Removing Love's Obstacles

Last week we prayed for all we need to live into what we hope: the glory Jesus shares with us. Because “we are children of God, and if children, heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:16-17), we make every effort to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord” (Col. 1:10), compelled by our destiny to be who are truly in Jesus to our Father’s delight.

How can we live up to God’s pleasure in every moment? Such a calling is weighty and, honestly, a bit overwhelming at times. We each struggle daily to be in action and attitude the kind of people we hope to be, much less who God desires us to be. So what are we to do?

The author of Hebrews points the way for us,

…let us…lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before, looking to Jesus… (Heb. 12:1b-2a)

The laying aside is not a matter of moral perfection but the removal and overcoming of “all the obstacles of God’s love.” Every mis-weighted expectation and understanding of faith, every internal inkling of rebellion that would have us believe that God is not ever-with us, not wholly for us, that somehow we could exist in anything but His exhaustive love, removed and overcome…by looking to Jesus. Our effort is to look at Jesus and know the love of the Father. And with eyes fixed on Jesus, lay down any idea, expectation, or desire that would clash with the truth of His life and love given for and to us.

That is how we will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. And that is why we pray these words together—with and for one another:

Spirit of Truth, speak to our hearts and minds what is true. Guide us to all the truth of who Jesus is and who we are and are able to be in Him.

Helper, teach us the Way, the Truth, the Life that is Jesus. Bring to our remembrance all He has said, and even more so, all He has done for our sake to the Father’s approval.

Counselor, be with us and show us what mis-weighted expectations and understanding of life with God we carry. Advocate, examine our hearts for grievous ways that fall short of God’s glory for us.

Holy Spirit, strengthen us with your power to lay aside what you reveal so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, removing and overcoming all obstacles that would keep us from comprehending the breadth and length and height and depth of Jesus' love which surpasses knowledge.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or imagine, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in Christ City Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Hope of Glory

Hope is an animating force, energizing us to strive for the fullness and fulfillment of our faith: glory. More precisely, “the glory of our Master, Jesus Christ,” which we share by faith (2 Thess. 2:13-14). In Jesus, we are glorified, our lives revealing the splendor of our Father’s lineage in the delight of His affection and desires.

“The promise of glory,” that invigorates our daily efforts of faith, is, says C.S. Lewis, “the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.”

Because it is so, hope compels us towards the fullness and fulfillment of what is promised, a life pleasing to our Father. And so we pray in faith for all we need for such a life today—a prayer from Colossians 1 for ourselves, our faith family, and our friends in Jesus.

Father, give us wise minds and spirits attuned to Your will. With hearts attuned to Yours, let us acquire a thorough understanding of the ways You work. May we live well for the Master, making Him proud as we work hard in Your garden. Father, as we learn more and more how You work, let that knowledge shape how we do our work.

Grant us the strength to strive with hope for the long haul—not a grim strength of gritted teeth, but the glory-strength that Jesus gives. Your strength endures the unendurable and spills into joy.

Thank You, Father, for making us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that You have for us.

In Jesus, our hope of glory, we pray. Amen.

Knowing You're Known

Eugene Peterson once commented, “The central item in the religious life isn't my knowledge of God but his knowledge of me.” What matters most for you, for me, for our friends and neighbors is not that we figure out who we are or what we are made for, but that we know that God already knows. And His knowledge is not merely a designer’s knowledge of his design, but knowledge of presence. His knowing of us comes from His ever being with us. To know we are known—crafted and pursued—so intricately and intimately is truly too much to take in! Which is why we are encouraged through Psalm 139 to speak in prayer what is always true, so that the wonderful knowledge of being known might sink deeply into our hearts and be lived through our hands.

Let’s pray together with the psalmist,

Father, you investigate my life;
you get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there,
then up ahead and you’re there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can’t take it all in!

Ask...Receive...Joy Full

On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus attempted to explain what life after his death & resurrection would look like for his disciples. As is often the case, the description prior to the experience felt a bit hazy for Jesus’ friends. Only after the “little while” of his departure (Jn. 16:16-18), could they see clearly what was so plainly depicted prior.

