St. John Studies

“I got a word from God!’

Has anyone ever told you this?

I have had many opportunities to be around God-believing people so I have heard that exclaimed from time to time. I was “born again” twenty years ago and I started hanging out with a new crowd, a group of people who were more dedicated to living a God-centered life.

Before, I was spending all my time with people who did not profess a belief in God or if they did, I would characterize them as “religious.”   Let me use myself to explain what I mean.   I went to church. That was about it.   I did not worry when I missed church.   I just attended when it was convenient and felt that I was not missing that much when I was absent.

No dedication to worship [I did not see a need].

No commitment to a Sunday school class [not convinced I needed to learn about God].

No commitment to Christian service through my church [ I was too busy with my own “stuff”].

I would characterize myself as “Christian in name only.”

I was never around anyone who said “I got a word from God!”

If I had heard that, I would have probably thought they were crazy. They were physically, emotionally or mentally weak.

But then God changed my life in the midst of a major personal crisis.   I asked Him to help me out of my crisis and He did.   Christian friends began to appear in my life.   Loving people who helped me through my problem.

Yes, I began to hang out with a new crowd.

A few of those folks have told me they got words from God. Now, I no longer think them crazy.

What about you?

When you hear someone say they have prayed about something and God answered them, do you believe? Have you ever personally heard from God?

Is there Scriptural support for hearing from God? Of course there is.   Moses had direct communication from God as well as Samuel and Elijah.   In Acts, God responded to prayer by speaking during dreams. Angels visited people in Scripture in Daniel, and in Acts.   Others experienced visions [for example Acts 9 and 10].   God even used third parties to speak to petitioners in 2 Kings and Acts and angels were sent to third parties in Acts 12.

In the next few posts, I will discuss some of the most important aspects of prayer: getting words from God; getting direct answers to prayer, and how we know we have an answer.

We will also deal with the idea that God sometimes does not answer prayer? What do we do if that happens? What is God up to?

Finally, we will consider the value of persistence.   When we don’t get the answer we want, or we don’t get any answer at all, should we keep asking God for the same thing over and over again? Is it right to pester God?

Even though there may be Christians today who report they have experienced a word from God, is this real?  Did words from God only come to those people in our Bible?

My direct question to you today is this: what do you think?

Has God ever given you a word?

Mechanics.

Techniques.

Method.

All these words refer to how something is done.   I am a Methodist.   My Christian denomination was started by an Anglican priest in the 18^th Century who emphasized mechanics and techniques of prayer.   He did this so much that other students at his college called his student prayer group “Methodists”.   It was not a complimentary term.

One of the things he was obsessed with was his dedication to early morning prayer.   Not only did he worry about getting up early, he also obsessed about the time he spent in prayer.

I was told one time “Jesus got up early to pray and you should be doing it too.” Martin Luther was well-known as a person who got up early to pray and when he knew he would have a hard day, he was known to get up even earlier. Monastic church tradition has always encouraged early morning prayer. The day begins at 3:00 A.M. with communal prayer. Obviously there is church history that encourages early morning prayer.

This news may invigorate you. You may be thinking “I need to start doing this!” This news may also discourage you. You don’t function well in the early morning hours.   You cherish your sleep. You don’t think you can roll out of bed early.

Are there advantages to early morning prayer? Of course there are.   I am a morning person. I like to get my cup of coffee and as the caffeine begins to do its work on my brain, I am more focused. I can concentrate on prayer because other concerns of the day have not become important.   Appointments are later, jobs are later, phone calls are later.   Not much is going on early in the morning.   I am not a person who has to eat early in the morning. It takes a while for me to develop some hunger.   Some people may need to keep their blood sugar levels up early in the morning.   The fact that coffee is all I need helps me to concentrate.

I like to get my day started right. Having my early morning talk with God is an excellent way to begin my day.   I may have peace, strength and wisdom that I would not normally have due to my time of prayer.

