Month: November 2015

Do you know Jesus’ disciples drove a Honda? The old King James Bible says they “all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication” (Acts 1:14).

Thank you. I’ll be here all week.

Afraid Honda would sue them for trademark infringement, modern Bible translators changed the words to “They all joined together constantly in prayer.”

Don’t google that. It was a joke.  They changed it because we’re not living in 1600s England.

But while today’s English translators made the words in this passage more modern, they may not have helped us understand Luke’s intent here. When most of us read new translations’ phrase “all joined together,” we picture disciples meeting together in the same geographic spot (e.g. the Upper Room). They did gather together in the same location, but Luke seems just as concerned to stress the disciples were of the same mind. In fact, the Greek word homothumadon in Luke 1:14 translated today as “all joined together” literally means “with one mind, with one accord, with one passion.”

Actually, Luke seems really concerned to stress the disciples were “with one accord.” Of the 12 times homothumadon occurs in the Greek New Testament, Luke uses the word 10 times. He REALLY wants you to understand this group of bickering, selfish, throw-each-other-under-the-bus men is now a group united in the same purpose. Gone are the days when James and John use mommy to get ahead of all the other disciples. Peter no longer assumes the other disciples might desert Jesus, but not him. The group no longer argues about who is the greatest.

In Acts 1:14 Luke wants us to understand the disciples were now all in agreement as they prayed.

But what were the disciples praying for?

I’m not certain, but I have a good guess…

Shortly before Jesus ascended into heaven, he told the disciples to “wait in Jerusalem for the gift my father promised” and went on to elaborate the disciples would “be baptized with the Holy Spirit”  (Acts 1:4-5). If Jesus tells you to wait for a gift he’s promised you, what would you be praying? I’d pray “Hurry up with that gift!!”

I believe the disciples were all united, all agreeing in a prayer asking Jesus to quickly baptize them with the Holy Spirit.

What’s my point with all this?

Read these words from Jesus: Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven (Matthew 18:19).

God answered the disciples’ prayer once they all became united, once they all started praying in agreement, once they all started praying the same prayer. Coincidence? Maybe. But I don’t think so. Consider one of the last things Jesus prayed before his crucifixion: “…that they [Christians] may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me” (John 17:23).

The book of Acts is the story of Christians united in purpose who go (technically, they’re sent) throughout the ancient world proclaiming God sent Jesus. Acts is the answer made visible to Jesus’ prayer in John 17:23. As soon as Jesus’ disciples became united, God sent the Holy Spirit [“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.” Acts 2:1] and 3000 people were saved after hearing God sent Jesus to the world.

Of course, God answers individuals’ secret prayers all the time. I’ve prayed things no one but God heard, and he answered them. But it’s possible God chooses to answer some prayers only after his followers have gathered together in corporate prayer when they pray the same prayers.

The fifth possible reason you’re not hearing God:

5. You don’t unite with other Christians in prayer.

Sure, you pray on your own. But you haven’t attended a church prayer meeting in years (if ever). You avoid praying with other Christians like the plague. You don’t have any “accords” in your prayer life. You’re fine gathering with other Christians to hear a sermon, sing  songs, have a church workday, or a potluck. But meet with other Christians to pray? For more than a few minutes?! No thank you.

Coincidentally [or not], you also feel like you don’t hear God. You wish he would tell you what to do about this uncertain situation or that crumbling relationship, but you don’t hear him sharing advice about any of it. And you don’t feel like he hears you, either. You’ve prayed that same prayer for 1 year…5 years…30 years, but it’s like God doesn’t hear you. At least, he’s not answering you. He’s not showing up.

In a message on prayer, Charles Spurgeon, a British pastor in the 19th century, once asked “How could we look for a Pentecost if we never met with one accord, in one place, to wait upon the Lord?”

Maybe God has heard you all along but you’ve ignored his command to meet with other Christians “with one accord, in one place, and wait upon the Lord.” You want God to give you a Pentecost. You want God to show up. But God first wants you to wait and gather with believers in prayer.

If you don’t feel like you hear God (or that he doesn’t hear you) and you rarely spend serious times with other Christians in prayer, try these suggestions:

• Attend your church’s next prayer meeting.
• Invite your family to pray together.
• Share needs with your Christian friends and take time praying for each other. Agree in prayer about each other’s needs.
• Wait in prayer – when possible, spend extended periods of time (30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours) in prayer with other Christians.

