Praise: Part Three...the Lord's Table

From our perspective, “The God Who Sees” is invisible. But He understands our need to have something we can see and touch, so before Jesus gave His life for us, He gave us two very visible symbols that we can see, taste, touch, smell...depending on how crunchy the bread is, you can even hear it. We use those symbols at the Lord's Table to remember this event and to remember His sacrifice.

And He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, "This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me." (Luke 22:19)

Notice this little phrase: in English, it's simply “gave thanks.” Jesus gave thanks. I looked up this phrase and I learned something fascinating. It's one word in the original Greek: eucharisteō (in Greek: Εὐχαριστέω)

It means “to give thanks.”

But when you look at this word, it contains its root word: charis, which means grace. When we give thanks, we are noticing...remembering...grace. Grace is a free and undeserved gift of God, and when we hold the juice or the bread, we have a visible touchable reminder of the sacrifice He made to give us the free gift of eternal life and a relationship with Him.

Now, if we look again at this word, charis--grace--there is a verb that came from this word, and it is chairo which means rejoicing, especially rejoicing for the redemption that God gave us through Jesus Christ.

I know that the Lord's Supper is usually a solemn time. And yes, it is a quiet moment of reflection, and it's something we take very seriously. But, when you are giving Him thanks for His gift of grace...how can you not be joyful? How can you keep from bubbling over with His exceeding joy? We are celebrating!

I love the way God chose to give us edible symbols. As humans we naturally celebrate everything with food, don't we? At the Lord's Table we use food to celebrate Him. To remember...to see with our spiritual vision The God Who Sees Us.

We give thanks--eucharisteo--
for His grace--charis--
and we rejoice--chairo.

Give thanks for grace, and rejoice today!

This is my post for Thought Provoking Thursday, which is hosted here.
I learned about these words in One Thousand Gifts, and researched them in my Bible dictionary and at blueletterbible.org.
One Thousand Gifts is a thought-provoking book that I will review on my blog one of these days.

Praise: Part Two

This is the second in a series of posts praising God, specifically focusing on three Names of God. Today we praise the God Who Sees.

An Old Testament woman named Hagar was the first to call God “The God Who Sees.” Hagar was a slave to Abraham's wife Sarah. Sarah ruled over her staff. She knew that God had promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, but they'd been married for decades and they were still childless. Sarah decided it was time for this promise to be fulfilled, so she suggested that Abraham could have a child by Hagar. This was not at all shocking in their culture, but it shows us Hagar's lowly position in the household: even her body belonged to her owner.

Sarah, struggling with the grief of infertility, didn't foresee the emotions that would consume her when her slave was carrying Abraham's child. Jealousy and anger overruled any feeling of joy, and it didn't help that Hagar developed a bit of an attitude. So Sarah irrationally sputtered at Abraham, “You are responsible for my suffering!” (Genesis 16:5), and he told her to handle the matter herself. So Sarah made Hagar's life miserable and Hagar ran away to the desert. There she met the Angel of the Lord, and He told her,

“You must go back to your mistress and submit to her mistreatment.” The Angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count.” Then the Angel of the Lord said to her: “You have conceived and will have a son. You will name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction. This man will be like a wild donkey. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him; he will live at odds with all his brothers.” So she named the Lord who spoke to her “The God Who Sees,” (Genesis 16:11-13)

This does not sound like a very comforting message, but Hagar seemed to focus on the one detail that was incredibly encouraging: God saw her. God knew every detail of her situation, and cared enough to speak to her.

Many Bible scholars believe that the Angel of the Lord mentioned in the Old Testament is actually Jesus. This is a mind-boggling thought! God Himself talked to a runaway slave girl, a girl of extremely small worth in her culture, a girl with no rights or privileges. God saw. God knew. God cared. And He sees you and cares about you. Praise Him!

The Lord looks down from heaven; He observes everyone. He gazes on all the inhabitants of the earth from His dwelling place. (Psalm 33:13-14)
The Lord looks down from heaven on the human race to see if there is one who is wise, one who seeks God. (Psalm 14:2)
Now the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him— those who depend on His faithful love. (Psalm 33:18)
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God. And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. (I John 4:14-15)

Tomorrow, we'll look at three Greek words that express thankfulness and praise.

Walk with Him Wednesdays focuses on spiritual practices, such as praising. This post is adapted from my book Praise Patterns, and is part of a message I shared at Shiloh Bible Camp.

