Focus

I’M LOOKING AT WHAT I WROTE LAST TIME. About seeking. And it occurs to me – not for the first time – that I’m not very good at taking my own advice.

I look at what I spend my time seeking…
-- a better income (I’m self-employed).
-- entertainment (I love movies and there are several TV shows I hate to miss).
-- sexual gratification. Let’s be honest. We are bombarded with sexual imagery even if we don’t go looking for it. I’m happily and faithfully married, but I seem to have the same drives I had when I was 16.
-- Things: like a new car, better computers (they’re tools of the trade, after all). I can hardly go through my email without seeing two or three things I wish I could afford. Then, I’m a musician of sorts, so there’s always some new instrument or piece of gear I wish I had. Being a homeowner provides a whole list of Things I’d like to acquire. The list seems endless.
-- Spiritual Things: these are easier to excuse. I’d like my son and my best friend to be healed. I’d like to see something dramatic in the way of revival for our youth group and our church. I’d like to have more impact for my ministry efforts. I’d like to have more of the gifts of the Spirit. But it’s all still ‘stuff’, even if it is stuff from God.

It’s amazing how much time and energy seeking these things requires. It’s amazing how easily any one of them can distract me from what’s really important. It’s sad – pathetic, even – how little time there is left to seek the Lord Himself.

I suspect I’m not very different from anyone else. There are so many things to desire that our focus is split. Shattered is more like it.

Matthew 6:22 is one of those verses that I think has more impact and relevance in the King James.

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”

Both the NIV and NASB translate ‘single’ as ‘good’ and that makes sense in modern English. If your eyes are good, you can see where you’re going.

But the KJV gives it a somewhat different meaning. If your eye is ‘single’ doesn’t have to do with being physically one-eyed, but rather, with being focused. Compare this with what the writer of Hebrews says in 12:2 –

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…”

As Christians, nothing less than Jesus Himself is our objective. If we allow ourselves to be distracted, if we take our eyes off the goal even for a second, we falter. I falter.

This is, I think, not only my problem, but the general problem of the entire Church in the post-Christian West. We have a sort of spiritual ADD where we are constantly being pulled this way and that. We want God, but we also want what everyone else has, what our society with its massive culture of consumerism tells us we can’t live without.

My prayer, first of all for myself, and then for all of you, my brothers and sisters, is that we will take steps to develop a ‘single eye’, a focus on Jesus Christ that cannot be broken.

Ask, then Seek

We are looking at Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:7) -- “Ask, and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you.”

Last time, we discussed the verb “to ask” and concluded that asking requires making contact, it requires the admission of some need or desire, and also the admission that the person asked may have what we need or desire. Some level of relationship is created every time we ask for something. God wants us to ask because it begins or continues that relationship.

Jesus tells us to seek, and again, this is a verb of continuing action. Seek and keep on seeking.

Seeking adds a different dimension to prayer. When we ask for something, we are conditioned by experience to ask for it once. We are, in fact, irritated when we have to ask a second time. Seeking, however, requires and investment of time, effort and determination.

The verb implies that what we want may not be obvious or easily found. That getting what we want is not necessarily going to be immediate. It’s entirely possible that we don’t know exactly what we’re looking for. Seeking prayer may be brief, but it can never be casual. It is part of a larger effort to find something enormously important.

Seeking always has an object: In prayer, that object is always God: God’s mind, God’s will and purpose. God Himself. We may think that what we want is the resolution of a specific and immediate problem or the supply of a specific need, but ultimately, that resolution is only to be found in the PERSON of God, not in an isolated thing or event.

Seeking requires an openness to learn – we search for something because we don’t know where it is or how it is to be obtained. Perhaps one of the reasons we don’t seek in prayer is because we’re more than a little afraid. The path to what we want may not be an easy one. It may not lead us where we expect to go. It may require of us an effort we don’t want to make. It may take us out of our familiar comfort zone. And what we find may not be precisely what we expect.

But that is the great adventure of prayer – the traveling of paths less worn, the experience of blessings we hadn’t dreamed of in the ‘detours’, the revelation of things about ourselves that we hadn’t known, the discovery of depths we hadn’t imagined. Seeking prayer IS an adventure. It is not for the spiritually timid.

But anything worth doing is worth the effort.

Again, Jesus is very positive here: seek and you WILL find. You will find God Himself. Provided you invest yourself in the effort.

“…you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12-13)

And there is a caveat, found in Isaiah 55:6 –“Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.”

I don’t know when it will be, but there WILL be a time when God cannot be found. When you will no longer have the opportunity to seek. Certainly, if we have not made the effort to find Him before death, we will not be able to correct that oversight afterwards. Or perhaps, if we put it off too long, we will become like Pharaoh. You may remember that God hardened his heart, confirmed his resistance and let him live with the consequences.

There is only one thing that is worth actively seeking in this life: an intimate knowledge of the Lord. Without that, nothing else matters. If we waste our lives seeking things that don’t satisfy our deepest longings, we will have nothing when we stand before Him in eternity. We just need to push away the garbage and do it.

