A number of years ago in my morning prayer time, I found myself praying for my boss who headed up a legal department for a large oil company.  He was an exacting boss, but a good person with impeccable integrity. 

While praying, I received the thought,“Why are you limiting your prayers just for your direct boss – why not his boss and the entire management team including the CEO and board of directors?  Pray for wisdom, integrity and love in how they oversee the operations of the company.  Your prayers can impact areas and operations of the company far beyond your immediate responsibilities and sphere of influence.”

At the time, this was a new revelation to me.  As Christians in the workplace, we have the opportunity through prayer to impact more than just our particular job or position.  We can intercede for God’s grace to impact our bosses and the decisions they make.  We may not always see the results of our prayers, but we should never underestimate their power and influence.

The Book of Exodus reports that when the Amalekites attacked the Israelites in the desert at Rephidim, Moses stood on top of a hill with his arms raised and the staff of God in his hands.  As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but when he lowered his hands the Amalekites gained in the fight.  So Aaron and Hur had Moses sit on a rock as they held up his hands until sunset, and the Israelites won the battle. (Exodus 17:8-16)

Praying for our leaders is a way for us to hold up their hands in the battle they face in doing their jobs with integrity, concern for people, and excellence. 

All kinds of leaders need our prayers.  Pastors and spiritual leaders are in particular need of our prayer.   One of the first statements Pope Francis made after his election as he greeted the throngs in St. Peter’s square was to ask people to pray for him.  He continues to repeat this request to nearly every individual and group he meets.

Governmental leaders also need our prayer support.  Their positions make them especially vulnerable to temptations involving pride and corruption.  Regardless of our politics, we can regularly pray for the president’s protection, righteousness, and wisdom.  Remember the words of Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon, “Work for the good of the country to which I have exiled you; pray to Yahweh on its behalf, since on its welfare yours depends.” (Jeremiah 29:7 JB)

Like Aaron and Hur, let us support the hands of our bosses, pastors, and leaders in community and government with our ongoing intercession and prayer.

How do you support people in leadership – bosses, community and government leaders, pastors, etc.?

Can we listen to God? 

Let me share a story of a time when I woke up in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep.  As I tossed and turned, a good friend and Christian brother kept coming to mind.  At first I just dismissed it as a random thought in my quest to go back to sleep.  But thoughts and a picture of him in my mind kept persisting.  I wasn’t going to sleep and the thoughts of him were not going away.  I started to wonder whether he was he experiencing some health issues, or was in physical danger? 

I was prompted to start praying for him– if it was a health issue or if he had an accident, I prayed that God would protect him from serious illness or injury and get him the medical care he needed. 

The next day I was shocked to learn that my friend, who was on a mission trip repairing houses, fell from a ladder that very morning, incurring a concussion and seven cracked ribs.  The timing of the prompting to pray for him the night before was beyond coincidence.  Fortunately, a co-worker was present who arranged for emergency transportation to the hospital.  He has since recovered and is doing fine.   

In Luke’s Gospel, describing the transfiguration of Jesus and the appearance of Moses and Elijah speaking with him, he reports that a cloud covered Peter, James and John who were also present,  and God said to them, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.” (Luke 9:35)    

Peter had been focusing on his delight at being present to witness this miraculous appearance of Moses and Elijah.  He makes kind of a silly offer to build shelters for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, as if they were going to hang around physically after having completed their mission of speaking with Jesus. 

In almost the form of a rebuke, God lets Peter and the others know that their teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, is his very own son whom he has chosen.  He commands them to listen to his Son!  This is a command that is applicable not only to the apostles, but also their successors and followers, including us.  Do we listen to Jesus?  How do we listen?

There are multiple ways in which Jesus can speak to us.  He can do so directly by putting thoughts in our minds through the Holy Spirit.  He can speak to us through scripture and other spiritual writings.  He can speak to us through others and our life experiences.   

