Category: Prayer (Page 28 of 30)

Don't You Know There's A King In Zion?

July 25, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

“I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.” ~Psalm 2:6

Psalm 2 is the psalm most used by Bible writers, quoted or alluded to nine times in the New Testament. Psalm 2 forms the very center and focus of the Church’s first recorded prayer in Acts 4.

“Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together against the Lord
and against his Anointed One.”
~Psalm 2:1-2 & Acts 4:25-26

Like those very first Christians, when we pray Psalm 2 it allows us to personally realize and internalize the tremendous canyon between the world’s ways and the ways of our God. It puts the reality of this unbridgeable gap between our ways and the ways of “the nations” right into our hearts and minds and muscles and guts.

Eugene Peterson translates Psalm 2:6 this way, “Don’t you know there’s a King in Zion?”

Peterson expands on the idea in his book, The Jesus Way:

“The first generation of Christians took Jesus at his word when he announced that the Kingdom was at hand—a real (not ideal) Kingdom with a real king, King Jesus. The words and sentences of Psalm 2 dismissed the pretensions of all these other ways and let Christ the King permeate their preaching and prayers and following. They followed the resurrected Jesus with an air of triumph and praise. The gospel was not something private that they cultivated in the cozy security of their homes and hearts; it was public, the most powerful force in human history, shaping the destiny of nations as well as the souls of men and women.”

Following Jesus is a unique way of living. It’s like nothing else. There is nothing and no one like Jesus. Following him gets us little or nothing of what we commonly think we want or need. Following him accomplishes nothing on the world’s agenda. Following him takes us right out of this world’s assumptions and goals and straight to a place where we can “insert a lever that turns the world upside down and inside out.” Following Jesus has everything to do with this world, but almost nothing in common with this world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m preaching my first Gospel Meeting (they’re not called Gospel Meetings anymore, are they?) beginning this Sunday evening through Wednesday at the Keller Church of Christ. My good friend Kyle Bolton is the preacher there, a long time friend of the family that traces back to his parents and my parents and my grandmother at P-Grove.

Here’s the lineup:

Sunday: “The Challenge to Know God” God reveals himself to us at Sinai & Zion
Monday: “The Challenge to Trust God” Isaiah 46 and Matthew 8
Tuesday: “The Challenge to Obey God” Abraham and the binding of Isaac
Wednesday: “The Challenge to Share God” The parables of Luke 15

My personal theme for the week is “The Challenge to Preach Four Straight Nights.” I invite you to join us for any and all those evenings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some of you have asked me lately, in emails and in person, why I’m not doing a 99-Days of Football on the blog this summer like we did last year. Well, we can’t do the exact same thing every year. Where’s the joy in that? Something much bigger and much better and much more interactive is coming soon. In fact, I’m planning on announcing it this Monday, July 28 on this blog. If you’re a hard-core college football fan, this will be right up your alley. If you’re interested in the 99 Days of Football, you can still click on the green tab at the top of this page to relive the glamour and excitement of last year’s countdown to football season. In the meantime, bone up this weekend on your college football scouting reports and predictions and join me back here Monday.

Have a great weekend.

Peace,

Allan

The Church's First Prayer

July 21, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Enable your servants to speak your Word with great boldness.” ~Acts 4:29

In Acts 4 we find the very first ever prayer recorded in Scripture after the establishment of God’s Church on the Day of Pentecost. Acts 4:24-30 is the Church’s first prayer. It was worded by an assembly of God’s people, all raising their voices together in united and passionate petition to the “Sovereign Lord” of the universe in the midst of government oppression against the teaching and preaching of Christ Jesus.

The prayer occurs in the immediate aftermath of Peter and John being arrested and jailed and questioned by the authorities and commanded to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. It’s important to note that this group of baptized disciples didn’t ask God for relief from the oppression or for judgment on the oppressors. They request only two things.

1) They ask for strength to obey during the oppression, to have the nerve and the guts and the faith to continue to speak boldly about the Christ even though it had been outlawed.

2) They ask for God to act in his mighty power to do what he needs to do to advance the Kingdom of Heaven and bring glory to Jesus.

In the face of tremendous opposition, when the persecution and government resistance to Christianity was escalating and getting worse, the Church didn’t pray for wisdom or protection or for favor with the authorities. They didn’t pray that the next election would go their way so their situation would change. And I’m not saying those are inappropriate things for which to pray. But this prayer during this crisis was for the ability to be obedient to Christ’s command to continue to teach the Gospel. The concern here is not for safety or deliverance from persecution. It’s for the Word to go forth and for Christ to be glorified.

