The Lowly Are Raised

“Jesus endured the cross, disregarding the shame for the joy set before him.” (Hebrews 12:2)

But what joy is there is taking up a cross, being mocked and beaten, and then suffocating to death? What joy is there in being rejected by one’s rulers and condemned to die by a Roman governor? What joy can there be in suffering, in being executed as an innocent? The good part of the cross is not what Jesus had to endure, but the great parts that come later.
Jesus said, “Whoever lowers himself will be raised.” (Luke 14:11). This was true of Jesus, who lowered himself to a death on a cross, and then gained resurrection and so much more. It is also true of us! If we lower ourselves to the faithfulness that Jesus himself displayed, then we receive the same benefits that Jesus himself received. “The promise by the faith of Jesus Christ will be given to those who are faithful.” (Galatians 3:22)

But what promise, what benefits? What are the wages the worker of the cross receives? There are seven major benefits:

1. Being accepted by God
The people of God are in exile. They are thrown out of God’s kingdom because of their rebellion against Him. While this was not true of Jesus—Jesus was always accepted by God and he had no sins to be forgiven—yet he still had to prove his obedience. Because of his obedience under trial, he was able to demonstrate his faithfulness to God, thus allowing him to be welcome in God’s court in heaven. (Hebrews 5:8-9). Even so, if we display the faithfulness that Jesus showed, then we too are able to be forgiven of our rebellion, enter God’s court, make requests of him and to listen to Him (Acts 26:18; John 15:7).

2. Overcoming powers
When Jesus accepted the way of the cross, he was dead to himself and his own desires—his desires no longer had control over him (Mark 14:36, 38). After he died at the hand of the rulers of God’s people, neither they, nor the Romans had control over him. Because one who had died can no longer be controlled by anyone (Romans 7:1-2). Even so, if we accept the cross, our desires no longer have control over us (I Peter 4:1-2). If we die in Jesus, all the powers of heaven and earth that try to control us no longer have control, because we are under Jesus’ authority alone. No other authority determines our destiny—even if they punish us, we are under Jesus and gain Jesus’ reward (Romans 8:35-39).

3. Resurrection
On the third day after Jesus was executed, he was raised from the dead by the power of God (Luke 24:6-7). Jesus knew that this would happen, for it was promised that the one who lowered himself for God’s purposes would be raised (I Samuel 2:7-8). And if this promise is true for Jesus, it is true for everyone who has faith like Jesus (Romans 8:17). Anyone who is in Jesus will be raised from the dead (I Thessalonians 4:16-17).

4. Political Rule
Jesus not only was risen from the dead for his faithfulness, but he also was lifted up to heaven, above every power in heaven and earth, to sit beside the Father and to act as the greatest power over heaven under the Father (Acts 5:31;Hebrews 1:1-3). Even so, everyone who endures hardship and suffering for God will gain some measure of political power in God’s kingdom (Psalm 37:11; Matthew 5:5,9; 16:24-28). And those who lower themselves the most will gain the greatest amount of authority in the kingdom (Mark 10:43-44).

5. Release of the Spirit
Once Jesus was resurrected, he was able to display his power as the Authority of God by releasing the Spirit of God to all who displayed the faith of Jesus (Ephesians 4:8; Acts 2:33). The Spirit is the power of God to do God’s word and to accomplish the promises of God on earth—even healings and resurrections (John 14:26; Mark 16:17-18). The one who has lived in the faith of cross also has the power of the Spirit in their lives (Acts 2:38).

6. Acceptance for others
Because Jesus died on the cross, he was able to create the kingdom of God and he provided a place for those who have his faith (Romans 5:6-11). He died not only for himself, but for the benefit of others (Mark 10:45). Even so, our faith of the cross is not only for ourselves, but also provides a way for others to live in Christ. Through what we endure in faithfulness, we provide opportunities for others to enter into the kingdom of God (Colossians 1:24; II Corinthians 5:18-21).

7. The Peace of God
God has promised his people a land to live where there is justice with no war; satisfaction with no theft; contentment with no greed; relationship with God with no sin (Ezekiel 36:24-38). But these promises are only for those who live the faith of Jesus—only those who have taken up the cross in their own lives will gain God’s promises (Matthew 5:3-12).


Life in God is ours—but only if we take up the cross!

Is God A Bigot?

At first glance, this seems like a silly question. After all, God is the most moral of all beings, then of course he would not be driven by bigotry, by racism, by prejudice of any kind. He would be, as Paul said, “No respecter of persons.” But this question is not as clearly answered as you might think. If you accept the Bible as the best representative of who God is, the communication of God to people, then God’s perspective is not very clear…

The Death Penalty for Canaanites
The most prejudiced, racist passages in the Bible have to do with God’s commands concerning the Canaanites. From the time of Noah, Canaan was cursed because of the actions of his father against Noah. Canaan’s children were much later targeted for destruction as a group by God for the Israelites. And the Israelites were not to leave even their children or cattle alive. This is clear racial and national prejudice against a people. (Genesis 9:22-27; Deuteronomy 7:1-3; Exodus 23:22-24; Deuteronomy 20:16-18; Joshua 6:16-21)

However, to look at these passages is not to see the whole story. First of all, God was not destroying a people, but a way of life that was in opposition to Him. He wanted the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites because those nations would seduce the Israelites to worship their gods and to participate in their evil sexual practices. Also, God rescinded all of the commands to destroy the Canaanites long before the time of King David. And from that time, God did not utter a command to destroy a whole race again. (Deuteronomy 20:17-18; Leviticus 18:24-25; Judges 2:1-3)

Preference to the Race of Israel
God also, it seems, is racially biased toward the children of Abraham, specifically in Jacob’s line, called the children of Israel. He seems particularly interested in keeping this line racially pure and pours out all of his blessings on this people alone. (Genesis 17:18-19; Genesis 24:3-4; Genesis 28:1-5, 13-15; Ezra 9:1-5.)

However, again, this is only looking at half the story. God was not preserving a race of people, but a way of life, as exemplified by the ten commandments. Anyone of any race is welcome to participate in the people of Israel, although they might have to wait some time, as long as they are willing to conform to the way of life that God instructed the people of Israel to live. In fact, people of every race married into Israel, including Egyptians, Africans, Arabs and even Canaanites. Israel was not supposed to be the most racially pure nation, but the most racially impure, accepting everyone who is willing to be devoted to God. In this way, Israel becomes a blessing and the salvation of all the nations, no matter what ancestry or race. (Genesis 12:1-3; Deuteronomy 23:3-8; Isaiah 66:18-21; Genesis 38:2; Ruth 4:10-22; Acts 2:7-11)

Preference to the nation of Israel
Well, then, if God isn’t racially biased, then perhaps he is nationally biased—a prejudice based on what nation one belongs to. After all, he reserves his greatest blessings on earth—prophets and the Holy Spirit—only for those who are in the nation of Israel. And He says that only those who are in the kingdom of God—the full realization of the nation of Israel—will gain the future blessings of resurrection, no sorrow and eternal life. Why should God pick one nation out of the whole earth for this blessing? (Matthew 15:24; Romans 9:4-5; Genesis 12:1-2; Psalm 132:13-18)
While it is true that God has chosen the one nation, Israel, to be the focus of his blessings, not everyone in Israel will receive these blessings. Those who cause others to stumble, who oppress others will be thrown out of God’s kingdom. And even so, God promises that everyone who comes to God through faith in Jesus and who lives like Jesus will be in the kingdom of God. Thus, God is more concerned about devotion to Him than He is about belonging to a nation. To be in Jesus is to be in the kingdom of God, which is the real Israel. (Matthew 8:10-12; Matthew 13:41-42; Romans 10:9-10)

Another thing that people are concerned about is the modern-day nation of Israel. Do they receive God’s blessings because they are his chosen nation? No. Just because a nation calls itself “Israel” doesn’t mean that they are the people of promise. The true Israel today are those who live Jesus. No one else qualifies, especially those who act in opposition to God’s law. (Romans 9:30-33)

Condemnation of the Jews
In the New Testament, however, there seems to be another issue of racial prejudice. Even as the Old Testament seems to be racially in favor of the Jews, the NT seems to be racially opposed to the Jews. There are many passages that condemn the Jews and even curse them! Isn’t that just a different kind of racial prejudice? (Acts 13:45-46; I Thessalonians 2:14-16)

There is a lot of confusion because of the word “Jew” and the idea of it as a racial term. However, since almost all the writers who used the term “Jew” in a negative sense were racially Jewish themselves, they weren’t condemning Jews as a race. They were using the term Judean, not Jew, to speak of those who thought that one’s citizenship in the nation of Judea is what will give one salvation. The NT teaches that it is one’s citizenship in the kingdom of God through Jesus that is significant, not in Judea. Thus, the Judeans persistently opposed the Christians and persecuted them. The NT writers condemned the Judeans who persecuted them because they were opposed to God’s plan. (Revelation 3:9; Acts 26:20-21; John 12:10-11)

Preference to Christians
Isn’t it unfair, however, that God seems to say that only those who believe in Jesus are going to be saved? What about all of those who have not even heard of Jesus? And it is certainly prejudiced to say that only one religion is right, when there are so many options, isn’t it? (Acts 4:12; John 14:6)

On the other hand, to believe in Jesus is not in any way culturally or racially or linguistically centered. All God wants is that the people who would receive his best blessings would believe in what He has done and to live the life he has chosen us to live. This is the only way for us to obtain the blessings of obedience, of inner peace and the Holy Spirit—if we trust in who He has revealed himself to be and not just our own imaginations. If we refuse God’s work for us, or refuse his blessings, then understandably we would have no connection to God. But this is not because God has rejected us, or any individual. It is because that individual rejected God. If someone has never heard of Jesus, God will deal mercifully with that person. But if someone knows of what Jesus did, and sees that it is God’s truth, but refused it, how can God give that person His full blessings? God will not force anyone to receive his gifts—they have to accept it willingly. And Jesus is the way to gain God’s blessings. (Hebrews 11:6; Romans 3:22-26; John 5:36-47)

God is not a bigot, but treats everyone equally, according to His own terms.