With respect to the above story, I can only conclude that the Holy Spirit was bringing my friend to mind and prompting me to intercede on his behalf.  I thank God for his grace and mercy, and for the Holy Spirit that led me to listen.

How do you listen to God?

“You were an idea in God’s mind before you were born.” So, my wife overheard our 5 year-old granddaughter, Rosie, telling her younger sister, Ellie, who asked where she was before she was born.  This was likely an idea Rosie had heard from her mother, but it is nonetheless a profound truth confirmed by God’s Word.

The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)  The psalmist says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”  (Psalm 139:13-14) 

These words also apply to us. We are not a product of chance.  We are not the result of some random accident of an evolutionary process.  The most important part of our nature – our soul and spirit – were created by God and known by him before our physical nature was born. St. Paul says God “chose us in him before the creation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4)  We are “precious in the sight of the Lord.” (Psalm 116:15)

God loves us even before we come into being.  Like a parent’s love for a new baby, he loves us before any of our achievements or failures become evident.   When our first daughter was born, I was so full of joy and love that I went directly from the hospital to our church, knelt before the altar and thanked God for this new person who was precious in my sight.  I experienced the same level of love for each of our other four children.   

Not only does God consider each of us unique, he has a unique purpose for each of us that is distinctly tailored to match the gifts and nature of our being.   This purpose includes loving and caring for the people in our lives that we are uniquely suited to love and care for.  I believe that God intended for my wife and me to come together and love and care for one another.  When we may have appeared to be going different ways before we were married, he implanted a course correction in our hearts to fulfill his purpose for each of us.  He intentionally gave us specific children and now a larger family to love and care for that has always been a part of his purpose for us.

God’s unique purpose for each of us also includes our work which we are distinctly equipped to do. Whatever our work, if it is where God wants us to be, it is important to him.  As Lester DeKoster says in his book, Work – The Meaning of your Life, our work is like a thread in the larger fabric of civilization — pull it out, and the fabric is weakened. 

While our pride and sin can frustrate God’s purpose for us, we can take confidence in Paul’s words, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) 

What unique purpose has God given you?

These are words addressed to Jesus by his mother, Mary.  They are at a wedding in Cana, nine miles north of Nazareth.  Mary learns that the host has run out of wine and asks Jesus to remedy the situation.  Though Jesus first protests that his time had not yet come, he accedes to his mother’s request as she presumes to instruct the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”  

Jesus asks the servants to fill six large jars with water.  He then tells them to draw some out and take it to the headwaiter.  After the headwaiter had tasted the water that had been turned into wine, he exclaims to the bridegroom, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” (John 2:1-11)

There is a common notion among some Christians that we should only seek God’s assistance in important matters and not bother him with practical every day needs.  Situations involving life and death or economic calamity may qualify, but surely not replenishing the wine supply at a wedding party. 

Yet, that is exactly what Jesus did at the request of his mother.  How reassuring it is that God should concern himself with a practical thing like a wedding party running out of wine.  God places no restrictions on what we may bring to him in our requests.  St. Paul says, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” (Phil. 4:6)

As father of the bride and host of three of our daughters’ weddings, I would have been horrified if we had run out of wine.  No doubt Mary was a close friend of the family hosting the wedding, and brought God’s mercy to bear through her son Jesus. 

Over the years, my wife and I have brought all manner of requests to God, from mundane things like a parking place at a busy shopping center to the significant, like the healing of a daughter’s heart born with a hole between the ventricle chambers.  We have prayed for where we should live, the health and well-being of our children and parents; good schools, good neighbors, good friends for our children and their future spouses; safety in travel, wisdom in our relationships, and that we would all come to know God more each day. 

We should not forget that in his Lord’s Prayer, Jesus suggests that we pray each day for our daily bread.  It is only natural that God, who created us in his image and likeness and entrusted us with taking care of his creation, would want to respond to our requests for the practical needs of life. 

Do you pray for the practical needs in your life?

“Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased…Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street.  A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench.” Isaiah 42:1-3

These are the words of the prophet, Isaiah, speaking about the coming of Jesus and how he will reach out to people.  Jesus did not shout or raise his voice in the street to proclaim the kingdom of God.  His concern was for the broken hearted, the bruised reed.  He would not snuff out the smoldering faith of the weak or downtrodden.

For many of us when we hear the word evangelization, we conjure up images of someone handing out Christian tracks on a street corner, a televangelist in a mega church, or a famous preacher in a large stadium.  But Jesus did not do the usual things we might think of as evangelization. Jesus simply responded with compassion and mercy.

Although these words were intended by Isaiah for Jesus, they are also applicable to us, his followers.  The following story illustrates how this might work.  The names have been changed for the sake of privacy.

Jerry worked in a medical office and wasn’t feeling well.  He asked his boss, Karen, who oversees the administrative staff, if he could have the rest of the day off.  When Karen asked what was wrong, Jerry offered a rather vague response.  Karen continued to probe, asking if he would be returning tomorrow.  Jerry said he didn’t know.  Karen asked if there was something wrong and Jerry said no.  She invited him to sit down and he started to share that nothing was going right in his life.  He wanted to get married to the woman he was living with, but she was talking about moving out.  He found it difficult to have enough time for his two small children.  He seemed quite despondent to Karen.

As he was leaving, Karen asked if she could make a suggestion.  He said yes.  “When you go home, go into your bedroom, close the door, kneel down and ask Jesus to come into your life and help you.”  Jerry said, “I’ve tried church.”  Karen said, “I am not talking about church, I’m just saying that if you offer that prayer, Jesus will not refuse you, and things will start to change.” 

Sometime later, Karen noticed that Jerry seemed to be happier and had a more positive attitude.  She asked how he was doing.  He smiled, and said, “I did what you suggested and something did happen.  I started to feel warm all over when I prayed.  Later, I bought a Bible and started reading it.  I bought a Children’s Bible and started reading the stories to my kids.  We have started to go to church and my partner and I are moving toward marriage.”

You will notice that Karen did not judge Jerry or preach to him. She gave him an opportunity to talk, she listened, she empathized, and she asked if she could make a suggestion. She related to him as Jesus would. A “bruised reed” she did not break.   

How do you evangelize — with words of persuasion and argument, or with empathy, mercy, and confident in the work of the Holy Spirit?

“As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.  Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’” (Acts 7:59-60)

The Book of Acts reports that while Stephen was being stoned, watching on approvingly was a young Pharisee named Saul who later became St. Paul.  Is it possible that Stephen’s intercessory prayer impacted Paul’s heart and opened the door to God confronting him on the road to Damascus? 

While we can’t be certain of the answer, we should never underestimate the impact of intercessory prayer.  We know that a similar prayer by Jesus from the cross had an impact on the centurion who oversaw Jesus’ Crucifixion.  “The centurion who witnessed what had happened, glorified God and said, ‘This man was innocent beyond doubt.’” (Luke 23:47)

When it comes to intercessory prayer, we can easily make the mistake of thinking, “Who am I that God would listen to me and change the order of nature or human life.”  Yet, Jesus declares, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be given to you.  By this is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” (John 15:7-8) Jesus offers the parable of the persistent widow to show how we “should always pray and not give up.” (Matthew 8:1-8)

Long before our three daughters were married, my wife prayed for each of them to meet and marry a good Christian man.  She offered the same intercessory prayer for our son to meet and marry a Christian woman.  This prayer was answered for each of them, and today all four of them along with their spouses are raising Christian families that have blessed us in so many ways including thirteen grandchildren.

For a number of summers we have spent a week at the beach with all 24 of us under one roof for some joyous chaos.  With my wife’s initial prayers and our ongoing intercession over the years, we can echo the words of John’s gospel, “From the fullness of his grace we have received one blessing after another.” (John 1:16)

Inside my Bible I keep a list of people that need prayer for healing, discernment, guidance, protection and conversion.  Some of the people don’t even know that I am praying for them.  Others I have lost contact with, but I keep praying.  I don’t need to know the outcomes.  We never know when perhaps another St. Paul might be the result.