But now let’s talk about the needs of others.   I began this post with a reference to John Wesley.   The more you read about his life, the more you realize he was dedicated to his faith in God.   Some would indeed describe his early efforts at spiritual discipline as “obsessed.” In my experience with “dedicated” people, their lives can be very inspiring or their lives can be very discouraging.

I have been around many, many people who just can’t muster the strength to match the discipline of others. In fact, the “dedicated” person can cause some to just give up and become totally undisciplined.

I don’t think people who are trying to pray need to measure their own level of effort with the effort of others. Just because some like the early morning hours to pray, does not mean that the early morn is your ideal prayer time. God does not “come on the air” at 5:00 in the morning. He is available all day long. There is no set time for prayer.   Furthermore, you don’t have to pray for an hour. You need to feel you can pray for as long as is necessary. A fervent five minute prayer is better than no prayer at all.

Our world is so focused on others.   We feel good or bad according to how we stack up against others.   Is our home acceptable? Is our car acceptable? Is our clothing stylish?   It all seems to hinge on how we compare to others.

With prayer, it is a process where you need to find what works for you. Somehow, we need to individualize prayer to the point that we can get people praying where they are.   As prayer begins, the time may change, the length of prayer may change, and the words used may change.   You may go from five minutes in the car on the way to work to a greater level of dedication.   If you don’t, that’s ok too.

In Psalms 42: 1-2 the Bible says “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”   Some prayer may indeed lead to more prayer. Your desire for prayer may grow over time. As W. Bingham Hunter says “Those who taste find that the Lord is good” [Hunter, 74]. His recommendation is “look for the most helpful time of day, find out what will help you get focused and do it”

In my teaching career*, I have had many experiences with students who like the “limelight.” From a speech teacher’s point of view, this makes life easier. These students do not have as much stage fright as some and they can concentrate on other aspects of making a public presentation.

Since I am writing about a book on prayer**, let’s view public prayer as a “speech event.”   Some may not want to think of prayer that way, but in reality, a public prayer has several things in common with a speech.

I want to focus on the person who prays and likes to be seen praying; they like the “limelight.”

The Bible has something to say about the person who likes to put on a show as they pray. Matthew 6: 1, 5 states “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven. . . When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”

This is pretty harsh criticism but it is based on seeing into a person’s heart.   I don’t have the power to see into a person’s heart, but Jesus suspected that some public prayer by the Pharisees and Sadducees was designed to make them appear righteous and they didn’t have the right motives for what they were doing.

A public speaker who really enjoys making presentations can be a good thing, and in my opinion the lack of stage fright frees the speaker to concentrate on crafting a message that can benefit the audience.   However, I have seen that go wrong too.   Some people love being up in front of others so much that they will do anything to call attention to themselves.   Content can suffer, audience understanding can be scuttled in favor of attention getting material and the whole speech event is just a way to get the audience to respond to the speaker.

This is manipulation whether it is a Pharisee or just an attention-loving speaker. The Pharisees were manipulating the audience in order to look more righteous than others.   The speaker manipulates the audience in order to get a positive response [ie. adoration].

Here is where we have to draw the line. It is one thing to manipulate an audience; it is something else to manipulate God.   W. Bingham Hunter states “God, like all personal beings, dislikes being used by others in pursuit of objectives which are personally offensive to Him.   What Jesus is really saying in Matthew is that if the reward of public prayer is flattery, the idea that we should commune with God and grow our faith is lost.

Where is a better place to pray if your public prayers have incorrect motives?   Matthew 6:6 says that “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

In today’s world, the big challenge is to find time to be alone with God.   Many say they just don’t have the time; some just don’t have the discipline, and others don’t put prayer high up on their priority list. Yet the practice of daily personal devotions has been a characteristic of sincere Christians for centuries. In the book of Daniel it says “Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God.”

What is the outcome of daily devotional prayer in private? Over time, one can build a relationship with God. This relationship leads to a stable life with God in times of joy and in times of trouble.

Let me repeat, I cannot see into the hearts of men. When I see someone pray and they want to be seen as righteous, I can only suspect that. I don’t know that.   When I hear a speaker make a presentation and they want to be adored by their audience, I can only suspect that. I don’t know that.

