Children's Cup: 21 Days of Prayer 9:24 AM

Children's Cup has started a 21 Days of Prayer...and we're one day late. They will post short prayers and prayer topics each day for you to follow along. I invite you to join this prayer effort, but as you do, I ask you to remember to pray for our missionaries in Chad, Africa as they reach out to families and children who face similar hardships and need to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Praying for the children of Africa who are living in some of the hardest conditions anywhere.

Changing the world
one child at a time.

Join us for 21 days of prayer August 15 through September 4, 2010. We’ll post daily prayer guide information for you to track along with. You can also post your own prayers on our facebook page at www.facebook.com/ChildrensCup.

Let us know your are praying with us by attending our 21 Days of Prayer Facebook Event.

30 Days of Prayer For The Muslim World 9:59 AM

The next 30 days is Ramadan (the holy month of fasting in Islam). You can join Christians all over the world in praying for Muslims. 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World provides booklets and online material to guide you through the next 30 days. The following text is from the first page in the booklet. We have also provided links to resources and the prayer calendar below.

Welcome to the 19th annual 30 Days Muslim Prayer Focus.

It coincides yearly with Ramadan (the holy month of fasting in Islam). This prayer movement (currently coordinated out of France and previously from Australia) calls upon Christians to make a concerted but considerate effort during this time to learn about, pray for and reach out to Muslim neighbors - across the street and around the world.

It is not our intention with this prayer focus to disparage Islam or Muslim sentiments in any way. We recognize that humans and the Muslim world are far too complex to easily condense or explain with a mere booklet. Yet, as Christians, we long for all the world's people to have an opportunity to understand the grace of God incarnated in Jesus Christ. To this end we inform ourselves, pray for, and support respectful opportunities to make that grace also known among Muslims.

Each year a new illustrated prayer guide is published in dozens of languages and locations around the world.

Thank you for participating.

Follow the 30 Days of Prayer Online
Click here to view the Prayer Calendar and Guides

Downloads related to the Prayer Focus

• Is God Really Interested? (PDF)
• Basic Islam - Part One (PDF)
• Basic Islam - Part Two (PDF)

NY Times Article about Pastors 8:47 AM

A pastor forwarded this article from NY Times to our Lutheran Brethren Seminary President, Dr. David Veum. We hope that this article will continue to open our eyes to the stress and expectations that our pastors are under at times, and help us find new ways to support them in their ministry. The latest issue of Faith & Fellowship Magazine focused on taking care of our pastors. In fact, Dr. David Veum wrote an article for it. The NY Times article focuses on the reality of burnout and health issues in today's pastors. One quote from the article reads, "They think that taking care of themselves is selfish, and that serving God means never saying no." Please pray for our pastors and their congregations. They may never reveal their stress level or depression, so as another article in our latest issue of Faith & Fellowship reads, "Pastors need to be reassured that we understand at least some of the stress they are under and that it's safe for them to ask for help" (Pastors Need Self-Care Too by Nate Larsen).

NY Times article "Taking a Break From the Lord’s Work":

The findings have surfaced with ominous regularity over the last few years, and with little notice: Members of the clergy now suffer from obesity, hypertension and depression at rates higher than most Americans. In the last decade, their use of antidepressants has risen, while their life expectancy has fallen. Many would change jobs if they could.

Public health experts who have led the studies caution that there is no simple explanation of why so many members of a profession once associated with rosy-cheeked longevity have become so unhealthy and unhappy.
Read the full article from NY TIMES >

Returning Soldiers Story #1 11:17 AM

The latest issue of Faith & Fellowship covered the topic of returning soldiers, asking the question, "How can the Church help?" We invite you to share any stories of your experience in ministering to returning soldiers in your congregation and community. Here is our first entry in that series of blog posts from Brad and Nancy Meyers at Community Church of Joy in Sammamish, WA.
(click > here to email your story)

One of the great comforts provided by our Pastor and our church, Community Church of Joy (Sammamish, WA), was the continuing prayer for our son through 3 deployments of which two involved being in a combat zone. Although our son never attended the church except for visits home, Pastor Jim Jensen prayed for him as fervently as if he was his own son. It was a little uncanny that on many occasions Pastor Jim would mention Matthew and pray for him from the pulpit or he would call us personally to ask about Matthew and to tell us that he was praying for Matthew and we would later find out that Matthew had been in difficult and dangerous circumstances during that same time-frame. It happened so frequently that I do not believe it was coincidence that Pastor Jim was praying for him and thinking of him during those times. Prayer is a powerful gift for not only the soldier but for his family waiting at home. For the prayers that Pastor Jim offered for the sons of our congregation, including our own, we will always be grateful and touched.

