“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” - Proverbs 4:23 

If you Googled the phrase, “What is most important?” you’ll find a diversity of answers.  Some say it’s making more money to enable them to do what they love most.  Some say it’s being physically healthy or spending time with family, while others prioritize being happy or knowing their purpose.  The list could be as long as there are people. What is most important to you?

You don’t usually think of a political fundraiser as beautiful and inspiring, but I was deeply encouraged to experience something of this recently.  The featured candidate currently serves as a Democrat on the New York City Council and is running for New York State Senate.  Ministry and business leaders, men and women of all backgrounds, including Caucasian, Latino, and African-American, filled the home where the fundraiser was held.  These dynamic Christian leaders support this candidate not because he is Democrat, or Latino, or a man.  They were not supporting him because he would do a favor for them or for people like them, or because of his likability (even though he is very likable).  They support him because he demonstrates godly understanding of governmental responsibility.

When a mother sees that her child is seriously sick, she swoops him up and takes him to a doctor as soon as possible.  She does this because she has faith in a couple of important details:  She has faith that her assessment of the seriousness of her child’s illness is accurate. Also, she has faith that a medical doctor will genuinely seek to help her child and, quite possibly, will be able to help heal him.

This is what faith looks like for a mother with a sick child, which begs the question, what does faith look like for the Christian who desires for God to change a community or a nation? 

Have you ever watched a little baby eat? Picture the newborn baby nursing, or as a toddler experiencing new texture sensations with each incoming spoonful. At these stages, a child is dependent on mother and father for everything pertaining to sustenance and thriving. Individually, a fasting lifestyle teaches us to ‘eat’ like a child, as we learn to depend more poignantly on the Father. As a community, fasting opens us up to God’s Spirit.[1]

I recently watched an interview of a young woman, named Deborah Peters, who grew up in Nigeria.  In 2011, when she was only 12, her father and brother were killed right in front of her by armed men from the terrorist group Boko Haram.  Her father, a Christian pastor, was told by the men to renounce his faith.  He refused and responded to the terrorists’ threat by quoting Matthew 10:32-33: “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”  They threatened him a second time, and, when he refused to deny Jesus, they shot him three times.  They then turned and killed her brother, who was 14 at the time.

While praying the other day, I formed a mental picture of two young princes. One prince was eager to take up the sword, lusted after the throne, and scoffed at other rulers. The other prince relished the wisdom of his teachers, humbly knew his place, and valiantly took up the sword when the moment was right.

Which one would we prefer to be? The humble, valiant protagonist always wins the heart of the audience, but rarely are we actually that protagonist.

I’ve never been one to often tell people, “You deserve this!” It’s not because I think people should never be rewarded or take a break. It’s because I know the corners we cut, the dark thoughts and attitudes we harbor, and the not-so-proud moments that come even with hard work or achievement.

However, we often act like we do deserve certain things. Security, comfort, hope, and happiness are just a few of the things my heart often longs for. When I don’t get them, the inner turmoil I experience can look very similar to my 3-year old’s response to not getting another cupcake (as if that would have satisfied her deepest needs).

The term ‘needy’ has a decidedly negative connotation in our contemporary culture.  The descriptor ‘just so needy!’ is a derogatory phrase for a person whose life exhibits excessive dependency and weakness.  This negative association with the term ‘needy’ stems from the way we in the West place such high value on self-sufficiency and individual responsibility.  Former Harvard philosopher John Rawls described the entire moral vision of the early Modern era as characterized by individual “autonomy and responsibility.”  This rigorously individualistic spirit continues to this day.

When we think about the things we long to see for the Kingdom of God in our communities, our nation, and the world, we probably think first about prayer.  And that’s a good thing!  However, while we are right to prioritize prayer, there’s a chance we’re prioritizing it too highly.  ‘What?’  You say, ‘Prioritize prayer too highly?  What we need to do is pray more!’ 

Now, I completely agree that we should be praying more.  My comment about prioritizing prayer too highly has nothing to do with quantities of prayer.   So what do I mean by “prioritizing prayer too highly,” and how in the world could this kind of talk serve to increase prayer?   I believe that if we would prioritize and esteem God’s promises higher than our prayers, our prayers would actually become more frequent and fervent.

In my previous devotional, I argued that the two “hinge” passages in Hebrews (4:14-16 and 10:19-25) together encapsulate the spirituality of this inspired sermon.  Three central tasks are enumerated in these verses.  First, we consider Jesus.  Second, we draw near to God through Jesus.  Third, we hold fast our confession of faith in Jesus.  Mind.  Heart.  Practice.

