Worship has an audience of One!

“I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.”—A.W. Tozer Dear Friends, financial and prayer partners,

Worship in every aspect is always for an audience of one. God alone deserves such an honor. Not the angels, or the saints, or even Mary, the mother of our Lord, are worthy of the honor. Jubilant singing is fun, makes you feel good, but it is not worshiping unless it is Godward. Christian concerts fall into the same category.

The facts are evangelical congregations gorge themselves each week on pabulum feast full of psychological props, catchphrases, clichés, and comfy morals. Such soulish trivia is devoid for the most point of even a hint of contrite spiritual enlightenment, ever feasting, as it were, but never satisfied. Never experiencing the satiating fulness of what it means to bow in humble reverence before God in the awesome beauty of His Holiness.

Make no mistake, hoopla will, when orchestrated right, draw huge crows, fill large auditoriums, create a cult of ardent devotees, and rack up remarkable statistics to impress the home office—but, sadly, however, not an awesome God who is hidden in the splendor of His own light (Psalm 36:9).

Why, pray tell me, why all the fuss?

In reply, I say this simply because only those with clean hands may enter His presence. A feel-good atmosphere or watered-down gospel is not the criteria. Holiness is, however.

Who, then, ascends into the presence of the Lord?

And who has the privilege of entering into God’s Holy Place?

Those who are clean—whose works and ways are pure,

whose hearts are true and sealed by the truth,

those who never deceive, whose words are sure.

They will receive the Lord’s blessing

and righteousness is given by the Savior-God.

They will stand before God, for they seek the pleasure of God’s face…

(Psalm 24:1-6)

In essence, what David is saying, as are many others in Scripture, is that the altar must precede worship. Somehow, the church has primarily reversed the order. Repentance is restricted to a written prayer of response at best and seldom do we witness an old-fashioned altar call that invites the sinner forward to the mourner’s bench. How could there be since the user-friendly crowd has taken that away?

So, no, worship is not all about me, it is all about Him—repentance is, however.

Now, have a blessed day as you meditate on these words.

JimR_/

The Lord's Prayer . . .

There are some glaring theological problems which most Evangelicals fail to address. One is, of course, related to the priestly prayer of our Lord recorded in The Gospel According to John chapter seventeen, particularly verse twenty-one, which reads:  

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23)

Practically, this verse is like the proverbial elephant in the room in most Evangelical settings. Everyone knows it is there, but no one mentions it for fear they might kick-start a controversy. Most prefer to talk about cardinal doctrines, as the only essential doctrines of the faith forgetting, of course, that it is the little foxes that kill the vine. In that regards, there is no such thing as just a little heresy—"a little leaven leavens the whole lump (Galatians 5:9),” as Paul wrote.

However, on a much broader scale, we, too, some ask the question as to whether there is any fellowship with the darkness of liberalism. "So, why bother with that bunch?" they argue. And, that, too, must be factored into the ecumenical equation and the High Priestly Prayer of Christ (i.e. John 17:21), since “Light has no fellowship with darkness” (2 Corinthians 6:14)—and that’s Bible, too.

So, in essence, we have a conundrum rife with the fear of controversy.

I feel, for one, however, that we must address this proverbial elephant in the room with common sense and honesty. We will get nowhere without dialogue, and dialogue we must if we are to ever to do what is necessary to bring about healing within the Body of Christ. 

May God's presence embrace you now and forever,

JimR_/

Is praying the rosary sinful?

Question:  Dear Dr. Roane, is praying the rosary sinful?

Answer: Well, let me begin by saying that I do not find any form of prayer sinful, depending, of course to whom you are praying and what your petitions are (James 4:3). Catholics have some beautiful prayers in which they use the rosary as a memory device—that alone and in itself is not wrong. The rosary, in that case, should be considered a kind of prayer list which, I am sure, we have all used from time to time. Catholics are not the only Christians that use a rosary, many Anglican, Methodists, Orthodox, and others use it also.

