Collect 2

So then, the collect form of prayer consists of the invocation (naming God), the basis for my petition (what about God gives me hope of an answer to this request?), the petition itself, the purpose of my request (how will God be magnified and good be done?), and the ending (in Jesus' name. Amen.).

Like this: Father God, who gives all good gifts to men, give I pray You a job for my son, that he might use the gifts you have given him for the good of others and Your glory, because of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Or: Dear Great Physician, who "heals all our diseases" according to Psalm 103, give healing to my friend's body, that she might rise and give glory to You for your kindness, in Christ's name. Amen.

Of course, Christ taught us to add "not my will but thine be done" to all of our petitions, since we really don't know what God will choose to do in each situation. What we are assured of is His glory and our good, and for that we shall be content, and not just content, but rejoicing.

In His holy Name. Amen.

The Collect

I promised the Collect today, and here it is, straight out of the 16th century. Its five parts are centered in and surrounded by God's glory, and we do well to observe it and use it as we speak our own requests. This prayer begins with an Invocation, naming our God, using any of the names that speak to our special need at the moment. Do I need His mercy, His comfort, His power? Name Him, remembering that we speak to a Person, not to Thin Air.

Secondly, what is the basis for my petition? What do I know about God's nature, His promises, His help in the past, that gives me cause to believe I can even make this request? Acts 1:24 shows this prayer by the apostles, "Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men [that's the basis . . . and here's the request:], show which one of these two thou hast chosen to take the place . . . from which Judas turned aside."

Thirdly, what IS my petition? Any request will do, never mind how minor or mundane. God is pleased to be approached. Our petitions, Walt Wangerin says, are the "obedience of a faithful people whose very plea is shaped by the will of their dear Lord."

Fourthly, the purpose. What is the broader benefit of God's answering my request? "So that . . . " what?

Here, in a prayer from the 1600's we see the four parts: Almighty God, who has blessed the earth that it should be fruitful and bring forth abundantly whatever is needed for the life of mankind: prosper, we beseech thee, the labors of the farmer, and grant such seasonable weather that we may gather in the fruits of the earth ever rejoicing in thy goodness, to the praise of your holy name. Do you begin to see how this kind of prayer begins with God, and ultimately seeks to glorify Him? How we are reminded in the midst of praying that all answers must be for our good and His glory?

Finally, we end our speaking in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, through whom alone we have access to God the Father, and a right to even expect a listening ear. As Wangerin says, "He it is who blew open the door between us and the transcendent Deity."

Good stuff, huh?

"Standing Steadfast in God's Grace" Conference

If we are honest, we all realize how easily we fall into trying to find our security, affection, meaning, and satisfaction in life from sources other than through Jesus. Does the good news of what Jesus did on the cross, in your place, determine your responses to the moments of your days? Do you struggle with having the gospel of grace make a difference in your daily life? Plan to join in fellowship around the precious truths of God's grace on Friday evening and Saturday, April 15 and 16. Our speaker will be Sue Lutz, who is a counselor and book editor in the Philadelphia area. She counseled for 15 years with the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation. A graduate of Penn State University, Sue formerly worked as a reporter, feature writer, and editor for newspapers and magazines. She is now involved in various aspects of women's ministry in the church. The weekend will give time for good food and sweet fellowship, and light moments as well. Plan to spend this time considering God's amazing grace, and come away from the weekend refreshed and renewed! If you don't have a conference brochure, you can view one by going to http://www.nhopc.org/ and clicking on the link you will see on the home page. That will give you the information needed to register. In order to give our caterer time to prepare, we are asking for registrations to be received by Sunday, April 3. Feel free to invite a friend to join you as well.

Prayer

We speak. God listens. God speaks. We listen. And that is prayer . . . a conversation with the Almighty God, who has extended the invitation to us. Throughout Scripture, He invites us to pray with the sure promise of His listening ear. That alone is amazing! That God wants to hear from us should astonish us. That we can address Him as Our Father, our Abba Daddy, should cause deep rejoicing in our spirits. God, Creator of the heavens, wants to hear my little voice! "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name." How do we speak to the Almighty, who delights to hear our prayers? Well, we begin with speaking our hearts and anything in them. God is not offended; He knows us fully anyway, and remembers that we are dust. Jesus has also shown us, as have the Psalmists, and the hymn-writers, poets, and Puritans. We have many prayers at our disposal when words fail us and we need help. And tomorrow I will share with you the Collect form, a very helpful tool for cloaking all our requests in God's goodness and glory. Praise God that we worship a God who loves dialoguing with His people, and glory to Him in the highest.