Do you have a family member or friend who needs an answered prayer?

“The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘there it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17: 20-21 NIV)

With these words, Jesus is responding to the Pharisees’ question of when the kingdom of God would come.  It is a question people have been asking for centuries, starting with the apostles.   The Pharisees are thinking in terms of an earthly kingdom, namely Israel, but Jesus gives them a surprising answer.  The kingdom of God is not like an earthly kingdom with observable boundaries and an earthly king.     Rather, Jesus says the kingdom of God is “within you,” or “among you” as in some translations.  Its geography is our heart, our soul – our inner being.    

Jesus gives added understanding of this verse in the Gospel of John when he says, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” (John 14:23)  If we love God and obey his teaching, God and Jesus will take up residence in us.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, God draws us closer to him each day. We desire to be in his presence, we seek to know him more through prayer and scripture, and to participate in the sacraments if we a part of a sacramental church.  We seek to love and serve God and one another.

Might not this be the kingdom Jesus is talking about when he instructed the disciples how to pray?   “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”   In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray for the coming of God’s kingdom in us and that his will be accomplished through us.

As earthly kingdoms experience the rise of enemies with whom they have to do battle, so also does God’s kingdom in us have to do battle with God’s enemy, the devil.  The devil constantly strives to lure us away from God’s kingdom into his kingdom.  But God equips us for this spiritual battle with prayer, his word, the Church’s sacraments and the Holy Spirit.  He provides us with supporting allies in our brothers and sisters in Christ and the Church.

For a number of years I have been meeting every Tuesday evening with a small group of men to share our lives and Christian faith.  We are of diverse backgrounds – a retired school teacher, a former Army intelligence officer, a senior executive with a large government agency, a retired attorney and a Catholic priest.  We have diverse opinions on lots of different subjects, but we are all seeking to grow deeper in our faith.  While each of us is capable of messing up, we are at the same time experiencing a taste of the kingdom of God though one another. 

When will the Kingdom of God come?  When we love Jesus, obey his teaching and invite the Father and Jesus to make their home in us.  

“When you are burdened you are close to God.  When you are relieved of your burden you are close to yourself.” (St. John of the Cross, Sayings of Light and Love, No. 4)   

In this proverb-like statement, St. John of the Cross captures the truth about our human nature and the way we tend to relate to God.  When things are going well, we tend to focus more on ourselves than God.  Remember the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus.  Only one returned to thank him and praise God. (Luke 17:17-18)

When we are burdened beyond our capabilities or unable to envision the solution to our need, we are more inclined to turn to God.  We are more open to humbly acknowledge our need.

When our youngest daughter with Down syndrome was facing heart surgery at five months to correct openings between the auricle and ventricle chambers of her heart, we sought the Lord intensely in prayer.  We also sought the prayer of some dear Christian friends who came to pray over our daughter and us.  After praying with us, one of them said, “With all your recent troubles, you may wonder whether the Lord is close to you, but you should know that he is closer than he has ever been before.”  

He was right.  We experienced God’s presence, his peace, and his healing.  During a cardiac catheterization in preparation for the surgery, we learned that the most critical opening between the ventricles had been healed, and the surgery was cancelled.  Correcting the opening between the auricles was postponed until she was four, when she was much stronger and the surgery was less risky.

Psalm 91:15 says, “All who call upon me I will answer, I will be with them in distress; I will deliver them and give them honor.” We should have hope in this promise when faced with various burdens, for they are opportunities to experience Jesus and his mercy. The burden could be an illness, the loss of a loved one, a sin, the alienation of a friend, the loss of a job, or a personal financial crisis. 