Luckily for us, we look back on Jesus’ words from a more advantageous standpoint (Heb. 11:39-40), getting to experience for ourselves the communion of the Helper’s declaring conversation (Jn. 16:5-15). It is this revelation in relationship—our abiding in word, in love, in obedience (Jn. 15:1-10)—where the joy of Jesus completes our joy (Jn. 15:11) and will never be taken from us (Jn. 16:22). It is here, in the place our souls long to be, where Jesus invites us to, “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (Jn. 16:24)

So, let’s ask…and receive…that we might live full of joy.

Father, in the name of—with the heart of and wholly committed to— Jesus, and in the Spirit of Jesus, we ask; Search us! Know our hearts! Examine us and know our disquieting thoughts! See if there is any way in which we grieve Your heart and hurt others as well as ourselves. And by your Spirit of Truth, lead us in the way ancient and everlasting! Amen.

From Place to Place

This Sunday we move our Gathering from one place to another. And while the physical change has been bitter-sweet, sweaty(!), and even a bit energizing; the truth is, the place we are going is not the real place we yearn to be. We, like the psalmist, have a driving hunger that leads to our singular request,

“One thing have I asked of the LORD,

that will I seek after:

that I may dwell in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD

and to meditate in his temple.”

(Psalm 27:4)

So this week, as we go from place to place, let us seek together the place our souls long to be, and find that the goodness of the LORD we seek, we “shall look upon…in the land of the living” (Ps. 27:13). Let us pray together:

Father, our souls cry out to you, asking you for that which we need most, to be with You. Let that place, the goodness and beauty and wonder, the strength and light and salvation, of Your presence be like a magnet pulling our hearts and minds toward Yours. And in that place, may our lives reflect the goodness, grace, and glory that shines upon us, a beacon to those in our lives to find their lives in You. Through Jesus we enter, and stay, and pray. Amen.

A Storied Blessing

Having experienced the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom in ways only imagined through children’s eyes, Jesus’ first disciples return to tell him all about their fantastical adventure (Lk. 10:1-11, 17). to which Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and prayed,

“I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.; yes, Father, for so it pleased you well.” (Lk. 10:21)

What pleased the Father? What did he hide from the wise and reveal to little children? The answer, at least in part, is that the disciples realized in faith and sight that they were caught in a real and grand story. The story of salvation…theirs and their neighbors (Lk. 10:18-20). In step with Jesus’ joyful proclamation, let us pray together a Storied Blessing over one another this week. This prayer is quoted from S.D. Smith.

May the Ancient Author bless and keep you. May the Holy Hero be your rescuer forever. May the Story find you, through every painful passage, at home with him in the end. May you delight in his love and exalt in his victory then. May you always aspire to live as a character you admire. May you know the delight of finding out that the Story isn’t mainly about you. May you know and love the truth and be brave to obey it. May you make a hard dart at the darkness with whatever light you bring, reflecting, like the moon, a light far brighter than you own. May God give you joy!

Plunging Prayer

Jesus’ final prayer from the cross in Luke’s gospel is not a resigning exhale, a giving up of himself to the circumstances, but rather, a deep trusting breath as he plunged fully into His person and place. Here, on the cross, was where he was meant to be, where only he could be. And here, is where his true identity and role within salvation’s history would be truly known.

The same is true for us on our “daily crosses” (Lk. 9:23). There, when we give up, losing our self (absorption, fulfillment, ambition) for the sake of another, we find our true selves (Lk. 9:24). So, this week, as we follow Jesus to our daily crosses, let us pray with Jesus from the cross. Taking in a deep trusting breath, and plunging ourselves wholly into who we are and what we are a part of today.

With Jesus, we pray today, and every day,

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!

Praying Unto Death

The way of Jesus, living a life in step with our Father’s heart and participating in His acting in the world, always requires a giving up of self. A willful dying of self-absorption and self-fulfillment for the sake of another (others), is always where Jesus leads us, for it is the destination that Jesus himself journeyed.

Choosing to move towards such sacrifice requires prayer. Not merely a prayer to know if we should go that way, but prayer to keep our hearts from the temptation of death to fight against it and to keep us from the enemy’s evils in an attempt to convince us that death is the end. This week, let us follow Jesus to our daily crosses, praying with Jesus as we enter the death of self.

As you pray (for yourself and for others you know who are the point of death of “self”), call to mind specifically where you are going. What “death” is our Father leading you towards? Then pray the prayer 3xs slowly. Pausing after each prayer, allowing your heart to be exposed and protected, and your ears open to the Comforter’s voice.

Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me [or ____]. Nevertheless, not my will, but your good and perfect and perfecting will be done.

With Jessus I pray.

Praying With Jesus

Jesus does so many things for us, the least not being that he prays for us. Yes, Jesus prays for us.

Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:34)

We do not just pray to Jesus; Jesus prays for us. Consider that for a moment. Jesus right now is entering the presence of the Father for you, seeking our Father’s will and favor and peace and protection for you. Praying that you would know His voice and recognize His presence throughout the day.

With the image of Jesus praying for you in your mind, let us pray together for a heart of prayer.

Jesus, thank you for praying for me, right now. Open my heart to prayer, to your prayers and to praying with you. Let my prayers join yours, and my life be an answer to your prayers. In your name. Amen.

Sharing the Story

Lord willing, Jesus’ words, his stories, and his conversations through his Samaritan travels has opened our eyes to the vast and amazing realities taking place within those all around us, even the ones we easily overlook (or purposely avoid). The word for this often unseen reality is Kingdom: God calling, welcoming, sustaining, doing justice, saving. “Kingdom,” contends Eugene Peterson, “is what is going on all the time, whether we are aware of it or not.”

Last week we prayed in faith, with the conviction of Kingdom’s unseen realities, a simple prayer that gets our lives in on Kingdom action. This week, we pray in faith, with the assurance of Kingdom’s hope, another simple prayer that keeps our lives active in Kingdom activity.

Let’s pray together these words adapted from the Tell It Slant Study Guide.

God of history, your saving love is the plot of humanity’s story. Your Kingdom coming, the reality shaping our daily lives. Keep us in the middle of your story and boldly sharing your story with others. In Jesus. Amen.

A "Jesus Prayer"

There is a prayer, the words of which have been spoken aloud and uttered in silence by Jesus’ followers for millennia. A prayer voiced in the clarity of faith. Words whispered when no other words can be found.

Today, this week, and for the remainder of our lives in the Kingdom coming, let us join in this “Jesus Prayer" with our sisters and brothers throughout history and the world.

“Jesus! Make atonement for me, a sinner.”

Behold...the Kingdom of God is in the Midst of You

“Apocalyptic language,” says Eugene Peterson, “is a language for breaking open awareness of the tremendous energies of good and evil contending with one another beneath the apparently benign skin of the ordinary.” It is this type of imagination shocking language which precedes Jesus’ parable on persistent prayer (see Luke 17:20-18:8). Our persistent ‘cry to him day and night’ is less of a demand for God to do what He ‘speedily’ delights to do, but a cultivating of urgency in the ordinary. Praying that fosters ‘faith on earth’ that realizes the “Kingdom is what is going on all the time, whether we are aware of it or not.”

So, let us join in the prayer of the saints, “How long, O Lord?” until our faith sees His working justice everywhere around us—and through us: ‘behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.’ (Lk. 17:21).

The following prayer is adapted from the Tell It Slant study guide.

Father who reveals. You have shown us yourself—your character, your actions, your heart—in your Scripture, and most clearly, in your Son. And yet, your persistent revelation is often quiet, subtle, almost impercievable amid the noises of all that opposes. Admittedly, in the apparent quietness has us wondering at times if you are listening, if you are good, if you will act.

Shock our imagination! Light up the sky, like lightening flashing from one side of the horizon to the other! Awaken our hearts to the eternal in our midst, that we might see your kingdom and hear your thundering (if still and quiet) voice, and never give up praying to you until faith is sight.

We pray this in the name of Lamb who was slain, who lived and lives and will come again. Amen.

Looking But Not Seeing

There is a way of living life where we look at everything and see nothing. Like the “rich man” in Jesus’ story from Sunday, we can look at our circumstances (both good and bad) and never see God’s activity. Likewise, we can look at our neighbor (or spouse or child or coworker or friend) and never truly see them, recognizing their humanity, their need, and their purpose. Too often, in the self-absorbed, always consuming world in which we live, we look but do not see. So this week, let’s pray together for the true sight of the One who always sees us.