Praise: Part One

Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare Your praise. (Psalm 51:15)

This week my topic is Praise, specifically using names of God while we praise Him. The Bible is full of different names for God, names that each express one aspect of His character or His relationship to us. I love to use the names of God when I pray. I like to say that using a specific name of God to open my prayer time is like finding just the right way to begin a love letter. It puts me in that worship mood instantly! But more important than my mood is the fact that praising God by name glorifies Him.

Last week I posted about praying that we will be more aware of God. I mentioned the fact that He is aware of us. That is the simple truth expressed by this name of God: “The God Who Sees.”

When I began writing my Praise Patterns book, focusing on names of God, I was teaching my Sacred Signposts book. One Tuesday morning towards the end of class, my friend Ellen burst in the door. She'd just come from her doctor. She'd just learned that she had cancer. We all gathered around her and prayed, and my friend Maura gave her some very detailed information about what to expect. Maura had faced breast cancer herself a couple years before, and she knew what Ellen's next few months would hold. As everyone was leaving, Maura turned in the doorway and said, “I have a doctor's appointment today. Just a routine checkup. I'm not worried.” Well, as Maura said later, “that was a doozy of a statement!”

The routine checkup showed that Maura's cancer was back, and her diagnosis was very serious. At first her doctors didn't expect her to live more than a year. (Now, 15 months later, Maura is still with us, still needing treatments occasionally, but still with us!) Our women's group was very shaken up by this news. Maura is not only active in our Bible study, she's very involved in a youth ministry at another church. Maura has three young kids.

When Maura got this scary diagnosis, I kept telling God how valuable Maura was to everyone, how talented she is, how she is serving Him so whole-heartedly. I was so upset at the thought of losing Maura that I lost sight of God's sight. And then in my writing project, I reached my chapter about “The God Who Sees.” I found such comfort in this Name! I wrote this prayer:

O Lord Who Sees, it is so hard to praise You tonight! You know the news my friend got from her doctor today. You know her condition. You know her future. You know her needs right now. You see. You know. I will take comfort in knowing that You know.

When I use the expression, “Oh I see,” I mean “I understand now” or “I am aware.” God is always aware of us, and He understands us intimately. God sees each of us, in our unique situation, no matter how distant we may feel from Him.

Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, having this inscription: The Lord knows those who are His...(2 Timothy 2:19a)
Lord, You have searched me and known me. (Psalm 139:1)

This Praise series is based on my Praise Patterns book, and I shared these messages at Shiloh Bible Camp.

A Sneak Peak

Next Book:

Only for My King
a song of service and surrender

and a possible soundtrack:
http://t.co/PM5iBN1
(that's a direct link to Itunes. Where did the playlist widgets go?)

If you know any wake-you-up rather than lull-you-to-sleep versions of any of those songs. do leave me a comment!

I will definitely be changing the "I Will Sing of My Redeemer" to a different version. There are some kids singing on the end and they're cute, but they kind of interrupt the playlist.

Prayer, Part Six: Praying with Faith

Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think—according to the power that works in you—to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Paul gave God the glory. When Paul prayed, he made lots of requests for himself and his friends, but he also burst into praise and declarations of faith.

My definition of faith is a simple acrostic I learned at Bible camp when I was a teenager: Focus Aimed into the Heavens. That is what I mean by praying with faith: lifting your eyes from our own circumstances and concerns to focus on our great God, declare our faith in Him and praise Him.

Christ is in control, He is trustworthy, and without Him I am powerless. He is worthy of our faith and trust because He is faithful.

God is faithful; by Him you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.(I Corinthians 1:9)

...the Lord is faithful; He will strengthen and guard you from the evil one.
(2 Thessalonians 3:3)

Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)

Keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith...(Hebrews 12:2)

Lord God of Hosts, who is strong like You, Lord? Your faithfulness surrounds You. (Psalm 89:8)

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; Your rule is for all generations.
The Lord is faithful in all His words and gracious in all His actions. (Psalm 145:13)

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
faithful love and truth go before You. (Psalm 89:14)

God, within Your temple, we contemplate Your faithful love...(Psalm 48:10)

My lips will glorify You because Your faithful love is better than life.(Psalm 64:3)

The Lord will send His faithful love by day; His song will be with me in the night—a prayer to the God of my life. (Psalm 42:8)

For You, Lord, are kind and ready to forgive, abundant in faithful love to all who call on You. (Psalm 86:5)

For the Lord is good, and His love is eternal;
His faithfulness endures through all generations. (Psalm 100:4-5)

As I meditated on Paul's prayer, I realized that “glory” is one of those words I hear at church and use when I pray, without thinking about what it means. Its English definition includes the words “fame, praise, honor, splendor, worthy of praise.”