Israel and the People of God

What is Israel?
“Israel” was originally the God-given name for Jacob (Genesis 35:10). At the same time, it is the name given to the nation that Jacob was initiating through his faith in God and his children (Genesis 25:23; Exodus 19:6). Israel was consistently used as a name for a political entity that was established by the God of the earth, Yahweh (II Samuel 7:23). Thus, “Israel” is both a political entity, as well as a religious one—the nation established by God.

God’s promises are for Israel
The focus of God’s promises are for his people, whom he calls Israel (Psalm 105:10-11). Israel is the children of Abraham, the descendents of Jacob, who has Yahweh as their God (Exodus 3:15). God has taken these people and delivered them from the nations and established a government through Moses (Exodus 6:6). God also give them a land, called Palestine or Canaan (Psalm 135:10-12). Then he gave Jerusalem (also known as Zion) to be their capital, which was the center of his presence on earth (I Kings 8:1). Then God allowed many other ethnic groups to be a part of his people—and they were all called Israel (Deuteronomy 23:7-8). God has promised this people, Israel, to have a much larger land, to be prosperous, to have justice, to be secure from all the nations surrounding them and to eventually rule the whole world. God’s people, Israel, will receive this freedom, this salvation (Isaiah 14:1-4).

God’s promises are not for all of Israel
Throughout Israel’s history, portions of the population of the political entity, Israel, has been unfaithful to God (Jeremiah 3:1-11). God has not taken a blind eye to the false worship of his people, but has rejected anyone who is devoted to another god or those who are rebelliously disobedient to the true God (Jeremiah 5:23-29). God did not give the rebellious Israel his promises, but rather discipline and judgement. Ultimately, God says, those in Israel who are rebellious against him will receive none of the promises. Thus, not all who are a part of the political entity, Israel, are a part of the promised people of God, who is also called Israel (Isaiah 65:11-17).

The leadership of Israel is often rejected by God
Israel’s leadership is not always right before God, and in fact, often they have been so evil that God had them removed (I Samuel 15:26). The standard of God in his law is the basis for upholding or rejecting leadership. If a leader in Israel acts rebelliously against God, then he is punished (I Kings 16:7-13). If he repents, the punishment is limited to just discipline (I Kings 21:20-29). But if he continues in rebellion against God, then he is removed. If he oppresses others, serves other powers or leads his people in disobedience to God, then he is set aside as an unworthy ruler of God.

Modern Judaism is not the background of Christianity
People often confuse the people who are today called “Jews”—both the ethnic group and the religious group—with the biblical concept of “Israel” or ancient Judaism. Ancient Judaism is obedience of God through the law of Moses, and it is centered on the priesthood of the sons of Aaron and sacrifices. When the temple was destroyed in 70AD, not to be rebuilt yet in 2000 years, that Judaism was destroyed. No one was able to strictly obey the law of Moses, for so much of it had to do with a tabernacle or temple, which no longer existed. From this, two kinds of Judaism emerged to determine how God’s people were to live without a temple. One kind is called Rabbinic Judaism, which reinterpreted Mosaic law to be practiced without a temple, and specified certain kinds of interpretations of Moses that was beyond the biblical text. This is the basis of modern Judaism. Those who are called “Jews” today are the children of those who adopted the practices of Rabbinic Judaism—which only became ethnically focused through centuries of separation from other nations. The other form of post-temple Judaism is now called Christianity. The most popular form of Christianity that emerged is the Gentile form, but the original form was deeply connected with Ancient Judaism (Matthew 5:17-18). However, Rabbinic Judaism has little to do with the Judaism that Christianity emerged from.

Modern Israel is not the promised Israel
Ancient Judaism is based on the governmental contract that God made with Israel through Moses, called the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 24:1-12). Christianity is based on the governmental contract that God made with the followers of Jesus called the New Covenant (Luke 22:15-20). Rabbinic Judaism is based on the teachings of Rabbis that followed the Pharisaic governmental assumptions. All three of these have two things in common: they are governmental systems (such as a constitution with a body of laws), and they are based on the faithfulness of every member of the society and government to God. Modern Israel, although it borrows the name of the ancient government, has only this in common with the ancient government—that it assumes that its citizens are mostly made up of children of Abraham. But Modern Israel is established by a modern, secular constitution. It is ruled by people who are not faithful to the living God. And its laws are created by man, not established by God. It allows the breaking of the ten commandments, while it punishes some who are trying to live right before God. If Modern Israel could be called “Israel” at all, it is not the Israel of the promise, and it must be set aside before God will once again rule over the land of promise.

The true Israel of promise
Today, the true Israel are found among those people who are faithful to God (Romans 4:13). Jesus demonstrated this faithfulness through his ministry and through his death on the cross (Hebrews 12:1-2). If anyone is to be faithful to God, they must follow the way of the ancient saints and Jesus—they must be ready to lay down their lives for remaining faithful to God (Hebrews 11:1-12:4). They must not hand themselves over for a political entity that will eventually be set aside for God’s kingdom (Acts 5:1-20). Rather, in every way, in all their lives, with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength, they must be faithful to God (Mark 12:28-34). Then, no matter what nationality they are, no matter what ethnicity, not matter what language they speak, they are a part of the true Israel (Revelation 5:9-10). God has not set aside Israel for the church—rather, he has expanded Israel to include people of every nation and kingdom who, through Jesus, have remained faithful to him (Romans 11:17).

The Israelis are still most important to God—and the true Israelis are those who are faithful to God through Jesus. Not those who just claim God as theirs, not those who just proclaim the name of Jesus, not those who just cry out to God for help, not those who just study God’s word, not those who just rely on Jesus’ death to save them. (Isaiah 1:15-20,29:13-14) Rather, those who have followed the true way of Abraham, the true way of Jesus, the true way of Israel—the way of enduring faithfulness, obedience and love of God no matter what suffering one must endure to get it (Romans 5:1-5). Those people alone will obtain the promised Israel of God.

Common Misconceptions About Heaven

Talk about life after death scares some people and makes most people uncomfortable. We don’t like dealing with the many different ideas that seem so contradictory, even if everyone talking about it is a Christian. Usually, someone’s idea of life after death is related to their idea of what a perfect existence is, or should be. We are all striving for some sort of utopia or perfect state that everyone can live in. In this essay, I can’t promise that there won’t be controversial statements, or things you disagree with. But it is on the internet so you can read it in the privacy of your own computer, and complain about me if you don’t like what I’m saying without me having to hear it!

There is a lot that is assumed about life after death in Scripture, and so not explicitly stated. Because of this, many people have made guesses about heaven, trying to figure out what it’s all about. But in doing this, they have misunderstood what our life after death is really about.

Heaven is a spiritual existence
Most people think that in heaven we will be living without our bodies. This makes sense in some people’s philosophy, since they think that our bodies is what’s wrong with us. The Bible makes it clear, however, that the hope of eternal life is a physical life, being restored to our bodies which are perfected. (I Corinthians 15:36-43; John 5:28-29) Our bodies now are sick and full of mental weaknesses and pains. In the final day, however, our bodies will be restored to us, but without sickness, without suffering, fully healthy, without death.

There is no perfection for us without being both a physical and spiritual being. This is how we were created—both dirt and spirit mixed into a wonderful composition of life. And our eternal life will be no different.

Heaven is where my friends go
Death is frightening and it is painful. It makes us separate from our friends and loved family much too soon. So we often say to ourselves, “We will see them again in heaven. This isn’t a permanent separation, but only temporary.” However, the Bible gives us little assurance or comfort in this. First of all, every person must be judged by God to determine whether they will live in Jesus or live in eternal darkness. And God is the one who judges, not us. If we were perfectly in tune with God’s will, like Jesus is, then we could have a good notion of who would be with God and who would not. But it is interesting that Paul, one of the greatest saints who ever lived, said that he could not judge even himself. (I Corinthians 4:3-4).

Even so, we typically do not have enough information about those we love or knowledge of God’s will to make a determination of someone’s eternal state. Everyone, Scripture says, will be resurrected. But some will be resurrected to reward, and others to condemnation. Who are we to judge, here and now, who will get one destiny and one the other? We can make guesses, but to simply say, “I know they will be with us” is a kind untruth we tell ourselves. We must instead hand all judgment to God, who is the Judge of heaven and earth.

“Heaven” is in heaven
The very name “heaven” for our life with God leads us to a misconception. The idea is that we will live with God in the clouds for all eternity is a common, even stereotyped, idea of the Christian eternal life. However, even the location of our eternal life is misplaced.

It is true that our first existence after death will be without our bodies, in heaven. We see some of these folks in Revelation 6. However, they are begging God for a change in the world. Why is this? Because their place is on the earth, transformed by God. Jesus’ second “coming” means him coming to earth, to establish the kingdom of God here. Eternal life isn’t something we are going to, it is something that is coming to us, to change the existence we currently live in.

