“Prayer Is Irksome”

July 29, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I shared this quote from C.S. Lewis this morning—

“Well, let’s now at any rate come clean. Prayer is irksome. An excuse to omit it is never unwelcome. When it is over, this casts a feeling of relief and holiday over the rest of the day. We are reluctant to begin. We are delighted to finish. While we are at prayer, but not while we are reading a novel or solving a crossword puzzle, any trifle is enough to distract us…. Now the disquieting thing is not simply that we skimp and begrudge the duty of prayer. The really disquieting thing is it should be numbered among duties at all. For we believe that we were created ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ And if the few, the very few, minutes we now spend on intercourse with God are a burden to us rather than a delight, what then?… The painful effort which prayer involves is not proof that we are doing something we were not created to do. If we were perfected, prayer would not be a duty, it would be a delight. Someday, please God, it will be.”

Why don’t we pray more? Why does it seem like prayer is not a regular part of our lives?

Perhaps… We don’t know what to pray. The Bible is an amazing prayer book! Just use the words of Scripture to form your prayers. You can use the psalms, or go to the New Testament where Jesus or the other New Testament writers say something like, “This is my prayer….” Borrow their words, personalize them, and it will be an incredible prayer.

Maybe… We don’t have time to pray. We always have the Holy Spirit with us, and He reminds us of the Word and helps us pray. So we can pray anytime, anywhere, no matter what we are doing.

It could be… We run out of things to say. The Bible gives us so many things on which to meditate. This word means to mull over, or to even talk to ourselves. Combining Bible reading and prayer helps us continue to talk to God all throughout the day.

Try these simple steps and you will begin to realize, as C.S. Lewis said: “If we were perfected, prayer would not be a duty, it would be a delight. Someday, please God, it will be.”

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Getting Out Of A Pit

July 28, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This guy was having a bad day (or maybe a bad week, a bad month, a bad year…). The bottom line: he was in a pit, and it appears he had been in it for some time.

Nothing was going right.

And it didn’t appear things would turn around anytime soon.

He cried out, “My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” (Psalm 42:3)

Ever been there?

Are you there now?

If so, follow the example of this psalmist as he began to talk to himself…

Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again—my Savior and my God! (v. 5)

Why could he put his hope in God at such a dark time in his life? Consider these wise words from Charles Spurgeon—

“Speak to thy soul thus, ‘If I were dealing with a man’s promise, I should carefully consider the ability and the character of the man who had covenanted with me. So with the promise of God; my eye must not be so much fixed upon the greatness of the mercy—that may stagger me; as upon the greatness of the Promiser—that will cheer me. My soul, it is God, even thy God, God that cannot lie, Who speaks to thee. This word of His which thou art now considering is as true as His own existence. He is a God unchangeable. He has not altered the thing which has gone out of His mouth, nor called back one single consolatory sentence. Nor doth He lack any power; it is the God that made the heavens and the earth who has spoken thus. Nor can He fail in wisdom as to the time when He will bestow the favors, for He knoweth when it is best to give and when better to withhold. Therefore, seeing that it is the word of a God so true, so immutable, so powerful, so wise, I will and must believe the promise.’ If we thus meditate upon the promises, and consider the Promiser, we shall experience their sweetness, and obtain their fulfillment.”

If you are in a pit, begin to recall the promises listed in God’s Word.

Pray them.

Meditate on them.

Speak them out loud.

Hang on to them.

“If we thus meditate upon the promises, and consider the Promiser, we shall experience their sweetness, and obtain their fulfillment.”

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Pastoral Insights From “Golden Mouth”

July 27, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

John Chrysostom was a reluctant pastor. It took him a while to surrender to the call of God on his life to serve as a priest. But once he stepped into that role, his God-given talents were used mightily. He was such an incredible speaker that his sermons often moved his audience to tears or applause. Thus, he was given the nickname “Golden Mouth.”

