Lately I have found it difficult to pray. Could be that many of us have this similar experience at times. When that happens, I don’t think God suddenly gets worried or that he loses sleep. I think he’s patient. I’m glad for His patience because I certainly have none.
A recent post concerning Rich Mullins caused me to break out my worn copy of Mullins’ The Jesus Record and listen to the beautiful lyrics and music that Mullins composed shortly before his death. In the midst of some whining (my own) that I never quite hear from God as much as some others seem to, the lyrics to one of the songs stood out to me and I heard His voice loudly.
Mullins had a brilliant way of reminding the pilgrim to just pay attention to beauty, to be completely honest with the one from whom we can hide nothing, and to cry and pray and cry and pray until you have nothing left to cry and pray. I lamented to some friends, just last night, that I never thought God could feel so far away. Then, these:
Rich Mullins
You who live in heaven
Hear the prayers of those of us who live on earth
Who are afraid of being left by those we love
And who get hardened by the hurt
Do you remember when You lived down here where we all scrape
To find the faith to ask for daily bread
Did You forget about us after You had flown away
Well I memorized every word You said
Still I’m so scared, I’m holding my breath
While You’re up there just playing hard to get
You who live in radiance
Hear the prayers of those of us who live in skin
We have a love that’s not as patient as Yours was
Still we do love now and then
Did You ever know loneliness
Did You ever know need
Do You remember just how long a night can get?
When You were barely holding on
And Your friends fall asleep
And don’t see the blood that’s running in Your sweat
Will those who mourn be left uncomforted
While You’re up there just playing hard to get?
And I know you bore our sorrows
And I know you feel our pain
And I know it would not hurt any less
Even if it could be explained
And I know that I am only lashing out
At the One who loves me most
And after I figured this, somehow
All I really need to know
Is if You who live in eternity
Hear the prayers of those of us who live in time
We can’t see what’s ahead
And we can not get free of what we’ve left behind
I’m reeling from these voices that keep screaming in my ears
All the words of shame and doubt, blame and regret
I can’t see how You’re leading me unless You’ve led me here
Where I’m lost enough to let myself be led
And so You’ve been here all along I guess
It’s just Your ways and You are just plain hard to get(Rich Mullins, Hard to Get, from the Jesus Record, my emphasis)
These lyrics came along at the right time. I’m glad that when I can’t pray my own words, there are the words of others that I can pray. I’m glad when I can’t pray, or won’t, that the Spirit never quits; that Jesus never stops interceding.
![Image of The Prodigal God (An Unabridged Production)[2-CD Set]; Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31Jl6fhDLxL._SL75_.jpg "The Prodigal God (An Unabridged Production)[2-CD Set]; Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith")
38 Comments(+Add)
This so opens the door to a rip-roarin’ discussion on speaking in tongues.
Me being Pentecostal and all.
I’d be happy to debunk your theology.
jk…I guess it doesn’t matter too much how we pray or in what language just so long as we do or as long as we at least think about doing it.
peace.
I assume we all have felt that way at some point, Jerry. How about when you feel with certainty God is hearing and responding to your prayers and in fact He is not due to the misguided content or something in your heart? I assume we have all been there as well.
Here is a post where a follower of Jesus laments over the prospect that America will one day give up her nuclear weapons. So when this man prays that God will help keep America’s nuclear arsenal stong and well stocked, doe God hear him?
The writer is distraught over Obama’s attempts at disarmament and his reaching out in friendship to all countries. Then he makes this statement:
What does America stand for? And how is it that the church can be in favor of weapons of mass destruction to protect any nation? Which Christianity are we speaking about? How is it that the words of Jesus mean nothing to the sola scriptura crowd?
The doctrinal twilight zone is here, and the golden calf of nationalism will warp everyone’s view of Jesus and His words. But hey, we’re Americans and God is on our side!! Go Uncle Sam – kill those who threaten “us”.
Who said these things?
