A Light to the Gentiles

Mass media is typically filled with all kinds of sensationalist headlines, soundbites, or rumors—things that news and journalism companies manipulate to turn into revenue. But every now and again, there is a world crisis that demands our attention...and right now it seems like that crisis is the terrorist group known around the world as ISIS, or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The global response to ISIS has been astounding, really. Awareness seemed to have been raised relatively quickly, and many Western countries are either taking action or preparing to take action against this group.

As Christians, however, our response has, well, disappointed me a little bit.

Don't get me wrong here; I believe there is a time and place for wartime efforts (a la Ecclesiastes 3:8), and what I'm not saying is that the steps we are putting in place to try to topple ISIS by force are wrong. I support them. I believe most of America supports them.
I would go as far as to argue that even the Bible would support just war. Look at Deuteronomy 20:1-4. Look to 1 Samuel 15:3 or Joshua 10:25. Sometimes action is necessary.

But I've been thinking about something concerning ISIS lately: Where are the prayers? Are we pleading to God for the souls of ISIS to be reconciled to God? Are we praying regularly that God might soften the hearts of these sinful people so that they too may be "a light to the Gentiles"?

Look at the conversion of Saul to Paul.
If he was around today, our news stations might be covering this ferocious, Christian-killing, powerful Jew. Saul could have been one of the FBI's top 10 most wanted terrorists, if he was given the technology that modern-day persecutors were.
But then God stepped into the picture. No longer did this man—now known as Paul—murder Christians. No longer did he have a heart that sought to commit heinous deeds; no! Instead, God intervened and radically changed the life of a dangerous man.

Just pause for a moment and imagine what kind of influence such a man might be for the Kingdom of God if a "Paul" arose out of ISIS. Imagine the people that may have never been reached with the Gospel taking off their masks and laying down their guns so that they can surrender to the call of Christ to take up their crosses and make His name known to all the nations of the earth. What a joyous occasion that would be!

Don't for one second think I'm being overly ambitious; to disqualify what I'm saying right here is to have a weak view of God. The same mouths that sing, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!" cannot rightly shout, "Those peoples are beyond the grace of God!" in the same breath.

I'm not saying action physical, military, authoritative action should not be taken to combat ISIS. There are lives on the line. Innocent people—Children of God—are dying at the hands of these people. All I'm saying is that maybe we should pray for the souls of these lost people as we're gearing up.
The moment we forget the sovereignty of our God is the moment we become idolators, worshiping self. And if the Old Testament shows us anything, we should see that idolatry is never a battle plan that pleases God.

Five Things that Can (and Should) Affect Your Prayer Life

This year, I attended T4G for the first time. After hearing some of the most renowned preachers of this era, one sermon resonated with me the most: David Platt's 'Relenting Wrath: The Role of Desperate Prayer in the Mystery of Divine Providence'.

To quote Platt, "Prayer is a huge hole in the canvas of the Reformed resurgence."

I could not agree more, Pastor (or should I say President) Platt. But I don't only see the hole in the canvas of this movement; I see this hole in my own life. In the life of the church. Prayer isn't just lacking in Reformed circles. Prayer is missing. And we are missing it everywhere.

So many times, we start to "heap up empty phrases" as Jesus warns us not to do in Matthew 6:7.

But as I begin to examine how our Savior prays in the (ever-so-aptly-named) Lord's Prayer—the model we all seem to turn to for prayer—there are five places where the Church typically misses the mark:

We lack reverence in our prayers.
Since we are already there, look at the Lord's Prayer. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name."

Jesus isn't asking for some kind of cosmic permission to make God holy. How many times do you approach God realizing who you are talking to? Read some of the characteristics about our God:

• 1 Chronicles 16:25 and Psalm 96:4 tells us of God's greatness and how He is to be "feared above all gods."
• In Ezekiel 36:23 God tells us of His own greatness.
• Psalm 136:4 tells us that He alone performs great wonders. 

The completely holy God of all creation is taking the time to listen to our human prayers. He loves us. On second thought, maybe I got the emphasis wrong on that. He loves us. It is absolutely incredible.

We lack reactivity to our prayers.

There is a tendency within the Church to forget to read Matthew 7:7 in its entirety. The verse says, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."

What this verse is not saying is that we can pray and the Lord will certainly fulfill any of our requests, as if God is some kind of wish-granting genie. This is no prosperity gospel. Instead, we are to ask, seek, and knock. We have to press our actions into our prayers and faithfully seek out to find God's answer to them.

We lack authority in our prayers.

Christ placed authority in His prayer. Matthew 6:11 has this phrase, "Give us this day our daily bread," which is better translated, "Give us our bread that is intended for tomorrow, today."

There's an underlying sense of promise and certainty that God will hold to that promise in those words. 

Gideon learned this lesson the hard way. In Judges 6:36-40, we see doubtful Gideon asking God for some kind of sign that he can believe in. God ends up showing Gideon twice that He is certainly at work and answering the prayer of Gideon. Shortly after, Gideon leads his army of men over the Midianites and over Zebah and Zalmunna.

We lack honesty in our prayers.

Still speaking in respect to prayer, Christ then moves from the Lord's Prayer to talking about fasting. In Matthew 6:17-18, Jesus tells the crowds that they should anoint their heads, so that the Father will "see" it.

Clearly, Christians will uphold the idea that God is omniscient, so why would He need to "see" this honesty in our prayer and fasting in order to honor it?

Perhaps I can't give you an answer, but Scripture seems to point to this idea: God does not  respond to a hardened heart. Be honest and soft-hearted in your prayers, for you have been commanded to do so.

We lack dependency in our prayers.

Coinciding with our lack of honesty is our lack of dependency.

I know that I routinely find myself trying to justify the state of my prayer life (perhaps to myself or to God) by saying that I have it together, and that I pray more than I realize. The words that are so sacred to the Jewish people, the "Shema" (Deut. 6:4-8), remind us that we need this dependency. We need to depend on Him as we go in and out of our homes. We need to depend on Him as we wake and as we sleep.

We have to depend on Him.