Here are some great pastoral insights from Golden Mouth which are just as applicable today…

“Thus then must the Priest behave towards those in his charge, as a father would behave to his very young children; and as such are not disturbed either by their insults or their blows, or their lamentations, nor even if they laugh and rejoice with us, do we take much account of it; so should we neither be puffed up by the promises of these persons nor cast down at their censure, when it comes from them unseasonably.”

“Let, therefore, the man who undertakes the strain of teaching never give heed to the good opinion of the outside world, nor be dejected in soul on account of such persons; but laboring at his sermons so that he may please God, (For let this alone be his rule and determination, in discharging this best kind of workmanship, not acclamation, nor good opinions,) if, indeed, he be praised by men, let him not repudiate their applause, and when his hearers do not offer this, let him not seek it, let him not be grieved. For a sufficient consolation in his labors, and one greater than all, is when he is able to be conscious of arranging and ordering his teaching with a view to pleasing God.” 

“For the soul of the Priest ought to be purer than the very sunbeams, in order that the Holy Spirit may not leave him desolate, in order that he may be able to say, ‘Now I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me….’ For he has need of far greater purity than they; and whoever has need of greater purity, he too is subject to more pressing temptations than they, which are able to defile him, unless by using constant self-denial and much labor, he renders his soul inaccessible to them.”

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Busted!

July 17, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

C.S. Lewis nails me with this quote from Letters To Malcolm—

“Well, let’s now at any rate come clean. Prayer is irksome. An excuse to omit it is never unwelcome. When it is over, this casts a feeling of relief and holiday over the rest of the day. We are reluctant to begin. We are delighted to finish. While we are at prayer, but not while we are reading a novel or solving a crossword puzzle, any trifle is enough to distract us….

Now the disquieting thing is not simply that we skimp and begrudge the duty of prayer. The really disquieting thing is it should be numbered among duties at all. For we believe that we were created ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ And if the few, the very few, minutes we now spend on intercourse with God are a burden to us rather than a delight, what then?… 

The painful effort which prayer involves is not proof that we are doing something we were not created to do. 

If we were perfected, prayer would not be a duty, it would be a delight. Someday, please God, it will be.”

I don’t know about you, but this convicts me.

I want to be delighted for my prayer times. When I think that the Creator of the universe wants me to spend time with Him in prayer, how could this not be a delight?!

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Waiting For Your Dream

July 17, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Some time ago, when my wife Betsy and I were waiting for God to bring about something we believed He had promised us, Betsy taped this verse to our bathroom mirror—

At the time I have decided, My words will come true. You can trust what I say about the future. It may take a long time, but keep on waiting—it will happen! (Habakkuk 2:3)

Keep on waiting.

You might be able to relate to that statement. Perhaps you say, “I am waiting. And waiting, and waiting, and WAITING…!”

But let me ask you something: What are you doing while you’re waiting?

Did you know that the Hebrew word for “waiting” here can also mean to ambush? That means you need to be doing everything you can do now to capture God’s promised dream when it arrives. As John Wooden used to say, “When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare.”

What do you need to do to ambush and capture your dream?

  • Learn a skill?
  • Take a class?
  • Get a degree?
  • Forgive someone?
  • Get out of debt?
  • Find a partner?
  • Volunteer your time?
  • Improve your waiting skills?

How do you improve your waiting skills? Check out this well-known verse—

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…. (Isaiah 40:31)

Wait upon the Lord.

This is not a passive activity. This doesn’t mean to put your feet up, take it easy, and just lounge around until God finally decides to show up.

This word for “wait” has a different definition.

Have you ever dined at a really nice restaurant? In those high-priced restaurants, one of the things that makes the dining experience so nice is the staff who serves you. They anticipate your every need, they seem to be there just when you need them. They’re not late in arriving, nor are they rushing you along. They are WAITING on you!

This is what Isaiah is saying: When we wait on the Lord we are actively serving Him. We are trying to anticipate what He wants us to do. We’re not late and we’re not rushing Him along. We just want to give Him our very best service.