Father, thank you that you always see us. That you recognize us, dignify us, care for us, love us. Father, forgive us for looking around at our circumstances and fail to see your activity—your generoisty and your grace through others. Father, forgive us for looking at those around us yet failing to see who they are to you, and so failing to relate to them as you relate to us. Father, let us see, truly see the world of grace and wonder in which we live and in which we are made to contribute. Give us eyes that recognize you and recognize others who you see. Through Jesus we ask, hope, and are seen. Amen.

What's Next

As I mentioned in this week’s pastoral note, summer is a complex season! While it is billed as a time of rest and relaxation, just as often it is a time of transition. A time when we are anticipating (with excitement and/or anxiousness) what is next, but also a time when it feels like little can be done to prepare or get us to what is next! So, when we feel the draw of the future and the drag of the present, what are we to do? Perhaps, as I’m experiencing this summer, we are to let such emotions lead us to the source of our fulfillment. Rather than praying for the future, the thing that’s next, we seek communion with the One who’s already where we are going (see Ps. 34).

Will you pray with me as one who feels the “other” emotions of summer, or as one sharing the burden of your fellow siblings—both are welcomed and needed!

Father, You meet me more than halfway! Where I am going, that's where You've come from!

What have I to fear? Why am I so anxious, so restless, in such a hurry?! It's certainly not because I haven't tasted and seen Your goodness. Oh, how good You are!

So, search me, Father who knows me and loves me. See clearly my heart and its longing for more of You, and lead me along the Way to tomorrow in You.

Through Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Re-Gifting

What does God expect from a life of faithfulness, a life lived in communion with Him? It seems, as Jesus showed us in Luke 14:1-24, that he expects us to share with others what we have received from Him: hospitality. He expects us to extend the dignity, rest, and provision of relationship offered to those who need it and are willing to receive it.

Whether we find ourselves as ones in need of such hospitality today, or having received it ourselves and now in a position to re-gift our blessing, let us pray together these words adapted from the Tell It Slant Study Guide.

Gracious Father, Giving Son, Guiding Spirit, you have invited us into relationship with you, preparing a feast and home for us with you. In the ultimate act of hospitality—elevating our dignity, securing the rest of sure identity and forever provision—you have adopted us as your own children. Out of gratitude toward you, let us be invitaional toward others, extending and re-gifting the same kind of hospitality that you have extended to us in Jesus. Amen.

A Vinedresser's Prayer

Jesus’ parable about the patient vinedresser in Luke 13:6-9, is one of my favorites. Here, our heavenly Father is described as one who has true expectations for our life, is proactive in cultivating our fruitfulness, and is uncommonly patient with that to which He tends so devoutly attends.

Not only does Jesus’ parable reveal to us the nature of our Father’s expectations towards us, but also a revelation of our expectations towards one another. So, this week, let’s praise the Vinedresser and pray that we might be more like Him towards those “fig trees” in our lives—including ourselves!

Let us pray together this prayer, adapted from the Tell It Slant Study Guide.

Father, how can you be so patient? So patient with right expectations for Your creation and for Your children to bear fruit though no fruit is being produced.

Thank you that you do not quickly give up on us, but attend to the soil of our lives so that your seed might produce the expected bounty.

Help us, patient and gracious Vinedressor, to be as caring as You towards those in our lives who seem to be bearing no fruit—our family, our friends, our co-workers, and neighbors. Let our right expectations for Your seed, what You have planted in them, be met with a the patience and willingness to labor that You show us.

May Your loving patience and tender care produce fruit that last—in our lives and those aroud us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Needing Grace

Jesus’ parable of the Barn Builder in Luke 12 is not an attack on prudent money management, but rather a reminder of how desperate we are for grace, and how abundantly our Father pours out all that we need. So this week, let us pray together these words adapted from the Tell It Slant study guide:

Father of grace, all things are yours and you have no need of anything. Out of Your great wealth, You pour out grace upon grace. But in our poverty, we play at wealth, pretending that we are and have all that we need. And yet, in the false wealth of security, safety, happiness, distraction, our coveting hearts are always wanting more. Show us our real neediness that we may open ourselves up once again to the abundance of Your grace. Through Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Praying To Show The Way

I don’t know about you, but I regularly ask God to show me the way. Whether it be the way to handle a specific situation or opportunity, the way to respond to a particular person, or the way to be at peace; rarely is there a week (often, a day!) when I am not asking our gracious Father to shine some light on the path before me. Well this week, we are not praying to be shown the way, but rather to be ones who show it ourselves!

