1 Chronicles 5:18-20
"The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had valiant men who carried shield and sword, and drew the bow, expert in war, 44,760, able to go to war. They waged war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab. And when they prevailed over them, the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands, for they cried out to God in the battle, and he granted their urgent plea because they trusted in him." (emphasis added)
The more I read the book of Chronicles (1 & 2), the more I see it as a book of prayer. It is filled with communion and communication with God. Notice the passage above with its call for trust in God as a basis for prayer, rather than reliance on one's own resources. Surely this exemplifies the 'prayer of faith' referenced in James. It directs us in the spiritual battles with face, knowing our enemy is not flesh and blood.
Situated among the pages of Chronicles are the prayer of Jabez (1 Chron. 4), the prayer of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20), the prayer of Hezekiah (2 Chron. 32) and other portraits of prayer in relationship with and dependence upon the God with whom we have to do. These prayers and the examples they afford us are not merely for our interest; they are for our instruction. God shows us the natural voice of prayer in the story of His people, a voice that is to continue in the stories of our lives.
(Below is the third (of 3)installment of the CHOP Ministry Manual (p. 12), preparing participants for involvement in strategic prayer outreach to those among whom God has placed them.)
As we look to embark upon a ministry of reaching others for Christ what bearings are we given? The land we survey gives us a panorama of grace, a grace that has swept us up in its current, a grace that oxygenates and invigorates our existence in this world, and a grace that qualifies and empowers our role as ambassadors of Christ. We enjoy the standing we do only by the grace of God. His grace sustains us each and every day, leading us away from self-focus and self-dependence to find our strength and sufficiency in Christ (Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7). His grace has given us new hope, a new identity and a new home and His grace will lead us home.
With these bearings, as ones who have received every spiritual blessing in Christ because of the grace of God and who are stationed as His witnesses in this world, we turn to how we can be faithful to carry out that role. CHOP is a tool designed to equip, engage and encourage us in faithful service to our Lord as instruments of grace in His hand for the spreading of the sure hope of the gospel.
(Excerpt from Community Houses of Prayer Ministry Manual, Outreach Orientation, pp. 11-12)
As part of this new kingdom of hope, joy and peace, we enjoy not only the blessings of heavenly citizenship, we find ourselves as subjects and servants of a new King, workers in His vineyard, soldiers of His kingdom. No longer is this world our home. Rather we are citizens of heaven, aliens and pilgrims in this world, not occupied with building our own kingdoms or enhancing our own reputations but concerned with Christ’s kingdom priorities and values, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness. In this sojourning our Lord calls us to be ambassadors of hope, declaring to those around us without God and without hope (Eph. 2:12), the sure hope of the gospel wherein a perfect righteousness is found in Christ apart from our own efforts at obedience to God’s law (Rom 3:19-24).
Our lives bear witness to this God of hope both in word and in deed. The character of our lives is to point others not to how great we are but to how great is our God (1 Pet. 2:11). That our behavior might not point to us or to any notion that salvation is by our good behavior, we are to give interpretation to our deeds as the Lord provides opportunity by verbal explanation for the hope we have (1 Pet. 3:15). Our lives are governed by the reality that Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds we are healed. We were as sheep gone astray, but now by the grace of God we have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. (1 Pet. 2:24f; cf. Is. 53:4-6). Our lives are His and we live for Him.
(Excerpt from Community Houses of Prayer Ministry Manual, Outreach Orientation, p. 11)
Our Lord Jesus Christ has called us to Himself to belong to Him and to follow Him. He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness that imprisoned us in sin’s mastery, misery and condemnation. He has brought us into His kingdom of light and life, the very ground and reason for our worship (1 Pet. 2:9f.). Through Him we are sons and daughters of the living God, servants of the Most High.
Hope. To us belongs a hope, not a “hope-so” hope of wishful thinking but a hope of confident expectation, assured conviction and vibrant certainty. Ours is not futile hype, but a fertile hope grounded in the historical work of Jesus Christ. As the writer of Hebrews puts it: “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.” (Heb. 6:19-20a). This hope points to the finished, victorious, redemptive work of Jesus on our behalf that secures our salvation and secures us as heirs of eternal life. The apostle Peter exclaims the praises of such a God who graciously gives us new birth into a living hope (1 Pet. 1:3), in which our inheritance is held for us (1 Pet. 1:4) and we are held in His mighty hand for our inheritance (1 Pet. 1:5). We live out our days in anticipation of the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). Every day of our lives we live as the redeemed of the Lord, children of hope (1 Thess. 5:5), different from those of the world who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13). As we walk by faith, God fills our lives with faith, hope and love, causing us to overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13).