Heaven is boring
Many people think that heaven must be boring. We see this in cartoons of heaven—sitting on clouds, with wings, playing harps. This might be some Greek fantasy of bliss, but not the Christian ideal. First of all, Jesus said that on the final day many who are not followers of Jesus would remain in the kingdom of God, if they have assisted persecuted believers on earth (Matthew 25:31-40). So this means that there will be a mix of believers and unbelievers on the earth. Secondly, the resurrected believers Jesus calls to himself will be given positions of authority to rule over the world. (Luke 22:29-30; Luke 19:15-19). This means that there will be no sitting around, bored our of our minds. Instead, the resurrection means that we will be assisting Jesus in establishing peace and justice throughout the world, not as a small part of a democratic society, but as an integral part of a benevolent monarchy. Transformation of the earth is not an instant miracle, it is, rather, an ongoing miracle which we will be a part of.

And what will we do in our time off? Well, think about our resurrected bodies for a moment. We will have bodies just like Jesus. And Jesus could transport himself, instantly, from one place to another distant place (Luke 24:31-36; Acts 8:39-40). And, remember, after the resurrection there is no death, we are immortal (I Corinthians 15:26). What are the implications of this? Well, this is speculative, but I’m looking forward to exploring Jupiter. Some others might want to explore the bottom of the ocean. At the very least, we can all get our travel fantasies in. Want to visit the ruins of Thailand?—poof!

Heaven is eternal worship of God
Some people look at certain scenes in the book of Revelation and see that heaven is filled with worship of God. This has led some to speculate that eternal life will be one long worship session. I can see some, especially worship leaders, thinking this would be wonderful, for they would be exercising their gifts all the time. However, for those of us who are less musically inclined or gifted at worship, this doesn’t sound so great.

A careful examination of the scenes of Revelation, we find the heavenly creatures not simply worshipping God, but that is simply the preamble of God establishing justice on earth. And when God does establish justice, he uses his messengers and servants to fulfill His will. This gives us a more well-rounded idea of what eternal life will be like. We will be assisting God to create justice on earth. Yes, there will be worship of God, even as there is now. But eternity is not simply about worshipping God. If God wanted creatures to simply worship Him, He could have created people to be simply worshipping creatures. Rather, God created humanity to be ruling creatures, people who would follow His will to establish His rule over all the earth (Psalm 8). Eternal life is about reigning with God, not simply about honoring God.

Heaven is eternal bliss
For most people, their idea of eternal life is perfection. There is little difference between many Christians’ idea of heaven and a Buddhist Nirvana. It is eternal happiness, with no pain or sorrow, in unity with God, and there is no difficulties or mistakes.

The Scriptural idea of heaven isn’t as blissful as all that. Yes, it says that in the end there will be no tears (Revelation 21:3-4). But this really means that there will be no death or grieving for death, and a government that creates perfect justice. This doesn’t mean that there will be no pain. If we step on a nail, I hope it causes us a little bit of pain so we don’t have a bunch of stuff sticking into us. Mistakes will be made, but hopefully they will be corrected. We will probably be just as apt to make errors in our speech then as now, but we will be more likely to apologize for our mistakes and more likely to be forgiven. There will still be work, still be challenges, still be goals—this is the implication of ruling and the need to rule. But it will be work that suits us, challenges we can meet and goals that will be fulfilled. This isn’t exactly bliss, but it will be a life worth living.

Heaven is after we die
One of the strangest statements Jesus makes is that the future is now here, with us (John 5:25; Matt. 10:7; Luke 17:21). Jesus told the poor disciples that the kingdom IS theirs, not will be. And Jesus was preaching about the immediacy of God’s future. Certainly we can see how this is true in Jesus’ day. Jesus was the king and the presence of the future, so wherever Jesus was, the kingdom existed. But Jesus also said that His Spirit would rest on his people when He left. So, instead of having on representation of the kingdom on earth, Jesus left a hundred. A hundred people who would establish Jesus’ mercy to others, establish pockets of His justice and do miracles as Jesus did (John 14:12-21).

Thus the kingdom of God, Jesus says, is like a mustard seed. It is small at the beginning, having only one or twelve representatives. But over time, that seed of the future will grow and expand. The whole earth will be covered by this future only when Jesus arrives, but the work of mercy and justice and peace must be established now.

The big difference is that if we attempt to create pockets of Jesus’ mercy and justice, we will be persecuted for it, even killed. We have a hard time getting the resources we need for it. We have to convince others to join us in establishing Jesus’ peace. In Jesus’ future, we will have all the resources we need. We will never be harmed for doing what is right. And we will not be overwhelmed by the task. But even so, we can have a taste of that future now. Now is the day of salvation, now is the time to work together to create pockets of heaven, so we will be ready for it when it comes.

The Practice of Prayer

Making time for prayer
Our lives are in competition to our prayers. So often we fill our lives with many busy things to do, attempting to gain our own salvation. The hardest thing about prayer is not what we say or the saying of it, but setting time aside for it. This hardest work is the only part of prayer that someone cannot do for you. No one can make the time to pray except you. We need to focus our lives around our prayer, to make it a part of who we are.

How often?
So if we are going to make a prayer a part of our lives, we should ask when we should do it. Does the Bible have anything to say to this? Some say we should be praying always, at every moment. Ideally, this is great— but realistically, it is not practical. We could have a sense of God’s presence all day long, but this is not prayer. Some pray through everything, but most do not have the discipline for this. And the Bible does not require this.

What the Bible does mention is to pray at every regular time of prayer. In Jewish society, in the first century, there were regular times of prayer that everyone participated in—once in the morning (about 9am) and once in the afternoon (about 3pm). There was also an optional noon prayer time. Almost everyone thanked God for their food at meals, and a few prayed in the evening time, either at sunset or bedtime.

Unfortunately, today, our society has no daily prayer times. This means that we must create our own. How often should we pray? Biblically, we should pray a minimum of twice a day—once in the morning and once in the afternoon or evening. If you are just starting, however, if you can establish just one time of regular prayer a day, that would be sufficient. Later, add another, and, if you desire, another. And, before you eat, just thank God for the food.

How long?
Some say that we should be praying as long as possible. Some boast about their ability to pray for hours, and many churches encourage people to spend as long as possible in prayer—hours a day if possible. However, Jesus encouraged us to do just the opposite: “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.” (Matthew 6:7). Jesus encourages us to keep our prayers brief and to the point. The issue in prayer is not how long it is, but the fact that you are asking God. God isn’t impressed with long speeches. But he does want us to ask. Thus, we should pray as often as we can, but not with great length.

Repetition in prayer
A similar issue is whether we should repeat ourselves in prayer. Jesus told us not do: “Do not use vain repetition in prayer.” And yet Jesus told us to pray the Lord’s prayer every time we pray. What does this mean? It means that God does not want us repeating the same phrase over and over again—he heard us the first time and doesn’t need a repeat performance a second later. However, if a prayer has not been answered yet, then later in the day, or the next day, we can repeat the same prayer. We can speak praise to God once or twice a day, but not speak a phrase over and over again.

Aloud or silent?
Some people pray in silence, while other speak out loud. It depends on what works best for you. Some are able to focus better if they speak out loud. If we are praying with others, we should speak aloud. But others are more comfortable praying in silence. God can read our thoughts, so it doesn’t really matter.

Alone or with others?
Some take Jesus’ words about “praying in a closet” as a command that we should always pray alone. What Jesus was really saying is that we should never pray in order to impress other people, but focus on God. If we have a problem with this, then we should pray silently. However, the Lord’s prayer was taught for us to pray with others, not by ourselves. If we can, our morning and/or evening prayers should be done with others. But we should also have time to pray by ourselves, even as Jesus did.

The pattern of prayer
For our basic prayer life, there is a regular pattern of prayer that was used by Jesus. We begin our prayer with praise or thanksgiving, so we have caught God’s attention (Psalm 100:4). We can use a psalm for this, if we want, or a song we sing in church. If we need to, then we confess our sins (Psalm 32). Then we commit ourselves to the Lord. The phrase used by Jews (and Jesus) in the first century is called the Shema, and is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Then we make our requests to the Lord, beginning with the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). We can make however many requests we like before the Lord at this time.

Beyond this basic pattern of prayer, we can participate in other kinds of prayer. Some have the gift of tongues, and can use that gift in their personal prayer lives. Others have the gift of hearing God’s voice, and can take time—even a long time—to hear what God is saying to them. Others will spend time singing songs to God. Some will play music to God. All this is good, and we should use our abilities to pray as often as we can. But we should not exchange it for the basic pattern of prayer—praise, commitment and request. That is the foundation for our prayer life.

Lives of prayer
Our lives are to be about prayer. Prayer should not just be the punctuation for our prayer, but the outline of who we are. One of my favorite songs is “Make my life a prayer to you.” That has become the focus of my life. I find that my time of prayer becomes who I am before God and before others. In prayer, I am asking God to remake me and my world in accordance to His will. Because of my request, God acts in power in my life and in others’ lives. Thus, many lives has been changed and re-formed simply because of prayer. Prayer can be the most powerful force in our lives. If we pray, we can be different. If we become prayerful people, the world can be different.

Let us have lives filled with prayer:
As often and as briefly as we can.

Ask and It Will Be Given

The Center of Prayer
To make a request of God is the heart of prayer. We can praise God and commit ourselves to him all day long, but if we never make a request of God, then we have not really prayed. The English word “prayer” means to make a request of an authority. To pray is to seek God for help.
To make requests of God isn’t just something that is a nice idea. We are commanded by God to turn to him in times of need:

• In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6

• Cast all your anxiety upon God because he cares for you. I Peter 5:7

• Let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found. Psalm 32:6

• With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18

Why does God desire our prayers?
It might seem odd that God is not only asking, but commanding us to pray. But prayer is the center of who we are as believers in God. If we believe in God, what do we believe him for? To believe that God exists is nothing by itself, unless you also believe that He will reward those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). We pray as a demonstration of our faith that God not only lives, but that he acts in our world today. The more we pray for God to do something, the more we demonstrate our dependence on Him to act on our behalf—and this dependence is our faith (Luke 11:1-8).