What an amazing response! What a counter-cultural, Christ-like response! This prayer as a response to the problem is so totally opposite of what was happening in their world. This prayer goes so against the prevailing thought. And John used to be caught up in that culture. When Jesus and the apostles faced opposition in a Samaritan village, it was John and his brother James who said, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?” Scripture says Jesus turned and rebuked them. Peter used to be caught up in the culture. He had actually pulled out a sword in the garden the night his Lord was betrayed. He tried to chop a guy’s head off! But Jesus rebuked him and actually healed the man who’d been injured.

By Acts 4, as evidenced by this beautiful prayer, we see how Peter and John have grown. We see how they’ve changed. We see how the Holy Spirit inside them was transforming them into the image of Jesus. In the face of opposition and persecution, they lash out in unified prayer together with all the saints and they ask for boldness to obey and to continue to speak about their risen Lord and they ask that God be glorified.

If resistance to the Kingdom and opposition to the Kingdom gets worse in our land—or I should say WHEN it gets worse—may we find our comfort and strength with each other, may we be bold to continue speaking about Jesus, and may our Father act in powerful ways to bring glory to his holy servant Jesus.

Peace,

Allan

God's Worldwide Reach

July 16, 2008 / Allan / 5 Comments

Once again a Texas Ranger drives in the winning run in the All-Star Game. Michael Young’s game-winning RBI on a one-out sac fly in the bottom of the 15th at 12:37 this morning won it for the American League. And I’m paying for it this morning. Great game. Excellent pitching early and tons of drama late as both benches and bullpens emptied and both teams put runners in scoring position time after time but couldn’t bring any of them around. Last night’s mid-summer classic set all-time All Star Game records for longest game (290 minutes; 4 hours, 50 minutes), most runners left on base (28), most players in the box score (63), most pitchers used (23), and most strikeouts (34). I just wish once, just once, the Texas Rangers would figure as prominently on the national stage in October as they seem to in the middle of July. (Kinsler was safe at second in the bottom of the 11th. Bad call.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About three weeks ago I received a call here at the church building from a woman who lives in another city in another state, over 660 miles away from North Richland Hills and Legacy. This stranger introduced herself to me over the phone and proceeded to tell me all the details of several tragic things that had happened in her life over the past few months including, but not limited to, a teenage daughter who became pregnant out of wedlock, an unauthorized abortion, and an unwanted divorce. This woman was in tears—she was trembling, I could hear it—as she told me of the dark valley she was walking through. And the whole time I’m listening to her I’m trying to understand why she had called me. Why was she telling me these things? Who is she? What’s the connection?

And then she says, “Allan, your three sermons on Habakkuk are the only things that have gotten me through the past couple of months.”

My jaw hit the desk and chills ran up my arms and my back as she told me how she was just searching church websites, looking for some encouragment and comfort, when she came across Legacy’s site and the audio of our Sunday morning sermons. Accidentally. She can’t even remember what she googled to get there. But she appreciated the sermons. They provided her strength and comfort. They gave her hope. And she just wanted to call me and thank me and ask me to pray for her.

Wow.

Of all the amazing things that have happened to me over the past three years, I believe that was the absolute most unbelievable. I preach my guts out to a thousand people here at Legacy and those three sermons meant more and did more for a lady I’ve never met who lives three states away than they did for the people I’m actually preaching to.

Some weeks it’s kind of a hassle to get those sermons up on the website. I wonder sometimes if anybody’s really using that resource, if it’s worth the trouble. Suzanne and Bonny have to track everything down and load it and check it and all kinds of stuff. And this lady hits me between the eyes with a sledgehammer to remind me that, yes, our God is using those sermons!

Sometimes I wonder about this blog. Some days it’s kind of a hassle to get something written here. It’s time-consuming. It’s stressful, sometimes, in that I want what’s written here to be meaningful and important and helpful. And I wonder sometimes if anybody’s really using it, if it’s really worth the trouble.

And then I read all the comments on my post regarding Jade Lewis’ death last month. That simple request to pray for Hank and Janet has turned into an internet meeting place where all of Hank and Janet’s friends scattered from Texas to Florida are posting prayers and sympathies and well wishes for that precious family. The Lewises have been so encouraged by the response. Everyone who’s read Hank’s comment have been encouraged. And as I read and re-read all those comments, I’m blown away by the fact that our God is using this blog!

I’m appealing to our God today to use this blog to his glory again. And I’m asking you—personal friends and family of mine and Carrie-Anne’s, Christ’s Church here at Legacy, our brothers and sisters in Marble Falls and Mesquite, all you sweet people in Florida, Jim Gardner and Jimmy Mitchell’s church families in Arkansas and California—please pray for Debbie and Dan Miller.