I believe it was Ghandi
At least, he said those things in the movie about his life, so maybe it was Ben Kingsley
Yes, it was Ghandi. I posted those quotes in response to the
crosstalk post about keeping America’s nukes. This is what happens when Christians become Americans.A fallen Ghandi had better sense than some western believers.
Religion aside, it is stupid to come to a gun fight with a knife.
My Christian desire is that everyone would be saved, there would be no war, that the lion would lie down with the lamb, no sickness, no illness, no hunger, etc.
The reality is, we live in a nuclear world, and to keep peace and order, there must be a deterrant. Having this allows me and others the freedom to preach the Gospel in english as opposed to being under sharia law.
I truly desire that we would need no government, no political parties, and that we could live under God. Millenia have proved that impossible. We live in a world of governments ruled by political parties sometimes affiliated with religion. We live in a fallen world. It is an unfortunate reality that we need weapons to provide for peace and freedom. Anybody who believes differently has drank the kool aid and is wearing rose colored glasses.
So the current state of the world causes us to compromise what the Scriptures and our Savior clearly teach? That is exactly my point in that Ghandi would not compromise even when the circumstances seemed hoepless.
The knife to a gunfight metaphor is completely unchristian, unless byu a gun you mean the Word. I find it quite disingenuous that those who shout the loudest about sola scriptura are those who quickly lay down the Word when nukes and national defense are involved.
You cannot have both and you cannot serve two masters. Just because the world is in rebellion to God we are not given divine license to fight them with carnal weapons. Does the Word mean nothing in issues of world wide concerns? As I have said before, nationalism causes believers to compromise in the most unpleasant and obvious ways. In short, it makes us hypocrites.
In the garden our Lord should have told Peter to get a bigger sword.
I love the “religion aside” clause. It showcases what I am saying.
These just seem mutually exclusive to me. How can one trust and walk in dependence on Jesus and war (nuclear arms)?
I just wonder when “Christians” really start believing and trusting God will the words of Jesus come true?
How many verses are “contexualized” into personal ethical dealings and not profound and absolute truths?
One example:
“Turn the other cheek” means in business dealings but is worthless in matters of mass killings to defend certain places of dirt. I cannot fully express how unchristian and unbiblical such views really are. And if we actually BELIEVED in God’s sovereignty, we would not ask all the “but what about” questions.
What about Hitler if we did not defend ourselves? Well, I guess we would have had to trust God. BTW – given enough time his own generals would have killed him.
Christianity has become a religion of copnvenience. Given scenarios that require a formidable adherance to Scripture we repackage and redefine the Scripture to accommodate the circumstances. The pain, distress, and bewilderment of such obedience, especially when easier solutions are available, become too paradoxical to what we SEE so we leave the open and literal interpretation and make room for human reasoning. In summation, the ODMs do exactly what they accuse others of doing.
PB:
Platitudes aside, the reality is that disarmament by officially recognized nuclear states has no connection with the acquisition of nuclear weapons by rogue states.
Mutually assured destruction, which compelled the U.S. to arm itself during the cold war, is now outdated. And the possession of nuclear weapons obviously isn’t deterring states like Iran from pursuing nuclear technology.
The U.S. possesses enough non-nuclear firepower to level Iran to the ground. If that’s not enough, what is?
Rick,
What is stranger is the same people who want to heavily arm themselves to protect themselves claim they believe in a sovereign God.
I agree there are atrocities that happen… and I am not saying one should not protect themselves in some way as even Jesus told his disciples to bring a dagger… yet, he also taught not to live by the sword.
Yet, isn’t being the military power of the world… living by the sword?
To me the world will war yet for Christians, I believe the war was already won. Do I have the right to claim to believe in God and say He is sovereign, claim to trust Him and also choose His words like a buffet as to what I will trust and obey? I don’t think the world believes us because we do not believe.
It is one thing to debate, another to kill…
iggy
I fear that God will have enough of the USA’s philosophy of love your neighbor after you burned their village and killed all the men, women and children… and then turn a mighteir nation against us.
