dare to listen

"Walking through the primeval garden that was their home, our first parents were ever alert to the presence of the God who shared their world. Nothing was more ordinary than the extraordinary encounters they regularly had with the divine. Life was prayer. Prayer was life.

But listening to the serpent turned everything upside down. Prayer no longer seems natural, and God no longer seems present, so instead of the soul's normal language of prayer as attentiveness, we create our own prayer dialect. Because we are not really convinced that prayer is a conversation, our version of prayer involves much more talking than listening. We fear that if we were silent, all would be silent. Incessant prayer chatter protects us from that feared discovery, but it also means we seldom hear the still, small voice of God."

David G. Benner, "Attuned and Attentive," Conversations: A Forum for Authentic Transformation, vol. 2:1 (Spr 2004), p.5.

這份刊物有中文版.

In His time

I gave out two Bibles to a little friend, an English one four years ago, a Chinese one 3 years ago. Both times he received the gift eagerly and gladly but both times a lasting reading habit was not established. Something happened to him lately, which may have given him the urge to start reading the Bible again. Pray that the seed will grow, bear fruit, and be multiplied.

Rick Warren's Inauguration Prayer

Amen.

Almighty God, our Father:

Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone. It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory. History is your story.

The Scripture tells us, "Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one." And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States.

We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans--united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all. When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you--forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone--forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve--forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes—even when we differ. Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all.

May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day, all nations--and all people--will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, 'Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus—who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Barack Obama & Rick Warren

Barack Obama chose Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the inauguration on Jan 20.

I don't know politics, but I think it's wise to pray for Warren's speech, his true-godly influence, and continue to pray for Obama. I read an interview of Obama's religious faith by Cathleen Falsani done a while back in 2004. My impression is that he was honest about it, but if he's spiritually at the same place as he was then, he needs some prayers to understand what the Gospel means.

*Picture from publicradio.org

Reading Yancey's Prayer - 4

"We do not pray to tell God what he does not know, nor to remind him of things he has forgotten. He already cares for the things we pray about .... He has simply been waiting for us to care about them with him. When we pray, we stand by God and look with him toward those people and problems."

Tim Stafford, Knowing the Face of God (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1986), 130-31; quoted by Yancey, Prayer, 58.

I gasp as I read and re-read this passage. I have not yet come across with anything else that explains intercession more vividly than this.

Reading Yancey's Prayer - 3

"I have learned to see prayer not as my way of establishing God's presence, rather as my way of responding to God's presence that is a fact whether or not I can detect it.... My feelings of God's presence--or God's absence--are not the presence or the absence ... prayer means keeping company with God who is already present."

Yancey, Prayer, 51-52.

Joining His presence - this idea helps me tremendously. When I close my eyes, I try not to come to God with what Yancey called "consumer requests" but simply to spend time with Him, and to discern what God wants from me and not the other way around.

Reading Yancey's Prayer - 2

This is a continuation from my previous post on Yancey's Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?

"Most of my struggles in the Christian life circle around the same two themes: why God doesn't act the way we want God to, and why I don't act the way God wants me to" (p.17).

Perhaps inspired by what Yancey's written, I pray this following prayer in the morning recently: "Dear God, You know what's consuming my thought and what's important to me today; I don't need to hide them from you and pretend that I only care for spiritual things, please help me to do a good job and get through today. But at the same time, I do desire to satisfy your heart and so help me live today and conduct myself in a way that pleases you."

My latest (audio) read: Yancey's Prayer

Have you read a good book lately? The questions that Yancey raises are the ones that I'd like to ask. I especially appreciate the direction that he takes on tackling the subject -- life with God is a friendship and therefore he's not offering a "how-to" guide. Otherwise, how not-far could he get? My friendship with God can't be exactly the same as yours, and thus His approach with me may not be the same as His with you.

"If God knows everything, what’s the point of prayer? Does a person with many praying friends stand a better chance of physical healing than one who also has cancer but with only a few people praying for her? Does prayer change God, or change me?"

“In the process of writing, however, I have come to see prayer as a privilege, not a duty. Like all good things, prayer requires some discipline. Yet I believe that life with God should seem more like friendship than duty. Prayer includes moments of ecstasy and also dullness, mindless distraction and acute concentration, flashes of joy and bouts of irritation. In other words, prayer has features in common with all relationships that matter.“

~Philip Yancey, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), 15-17.

Prayer and resistance

I was recently asked to stop teaching piano in my apartment, after having taught piano there for almost 3 years. Shortly after I received the notification, I set my mind to finding a new home.

One friend didn't like my passive response, and questioned my compliance without putting up a fight. It's true. I don't put up a lot of resistance. I heard, though, that there are tenants who fight, don't pay their rents, while the landlord can do very little about them legally.

The different types of tenant response has got me thinking: it's like praying. Sometimes a prayer is quickly answered, like facing an easy tenant, and sometimes it's not, like fighting a nasty tenant.