As Christians, we should be about doing anything which “allows us to come in times of crisis and triumph and find the strength to keep life in perspective . . .His perspective.”

The safest alternative for prayer: private prayer.

Just you and your Lord…

*I taught speech communication for thirty-six years at Hopkinsville Community College.

**This post comments on material from the book The God Who Hears by W. Bingham Hunter.

“Some people object to calling God personal” [Hunter*, 70].

Yet, can we make a case that there is some form of personhood for God?

The Bible does say that God is spirit but when you explore Scripture, you realize that this spirit is a personal spirit. Hunter cites the frequent use of personal references to God in the Bible. God’s personal name in the Hebrew language is Yahweh, Yahveh or Yahoveh [Jehovah]. This reference is far more common than people realize because translators have substituted the more formal and less personal Lord and Go in the place of Yahweh. Taking the New American Standard Bible as an example, Yahweh is changed to God 315 times, Lord 6,399 times and Lord’s 111 times. Even though we have become accustomed to using Lord and God in our references to our Divine Father, the Hebrew language intended Yahweh to be the best word to use due to the personal nature of the Word.

When you read Scripture and think about how God is portrayed, His more personal aspects become clear. He seems to be self-conscious and able to determine His own life. He does this through the use of clear, rational thinking. He has a will, He acts, He does things to reveal, He creates and does all this in a way that reveals He has a sense of right and wrong.   God also has emotions like love and “righteous” anger. God knows joy and grief.   There are many references to the fact that God desires to have a relationship with His children [us]. The keys to that relationship are very human activities like fellowship and mutual self-disclosure.

When you turn to the creation in Genesis, you read the book as God sharing His personal qualities with man. Our personal qualities did not come from some strange unknown source. They came from the Supreme Being. We are made in God’s image. How the first man was created was a clear indication of the personhood of God.

Perhaps the strongest case for the personhood of God is the person of Jesus Christ. God chose not to be eternally invisible when He put “skin on” and became man. John 1:14 states “The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us.” Jesus states in John 14:9 “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” The Apostle Paul says “He is the image of the invisible God….God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him” [Colossians 1:15, 19]. Taken as a whole, one can just read the Gospels and see that the writers of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John intend for us to believe that Jesus [God] was fully personal.

People who object to making God personal seem to fear that we will take the concept of a personal God too far and somehow we will demean the dignity and divinity of God. For people with this concern, Hunter says that the best way to explain the personhood of God may be to say “there is personality in God” [Hunter, 70].

But from my point of view, I see the value in emphasizing the personhood of God, especially in the area of communicating with Him through prayer. I feel the most effective prayer is a personal connection with God.   It is not an exercise in trying to figure out God. Prayer is not a set of techniques to get what you want from God.   Prayer is opening as much of my heart to God as I can.   God knows me intimately because He knows all anyway. I am the one who has to make the choice to share or not to share. To share a little or to share a lot. To be partially honest or totally honest. To reveal all of my motives or try to hide some of my motives.   God knows what is going on and He wants to see how much I will connect with Him.

In my opinion, the more I share with God, the better my relationship with Him will be. In human relationships, the idea of sharing with another human being can be the bond that will cement a true friendship if we can trust the other person to be sensitive with our personal information. With God, that is not a problem. There is no problem with trust.   He will listen, He loves us, He will help us and He is always faithful to us.

I think that prayer will always benefit from a personal connection with God. The more you allow Him inside you during prayer the more your prayer connection will be strengthened. He will give you the key to a better life as you open your heart to Him.

You will increase your personal knowledge of your Lord and Savior.

Yahweh…

*our author W. Bingham Hunter, The God Who Hears

In Luke 10 a certain lawyer arose to try to test Jesus, asking “What am I to do to inherit everlasting life?” Jesus replied “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” The lawyer said “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”   Jesus said “you have answered correctly.”

In my way of thinking, this is the “bottom line” for Christians.

Maybe, just maybe it is the bottom line for our behavior this Christmas and for the new year.