When we pray, we give God glory—that is, praise and honor. We also recognize that He is glorious—worthy of our praise. And when we ask Him to answer our prayer “for His glory” we are saying that we are seeking not our own will, not our own fame, but His. We ask Him to answer our prayers in a way that will not bring honor to us, but to Him. We are saying “Christ over us”—expressing our desires and our wishes but also asking God to overrule them if that will bring a greater glory to Him. Praying for His glory expresses both our faith and our humility.

Prayer, Part Five: Asking the Lord for a Message

This is part of a talk I gave at Mt. Charleston this weekend.

This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the message about God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the message of God, which also works effectively in you believers. (I Thessalonians 2:13)

Paul was thankful that his converts heard the message of God. When we pray for a message from God, who are we praying to? In John 1, Jesus is described as God's Word. Jesus is God's message to us, wearing a human body and walking among men for 33 years. When we ask for a message...we are talking to The Message.

We all receive lots of messages every day: text messages, e-mails, books we're reading, television to conversations--we are flooded with advice. Some of these messages are helpful, some are extremely unhelpful, and some are directly from God. Let me tell you about God's message to me one Christmas Eve several years ago.

My husband went to church early to practice with the band, so I got the children ready in their Christmas finery. Now, my oldest, Lydia was seven and she was very capable of sitting through a church service, but the two younger girls were four and not quite three, and they were very wiggly. We all sat down in the sanctuary, and my little Tina found that her satin dress allowed her to easily and repeatedly slide out of my lap. Soon we went up on stage to hear a special children's message. Under the bright lights, my four year old Annika decided her tights were itchy; lots of wiggling and scratching followed and her hemline didn't exactly stay at a modest level.

After the children's story we attempted to sit in the sanctuary for approximately two minutes, before we gave up and fled to the Family Worship Room. There were lots of noisy kids in that room (because that's the purpose of the room!) so we couldn't hear the sermon. I began to get a little discouraged, wondering why I had come to church at all. At least we got a photo of the girls in their Christmas dresses, I thought, but that seemed a silly reason to be at church. When the service was over, as we slowly made our way through the crowds in the sanctuary to meet my husband at the piano, many people greeted us with “Merry Christmas” or “your kids are cute,” but one man said something different. He was a stranger to me, and I saw him smiling, watching me trying to herd my children through the exiting congregation. He looked at me and said “God bless you.” Those three words were the only Christmas message I heard or needed that night. Those words adjusted my attitude and I began to count blessings rather than annoyances.

I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding, and have the knowledge of God's mystery—Christ. (Colossians 2:2)

Paul wanted his converts to grow in loving relationships with each other, finding the knowledge of Christ together. That was my prayer for the women who attended retreat—that they would encourage each other and learn more about the Lord and to talk to Him.

As you read these Psalms, notice the phrase "Your word."

How sweet Your word is to my taste--[sweeter] than honey to my mouth...
Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path...
I am severely afflicted: Lord, give me life through Your word...
You are my shelter and my shield; I put my hope in Your word...
The revelation of Your words brings light and gives understanding to the inexperienced. (Psalm 119:103, 105, 107, 114, 130)

If we want to receive a message from God, if we want to recognize His voice in the midst of all the other messages we receive every day, we must be familiar with His word. Messages from God will never contradict the Scriptures—and that requires that we spend time reading the Scriptures.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:15)

God means what He says. What He says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon's scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. (Hebrews 4:12, The Message)

Prayer, Part Four: Awareness

Our third prayer word is Awareness. Look at these verses:

May the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with all of you. (2 Thessalonians 3:16)

In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You, and will eagerly watch. (Psalm 5:3)

Awareness is that eager watchfulness for the Lord—-being aware that the Lord of peace is with us. I seek the Lord very diligently when I'm having a bad day, but I've been praying that I will look for the Lord and be aware of Him even in the good times. A few weeks ago I looked up at the sky and noticed there were no clouds. I've lived in the desert for 8 years and I'm still amazed at how many cloudless days we have--even in the spring. I took a moment to thank God for cloudless skies. And I remembered that the night before had been very windy, so windy that it woke me up at one a.m. While I was awake I began to worry about the garbage in the garbage can out at the curb. Was it blowing all over the street? What was the last thing I put in the garbage can—was it heavy enough to hold the garbage down? I knew I wasn't going to sleep til I checked it out, so I pulled on some clothes and went outside. The garbage was not blowing all over the street, so I came back in and went back to bed. As I remembered that the next day, I thought of other nights when I'd been awake at 1 a.m., worried or sad or stressed. And so that morning, I thanked God for a peaceful night when my only concern was a garbage can. And I asked Him to help me be aware of Him in these peaceful times..those everyday moments under a cloudless sky or on a windy night with a garbage can.