Listening

We talked about silence this week with regard to the Red Sea: "The Lord will fight for you and you have only to be silent." That's a tall order for us women, isn't it? Our solving problems involves lots of talking, both to others and to God. But if we want God to fight for us, sometimes we really need to be quiet.

Having said that, being quiet is not enough. We have to listen to God in our silence. We have to listen hard and long and well. We have to be silent with our Bibles open before us so we can hear, really hear, what God has to say to us in our troubles and otherwise. Don't minimize the value of this; it is essential.

Even as recently as this morning, I was beating myself up (baseball bat, in case you were wondering . . . ) over my sins and self-absorption. Fortunately, I stopped long enough to hear God whisper in my ear verses from Romans 7 and 8: "O, who will rescue me from this body of death? [For surely I needed rescue.] Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! . . . There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."


Did I feel better then? No. But I believe that what He says is true, and I'm standing on that. And I will stand, thanks to Jesus Christ.


My encouragement to you this day is a simple phrase we teach our toddlers at the road side: Stop, look, and listen. Stop talking, look at Christ and His Word, listen to His words to you this day.

The Red Sea and an Army

What might you have felt if you were an Israelite standing at the Red Sea's edge with Pharoah's army at your back? "Between a rock and a hard place" has nothing on this scenario. Would I rather drown or be killed by Egyptian swords (or whatever they used)? Hmm . . . let me think about that a minute.

[Incidentally, this is an overturned bus that the kids saw on the Peru mission trip. No one was hurt, but it kind of makes you think of the Red Sea, no?]

Have you ever found yourself between two very

hard things? It's kind of a hopeless, helpless feeling, isn't it? Despair follows panic, which follows the realization that there are only these two choices, both bad ones.

Now hear what God through Moses said to the Israelites at that moment: "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." (Exodus 14)

So what are we to do when things in our lives and relationships are going south quickly?

1) Fear not,

2) Stand firm in the shadow of His wings,

3) See His salvation which He is working for you,

4) Be silent.

Psalm 62: For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken."

Selah: Pause and calmly think of that.

Firstborn

Look what I found, thanks to Nancy Guthrie in Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament.


"You shall say to Pharoah, 'Thus says the Lord, "Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, 'Let my son go that he may serve me." If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son."'"


Okay, I get that all those quotation marks are distracting, but try to concentrate here. What an Abba Father thing to say! Can you see the love He has for us here, the protective, fatherly love? (This is in Exodus 4, by the way.)


Now remember how Israel, and we by extension, the firstborn sons, have treated our Abba Father. You can see it daily in the world and in your own heart. The bottom line is, we nailed him to a tree and cursed Him while He hung there. Remember also that we are "predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers." So Jesus became the firstborn to eternity that we might follow by faith in Him.


And all this so we might be rescued from "slavery in Egypt". Does this not remind you of Joseph and his brothers? How he, as the most-loved son of his father, was stripped and tortured and sold by his brothers in order to ultimately rescue them all? We are the brothers, women. Let us never begin to identify ourselves with Joseph. We are truly the brothers to our Lord Jesus, the ones that stripped and tortured and sold Him to the enemy, and He is the One who took it valiantly, so he might ultimately rescue us. Rest in that rescue today.

God knows

"During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel--and God knew."


I found this treasure in Exodus 2 this morning. Look at what a God we have . . . a God who hears our groanings, a God who remembers His covenant with us, a God who sees (remember that Hagar called God a "God of seeing, for . . . Truly here I have seen him who looks after me"), and most importantly, a God who knows.


What does He know? He knows us. He knows our aches and cryings-out. He knows our frame, that we are dust. He understands our temptations, for "he was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin". He knows how hard life is, and trials are, and obedience can be. He is a God who knows.


We do not suffer without Him knowing all about it, and bottling our tears, and promising that there is coming a time when the tears will be no more, because He is coming to rescue us. Amazing God. Wait for Him.

Spring?

Put your nose right up to the screen and take a deep whiff of this. Hmmm-mmm. It's coming, ladies. Spring is just around the corner. In fact, it's already come to Tennessee. And it's moving north fast. Rejoice.

Speaking of rejoicing, Psalm 57 finishes with a grand rejoice: "Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!" How did David get from crying out for mercy in verses 1 and 2 to rejoicing? Firstly, because he knows the God who will send from heaven and save him (vs. 3), who fulfills His purposes for him (vs. 2), and who is marked by His steadfast love and faithfulness.

Do we believe it? Really? Think hard about this one. It's pivotal.

