Prayer – BLOGPASTOR

Tag: Prayer

“Coincidences are natural phenomena”

2 September 2024 blogpastor 2 Comments

I have taken the liberty to post a comment from “Gary” here. He had posted it somewhere else, where not many people would see it. So I post here his argument against the existence of God. He states that coincidences are usually natural phenomena, not interventions of God in answer to prayer or the providence of God. He then mentions some of the answers that evangelicals typically give. He numbered them (1) to (5). These are answers I would possibly give too. If you wish to elaborate, explain, or add to the reasons for your hope in Christ, please drop a comment to help “Gary”.

This is what “Gary” wrote in the comment page:

“A primitive farmer in a primitive land suffers two consecutive bad harvests. The following spring, he
sacrifices a chicken to the rain god hoping to change his fortunes. That year, the rain fall is steady and just right: not too much and not too little. His crops grow tall and strong. He has an excellent harvest. “The rain god answered my prayers because I offered a chicken sacrifice to him,” the farmer says to
himself. For the next four years the farmer offers a chicken sacrifice and each year the rain fall is just right and his harvests are green and bountiful. His life changes dramatically. He is incredibly happy. Once angry and short-tempered, he is now kind and generous. He experiences incredible peace and a profound sense of security knowing that he has pleased his god and is now reaping the benefits of his god’s good favor.

Question: Do you believe that the chicken sacrifices had anything to do with this man’s five consecutive good harvests and his change in character and demeanor? Of course you don’t. The five consecutive good harvests were simply a rare but very natural phenomenon. Statistical variation perfectly explains this man’s good fortune.

As an evangelical Christian, you believe that a spirit lives inside you; a spirit who has unlimited knowledge and powers; a spirit who answers your prayer requests and performs miracles for
you. However, if you can’t see, hear, or touch this spirit how do you know this spirit is really there? How do you know that your perception of a spirit dwelling within you is not just your mind playing tricks on you? I have asked many evangelical apologists this question and the response I usually receive involves one or more of these statements:

1.) My personal experiences prove His presence: Unusual events have occurred in my life which I am certain were due to the intervention of Jesus/the Holy Ghost.

2.) Answered prayers: I ask Jesus/the Holy Ghost for something and the requested action or event occurs. This has occurred multiple times in my life. They cannot all be coincidences or
statistical random chance.

3.) Dramatic change in my life: Since becoming a Christian, my life has changed dramatically. I am a new person. I left behind (drugs, alcohol, crime, etc.) and have become a good, loving, upstanding person.

4.) Incredible feelings of peace, comfort, and happiness: Since I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and asked him into my heart I have experienced the most incredible joy, peace, and
sense of security, knowing that He is always with me, guiding me in every step
of my life.

Question: How are your perceived experiences with your spirit (Jesus/the Holy Ghost) any different than the perceived experiences of our primitive farmer with his spirit (the god of rain)? There is no difference, my evangelical Christian friend! All your perceived answered prayers and perceived miracles
have involved natural events. Some of them may have been very rare natural events, but they were still natural. None of you has witnessed Jesus/the Holy Ghost move a mountain or even levitate your kitchen table after requesting that action in your prayers. Those types of answered prayers never occur, do they? Answered prayers always involve events which could have a natural explanation, even if a very, very rare natural explanation.

A fifth reason I sometimes hear is this: 5.) The Bible tells me that Jesus/the Holy Ghost dwells within me and the Bible has proven itself to be true and trustworthy.

Question: Would you accept such “evidence” from any non-Christian on the planet touting the veracity of his religion’s holy book? Of course you wouldn’t. You and your fellow Christians may believe that the Bible is reliable but most of the world’s population disagrees with you. Jewish Bible scholars reject Christian claims that Jesus fulfilled OT prophecy. Jews, Muslims, and non-supernaturalists (agnostics and atheists) reject as insufficient and weak apologists’ evidence for the alleged resurrection of Jesus. The authorship and eyewitness status of the Gospels, the best evidence Christianity possesses, is disputed, even among Christian scholars, for goodness sakes! So appealing to the Bible as proof of the
existence of a spirit living inside your body is a real stretch, friends.