But making requests of God is not just a demonstration of our commitment to God. It is the heart of God’s glory. God is the king of the world and he owns all things (Psalm 24:1). He is the center of all justice and all provision. It is only right for us to go to Him to ask of what He has. And if we pray and he responds, then His glory is made known to everyone who sees that prayer fulfilled. God is not known in the world through doctrinal statements—He is seen and experienced through answered prayer.

God will not act unless we ask (James 4:2). Thus, if we do not ask God for help, we are stealing from both ourselves and God. If we do not ask, we do not receive the provision of God, and God does not gain the opportunity to demonstrate His power.

Who do we pray for?
Some think that we should only pray for ourselves. Others think we should pray for others, not ourselves. God desires for us to pray for everyone and everything.

Praying for God
The Lord’s prayer makes it clear that we should spend some time praying for God. Jesus certainly spent quite a bit of time on prayer for God—“Father, glorify your name.” “Not my will but yours.” To pray for God is to ask that God would act on his own behalf on the earth. Every time we pray the Lord’s prayer, we spend half the time praying for God (see below).

Praying for ourselves
It is not selfish to pray for ourselves, rather it is an act of faith. When we pray for ourselves, we recognize that we need God in our lives. Jesus told us to pray for justice in our lives, for the Holy Spirit to fill us, for our basic needs, and for forgiveness (Luke 18:7-8; 11:3-4, 13).

Praying for others
If God is hearing our prayers, then we must be praying for others as well. This is called “intercession”. Many prayers are not effective unless we pray with another who also believes (Matthew 18:19). And to pray for others is a great act of mercy, the center of all Christian ministry. We should pray for others to be healed, to be forgiven of their sin and to be delivered from oppression (Matthew 10:8; John 20:23).

Praying for God’s people
All the requests in the Lord’s prayer is not for ourselves alone, but for the whole church. We must remember not only to pray for unbelievers, but especially for God’s people, especially the congregation we are a part of. Especially we need to pray for God’s glory to be shown in the church and for the purity and reliance on God in the church.

Praying for our enemies
Not only are we to pray for those whom we are friendly to, but we are to pray for our enemies—those who do evil against us. Jesus commands us to do this—but it is not just for our enemies’ sake, but our own. If we pray for our enemies, we are acting like God who blesses his enemies. And if we pray for our enemies, then we are praying for our own hearts to be softened toward our enemies so we can love them as God does. (Luke 6:28, 35)

Examples of requests
Our Father in heaven, may your name be sanctified
May your kingdom come
May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:9-13)

The LORD bless you, and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

O Lord, you have brought all your faithful people into a single, universal family, stretching across heaven and earth. Bind us together with a spiritual love which is stronger than any human love, that in serving one another we may neither count the cost nor seek reward, but only think of the common good. (Mozarabic Sacramentary)

Give food to the hungry, O Lord
And give hunger for You to those who have food. (Anonymous)

Whatever you make me desire for my enemies, give it to them and give the same back to me. You who are the whole truth, correct their errors. You who are the incarnate word, give life to their souls. Tender Lord Jesus, let me not be a stumbling block to them nor a rock of offense. I beg your mercy on my fellow slaves. Let them be reconciled with you and through you be reconciled to me. (Anselm of Canterbury)

Let’s Do It!
Now let’s put this theory into practice. Get a piece of paper and write down a list of people you could pray for and what they need from the Lord. Then make a list of what you need from the Lord. Then pray it to the Lord!

Ask of God, or steal from God and ourselves.

Being Committed

The Power of Commitment
In our society, we are scared of commitment. Many people are afraid to marry, and those that do are often looking for a way out of it. We change jobs as frequently as our underwear. If we make a promise, we want to find a loophole, just in case we want to get out of it. We have great friends, but we will just as often give them up and look for another one. We sign contracts without thinking about it and renege our agreements as quickly as we make them.

What we have lost in forsaking commitment is tremendous. Commitment is not just sticking to what we say. It is being faithful to someone or something. It is always being there when they need you, and always trusting when there is trouble. Commitment is a form of love, a loyalty that never swerves. If we have commitment, then we have the power to make things change among those who are committed. But if we do not have commitment, then no one needs to listen to us. Commitment is a bind to each other, and that commitment can change people’s lives.

Commitment to God
In Scripture, we are commanded to especially commit to God, above all else. We are to fear God and love God with all of our emotions, thinking and strength. We are to worship God and obey Him. (Deuteronomy 6:3, 5, 24) We are to devote all that we have to God for His use (Luke 14:33). We are to listen to God’s word and obey it (Luke 11:28). And we are to confess openly, in public, our faith in God and in Jesus (Matthew 10:32-33).

Why commit to God?
But why should we commit ourselves to God? Isn’t it enough that we believe in Him and say nice things about Him? Not at all. We need to remember that God is a King—the King of the Universe—and before he is on our side, He needs to be sure that we are on his side. To be on God’s side means that we are willingly under his rule. We show this in two ways:

a. We confess our allegiance to Him
In a court of law, we will often swear to the truth, and a country will ask for a statement of allegiance. Such statements are to prove that we are committed to the institution, and that we will never betray it in any way. Even so, God desires for us to make such periodic statements, to verbalize our commitment to Him. It is an ongoing commitment to Him and to his ways.

b. We obey His word
We can talk about how we love our country all day long, but if we constantly disobey the laws of our country, then we show our hypocrisy. However often we verbalize our commitment to God or to Jesus, it is not enough unless we act on it. A verbal agreement with God is good, but it is incomplete without a lifestyle change that shows one commitment to God. Obedience to God’s requirements—especially to love God and to love others around us—are basic to be committed to God.

Confessions
There are a number of confessions in Scripture that we could use ourselves. The main one is the one that Jesus himself used:

“The Lord is our God, the Lord is alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind and with all of your strength.”
This confession was repeated by the Jews of Jesus’ day at least twice every day, and that practice continues to today.

“Jesus is Lord and God has raised him from the dead.” (Romans 10:11)

“There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we exist through Him.” (I Corinthians 8:6)

Also, we could invent one ourselves:
“I do solemnly vow my pledge of commitment and allegiance to Jesus Christ. I confess and acknowledge that Jesus—alone of all men— has the right and authority to rule over the whole earth. I willingly put myself under his rule dedicating myself to him, as the way to God, the speaker of truth and the giver of eternal life. Hereby I commit myself to following Jesus' way, obeying his commands, loving him and remaining faithful to him.”

Let’s Commit!
Okay, let’s put it into practice. First of all, we need to verbally commit ourselves to God and to Jesus. We can repeat one or more of the statement up above. Then we need to allow the Spirit examine ourselves to determine if there is anything in our lives that the Spirit wants us to firm up in our commitment to the Lord. Listen for God to speak, and ask him to examine us (see Psalm 139:23-24). Then we should put God’s word into practice in our lives. Write it down and live it out!

Confession

What is confession?
To “confess” might sound like a chance to say what you believe. Or perhaps it is an admission before a police officer. It could be either. But in the Bible, to confess means that you acknowledge your sin and the responsibility of sin. To confess implies that we regret our sin and yet we are hoping to avoid at least some of the natural consequences of our sin—especially death through judgement.

Command to confess
The Bible makes it clear that confession of our sins is essential for our spiritual health. If we do not confess, there are dire consequences. But if we do confess, there is forgiveness:

When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found. Psalm 32:3, 5-6

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. I John 1:9-10

Confess your sins to one another James 5:16

Why confess?
Admitting our sin is difficult to do—perhaps one of the most difficult things to do for some people. So why bother? Well, as we saw above, if we do not confess our sin, then we can actually have physical results—sickness may develop from our guilt or from spiritual attack. But the most important consequence is that if we do not confess our sin then we do not have forgiveness. We must acknowledge our sin in order to be cleansed from the consequence of it. Perhaps sickness is a consequence of sin, or some worldly judgement—but the most serious result of sin is the death that comes to all who rebel against God (Romans 6:23). But if we confess our sin as a step to repentance, then God will not hold our sin against us.

How to Confess
Confession isn’t complicated. It is basically saying “I’m sorry.” But if we do not have all of the attitudes of confession, then we may not have forgiveness.

Admission
We must verbally acknowledge that we have done evil. We do not put a conditional on it, lessening the rebellion against God. We freely and openly admit our sin.

Regret
We cannot be like a child who only says “I’m sorry” to a sibling because our parents make us. We must regret our sin and accept that all the evil consequences of the sin is our fault—even if someone or something “made” us act in a sinful way. We do not blame the cause but simply regret our actions.

Request of forgiveness
The main purpose of our confession is to obtain forgiveness. We want to avoid the consequences of sin, and to be accepted into God’s presence again. Thus, let us ask for the forgiveness we desire.

Plan of repentance
There could be some other act we need to do to accompany our confession. Perhaps we need to reconcile with someone else. Perhaps we need to repay someone. Perhaps we need to plan how we will not do this sin again. Whatever the case, we need to make sure that we have this as a part of our confession—not necessarily in our prayer, but in our plans.

How often?
Simple. As often as we sin. Perhaps this is every hour. Perhaps once a day. Perhaps less often. But we need to do it every time we sin. We could wait until our next prayer time, or we could confess immediately after the Holy Spirit convicts us. But we must not wait, whatever the case, because our relationship with God is damaged until we confess.

