Revivals & Prayer

From p58 of "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire":

“The history of past revivals portray this truth in full color… you always find men and women who first inwardly groan, longing to see the status quo changed – in themselves and in their churches. They begin to call on God with insistence; prayer begets revival, which begets more prayer. It’s like Psalm 80, where Asaph bemoans the sad state of his time, the broken walls, the rampaging animals, the burnt vineyards. Then in v18 he pleads, “Revive us, and we will call on your name.”

One of the questions that have made its way to me on a regular basis over the last couple of months goes something like this (with my own interpretive tone to it): “Is this prayer kick the latest River City fad? Is it possible that this is another product of our ADD culture that temporarily focuses on one thing until the next big thing comes along?”

I don’t actually fault anyone who wonders this. We probably have been guilty at times of failing to see something through that had begun with much excitement. It’s probably a question anyone serious about this topic would and should ask.

The best way I know how to answer it is to take a line from this quote at the top:

“The history of past revivals portray this truth in full color… you always find men and women who first inwardly groan, longing to see the status quo changed – in themselves and in their churches.”

This picture describes what has happened to me over the past 6 months. There is an inward sensation that I continuously sense, and a ‘groan’ is probably as close as I can come to putting a word on it. It is a groan to see the status quo changed – in our global world, in our city of Chicago, in our neighborhood of Humboldt Park, in our faith community River City. But as much as I groan to see the status quo changed in all of those, I might sense it deepest in the desire for the status quo to change in myself.

I don’t want to just do ‘church.’ I don’t want to fall into the many traps that lie before people in my space that range from moral shortcomings to apathy and powerlessness. I don’t want to fall into despair, losing hope that anything can ever change. I don’t want day after day to go by with no sense that God is mightily at work in my life and in our neighborhood.

So I groan inwardly. Not because I even want to groan, but because I don’t know what else to do. So I have began to call on God in a way that I never have before. I pray for the status quo to change. I pray for revival, repentance, and reconciliation. I pray that I will learn to pray better. I pray that we will learn to pray better. I pray that we will become people of prayer.

As I have studied revivals over the last couple centuries, I see more and more that it not something we can generate as much as it is something we respond to. God begins to stir our spirits, and we feel that sense of an inward groan. The inward groan leads to prayer and an increasing hunger for the manifestation of God in our lives. And that in turns produces a hunger for even more prayer…

Confidence & Doubt

On p56 of "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire," Cymbala says the following:

“Listen to David’s confident assertion in Psalm 4.3: ‘Know that the Lord has set apart the Godly for Himself; the Lord will hear when I call to him.’ That was David’s whole posture, his instinct, and especially his approach to warfare.”

“The Lord will hear when I call to him.”

Can you imagine saying something like that? Can you imagine praying that in the stillness of your own heart? This statement from David reminds me of the disciple John, who referred to himself in first person as the one “Jesus loved.”

As we move deeper into a prayerful posture as both a community and as individuals, I can’t help but wonder how much this dynamic affects our momentum. It probably goes without saying that both doubt and confidence significantly affect your overall posture and expectation.

If you doubt that God hears your prayers, or you doubt that He cares, or you doubt that you have been set apart for Him, you will not be motivated to pray much or pray intensely.

If, on the other hand, the core of who you are is filled with confidence that God does hear your prayers, does care about your prayers, and has indeed set you apart for Himself, wouldn’t you almost be compelled to constantly pray?

So here is the question that gnaws at me: Why doesn’t that ring true in the soul of the average Christian? Why is that that we are far less like David and far more like doubting children that are not sure if their Heavenly Father really cares? What needs to happen for that truth to travel into the center of our being?

The phrase that defined David's life was that he was a "man after God's own heart." I find myself praying that this will be true of both myself and our River City community. The quote at the top says that David's whole posture and instinct leaned towards an assurance of being set apart by God and being heard by God.

May that become true of us...

What are you experiencing? (part 2)

The last post was designed to get some thoughts from you as you read and experience the book. Part 1 is asking you to comment on the parts of the book that stimulated you, caused you to think in a new way, or have even affected your journey towards the heart of God.