If we decide that we believe it, then we can have steadfast hearts. And not only steadfast, but making-melody hearts, awakening-the-dawn hearts, thankful hearts. See and feel the beautiful music in verses 7-10: this is a heart that is full! And not full of the fear of verse 1, but full of confidence in a loving, kind, amazing God. "For Your steadfast love is great to the heavens, and your faithfulness to the clouds." Oh my. Why do we ever worry and fear when we have a God such as this?

Our weary heart-sick nights can break into the bright light of day, awaking the dawn, praising and giving thanks among all the peoples. Let the world know the marvelous deeds and character of our God. We don't need blossoms to feel the freshness and joy of spring. We just need more of Him.

Are you feeling peaceful today? Do these deep blue waters describe your heart right now? As we drove back from a lovely, relaxing vacation with our children, I felt my feet pushing the imaginary brakes on the passenger side of the car (you have those too, don't you?). I am rested on vacation, but at home the work and schedules begin again. Why is my soul no longer at rest?

I'll tell you why. Because I need to control the world and everyone in it! Except when I am on vacation. See how nice it is, Jean, to not control the world? Controlling the world is exhausting.

I suppose I could let God control the world. But what if He makes a mistake and messes something up? I've just got to keep track of things.

As you can tell, there are more than a few errors in my thinking, the worst of which is starting every sentence with "I". This world is not about me and my plans. Nor you and your plans. It's about God and His purposes for all of us. And ultimately, His glory.

Jesus spoke into this thinking: "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, and you shall find rest for your souls." Notice that the rest comes when we learn of him and settle into His yoke for us, and not before. Can I let go? Sure I can, if I am willing to believe God's Word to me. And listen for who He is, this Jesus whose yoke is easy and burden light.

Let's begin there. Listening to Jesus and His Word to us. Learning of Him and His plans for us. Believing that He can control the world just fine without us.

Do you have stories of rest to share with us?

Facts and Feelings

How constantly I need to be reminded that my life is meant to be lived by faith, not by feelings! Today's devotional in Streams of the Desert again speaks to me about the necessity of distinguishing between "the fact of God's presence and the feeling of the fact." Over and over again, I find myself seeing circumstances through my feelings rather than through the truths of God's Word. Can I learn to acknowledge my feelings while trusting in God's involvement in it all?

When my kids used to scrape their knees and come crying to me, the pain didn't immediately stop when I comforted them, but their focus changed, and they knew things would be okay because Mom was there. When feelings of discouragement and helplessness are pulling me down, why do I roll around in them rather than crying out to the Lord, letting Him know what is hurting me? My focus changes when I just get honest with God. Through every painful circumstance, He is there. Settle down, heart; truth is, Jesus has already told us "In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

Isn't this the prettiest thing ever? Thanks to Ben's good eye, we now have a little bit of summer on the blog. Thanks, Ben's eye.

What is faith? Hebrews 11 says it is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Essentially it is believing what God has said in His Word. While that might strike you as counterintuitive (I love long words; I hope I'm using it correctly!), it is something we don't do very well. Do I believe He fulfills His purposes for me, as He has said in Psalm 57? If I do, then why am I whining when things don't go my way?

Do I believe that His plans for me are good and not evil, as He says in Jeremiah 29? If I do, then why do I question everything that happens? Why do I toss and turn at night, wondering how to make everything in my world better?

We need to cry out with the father of the demon-possessed boy, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!" And sometimes, we need to do nothing because we believe that God is doing everything right and in good order and in His time. As Christopher Robin has been heard to say: "It means just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."

Can we control-freaks do that? Of course, by God's grace and His grace alone. Let's just stop bothering, shall we?

Job

Now that I've figured out how to upload pictures, I'm addicted. There will now be a daily picture, just because I can. It just makes everything nicer. And prettier. (This one I've titled "Purple Flower".)

Especially because today we're talking about Job. You remember all the terrible things that happened to him. Like losing everything good in his life. Everything. Even his healthy skin. "So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes." (Job 2:7-8)

But Job's greatest struggle was not all his losses, although that would have been enough to undo the stoutest believer. It was the reconciling of his belief in God's goodness with what he saw all around him. Who was this God that allowed these sorts of things to happen?

By the 19th chapter, Job has been reconciled to God's purposes. He has given up the need for healing and restoration and proclaims: "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God."

It no longer mattered what happened to him, as long as he would one day see God. Habakkuk says much the same thing: "Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no fruit, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places." (3:17-19)

We don't always get to know why God allows terrible things to happen to us and our loved ones. Sometimes we get a glimpse, but mostly it remains a mystery. But God can be trusted, no matter how bad things are. Our Redeemer does live, and we will one day see him. And everything will be set right.