Pray For Peace, Work for Justice

Ezekiel the prophet is known for many things, but one of his most popular moments is his vision of the wheels.  Here is this strange vision from heaven with four strange looking creatures and a great chariot of fire in the sky.  This is not about UFO's or aliens.  Ezekiel is giving this strange and powerful vision of God to broken people in exile.  The vision is scary, difficult and not safe or comfortable.  One of the greatest challenges for the church today is to regain a sanctified imagination and have a scriptural vision from God once again.

If Ezekiel vison means anything, it means God is on the move.  God can not be tamed or domesticated or pushed to the fringes of society.  Even when the world pressures God's people to conform and act like everybody else, the powerful Spirit of God is moving us to sweet surrender to build into us a daring and bold faith.

Ezekiel name literally means "God strengthens."  We can do nothing on our own without the help of the Holy Spirit of God.  The book of Ezekiel wants to strip us of all our self-sufficiency, our pride, our self-righteous illusions.  We are to no longer be preoccupied with self but only with God.  When this happens, compassion for others leads to sacrificial service and giving.

The whirlwind of conflict and social upheaval is all around us.  Just this past week I dealt with marital strife among couples, children in jail, and attempted suicide, a child in critical condition, and a family whose father is in a coma.  We live in a world of chaos and deception.  God is on the move and sometimes in the most unusual ways.  One family prayed their teenage creating havoc would get help and their child got arrested.  It may not have been the way this family thought God would answer the prayer but now that child is actually getting some help.

Do we choose the path of least resistance or do we take the fiery path of God to places of the unfamiliar? The book of Ezekiel not only calls us to a higher vision of God but it also transforms God's people into a new creation.  All the sudden justice issues really matters and are not just ideas to share and talk about.  When it comes to standing up for the poor and powerless against the bullies and powerful of the world, it is easier to stay out of the fight, back away, and become cowards.  The Bible will not leave us where we are or let us easily off the hook.  Are we resisting the empire and the status quo or are we inadvertently supporting them?  When I pray for peace, am I also working for justice?

War Room

I got to see a special screening of the new movie War Room.  The movie is about a family with the common day struggles of every day life.  It challenges Christians to go into their pray closets and allow God to fight their battles for them.  What is unique about this movie is it even gives prayer strategies in how to take authority in Jesus name over the enemy and pray boldly for your family and others. 

Spiritually, this movie is very timely for a generation of believers who have forgotten how to pray and take prayer for granted.  Prayer is the life blood of the believer and my prayer is people of this generation would take the mantle of prayer and run with it as they pass the prayer mantle to others.  Others need to be coached or shown how to pray boldly and how to keep a prayer journal or write down one's prayers to truly see and remember what God is actually doing in your midst.

I enjoyed the movie and like most Christian movies, when people do things God way, things turn around or have a happy ending.  I would like to see a smaller narrative that shows a Christian family following Christ and still have struggles and what happens when you don't see answer to your prayers?  What does discipleship look like in the dark night of the soul or in a spiritual desert?

What is Prayer?

Jared Brock goes all over the world asking people what is prayer?  He asks Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox monastics, and yes, even gets to amazingly ask the Pope.  One person he tried to ask but simply could not get through their security was Billy Graham.  Maybe Billy Graham has better security than the Pope? (smile)

Some of the answers he received made him disappointed, sad, mad, happy, amazed, and stirred his own faith to grow in this important area of prayer.  My initial response to Mr. Brock's question after I prayed is simply this:  Prayer is waking up to the presence of God within you and the presence of God everywhere around you.

There it is in its simplicity and complexity all joined together like one.  Here are some prayer responses he got from different groups of people. 

Can you identity who they are?


Pray the Shema: "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one" (orthodox Jew)

Prayer is silence before the Almighty (Monastic tradition)

Prayer is to become one with God (Christian mystic)

Prayer the Jesus prayer:  "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,
a sinner" (Eastern Orthodox)

Prayer is opening up your heart to God (Pope Francis)

Prayer is to make the love of God the end of all actions (Brother Lawrence)

Prayer is talking to God like a little child (Taize community)

Prayer is holding someone in the light of God's grace (George Fox)

Pray until you can't pray anymore. 
Then take the Bible and read until you can't read anymore.
After that, take a hymnbook and sing until you can't sing anymore.
Then just sit there quietly and let God love you (Dick Eastman)

Daily Prayer

O Sovereign Lord,
Instruct my ignorance
my only confidence is in your mercy.
Put your words in my mouth so I may speak
Put your love in my heart so I may act
Cloak me with your humility to be silent before you.

Show me my blind-spots and deliver me from the evil one.
Overcome my faults with patience
Overcome my temptations with prayer
Overcome the world with your Word.

Overflow my heart with such gratitude that I share it with everyone.
Renew child-like faith in me every day.
Guard me from indifference or a critical spirit.
Help me see the miracle of lives transformed by your presence.
Teach me that sorrows and suffering are your blessings in disguise.
Align me with your heavenly calendar to bear witness of you every hour.
Amen.