Final question. Dear Evangelical Christian: Are you being rational in your belief that a spirit dwells within
you? Or, are you being as irrational as our primitive farmer, who experiences statistical anomalies and attributes them to the actions of his culture’s gods and devils? Invisible spirits and ghosts are not
real. There is no good evidence they exist. Step out of the darkness of superstition and into the light of reason and rational thinking.”

I would appreciate any response from readers to “Gary” that will help him see the hope we have in Christ. “Gary’s” worldview is rationalistic-scientific which is understandable because we are all children of modernity. Such a worldview leaves no room for miracles and divine intervention – even if there are no natural phenomena to explain them, like the healing of a person born blind, or the miracle of a deaf man enabled to hear after being prayed for.

To comment, click “Leave a comment” at the top of this post.

The Importance of Rhythms in Prayer

16 August 2024 blogpastor 2 Comments

For about seven years, Jimmy Tan, Koh Seng Chor and I (above picture, from R to L) have been meeting in a 3-2-1 spiritual friendship. We have met in our homes, the Railway Mall, the office or the great outdoors. Three persons, for about two hours of sharing life and prayers, once a month. This circle of authenticity and accountability has been a blessing in my life.

The Rev Dr Jimmy Tan is a chaplain, and lecturer of pastoral and practical theology at Trinity Theological College. The courses that he teaches include pastoral care, pastoral spirituality, pastoral theology, marriage and family, and Christian spirituality. He regularly leads retreats and offers spiritual direction at the college and beyond. Seng Chor and I have been blessed by his insights, authentic sharing and prayers of faith and I am sure we have been a blessing to him.

On the 14th of August, the college recently had their annual Day of Prayer when faculty, staff and students (about 180) came together for prayer. I read the talk that Jimmy gave to them at the beginning of the day. I was so blessed and inspired I asked for his permission to share the script in this blog post. Here goes:

If we pause to notice, we will observe that ‘life is full of rhythms’

The daily rising and setting of the sun, and how it influences our circadian rhythms. The rhythm of our heartbeats or the lack of it, how it communicates good health or concern. The rhythm of our breathing correlates with the pace of our walking, running, or resting. In rhythm, one seems to do better; in rhythm, a gymnast delivers a more beautiful floor exercise; in rhythm; a sprinter clocks a faster timing; in rhythm, a marathoner pushes on to the finishing line. Out of rhythm, a higher-ranked badminton player loses to an opponent many rungs lower. Out of rhythm, a student struggles to write a single line of an essay.

Rhythm affects our lives more than we realize

Even with our leisure and moods; rhythm has its influence. Music and dance with a good sense of rhythm make for better music, dance, and relaxation. Poetry, with its rhythm, brings forth its point with delight. A good rhythm in communication engenders deeper trust and makes for a better community.

Rhythm impacts our lives beyond the surface

And we find the sense of rhythm in Scripture. The author of Genesis utilizes the rhythm of day and night to describe God’s creative activity. The psalmist uses regularity and consistency for the practice of prayer and praise. Indeed, the chiastic structure of the psalm communicates the author’s point with greater impact. Jesus, himself, regularly goes out to quiet places to pray and be in communion with his Father.

God’s wisdom, grace, and mercy is communicated in rhythmic provision. Six days of work and one day of rest; six years of production and one year of rejuvenation; forty-nine years of activity and one great year of Jubilee!

Scripture is imbued with rhythm

If a sense of rhythm pretty much permeates our living consciousness and impacts the quality of our lives, we ask why a sense of rhythm is strategic to prayer. We have noted that the Psalmist embraces a sense of rhythm in his expression. Seven times a day, he prays. Through the travails of the night, he prays.

Then the early church tells us about their times of prayer. These were regular hours through a day: intentionally spaced out: at 6am, 9am, midday, 3pm, at the setting of the sun, and before one retires for the day. They were strategically placed to pepper the day with prayer consciousness. These hours became known as the divine hours, and the practice of prayer, the Daily Office. Together, they distinguished the church through the ages.

