For Serious Pray-ers Only

“Lord, [would you] teach us to pray?" – Luke 11:1

I believe there are two kinds of men: Those who ask for directions, and those who don’t. I know which group I fall into, and I suspect it’s the case with 90 percent of the men out there: We just don’t like to ask for help. That holds true whether we’re driving somewhere we haven’t been before … or putting something together that has these three fateful words on the box: “Some Assembly Required.”

Pastor Chuck Swindoll tells the story of one Christmas Eve when his kids were little. After they were all in bed, he dragged out a box from its hiding place and proceeded to put it together on the living room floor. He didn’t bother to look at the instructions because the picture of the finished toy was right there on the box. Easy smeezy! Well, as Christmas morning approached, the toy didn’t look anything like the picture. So, he dug through the trash for the instructions, and at the top of the page were these words in small print: “Now that you’ve made a mess of things, please start over and follow these instructions.”

When it comes to finding our way to a new place or assembling one of our kids’ new toys, our families should cut us some slack when we make a mess of things. But when it comes to our relationship with Jesus Christ, there’s really no excuse for us to refuse to ask for instructions. That’s especially true when it comes to prayer.

Luke chapter 11 begins with Jesus doing what he did so often: He was spending time in personal prayer with God the Father. After he finished praying, one of Jesus’ apostles asked, “Lord, [would you] teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples?” (v. 1). And since prayer was such a high priority for Jesus, he was happy to oblige. He taught them a prayer which is usually called “The Lord’s Prayer.” This prayer is very short, but Jesus says more in these 34 words than most men could say in 340 words. And as you pray, here are some questions you should ask yourself:

#1: Is God your Father? Notice how Jesus addresses God in verse 2, at the start of the Lord’s Prayer. He simply calls Him “Father.” Maybe Jesus wanted us to understand that God is interested in a personal relationship with us. The Bible teaches that we are outside of God’s family, even enemies of God. And it’s only through Jesus Christ that we can be adopted into His family. If you have not chosen to put your faith in Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior and Lord, God isn’t your “Father.” But if you are a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, you DO have this amazing honor and privilege: to call God your Father.

#2: If God’s name revered in your words and in your home? The first thing Jesus teaches us to pray after addressing God as “Father” is “hallowed be Your name” (v. 2). This word, “hallowed,” comes from the word “holy.” It means revered, honored and held up high. God’s name should be set apart and held up higher than any name, any word, in the English language. So, we should never throw around God’s name as a curse word. We need to guard our own mouths against dishonoring God’s name. It seems a little old fashioned, but it’s really a timeless principle: Always, always, always revere God’s name.

#3: Do you submit to God’s agenda for the world? When Jesus teaches us to pray, “your kingdom come” (v. 2), he is reminding us that God’s agenda is so much more important than our agenda; God’s plans are so much better than our plans. When we pray “Your kingdom come,” we are saying, “Father, if my plans don’t line up with Yours, then please scrap all my plans. My life is not about building my kingdom; it’s about building Your kingdom. My life isn’t about bringing me glory; it’s about bringing You glory.” The purpose of prayer is not to get our will done in heaven. The purpose of prayer is to get God’s will done on earth and to say to God loud and clear: “I am ready and willing to be Ground Zero of Your will being carried out on earth.”

#4: Do you take your daily needs to the Father? Some Christians think it’s selfish to ever ask God for health or a job or a car or food. But Jesus teaches us to go to our Father with our daily needs by praying, “Give us each day our daily bread” (v. 3).  He doesn’t teach us to ask for next month’s food or even tomorrow’s food, but to go to God each and every day asking Him to meet our needs for the day. One of God’s characteristics is generosity. He loves to meet needs. So, if you have a need, take it to your Father in heaven. He delights in meeting the needs of His sons and daughters who love Him, trust Him and obey His word.

This prayer can teach us so much. And really, prayer provides the ultimate instructions. When we have needs, we should go to God first. When we need answers, we should go to God first for advice. When we need forgiveness, we should go to God first. When we know temptation is coming, we should go to God first to ask for protection against that temptation. I wonder if there is a room in heaven filled with strength and peace and material blessings that were never claimed here on earth by Christ’s followers because we never asked God to give them to us. We have not because we ask not.