One of the things that jogs my memory to make me aware of God is His creation—the mountains around my town, the cat purring on my bed, my small herb garden.

From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made...(Romans 1:20)

When I observe Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You set in place, what is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him? (Psalm 8:3-4)

Last summer I asked the Lord for a greater awareness of Him. My husband has more time at home in the summer, and I love that because he cooks, and I enjoy not having much of a routine. But without much of a routine, it can be hard to get my usual Bible reading and prayer time every day. When it's 115 outside, I need that refreshment of God's Word! In the summer we don't have women's Bible study and I miss the fellowship! Last year I prayed about how to stay in the Word, and I ended up putting Bible study books and extra copies of the Bible all over my house, so I could grab one when I had five minutes. I learned that five minutes here and there added up to an hour or so, and I felt that I was more aware of what God was teaching me because it was spread through my day and it was in my thoughts continually.

If you are in a frazzled stage of life, you may be discouraged at how to include one more thing—even if it's being aware of God—in your daily routine. Here is encouragement from David:

May my prayer be set before You as incense, the raising of my hands as the evening offering. (Psalm 141:2)

Some days we have no energy and no words, and all we can do is raise our hands to the Lord. Our prayers are fragrant to Him, even when they are so very simple. He knows us intimately and accepts whatever worship we are capable of giving Him.

I complain and groan, morning noon and night, and He hears my voice. (Psalm 55:17)

Isn't that beautiful? Even if your prayers are complaints and groans, He hears you.

The Lord will send His faithful love by day: His song will be with me in the night—a prayer to the God of my life. (Psalm 42:8)

Praying for awareness is praying that you will hear that song in the night and will respond with a prayer to the God of your life. It's a prayer that you will open your eyes to see His goodness and faithful love pursuing you, as Psalm 23:6 says:

Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life...(Psalm 23:6)

Prayer, Part Three: Strength

Our second prayer word is Strength. You may already pray for this every day!

God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. (Psalm 46:1)
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my mountain where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18:2)

Who are we asking for strength?
Our rock, our fortress, our deliverer, our refuge, our stronghold.

Why do we ask God for strength? Because He is strong!

Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength. (Ephesians 6:10)
May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy. (Colossians 1:11)

God's strength is vast. His might is glorious!

Here's one of Paul's prayers for strength for his friends:

May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father,
who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement
and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts
and strengthen you in every good work and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)

Did you notice why God strengthens us? It's not just so we can feel all warm and cozy and encouraged, but so that our words and our actions will be good and godly and glorifying to Him.

When I ask the Lord for strength, He often answers with a scripture verse that speaks to my current need. Other times He speaks through other Christians.

I prayed for strength constantly when my father's health was failing several years ago. It was so difficult to figure out how to help him when I lived a thousand miles away. Moving my dad away from his friends in the northwest wasn't an option, and my budget didn't allow me to fly up there too often. I had to have difficult conversations on the phone with my dad, and I continually felt I was in a situation that I couldn't possibly handle. God sent little bits of encouragement and strength, one day at a time. Some days I read just the right verse in my Bible. Other days I found comfort from a devotional book. Many nights my husband brought me baklava and a movie and I just sat next to him on the couch and felt encouraged. But the most encouraging strengthening thing was the realization that Jesus was my friend. This is one of those simple truths that I probably heard when I was five, but it was so meaningful to me during that year of Dad's illness.

This year I am especially praying for strength for my oldest daughter. Not because she isn't strong—if you have an oldest child, you know what I mean!—but that God will channel her strength into obedience and godly character.

Everyone on your prayer list needs strength—strength to get through the day, strength to say no to temptation, strength to know when she is too weak to take on one more thing....Look back at the verses above. Which will you use in your prayers today?

Prayer, Part Two: Light

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,
would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened
so that you may know what is the hope of His calling,
what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints,
and what is the immeasurable greatness of
His power. (Ephesians 1:17-18)

You could probably meditate on these verses for a week—one phrase at a time--but I chose the word “light” to summarize what Paul is praying for his friends here.