I used to attribute the outcome of my prayers solely to God's timing or His will. With that framework, I didn't understand the concept of "prayer and fasting" and I found v.21 in Matthew 17:14-21 (about the healing of a boy with a demon) difficult to understand.

I now see that the outcome of our prayers depends also on the difficulty/resistance of the prayed matter/person and how much we fight with prayer. No doubt about the omnipotence of God and that He can do all things. But He's teaching us, in the process, to be vigilant watchmen, to understand the difficulty of the matter, and to exercise properly our given power of prayer.

三、祷告的意义

转载自http://www.cclw.net/book/yxddgydjff/htm/04.html

祷告是与神倾谈. 人们对心爱的人常有说不完的话，总嫌时间过得太快，巴不得日子越长越好。对心爱的人倾心吐意时，总想表示自己的爱慕。

我们可以为生活必需品祷告，神很乐意赏赐给我们。但我们不应当特别挑剔要吃什么，喝什么，穿什么，而应当有衣有食就当知足，神会按我们的需要供给的。有位奉献到非洲的女传教士，为主撇下家人而孤单地去到荒僻地方传福音，后来病重，无钱治病，连吃的东西都没有了，她唯一的办法只有跪下来祷告，求神供给她的需要。刚祷告完，邮差敲门送来一大邮包的东西，原来是从苏格兰的团体寄来许多燕麦粉，再没有别的了。她开始时感谢领受，天天煮燕麦粉吃，后来实在吃腻了，几乎不能下咽，这样整整三个星期，她除了燕麦粉充饥之外，再没有钱买其它东西吃，但她的病却自然地痊愈了。有一次她在见证会中做了这个见证，会后有位弟兄来找她，原来他是一位医生，他告诉这位姊妹说：「根据你所患的病，不该吃别的东西，惟有三星期的燕麦粉最适合你，这不但可以吃饱，而且可以治病。」这时姊妹才明白神为何感动人寄这么多的燕麦粉给她，可见神知道我们的需要比我们自己更清楚。

　　神不但乐意赏赐我们身体上的需要，还顾念到我们精神上的需要，圣经说：「你要把你的重担卸给耶和华，祂必抚养你，祂永不叫义人动摇。」(诗五十五22)只要我们肯把重担卸给神，我们就有安慰和喜乐。...

　　不但如此，神更愿意供给我们灵命的需要，神首先救我们脱离罪恶捆绑的痛苦，「惟有基督在我们还作罪人的时候为我们死，神的爱就在此向我们显明了。」(罗五8)神不但使我们尝到今生与祂同在的甜蜜，而且叫我们信祂的人都得永生(约三16)。「我的神必照祂荣耀的丰富，在基督耶稣里，使你们一切所需用的都充足。」(腓四19)

二、祷告的对象

转载自http://www.cclw.net/book/yxddgydjff/htm/03.html

我们应当认识创造宇宙万物的独一真神，万军之耶和华，他是圣父、圣子、圣灵三位一体的真神。父神曾差遣他的独生爱子耶稣基督，谦卑降世为人，成了肉身，是借着圣灵由童贞女马利亚而生，为了救赎全世界的罪人，被钉死在十字架上，并且复活、升天，现在坐在父神的右边不停地为属他的人代求，成为神与人之间唯一中保，我们正是靠他而脱离罪恶才得与神和好，得称为神的儿女，将来还要被接到神的国度与基督同作王，所以我们现在就可以向这位真神祷告。

　　...奉主耶稣基督的圣名来求...奉他的名求就是我们靠他的功劳而不是靠自己...。

一、何谓祷告

转载自http://www.cclw.net/book/yxddgydjff/htm/02.html

祷告就是人与神倾谈，读圣经是聆听神对人说话。许多人把祷告比喻作属灵的呼吸，圣经则是属灵的粮食，这两项都是灵命中必不可缺少的要素，这比喻也是非常恰当的。

　　... 祷告是信徒与天父谈话，好象儿女和生他们的父亲说话一样，既是自然、又很亲密，除非不是亲生的父子关系，否则儿女不应该不懂得和父亲说话。如果我们是从神生的，必有神儿子的生命，就可以呼叫阿爸、父，坦然无惧地来到他施恩的宝座前，为要得怜恤、蒙恩惠、作随时的帮助。有人很怕威严的父亲，但我们的天父却是满有怜悯慈爱的真神。

　　...我们在天上之父却是无处不在、无所不能，祂「能照着运行在我们心里的大力，充充足足的成就一切超过我们所求所想的。」(弗三20)

　　主耶稣教导我们的祷告，就是以「我们在天上的父」为开头，这是多么亲切的称呼！

No way I can outgive God

As I needed to write and send a prayer/support letter for my Anhui trip, I searched inward and have learned a few things. (Writing that letter is a humbling experience and in a way puts me in the shoe of "real" missionary.)