As I mentioned yesterday, Dan is one of my nearest and dearest friends. He’s one of the main reasons I’m preaching God’s Word today. He means more to me than I can put into words. And I’ve tried over the past couple of days.

They just found out Thursday that Debbie has cancer. She underwent some emergency surgery at Medical City in Dallas Saturday. She’s still there, undergoing all kinds of tests, probably for the rest of this week. They still don’t know everything they’re going to know in the next couple of days. I spent a couple of hours with them both yesterday. Debbie is strong, of course. She’s prepared for the fight. She’s ready. She’s determined. Her faith and her trust is in our God. For the first time since I’ve known him, Dan seems shaken. Completely understandable. His faith is strong. But he’s asking tons of questions. And he seems rattled. And tired. And I love them so much.

Pray for them today. In the powerful name of Jesus, please ask our Father today to heal Debbie and to comfort her and Dan and their three precious children.

And, Lord, please use this blog to work an amazing thing in their lives. And may you, Father, receive all the power and all the glory and all the honor and all the praise.

And all God’s people reading this today say “Amen!”

Peace,

Allan

Passionate Prayer

June 18, 2008 / Allan / 3 Comments

“So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.” ~Acts 12:5

We know we’re supposed to pray. So we do. But sometimes we get lazy with it. We don’t always pay attention to what we’re saying and why. In 1916, in his book The Soul of Prayer, P. T. Forsyth wrote the reason our churches don’t know how to pray is “the slipshod kind of prayer they hear from us in public worship; it is often but journalese sent heavenwards or phrase-making to carry on.”

If we really believe that God is who the Bible says he is; if we really believe that he is the almighty true and living God, the powerful creator and sustainer of heaven and earth; if we really believe this God is personal with us and not only hears our prayers but faithfully answers them; if we really believe that, then every one of our prayers will be filled with passion.

Not eloquence. Not etiquette. Not posture and syntax and order. Our prayers will be characterized by passion.

If we believe it.

E. M. Bounds, from an essay he wrote in 1895:

“The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil everywhere. Prayer is not a fitful short-lived thing. It is no voice crying unheard and unheeded in silence. It is a voice which goes into God’s ear, and it lives as long as God’s ear is open to holy pleas, as long as God’s heart is alive to holy things.

God shapes the world by prayer.

The prayers of God’s saints are the capital stock in heaven by which Christ carries on his great work upon earth. The great throes and mighty convulsions on earth are the results of these prayers. Earth is changed, revolutionized, angels move on more powerful, more rapid wing, and God’s policy is shaped as the prayers are more numerous, more efficient.

It is true that the mightiest successes that come to God’s cause are created and carried on by prayer. The days of God’s activity and power are when God’s Church comes into its mightiest inheritance of mightiest faith and mightiest prayer. God’s conquering days are when the saints have given themselves to mightiest prayer. When God’s house on earth is a house of prayer, then God’s house in heaven is busy and all potent in its plans and movements, then his earthly armies are clothed with the triumphs and spoils of victory and his enemies defeated on every hand.”

That’s power. And if we believe it, our prayers will reflect it. Our prayers won’t be little. They’ll be huge. And passionate.

Abraham pleading for Sodom. Jacob wrestling at midnight. Moses fasting and praying for God’s people in the wilderness. Hannah intoxicated with sorrow. David heartbroken with grief and remorse. Huge, passionate prayers. Jesus overcome with loud cries and tears in the garden. Elijah exploding with confidence on Mount Carmel. Paul courageously petitioning on behalf of the new churches.

When we understand the God of our Scriptures, when we see things the way he sees things, then our prayers will be marked by passion. When we couple the greatness of God with the sinfulness of creation and when we understand both of these truths, then we understand what it is God really wants and what he’s doing. And we very boldly and courageously and passionately pray for it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I can root for a guy like Paul Pierce. He fought and trained and worked and played his guts out for ten seasons, mostly pathetic losing seasons, in Boston. And for all ten of those season he vowed to do whatever he could to bring a title to Boston. He never said a negative word about the franchise or his teammates. He begged the team and the fans to stick with him. He promised to win a championship there.

I can cheer for a guy like Doc Rivers who, up until two months ago had never won a playoff series as a coach and, one year ago, was this close to being fired. He begged Danny Ainge and the Boston front office to stick with him. He promised to do everything he could to win the title.