So if you are waiting (and waiting, and waiting!), make sure you’re making good use of your waiting time. Serve God with all you’ve got, and then make sure you’re ready to ambush your dream when God brings it to you in His perfect timing. God said it:

“Keep on waiting—it will happen!” 

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How To Avoid Getting A Big Head

July 8, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

John Wesley said that harsh words spoken to us actually provide a helpful balance:

“Who could bear honor and good report, were it not balanced by dishonor?”

In other words, if the only things said to you are words of praise, it’s awfully hard to keep from getting a big head! So when the painful words come, it is important to evaluate them, but also recognize that they might be just the medicine you need to reduce ego swelling. 

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Happy Independence Day

July 4, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

“I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

(John Adams, writing to his wife Abigail about the Declaration of Independence)

I hope you will take time today to celebrate the blessings of liberty that we enjoy in the United States of America. But as you celebrate, do not forget that our freedom relies solely on the grace of God Almighty. If we forget that important fact, we are doomed to lose the precious gift of liberty.

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Savoring It

July 1, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

For those of you who asked, here is the quote I shared this morning from John Piper—

“If you don’t read the Word and memorize the Word and meditate on the Word daily and delight in the Word and savor it and have your mind and emotions shaped by the Word, you will be a weak Christian at best. You will be fragile and easily deceived and easily paralyzed by trouble and stuck in many mediocre ruts. But if you read the Word and memorize important parts of it and meditate on it and savor it and steep your mind in it, then you will be like a strong tree planted by streams of water that brings forth fruit. Your leaf won’t wither in the drought and you will be productive in your life for Christ.”

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Open Door

June 26, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple or Spotify.

The phrase open door shows up several times in the New Testament, and it shows up quite a bit in the present-day vocabulary of many Christians too. But I’m not sure we mean the same thing.

I hear Christians saying things like, “I’m praying for God to open a door for a new job,” or “I’m waiting to see what door God will open for my schooling,” or something to that effect. In other words, the open door seems to be for our personal benefit.

The apostle Paul said this:

A great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me (1 Corinthians 16:9).

Let’s get one thing clear: God opens doors (we don’t), and our job is to obediently walk through those open doors (God won’t shove us through them).

Paul knew that the open door was not for his benefit, but for the benefit of those who were presently outside of the Kingdom of God. God opens doors for His people so that those outside His Kingdom can come inside (see Acts 14:27; 2 Corinthians 2:12; Colossians 4:3).

It might look like God opened a door by providing a job, but that job is His means to help you invite others into His Kingdom. The open door (the job, in this case) isn’t primarily for you; it’s for you to invite others in.

That’s why when God opens doors there will be many who oppose you. They are not really opposing you, but they are opposing the opportunity for the kingdom of darkness to be robbed and the Kingdom of God to be enriched.

So when you pray for open doors, remember:

  • When God opens a door, it’s mainly for the benefit of those outside the Kingdom of Heaven
  • You will be opposed by the kingdom of darkness

If you’re ready for both of those, then by all means pray for open doors!

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Good Memory / Bad Memory

June 23, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

When you look back into your memories, what do you see? Do you recall the good things? The bad things? Which most readily springs to mind?

“I do not find fault with short memories, but with good memories which are treacherous towards divine things. What I complain of is that memory may be very strong concerning self-interest, grievances, and trials, and yet towards God’s mercies it may be very weak.” ―Charles Spurgeon

When one of the psalmists was downcast, his thoughts started to go back to the bad memories, but he chose to remember the good…

…my soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember You… (Psalm 42:6)

Did you catch that therefore?

This psalmist said, “As soon as I realize I am focusing on the bad, I will remember my God!”

This is why I am a big proponent of using a prayer journal: a written record of your prayers, answers to those prayers, revelations the Holy Spirit has shown you in the Scriptures, and other good memories. That way when your soul is downcast, you can remember the good things God has said and done for you.

Don’t let the bad memories trump the good things God has done for you. Remember … remember … remember!

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