This post is designed to get a different kind of feedback - the parts of the book that have been difficult, uncomfortable, or even controversial. I have been having conversations with those of you who are reading it, and there are clearly parts of the book that fall into both categories.

So, take a risk and post a comment. What is a quote, theme, story, or idea that has been difficult, uncomfortable, or controversial to you?

What are you experiencing?

To this point the "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" blog has revolved around thoughts and reflections from myself and Noella Chung. We will continue to post entries on key concepts of the book as we go along, but we wanted to give you an opportunity to blog on what you are experiencing as well.

I imagine that it can be intimidating to put your intimate thoughts out for everyone to read, but we'd love for you to consider taking the chance.

To help streamline the process, we will create two different entries to stimulate conversation. The first entry will be this one, and the purpose is to solicit your thoughts on what has positively stimulated you in the first 4 chapters of the book.

Here are some questions to consider:

• What has inspired you?
• What has caused you to consider a new perspective?
• Have you sensed God speaking to you through any of the material you've read so far?
• Has there been any changes in your own life based on the themes of this book?

We would like to hear your thoughts on the first chapter! I will send out another post soon that will ask the opposite question - what has made you uncomfortable, challenged by, or maybe even disagree with? But for now, let's hear your thoughts on what you have experienced as you have read the book.

(If you are new to blogging, just click on the 'Comments' link below this entry to share your thoughts)

The Great Discovery, part 2

On page 56 of "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire," Cymbala makes the following statement in regards to the relationship of spiritual warfare and prayer:

“Satan’s main strategy with God’s people has always been to whisper, ‘Don’t call, don’t ask, don’t depend on God to do great things. You’ll get along fine if you just rely on your own cleverness and energy.’ The truth of the matter is that the devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we lift up our hearts to God.”

This quote has really stuck with me as I reflect on what we are called to as a body at River City Community Church. We are attempting to take on some of the great giants of our day – racism, economic inequality, failing schools systems, a struggling family unit, escalating violence – just to name a few. We have a church community that is eager to make progress on these fronts and that is smart and ready to go to work.

I want to see 'great things' happen in these domains as much as anyone, but Cymbala's warning is ever-present in my mind and gives a sobering reminder. He says it like this: “the devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials.”

As impressive as the many resumes are in River City, the collective credentials still do little to make the devil afraid. There is just not enough power within our human intelligence and creativity. It is when, instead of relying on our human strength and effort, we “lift up our hearts to God” that we experience power and transformation.

This is perhaps the most important lesson I sense God teaching me in 2008 - the 'Great Discovery.' The point of a quote like this is not that human effort, creativity, and intelligence are unimportant in regards to comprehensive transformation and change. God wants us to have our skin in the game and to give the best of what we have. Instead, quotes like this remind us of an extremely important principle that is consisent throughout Scripture:

God's power and grace flow through humility. God's power and grace and are blocked by pride.

Though creativity, intelligence, and ability are gifts from God, if they are used outside of a reliance on God they actually become forms of pride. We rely on the power of the gifts instead of the Giver, and end up with no power at all.

I used to think it was amazing that a person or community could be smart, gifted, and apply their abilities to areas that God cares about, yet experience very little power. I am realizing that this shouldn't be so amazing to me after all. The Apostle Paul wrote, "Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become "fools" so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight" (1 Corinthians 3.18-19a).

This gets to one of the great aspirations I have for River City Community Church. On a human level, we want to marshall all the gifts, abilities, experiences, creativity, and intelligence of our wonderful people, and leverage those for comprehensive transformation in the greater Humboldt Park neighborhood and beyond. But, as important as that is, it should be secondary.

Our greatest strength needs to come from 'foolishness.' There needs to be a vibrant connection and reliance on God's wisdom, strength and power that defines River City. Not a passing prayer as we go about our human agenda; not an opening prayer as we plan out our master strategy; not a weak acknowledgment that we need God while secretly being unsure.

Instead, how wonderful would it be if we were marked by a genuine reliance on God? How great would it be if we felt the need and dependence on God in the center of our beings? If as a community we were connected to God's passions and desires for our city and through prayer gained wisdom, insight, power and direction to accomplish those?