Doesn’t the NBA championship, clinched last night by the Celtics in a rout of the Lakers, mean a whole lot more to Pierce and Rivers than it does to Kevin Garnett?

It’s hard for me to pull for a guy who plays 12 years in Minnesota, the last four or five griping and whining about how lousy his team is and how they’re never going to win, and then demands to be shipped somewhere else where he wins the championship.

To me, Pierce and Rivers embody the commitment and loyalty and team-first principles we love about sports while Garnett represents the self-serving team-jumping ring-chasing we hate. Is there no room in sports anymore for an Archie Manning or Fran Tarkenton?

Garnett embarrassed his new team and his new city when, immediately after the game with a dozen live national cameras and microphones in his face, he could only muster primal screams and long multi-syallabic curse words. A string of ’em. If not for ABC’s eight-second delay, the broadcast would have been rated R. Nice. When Garnett finally found his limited vocabulary, it went something like this. “I got mine! I got mine!”

He looked into the camera and shouted, “What are you gonna say now? I got mine! I’m legit! I’m certified! What are you gonna say now?”

And then he went Joe Namath on ABC sideline reporter Michelle Tafoya, “You look good, girl!”

Pierce and Rivers couldn’t stop thanking each other. “Thank you for sticking with me,” they told each other over and over again.

I love that. Dedication. Commitment. Loyalty. Values that should and will be more and more appreciated in sports, if only because it’s increasingly rare.

Peace,

Allan

Sweet Hour of Prayer

April 30, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” ~Ephesians 6:18

Were your ears burning between 9:00 and 10:00 Friday night April 18?

A couple of weekends ago all of the elders and ministers here at Legacy spent about 24 hours together at a retreat center down in Glenrose. Most of Saturday was spent in sharing our dreams and our goals for the body of believers at Legacy. What do we want to do for the rest of this year and next? What is God ultimately doing with us? Where do we see things in five or even ten years from now? We spent some time talking about vision and thought processes. The day was filled with much open discussion relating to relationships between elders and ministers and within the leadership team.

I’ve been thrilled since Day One to be Legacy’s preacher. I’ve said before, I don’t feel led or guided by God to this place as much as I feel pushed by God to this place. I’m affirmed every week by our Father that he is doing amazing things with us and through us in our part of his Kingdom. But I’ve never been more confident and more thrilled to be a part of this congregation than I was during this retreat.

And it had more to do with what happened Friday night than with what happened Saturday.

As great as Saturday was—I plan to share much more of that with you later this week—Friday’s experience was even better. Because we prayed. We prayed long. We prayed hard. We prayed together. We prayed for each other. And we prayed for every single man, woman, and child in the Legacy church family.

We split up into groups of two and three, ministers and elders, and prayed together for about an hour. A pictorial directory had been desecrated; sacrificed for our prayer time. We were each given a couple of sheets out of the directory with all the names and all the pictures of all our brothers and sisters in Christ. And then we went off to each others’ rooms to pray.

I wound up in my room with Bob Robertson and Don Savage and the names and pictures of almost 170 Legacy members. And after we each prayed for each other, we turned our attention to our church family.

And I love praying this way.

Looking at the faces and lifting the names to God in prayer, I was reminded of 1) how much I’m blessed to know so many of these great people and 2) how so many of our people are struggling with their own issues and problems.

Carrie-Anne and I spent a lot of time between August ’06 and June ’07 praying that God would bless our daughters with great friends here at Legacy. And four or five times in that room Friday night, those families popped up on my list. These answers to prayer, these moms and dads and sweet, precious girls that God has put in our paths; what a blessing! Other men and women who have especially encouraged me since we’ve been here popped up on my sheet; men and women who go out of their way to compliment me and push me and challenge me and keep me focused and on track. What a blessing! And I praise God for these wonderful people and for the opportunities we share together in the Kingdom. And over and over again, men and women and families who are struggling with serious health issues, financial concerns, and ruptured relationships popped up on my list. I’m encouraged by their perseverence in those struggles and their faith in the face of hardships. And what a blessing to intercede for them to our Father in prayer!

There’s something very, very special about praying like this. Praying like this creates permanent bonds between the people you’re praying with and the people you’re praying for. I see Don and Bob differently now after hearing them pour out their hearts and their souls to God in prayer. You learn more about people by praying with them for one hour than you can ever learn in a lifetime of singing together or going to ball games together. Spend one hour with a couple of people in deep, earnest prayer, and I think it’s impossible not to love them more.

