National Day of Prayer..for what?

The National Day of Prayer was just last week and according to their website their vision and values are to:

Protect America’s Constitutional Freedoms to gather, worship, pray and speak freely.

Publicize and preserve America’s Christian heritage

Encourage and emphasize prayer, regardless of current issues and positions

Respect all people, regardless of denomination or creed

Be wise stewards of God’s resources and provision

Glorify the Lord in word and deed


I found this to be both intriguing and deeply disturbing. This 'US' centric rhetoric communicates a deeply entrenched self-protective mentality that is embedded in the DNA of the church in America.

I love prayer, I believe in prayer, and I believe strongly that we need to pray more frequently, more passionately, but more globally.

John Piper says; "We've taken this wartime walkie-talkie and turned it into a domestic intercom to call up the butler to bring us another pillow." This quote really does state a 'keep me safe within the walls of America' ethos, and unfortunately it reflects the mission and vision statement of the National Day of Prayer.

I love the model that Jesus gave us in His prayer, and it really isn't about the US, but about the nations...look at this.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed (glorified, known, adored) be Your name.

The immediate focus of His prayer is on His Father being known and glorified by all peoples..read on.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven..

• Neh. 9: 5b-6 says: "Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. "Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

Is there any doubt that when Jesus says, 'Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven' that He is calling for worship by all peoples of the earth?
Right now the multitudes of heaven are worshiping our God, and Jesus starts out His model prayer crying out for that to happen on earth, just like it is in heaven.

The rest of the prayer goes into the areas of our life that keep that from happening, greed, lust, fear, etc.

So, for this year's National Day of Prayer...let's move beyond our borders and dare to cry out to our God that whatever it takes, make His name known and worshiped above all by all nations.
We have the amazing blessing and honor of joining our hearts with His to engage in the global battle for the fame of His name, let's take it on!

Losing our Muchness and Settling

Pop culture is full of cross-cultural and missional truths that are discovered in some rather fun and yet odd places.
Today we will discuss two places of discovery, the movie Alice in Wonderland, and the TV show 30 Rock.

It was interesting how in the span of a week, these two not-so-obvious resources of missional truth spoke to the same issue that I see plaguing the church, a miss-guided view of God's passion that has lead to a deep sense of apathy and settling.

In 30 Rock, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) was convinced that she had found her her future husband. But, the more they got together, the more they realized that they were polar opposites and not a good fit, not even close.
Upon this realization and as they kept 'accidentally' running into each other, he told Liz: "Fate is telling us this is the best we're ever going to get. We're each other's settling soul-mates." The plague of settling, giving up, becoming numb and losing your soul.

In Alice in Wonderland The Mad Hatter told Alice: You used to be much more…”muchier.” You’ve lost your muchness. (watch video)

Alice, according to the Mad Hatter, was back in Wonderland to slay the Jabberwocky, but decided it was too much for her and she couldn't or wouldn't do it, even tho it was her calling.
She had lost her vision, her passion, her heart....her 'muchness', her will to be in the battle.

So, what does this have to do with being missional, and have we lost our 'muchness' when it comes to seeing God glorified among all peoples, and have we 'settled' into the abyss of the mundane?

John Piper says this: “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever…” -John Piper

Our missional passion to see God glorified, which will drive our choices, flows out of one thing, our worship and view of God. All He does and has done is with a single purpose and passion, His glory among all people. As Alice had lost her 'muchness' to fight evil and do battle with the Jabberwocky, I wondered if I had lost my 'muchness' to be engaged in the fight with Satan over the fame of His name among all nations.

As I look in the mirror of Ps. 96 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness;tremble before him, all the earth.

I need to ask, how is my worship, my view of God, and how does that drive my passion to see Him known and worshiped by all peoples?

Let's not settle and lose our muchness, but let's pursue God's passion to be known and worshiped by all peoples.



To further help in how to align your passions with the passions of God, click on the cover for a free eBook

That the nations would know....

I honestly I, and I think I am not alone, am growing tired of all the political rhetoric about health-care, or as some call it Obama-care. Republicans are doing all they can to stop it and quoting countless emails and letters from Americans who say they don't want it. Democrats cite their own conversations from Americans who are hurting and without health-care. The tensions hit an all time high this week in an interview between Foxnews and President Obama, it was ugly....I just want it to stop, really.

The point of this communication is not the decide or even take sides in the health-care debate, our God knows and has known what will happen, but to call all of us to the very heart of God in worship creating a passion for reaching the nations for His glory.

The time, energy, passion, sleep, etc., that is used and or lost on this debate and others that sidetrack the church from being the church is exactly what the enemy wants to happen. I mean, if we can get all into the health-care debate, or other side issues that we really can't or won't be resolved in our or any lifetime, then the enemy keeps us off target, off of God's heart to be glorified by all peoples, THAT is what we are to pour ourselves into and to be about.

Psalm 67: 1-3 says: May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.

America is a blessed nation, way beyond what we deserve, but that blessing comes with a defining call, 'So that God's ways may be known on earth, His salvation among all nations', and no other reason.