To God or to Brothers?
Both, depending on the situation. Certainly, in every case, we should confess to God. Some, in response to some churches’ extreme views about confession, teach that confession should only be to God, and not to fellow followers of Jesus. However, that is neglecting the verses in the New Testament that teach confession and forgiveness among brothers (James 5:16; John 20:23). Especially if we are sick from our sin and need healing, we should go to mature brothers in Christ and confess our sin. Sometimes we need to ask a brother what to do in light of our sin. And sometimes the Lord just encourages us to confess our sin to another. If we do, then we are able to be held accountable. However, if we are led to confess to a brother or sister, then let it not be to an immature believer, especially one who has a tendency to condemn or to gossip. This would cause the confession to be destructive instead of healing.

Accepting forgiveness
As we confess, we must remember that from that moment we are forgiven. We need no longer be ravaged by guilt, no longer be attacked by the condemnation of Satan or others. We are forgiven, we are clean—this is the promise of God. Nothing can take that away from us. The forgiveness of God not only provides the opportunity to forgive ourselves—it demands it.

Examples of confession
We can confess using our own words, or, if we wish, we can use the words of others:
Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loving kindness; According to the greatness of your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge. Psalm 51:1-3

Have mercy on us, O Lord; have mercy on us. Let your mercy be upon us, O Lord as we have trusted in you. In your mercy, O Lord, I have trusted; let me not be put to shame forever. (Te Deum)

Dear Lord, forgive me. Cleanse me of my sin. I open myself up to you. Reveal to me my evil ways. Show me, Lord, how to change them. Through your Spirit, enliven your righteousness within me. Teach me living justice; Teach me holy walking; Train me in the ways of your kingdom.

Practicing confession
The most difficult part of confession is not so much asking God for forgiveness, or even admitting our responsibility. Usually it is discovering what we have done that is sin before God. Either we think nothing we do is sin or everything we do is sin. There seems to be few who take the middle road. If we think we have not sinned, we should listen to the Spirit in silence and see if he points our any sin we should confess. If we think we have committed many sins, we should look at Scripture to see if we have sinned in truth (a good place to start is the list of sins in I Corinthians 6:9-10, or you can look at the tract “What are Sins Before God?”). After we know the sin that could reject us from God’s presence, let us confess so we can be forgiven!

Praise and Thanksgiving

What is Praise?
Praise, as we all know, is speaking well of another. But praise in Scripture is more than this, it is giving important insights on the character of another, and thus, giving honor to that person. To praise someone is to show that they are worthy of praise—thus, they are people who are good or great in some way, and thus deserving of having other people how good they are. Giving praise to someone is kind of like having a newspaper article about how great that person is published. It means that they are important enough and good enough to tell others about.

Thanksgiving is a kind of praise. It is talking about how good one is through what they have done. To praise someone in this way, you could just recount their deeds in the past—like a biography of someone the writer appreciates. Or one could be more direct and simply thank the person for what they’ve done.

To praise is not the same as expressing personal feelings, although it might include that. To say to someone, “I love you,” is nice, but it doesn’t show that they are significant or good in any way. You could just as well be saying, “I love you, even though you are a jerk.” Personal feelings don’t actually communicate another’s worth. To offer praise, one needs to communicate the praise-worthy characteristics of the one being spoken of.

Praise Commanded
We are commanded in Scripture to praise God and to give him thanksgiving many, many times, especially in the Psalms. In the Law, the children of Israel are commanded to praise the Lord (Leviticus 19:24). We are also commanded to praise God in the New Testament (Romans 15:11; Ephesians 1:3-6; Hebrews 13:15; Revelation 19:5). But, by far, the most frequent place in the Bible that commands us to praise God is the Psalms (Psalm 30:4; 33:1; 66:2; 67:3; 149; 150 and many more). Praising God isn’t just a nice thing to do on occasion, it is something God wants us to do all the time.

Why Praise?
Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God—it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100:2-5
We need to remember that God is the King of the universe—the greatest King of all kings. We wish to pray to God and to gain his blessings. But in order to approach God, we must open the way with praise and thanksgiving. Praise is like the key to open the door to God’s court, so he will give you an audience. Is this because God is so full of himself that he wants to hear people saying good things about him? No. There are three reasons given as to why we should praise God:

a. We are saying we remember who he is
In praising God we are letting God know that we know who He is. We proclaim that he isn’t like humans, faithless and weak. Rather, in approaching God, we are communicating to God that we will respect him for who he really is, and not assume that we can treat him like we do our friends or others we have no respect for. It says in Hebrews that if we wish to please God, we must believe that he rewards those who seek him. Praising God just communicates what we believe about God, so he knows if he can accept us or not.

b. We are saying we remember what he has done for us
We are completely dependent on God, for he made us and keeps us alive. Without him we are nothing. And he has granted us every blessing. Thanking God recognizes what he has done for us, and acknowledges our dependence on Him. God wants us to recognize that so we will be equally dependent on him later. If we give praise and thanksgiving to God, we are able to do that.

c. We are giving him a good reputation
God is the ruler of all the earth, but not everyone recognizes that. Nor does everyone acknowledge God’s power. If we praise God, especially publicly, we are granting God a good reputation among those who do not believe in Him. God desires to rule over all of the people on earth, and he wants to have them acknowledge Him of their own free will. Perhaps it may not be much, but if we praise God, we are making his reputation good in the little bit we can, amongst those who hear us. Thus, we are helping God in gaining back what is rightfully His.

Examples of Praise
Psalm 103 is an especially good example of praise of God.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;
Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases;
Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
The LORD performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed.
He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel.
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. (Psalm 103:2-8)

In this we can see description of God (compassionate, loving) and acknowledgement of what God does for us (pardons sin, heals, redeems) and also highlighting some things God has done to demonstrate who he is (performs righteous deeds, made his ways known to Moses).
Here’s another one, written by Francis of Assisi:
You are holy, Lord—You are the only God
And you deeds are wonderful
You are strong, You are great
You are the Most High, You are the Almighty.
You, Holy Father, are King of Heaven and Earth
You are good, Supreme good, Lord God, living and true.
You are love, You are wisdom, You are humility
You are endurance, You are rest, You are peace
Jesus gave public praise, as did Paul (Matthew 11:25; Acts 16:25). The priests of the Old Testament gave praise every morning and night (I Chronicles 23:30).

Do it yourself!
Now it’s your turn! We can praise God in many ways. We can read to him a psalm or praise (like Psalm 103 or Ephesians 1). Or we can create our own praise. The best way to do this is to make a list (Right now—this is an assignment!!) of things that God has done for you. Don’t stop until you could think of 15 to 20 items. Then, list out who it means God is. If God has delivered you from death, then he is a deliverer. If God has given you food, then He is a provider. Then you can use this list to praise God at other times. If your knowledge of God is based on your own experience, no one can take it away from you. And you can acknowledge who He is daily when you are speaking to Him.

Why Should We Bother To Pray?

Prayer is hard work. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Sometimes it’s boring, sometimes it takes all of our effort just to focus. Sometimes its long, and so often it is just forgettable. To pray is a discipline—just like learning math, or correct spelling or a new language. Almost nothing about prayer is easy.

So why do it? Why should we go to all the effort to learn how to pray? If it is such hard work, some say, then perhaps we shouldn’t bother with it at all. And often, even if we don’t say it, it is our real attitude. Do we really see it as an important aspect of our lives? Our actions clearly communicate what we really believe. After all, how many of us pray every day? Or even once a week?

The reason we pray is because we really need to. Frankly, we’re desperate. Every time that we look to someone else for help, we are praying to them—especially an authority over us. So if we go to the government and apply for food stamps, we are praying. If we call the police and are looking for help, we are praying. And sometimes we need to call for them. Sometimes we really need the help. Or we could be helping someone else to ask for help. This is the same with God. (Luke 18:1-8)

Who are we praying to?
I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Isaiah 6:1

God isn’t just a spiritual force that looks down upon us with kindness, dropping gifts to us every once in a while —like a non-physical Santa Claus. We constantly have to remember who God really is—he is The Authority behind all authority, the Power behind all powers, the Government behind all governments. He is the King of the Universe—and no one is beside Him. Everyone who has any kind of authority receives their authority from Him. And anyone who has any kind of power gained their power from Him. (John 19:11; Deuteronomy 10:17)

God is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Ruler of all presidents, prime ministers, and CEOs. He has all knowledge, and there is no one who knows anything true that God didn’t already know. Who gave God the right to rule? First of all, He made all things, so He can do what he wants with what he made. Second, God is more powerful than anyone else, so who will tell him that he can’t rule? Thirdly, God is more just and merciful than anyone else, and so he is worthy of ruling. (Isaiah 40:26-30)

What is prayer?
Many people see praying as something that is important within ourselves. The equate prayer with “meditation” or “self-talk”. As if prayer is making things happen through encouraging oneself to make them happen. But prayer isn’t like that. If we go to a bank, stand in the lobby and say, to no one in particular, “Please give me a loan, please give me a loan,” nothing will happen. You will have no more money when you walk out of that bank than when you walked in. The way to get a loan is to make a request to one of the workers at the bank who has authority to give you a loan.

Others see prayer as an opportunity to “chat with God”. As if God is a buddy of yours, just hanging by the phone, waiting for you to chew his ear off. This is forgetting who God really is. God is the King of the Universe. If you were to try to call the President of the United States—a much lesser power than God—and you actually got through, and you said, “Hey, how are things going, I just thought I’d tell you some of my problems…” how would the President respond? He’d say something along the lines of, “That’s nice, but I’ve got some REAL problems to deal with…” and then you’d get an earful of dial tone.