The regularity of prayer did not just carry them over a day, but also a week, and then through a year with its liturgical seasons. There were prayers for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany; there were prayers for Lent, Easter, and the Ascension. And there were prayers for Trinity Sunday, and Sunday after Sunday, till Advent came around again. The rhythm of the lectionary tells the story of Christ and his church, over and over again. And so, the practice of prayer coinhered with the regularity of rhythm – daily, weekly, and annually. And this is what our chapel roster is patterned after.

But the practice of prayer is not just rhythmic. It is, in fact, rhythm in relation

If we regard prayer as a conversation with God. Does this conversation benefit from an expression in rhythmic form? During National Service, we learnt to use the walkie-talkie; and to use it well, we learnt and practised the discipline of communicating with it.

“Alpha to Command Center, over.”

“Command Center to Alpha, send over.”

“Alpha asking for permission to proceed to checkpoint two, over.”

“Alpha, permission granted, over.”

“Alpha, Roger and out.”

We learn to hear, and then we learn to respond; this hearing and responding is itself a rhythmic expression of communion with God. Perhaps that is why, in the observance of prayer throughout the day, we pause from our labours for a moment to hear better; and pray better. Especially with a hectic schedule, which often calls us to many tasks and engagements, the pause at midday or evening brings refreshment to our weary bodies and minds and helps to re-centre our distracted souls in God. Has it not been our experience where the pause to pray became a blessing rather than a bane in a crazy workday? Just this past Sunday, I was reminded of the blessing of a pause in silence.

In her acceptance speech, the British actress, film-maker, and poet, Michaela Coel, the first black woman to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing, said,

“In a world that entices us to browse through the lives of others… [and] to be constantly visible (for visibility these days seems to somehow equate to success), do not be afraid to disappear, from it, from us, for a while, and see what comes to you in the silence.” (Acceptance speech 2021 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for HBO’s I May Destroy You).

Today, we learn to disappear for a while, into the silence, to receive some reprieve through the rhythms of prayer. For……

These rhythms of prayer heal us of our restlessness and addictions.

These rhythms of prayer guide us to commune with God.

These rhythms of prayer offer us the beautiful gift of a yielded life.

These rhythms of prayer sustain us over the long haul of discipleship.

These rhythms of prayer bring us life.

Israel-Hamas War: a pastor’s reflection

23 May 2024 blogpastor Leave a comment

A few months back, I was preparing a sermon about the Old Testament book of Habakkuk. As I studied the text, I was surprised at how the truths about God and his ways with Israel and its enemies may be relevant to what is happening in the ongoing Israel-Gaza War. Let me explain.

The prophet’s lament

Habakkuk was a prophet who lived in a dark period of Israel’s history. He ministered during the reigns of the last three kings of the southern kingdom of Judah. The nation was rotten to the core: violence, destruction, injustice, idolatry, strife and wickedness. The prophet was deeply affected and lamented to God in prayer. It seemed God was deaf to his pleas for God to intervene and reform society. Here is his honest complaint to God (Habakkuk 1:1-4 NLT):

How long, O Lord, must I call for help?
    But you do not listen!
“Violence is everywhere!” I cry,
    but you do not come to save.
Must I forever see these evil deeds?
    Why must I watch all this misery?
Wherever I look,
    I see destruction and violence.
I am surrounded by people
    who love to argue and fight.
The law has become paralyzed,
    and there is no justice in the courts.
The wicked far outnumber the righteous,
    so that justice has become perverted.

I like the honest lament of the prophet. Perhaps we need to lament over the tragic wars in Myanmar, Ukraine, Israel-Gaza in our prayers.

I also like that Habakkuk actually bothered to patiently wait for God’s answer. I admit I speak more and listen less in prayer, in most of the decades that I have been a Christian. I am learning more and more to listen, to watch, to discern God’s notifications. I am learning to unmute my spiritual notifications button.

God’s inconceivable reply

God’s reply got Habakkuk puzzled and upset! God said to him: “I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people. They will march across the land and conquer other lands. They are notorious for their cruelty and will do whatever they like” (Habakkuk 1:6,7).

Habakkuk must have thought, “Did I hear God correctly?” Is God going to discipline his chosen people, with whom he made a covenant of love, through a more violent, cruel, and unrighteous nation?