In Jonah 3, after hearing the message of repentance and reconciliation, the king of Nineveh cries out to the people, "Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence." He follows that with a question, "Who knows?"

I love that question, and often rephrase it in my own words. "Let everyone in River City and all of God's people in Humboldt Park and Chicago call urgently on God. Let us give up all that is evil and outside of God's best for us, and let us repent and connect to God through prayer and listen to God's heart. And who knows what God may do?"

The Great Discovery, part 1

On page 56 of "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire," Cymbala makes the following statement in regards to the relationship of spiritual warfare and prayer:

“Satan’s main strategy with God’s people has always been to whisper, ‘Don’t call, don’t ask, don’t depend on God to do great things. You’ll get along fine if you just rely on your own cleverness and energy.’ The truth of the matter is that the devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we lift up our hearts to God.”

I want to blog on two different aspects of this quote. For the first, let’s talk about the topic of Satan, whom Cymbala refers to at the beginning of the quote. I have observed over the years that when the topic of Satan comes up, people tend to move towards one end of the spectrum or the other. The modern mind tends to laugh off the idea of spiritual warfare, and often thinks of Satan more as a cartoon character than an evil force to be reckoned with. Some go the far opposite direction, and see the work of Satan in everything from losing their keys to getting stuck in traffic.

But what if this perspective is correct, and Satan is real and present in our lives? What if this really is the devil's strategy – incrementally pushing us away from our dependence on God? How would that change the way we view spiritual warfare? How would that change the way we pray? How would that affect the perspective we carry regarding the challenges we face in our lives?

Question: As we move deeper towards the heart of God in prayer, how could/should this perspective of spiritual warfare influence the way we pray?

A Song for the Desperate

In chapter 3 of the book "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" Jim Cymbala makes an observation regarding the motivation of prayer:

“Prayer cannot truly be taught by principles and seminars and symposiums. It has to be born out of a whole environment of felt need. If I say, “I ought to pray,” I will soon run out of motivation and quit; the flesh is too strong. I have to be driven to pray.” (p49)

I found this to be a very provocative quote, especially considering the journey towards deeper prayer that River City is moving into. On one hand, we as leaders clearly owe it to the body to teach, to train, to distill principles and ideas for growing in prayer as a corporate body. On the other hand, it is wise for us to recognize the truth behind this quote. At the end of the day we can offer as many seminars and symposiums as we can think of, yet that will not necessarily create a culture of prayer, dependence, and listening to God.

If the end result of this era is a larger group of people feeling guilted into praying and a notebook of new techniques, Cymbala says we will soon run out of motivation and quit. "The flesh is too strong. I have to be driven to pray." Somehow we need to see an environmental shift - we need to move from a culture of self-sufficiency to a culture of felt need (I like that Cymbala adds 'felt' to the need, because we are all in great need of the grace of God; some of us however don't feel how great our need is for grace).

So here is the question i would like to pose:

When have you found yourself 'driven' to pray? Are there catalysts you have discovered along the way that have moved you from 'ought' to pray to instead be 'driven' to pray?

Let's get this conversation started!

Thank you to those who have bought a copy of "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire," and who have been following along on the blog as we explore the contents and meaning of the book. Noella Chung has written the majority of the entries so far, and as of Tuesday morning she has gone into labor! So please keep she and her husband and Ji in your prayers, even as you read this blog now!

To this point the blogs entries have been reflections on the first two chapters of the book. We have not received any comments so far, so i am assuming that part of that is because you are not sure how to respond or which part to respond to.

SO, from this point forward we will try to end each blog with a question, and we would really value hearing from you as you go on this journey with us. Sound good?

Let's start with a quote from the book. On page 20 Cymbala says:

“Jesus called fishermen, not graduates of rabbinical schools. The main requirement was to be natural and sincere. His disciples had to depend totally upon the Lord and his power.”

I have often wondered why Jesus went this route. Jesus was well respected as a Rabbi and could have easily recruited the 'best of the best' from the Harvard and Yale rabbinical schools of his day. But instead, he chose fishermen and common people.