I toyed with the idea of getting a smart phone. To be honest, I fantasized about it. All those cool apps. Constantly connected. Then I thought of the downside. All those cool apps. Constantly connected. I could see myself becoming infatuated with the apps I had and wanting to know what else was available. I envisioned myself constantly checking my email to spend time on things that could easily wait until I got to my computers at home or office. Plus, I had seen the distractions the smart phones could be for others in classes I had taught.
Yet, the idea of constant connectivity does seem a positive thing when it comes to our communion with God. Whether the blogging of dialog with God in our journals or prayer closets (Neh.9), or tweeting expressions of thanks or praise or help as the occasion prompts (Neh. 2:4; 4:9), or posting the events of life in the friendship of His grace (Neh. 1:4-11), constant fellowship with God seems a good and necessary dimension of life with our Heavenly Father.
After all, we are to pray without ceasing.
I must admit in my unbelief I did not have high hopes that anyone in my neighborhood would respond to the invitations I gave out letting them know of a Christianity Explored study in my home. Christianity Explored is a 10-week study in the Gospel of Mark that addresses three basic questions: who Jesus is, what He did, and what that means to them. At first I didn’t hear anything. Then after a couple of weeks, I received one email telling me they’d like to attend, then another, then another asking if they could bring a friend. We started with six neighbors plus my wife and myself. As people got into it, they asked if they could invite others. We built from 6 to 8 to 9 and leveled off at ten. For some, they had never been part of a Bible study before.
Several weeks into the study, I received an email from the brother of one of the participants. He commented on how his sister was enjoying the time and then he said this: “I have been a Christian for 20 years now and have been praying for my family that whole time to give their lives to Christ and this seems to be a big answer.”
He thanked me “for being there and for [my] obedience to following God’s lead.” While his words were very meaningful to me and a wonderful encouragement from God, they were just trickle added to the river of blessing I was receiving by God in getting to know these neighbors and being a conduit for Christ in their lives.
How humbling it is to think of our being an answer to others’ prayers! Yet should that surprise us? After all, it is not angels that God uses to reach our neighbors with the gospel of life in Christ. How urgent it is that we prove faithful to our call. Just as we might pray for unbelieving family and friends, asking God to raise up influences for Christ in their lives, so we might find ourselves that answer to the same prayer by others.
I met with a Christian brother recently who has been vigorously trying to get the Community Houses of Prayer ministry started in his local church. I've always admired this brother for his administrative skills and wizened ways. He knows the patience and perseverance involved in establishing new ideas, and he has exhibited this approach with CHOP in his church--starting small, building an enthusiastic nucleus, trying to bring influential leaders on board, working with appropriate committees. So far he has some enthusiasts who have seen the power of prayer, experienced the heart of God and transformed their mentality as witnesses for Christ through the CHOP ministry. But overall he has encountered apathy and even annoyance.
It seems his church has a mentality of mission that looks to foreign soil. Mission affects them as supporters of "missionaries." There is little sense of or interest in personal witness and how God might use them for the sake the gospel. Complicating matters is the academic approach of the church that is happy to be instructed in theology but reluctant to be involved in its practice. Discipleship stops at education at the expense of being equipped and engaged in service to Christ.
I'm sure these are generalizations and it would be wrong to paint each member of that church with the brush that colors the whole. However, it does highlight a problem with the church militant and the forces of Christ for the sake of gospel and advancement of kingdom of our Lord. It seems to me the culprits are lack of love for God and neighbor, absence of commitment to Jesus Christ and an obstinate view of the church as an outpost of Christ's kingdom.
I would value my readers' thoughts and opinions on the subject. I would also enjoin each us to importunate prayer, giving God no rest until He restores His church to the action of faith that believes the gospel is the only hope of salvation and that we are His appointed conduits.
Someone lamented to me this week how urgent it is for us as Christ's church to involve ourselves with our neighbors and with others in our spheres of influence for the cause of the gospel. He pointed out how no one would deny the importance of evangelism and few would suggest Christ's mantle of witness is not draped on their shoulders. Yet we often remain disinterested, unmotivated and uninvolved.
I am convinced that the closer our walk with our God, the closer we will draw to those around us to converse about Christ. This is where the Community Houses of Prayer (CHOP) ministry comes in. May God be pleased to use CHOP for the enlivening of His people, the equipping of His church and the extension of His kingdom. Below is a description of the ministry. I encourage you to get it started where God has established you for the sake of His name.