When we pray for light, who are we addressing? Who is the light of the world?
In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world."

The Light of the World brings light to our hearts. This enlightenment begins when we believe in Jesus Christ as Savior. For the rest of our lives, He illuminates us with “the knowledge of His will.”

What does it mean to pray for light? Look back at the verse. Notice the words wisdom, revelation, and knowledge. We all need wisdom every single day. The Greek word Paul used for revelation means “uncovering” or “revealing God”; knowledge is “discernment” or “recognition.”

Think for a moment about carrying a flashlight on a dark night: it allows you to see or discern your path. It helps you recognize the faces of your friends. It uncovers truth and increases your knowledge about your surroundings. Praying for light is praying for discernment, truth, and knowledge—knowledge about your situation and a more intimate knowledge of the Lord.

Light also changes things. Sunlight nourishes plant life and literally brightens our life. Inside our homes, lamps cheer up dim corners, and candles add a romantic glow to dinner tables. In the same way, when the Light of the world cheers us up and changes us.

My bedroom window looks out toward the rugged mountains that surround Las Vegas. The red and orange layers in the mountains seem to shift as the sun moves across the sky. Between me and the mountains stands Red Rock casino, a sleek copper building that reflects the mountains and the clouds and, best of all, the sunrise. If I wake early enough in the morning, I watch the sunrise change the skyline. The mountains, the neighborhoods, the casino, the palm trees...all are touched by the light. I love to think of my Savior as the sunrise, His rays of love bringing hope and change to our world.

Here are some of David's prayers for Light:

Lord, You light my lamp;
My God illuminates my darkness. (Psalm 18:28)
Make Your ways known to me, Lord; teach me Your paths.
Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation;
I wait for You all day long. (Psalm 25:4-5)
Happy are the people who know the joyful shout; Lord, they walk in the light of Your presence. (Psalm 89:15)

If you've trusted the Light of the World, He is shining in your heart today. If you need discernment, joy or change, ask Him.

Prayer, Part One

Last weekend I spoke at Shiloh Bible Camp. I shared my "Spiritual Scrapbook" message on Friday night (see previous blogposts) and on Saturday morning I shared a message on prayer. Here is a slightly adapted version of the first of four segments of that message.





The gazebo in this picture is in a little park in our neighborhood. When I take the kids there, they carry little plastic dolls to play with in the sandbox. Last time we went to the park I noticed that the two older girls spent a long time building sandcastles. They told me these were houses for their dolls. I asked my youngest daughter Tina why she wasn't building a sandcastle and she said, “My doll lives in the gazebo.” Tina is very practical and she was tired that day, and she realized that she could use an existing structure and jump right into her fairytale game with her doll without any preparation work.

I watched my kids play that day, and I thought about prayer. I thought about how much easier it is to jump right into prayer when I have a little structure in mind. God hears the quick spur-of-the-moment prayers I pray, but when I have time, He is worthy of thoughtful meditative prayer.

This week I'm sharing a prayer structure with you: it's just three words you can use in your prayer times...three words you can count on your fingers and pray as you're drifting off to sleep..three words you can pray while you wait for your teakettle to boil in the morning.

We're going to read some prayers from the Bible, from the book of Psalms and the Epistles of Paul.

Here's a verse from Psalms:

In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice;
In the morning I will order my prayer to You, and will eagerly watch.
(Psalm 5:3)

When I read David's declaration that he would “order” his prayer, I see the beauty of an appointed time to pray, and a plan for that appointment.

Here's another verse—this one's from Paul:

Devote yourselves to prayer, stay alert in it with thanksgiving.
(Colossians 4:2)

If you've read Paul's writings, you've noticed that he was definitely devoted to prayer, devoted to his friends, and devoted to the Lord. I like his phrase “stay alert” – it tells me that prayer takes a little effort, it's something I should make time for, not just do when I feel like it or when I suddenly need God's assistance. This verse also holds a reminder to give thanks – it's so easy to remember to ask the Lord for things, but He deserves my praise also.

I call on You, God, because You will answer me;
listen closely to me;
hear what I say. (Psalm 17:6)
Be gracious to me, Lord,
for I call to You all day long.
Bring joy to Your servant's life,
since I set my hope on You, Lord.
For You, Lord, are kind and ready to forgive,
abundant in faithful love to all who call on You. (Psalm 86:3-5)
... I call to You for help, Lord;
in the morning my prayer meets You. (Psalm 88:13)

Tomorrow I'll share the first prayer word with you.