Cymbala's observation is seen even clearer in an excerpt from Acts chapter 4. Following the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the early church exploded with a sense of mission, purpose, life, and power. People were being healed, racial and cultural barriers were being broken, people were experiencing spiritual and emotional transformation, and thousands called upon the name of Jesus.

The leaders of the synagogue didn't know how to make sense of it, so they had Peter and John brought before them to be questioned. Here is what the teachers of the law and the elders asked them:

"By what power or what name did you do this?"

Peter and John go on to answer the question and explain where this power surge originates - it is Jesus Christ. It is the one that was crucified but resurrected. It is the one that heals all who come into contact with the river of life.

The rulers and elders were perplexed, for they had never seen power like this. Here they knew the law inside and out, were widely considered to be the intellectual elite, and had devoted their lives to upright, religious behavior. But more than anything, here is what stunned them:

"They saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men."

The most stunning part to these religions leaders was not the power that flowed through the disciples. The most stunning part was not the healings that were occurring nor the mass professions of faith. What stunned the religious elite was the fact that the disciples were unschooled, and in every perceptible way ordinary.

For me, that leads to a pair of inevitable and crucial questions:

1.) Why does God consistently choose to show his power through those who in every way appear ordinary, instead of those with the impressive credentials and resumes?

2.) How do I/we position ourselves to reflect the posture of those God consistently calls?

--Daniel Hill

All for love

In chapter 2, Cymbala realized that end of the day, what people really wanted was love. In prayer, their first love for God was rekindled and in turn, they started to see the people around them and pour out love upon them.

Whenever prayer is mentioned in a Christian setting, I notice that eyes tend to glaze over and people check out. It's so cliche and banal. It doesn't do much for us. Most of us associate prayer with something dull and/or difficult; something we know we ought to do more, but don't and therefore makes us feel guilty.

If only we could see God's design in inviting us to commune with Him. After all, in all of scripture, He designates His house as one thing--a house of prayer. The moment of His zeal in the temple is recorded in each synoptic gospel. Back then, the temple was the physical representation of His house, but on this side of the cross, we are the temple of God--both as individuals and as a body. He still desires that His house be called a house of prayer and the zeal in which he will cleanse us today is just as fierce today. And why wouldn't it be? The invitation is to fellowship with a holy God.

Those of us with a guilt ridden internal drive often stop at that place of fear, however fear is never a good motivator. The original quote about the house of prayer comes from Isaiah 56:7, "Even those I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples."

Beloved, first notice that He is the one drawing us to the holy mountain...and it's not to scorch us, but because He wants to makes us joyful. We come to a throne of grace to find mercy by the blood of Jesus, our savior. The first love that makes prayer work is the love of God for us. He is the one that draws us near. The invitation is always there to come. The people of Brooklyn Tabernacle discovered this through their time spent with Him in prayer and as a result of experiencing it anew, their first love for God was rekindled.

Remember that we are always responding to His love. He loves us first. Unless we can receive that reality, prayer will always be difficult, feeling laborious and burdensome. Prayer flows much more easily when I know that I am loved. I open up my heart knowing that I am safe in Him and welcomed as a child, as a bride, as a friend. This is the second love that makes prayer work--to love God back with all that we have.

And then, as we love on Him, He begins to show us the things on His heart. He shows us how He feels about circumstances and people. We may bring things that are on our heart and in the course of talking with Him about it, we get a new perspective and a new understanding. We begin to feel what He feels about the things on this earth and that is the birth of intercessory prayer. It's not simply because we see a need, but because we see God's desire in a situation or in a life and we cry out for love.

Without this filter of looking out through His eyes, we end up leaning on our own judgments, our assessments and, therefore, our own solutions. The sad thing is that what we hope would happen in situations and people is often a far cry from the God-sized dreams born from heaven and so we tend to work for less and settle for less. I'd rather have what eye has not seen and what ear has not heard, beyond what I can ask or imagine which comes in the place of prayer.

That doesn't mean prayer is always easy. There are times to labor, to birth things. There are times of warfare. There are times when you sit in quiet, trusting He is near. Even in all of these things, the reality of God's love for you, your love for Him and His love poured into you for others are essential. The work is often in believing Him.