I trust that God'll provide enough prayer support, money, strength -- either He has already given me much that I can give, or He'll provide what I lack through my asking Him directly, or he'll provide through others. Whatever ways He chooses to work, it's fine.

Sometimes my thinking is in the "poker" mode: there's no way that I can ever give Him more than He gives me. No way.

Thank you, my intercessors

"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere."

「感 謝 神 ！ 常 帥 領 我 們 在 基 督 裡 誇 勝 ， 並 藉 著 我 們 在 各 處 顯 揚 那 因 認 識 基 督 而 有 的 香 氣 。」

2 Cor 林後 2:14 (ESV)

Thank you, my intercessors. Your prayers sustain me as I carry my burden to Him.

How's your power line connecting?

剛通電話一位朋友的分享, 再加上讀ablogaday的一篇舊post「 兩種祈禱哲學」, 引發了我一些禱告看法:

究竟是「多祈禱，多力量；少祈禱，少力量」, 用不住禱告來打動的我們上帝的決定; 或是根據太6:7-8：「你們祈禱的時候，不可重複無意義的話，像教外人一樣...因為在你們祈求以先，你們的父已經知道你們的需要了。」我們還沒開口前天父已經瞭解我們的需要，所以不用多說呢?

How in detail does one pray? Does the length of prayers matter? How about frequency, duration? 與我通電話的朋友的想法來自本教會牧師的教導, 也接近我個人的學習體驗: 禱告的時間長短,密度, 往往繫於個人信心、接收神回應的敏感度, 交托事情的逼切性. Like conversing with a friend -- it all depends, and there's no formula.*

I'm practising to pray until I feel like I've completely unloaded my burden to God. It doesn't mean that He'll answer exactly the way I ask, but I need to believe that I have entrusted something important to Him, and He's taken it into His hands.

* I see the merit of spiritual discipline and I don't advocate praying and reading God's Word only when one feels like it. But it's important to involve the heart.

Praying for China - coping with snow storms

BBC News - China "not ready" for snow crisis
Xinhua - "We have faith," Chinese premier tells country
Mingpao (Chinese)

Pray that God'll ease the suffering of China, especially of the poor, sick, and needy ones, of people who live in the remote regions where help doesn't easily get to. Pray that they would be able to endure, willing to help one another out, and overcome the crisis.

Praying for an end to the Calif. wildfires

"It will not end ... until it reaches the ocean or the winds turn around."

~San Diego Fire battalion chief Bruce Cartelli

The wildfires haven't affected the LA area. Unlike 3 years ago, I don't even smell the smoke and see the color of the sky change. Yet, from the news report, the wildfires in California this time are much more massive. Almost all the TV news channels are covering the story all the time.

From the CNN report:

- About 271,080 acres (about 424 square miles) burned
- More than 300,000 residents have left their homes
- 696 homes, 102 commercial buildings, 80 outbuildings destroyed
- One civilian killed, 21 civilians and 13 firefighters injured

The firefighters are fighting against nature, I feel. The weather is dry; the wind is strong. How should one pray? Praying for God's hand to end the wildfires? May His work be so obvious and un-deniable even to the non-believers.

* Picture downloaded from Foxnews.

Venice in Macau?

The indoor canal inside the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel features both Chinese-style sampans and Venetian gondolas.

The Venetian, Las Vegas

Mom and dad at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas in Dec 2006.

In the recent decade, Las Vegas has been attracting families and tourists in addition to gamblers. The hotels/casinos are arrayed with eye-catching designs, coupled with relatively inexpensive yet good food and spectacular entertainments, "Sin City" doesn't seem that blatantly sinful anymore.

I remember feeling "wow" in the Venetian Hotel at Las Vegas. The indoor canal under a fake sky ceiling, with the expensive shops on the sidewalks, is on a different floor away from the slot machine. It's really not that bad.

Now that the Venetian is opening in Macau and billed as the world's largest casino in Asia's largest building, is Macau the new "Sin City"? I can't imagine if even just 1% of China's large population flock to these casinos.

How should one pray?

Korean hostages in Afghanistan

Some update links on the release of 2 Korean hostages

- MSNBC
- CNN
- Related pictures from MSNBC

Update on 8/29/07

- BBC News - 12 out of 19 remaining hostages have been released. The Taleban said the remaining 7 hostages would be released soon.

Update on 8/30/07

- BBC News - Taleban has freed all remaining hostages.




THANK GOD!!!

Korean hostages in Afghanistan: how to pray?

This verse which uplifted me in the past came to mind when we were praying for the Korean hostages at my church's Wednesday prayer mtg.

As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:9

I pray that God will demonstrate how His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts than our thoughts through resolving the kidnapping of the Korean hostages. May His name be exalted and glorified, as the whole world is watching.