What is prayer, really? It is making a request of the King of the Universe. It is seeing your real need, recognizing that God is the one to solve the problem, and taking it to Him. Prayer is an audience before the greatest King that ever existed.

How can we possibly pray?
Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." Isaiah 6:5
Now that we understand what prayer really is, the best question is—how do we deserve to pray? We have many marks against us—if we were a great power on earth, then perhaps God would be interested to listen to us, but we are nobodies. If we were really righteous people, then God might want to listen to us, but we aren’t particularly righteous. In fact, we’ve done some evil things, and so why should the King of the Universe even let us into his palace? We aren’t particularly people whom God would listen to.

But He could and would listen to us. The Bible tells us some stuff about God that isn’t common knowledge, so listen to this:

1. God particularly pays attention to the poor
The King of the Universe recognizes that not everyone gets a fair shake. Some people will never get justice in the world because the world doesn’t care about them and won’t listen to them. But God does listen particularly to these people, the non-represented, the disenfranchised, the needy without a voice. God particularly pays attention to these people, and will listen when they cry out to him. So the prayers of the poor are powerful forces in the world, for they make things happen. (Exodus 22:22-24; Psalm 72:12)

2. God particularly listens to his people
Those who are a part of God’s people he calls his children. And so he listens to his people, like a father would listen to his son (and with more attention). How do we know if we are a part of his people? God has chosen a government, and anyone who has committed themselves to live under this government is a part of his people. God’s government is ruled by a King named Jesus. Jesus is the human King of God, and those who have devoted their lives to Jesus are a part of God’s people. So if we want to be heard by God, the best thing to do is to be under Jesus. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

3. God will give us the ability to be righteous
Yes, it is true, we have done evil things. Our speech is often evil, as well as our silence before evil acts. Do we really deserve to go before the Holy King of the Universe and make a request of Him? No, frankly, we don’t. But if we put ourselves under Jesus, then Jesus died to cleanse us from sin. Our evil, unjust acts are forgiven before God. If we repent of our sins before God, then they are forgotten and not held against us. But also, God wants to give us a gift for being a part of His people. This gift is to be holy people, even as Jesus was and is. God grants us his Spirit through Jesus to have His holiness living within us, all the time, so we can be a people that truly deserves to be before God. (Romans 8:14-15)

“Your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven." Isaiah 6:7
Let us ask the question again: why pray? We pray because we need things, and God is willing to listen. We pray because the world is evil and God is powerful enough to change it. We pray because no one else will listen to what God thinks is most important. But most of all, we pray because if we didn’t, we could receive nothing from God. To have gifts from God, to be the people God wants us to be, we must ask. (James 4:2)

Prayer is a powerful tool to meet our needs.
Prayer is possible through Jesus.

Anawim Hall of Fame

Anawim is a Hebrew word that means "The poor who seek the Lord for deliverance". When we understand that the "poor" in the Bible is not just those who are economically lacking, but also those who are oppressed, or who sacrifice something necessary for God, then we can see that this is a main theme throughout the Bible.

Abel—God liked his worship, but he didn’t accept the worship of his brother Cain. And so, in a childish fit of sibling rivalry, Cain kills Abel.

Abraham—God calls him to do a ridiculous task—to leave his proper inheritance from his father and just start wandering off to receive an unspecified reward. Abraham buys it. Then God promises him a son, although he and his wife were so past childbearing age their genitals resembled raisins. Abraham buys it. Then God asks Abraham to kill his only son, and, somehow, he will keep his previous promises. Abraham—stunningly—buys that too. So God gives him great reward (he’s only got to die and wait 400 years to collect it).

Hagar—Her mistress told her to have sex with her master—so she did. So why does her mistress beat her when she got pregnant? When she ran away, an angel told her to return and live under her mistress’ abuse—so she did. When her mistress had a son of her own, years later, she was told to pack up and leave—so she did. Because of her stubborn obedience, God made her descendants into a populous desert nation.

Lot—Of course he took the best land when it was offered—who wouldn’t? How was he to know that Sodom was slated for destruction by God’s immorality wrecking crew? Now here he is in the middle of the desert, destruction all around him, his wife fit only for a saltshaker, his daughters thinking incest is the best thing since sliced bread…. Well, God made it up to him by allowing him to be the father of two great nations.

Jacob—He so believes in God’s blessings, that he will do anything to get them—lie, steal, cheat, allow his sons to murder rivals—anything. Finally, after his life is made miserable by regret, he relies alone on God.

Joseph—So he boasted a little bit and humiliated his brothers. Is there any reason for him to be thrown, starving, into a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused of sexual misconduct, and thrown into jail? Apparently God thought he’d been through enough, so he made Joseph Prime Minister of the most powerful country in the world.

Tamar—She married one brother. He died. He left her no kid. She was given to the second brother. He died. No kid. Daddy wasn’t taking chances on the third brother. So she put a veil on, loosened the top buttons on her blouse, donned a garter, and targeted daddy, and he didn’t know who she was. After her pregnancy was obvious, daddy was ready to kill her. Until she proved to him that daddy was the daddy. God makes her the matriarch of the kings of Jerusalem.

The Children of Israel—They were enslaved in Egypt for generations. All of a sudden, they remember God and cry out to him. Ten plagues. Dead men everywhere. Crossing the Red Sea without needing to change into bathing suits. Voila! Instant deliverance. Then he makes them his select nation for all time.

Rahab—Jericho sex-worker, destined for destruction with the rest of her city, who was more scared of Israel’s God than her own. Backed the right horse, and was given asylum. Oh, yeah, and God made her an ancestor of the Messiah.

Gideon—A coward hiding in a hole until an angel proclaims him “mighty warrior!” Three hundred men against thousands, a few lanterns against swords and chariots— God would only pull him out if he faced overwhelming odds against him.

Jephthah—Important father, but his mother was a prostitute. Dang, bad luck—he was kicked out of the family. He became leader of a band of outlaws. But when an army attacked his community, he was the only one who could save them. He would do so only if he gained the respect of the community.

Samson—Devoted to God before he was born, he was made strong by God’s power (no steriods necessary), as long as he didn’t touch wine or cut his hair. Unfortunately, there was no requirement to keep his zipper shut. After playing with the wrong woman once too many, he was weakened, enslaved and tortured. Finally, God allowed him one last shot to destroy his enemies—as long as he died in the process.

Ruth— A family from Israel goes to Moab and the sons marry the wrong wives—Moabites. When all the men die, the mother goes back home, and her one ex-daughter-in-law insists in coming with. She adopts to the new culture and the new God like a fish in water. Her new husband is rich, and they become the ancestors of the kings of Judea.

Hannah—Her co-wife thinks she is just soooo important, just because she’s got lots of kids and Hannah doesn’t. Hannah is so forsaken, she goes to the temple to pray and is rebuked for being drunk. But God hears her prayer anyway, and her son becomes ruler and priest of all Israel.

David I —The important priest names little David king, but no one knows it (frankly, no one would believe it). Yeah, he kills a giant, and slays some thousands of enemies, but the king still isn’t impressed. He tries to kill David and David runs away for a few years. In nowhereland, David leads a rag-tag band of nowheremen, making nowhere plans (except to keep running from the king). Finally, the king dies and David is made king.

David II— David got a vacation, got the hots for some woman, got her pregnant. So he kills the husband. God don’t like that sort of thing, so although David said he was really sorry, God still punished him some. His son took over David’s city, had sex with David’s wives and was eventually killed. But God still allowed him to be the example to the kings of Judea (go figure).

Elijah—Came from nowhere to tell the king some unpleasant news from God—no rain for three years because you’re worshipping the wrong god! He runs away and God feeds him via crow and brook for a while. Then he’s fed by an impoverished widow for another while. When three years are done, he personally has a showdown with the priests of the wrong god, which he wins, but then he has to run for his life. Finally, he tells God he gives up, so God retires him from service via whirlwind and chariot of fire.

Naaman—A foreigner, an enemy general, and a leper goes up to the Israelite king and asks for healing. The king exclaimed, “Whadda I look like? A prophet?” So he’s sent to Elijah. Elijah tells him to go dunk his head—seven times in the Jordan. Naaman begins to stomp back home. A servant girl says, “What’s the harm in trying?” He turns around and dunks and God heals him. He converts to worship God (except on holidays).

Jehosephat—Three armies attack Jerusalem—it doesn’t look good for the king. He goes to God and God’s prophet says, “Don’t worry, God’ll handle it.” Jehosephat is so convinced, he puts his worship group at the head of the disarmed army. Sho’nuf—ain’t nuthin to do but clean up the bodies.

Hezekiah—Same story, different time. Biggest, strongest army in the world at Jerusalem’s doorstep. Hezekiah begs God, God’s prophet says “Don’t worry.” Sho’nuf—the army hightailed it back home and the leader was killed while worshipping his god.

Jeremiah—Another army at Jerusalem’s gate. Only this time God’s prophet—Jeremiah—said “Start packin’—everybody’s gunna move for 70 years.” No one likes to hear bad news, so no one believes him. The king burns his words. Since he’s preaching sedition, he gets thrown into a jail and then a dank well for months. After the city is conquered, Jeremiah is released. The people who are left ask, “What do we do?” Jeremaiah says, “Anything—just don’t go to Egypt.” Of course, they go to Egypt. And they drag the prophet along to write his jeremiad all the way there.

Ezekiel—Called to be God’s prophet, but told right off the bat—“No one will listen to you.” He’s told to do some pretty strange stuff—get pulled by the hair a few thousand miles to act like a ghost in Jerusalem; lay on his side for a year then—get the spatula—flip over for another year; measure out a Temple that doesn’t exist; build a model of Jerusalem, and then attack it; eat food cooked with burning human shit (he wouldn’t do that). All while he was exiled from his home, a priest far away from his temple.