We closed our Gathering on Sunday with these words of Jesus from Luke 11:33-36,

No one lights a lamp, then hides it in a drawer. It’s put on a lamp stand so those entering the room have light to see where they’re going.

Your eye is a lamp, lighting up your whole body. If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar.

Keep your eyes open [Christ City Church], your lamp burning, so you don’t get musty and murky. Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room so those entering can find their way too.

And today, we take Jesus’ words to heart, asking together for healthy eyes to be well-lighted lamps so that others may see our Father’s way through us. Pray with me…

Father, wide-eyed with wonder and belief in Your Son, let our lives—individually and collectively as a faith family—be a clear and welcoming light to those looking for The Way.

Let not self-absorbtion nor timid faith damper the light of our lives, hindering our friends, our children, our spouses, our roommates, our co-workers, our neighbors, entry into life with You.

May we have the courage and compassion to live in and like the Light of Life this week. For Your Glory and the flourishing of those You love. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Praying Like Lions

Psalm 34:10 reads,

Young lions on the prowl suffer want, get hungry,

but GOD-seekers are full of God,

lacking no good thing.

The psalmist pens these words amid the praise of being one whose prayers are heard (v. 4, 7) and who has “tasted and seen that the LORD is good” (v. 8). In such a place, knowing you’ve been heard, your desires known, your petition accepted, your person welcomed; it’s no surprise to have the vigor and confidence of a young lion out to conquer our prey. The psalmist, not wanting to temper our passion or courage even a single degree, nevertheless refocuses our zeal towards its effective goal: “seeking God.”

No matter what we are praying for, our aim is nothing less than life with God, God himself. And, as the psalmist reminds us, when our vigor and confidence are thus focused, we’ll get what we are after: “those who seek the LORD, lack no good thing.”

So this week, as we lament the brokenness and evil in our world and pursue new and better partnerships in our future (and all the daily things in-between), let us do so with the assurance of our Father’s ear and zealousness for life with Him—His kingdom coming, His will done, on earth as it is in heaven. Let’s pray together:

Father, we are determined and ready to bless you every chance we get, knowing when we seek you, you answer us, meeting us more than halfway, delivering us from our fears, healing our sickness, covering our guilt, satisfying our hunger, and raising us from death.

Father, we are zealous for life! Ready today for your beauty to arise. For neighbors and friends and family to taste and see, with us and through us, that you are good!

May we keep our tongues from evil and our lips from speaking the deciet which fills our airways, screens, and hearts. Let us be quick to turn from evil and do good, speak peace, and pursue it in every relationship and role in which we daily live.

We seek you, Father! Through Jesus we pray with passion and confidence.

Amen.

An Open Door

When a disciple asked Jesus to teach he and his fellow apprentices to pray, he probably expected something similar to what he learned growing up: a route prayer. Maybe Jesus’ prayer would sound different, use different words than the Shema, but ultimately, it would be another collection of words whose force was felt through repetition. Yet, what the disciple wanted, and what Jesus wanted for his followers, was not a fresh version of the same old thing, but something wholly new. New words, yes, but also a new expectation for prayer.

Jesus desires us not to merely pray memorized words, but to pray which the expectation of communion. We know this because Jesus not only gives a model prayer but also shares a parable and poem that gets us into the right state of mind (heart) for prayer (see Lk. 11:5-13).

With our expectations rightly aligned, expecting to be received by our Father, and to receive Him, the words of Jesus’ prayer become more than a model, they become a doorway into an actual relationship—which is the source of Jesus’ power and joy.

So this week, slowly pray the words Jesus taught us below. But this time, as the Holy Spirit leads, let your conversation with God lead you into more intimate prayer.

For example, when praying “Keep us safe…” name the “us.” Your family or friends, our faith family, a neighbor, or co-worker. Let yourself be taken by the Spirit into prayer for God’s presence and work in another. Praying with God for those in your life.

Whatever word or phrase opens the door to communion, take it! Now, let’s pray with Jesus Luke 11:2-4 (MSG).

Father,

Reveal who you are.

Set the world right.

Keep us alive with what we need to be full.

Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.

Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.