Jesus asked the man sitting near the healing pool, "Do you really want to be healed?" The man had been sick and paralyzed his entire life and could not understand the question. He felt like saying "Duh! Why do you think I sit here everyday?" Instead, he said, "I cannot get into the pool to receive healing because I have no one to carry me there and everyone crowds ahead of me". In other words, I am a victim of circumstances and there is nothing I can do about it except hope and wish that things would get better. Do you ever say things like that or feel that way? I do, all the time. Sometimes, many times, my mindset is one of "I'm just not lucky enough, or skillful enough, or brave enough....... to have what I want, what I need". And by thinking so, I confirm my fate.
By thinking this way and answering in this way, I'm almost defending why my life must stay stuck. Some might observe that perhaps I want to stay unhappy. Some might even venture that I LIKE being unhappy, that I get some kind of sick pleasure out of misery. I believe that this is certainly possible in the case of many individuals, myself included. Sometimes there's just nothing like a good "crying in one's beer" because "misery loves company". We have many sayings in our country that point to this fundamental identification with enjoying our self pity and the pity parties it engenders. This all points back to the false self and false importance of self that we have created.
Jesus told us what is important: loving the Lord God with everything you have and loving everyone else as much as Jesus loved us. So, love, obedience and service to others, that's important stuff. Everything else is small stuff. Paradoxically, when one does those things that Jesus says to do, abundance flows into one's life and there is little to be miserable about even if one were to regress to that point. Ironically, accepting and surrendering to whatever situation or circumstance God has brought into our lives at the moment; embracing the "bad", "difficult" or "challenging" things in our lives; moving toward instead of away from those things that upset or scare us or anger us, inevitably lifts us above the things of this world, especially if our focus is on those things that started this paragraph. Instead of blaming the darkness for your plight, bring in the light.
So, how would you answer Jesus' question? Do you really want to be healed? If so, desire that it be so, have faith that it will be so and it will be so. Do not harbor anger, resentments, or self pity. Accept your situation without making it your identity. Allow yourself the possibility of healing. Accept the forgiveness freely offered to you by your Father in heaven and let the healing begin!
Monday, June 18, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
The Power of Prayer
Do you believe that prayer really works? I believe in it more and more everyday. Especially when your prayer is directed toward helping someone else as most prayer should be. Just last night as we were returning from a concert, a guy flew past us on the highway on his chopper motorcycle going at least 100 mph with no helmet or other protective gear. In the past, I would have thrown out curses and resentment at this person for being such an "idiot" and cutting me off and endangering everyone around him. This time I prayed sincerely for God to do something, anything, to slow this motorcyclist down. I kept praying as he disappeared in the distance. About 5 minutes later, we passed the motorcyclist pulled over on the side of the highway. He looked fine and I praised God that the prayer was answered and this man had slowed down and possibly saved his and maybe others lives. Now as I think about it I think that possibly we should have stopped and offered assistance, but I guess I still have fears about stopping to render aid on a highway at night with someone who might be armed or otherwise bent on causing me some harm. At any rate, I was glad that he was temporarily slowed down and grateful, and frankly surprised, that my prayer had been answered.
This type of thing happens everyday. God really does listen to us when we talk to Him. Jesus says God loves to hear the sound of our voices. I know that sometimes, many times, what I pray for, even though it is something good for someone else, will not necessarily come to pass. That is why I always try to remember to pray " If it be Your will". My puny mind cannot possibly understand all of the implications and situations around what I am praying for and God may have a better plan in mind. It really helps me to think of God as Father and address Him in that way as Jesus did most of the time. I know that my Father knows what is best for me and what I ask for isn't always what is best for me so I have to surrender my will to His and expect that He will do what is right in my behalf.
The prayer I have on the top of my list right now is to help me learn to serve others better, think less of myself, and also to draw people to me who are far from God and allow me to be a conduit through which they can take a step toward a relationship with the Father. I'm a very selfish individual and I think far too much about my needs and wants and I get angry and resentful when my needs and wants are not met. This is very un-Jesus-like. I'm currently reading the book "How to Be Like Jesus" by Pat Williams and through this reading I'm getting a much more personal picture of what Jesus was like. The book takes most of the stories involving Jesus in the Bible and and clarifies the context of what was really going on. I tell you, this has tended to make me even more in awe of the way Jesus spoke and acted. As the book says, it is impossible to truly be like Jesus and yet paradoxically, this is exactly what we are called to do. Of course it is all summed up in the commandment to love the Lord God with all of our hearts and to love our neighbors as Jesus loved us. If we all did that every minute of every day, the world would not have the problems it has. Even though loving the Lord our God is the biggest commandment, it seems to me that it is the second part of that, the loving of one's neighbors (meaning everyone esle in the world) that really makes the difference. There are many religions around the world that claim to love God fiercely to the point that they are willing to sacrifice their lives in suicidal deaths because they think this is pleasing to God. What they are not doing though is loving their neighbors. Why not? Because they believe their neighbors are Godless and heathens and deserve to be destroyed. This is not how Jesus lived. Time and time again, Jesus socialized with, served, loved and helped those who sought to destroy Him. He was full of nothing but compassion for them and never gave up on the possibility of their redemption. Some of his closest apostles were in this category.