This balanced paradigm is critical to implement in your own relationship with God, as most Christians tend to belong to one (or two) of three “personality types” with respect to their preferred, intuitive form of “spirituality.”  All three of these personality types (and their respective spiritual “strategies”) are good and necessary, but, when one becomes so predominant as to take our focus away from others, they can become truncated and distorted.

Many well-meaning Christians often feel somewhat paralyzed when they contemplate what it would look like to begin to take their faith more seriously, particularly with respect to daily spiritual disciplines.  What should I actually do? What should my mind be focused on?  What ought the aspirations of my heart be directed toward?  How do regular devotional times transition naturally into the life of discipleship the rest of the day?  The author of Hebrews offers a vision of following Jesus that is filled with both clarity and conviction.

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” - Romans 6:1-2

Prior to this point in the book of Romans, Paul has been preoccupied with setting forth an accurate view of the Gospel. In chapters 1-4, Paul labors to show that justification before God is based solely upon God’s grace and is accessed only through faith in Christ.

“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” -1 Peter 2:4-5

The failure to grasp clearly our God-given identity and purpose is a formidable foe, one with the capacity to hinder and hamstring consistent growth and faithfulness. Therefore, as believers, we must understand our corporate identity.

For today’s devotional, I would like to share with you about the secret of prayer.  In Matthew 6:1-6, Jesus talks about the importance of praying in secret.  Dr. Leonard Ravenhill once said, “The secret of praying is praying in secret.”  What was Jesus referring to?  He was referring to the issue of sincerity.  God wants you to come to Him with a sincere heart.  In the Bronx, we would say, “You have to come real.”  Come real before God.

Please enjoy this devotional video, or stream/download an audio version below, or scroll down to continue reading.



https://soundcloud.com/christianunion/a-praying-in-secret-fernando

Jesus gave a model of prayer in Matthew 6, because the disciples wanted to know how to really pray.  The Lord’s Prayer was not meant to be simply memorized and recited. It was meant to be to a guideline and outline on how to pray.

Please enjoy this devotional video, or stream/download an audio version below, or scroll down to continue reading.



https://soundcloud.com/christianunion/a-jesus-model-of-prayer

There are six parts to the Lord’s Prayer: Praise, Petition, Provision, Pardon, Power, and Praise.
 

“Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.”  -2 Timothy 2:20-21

Working at one of the top schools in the world, I am constantly surrounded by incredibly gifted and hyper-competent people. For many of the students in this environment, their exceptional competence in their studies and extracurricular pursuits is central to their self-identity and their sense of self-worth.  Being in an environment with so much giftedness can make people highly competitive or seriously discouraged.

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”  – 1 Corinthians 13:12

When I was a teenager, my church went through a curriculum by Dr. Henry Blackaby called Experiencing God.  I still remember vividly the cover of that course packet with a portrait of Moses as he looked back over his shoulder toward the burning bush where he received his calling from God.  

Jesus loves food and drink. He begins His public ministry by miraculously crafting fine wine for a local wedding in Cana. He describes His kingdom as a wedding feast with an open invitation (Matthew 22:1-14). He even defends the fact that His disciples don’t fast while He is still with them (Matthew 9:15).

It is no surprise, then, that at a final feast with His disciples, Jesus gives us one final marker to remember Him with: eating bread and drinking wine. In this feasting, we remember our Lord, His coming, and His salvific sacrifice for us. And in this feasting we also point to the feast on the mountain of Zion that awaits the nations, “a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine” (Isaiah 25:6).

I recently spent a week in a small village in Uganda. Manicured huts, but no running water pipes or electrical posts, lined the red dirt road. My teammates and I spent several hours a day with families in the village, and as we did we learned how many parents and children were coping amidst the hard losses of HIV/AIDS. I kept pondering the motto of one of the local ministries: “Hope does not disappoint.” When people do not hope, or rather, when they do not hope in the thing worth hoping in, they grow sick. Families in this village, though, were testifying to how hoping in God has changed their perspectives--and their lives. Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” - Galatians 6:2

My daughter, Ellie, is not old enough to form the interrogative sentences that begin with, “Why?”  However, I am looking forward to the natural onslaught of such questions that come when the mind of a child is developing. It is very normal for a parent to become overwhelmingly tired of the question, “Why?” when we seem to have reached the bottom of our knowledge. So we resort to the usually unsatisfactory answer, “Because I say so.” When we come to such a burdensome command from Paul, we must be like the child who digs so deep that it tests the depth of Scriptures’ wisdom. Asking, “Why?” uncovers that this command didn’t float down from Heaven without purpose or reason behind it. We don’t hear God say, “In the beginning, I told you so.” Asking, “Why?” takes us deeper, into the very nature of God.