O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal—
    surely you do not plan to wipe us out?
O Lord, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us,
    to punish us for our many sins.
But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil.
    Will you wink at their treachery?
Should you be silent while the wicked
swallow up people more righteous than they? (Habakkuk 1:12,13)

God’s ways are usually different and higher than our ways. What is unthinkable, unfathomable to the prophet is a real possibility with God! How can a holy God use an unrighteous people to punish a more righteous people? How can God allow this to happen to his chosen nation, his covenanted people?

9/11 a judgment of God

I was at home when 9/11 happened. I remember it vividly. After a tennis game, in the master bedroom, cooling down before I bathed, on the TV, before my eyes, I saw a plane ploughed into one of the World Trade Centre towers. What movie was this? I then noticed that a news reader was relaying news of the Al Qaeda attack on the New York buildings. I was shocked.

In the aftermath of this terrorist attack, a few preachers proclaimed that this was God’s judgment on America for its idolatry and sins. There were major reactions and objections to the message of judgment: how can a righteous God use a violent, cruel, terrorist instrument to punish a nation that believed in God. Same reaction as Habakkuk’s. In the light of what we have read in Habakkuk, why isn’t it possible that those preachers may be speaking God’s word?

What about October 2023?

What about October 2023? Was God using Iran and its proxy, Hamas, as an instrument to discipline a nation he has chosen and loves? Is not this unthinkable thought a possibility? Hasn’t modern Israel broken its covenant with God too? Israel is very much a secular nation that has left its holy roots to pursue its idols. Even if half the population claims to be Orthodox, they practice a form of religion that doesn’t please God.

God clarifies Habakkuk’s ethical dilemma

It did not take long for God to shine his light on Habakkuk’s ethical dilemma. God’s reply to Habakkuk was that the Babylonians would also be punished for their violence and cruelty – in due time. God’s judgment will come upon the Babylonians for their aggression, greed, pride, sadistic humiliation of people, and idolatry. God assured Habakkuk that this would definitely happen even if the vision awaited fulfillment for a long period (70 years later the Medo-Persians would topple the Babylonians).

In the meantime, the righteous will have to keep faith in God, and if they do so, they will live: “the righteous will live by faith”. The answers of God to Habakkuk’s complaint and protest brought him out of his doubts and distress to a place of peace and contentment. He was now convinced that God was Sovereign over all nations, small or superpower. His ways were higher than his ways or thoughts. He is worthy of complete trust and he would rest in him.

Even while the wars around us continue to increase in intensity and tragedy, and it angers and frustrates us, we will do well to remember the book of Habakkuk, and learn to lament and finally to trust in God to act in sovereignty, holiness, and justice. Take comfort in this apt song by Lauren Daigle: “Look Up Child”

Where are You now
When darkness seems to win?
Where are You now
When the world is crumbling?

Oh I, I hear You say
I hear You say

Look up child, Look up child,

Where are You now

When all I feel is doubt?
Oh, where are You now
When I can’t figure it out?

Oh I hear You say
I hear You say

Look up child,
Look up child,
Look up

You’re not threatened by the war
You’re not shaken by the storm
I know You’re in control
Even in our suffering
Even when it can’t be seen
I know You’re in control

A Prayer of Hope

My heart cries out to you Papa for the conflicts in the U.S., the war in Ukraine and Myanmar and Gaza. Come Oh God, and save your people and cause wars to cease when your Son returns in glory and power to judge the world and establish the new heaven and the new earth. Fill your people with hope Father. Whenever we read or watch the news, our hearts are broken at the fake news, this fallen world, all the confusion and conflicts. There is no peace, but we do not want the external stormy world of hopelessness to control the temperature of our faith and the stability of our deep peace. So Father, send your Spirit afresh, the dove of heaven to fill our hearts with peace and the purity of worship. Let no one say that you have abandoned the church or this rebellious world. Let no one say you are unrighteous and untrue. Let the world know that you are sovereign and there’s no other God in all the universe. Amen.

(a tongues & interpretation prayer excerpt from my journal entry on 18 May 2024, a day before Pentecost)