The Hardest Prayer You Will Ever Pray

I am reading The Incredible Journey of Faith by Ray Pritchard. It is small work. But it is taking me some time to read it. It seems that every couple of pages, I stumble over some statement that I am forced to wrestle with before I can go on. It happened to me again last night, as I was reading a chapter that focuses on a petition of the model prayer: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10b). Pritchard calls this petition that hardest prayer you will ever pray. And I agree with him. For many reasons, this is a difficult prayer to pray sincerely, confidently, and joyfully. Invariably, it will cost you to pray with prayer. It costs Jesus when he prayed this prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. And it will cost you. But this prayer is worth what it costs. Consider the alternative. It's either God's will or your will. And if you think your will for your life is the prevailing reality, you are deceived. And if you think that your will for your life is what it most important, you are even more deceived. God's will is going to be done. And God's will is wise, even when it seems illogical. God's will is good, even when it hurts. And God's will is successful, even when you have to lose some stuff to trust and obey God. Pritchard writes:

When we ask that God's will be done, we are implicitly asking that our will be overturned, if necessary. (p. 55)

Indeed, to pray this pray is to acknowledge that you are not really in control in the first place. The sooner we acknowledge and embrace the fact that God is in control and has the last word over our lives - including the things that we hold on to so tightly - the more free and fulfilling our lives will be.

So many of us go through life with a clenched fist, trying to control the uncontrollable, trying to mastermind all the circumstances, trying to make our plans work. So we hold tightly to the things we value - our career, our reputation, our happiness, our health, our children, our education, our wealth, our possession, even our mates. We even hold tightly to life itself. But those things we hold so tightly never really belonged to us in the first place. They always belong to God. He loaned them to us, and when the time comes he will take them back again. Happy are those people who hold lightly the things they value greatly. (pp. 67-68)

When You Need To Know, You'll Know

This morning, I listened to a message by Dr. Ray Pritchard, president and primary teacher of Keep Believing Ministries, on Proverbs 3:5-6 entitled, "When You Need to Know, You'll Know." And the Lord has already begun to use this message this morning to help me stop worrying about things that I have absolutely no control of. Really, all I - or any of us - have to do is fully depend on the Lord and submit to him and trust that as we walk according to his will, he will do what needs to be done.

I am admittedly biased when it comes to Ray Pritchard. The Lord has used his writing, preaching, and kindness to me to challenge my faith, encourage my ministry, and nurture my walk with the Lord. So I would freely recommend all of his work. But this particular message on one of my favorite passages just hit the spot today. And I want to share it with you.

In the message, Pritchard gives a definition of faith that he picked up somewhere from author Phil Yancey. I know I will be meditating on this thought all week: "Faith is believing in advance that which will only make sense in reverse."

Click here to listen to the entire message.

Still Feasting on the Preaching of Ray Pritchard

We were blessed to have a special day of worship at Mt. Sinai yesterday. First of all, we one first Sundays, we celebrate the Lord's Table together, which is always a special time in the life of our congregation. Likewise, our fall semester of small-groups began on yesterday. But what really made the day so special was the presence of Dr. Ray Pritchard, president of Keep Believing Ministries, who preached in both of our morning services.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Dr. Pritchard spent Saturday morning with us, giving practical advice for faithful and effective preaching. But, come on, how many practioners are there out there who cannot do what the teach?!?! Ray Pritchard is not one of them. He is a clear and compelling preacher. And it was a joy to sit under his preaching in worship. And the message was very pastoral, touching on an often-overlooked but important subject: when believers doubt. Preaching from the story of John the Baptist in Matthew 11:1-6, the Lord used Pastor Pritchard to richly bless our congregation yesterday. And his kind comments about our church were so encouraging to us. And his kindness to preach and then patiently sign copies of his various books for our members was just another expression of his humility and big heart. Praise God for Ray Pritchard! May the Lord enlarge the platform of his spiritual influence. And may his tribe increase.

By the way, I have recently switched from a PC to a Mac. And I have not really figured how to put links onto my blog yet. So let me just give you Dr. Pritchard's web address: www.keepbelieving.org. There should be a couple of recent posts there about his trip to MSMBC, along with Pritchard's weblog and sermon manuscripts. You can also find his various books - he has written almost 30 in the past 13 years or so - on the sight.