A spiritual seeker interrupted a busy life to spend a few days in a monastery.
“I hope your stay is a blessed one,” said the monk who showed the visitor to his cell. “If you need anything, let us know and we’ll teach you how to live without it.”
During the days now called the “First Great Awakening”, large crowds flocked to Charles Wesley to hear him preach of Jesus. Curious to know how he attracted such crowds and affected such revival, Wesley responded to his likely-method-hunting questioners…
“I set myself on fire, and the people come to see me burn.”
I’ve been mulling that over for a few weeks now. If you’ve got a clue of what that burning might look like in the life of any God-follower who wants to shine for Him, hit the comment button.
Prayer and distractions… anyone else know an undeniable tie between those two words?
I’ve listened to friends and read the words of strangers, together trying to find some resolution for my ADHD prayer life. Some practical little tidbits have been found to be helpful; much of it though makes no difference.
Today, I read the most significant thing about distractions that plague prayer. Tell me if this doesn’t speak to you.
From a Brit named Herbert McCabe…
“People often complain of ‘distractions’ during prayer. Their mind goes wandering off on to other things. This is nearly always due to praying for something that you do not really much want; you just think it would be proper and respectable and ‘religious’ to want it. So you pray high-mindedly for big but distant things like peace in Northern Ireland or you pray that your aunt will get better from the flu–when in fact you do not much care about these things; perhaps you ought to, but you don’t. And so your prayer is rapidly invaded by distractions arising from what you really do want–promotion at work, let us say. Distractions are nearly always your real wants breaking in on your prayer for edifying but bogus wants. If you are distracted, trace your distraction back to the real desires it comes from and pray about these. When you are praying for what you really want, you will not be distracted. People on sinking ships do not complain of distractions during their prayer.”
Boom! Herbert, you are on to something, my friend.
Now go and pray with your heart. That kind of praying may prove dangerous enough to see your life transformed and your prayers shaking things!
I spent a lot of time in the book of Jonah lately. I didn’t so much enter the fish, as I tried to sit beneath the vine with him. If you care to hear the lesson that flowed from sitting there, it’s here.)
In the process, I was led to Micah’s writings, particularly this bit…
“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.” (7:18)
I’ve been captured by that thought: Delight to show mercy.
God is maker of all—fully aware of all that universe has to offer. All authority is His, and every role waiting to be played as well—Judge, Critic, Score-keeper, Counselor, Adviser, Disciplinarian, and more—He is perfectly suited and empowered to play these.
But He delights in showing mercy.
It tickles His heart to be display compassion, and it thrills His soul to extend grace into the life of another.
It is His delight.
That strikes me as a big deal!
One reason: I suspect we are invited into the joy of God. Scripture, the New Testament especially, speaks of us as heirs, with rights and privileges equal to those of Jesus himself. One of God’s acts of mercy towards us is to extend a hand of invite into His joy.
And take note: He finds delight in showing mercy.
It is so much easier to play the cynic, to find fault, criticize, and keep whatever form of score seems most flattering to myself.
And it is such a delight-less path to walk.
Delight—of a quality fit for the Divine and those made in His image—that is found in showing mercy to one another.
This is from the latest issue of “The Voice of the Martyrs”. If you don’t subscribe to this free publication, you could. Guaranteed, it will open your eyes.
Below is the content of one page…
In August, a Muslim cleric and member of Saudi Arabia’s Commission of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice killed his sister, 26-year-old Fatima Al-Mutairi, after she proclaimed her faith in Christ to her family in Buraydah, Saudi Arabia. Fatima’s fellowship with other believers was mainly limited to internet forums and phone correspondence. From VOMC contacts: “As part of her testimony to the family, she proclaimed that the way of Christ is the most pure and most holy way of all. After sharing with her family, she found her brother in her room with her laptop open before him. Her laptop contained notes about her spiritual journey, which he was searching in order to find more evidence against her. Her brother locked her in the room for four hours, during which time she wrote a final letter on the internet. Fatima was killed soon thereafter.”
Her poem…
“And We for the Sake of Christ All Things Bear”
Fatima Al-Mutairi
May the Lord Jesus guide you, Oh Muslims
And enlighten your hearts that you might love others
The forum does not revile the Master of the prophets
It is for the display of truth, and for you it was revealed
This is the truth which you do not know
What we profess are the words of the Master of the prophets
We do not worship the cross, and we are not possessed
We worship the Lord Jesus, the Light of the worlds
We left Mohammed, and we do not follow in his path
We followed Jesus Christ, the Clear Truth
Truly, we love our homeland, and we are not traitors
We take pride that we are Saudi citizens
How could we betray our homeland, our dear people?
How could we, when for death—for Saudi Arabia—we stand ready?
The homeland of my grandfathers, their glories, and odes—for it I am writing
And we say, “We are proud, proud, proud to be Saudis”
We chose our way, the way of the rightly guided
And every man is free to choose any religion
Be content to leave us to ourselves to be believers in Jesus
Let us live in grace before our time comes
There are tears on my cheek, and Oh! The heart is sad
To those who become Christians, how you are so cruel!
And the Messiah says, “Blessed are the Persecuted”
And we for the sake of Christ all things bear
What is it to you that we are infidels?
You do not enter our graves, and if with us buried
Enough—your swords do not concern me, not evil nor disgrace
Your threats do not trouble me, and we are not afraid
And by God, I am unto death a Christian—verily
I cry for what passed by, of a sad life
I was far from the Lord Jesus for many years
Oh History record! And bear witness, Oh Witnesses!
We are Christians—in the path of Christ we tread
Take from me this word, and note it well
You see, Jesus is my Lord, and He is the Best of protectors
I advise you to pity yourself, to clap your hands in mourning
See your look of ugly hatred
Man is brother to man, Oh learned ones
Where is the humanity, the love, and where are you?
As to my last words, I pray to the Lord of the worlds
Jesus the Messiah, the Light of Clear Guidance
That He change nations, and set the scales of justice aright
And that He spread Love among you, Oh Muslims
Sigh.
If you know someone who might be inspired by this, it’s also be made into a video here.