It is a simple sounding goal, yet it is not simple either. Love is such a symbolic term and it can be interpreted so many ways [love of the soul, love of the mind, love of the child, etc.]. In addition, how much love is enough?   When do you know you have dedicated yourself enough to your Father? All your heart? All your soul? All your strength? All your mind?

Being humans with fleshly bodies and minds, we constantly wonder, “Have I done enough?”

What does the lawyer mean by loving your neighbor? Helping them? Giving them money? Telling them how much you admire them? Whatever we are supposed to do, we are supposed to do it to others as we would want it done to ourselves.

Yes, the instructions are a bit unclear, but the goal is so appropriate as we think about the gifts we receive this Christmas. The greatest gift is expressed in the most popular verse in the Bible: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” [John 3:16].

Should we not pass our gift of love onto others?

My thoughts are not earth-shaking and hardly original, but this is the time of year when we need to pause and assess how we are fulfilling the greatest command and the second greatest commandment: “the bottom line.”

Are you finding a way to express love in our world today?

Maybe there is a phone call to a friend that is long overdue. Can you pick up a pile of leaves in your neighbor’s yard or can you offer to nail a loose gutter to their house?   Maybe they are elderly and have a hard time getting things done? While sitting in a hospital waiting room, can you ask about another person’s injury and express your concern that they get well soon?   Can you volunteer at church accomplishing a short term project—maybe sorting food for food baskets?   When you want to say something incendiary about politics, maybe you stop and keep your thoughts to yourself.

Love expression opportunities are all around us…literally.

As Christians we should be the leaders of the world in showing others how to love. We should be showing others how to love God and in the process, God’s love will direct us to how to love others around us.

In a day and time when love is in such short supply…

Our behavior can help turn the negative tide that sometimes seems to envelop our world, you know, all the expressions that are so selfish and hurtful. All the expressions that get the attention of the news media. There is only one way to fight this trend that will probably never end.

We have to fight it by learning to show love. We have to obey the greatest commandment.

Don’t worry about how much you give to others, just give.   Don’t compare your effort with the efforts of others, just make your effort. Don’t overthink the process of giving your love to another, just give it.

This Christmas, we cannot give enough love and our neighbors can’t get too much love.

Do your part to change the world this Christmas. Learn to give love.

At the risk of stating the obvious, when we pray, we pray to an invisible God.

Now some petitioners may not be bothered by that but does that hold true for all? How can God’s invisibility cause problems for people who want to pray?

Bingham Hunter says that the first problem resides in the fact that some people don’t deal well with abstract ideas. An abstract idea is a thought that does not have a physical existence.   In essence, a person struggling with understanding abstraction would prefer most ideas to be something to touch, smell and see and God does not “fill the bill” for them. Terms like “The Great Spirit” and “The Power of the Universe” don’t help. Many people may be like the child Billy at the beginning of Chapter 5.* He is afraid in his dark bedroom and he expresses that to his mother.   She admonishes him that there is no need for fear; God is always with us. Billy says it would be a lot better if God were a real person with skin on. Now there is nothing we can do about this; sorry Billy. We pray to an invisible God.

In a related way, some people may fear what they cannot see. I take it for granted that I have my 65 year old conception of God. I am not a theologian, only a layperson in a Methodist Church, but I was exposed to God early in my life and as the years have gone by, I have been blessed with a strong need to learn more about Him and His invisibility is not a problem. He meant for it to be that way as you turn to Old Testament Scripture like Exodus 33:20 “No one can see Me and live.” But what about the novice, the person who, for whatever reason, has never really considered the need for worshipping a “Higher Power”? How does a new Christian begin to conceptualize God?   I have been around a few “new Christians” and one of the most negative struggles I have heard about is the woman who had trouble conceptualizing an invisible God because she could not help but visualize her unloving earthly father in the place of an invisible God. Another Christian I know prays to God as an empty chair. He knows God is invisible but the empty chair gives him both that idea and a prayer focus. It is a shame that invisibility can rouse anxiety or even fear, but it can.

