prayer

A Prayer for Prayer During Silence and Darkness

Lisa SpencerLeave a comment

Have you ever gone through a period in your Christian life where it seems like prayer just doesn’t work? It is usually through times of trial and drought, where you yearn for God to intervene and answer something. You cite passages on prayer with the hope that this will revive your weary heart.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7-8)

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16)

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

Ah but casting cares for silence gets discouraging after awhile.  I confess this has been my challenge lately.  Coming before the Lord to pray and that ever growing bowl of unanswered prayers hits me square between the eyes. Added trouble to the list brings further despair and the question “what’s the point?”.  And this encompasses all kinds of prayers – for needs, for salvation of loved ones, for situations that need correcting, for others and their needs and for personal desires.   If you you’ve never been there, then God bless you. But for those of us who have you know how difficult prayer can get in the midst of extended periods of silence. It generates all kinds of questions and evaluation of what we might be doing wrong. Continue reading →

Is It OK to Use a Verse Out of Context?

Lisa Spencer5 Comments

It is a very common practice to use a bible verse to express whatever thoughts we have about God. One of the tragedies of the single verse principle is that the context of the passage is often ignored. Well this is important. If you were writing a story about something that happened or a letter, you would cringe if someone sliced an isolated sentence out of the body and made it mean something you never intended. Yet, there is a rampant tendency to do this today and the accompanying danger of establishing shaky foundations of faith. It’s why I’ve been impassioned to engage in ministry that exposes Christians to how the Bible was put together and how it tells God’s complete story from Genesis to Revelation, his personhood, character, work and promises.

A good example of a verse commonly taken out of it’s context would be Jeremiah 29:11 – “for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future”. Now if we step back and see the immediate context, we see that Jeremiah is addressing Israel held in Babylonian captivity because of repeated transgressions against the Yahweh. But he is reminding them of his covanental promises. There is something beyond captivity for them and this leads to the overall redemptive work that is accomplished in Christ. Well, I confess that I have often cringed at the repeated use of this verse applied to a present day setting.

But the reality is we have a tendency to focus on contemporary settings and especially settings that have to do with wherever we find ourselves in life. We apply that verse to ourselves because it gives us hope, just as it gave Israel hope. And let’s face it, we need hope. We need to remember that whatever trial, drought or storm we may be facing is not all there is. Continue reading →