Today in church, we saw videos of church members telling their stories of redemption. One of the most moving to me was the beautiful pageant queen who was disgusted by the "ugly" guy in the store who had many tattoos and piercings and black makeup, etc.. Although she originally rejected him, through God's guidance she realized her error and went back to that store and saw him as Jesus did, as a child through a parent's eyes, and felt love and compassion for someone who was obviously hurting. So she told him that Jesus loved him and cared about him. What courage that took!!! I'm still trying to get that kind of courage. Today, in my attempts at poker ministry, a guy at my table about halfway thru the game apologized for his bad play because he said he was drunk. This was about 1:30pm so most at the table ignored him or said "So what?, You're in a bar, what do we care?" But I also heard him say that he had been drinking all morning. I knew at that moment that this person was deeply troubled by something. Yet all I could think of to do was to look at him in the eyes, hold his gaze, smile and say "It's going to get better...... whatever is going on in your life". He seemed to acknowledge that I knew he was troubled, but that was it. Why didn't I offer to pray with him or give him my phone number or the name of the church to call later? I don't know. I was afraid that everyone would think I was bringing church to the table and it would be too much. I should have done more and that is my prayer, to help me do better in situations like that. I know without a doubt that God listens to my prayers and so I expect to get better as each day progresses.
If you have trouble remembering to pray, don't think of it as prayer in the formal sense. I try to just talk to God much as I would if I were just talking to myself. But rather than just aimless self-talk, I try to speak to God with intention and ask for His assistance in ALL of the things in my life day to day, even the seemingly small and inconsequential things. He listens, and he loves to hear our voice. So talk to Him!!!!
This type of thing happens everyday. God really does listen to us when we talk to Him. Jesus says God loves to hear the sound of our voices. I know that sometimes, many times, what I pray for, even though it is something good for someone else, will not necessarily come to pass. That is why I always try to remember to pray " If it be Your will". My puny mind cannot possibly understand all of the implications and situations around what I am praying for and God may have a better plan in mind. It really helps me to think of God as Father and address Him in that way as Jesus did most of the time. I know that my Father knows what is best for me and what I ask for isn't always what is best for me so I have to surrender my will to His and expect that He will do what is right in my behalf.
The prayer I have on the top of my list right now is to help me learn to serve others better, think less of myself, and also to draw people to me who are far from God and allow me to be a conduit through which they can take a step toward a relationship with the Father. I'm a very selfish individual and I think far too much about my needs and wants and I get angry and resentful when my needs and wants are not met. This is very un-Jesus-like. I'm currently reading the book "How to Be Like Jesus" by Pat Williams and through this reading I'm getting a much more personal picture of what Jesus was like. The book takes most of the stories involving Jesus in the Bible and and clarifies the context of what was really going on. I tell you, this has tended to make me even more in awe of the way Jesus spoke and acted. As the book says, it is impossible to truly be like Jesus and yet paradoxically, this is exactly what we are called to do. Of course it is all summed up in the commandment to love the Lord God with all of our hearts and to love our neighbors as Jesus loved us. If we all did that every minute of every day, the world would not have the problems it has. Even though loving the Lord our God is the biggest commandment, it seems to me that it is the second part of that, the loving of one's neighbors (meaning everyone esle in the world) that really makes the difference. There are many religions around the world that claim to love God fiercely to the point that they are willing to sacrifice their lives in suicidal deaths because they think this is pleasing to God. What they are not doing though is loving their neighbors. Why not? Because they believe their neighbors are Godless and heathens and deserve to be destroyed. This is not how Jesus lived. Time and time again, Jesus socialized with, served, loved and helped those who sought to destroy Him. He was full of nothing but compassion for them and never gave up on the possibility of their redemption. Some of his closest apostles were in this category.
Today in church, we saw videos of church members telling their stories of redemption. One of the most moving to me was the beautiful pageant queen who was disgusted by the "ugly" guy in the store who had many tattoos and piercings and black makeup, etc.. Although she originally rejected him, through God's guidance she realized her error and went back to that store and saw him as Jesus did, as a child through a parent's eyes, and felt love and compassion for someone who was obviously hurting. So she told him that Jesus loved him and cared about him. What courage that took!!! I'm still trying to get that kind of courage. Today, in my attempts at poker ministry, a guy at my table about halfway thru the game apologized for his bad play because he said he was drunk. This was about 1:30pm so most at the table ignored him or said "So what?, You're in a bar, what do we care?" But I also heard him say that he had been drinking all morning. I knew at that moment that this person was deeply troubled by something. Yet all I could think of to do was to look at him in the eyes, hold his gaze, smile and say "It's going to get better...... whatever is going on in your life". He seemed to acknowledge that I knew he was troubled, but that was it. Why didn't I offer to pray with him or give him my phone number or the name of the church to call later? I don't know. I was afraid that everyone would think I was bringing church to the table and it would be too much. I should have done more and that is my prayer, to help me do better in situations like that. I know without a doubt that God listens to my prayers and so I expect to get better as each day progresses.
If you have trouble remembering to pray, don't think of it as prayer in the formal sense. I try to just talk to God much as I would if I were just talking to myself. But rather than just aimless self-talk, I try to speak to God with intention and ask for His assistance in ALL of the things in my life day to day, even the seemingly small and inconsequential things. He listens, and he loves to hear our voice. So talk to Him!!!!
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