And the disciples asked Him, “Who is our neighbor?”
The Master answered, “All who are naturalized U.S. citizens.”
“What about Muslim Americans?”, they asked.
“No!”, replied the Master, “They are taking over!”.
“What about American gays?”, they inquired.
“No!”, shouted the Master, “I came to call the righteous – don’t forget that!!”
“So should we nuke sinners?”, they wondered aloud.
“You betcha, especially if they are radical Islamists. I’ll make sure none of the elect are killed. I did not choose many Muslims anyway so relax”, said the Great Shepherd.
You guys know I’m in the military, but sometimes I really just don’t know what to do with myself. I can rationalize, and do a darn good job of it, but it always comes up short. I really do not like the stark nationalism that a lot of Christians I meet have…as if America were God’s Chosen. And as if Democracy was Christ on the Throne. And as if Jesus were riding on the white horse draped in an American flag, rather than Royal Robes. It’s depressing, and yet, I work in the business of killing people and breaking their stuff.
Conversations like this are hard for me. I believe I’m completely against WMDs (I think they’re insane, but cool in video games…), I don’t think America should ATTACK anyone. Defending our people, and others is another story…but still a sticky one.
I’m all sorts of confused…
Thanks for a conversation that is beyond beside the point of my post.
Joe C. – I still admire your commitment, and your transparency as well. I pray God will give you peace and patience in your journey. Keep listening and learning, I believe God is going to use you in a very special way.
#17 – You are welcome.
Jerry,
It’s easier to talk about WMD and the bad bad bad nationalism of “those guys” over there than actually engage the open transparency of this post–that being the dry times in our spiritual lives. We feel more spiritual that way. If we actually had to talk about the days that God didn’t seem all that close to us, imagine how few comments we’d have.
Rick is THE official post highjacker.
Joe C. – It pains me to say this, but I fully support what Rick is saying. When God started revealing to me that Jesus was serious when he spoke in Matthew 5-6 about loving our enemies, praying for those that persecute us and despitefully use us. It was about GIVING UP our rights, not fighting to protect them. It originally made feel very unappreciative and unpatriotic. Read through the Matthew passage with fresh eyes and no pre-conceived ideas and PRAY…God is faithful to lead.
God bless!
It is easier to speak about the highjacking than the substance being discussed. That way you can feel more spiritual.
I request to be placed on moderation and any of my comments that are not within the parameters of the post I request be deleted. If you do not do this, then you cannot complain. I will not hold it against anyone.
It’s good that you have friends you can speak to openly about your low times. In times like this, helpful tidbits of advice often seem cold, distant and unhelpful.
But recently, I heard an awesome and encouraging lesson about “sleep pockets” in which God works on his men without their knowledge of his overall plan. In fact, if you were to ask them, they’d probably think that their calling or vision was an illusion.
But there seems to be a trend:
- Moses: 40 years in Midian feeding sheep until all he could do was speak sheep
- Joseph: 13 years in slavery and imprisonment
- David: after being anointed king, something like 14 years fleeing for his life and living in a cave
- Paul: after seeing the Lord, spending 3 years in Tarsus sewing tents
We could on about Job and others, but there seems to be a pattern. But God is faithful.
One of my favorite scriptures is Lamentations 3. After reviewing his sorry state for about 20 verses, Jeremiah suddenly says:
May the Lord be your strength and portion in the valley.
Back on the OP.
A few years back were fellowshipping at an overgrown housechurch where the men took turns leading the service (preaching). It was my turn and I was completely dry; I had nothing. Instead of calling in sick, I went up front and told them that I was dry and I had nothing. I quoted Keith Green (amid tears):
My eyes are dry
My faith is old
My heart is hard
My prayers are cold
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to you and dead to me
But what can be done
For an old heart like mine
Soften it up
With oil and wine
The oil is you, your spirit of love
Please wash me anew
With the wine of your blood
I asked if the Lord laid on anyones heart to say or do anything, and I sat down.