There was a ten-month window between the day Legacy hired me and the day I actually began my full-time work here as the preacher. I was still finishing up school down in Austin and only got up here once a month. So the first thing I did was ask the church here to provide a pictorial directory and ask everyone in the church family to write their prayer requests next to their families names and pictures. They mailed the directory to us and Carrie-Anne and I spent those next ten months praying over those names and pictures. We spent ten months with our God, talking to him about those in this church who had lost loved ones, those who were battling cancer, those who were facing important job decisions. Some people are surprised at how well we know everyone’s names here. And I always tell them, I prayed for you for ten months. I was bonding with you for ten months and you didn’t even know it.

In 1895, E. M. Bounds wrote, “Prayer does not prepare us for greater works, it is the greater work.”

Sometime this summer we’re going to organize a 24 Hours of Prayer here at Legacy like we’ve done in Mesquite and Marble Falls. Men of our congregation will sign up in one-hour shifts and pray in groups of four and five over thousands of prayer requests from our church family and our community. It might be the most powerful thing you’ll ever do with a Christian brother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whitney and I had the talk yesterday afternoon. She understands about Josh Howard. She gets it. We’re going to go together one day next week and get her a Dirk jersey. Lucky for me all Mavericks gear is now half price.

Go Stars!

Allan

Astonishing Faith

March 5, 2008 / Allan / 3 Comments

“When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” ~Matthew 8:10

You think God’s ever astonished by your faith? You think you’ve ever prayed a prayer to God and, as soon as it’s over, he jumps up and says, “Whoa! We haven’t seen faith like that in years!” And God gets on the intercom system there in heaven and says, “Wow! Y’all won’t believe the faith of this guy down there!”

You think God’s ever been astounded by your great faith?

The kind of faith that astonishes Jesus is a humble and complete dependence on God. And I wonder about our complete dependence. I wonder about mine.

I wonder how much different it was 2000 years ago. When fever was a disease and not a symptom. Before modern medicine, what was it like to pray for healing? When forecasting the weather meant reading the calf liver or Grandpa’s arthritic knees. Before meteorology, what was it like to pray for rain? Before cropdusters and insecticides and fertilizers and refrigerators and Wal-Mart SuperStores, what was it like to pray for food? You know what I mean? Forget 2000 years ago. What about 60 or 70 years ago? What was it like to pray?

As technology changes, does our dependence on God change? Is it that the more we know about our world the less we depend on our God? I’m not sure. But let’s think about it.

Pray for rain? Well, I’ve seen the doppler radar and the skyview atmospheric predictor and the seven-day forecast. It’s going to rain Tuesday. Or, the next chance for precipitation won’t be for another couple of weeks. See. We need God for some things. But we know if it’s supposed to rain or not.

Pray for food? Is there anybody reading this blog who hasn’t eaten today? Anybody who’s not going to eat tomorrow? Is there anyone reading this who doesn’t have every single thing he needs to get through tonight and on in to tomorrow? We depend on God for some things. But there’s milk and meat in the fridge and the pantry’s full and I get paid on Friday.

Pray for healing? But I’ve seen the MRI. We have the X-Rays and the CT-scan. We’ve consulted with the doctors and been to two specialists. We know what’s going to happen. So, I’ll pray for the doctors. God bless the doctors. Help them to do what they can. Help them to find the problem. Help them to cure the disease. Help the surgery to be a success. We’re praying for the middle man! Ever read of anybody in Scripture praying for the middle man? It’s not the middle man! It’s God! God is the one who heals!

Yeah, but again, we’ve seen the test results. We’ve heard the doctors. It doesn’t look good. So we pray for healing and say, “If it’s your will…”

And I know we’re supposed to pray for God’s will. Of course we pray for God’s will. But never when praying for God’s will is our “out” or our excuse when the doctors say there’s not much hope: “If it’s your will…even though I’m not expecting it to be your will because the doctors have already said it’s not.”

I’m just curious. Before the days of X-Rays and MRIs and CT-scans, did we couch our prayers for healing with “if it’s your will”? Were our prayers different when we weren’t sure of the problems and weren’t already certain of the outcome? Was our dependence on God more and our dependence on ourselves and others less back then? Is there a problem?

God says through Isaiah, “I made you. I will carry you. Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am he who will sustain you.”

The Centurion calls Jesus “Lord.” Just say the word, he exclaims, and I know my servant will be healed.

Complete dependence. Total humility. Astonishing faith.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Prayer (Page 28 of 30)

Don't You Know There's A King In Zion?

The Church's First Prayer

God's Worldwide Reach

Passionate Prayer

Sweet Hour of Prayer

Astonishing Faith

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Categories

Archives

Allan's Links