In a Christian ministry at a local jail, I have listened to various men share how the ordeal of their imprisonment had led them to be open to listening to God and his invitation to become a part of their lives.  One said that he would be literally dead now if he had not been imprisoned, which caused him to listen to God and come to know Jesus. 

Whatever our burden, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Mt. 11:28-29 NIV)

Have you experienced God’s presence through a burden? 

“If this day you only knew what makes for peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes.” These words of Jesus were addressed to the people of Jerusalem as he made his final entry before his passion. He goes on to describe how their enemies will kill them and destroy their temple, “because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” ((Luke19:42, 44)

Luke reports that Jesus wept as he approached the city, for the people had failed to recognize that God had visited them in the flesh.      

After all of the time he spent with them, after all of the miracles, after all the teaching, they still did not recognize that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was present to them in the person of Jesus.  They did not accept him as the Messiah they had waited for so long, and the consequences were dire. 

How often do we lose our peace because we forget that God in the person of Jesus and the Holy Spirit is in us?  Jesus tells us: he is with us always (Mt. 28:20); he wants us to come to him when we are weary or burdened (Mt. 11:28); he and the Father want to make their home in us (John 14:23); and apart from him we can do nothing (John 15:5).

When I get angry with an inattentive store clerk or phone solicitor, I forget that the Father and Jesus reside in me, and I lose my peace. When I am indifferent to a homeless person asking for money at a stoplight, I forget that the Jesus in me wants to show him mercy. When I fail to stop and listen to a family member or friend who wants to talk or share a problem, I am putting shackles on God’s mercy and love that are waiting to be manifested through me.

When I refuse to embrace the cross in daily sacrifices, whether small and large, Jesus has some strong words – he says that anyone who does not take his cross and follow him “is not worthy of him.” (Mt. 10:38)

Yet, God never stops bidding us to seek him.  He has put in us a hunger for him whether we realize it or not.  It is a part of our human DNA.  God weeps when we do not recognize his presence in our lives.

Do we know what brings us peace?  It is the presence of God dwelling in us through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, being poured out through us on the people and circumstances in our lives. 

Is peace hidden from your eyes? 

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot.  So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” (Rev. 3:15) 

These words of Jesus to the Church of Laodicea are a shot across the bow of any complacency creeping into our lives as Christians.  God calls us to be holy as he is holy.  Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount offered the Beatitudes as a path to that holiness.  He says if we are meek and humble in spirit, mourn for our sins and the sins of others, show mercy, are pure in heart, and hunger for righteousness, we will be blessed.  We will be comforted, shown mercy, see the face of God, and the kingdom of God will be ours. (Mt. 5:3-12)  This is an offer we should not refuse. 

A few summers ago I took my name off a Saturday volunteers list in a Christian jail ministry for July and August in order to preserve the weekends for boating with family and friends.  God might have worked out the schedule if I had let him, but I pre-empted the choice.  I was neither seeking God nor asking what he wanted me to do in this matter.   

I can relate to Paul’s statement, “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” (Rom.7:15)  Living out the Beatitudes by our own will and determination is very difficult, but with God’s grace through the power of the Holy Spirit, the saints have shown us it is possible.  

Past sins are not a bar to sainthood.  St. Paul was a persecutor of the early church, standing by and sanctioning the murder of Stephen.  St. Peter denied three times that he knew Jesus.  St. Augustine is reported to have lived a rather hedonistic life, fathering a son from a woman he lived with for many years before he experienced his conversion.   Yet, all of them chose to give up following their own wills and seek God’s will instead.  Sainthood is determined by our actions today, not yesterday. 

Yet, it is our sinful nature, particularly pride and sloth, that war against the Beatitudes becoming the fabric for our daily choices.  In our pride we seek to substitute our will for God’s.  In our sloth we become indifferent to the needs of others and lose our passion to seek God in all things. 

While God is forgiving and merciful, his desire and call for us is neither casual nor trivial.  The last thing we should want is to become distasteful to Jesus.

Are we intentional in living out our Christian faith or “lukewarm?”