Have you been made joyful in the house of prayer? It is available for you. I pray that you will taste and see that the Lord is good and continue to hunger and thirst for more. For love He draws you. For love, respond to Him.

~ Noella

On Waiting

These days, whenever I talk to someone, invariably the first comment or question out is, "You're still pregnant!? When is she coming?" I wish I could tell you.

40 weeks is a long time to gestate, but I suppose going from a single cell to a full on human being takes time. When Ji and I first found out we were going to be parents, we were ecstatic...and scared spitless. I found myself grateful for the 9 months we had to prepare ourselves for the awesome reality of parenthood.

It's interesting that the time of gestation is 40 weeks. The number 40 is a significant time period in the Bible and each time, it seems to be a time of probation to see what direction will be taken. Noah sent out the raven at the end of 40 days, the Israelites wandered the wilderness for 40 years, Moses was on Mt. Sinai for 40 days, Elijah hid from Jezebel for 40 days on Mt. Horeb, Ninevah was given 4o days until destruction, and of course, Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. There's even more examples than that if you look.

In each of those instances, there was a choice to be made...a response that had to be given. In the 40 weeks we've had, it's been a time of examining our values, our lifestyle, and how we want to raise this child. I still don't think we'd say we're "ready" for parenthood, but we've made ourselves ready as best as we can to receive her in our hearts and made commitments before God. It's also been a personal time of challenge for me as I respond to things that God has been pointing out that He wants me to move forward in.

Of course, we've also bought baby things, read baby books, taken baby classes and a gazillion other baby things. Our waiting hasn't been passive, but now, after all of that, the only things we have left to do is wait for her. I don't really care how cute the clothes are or how pretty the nursery is at the end of the day. She is the promise we are waiting for at the end of the 40 weeks. I know she's in there. I know it can't be that long, but the crazy thing is, sometimes I feel this wave of dark thinking, "She's never going to come." And then I quickly realize that's ridiculous.

Our listening journey with God and prayer walk is often a lot like pregnancy. For this blog, I was thinking about how Cymbala received a promise from God on that fishing boat in Florida when he was at the end of his rope and desperate for something real in the church. I love how God's promise broke in and gave him peace, calm and excitement at the same time--something only God's voice can do. In that moment, if he took a prayer pregnancy test, it would have read "PREGNANT!" He heard, he believed. A seed was planted.

He went home and immediately obeyed, but the crowds probably didn't happen overnight. The money didn't flow in overnight. Brooklyn wasn't changed overnight. It took time. And as we'll see, there were tests of that promise along the way in places that hurt a lot, but he and his church believed that the baby was there, the promise was real, and they continued to seek God and wait on Him.

When I think about River City, I think of the energy behind ideas and the desire to do something. Often times, those visions and dreams are God-given like the one Arloa had when she was a young girl on a farm. We have things that we get excited about, are passionate about, feel deeply about and many of us feel a call. Maybe that's been there from our youth, maybe it's something that got stirred up when Dr. Brenda Salter-McNeil spoke or at other times.

Those things are seeds planted in us, but often we mistake the call or the pull as the permission to go and do it. Today, I want us to consider God's ways--that often He calls, and then He asks us to wait. The waiting is not the same as dilly-dallying. It's often the waiting that prepares us to receive the baby, the promise. The waiting is sometimes small beginnings that isn't the full promise we've received. The waiting changes us--ridding us of our fears, our self-sufficiency, our self-righteousness, our unbelief, and whatever else may need to be cleaned out. It's also to learn, like a server in a restaurant, what God wants, what He's like. It's a time for relationship.

"Be still and know," it says in Psalm 46:10. Other versions say "Cease striving." To strive is to exert energy or struggle. Someone once told me God wouldn't give me a map because I'd be quick to leave Him in the dust in my enthusiastic desires to serve Him. So He keeps me leaning, dependent upon Him because He wants me. I am His promise.

The ironic thing is that entering a place of rest through waiting on God takes a lot of energy. Hebrews 4:11 tells us to be diligent, or make every effort to enter the rest of God. The energy goes into subduing our fallen nature to the cross so that we can be one with God and partner with the works He completed. That way, we can say with Jesus, I only do what I see the Father doing...and how many of us know that is a place of efficacy and power?

