Weekly Prayer Thought

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Psalm 103.1

As we continue thinking about ways to pray, particularly focusing on patterns that we can use to pray, I would like to turn to a more "biblical" model. Biblical is used in quotes because it is not more holy or Scriptural than the other models we have used, but because the outline comes directly from the Bible itself. This pattern can be found in the first several verses of Psalm 103. You might want to open your Bible to that chapter as we go through this outline. This will be a brief introduction to praying the Bible, or using the Psalms in your prayer.

• Bless the Lord (Psalm 103.1). We can always begin our prayers by praising the Lord. Here we tell God how much we love him and how important his Son is to us. This is maybe the most awkward part of prayer, but it also can be the thing that provides the most blessing.
• Forget not his benefits (Psalm 103.2). We should never neglect to thank God for all the blessings that we have received. I like this pattern because it puts thanksgiving so close to praise. They are complementary. Praise him for who he is and thank him for what he has done.
• Pray for forgiveness (Psalm 103.3). Never forget to repent of your sins and ask God's forgiveness. He is willing to forgive anything and everything. Our problem is that too often we think that our sins are too great, or that we are too far gone. As you pray for forgiveness, you should also be sure to ask God for help in receiving his forgiveness and forgiving yourself.
• Pray for healing (Psalm 103.3). There is never anything wrong with asking God for physical help. Throughout the Gospels Jesus heals all kinds of diseases for all sorts of people. I believe that God's will is for his people to be healthy.
• Pray for redemption (Psalm 103.4). It is God who saves us and redeems our lives. He has paid for us. It is appropriate for us to seek his redemption. There are many situations in which we struggle with anxiety, difficulty and depression. God offers redemption so that we can begin to minimize, and ultimately eliminate, such situations.
• Pray for lovingkindness (Psalm 103.4). The gifts that God gives include things like peace, joy and lovingkindness. We should ask God to fill us with those things so that; 1) Our lives can be more fulfilled; and 2) We can share them with others.
• Pray for renewal (Psalm 103.5). Our spiritual lives are of great concern to God, and should be to us as well. Pray that God will keep us close to him. Pray that you will always follow him closely. And pray that you will be encouraged to always be faithful.

Prayer: Lord God, continue to teach me to pray. Help me to find a way, a pattern, a discipline that suits me. Teach me how I can be blessed by you, how I can be a blessing to you, and how I can bless others through my prayers and my life. Amen.

Football Cheers

When I was in school I secretly wanted to be a cheerleader. However, my school had no boy cheerleaders. It was the late 1970's after all, and being a cheerleader was a very feminine thing. Boys in the band's color guard or cheerleaders were looked on with suspicion. We worried about whether they were actually men or not.

So my dreams of leading cheers were suppressed for another day and another generation. But I secretly wrote cheers. I wrote several. I have since shared my cheers with my daughter (also not a cheerleader). Now it is time to come completely clean. Here are my cheers. Enjoy.

For a tie game:

"We're ahead. We're ahead. So are you!"

When your team is on defense:
"Run and fall on your bun. Run and fall on your bun!"

For anytime:

"If you fall on the grass, you'll get a stain on your... pants!"

As I reflect on these now, 30 years later, maybe it is no wonder that they didn't let people like me be cheerleaders.

Movies You Ought to See (for good reasons)

Here are a few movies that I have seen recently that would be good to see. Some of these movies I have not seen recently, but I was reminded of them by seeing some of the others. I stand behind all of these recommendations. I guarantee you will like them, or I'll refund the price you paid to read this blog entry.

• Doubt- Philip Seymour Hoffman is the best actor in American movies today. He is great, as usual, as a priest accused of sexual abuse with a minority student at his school. Meryl Streep plays the nun who thinks the worst in every situation. She raises suspicions and evil thoughts in every possible situation. Amy Adams plays the young nun who is caught in the middle and doesn't know what to think. Although we never learn whether or not the priest is guilty, we learn and grow a lot in the experience. Pay special attention to the sermons on doubt and gossip.
• Henry Poole is Here- This could easily become my favorite movie. Luke Wilson is a terminally ill man who has given up on life and hope when his neighbors begin to notice an image of Jesus on the side of his house. Henry deals with his own disease, his impending death, his nosy neighbors and the miracles that start happening in thought-provoking ways. Again, you will be left with as many questions as answers, but the trip is worth it.
• Leap of Faith- This Steve Martin film of several years ago raises many of the same questions as the Henry Poole movie. Does God heal? Who can you trust? What about a person's motivations? It's fun and funny, but be sure to wear your thinking cap.
• Up- A great new animated feature in which an elderly man deals with his loneliness and a young boy works through his feelings of abandonment. These issues are packaged in a delightful story with wit and sensitivity.
• Bella- Although I felt I was being preached at on a couple of occasions, this film is only part propaganda. It is mostly great. The issues surrounding abortion are dealt with seriously without flinching. Nina is a pregnant waitress who is fired for being late. She is befriended by the restaurant's chef. As the two of them spend 24 hours together we see the conflicts in Nina's life, as well as how great Jose (the chef) is. It does not have a traditional story book ending, but you will not be disappointed.

Watch one. Watch them all.

Weekly Prayer Thought

Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. Numbers 14.19

In my last prayer devotional I began exploring a series of prayer patterns that could prove to be very helpful to anyone who is interested in deepening their relationship with God and improving their prayer lives.