Brad and Nancy Meyers

The Motive For Prayer 10:55 PM

(1) And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.  (2)  He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.  (3)  And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.'  (4)  For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man,  (5)  yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'"  (6)  And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says.  (7)  And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?  (8)  I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:1-8 ESV)

Luke 18:1-8 is probably one of the most frequent passages that I hear quoted in connection to the topic of prayer.  Parishioners and pastors will often quote this passage and expound on it in the following way, “We need to never give up on prayer...  we need to be persistent… we need to be bold… we shall never cease in prayer… etc…”  Now, I will be the first to admit that I agree with these previous statements, but not for the same reason or motive.    

From my interaction with various individuals over this verse I have found that the reason or motive of persistence in prayer is often connected to and derived from the example of the persistent Widow.  “We need to be persistent like the Widow!  We need to follow her example!”  While her persistence is something to be commended, I would like to pose the question, “Why was she so persistent to begin with?” 

As we examine the text more carefully, the widow was persistent, bold and shameless because: the Judge did not fear God (i.e. he had no moral compass); the Judge did not care about man (i.e. he had no compassion for the Widow); the Judge was slow to give justice (i.e. he refused to listen for a time).  This persistence and boldness of the Widow makes perfect sense within the context of a ruthless, worthless and uncompassionate Judge.

Now we move to the crux of this article.  Are we to be persistent like the Widow because God is a ruthless, worthless and uncompassionate God like the Judge?  Obviously, we can all take a step back and say, “of course not!”  So, this raises the question of, “what on earth is this text about?”

In looking at this text one must be careful not to compare mankind to the Widow and God to the Judge, for God and the Judge are complete opposites and our relationship with God is totally different from the Widow’s relationship with the Judge.  If we compare God to the Judge in the text we limit and idolatrize God’s Character.  R.C.H Lenski on page 892 of his commentary on the Book of Luke states, “This parable is not a parable on perseverance in prayer.”  Rather the main thrust of the parable is to compare and contrast the ‘Unjust Judge’ with a ‘Just God’ who brings about Justice.  The New Bible Commentary comments on this on page 1009 saying, “If even an unjust judge who does not honor the laws of God and man can be induced to act by the incessant appeals of a widow, how much more will God act to uphold his people when they cry to Him….   The parable is essentially an encouragement to continue in prayer without losing heart right through the difficult times or waiting before the Son of Man comes.” 

This text shows us that we can continue in prayer because:  our God is not unjust but He is Just; our God is not uncompassionate but He is compassion; our God is not One who is deaf but One who listens.  Our God is good not evil!  As believers we continue in prayer not to overcome or persuade an evil God, rather we pray because God is good and just.  We pray not to overcome an uncompassionate, ruthless and worthless God; we pray because we already have a compassionate, caring and worth-ful God.  Just think about it!  If a ruthless and lousy Judge will respond to an insignificant Widow with no influence, how much more will a listening, just and gracious God respond without persistence to His own Children… even if the response is no or if God seems to put His answer on hold.    

In conclusion, one final note of context for us in prayer.  As we pray to our Gracious God, “…the general rule, whenever believers pray for temporal blessings, they pray conditionally (Matthew 26:39); but for temporary blessings, they pray unconditionally, since God has promised to grant them His grace, forgiveness of sins, life and salvation under all circumstances (2 Corinthians 12:9)”[1]

Let us persist in prayer for God is Good!

---

[1] J.T. Mueller, Christian Dogmatics (Concordia Publishing, 1934), 433.

National Day of Prayer - MAY 6th 9:20 AM

I hope you will take time to join millions of Americans to pray for our nation on Thursday, May 6th. If your church or a neighboring church is not opening its doors, you may want to invite a few friends to join you and your family.

The theme of this year's National Day of Prayer is:
Prayer - For such a time as this.

"The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him" Nahum 1:7

Pray humbly and with a repentant heart for our sins and the sins of our nation. Have we shared God's heart for the poor? (Matthew 25:37) the fatherless? the stranger in our midst? (Matthew 25:38) Have we done justice, loved kindness and walked humbly with our God? (Micah 6:8) Are we guilty of trusting in the "multitude of our chariots... but have not looked to the Holy One of Israel?" (Isaiah 31:1)

God have mercy on us and forgive us for Christ's sake.

Shel Sorensen
(CLB Prayer Team Coordinator)

PS Do not let controversy about the event keep you from praying; it will not keep God from hearing and answering!

PPS Would you please report back and tell us about your experience? We would like to share it with others.