The God of our childhood can be carried over to adulthood.   Many of us have seen children’s Sunday School materials that attempt to picture God. He may be a bearded fatherly figure in the clouds or a benevolent friendly elder with His hands stretched out over the earth. The problem with this is the “otherness” that God seeks to present to man. God is divine and should not reflect our experiences and desires.   The more we humanize God, the more we may find Him easier to pray to, but God should not be put “in a box.” He is bigger and more complex than man can imagine; He takes many forms; for example a lion, a lamb, a whirlwind, a burning bush, or an angel to name a few.   He is not limited by man’s imagination.

Finally, we can be distracted when we pray in the company of people. I lead pray from time to time and I wonder how I can fit my prayer to the group I am praying with. Should that be my ultimate concern? No. Maybe I am trying to impress with my prayer. Is my prayer sincere enough? Maybe I should raise my hands. I need to remember to mention that person’s mother who is very ill. An invisible God does not care about how we sound or the “thees” and “thous” we use; He probably just wants to hear a clear and honest expression of what is on our heart.

To be honest, the more we study the Bible, the more we encounter the abstract spirit of God. The more we humanize God, the more we make God a particular earthly entity. YHWH became “Yahweh”, and then the more familiar Lord and God. Why did God reveal His name to us? Because He did not want us to think of Him as a cosmic “it”.   Maybe He did not intend for us to use the familiar name Bob in place of God, but He wants to be a part of our lives.

Whether you have to use an empty chair or a Sunday School characterization, He wants us to relate to Him.   He certainly does not want us to fear Him. We may have many distractions that take us away from God’s divinity but He wants us to feel His presence in our lives.   He wants to relate to us…

God to man.

*Of the book The God Who Hears

This is my last post on the topic of “Can Prayer Change God’s Mind”. W.Bingham Hunter* has some excellent pieces of advice for all who try to pray in God’s will. He says that praying in the will of God is not a special magical formula as much as it is an attitude: “the petitioner’s willingness to admit that the Father’s knowledge is more complete than His children’s. It expresses the child’s wish to learn to want what God gives” [Hunter, 62]. If you have not seen this main point emerge in recent posts, here it is again: “God hears us (grants our petitions) only when we ask according to His will” [Hunter,63].

You may wonder now [and Hunter anticipates your questions] how can I know the will of God?

This is a piece of advice that tells you what not to do to know God’s will. Pay attention to the media. In our country, we are constantly being sold products which are designed to transform our lives.   Buy this car and you will have the image of success.   Purchase this watch to look rich or wear this sports coat to look   like you have “fashion consciousness.” We are persuaded into desiring things and God is not impressed with our materialistic desires. James 4:3 addresses praying for wrong motives and the desire for pleasures. God won’t respond.

A positive move is to read your Bible. The more you do it, the more God’s words remain in you. The Bible can lead all of us to a greater knowledge of God and prayer. James 15:7 “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” The Bible can indeed be your gateway to better prayer.

Commit yourself to doing God’s will.   We are talking about Christian obedience here, the kind of obedience that is reflected in the words found in Romans 12:1-2: “ Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Remember that every one of us is unique.   We don’t need to think we can determine God’s will by looking at others.   We all have positive Christian role models around us, but the best resource is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will guide your thoughts, goals and aspirations. When we turn to others, we can think we are “further along” with our Christian walk or we are “way behind.”   Our society is horrible about constantly trying to establish who is “on top”; don’t fall into that trap.

If you do seek help from others, seek help from mature Christians who have gone through things.   I am an intercessor at my church and there is another intercessor who exhibits the strength of a woman of faith.   She not only prays in God’s will; she prays as if the victory is won.   She knows that God will triumph and she prays that way.   I have listened to her prayers and talked to her about praying.   Needless to say, she is not a “baby” Christian; her life has been full of trial and tribulation and yet she still stands. She stands strong for herself and many others.