"CHOP is a ministry tool that directs prayer as a means to revive (motivation) our hearts in grace as we draw near to the living God as our loving Father and to involve (participation) us in our everyday lives as active witnesses for Jesus Christ in dependence and expectation of His working. CHOP looks to cultivate in us a greater awareness of the evangelistic nature of ordinary life in which we find ourselves every day. It kindles in us an attitude of personal involvement and expectation as the witnesses for Christ we are by virtue of being His disciples. It involves us in the actual activity of bearing verbal witness to the glorious gospel of salvation bound up in Christ alone. We look to draw near to people for Christ and draw near to Christ for people. And we do it collectively, united with fellow believers for mutual encouragement in a common mission." (Community Houses of Prayer Ministry Manual, p. 13).
Often we think of prayer as talking to God, that flow of communication with the Sovereign Lord of hosts by which we express our praise, thanks, laments, doubts, fears, petitions, complaints, confessions and all those other aspects of life in communion with our Father in heaven. But how often do we just linger in the presence of God practicing the call of Psalm 46:10 to "be still and know that He is God." The scriptures are punctuated with the reminder that our God is "with" us. He reminds us of this in Isaiah 41:10 to calm our fears. He asserts this in Matthew 28:20 to embolden us and authorize us for mission. Jesus promises not to leave us as orphans but will come to us and be with us (John 14). "With us"--what exactly does that mean? Let me think about it. That is the agenda of being still.
In our times of prayer we whip out the prayer list, run through it with dispatch, pack up and go on our way. How much different is that from the confessional, where adherents line up to enter the enclosure, dump their sins and be on their way? How strange would it be to linger in silence? Surely the priest would hasten us on our way, the business having been conducted.
But prayer is more than a business meeting. Prayer is communion with our God in the splendor of His glory and the expression of His care. One of our goals in prayer is to grow to know our God, to reflect on His revelation in His Word and in His creation and in His providence and in His Son. We want to ruminate. That takes time and that takes discipline, the discipline of being still to know that He is God. In that stillness God impresses His glory upon us, prompting praise. He reminds us of His wisdom, that His ways are not ours, His workings are often inscrutable to our finite minds. Our prayers being fueled by awe and saturated with humility, dependence and submission. Stillness before God fosters depth of relationship with Him by which we might know Him not just academically but experientially.
Silence in prayer can become quite noisy, both with ejaculations of response and with unarticulated murmurs of musing in communion with the God of glory and grace who has entered into relationship with us through the reconciling work of His Son. With these sounds of silence, unlike the song that bears the same name, we don't say, "Hello, darkness, my old friend," but commune with Him who is the Light as the sons of light He has made us to be.
In our zeal to get the word out about the gospel of life in Jesus Christ, we tend to put an emphasis on speaking. Of course, Scripture does ask how people are to hear without someone preaching (Rom. 10:14). A presentation that unfolds the glorious logic of the gospel amidst the glorious illogic of grace has great value. (Note the GOD's good news icon on the CHOP home page for a systematic presentation of the gospel.) Speaking, however, does not mean merely spouting off.
In what I consider to be one of the best instructional manuals for the proclamation of the gospel the Old Testament has to offer (Isaiah 6 is a close companion), God in Isaiah 55 provides a presentation of the gospel (vv. 1-2), focusing on the everlasting covenant (v. 3) bound up in Jesus Christ (cf. Is. 53) and the call to listen to God (cf. John 5:24) and repent (vv. 6-7), the wisdom of God (vv. 8-9) and efficacy of the Word in the purpose of God (vv. 10-11).
In Isaiah 55:2, the prophet asks the question, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread..." Part of listening is seeing where people are investing their efforts for spiritual life and what currency they are using (usually works righteousness). Then we can urge upon them the call to "listen diligently" to God that they might delight themselves in that which will truly satisfy and lead to eternal life (55:3). God uses us to convey what He says to which people are to listen.
In other words, we want to engage people for the gospel at the point of their searching. That means we will need to listen. This sort of evangelism will be conducted in dialog rather than monologue. When we say the gospel must be preached that does not necessarily bring to mind the pulpit ministry model. Rather it addresses the dispensing of truth instead of some sort of negotiated plan of salvation. When Paul tells Timothy to "preach the word" and to "do the work of an evangelist" (2 Tim. 4:1-5), he is engaging Timothy in the same sort of reproof and correction (cf. 2 Tim. 3:14-16) we see in Isaiah 55.
The title of Ronald Johnson's book on evangelism captures the concern, How Will They Hear If We Don't Listen? "If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame" (Prov. 18:13) is one of the many communication principles of Proverbs 18. That principle applies to the communication of the gospel as well. As Christ's ambassadors, we have only one answer but we minister that answer to people in keeping with the work of the Holy Spirit who gives ears to hear and creates itches we need to listen to in order to scratch.