Depending on the translation, an English Bible has between 700,000 and 800,000+ words in it. [The internet gave me that stat, so it must be true!] The Bible is filled with instructions, stories of broken people God loves, examples of how God spoke to people in the past, and teachings on how Jesus came so we could be in right relationship with God.

Did you know the Bible mentions 3,237 people by name? Thanks again, Internet.  He spoke to many of those people. God ensured the words he spoke to people thousands of years ago would be recorded in the Bible. Why? Because those words were also meant for you and me to hear.

The third possible reason you’re not hearing God:

3. You’re not reading and studying your Bible.

Praying about something and feel like you haven’t heard God answer? Read how God responded to those 3,237 people in the Bible. It’s possible God’s answer hasn’t changed since someone faced your situation 3,500 years ago.

Suppose your spouse had to travel overseas for work. He or she sends you thousands of love letters, cards, emails, and texts but you don’t read a single one. Would it make sense to complain you haven’t heard from your spouse in a long time?

Suppose you’ve been given instructions on how to complete a project at work, but you don’t bother reading them. Would it make sense to complain you weren’t properly trained for your job?

Suppose you’re participating in a play. You’ve been given the script to read, understand, and learn your part. But you never bother opening the script. Would it make sense to complain you don’t know what you’re supposed to do on stage or what you’re supposed to say?

But I don’t understand what I’m reading!

This is a real issue for a lot of people. Maybe most people. They’ve given up reading the Bible because they just don’t understand what they’re reading. If that’s you, I hope you keep reading this blog. I’ll share several tips and encouraging thoughts on what to do when you feel discouraged and don’t understand the Bible. But for today, I’d like to share tips that will help you keep reading your Bible.

Tips to help you keep reading your Bible:

1- Follow a reading plan. 

Google will give you more Bible reading plans than you could imagine. Here’s links to various reading plans on biblestudytools.com and biblegateway.com.

2- Join or start a Bible study group.

A Bible study group can hold you accountable to regularly study the Bible. God may speak through other people in your group, helping you understand Bible passages you didn’t understand in your private reading. If you’re going through a Bible study book, the author may have many years experience of Bible study. Reading someone else’s Bible study insights is often helpful.

And you don’t need to know anything about the Bible to start your own Bible reading group. Just tell your friends you’d like to start a book club that uses the Bible as its main book. Pick the same book of the Bible to read and gather each week to discuss your thoughts.

3- Listen to the Bible.

The most popular free Bible apps for your smartphone have audio Bibles you can hear from within the app. You can find even more audio Bible versions online. Listen while you read along. Or listen while you’re walking or driving to work. I own two dramatized audio Bibles, The Word of Promise (New King James Version) and the NIV Dramatized Audio Bible. The music, sound effects, and multiple voices help me pay attention and keep track of what’s happening in the story.

4- Start with something easy.

If you start with Genesis and try to read your way through the Bible, you’ll likely burn out by the book of Numbers (or be grossed out by the book of Judges). If you’re new to regular Bible reading, start with something that’s easy. Read through the four Gospels and the book of Acts. Those five Biblical books are all written in ways where it’s easy to follow the plot. As a Christ-follower, you can’t go wrong becoming very familiar with the 4 books detailing the life of Christ. The book of Proverbs is also a great starting point. Read a chapter a day in Proverbs as you’re reading other parts of the Bible.

5- Watch the Bible

You can watch Bible movies that are word-for-word scripts from the gospels of Matthew (NIV translation), John (Good News Bible translation), Luke (King James Version) and the book of Acts (NIV translation). The popular TV mini-series The Bible and A.D. The Bible Continues are excellent for helping you visualize and understand important Bible stories.

 

Start reading! Keep reading! God ensured the Bible would be passed on through millennia because he wants to speak to you and me. Read your Bible daily to hear his voice.

If you don’t regularly read the Bible, experiment with my 5 tips above. See which ones are most helpful to you. It’s hard to do something you don’t want to do. And it’s hard to continue doing something when you don’t see any benefit in doing it. So I’ve saved my best advice for last: pray God gives you the desire to read the Bible and gives you the wisdom to understand what you read. 

Note: I wrote these posts to help the people I serve at my local church. We’ve started a two month journey of fasting and praying 4 prayers. But feel free to read along even if you’re not part of our church. I pray you find my words helpful.