Learn to pray for others and ask others to pray for you. When we ask for prayer from others, give them enough detail about the concern and the time you need for them to pray.   Don’t just say “pray for me” and leave them.   In the past few months, I have learned to pray for others and I have learned to ask others to pray for me. I know it helps.   In fact, I have had so many people praying for me that I have been overwhelmed.

All this advice can give you a posture toward prayer that can be so helpful but the most helpful thing to have is the right attitude. God may not give you your petition. Instead of getting disappointed, crushed or even grieved, pray again. Hunter states “Prayer problems are usually not intellectual but volitional. In praying effectively, the submission of your will is directly linked to finding God’s will. Prayer which God answers is always offered with an attitude of submission” [Hunter, 65].

The close of the chapter on “Can Prayer Change God’s Mind” is too good not to repeat here…

“Are you willing to say when God’s response to your own urgent prayer is not the one you wanted: ‘have thine own way Lord.’”

*author of The God Who Hears

We had it all. You know the story of Adam and Eve. God created man and woman “in His image” to reflect God’s character and represent His rule on earth and harness the potential of God’s creation.

Man and woman were truly blessed, but they did not seem to know it. The snake appeared one day and told them the tale of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and despite God’s urging to not eat from the tree, they were tempted to do so. The Tree of Life and trusting God was not good enough. They believed the snake when he said they could eat the apple and become like God. Weren’t they already created “in His image”?

Instead of becoming like God, they disobeyed God and ruined their relationship with their Father.   They exercised their free will and chose autonomy over trusting the words of God.

God gave them that free will and it back-fired. The first man and woman were punished.

This succinct summary of the Adam and Eve story relates to prayer because many of us still want autonomy when it comes to prayer. We think we can pray for what we want God to accomplish but can we?   We like to think we are free agents. No one wants to be a puppet. But what are we?

Free agent or puppet?

Some people believe that God has absolute control. He can even rule our hearts and action. But others think, like Adam and Eve, we have the ability to choose and sometimes we make bad choices. [The absolute control people feel God knows what we are going to do before we do it]. Since the focus is on prayer, let’s assume that we have free will to use the language we use to address God; language that we are morally responsible for.

To help us understand how a person would think pray is under God’s control, we will look at two analogies W. Bingham Hunter uses.   Some may gain some insight from this.

For the praying person who feels God is in total control, Hunter uses the image of a mother cat and her kitten. When a mother cat wants to take her kitten somewhere, she merely grabs the kitten by the back of the neck and moves the kitten. The kitten is passive.   I have always had cats as pets and I have tested this repeatedly.   Grab a cat by the skin on the back of the neck and the cat doesn’t fight you as you move it. Humans [the kitten] is not in control. They are not powerful compared to the mother cat [representing God]. The words of prayer are even pre-ordained.

Contrast this to another image of a mother monkey jumping from branch to branch.   I have seen this in the zoo and on television. The mother monkey does all the work associated with mobility but the baby monkey is taught to cling to the mother in order for this to work.   If the baby does not exercise the muscles associated with holding onto the mother, the baby does not get a ride.

What is the basic difference between these two animal examples? The kitten is passive and the baby monkey is an active participant.

I know it may be a stretch to think of yourself as a kitten or baby monkey, but I prefer to think of myself as the monkey.   God’s spirit is within me and I am glad it is.   It is my Helper in times of trouble and indecision but I have the power to exercise my “muscles of participation” or not.

Quoting T.C. Hammond, Bingham writes “The awakened soul cries unto God as naturally as the infant cries for food. When the cry is lacking, there is danger of death. As the cry brings the answer because the mother heart is turned to the wail of the babe. Dare we say that God also creates in us this yearning after Him and His will, and is under compulsion of His own nature to answer the call which is of His own creation.

When Adam and Eve ate of the apple in the garden, they hurt their level of intimacy with God. For me that is what prayer is.   It is my effort to be intimate with my Creator.

My prayer is my interpersonal contact with God, it is not mechanical and it shows the love between me and God. I believe He cares enough to listen.

Bottom line: If I did not think He loved me, why would I try to talk to Him?

The answer is, I probably wouldn’t. But…

He does…

And I pray.