Adam, Eve and the Garden of Eden as a completely literal story, but simply as a way of introducing the human race’s first sin, which was the pride of thinking his own will superior to God’s. 

More importantly, he goes on to explain there is no need to go around blaming Adam for our individual revolts against God, because we can all see how despicable we are as sinners on our own. Blaming it on Adam and saying he messed it up for the human race is simply to shift the blame from myself and all of the awful things inside of me that clearly demonstrate my being an enemy of God and my desperate need of a savior.

He put it like this. We try to get around this by saying, “Well compared to person X, I am not really so bad.” Of course, we choose someone who had quite a few more hang-ups then us to make ourselves feel good, instead of realizing that our only comparison can be to Christ when we are talking about being right with God on our own merit.

Secondly, he makes the point that when we have our guilty moments, when our mind takes us to the places of our worst deeds, we realize quite fully just how terrible we are. We understand just how corrupt we are. And we know that we would not even want the person sitting next to us or our best friend to be able to see this part of us, let alone the Holy, Living God who created us. And then we are at a point where we can easily admit our need for our savior and fall down on our face in repentance.

It is only when we first understand that our sin separates us from God that the rest of the Gospel message (of a God-Man coming down out of Heaven and living a sinless life, dying on the cross to pay the debt of my sins, and raising from the dead to conquer the grave with the same offer to me) really has any meaning. For when we fall down on our face in the shame of the awfulness inside of our self, we then raise up with the joy of knowing God loved me so much He sent Jesus that we might be forgiven of our wickedness!

 

The Joy of Guilt

If you have already had this moment of conversion to Christianity, you may be thinking the same thing as me, “Well I have acknowledged my guilt to the Lord. I have put my trust in Jesus as the only way for me to be forgiven and have a right relationship with God. And I am trying with the help of the Holy Spirit to live as a disciple of Jesus. But, I’m still not perfect. I still sin. And I still have the sins of my past that seem to keep nagging me.” Well, my friend, this brings me to my second revelation, “The Joy of Guilt.”

Guilt to simply be self-deprecating is definitely not a good thing. However, when I have the full weight of guilt from some past sin weighing me down, this can be a wonderful moment. Instead of trying to ask God to forgive me for the thousandth time (which assuming I have already truly repented, there is no need, for God forgave me the first time I asked), I call out the guilt for what it is.

I realize that due to my awful sin, having guilt in this life is a natural consequence while I live on this Earth. But, I am not going to wallow in this guilt. Instead, I will take this time to allow the guilt to bring me back to a place of realizing my deplorability. And when I sufficiently recognize how deplorable I am, it brings me back to a place of appreciating my need of a Savior. At this point, I have now come full circle and I am praising the Lord for providing that Savior through Jesus’ death and resurrection. And then my joy is complete as I realize that indeed I am one of the blessed who has found that salvation in Christ.

God has turned my guilt into the joy! I am able to feel the pleasure of when I first put my trust in him all over again! Praise You, Lord, for saving a sinner like me!