The second possible reason you’re not hearing God:

2.  You’re walking in repeated patterns of sin.

The book of James in the New Testament says “the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). If everyone’s prayers are equally powerful and effective, why bother singling out “the prayer of a righteous person?” I could be wrong, but I think James is saying a righteous person’s prayers are more effective than an unrighteous person’s. When unrighteous people pray, James says they might just hear…crickets. No answer. No power. No effect.

A preacher named Isaiah who lived hundreds of years before Jesus said these words: “But your iniquities [a fancy word for “sins”] have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). Uh oh. If that’s true, things aren’t looking good for me. Could God essentially turn his back on me when I pray and give me the silent treatment because of my sins?

But…

James 5:16 has another sentence before the one about righteous people. Let me show you the whole verse:

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

You see what James did there? He clued us in on how he’s using the word “righteous.” While you and I were counting up our list of sins, trying to see if God put us on the good list or the naughty list, James already gave us the answer.

“Righteous” people are followers of Jesus who confess their sins to each other.

Why do I think that? Because James assumes the Christians in this church who confess their sins and pray for each other will be healed. In other words, their prayers will be powerful and effective.

Does Jesus want you to stop sinning? Of course! But your absence of sin doesn’t make you righteous. Righteousness is a gift you receive, not a characteristic you seek. A man named Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, said “righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe (Romans 3:22). Every time Christians confess their sins to each other and pray for each other is an opportunity to reaffirm the belief that only Jesus can heal their sinfulness.

Failure to confess your sins reveals the parts of your life you don’t think Jesus needs to save; you’re your own God in those areas.

If you’re giving God the silent treatment by not regularly confessing your sins to Jesus and other believers, don’t be surprised when God gives you the silent treatment, too.

If you’ve continually prayed about something but feel God is silent, ask Jesus if you’re walking in repeated patterns of sin. If he says “No,” ask Jesus to help you wait patiently until he answers your prayer.

But if Jesus reveals patterns of sin in your life, it’s time to repent. Confess to God how you have continually ignored him. Repent of your sin. Then confess your sins to other believers.  Seek help as you resist those sinful patterns, not because you’re striving for “righteousness” but because you want to honor the Jesus who forgave all your sins.

Note: I wrote these posts to help the people I serve at my local church. We’ve started a two month journey of fasting and praying 4 prayers. But feel free to read along even if you’re not part of our church. I pray you find my words helpful.

Prayers #1, #3, and #4 in our prayer journey assume God speaks to us today…assume he will talk to us about areas of obedience and about our future.

But what if I don’t hear God speak to me?

If you’re someone who feels you never hear God speak to you, I’ve thought of 8 possible reasons you’re hearing God. This list is not exhaustive but it’s a good starting point.

For the next 8 posts, we will consider a few possibilities.

The first possible reason you’re not hearing God:

1. You’re not a Christian.

Jesus said “My sheep listen to my voice” (John 10:27). Jesus implies that he uses his voice to speak to his sheep. If you never hear God talking to you, maybe you’re not one of his sheep.

Am I saying God only talks to Christians? Of course not. God speaks to people all over the earth every day in all sorts of ways. But Jesus makes clear “his sheep” (read: “his followers”) are those who listen to his voice. To be a follower of Jesus is to be someone who listens to him talking. So if you never hear Jesus talking to you, it seems fair to ask if you’re a Christian at all.

It’s possible you’ve deceived yourself into some sort of ‘salvation by works.’ You think you’re a Christian because you go to church, put money in the offering plate, because you’re a nice person, because you’ve never cheated on your spouse, etc. But if you haven’t put your trust in Jesus as the one and only person who can save you and forgive you of all your sins, you’re not one of his sheep. If you don’t daily follow Jesus wherever he leads, the way sheep follow their shepherd, maybe you’re not a Jesus-follower at all.

Stop now and ask Jesus to show you if you are really one of his followers. I believe that’s a question he is happy to answer. If you hear him say “Yes,” tell Jesus you’d like to hear his voice more clearly. If you hear him say “No,” tell Jesus you want to start following him now. Tell Jesus you want him to take control of every part of your life.

After you’ve talked to Jesus, send me a message to share your prayer. I’d love to talk about your new journey following Jesus.