You may be in your own "40 weeks" period of gestation, but maybe it hasn't been pretty. You're either distracted, avoiding the call, running around trying to make things happen with little fruit, or just in despair because you feel abandoned or like nothing is happening. We heard on Sunday that prayer is disciplined dedication to pay attention to God, trusting He'll speak to you because you're His child. Pay attention, wait on Him and prepare yourself to receive the baby.

~Noella

The Offensiveness of Prayer

As I was reading chapter 1 of FWFF, one of the first things that caught my attention was on page 19 where Cymbala realized that God is attracted to weakness. That truth resonated with me and I decided to write on that...yesterday, and I guess God thought it might be nice for me to have an object lesson.

Yesterday, in an odd collision of timing, several things happened. I had conflict with our building management in which I became very frustrated...and expressed that frustration. Then our internet was on the fritz all day and being on the phone with tech support is never my idea of a time well spent. At the end of all that effort, it still didn't work. Then, a friend that I haven't talked to in a while basically hung up on me because it seemed like I was having a bad day and she didn't want to deal with me. That's a summary. I'll leave out the details.

Needless to say, at the end of it all, I felt less than human. I felt frustrated, angry, tired, disrespected, devalued, light-headed, and very hormonal. I felt that familiar feeling of being slimed by life, that dirty feeling that I am not loved, not worthy of it and unable to give it.

I felt weak. I don't like feeling weak. Who does? Weakness is not a positive word in any context whether it refers to lack of physical strength, emotional stamina, mental acumen or spiritual fortitude. Whatever it is, weakness, by definition, indicates a lack or deficiency. It's certainly not something to strive for.

So when we read or hear that God is attracted to weakness, some of us might respond, Yay. Good, because that's me. And I'm sure there's a part of us all that recognizes that. But when the rubber meets the road and we actually are in that place, it's hard to embrace. We disqualify ourselves from the presence of God because of our perceived inadequacies. Honestly, I knew I needed God yesterday, but it was doggone hard to go there because I felt so dirty on the inside.

This morning, I awoke with the reality of Hebrews 10:19-23 ringing in my heart, that we have a great high priest whose blood is enough to wash us clean from our guilty and evil consciences and Hebrews 4:15-16, this priest sympathizes with us in our weakness. The call is to draw near, draw near, come with confidence, find mercy, find grace, but we run. Isn't it a sick and twisted form of pride that we will not come to His presence when we need His help the most? I don't know what we are afraid of. Condemnation? There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Disappointment? We are His children whom He longs for, always interceding for us before the Father. Silence? He draws near to those who draw near to Him.

I don't want to seem like relationship with God is formulaic and that there are pat answers to life, but the point is the relationship itself. Prayer is relationship. To know God is to pray, to be, and to communicate. As in any relationship, we approach with some level of faith believing and trusting that the person's heart is for us, not against us. In Cymbala's case, it was believing that God cared about him as a pastor and little ole po'dunk Brooklyn Tabernacle and it was ok that he couldn't make anything happen at that church. He was weak, but he prayed, he believed, he came to God.

I think that underlying a lot of difficulty regarding prayer is that it is offensive to our core. It attacks our self-sufficiency and substitutes it with a desperate plea of, "Lord, I need you." It's weak in that we spend a lot of time waiting on Him...seemingly wasted, just being with Him, hearing from Him instead of telling Him how things should be done. We are offended too that we can't be more holy or more put together when we come and don't want God to see us that way. Pshaw! Just come.

If there's one thing I find consistent in my journey with God, it's this: His love and mercy are far beyond what I can dare dream or imagine. It's not a license to live at will and call it grace. This past Sunday, Daniel talked about God's love as a consuming fire--it doesn't warm without burning and Jonah had to learn that it was extravagant and free enough to save a wicked city, but expensive and demanding enough to want ALL of him. God's love is demanding, but yield to that love and its invitation, respond to it, even in weakness, and I believe you'll find along the way that He is indeed good.

~ Noella