  

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville and the author of "Holy Huldah: Lessons You Should Never Forget from Bible Characters You've Never Heard Of." For more information, visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com, and join us for our Worship Celebration Sundays at 10 a.m.

4 Steps to Changing a Life

““When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’” – Luke 10:8-9

In 1850, a gardener named John Gray moved to Edinburgh, Scotland. John was unable to find work as a gardener, so he took a job as a night watchman. To keep him company through the long winter nights, John found a watchdog: a little Skye Terrier named “Bobby.” Together John and Bobby became a familiar sight trudging through the old cobbled streets of Edinburgh. Through thick and thin, winter and summer, they were faithful friends … until John died of tuberculosis two years later.

John was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, and in the days afterward, Bobby touched the hearts of the local residents when he refused to leave his master’s grave. Every morning Bobby could be found at John’s graveside, even in the worst weather conditions. Before long, Bobby’s fame spread throughout Edinburgh. Crowds would gather at the entrance of the Kirkyard waiting for the one o’clock gun that signaled Bobby’s appearance as he left the grave for his midday meal. Bobby would follow a local cabinet maker to the same coffee house where his master used to eat, and each day at the coffee house, Bobby was given a meal.

The kind residents of Edinburgh took good care of Bobby, but still he remained loyal to his master. For fourteen years the dead man’s faithful dog kept constant watch over his grave until his own death in 1872. Bobby has a headstone at Greyfriars Kirkyard that reads: “Greyfriars Bobby. Died 14th January 1872. Aged 16 years. Let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all.”

In Luke 10, we’re given a close-up look at the loyalty and devotion of 72 of Jesus’ followers. The Lord hand-picked these men to go ahead of him into the towns of Judea to prepare the way for his coming. And in verses 5-9, he gave those faithful messengers—and you and me today—a four-step model for leading people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Step 1: Pray and speak kindness and peace into people’s lives.

In verse 5, Jesus tells the 72: “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this home.’” The Hebrew word for peace is “shalom,” and over the centuries it became the common greeting among Jews. As Chuck Swindoll explains, “The meaning [of shalom] goes deeper than just the absence of war, battles, or arguments. It carries the idea of wholeness and prosperity in every aspect of life…. The term shalom described the quality of life promised in the kingdom of God.” So, how does that translate into our culture today? Well, for you and me, Step #1 of effective witnessing means that we pray for the person we are hoping to share Christ with and that we speak kind and edifying words into their lives.

Step 2: Build meaningful relationships with others. Jesus told his messengers, “Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you … Do not move around from house to house” (verse 7). Sitting down to a meal together was a sign of friendship and acceptance in Jesus’ day. So, is it a good idea to spend time getting to know someone before we tell him about his need for Jesus? Yes, it is. If you’re like most followers of Christ, the longer you’re a Christian, the fewer meaningful relationships you have with nonChristians. So, it takes some effort to shoot a text to a co-worker, and say, “Hey, would you like to grab lunch today?” It takes a little effort to reach out to your next-door neighbor and say, “Hey, would you and your family like to come over to my house for dinner on Sunday night?”

It takes some effort, but Christians who follow Jesus’ command to build relationships with nonChristians will be blessed with more opportunities to lead people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Step 3: Meet felt needs. When Jesus told his 72 messengers in verse 9 to heal the sick, I’m convinced that he was saying, “Before you address the person’s greatest spiritual need, first address the person’s felt need.” A drowning woman isn’t ready to hear how Jesus saves until someone throws her a life preserver. A starving man isn’t ready to hear the message of salvation until his belly is full. In the same way, if you and I are able to meet a physical need for someone we hope to lead to Christ, we should meet that need. As a wise man once said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Step 4: Tell them about Jesus. Finally, Jesus said, “After you heal the sick who are there, tell them: ‘The kingdom of God is near you’” (verse 9). In other words, “Jesus is coming. And since Jesus is coming, salvation is coming. So, you’d better decide today who you’re going to follow and serve. Are you going to follow Jesus, or are you going to follow someone or something else? I hope and pray that you choose to follow and serve Jesus.”

Sharing our faith and doing good ministry can bring us great joy. But nothing compares to the joy of knowing Christ personally as Lord and Savior. He is our greatest joy. So, why do we share him with others? We do so, in part, so that they too can experience life’s greatest joy.

