Praying God's Words Back

I'm using a really helpful book to prime my prayers during my sabbatical: 'Take Words With You' by Tim Kerr.

The principle behind the book is very simple: the best fuel for prayer is God's Word. The book is therefore a categorised compilation of promises, prayers and passages related to the purpose and priorities of prayer.

And it's therefore a wonderful tool for prayer. I've been working through it day by day, just reading the verses as a primer for my own prayers, asking God to draw my attention to one or two verses from that section that I can then meditate on.

Because I'm a literary-type, I've found it helpful to write out some of these meditative prayers (as the saying goes: 'expression deepens impression') This also means I can return to them again in a form that will be useful in drier seasons.

To be honest, these written prayers aren't much good, but I thought it might be helpful to include one here to illustrate how God's Word can be used to fuel and shape our prayers.

Meditation is a lost discipline for most modern Christians. In contrast to the highly repetitive empty-your-mind meditation encouraged by eastern religions, Christian meditation involves filling your mind with God's truth. It's the act of chewing over and digesting God's Word so that it becomes part of us, transforming our thinking and living.

Snacking is probably a better metaphor for how most of us engage with God's Word. We grab a bite to eat at the beginning or end of the day or when we can snatch a spare moment. There's nothing wrong with that of course, a snack is better than nothing at all! However snacking over the long term isn't very healthy and so from time to time what we really need is a good square meal.

In Romans 12 Paul tells his readers not to conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of their minds. This comes as we take in God's Word and allow it to examine us, expose us, shape us and remake us. And this only happens as we meditate on God's Word. It's OK to rush fast food, but we wouldn't dream of throwing down food produced by a three star michellin chef. God's Word is like a banquet that's meant to be feasted upon and savoured.

During the space my sabbatical is giving me, I'm rediscovering the value - the joy - of meditating on God's Word in prayer and savouring it and digesting it.

For example, one morning last week I found myself drawn to Psalm 115:3:

Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.

What follows is a condensed version of the meditative prayer that emerged from this as I chewed over that verse and looked at it from different angles and sought to be shaped by it...

What pleases me is not always what is good.
Even when what pleases me is good, I don't do always do it, because 
As a creature I don't always have the power,
And as a sinner I don't always have the resolve.

Not so with you Lord.

You are the glorious, holy and all powerful Lord of Heaven.
Because you are Good, you are only ever pleased by what is good.
Because you are the Lord of Heaven, you not only desire what is good,
You also have the power
And resolve
To do only and always what is good.
You are therefore eternally pleased, satisfied, and at rest in yourself.

Work in me by your Spirit to give me
The power
And resolve
To desire and do what pleases you.

Help me to abhor what you abhor
And love what you love.
Help me to shun what is evil
And choose what is good.

Because all that is good is ultimately from you,
Help me to pursue you above all else,
Even above good things themselves,
Lest good things become evil things by occupying the place you should have in my heart.

Help me to find my greatest 
Pleasure,
Satisfaction,
And Rest
In you.

So that as well as Lord of Heaven,
You are also Lord of my Heart.
Amen.



NOTE:
Unfortunately 'Take Words With You' is only available as an ebook for Kindle at present.
However fortunately, at the time of writing this post, it's only 77p!!
What are you waiting for? Go bag a bargain!

Sabbatical Musings 1: God's Bow in the Sky

As those who have been following my Twitter feed will know, I started reading 'Kingdom through Covenant' by Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum this week to kick off my sabbatical.

At 800 pages it's a doorstop of a book and exactly the sort of theological volume I don't have the time or mental capacity to get into while immersed in pastoral ministry and study for sermon prep. I'm now around 200 pages into it and loving it!

It's basically an overview of the big story (the meta-narrative) of the Bible focusing on the various covenants in redemption history. The authors' view is that not only is it impossible to understand the big message of the Bible without understanding how these covenants fit together, but it's also impossible to come to a cohesive view on some of the more contentious issues that have divided Christians over the years (Israel, baptism, end times etc).

It's stimulating and stretching stuff. However any study of the theme of 'covenant' in the Bible should also be heart-warming. And it succeeds in this department as well. I am being reminded again and again of God's faithfulness and committed love for his people, despite their failings and rebellion.

One excerpt from this week's reading illustrates this beautifully.

Each of the 6 covenants in the Bible came with accompanying 'signs', physical reminders of the covenant. I've just finished the chapter on the covenant God made with Noah (actually, the whole of creation, us included).

The covenant sign God gave after the flood was the rainbow. Whenever we see the rainbow we're to be reminded of God's promise never to flood the world again.

But why a rainbow?

'There is in fact no word in Hebrew for 'rainbow'. The word used here is the ordinary word for an archer's bow.

I like the comment from Warren Austin Gage: 'The bow is a weapon of war, an emblem of wrath. God will now set it in the heavens as a token of grace. The Lord who makes the bow of wrath into a seven-coloured arch of beauty to ornament the heavens, is the one who will finally command the nations to beat their swords into plowshares and spears into pruninghooks (Micah 4:3), for the Prince of Peace takes pleasure in mercy (Micah 7:18) and the Righteous Judge delights in grace.'

The rainbow, then, is a physical picture that God has 'laid his weapons down', as indicated in the promise, 'never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.' It is interesting that the bow set in the clouds is always aimed or pointing up to the heavens, and never downward at us on the earth.'

In the upturned bow we see a signpost towards the type of solution God would ultimately provide for human sin.

The bow points upward to heaven, because God put himself in the crosshairs of sin: he faced the judgement we deserve.

Ultimately, God's bow points us to Jesus cross, where the sin that brought judgement in the flood was dealt with once and for all.