Daniel—He was dragged away from his home, but he made the best of it, being a counselor for the king. Okay, so he was threatened with death unless he interpreted a dream he wasn’t told, telling the king his mind was going to go on vacation for a while; tell another king he was about to lose his reign that night; and babysit some hungry lions, while another king prayed outside. Still, he saw things from God no one else saw—like the resurrection of the dead.

The Three—The king had some low self-esteem one day, so he invited everyone to worship his statue. These three wouldn’t do it, so the king threw them into a fire pit. God didn’t let them get even a hotfoot.

God’s people depend on Him, even when the worst happens.

A Christmas Feast

Christmas tradition of feasting
For as long as there has been Christmas, there has been Christmas dinner. The Christmas feast is older than any other of the traditions we associate with Christmas—trees, lights, even gifts. Christmas began as an opportunity to gather with your family and community and to take the best food you had and enjoy yourselves. In many communities, Christmas and the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection were days to take a break from the restricted diet they would have the rest of the year. In ancient times, Christmas might be the one opportunity for people to eat meat, as grains, dairy and vegetables were their staples for the rest of the year. It is as difficult to separate Christmas from a feast, as it is to separate Thanksgiving from the meal.

Was there a feast at the original Christmas?
However, the Christmas story has little to do with a feast. In fact, one might say, it had to do with people who were in such difficult circumstances that they were lucky to eat. The first Christmas is about a family with a pregnant woman forced by the government to make a two day walking journey for the sake of bureaucrats in the capital. And when that family reached their extended family, they were forced to sleep in the stable, which is where the baby was born. It has to do with a group of workers that had so little respect that they couldn’t be called blue collar, and their sighting of angels in the sky. It has to do with a group of scholars who traveled thousands of miles to do homage to a great king, just born, only to find that they were a part of a conspiracy to kill infants in a village. These were not people who were feasting. These were people in sad circumstances.

The Feast of All Feasts
And yet Christmas is about a happy time, not a time of sorrow, or danger. How is this?
It is because each of these people in unfortunate circumstances received news that they were in the first stages of getting out of their bad circumstances. Christmas is like celebrating the day you heard you would receive a huge inheritance from someone you didn’t know, even though the inheritance itself you wouldn’t see for months yet. These people had heard that it was time for them to receive a great promise.

• Joseph heard that he would adopt a son who would deliver the whole world from oppression.

• Mary heard that she would be the mother of the man who would bring the poor God’s blessings.

• The shepherds heard that God would soon be ruling on earth in the person of a baby in a manger.

• The wise men heard that a powerful king was born in Judea.

Christmas isn’t about the great time everyone had when Jesus was born. Rather, it is about the promise of God that was beginning to be fulfilled in Jesus.
 God promised to forgive sins—that was accomplished in Jesus.
 God promised to heal diseases—that was accomplished in Jesus.
 God promised to establish a new nation—that was accomplished in Jesus.
 God promised to wipe out oppression—that was started in Jesus.
 God promised to have a just, merciful ruler—Jesus is the one.
So Christmas isn’t about a bunch of people in sad circumstances—but rather it is about a celebration of the best news anyone can receive. The news was this: God, through this baby, will change the whole world so those in difficult circumstances will have a reason to party!

Can we have feasts in Jesus’ name?
Now there wasn’t much feasting at that first Christmas time. Times were too tough for the people involved. Yes, there was singing, and rejoicing. But not much opportunity for a feast. However, God has always enjoyed a good feast when it was time to celebrate. God had commanded his people, the Israelites, to take one tenth of their income for a whole year and have one big party with it every year—just to celebrate before God!

And Christmas is the celebration of the first stage of the biggest party ever—the kingdom of God. Jesus often referred to his kingdom as one big party in which all his people will be celebrating and having a good time! And Jesus himself set up and was the host of party after party when he was on earth, all to celebrate the coming of God’s kingdom. So what better time than Christmas to have a Jesus feast! It is an opportunity to celebrate the coming kingdom of God and to have a good time, just like we will in God’s kingdom.

Jesus’ way of Feasting
However, if we are going to celebrate and have a party in Jesus’ name, it can’t just be any kind of party. Jesus set up a few rules if we are going to party for Jesus. These aren’t the rules we normally think of—the no-drinking, no-dancing kind of rules. They are odd, rather:

1. Jesus said to invite the needy rather than family and friends
Jesus wanted parties to be an opportunity to be a part of the big Party that was to come. To gain greater benefits in God’s Kingdom, we need to give up what we have to those who need it most. Our family and friends—there’s always another day to invite them to celebrate. But a Jesus party is one in which the needy and hurting are invited. Perhaps it might make the party less fun for you. Perhaps it would cost you more. Perhaps it would be more difficult for you. But in the end you gain more in God’s kingdom for having a Jesus party only for the homeless, disabled and outcast. Because God will give you a bigger party in the end.

2. Jesus set up parties which were opportunities to repent from sin
As we mentioned, Jesus had many parties himself. But whenever he had a party, he gave an opportunity to have people get right with God and repent from their rebellion against God. It was kinda like having a church service in the midst of a party! But that’s the way Jesus did it. People would sometimes just speak out their repentance, or pray in the middle of the feast! Even so, a Jesus party celebrates God’s forgiveness by offering it to others.

3. Jesus established a feast to remember his death
Also, Jesus established a memorial feast that was supposed to remember his death. This seems kind of grim, having a wake all the time, but it’s really not. Jesus established this party, not to remember the terrible details of his murder at the hands of the state, but to remember that it is through his death that God’s kingdom got it’s start. That’s right! Jesus asked us to remember the birthday of God’s kingdom! Christmas is a good time to have this feast. Let’s have a good time and also, let’s focus on Jesus and what he did for us!

Have a Jesus party for Christmas
To Celebrate God’s Party to Come!

Master and Servant: The Basic Relationship To God

Existence or Relation?
Modern theology focuses on the existence and attributes of God. This makes sense, in some ways, because of many who are questioning the reality of God and of who He really is. It is interesting to note, however, that although the NT authors lived in a time where there were many truths and beliefs and most people questioned their idea of God, the authors didn’t spend any time arguing about His existence, nor did they spend much time focusing on who God is, what He is like as opposed to other gods or other realities. Rather, they focused on one thing: what is God’s relationship to us. They took for granted God’s power, and God’s authority. They just talked about what the relationship between God and his people is like.


For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face. Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them. Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples; there will be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle. The LORD will remove from you all sickness; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will lay them on all who hate you. Deuteronomy 7:6-15

S and M: Servant and Master
The basic relationship between God and his people is that of the King to his servants. A servant to a king is all throughout the Bible called a “slave”, but it is truly more of a relation with a servant than a slave. A servant chooses his master, and if his master abuses him, he can leave, while a slave has no choice but to remain in servitude. Later on, we will talk about other relationships with God—being a child of God and being a wife of God. But all relationships with God ultimately begin with us being servants of God.
But no matter what relationship we are in—and there are some to choose from—God is always the King. God is the Most High God, the creator of heaven and earth, the King of the Universe, equal to none. This is the basic fact that we must always remember. God is not our “buddy” or our “friend”—He is always Lord, He is always King, and we are always subservient to Him. Even Jesus, God’s Son, never forgot this. Jesus, as a human being, is under the Lordship of God and must always be subservient and respectful to the Most High, even if he can call him Father.

Gotta Serve Somebody
Why would we want a relationship of servitude with God? Why would we choose to be a servant of anyone? The first thing we need to remember is that we are the servant of someone, no matter how “free” we tell ourselves we are. We are not completely free, but we serve a master and live a certain lifestyle. The reason we want to be servants of God is because He is interested in meeting our needs, not just fulfilling His own desire. He made us, and so He knows better than anyone what we need and how to meet those needs. So being a servant of the Creator is an opportunity, not an obligation.

What we need to remember is that we are in relationship with God because He chose us. He made the first move of love toward us. He took pity on us and decided to give us the opportunity for a better life. He looked at us in our terrible state on our own and said, “Live!” (Ezekiel 16:4-6). He loved us and assisted us and chose us, before we did anything back.

Our response to His choice and the opportunity to live is simply gratefulness. We need to give thanks to Him for all that He has done to make our lives better. We need to thank Him for choosing us, for loving us, for sending Jesus to die on the cross for us.

Naughty or Nice?
Again, however a benevolent Master God is, no matter how interested He is in our well-being, He IS a Master. He is Lord. And when we live under His rule, He has laws and a lifestyle for us to live. If we mess up, He is forgiving and will offer us mercy. And if we obey and do what He says He will reward us with everything we need and more. But if we rebel, He will punish us. The punishment will be swift and severe. He doesn’t punish us just to be mean to those who disobey, but to draw people back to relationship with Him. But punish He will. And His punishments are difficult (Hebrews 10:26-33).

How do we respond to this? First of all, with obedience. When there is simple joy in obedience and suffering in disobedience, the choice seems clear. However, we sometimes do disobey. Praise God, He has an opportunity for us when we disobey—we can repent and be back in His good graces. Depending on our disobedience, we might still have to suffer some punishment, but more often than not we are given mercy. (John 3:36)

But what God insists on is that we remember that the stick is always there if we disobey. Thus, we have what the Bible calls “fear” or what might be called a “healthy respect.” It is healthy for us to do what God says and to not hesitate in obedience. Because the consequences are drastic.