The problem is that a rosary can become repetitious and perfunctory. That we must all avoid. Noting wrong, either, with repetition as long as our prayers of the petition do not become a kind of verbal hammer to try and change God's mind and get our own way. God looks at the heart and to the spirit in which the prayer is offered. For instance, I have a friend who has cancer and for whom I pray every day. Should I stop doing that simply because it is repetitious. God is not counting the number of times we say something; He is primarily interested in our motives for saying it. I hear many Pentecostals saying, "Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah" or "Glory to God," over and over again, and I have never felt compelled to correct them. As a matter of fact, I rather like the sound of it. I think God does, too. So, we must be careful in our criticism.

Here are some firm guidelines which I believe can be helpful for our prayer life taken from "Got Questions.com:"

Man's highest aim should be to bring glory to God (1 Corinthians 10:31), and this includes praying according to His will. First, we must ask for wisdom. “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). In asking for wisdom, we must also trust that God is gracious and willing to answer our prayers: “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt” (James 1:6; see also Mark 11:24). So, praying according to the will of God includes asking for wisdom (to know the will of God) and asking in faith (to trust the will of God).

Here are seven biblical instructions that will guide the believer in praying according to God’s will:

1) Pray for the things for which the Bible commands prayer. We are told to pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44); for God to send missionaries (Luke 10:2); that we do not enter temptation (Matthew 26:41); for ministers of the Word (Colossians 4:3; 2 Thessalonians 3:1); for government authorities (1 Timothy 2:1-3); for relief from affliction (James 5:13); and for the healing of fellow believers (James 5:16). Where God commands prayer, we can pray with confidence that we are praying according to His will.

2) Follow the example of godly characters in Scripture. Paul prayed for the salvation of Israel (Romans 10:1). David prayed for mercy and forgiveness when he sinned (Psalm 51:1-2). The early church prayed for boldness to witness (Acts 4:29). These prayers were according to the will of God, and similar prayers today can be as well. As with Paul and the early church, we should always be praying for the salvation of others. For ourselves, we should pray as David prayed, always aware of our sin and bringing it before God before it hinders our relationship with Him and thwarts our prayers.

3) Pray with the right motivation. Selfish motives will not be blessed by God. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3). We should also pray, not so our lofty words can be heard and we may be seen by others as “spiritual,” but mostly in private and in secret so that our heavenly Father will hear in private and reward us openly (Matthew 6:5-6).

4) Pray with a spirit of forgiveness toward others (Mark 11:25). A spirit of bitterness, anger, revenge or hatred toward others will prevent our hearts from praying in total submission to God. Just as we are told not to give offerings to God while there is a conflict between ourselves and another Christian (Matthew 5:23-24), in the same way, God does not want the offering of our prayers until we have reconciled with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

5) Pray with thanksgiving (Colossians 4:2; Philippians 4:6-7). We can always find something to be thankful for, no matter how burdened we are by our wants or needs. The greatest sufferer that lives in this world of redeeming love, and who has the offer of heaven before him, has reason to be grateful to God.

6) Pray with persistence (Luke 18:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:17). We should persevere in prayer and not quit or be dejected because we have not received an immediate answer. Part of praying in God’s will is believing that, whether His answer is “yes,” “no,” or “wait,” we accept His judgment, submit to His will, and continue to pray.

7) Rely on the Spirit of God in prayer. This is a wonderful truth: “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will” (Romans 8:26-27). We have the Spirit’s help in praying. At the times of our deepest depression or sorrow, those times when we feel that we “just cannot pray,” we have the comfort of knowing that the Holy Spirit is actually praying for us! What an amazing God we have!

What assurance we have when we seek to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh! Then we can have confidence that the Holy Spirit will accomplish His work in presenting our prayers to the Father according to His perfect will and timing, and we can rest in the knowledge that He is working all things together for our good (Romans 8:28).

 Trust this helps,

JimR_/