So, as the health-care debate rages on, let's not get sidetraced by it, but let's pray that God would search our hearts, cleanse our souls, and clarify our vision of worship, worship by all peoples. Watch this amazing video, and then pray Ps. 67.



For a free eBook about how our world view and theology is all about us rather than being about God's glory among all nations, click on the cover of the book, Cat and God Theology. It is an important and timely read, especially for these days.

God's Eye View

Everything we think, do, feel and live out is based on our world view. Everything from our view of God, how we spend our money, our politics, our opinions of other cultures and people, and on and on.

So, do you think having a right world view is important? I do, but the question is, what is worldview anyway?

Wikipedia defines it as,
"the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing natural philosophy, fundamental existential and normative postulates or themes, values, emotions, and ethics." My response is 'huh?'

That explanation is a bit out there and hard to understand, but regardless, it is deeply critical for Christians to have a worldview, especially a world view that is Christ centric..but how do we get there, and what does that mean. As we all continue to discover and define our worldview it is fundamentally critical and important to develop and define it through a global/missional filter.

Warren Smith, who wrote the book A Lover's Quarrel with the Evangelical Church talks about it in this video, take a look and see what you think, but whatever you do, think about and develop a world view that is counter-cultural to what most American Christians have and includes a global theme....watch this.

"Why lie, I want a beer"

I can remember several times when I have seen poor and homeless people when my first thoughts are directed at diverting the reality of the need and my response as a believer. Thoughts like; ‘I wonder if they are faking it’, or, ‘I bet they are where they are because of bad decisions, it’s their own fault’, or, ‘I hope they don’t look at me’, and on and on and on.

While I wonder why many times my first responses are sometimes like this, I have a gut feeling that I am not alone. In fact, Dale Hanson Bourke, author of The Skeptic’s Guide to Global Poverty, recently wrote this in the Washington Post:

‘Stuck in an endless line of bumper-to-bumper beach traffic, my frustration turned to fear when a dirty, disheveled man walked unsteadily toward my car. Instinctively, I locked my door and averted my eyes, hoping he’d move past me. Instead he stopped beside my window and held up his hand printed sign. Feeling a bit ashamed, I glanced over at him and burst into laughter.

“Why lie? I want a beer” the crudely printed sign proclaimed.

The man’s sign summed up the skepticism many of us feel about anyone asking for a handout. I was tempted to reward his honesty, but unwilling to enable a habit that contributed to his poverty. I hesitated and he moved on, leaving me to examine the range of emotions I had experienced in less than a minute.’

So, what do we do with these realities, how as Christians who have been called to reflect Jesus to the lost, poor, disenfranchised, missed and lonely, do we actually live this out?

We can take the ‘first step’ by reading Dale’s book, The Skeptic’s Guide to Global Poverty, just click on the cover and get your free eBook NOW!

What to do about Islam

We continue to be faced with the question "what is the best way to reach Muslims for Christ?" Many voices have joined this missional conversation, but one of the most respected is Phil Parshall.
He served as a missionary in Bangladesh for 21 years. He founded the Bangladesh Bible Correspondence School, and served as Vice-president of the Bangladesh Bible Society. He has also served Muslims in the Philippines with SIM for almost 20 years, as Director of the Asian Research Center.
He completed his Doctor of Missiology degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1980, and also studied at Yale and Harvard and has authored nine books on Islam, including The Cross and the Crescent.
Many today look to Parshall when it comes to wisdom for navigating the challenging waters of contextualization (living incarnationally in the Muslim cultural reality).
I invite you to watch and listen carefully to this fascinating conversation between J. D. Payne, author of Discovering Church Planting, and Phil Parshall.

Republican Scott Brown's victory in the Massachusetts

With the 'big' news this week about Scott Brown's victory so many Christians were almost giddy thinking this was a great victory for the cause of Christ, or was it?
I wonder as revelations about Mr. Brown's pro-choice voting record as well as his 'not so right' political views have become more known, if Christians are as elated. Or perhaps the elation was and is more about being able to stop the potential health care legislation, who really knows.
It seems to me that many Christians use up a lot of emotional energy on this debate when I think we should redirect our passions and focus...as Christians.
Bob Sjogren, author of Cat and Dog Theology, has done something that I really like and think is spot on for addressing the political realities of our nation.
Bob has set up a website inviting people to fast and pray for our President and country.
Bob states on his site that they have focused in on asking one question, here is what Bob says:

“What does God get?” Through this, we have learned to be concerned primarily for God’s reputation far more than ours. We seek to make God famous. (Remember, from Romans 11:36 we learn that everything is from Him, and through Him and to Him.) And because the world sees America as a Christian nation (whether we are or not), a big part of God’s reputation comes through the President of the United States. As a result, we began mobilizing the body of Christ for the holiness of the president beginning in the year 2000. What the president does and how he reacts will represent Christ to the Muslims, the Buddhists, the Hindus and all other non-Christian religions.

So, here's the missional minded challenge, let's take Bob's offer and sign up to fast and pray.
Just go to Bob's website, www.fastforthepresident.com and sign up today, let's do something that really bring about change we can believe in.