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church of Victorville and the author of "Holy Huldah! Lessons You'll Never Forget From Bible Characters You Never Heard Of." Visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com, and join us for our Worship Celebration Sundays at 10 a.m.

When You’re Running on Fumes

“He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.” – Luke 9:17

A football fan went to the Super Bowl one year. To his great surprise, the seat next to him was empty. At halftime, curiosity got the better of him, and he asked the man on the other side of the empty seat if it belonged to him. The stranger replied, “It was my wife’s seat, but she died.” The first man responded, “Oh! I’m so sorry to hear that. But I’m surprised one of your family members or friends didn’t jump at the chance to come to the game and sit in your wife’s seat.” “Yeah,” the other man said, “I thought it was strange too. But they all insisted on going to her funeral today.”

If we see an empty seat in the stadium on Super Bowl Sunday, we’re pretty surprised. But if we see an empty seat at a Sunday morning worship service … well, that doesn’t surprise us at all. It’s just a reality in our nation today that people get more excited about watching a bunch of men chase after a pigskin than they do about spending time with Jesus.

But in Luke 9, we see a crowd of over 5,000 people go chasing after Jesus to have him minister to them on a hillside. These people went out of their way to be with Jesus. On that day, on that hillside, it was standing room only. Thousands of people came hungry for Jesus, even if it wasn’t necessarily for all the right reasons. But by the end of that day, everyone in that crowd would come to one conclusion: Jesus Christ really satisfies.

It all started soon after Jesus’ disciples returned from carrying out his marching orders. He’d sent them to heal the sick, cast out demons and spread the gospel, and they’d probably been gone for weeks if not months. Now the disciples needed some 12-on-1 time alone with Jesus to recharge their batteries. They were on a green hillside, the perfect spot for some R & R. But soon their retreat was interrupted by a tiny little crowd … of several thousand people. The disciples were probably dismayed. But verse 11 tells us, “[Jesus] welcomed them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.”

Mark says that when Jesus saw the large crowd, “he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). Jesus and his disciples were physically tired, emotionally drained and badly in need of some spiritual refreshment—but when Jesus saw thousands of needy people coming his way, his heart broke for them. So he put aside his own tiredness and tapped his spiritual reserves as he spent hours loving on these people.

As evening approached, the disciples asked Jesus to send the people away so the crowd could get back to town and find food and lodging. Jesus replied with a command: “You give them something to eat” (v. 13). That was a tall order. In verse 14, Luke tells us that there were about 5,000 men in the crowd. But Matthew tells us that there were also women and children, so probably between 10,000 and 15,000 people had gathered there. Then Andrew stepped forward and said, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” (John 6:9).

The apostles’ feelings of helplessness are understandable, but remember, they’d just spent the last month or so healing diseases, curing sicknesses and driving out demons left and right. These disciples had been doing the impossible on a daily basis. But on this day, during their interrupted retreat, they froze up.

But Jesus took the little boy’s lunch, lifted it up to heaven and prayed. Then he began breaking the bread and handing it out to the disciples. And as the bread and fish were passed out, the disciples looked down in their baskets and saw more. So, they handed out that new bread and fish. No matter how many times they reached into the basket and removed bread and fish, bread and fish were still there! Everyone in the crowd of 10,000 ate. And when the leftovers were picked up, there were still 12 basketfuls of bread and fish.

It’s one of Jesus’ best-known miracles. What can it teach us today?

Well, sooner or later, needy people will interrupt your R & R. When that happens, Jesus calls you to tap your physical and spiritual reserves and serve them with compassion. Most parents of newborn babies have to learn this lesson immediately. A newborn baby has to be the most needy creature on the planet. If a baby has a dirty diaper, he screams. If a baby is hungry, she screams. If a baby has nothing better to do, he screams! Parents, by giving us babies, Jesus has taught us a lot about having compassion, hasn’t he? And he has called you and me to share that same kind of compassion with other needy people who come our way at the most inconvenient times.

Also, notice that the disciples’ power to do the impossible could never be separated from their ongoing dependence upon their Master. Both for them and for us, Jesus is the supply, and we are his conduits. And through him, we have the spiritual reserves we need in order to do his work. Remember, you and I are powerless to heal or save anyone. But Jesus desires to heal and to save through you and me—even when we need a break. Even when we’re running on fumes.

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 a.m.