Are you ever struck by the conviction that there is something more to praying than what you do? You read the prayers of men like Daniel and are struck that it is the sovereignty of God that fuels their prayers, rather than hinders them. You read our Lord's prayer and are struck by his concern for his Father's kingdom and will to be done and wonder why your own prayers so rarely mirror that.
The book of Daniel has given me pause to consider prayer, as have conversations with various people. Do I pray rightly? Why sometimes does it seem like a shopping list? Is it ever right that our prayers are a shopping list? What does a prayer with integrity look like? How do I express God's will in my praying? Should God's sovereignty fuel my prayers and if so how?
As I have been thinking over these issues I came across an article by John Leonard this morning over at Reformation 21. It makes you think and I found accuses me at a number of points as regards my prayer life. To see the article click here.
Showing posts with label sovereignty of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sovereignty of God. Show all posts
Friday, 4 April 2008
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
How I view the world
God rules! That is the big message of the book of Daniel. Daniel and his friend serve great kings in the worlds eyes, great empires in the worlds eyes and yet Daniel outlasts them all. Why? Because he is not some flunky who attached himself to a king or a court and sought to gain favour. But Daniel serves the God who he knows rules the world, who hold history in his hands.
As I've been studying Daniel I find that an amazing challenge. I know in my head that is what the Bible teaches and that it is true. But what about in the way I live, does that show? Daniel can live as he does, living for God, in an alien pressured and pagan environment because he knows that truth as more than just a theological truth but as a living breathing reality.
It means he can stand for God when under threat, when facing persecution because God is sovereign and Daniel can put his trust in his God for the outcome.
But Daniel also gives us a view of the world that we need, it is found in the apocalyptic visions in the second half of the book and it is a reminder that we sometimes limit our living to the world pulled over our eyes to blind us. When in reality we as the people of God are engaged in a spiritual battle and therefore need spiritual weapons.
My prayer is that these two truths inform my mind and heart and transform my service of God while he continues to give me breath.
As I've been studying Daniel I find that an amazing challenge. I know in my head that is what the Bible teaches and that it is true. But what about in the way I live, does that show? Daniel can live as he does, living for God, in an alien pressured and pagan environment because he knows that truth as more than just a theological truth but as a living breathing reality.
It means he can stand for God when under threat, when facing persecution because God is sovereign and Daniel can put his trust in his God for the outcome.
But Daniel also gives us a view of the world that we need, it is found in the apocalyptic visions in the second half of the book and it is a reminder that we sometimes limit our living to the world pulled over our eyes to blind us. When in reality we as the people of God are engaged in a spiritual battle and therefore need spiritual weapons.
My prayer is that these two truths inform my mind and heart and transform my service of God while he continues to give me breath.
Friday, 4 January 2008
Dealing with disappointment
I don't know about you but I always find disappointment difficult to deal with, when I have planned and planned something and then it just doesn't work out as I had hoped I find myself getting frustrated and annoyed.
I have found the last two weeks as I have been preparing talks on Daniel 1 and 2 to be immensely helpful, encouraging and yet at the same time challenging. Encouraging because God knows about the disappointment I am experiencing before I experience it and more amazingly he is going to take it and use it to achieve his purposes. Helpful because I can get too bogged down in what I can see which means when things don't work out the only way I can see I am tempted to dwell on it and become down hearted and yet God knows and is already working even it in the disappointment. Challenging because if that is the case then my disappointment and frustration shows that yet again I have failed to grasp that God is Sovereign, that it hasn't taken him by surprise and that he works through these things.
Daniel calls me to get my perspective right on my plans and planning, it calls me to seek God and to continually relearn to trust him who alone is sovereign and whose kingdom is not shaken and will rule eternally.
I have found the last two weeks as I have been preparing talks on Daniel 1 and 2 to be immensely helpful, encouraging and yet at the same time challenging. Encouraging because God knows about the disappointment I am experiencing before I experience it and more amazingly he is going to take it and use it to achieve his purposes. Helpful because I can get too bogged down in what I can see which means when things don't work out the only way I can see I am tempted to dwell on it and become down hearted and yet God knows and is already working even it in the disappointment. Challenging because if that is the case then my disappointment and frustration shows that yet again I have failed to grasp that God is Sovereign, that it hasn't taken him by surprise and that he works through these things.
Daniel calls me to get my perspective right on my plans and planning, it calls me to seek God and to continually relearn to trust him who alone is sovereign and whose kingdom is not shaken and will rule eternally.
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
Sovereignty of God
How do you view the world? Is it as a set of random events which are the result of individual and collective decision making? Or is it that God is sovereign and he is working out his eternal purposes in all things?