This honesty jolted me from my lazy stupor and found out it had done the same for a lot of people who heard the “message”.
I appreciate your honesty, Jerry and will pray.
Not to want to continue in the hijacking of this post, but, oh well.
Again, what the government does I must support as a Christian insofar as it stays within the parameters of God-ordained powers given to those who rule over us. As Obama gives away any power to the UN, and if we are invaded and overtaken as a result, it is God’s sovereign will that it be done. If Osama Bin Laden is allowed to live and thrive and he is able to have a dirty bomb be dropped over here, again, it is God’s sovereign will.
Being a Christian does not mean being a republican, democrat, libetarian, or independent, or even American. It means being a Christian, following the rules of the Kingdom of God over the rules of the nation when the rules of the nation are in opposition to the Christian way. I oppose Abortion and funding abortion in any way shape or form. Yet, I pay my taxes, some of the dollars go towards funding abortion. Why? because I believe Jesus wants us to render unto Ceasar, and submit ourselves to the governmental authority, even when it is a vessel of evil.
Sorry to say, that goes over into war. One of the God-given rights to government is to wage war. We do not get to argue about whether we believe it is a righteous war or not. In the context of giving away Nuclear Arms (or any other kind of arms) I feel it is irresponsible to do so. That being said, it is within the right of the government to make such decisions.
I am sure that in my lifetime there will be government sponsored religious persecution. I will follow the apostle Peter and Paul in obeying God rather than men.
I continue to appreciate the thoughtful on topic comments from you, my friends. Your prayers and encouragement are invigorating.
I’m actually starting to see the light again after my day at the Middle School today. I hope to share some more thoughts about why later. It turns out that I might not be as useless as I had thought. It turns out that God is not as silent as I thought. It turns out that maybe my exile is self-imposed and that I need to stop whining so damn much.
Be well friends. I have to write a paper now for class tonight.
Well, if you say so…
Pastorboy said “Religion aside…” – and if that were the case we could have a discussion about the military and Christians and politics and the interplay of them.
The problem with the blog post Rick linked to is the fact that it is a political opinion with no biblical references on a blog called “Crosstalk.”
What’s worse, if you look at the front page of Crosstalk at any given time… far too many of the posts have everything to do with politics and nothing to do with the cross. There are occasions the two overlap as Pastorboy illustrated with the abortion issue… but few posts on Crosstalk overlap.
This would be fine (Christians can have political opinions) but not a blog that is supposed to talk about the cross.
Somehow, this reminds me of this:
“We do not get to argue about whether we believe it is a righteous war or not.”
Wow. wow. wow. wow. wooooow!
i guess you’re right…we shouldn’t argue about war…it’s always a sign of failure.
so let’s not argue about that.
The real problem with the link is that it had nothing whatsoever to do with my post. We have a very nice submission form for such things.
Chris L.,
I love that song. Crowder is a genius. Thanks for reminding me of it.
jerry
Jerry,
You are correct, I and perpetuated it – sorry.
Most times when haven’t got it in me to pray, I just sit and listen…..
There are many reasons that we find it difficult to pray, and even feel like our prayers are hitting the celing, and are ineffective.
Recently, the men in my church and I have been reading Discovering The Mind of a Woman. Did you know that not understanding your wife, and not honoring her is one reason our prayers are hindered?
I am not saying anything about you, Jerry, nor anyone else here. I guess I have read that verse many times and never really noticed the implications. The lie that we cannot understand a woman, and the refusal to discover what a help meet really is has created horrible marriages and hindered prayers. What implications to the church! What implications to our personal prayers!
What is going on with this site? Is there some sort of fast going on?
I’m in an all-day class all oft his week (on a 5-minute break).
This set of classes I’m in have been chewing up my time like nothing in recent memory…
I’m currently preparing a post on chapter 4 of Jesus Wants to Save Christians. Until then, I have homework to do on Flat Stanley.