Is there Obedience In Jesus?
Some would say that Jesus did away with the “law”, by which they mean any obligation. But this is not true. We all must obey, we all must be holy. It is just that the terms of holiness are determined by Jesus, not by Moses. (Matthew 7:21-27; 12:48-50)

Service to the Servant
Finally, there is a mutual obligation between a Master and His servant. On the surface, it seems as if the obligation is only on the servant’s side. But this is never true. A person who is an employee becomes the servant of the employer, and does so freely. Why? Because the employer offers a service to the servant. So it is with God.

God grants his servants protection, for one thing. And He agrees to meet their needs. And He creates a safe community for His servants to live in. This community and need-meeting isn’t just for a limited time, either, as an employer’s would be. God’s provision lasts for all eternity, as long as our spirits endure, which is forever.

What does God ask in return? He asks for service. That is pretty basic. This isn’t just obedience to His laws, but also just doing what He asks, at any time. He may ask us to help the person who is holding a sign. He may ask us to say a kind word to a child. He may ask us to support a friend who is down. He may ask us to help someone in the church move. He may ask us to visit someone in the hospital. Whatever it is, God is expecting us to fulfill it. Out of gratefulness. Not with grumbling. But with a cheerful heart.

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High Volume Meekness

Meekness isn’t exactly in demand today. Nobody wants it. Sure, people will buy books on love, on peace, on joy, on self-discipline—but how many people want Meekness for Dummies? Microsoft Humility? (Whoa, talk about a contradiction in terms!) McLowly? Meekness just doesn’t sell.

And why should it? Meekness doesn’t comfort us, it doesn’t make us more successful, it doesn’t help us make friends or influence people. Let’s face it—the meek in our society are rejects. They are the outcasts, the people who don’t really fit in. Let’s see, who are the professional meek in the U.S.?

• Homeless
• Elderly in nursing homes
• Those living in low income housing
• Poor immigrants
• Mentally ill
• Those who work for minimum wage
• Panhandlers
• Those on Disability or Food Stamps
• Non-English speakers

Not exactly whom you want to be like? Perhaps not the friends and neighbors? Nor your usual upstanding church members? Of course not. These are not the building blocks of society, the ones who can make things change for the better, the righteous, the acceptable. Again, the meek are the rejects. Not just the unimportant, but the unwanted, the unacceptable.

And how do the middle-class church members—the Uptight Upright—treat these folks, the meek and lowly? Sometimes they treat them with pity, feeling sorry for their plight, perhaps seeing how they can help them. That’s typically the best response. If only the best response were the only response. Often the meek are treated as a “problem” that needs to be solved, the solution of which has avoided the minds of all the mighty. The meek usually are ignored by most—best not seen, not dealt with. The apathetic aren’t interested in judging the lowly, but they aren’t interested in doing anything else with them either. But there are many that do wish to judge the lowly.

These judges use the logic of Job’s friends—These meek are in the positions they are in for a reason. Perhaps in these post-modern times we do not want to use the argument of God only offering material blessings to the righteous, but we would use other arguments. “They made terrible errors in their lives, and so they ended up where they are.” “They will have to work hard like we did and then they can get out of that situation.” “This is the land of opportunity—anyone who works hard enough can get ahead.” “They just need to apply themselves.” “Lazy.” “Addicts.” “Trying to take advantage of good people.” These labels are used on the meek, even if they are not known. And if you think you are immune to this, how many times have you ignored a panhandler whom you have never seen before because, you assume, they would use the money you might give them for their addiction? This is judging by stereotype. Would we assume such things of our neighbor who lives on the same suburban street as us?

If we looked at these meek with God’s eyes, we would see that these meek are not the insignificant and hopeless as we might first have imagined. Just the opposite. We need to remember that God does not choose the powerful, the rich, the ones who already have everything in place. God chooses the needy, the insignificant, those for whom everything is falling apart. This means, biblically, when we look at our world around us, we need to see it with new eyes. Next time you see a panhandler, instead of seeing him or her with pity or disgust, think, “This is one of the ones whom God chooses.” Next time you see an elderly woman, living alone, respond, “I wonder if God will give her a son.” Next time you meet a mentally ill person, consider, “I wonder what God is going to do in this person’s life—it must be magnificent!” Next time you hear about the starving in Africa or Asia, instead of being overwhelmed with a mix of compassion and guilt, pray that God would do a work of power there.

Poverty and illness are not dead-end streets—they are opportunities for God to act.

The Suicide Politicians

Those who believe in a future kingdom of God to come and reign on earth are clearly dissatisfied with the system as it now exists. The innocent die, the righteous are punished, wars destroy mothers and children and the masses who have power are lulled into sleep—which is probably good as well, for the masses would only enact greater injustices than their leaders do. Yet many leaders of governmental powers are abusive, unjust and concerned only with their own position, not the good of the people or in doing what is right. God is not satisfied with injustice in the governments of the world and he has promised that injustice—especially against the poor and lowly—will be destroyed.

But there is a disagreement as to how God creates justice in the world. Some say that God is working through the wars, the court systems, and the unjust governments of the world. This is certainly true, to a degree, but Jesus was not satisfied with God working his justice through judgement and hated and killing. He established a new way of dealing with injustice, of dealing with corrupt governments.

His way was based on two basic principles:
1. That God destroys rulers and governments that display injustice against the poor and lowly (Psalm 37, 82).
2. God will place in political power those who show themselves to be lowly and righteous before him (I Samuel 2:7-9; Matthew 5:3-12).

Jesus summarizes it like this: Those who exalt themselves will be cast down, while those who lower themselves will be raised up (Luke 14:11). Jesus provided an example of enacting God’s justice through becoming lowly against the world’s injustice—through the cross.

Although Jesus’ example is the greatest, he also invited all of those who followed him to participate in the same upside-down justice. The way of the cross is open to all who wish to follow Jesus. But how does one cause the governments of the world to topple by sacrificing oneself?

Making oneself odious to the ruling class
Jesus made himself unacceptable to those who ruled by doing God’s will publicly, thus displaying the government to be unjust and oppressive. He healed those who were rejected by “acceptable” society—proving that they were accepted by God. He opposed some of the laws and rules placed upon the populace by political wannabes that were unmerciful to the hungry and needy (Mark 7:1-9; Matthew 12:1-13). Jesus also proclaimed that the government of the people of God was soon to pass away, and be replaced by God’s direct rule (Mark 12:1-9). Then Jesus made vague references to the destruction of the temple, the center of the government’s power (John 2:19). All of this together, made Jesus dangerous in the eyes of the government and to the ruling class in general.

Jesus also established his disciples to be people who would be on the government’s “most wanted” list. He told his disciples to go out to every town, declaring that the current government would be replaced by God’s righteous one (Luke 9:2). He taught them to accept those whom the government found unacceptable (Mark 2:17). And he laid out in detail the faults and injustices of the ruling class (Mark 7:1-9; Matthew 23). Jesus sent out his disciples prepared to be rejected by the world.

Response to Persecution

Jesus was hated by all the ruling political parties—Sadducees, priests, Pharisees and the intellegencia of the ruling governments—scribes and lawyers. They spoke publicly against him, attempted to make him look bad in the midst of those who he was teaching and made plots to kill him (Matthew 12:14, 24, 38). He was eventually arrested, tried, tortured, and killed for treason (Mark 14-15). But he knew ahead of time that all of this would happen, and he planned for it, even desired it (Mark 8:31-33; 9:31-32). And when it happened, he did not resist, but allowed the plot against him to unfold just as planned by his enemies.

Even so, Jesus promised his people that they would be hated and persecuted and killed, even as he was (Matthew 10:24-25; John 15:18-20). In the midst of this, he told them, respond as he responded. Don’t be afraid of the persecution or those who can torture you, but rather accept the fact that you will have to possibly die for the message of Jesus (Matthew 10:28; Mark 8:35-38). He told them not to fight against those who punish them unjustly, but to respond to them with good—blessings and prayers (Matthew 5:38-48). If persecuted in a town, the disciples may flee, but there will come a time when each of them will be killed for the message they carry (Matthew 10:23; Mark 10:39). In this way, the disciples remain innocent, and all evil done is on the side of the oppressor.

God’s response
Jesus cried out to God for deliverance from the oppression he was facing (Mark 14:32-39). He was willing to face the death and shame, but he saw it for the evil it was. But rather than taking action himself in vengeance for the crimes done against him, an innocent man, he relied on God, and God’s justice enacted by God’s hand alone (Matthew 26:52-53). And God came through—even though Jesus had to face shame, suffering and a horrendous death, after he was done with all that, God raised Jesus from the dead. This indicated not only Jesus’ innocence, but his authority over those who had oppressed him.

Even so, Jesus told his followers that if they suffer as he suffered, then they too would gain not only resurrection, but political authority over those who had oppressed them (Luke 6:20-26; Mark 8:35; Luke 22:28-30). But for the disciples to gain this justice, they have to cry out to God day and night, asking him for release from oppression (Luke 18:1-8). In this way, the foundation is laid and God is free to respond in his own way against true oppressors of the poor and lowly.

Successful politics
The way of the cross seems naïve and foolish to almost everyone involved in politics, whether Christian or not. But it must be remembered that some of the most successful politicians in the twentieth century accepted this same pattern of political thought—Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Stephen Beko. These followed the pattern of Jesus, and took him as their political guide. The only difference between Jesus and these politicians is that they were looking for deliverance from the world they lived in—their own people, their own governments. Jesus, on the other hand, looked for deliverance only from God—and because of this, he proved to be the most successful politician of all time.

Oppressors shall be cast down by God;
God will exalt those who sacrifice themselves for His sake.