Attractive prayers.

I called a good friend of mine tonight and she immediately said to me, "I was just going to call you!" I asked her why and she responded by telling me that she wanted my prayers for her mom. My heart was really touched by her trust in me. She told me about her mom and I gratefully and wholeheartedly accepted her request for prayer.

She is not a Christian but she knows that I am and finds my faith to be ultra-radical. Because of this, I said that I didn't understand why she wanted me to pray for her mom since we didn't share the same faith. As we continued talking, some insights came to mind and I expressed them to her. I explained that I believed God to be a very jealous and angry God in the sense that He alone is worthy of our supplications. He made the world and everything in it. Why would the true God want His own creation to pray to a false god that had not given it life? As the saying goes, don't bite the hand that feeds you. For the biblical allegory, read this.

I told my friend that I too fought with God tooth and nail over these concepts when I was first drawn to Him. How could God hate anything? Why would God despise the prayers of those who pray to other gods? Isn't it simply their way of finding truth and seeking blessings? Wisdom came to me when I understood that the motivation behind God's jealousy and anger is what sets those emotions apart. Being the owner of my body and soul, God is jealous to keep me in His possession. Those things that seek to steal me from His grace give Him righteous cause to be angry. His jealousy and anger are, therefor, motivated by love to protect what is rightfully His. He will destroy those things that deny His children the full experience of His great glory!

I told her that I would never ask a Buddhist to pray for me simply because a Buddhist is not honoring the One God with their prayers. She was surprised but admitted that my argument did make logical sense...if actually true. I brought to her attention that, even though she found my beliefs to be radical (and wrong), by her request she saw something to be desired; something incredibly attractive bound up in those very prayers she asked me to present to God. By contrast, according to my explanation of the meaning behind prayer (to honor the One who gives us breath to pray), I could find no value in prayers that are offered to other gods. Ultimately, I suggested that my prayers are attractive because of the One who is represented in them.

I pray everyday that she, and all who hunger and thirst for righteousness, will be filled.

Suffering argument.

In response to a comment I posted from my previous post, a friend wrote to me some meaningful words that spoke to an explanation I left out from my thoughts:

"Not to argue against your thought, but to broaden your perspective - God created us with body and soul, and He recreates His elect, body and soul. Even the damned will suffer eternal torment in body and soul. Of course I agree that temproal suffering is nothing compared with the punishment or rewards that will follow for eternity."

Yes, the body and the soul are important and God loves both aspects of our beings. He created us to have both. Yet, when we have an indestructible soul that inhabits a body of death God must use what will be shaken (this body and our world) to reveal His unshakable kingdom. I responded by writing:

"Suffering for the Christian leads to perseverance and hope that Christ will come again to take our pain away and give us new life. I was only trying to imply that these bodies are temporary, but our souls are eternal. God uses the temporary and its passing to encourage a longing to be with Him forever in peace.

"For instance, Moses called for bread (Manna) from Heaven and brought water from a rock in the ground to provide food and water to alleviate his people's suffering in the flesh. They ate and drank, but were not satisfied. Christ calls Himself the "bread from Heaven" and the "water of life" that, when taken just one time, cause us to never hunger or thirst again.

Though we will die, God does provide for our physical needs, but in order to point to His spiritual blessings that never pass away."

If you read this, do you have any thoughts you would like to comment upon?

The disaster in Haiti (a biblical understanding).

An amazing friend whom God has blessed me to have in my life asked me a question about the earthquake in Haiti and all the suffering that is taking place there. She does not know Christ and yet she desires to ask me about my faith and understanding of this world. She wants to examine, as best as possible, the lens through which I see my world. I believe that my view must be attractive to her in some regards...even if it is only to marvel at my thoughts as one would marvel at a circus freak.

Her question was stated more as a thought: "so about the earthquake. in haiti. my heart aches . . . . i'm curious what your thoughts are about it. about the suffering."

She left it at that.

My response to her was as follows: "

"Christianity does not promise a lack of suffering. However, it does explain why it exists and it offers a solution by bringing hope to a world that has none.

"God never says that His children will suffer less because they have faith in Him. He says that they will suffer just as His own Son suffered, but that suffering will produce the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control).

"God uses suffering to show us that this world is a shadow that is passing. He's not so much concerned with our bodies that suffer from lack of food or water so much as He is concerned about our souls that suffer from being separated from His love."

Her reply? A simple "I....don't....know...what to say."

So I gave her some words to pray to Jesus; words one would say to an intimate friend in asking them for truth and wisdom. I said that if she presents herself to God in humility then He will incline His ear to her and delight in her prayer. What other religion offers a God who would do that for messed up people like us?

She left me with profuse thanks, calling me a dear friend and stating that my words mean more to her than I will ever know. What a remarkable conversation with a friend! Jesus is so good! If you are reading this, please pray for her. I won't give her name but I am faithful that God holds it in the palm of His hand.