We may say that obviously it is the later, obviously it is that God is sovereign. But I wonder if we live life in the light of that reality, whether that knowledge saturates our actions or whether we live to all intents and purposes as practical atheists. I think the key to identifying which it is is seen in our responses to pressured situations.
That is not saying that we are atheists, but that actually because of the way we think we actually live as if we don't know that God is sovereign (practical atheism). We do believe in God and have a relationship with him through repentance and faith in Jesus but we just forget in the heat of the moment that God is sovereign and that we amazingly can call this sovereign God 'Father' and live as if we can't.
We allow ourselves to respond instinctively because we have not allowed the knowledge of God's sovereignty to saturate our thinking and our lives. So to take an example, a week before Christmas we buried my Grandad, who was a Christian but for the last few years of his life mentally degenerated seriously, to the point where he couldn't recognise anyone. A solid grounding in the sovereignty of God brings the comfort that God knows what is happening to my grandad and more than that amazingly through what is happening God is working out his purposes, though I still don't know what they are.
It is different from fatalism, because fatalism is the result of blind chance. Sovereignty gives us the comfort and assurance that a loving God who did not spare his only son but gave him for us is working through every circumstance for our good. The challenge, and it is a challenge we do not find it easy, is to live in the light of this.
We may say that obviously it is the later, obviously it is that God is sovereign. But I wonder if we live life in the light of that reality, whether that knowledge saturates our actions or whether we live to all intents and purposes as practical atheists. I think the key to identifying which it is is seen in our responses to pressured situations.
That is not saying that we are atheists, but that actually because of the way we think we actually live as if we don't know that God is sovereign (practical atheism). We do believe in God and have a relationship with him through repentance and faith in Jesus but we just forget in the heat of the moment that God is sovereign and that we amazingly can call this sovereign God 'Father' and live as if we can't.
We allow ourselves to respond instinctively because we have not allowed the knowledge of God's sovereignty to saturate our thinking and our lives. So to take an example, a week before Christmas we buried my Grandad, who was a Christian but for the last few years of his life mentally degenerated seriously, to the point where he couldn't recognise anyone. A solid grounding in the sovereignty of God brings the comfort that God knows what is happening to my grandad and more than that amazingly through what is happening God is working out his purposes, though I still don't know what they are.
It is different from fatalism, because fatalism is the result of blind chance. Sovereignty gives us the comfort and assurance that a loving God who did not spare his only son but gave him for us is working through every circumstance for our good. The challenge, and it is a challenge we do not find it easy, is to live in the light of this.
Monday, 3 December 2007
Learning the lessons of history
I have got to do some teaching on Daniel 5 tomorrow for a group who are attending a course called getting to grips with the Bible. It is an amazing passage of contrasts between the living active God and idols, between a wise queen and a foolish king, among others.
But the thing that has really struck me is the failure of Belshazzar to learn the lessons of history. As Daniel explains the writing on the wall in verse 18 he begins by emphasizing the sovereignty of the very one that Belshazzar began the evening mocking. Daniel then gives (18-21) a history lesson on the life of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar's ancestor. But the emphasis is on God not Nebuchadnezzar: “the most high gave…he gave him…he was deposed…he was driven…until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign…” The lesson of Nebuchadnezzar's life that he finally acknowledge was that God rules not Nebuchadnezzar.
And then Daniel turns to Belshazzar who is held accountable; (22-23) the accusations begin “But you…” highlighting another contract between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. There follows the charge sheet against Belshazzar the repeated use of “you…” emphasizes the personal nature of the accusations God has against Belshazzar.
It is a sobering thought and as Hegel said “the only thing we learn from history is that we have learned nothing from history” That is an apt summary of Belshazzar, but as I have read I wonder if it us too. Have I learnt the lessons from my own history, that God saves and works all things for our good? Has the church learnt the lessons from history?
But the thing that has really struck me is the failure of Belshazzar to learn the lessons of history. As Daniel explains the writing on the wall in verse 18 he begins by emphasizing the sovereignty of the very one that Belshazzar began the evening mocking. Daniel then gives (18-21) a history lesson on the life of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar's ancestor. But the emphasis is on God not Nebuchadnezzar: “the most high gave…he gave him…he was deposed…he was driven…until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign…” The lesson of Nebuchadnezzar's life that he finally acknowledge was that God rules not Nebuchadnezzar.
And then Daniel turns to Belshazzar who is held accountable; (22-23) the accusations begin “But you…” highlighting another contract between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. There follows the charge sheet against Belshazzar the repeated use of “you…” emphasizes the personal nature of the accusations God has against Belshazzar.
It is a sobering thought and as Hegel said “the only thing we learn from history is that we have learned nothing from history” That is an apt summary of Belshazzar, but as I have read I wonder if it us too. Have I learnt the lessons from my own history, that God saves and works all things for our good? Has the church learnt the lessons from history?
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