I think this sort of practical tool is important for several reasons.

• It is easy to get distracted in your prayer life, even when you are very motivated to pray. A prayer-pattern can help keep you focused and on track.
• Many people tend to think of prayer as asking God for things. When we use a pattern, or formula, for prayer, it helps keep us focused on all the areas of prayer. This is one way to keep our prayers balanced.
• Using a form can also help to jump-start our prayers when we struggle with what or how to pray. These simple suggestions can get you going and keep you going.

Consider the PRAY prayer pattern.

P- Praise God. It is always a good idea to begin your prayer time by praising God. Tell him how much you love him and how important he is to you. I often sing praises to God. Even when I do not, the lyrics to hymns and praise songs are great resources for praising God.

R- Repent. Never forget to repent of your sins. Confess your wrongdoing and promise God that you will never do it again. The Lord has promised in his word that when we repent, he will forgive.

A- Ask. Always praise God and repent of your sins before your get to your list of needs and wants. When we have established our relationship with him, then we begin to enumerate our prayer needs.

Y- Yield. The hardest part is the last part. Yielding means simply that your will is submitted to God's will. Your wish is for what God wants. Pray this pattern for one week to see what will happen. I believe that your prayer times will be changed as you worship and pray in a consistent way.

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Amen.

Peace is Not a Wall

I looked for peace and found a wall.
The preachers pointed and said,
"Here is peace."
The children chanted, "We have peace."
The women cried, "Finally, we have peace."
The men frowned, "Yes, this is peace."
But peace is not a wall.

I looked for peace and found a club.
The preachers saw it and said,
"Now that, that is peace."
Children called out, "Peace is finally here."
Women were relieved, "Ah, peace."
The men were encouraged, "This is big peace."
But peace is not a club.

Peace and War

Here is the bottom line of this entry: Peace is more than the absence of war.

It's a mixed up world. We call guns and soldiers peace-keepers. We defend the right to keep guns as a measure to ensure peace. There are places where humans have built fences and walls as a way to "keep peace." I have a problem with all of these.

I have been thinking a lot about peace lately. I have been thinking about the need for peace in my own life, in my family, in the world. There isn't a lot of peace anywhere. We are raised in conflict and taught to be contentious. We look out for ourselves and compete in every facet of our lives. It is no wonder that we are filled with jealousy, bitterness, envy, strife, hatred.

Our nature is to be selfish and that leads us, without a consistent check, to lift ourselves up, usually by pushing others down. And in the midst of all this ill-feeling, we are convinced that if there is no war, then there is peace. Hogwash!

• There is peace when there is an absence of fear. Fear leads us to anxiety, which lead us to paranoia. When we are afraid we arm ourselves. We think about the best ways to defend ourselves. And we are only a couple of steps from war and death. This is not peace.
• There is peace when there is serenity. Calm and quiet are hallmarks of peace. We should seek to settle our hearts, our thoughts, our minds for the good of those around us.
• There is peace when people listen to one another and attempt to understand positions different from their own. This is dangerous because it may make you change your mind, but it is vitally important to peace in the world.
• There is peace when people consider the needs of others as just as valid and important as their own needs. Everything changes when we realize the humanity of "enemies." It is hard for me to hate someone who is hurting or hungry.

Our world is filled with conflict. There are wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Congo, Uganda and Sri Lanka among other places. I believe that war is never good. I also believe that peace is more than an absence of war.

It Came from the Media

A friend of mine wrote a youth curriculum by that title in the early 1990's. The idea was that the media has a great influence on young people, their actions, and unfortunately, their beliefs. I would like to report that things have improved in the last 15-20 years, but sadly I think that they have only gotten worse. In fact, one of the most important issues is that at this point, adults are nearly as subject to media influence as teens. Not only that, the pervasive impact of the media has crept into younger age groups as well.

A couple of recent examples of media influence illustrate the dangers perfectly. To begin with, let me make clear that I believe the reality television phenomenon to be a very bad thing. I have written about it before so I will not belabor the point. Just know that there is nothing real about reality tv. They are not real people. They are placed in unreal circumstances. A recent change is the celebrity status that reality participants get. There are many people who are now famous because they were on a reality show. UNREAL!! But I digress.

• John and Kate. These two have too many children, but that is not the problem. The media has hounded them, because of their status as reality stars, until they are questioning their marital commitments to one another.
• Susan Boyle. The frumpy middle-aged singer became a sensation because her voice did not match her appearance. The media turned her into an international star. Unfortunately, we got too much of her and turned on her. God only knows the extent of damage to Ms Boyle.
• Nadia Suleman. Octo-mom just signed a contract to star in her own reality tv show. Some producer is looking to make a ton of money on something that no one should know or care about.

All of these have received media attention beyond their own reality vehicles. In fact, television news outlets have been saturated with the latest news from each camp. It infuriates me to hear the latest ramblings of a woman in a lot of children when I want to hear about the latest news from Washington, or Darfur, or the Middle East. Reality stars are not real. They should not be stars. And they are definitely not news.

One final word: If the media goes overboard, it is partially our fault. MSNBC, CNN and FOX News are only interested in ratings. They do not care about political agendas as much as they care about making money. They only broadcast information that you and I will watch. Shame on the media for putting it out there, but mostly shame on us for watching.