God Answers

Sorry to be absent for so long. Had a little computer problem requiring some new parts. But now that I'm back, let's continue looking at prayer...

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We have established that the God of the Bible WANTS us to pray. Psalm 65:2 tells us that He is listening for prayer and that we are moved to reach out to Him.

Elsewhere, the Word of God repeatedly urges us to come to Him, to engage ourselves in a relationship in which He can give us what we need. The things beyond the necessities of survival. Matthew 7:7 is one of those urgings…

“Ask, and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you.”

All the verbs here – ask, seek, knock – are verbs of continuing action. Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Continuing action is necessary because God is not simply a impersonal blessing dispensing machine. We don’t just put our money in the slot, make our selection and out pops what we need, end of transaction. God is less interested in meeting a specific need than in establishing an ongoing, eternal relationship. He wants us to know Him, to understand Him the best we can. He wants us to share His viewpoint, His values and priorities. He wants us to become like Him.

Ask
There is something implied in this verse, which is later stated in James 4:2 -- we do not have because we do not ask… God. All too often, it’s just that simple. If we would ask, He would give us what we desire. If we would seek, we would find. If we would just knock on the door, we would be admitted. For whatever reasons, we neglect doing these things.

The fact is, God WANTS to send blessings -- as part of the process of growing up spiritually. He wants to give us what we need and more. But simply we can’t have them without also entering into a deep relationship with Him. And that relationship begins with asking, seeking and knocking.

Asking anyone for anything requires relationship. First, we have to make contact. You can’t get something – that shirt you see in the catalog, for example – unless you make some kind of contact with J.C. Penney.

Asking anyone for anything requires an admission of need or desire. We are not at all uncomfortable telling our mechanic that there’s something wrong with our car or calling a service professional for the washing machine or the computer. Why are we so reluctant to admit to God that He has something we need?

The admission of need is made to someone whom we believe HAS what we need. The mechanic or service professional has (we trust) the skills and tools to fix what’s broken. When something is broken or missing in our lives, God is the FIRST person to ask.

There is nothing equivocal about Jesus’ promise here. Ask and you WILL receive. But the things we need from God often do not come automatically, just as and when we want them. Action is needed on our part: participation in the process. God works WITH us, not just FOR us.

So… let’s BE part of the process of blessing. Let’s work with God in prayer. Let’s ask, confident that we will receive God’s best.

“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy, and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

Why Do We Pray?

I've recently taken over leading our Thursday evening prayer meeting. (We're having a great time, by the way.) And, since this includes a devotional each week, I'd like to share with you whatever insights the Lord is giving me...

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I suspect that most people pray at one time or another, even people who have no formal faith. Even people who, most of the time, consider themselves agnostics or even atheists.

We pray because we believe – or because we want to believe. We want to believe in some Higher Power; a Being with awareness and intelligence. A Being with compassion. A Being with influence, with power to affect our circumstances.

Why do we want to believe? Because we feel some need. Most often, it’s some physical need: health, finances, the presence of some threat. It may be an emotional need for relationship with someone who truly cares and understands us. It may be an intellectual need, a desire for something to help make sense of the world, a desire to find the meaning and purpose of our lives.

Whatever the need, it arises from the fact that there are many things in life that are
beyond our influence and control, beyond our understanding. Belief gives us a framework for dealing with these things. And the hope of resolution – salvation.

Over all this, there is the biblical assertion that we were made for relationship with God. Psalm 65:2 says – “O, You who hear prayer, to You all men will come.” We can draw two conclusions from these thoughts.

First, God is listening. He wants to hear from us. Whether He responds to our prayers in the way we expect is beside the point. He desires contact, dialogue and relationship. Why else create beings in His own image, capable of appreciating and emulating His nature?

Second, apart from any specific need or desire, we need to be in contact with God. We were designed and created for this relationship. We are incomplete and unfulfilled without it. This need alone moves us to prayer so that “all men will come” to Him at some time.

So let’s talk to God. Often. He is waiting to hear from us.

Youth Group Games

If you've read the ministry overiview, you know that we host our church youth group in our home. Which means we don't have a lot of space, especially in winter or on rainy days when outdoor activities aren't practical.

So... here's the question: anybody have any ideas about youth group games that don't require a gymnasium?

FYI: I'm already searching EGAD and have found a few.

Ministry Overview

Bob and his wife, Sue, have been involved in lay ministry together since 1975 and separately for a number of years before that. Based on the absolute authority of the Bible, their work focuses on leading people to faith in and a transforming relationship with Jesus Christ and discipling those who accept Him as Lord and Savior.

Currently, working under the auspices of the Warren (NH) United Methodist Church, their ministry is principally along two lines…

Youth Ministry
Since 1999, Bob and Sue have sponsored North Country FevaH (‘fever’ with a Yankee accent!) for teenagers grade 7 and up. The group draws kids from multiple denominations as well as those with no church background from communities within a radius of 30 miles. FevaH meets in their home for Bible study, prayer, meals, games and supervised social time. The group is also involved in missions, supporting an Ethiopian child through Compassion International, performing service projects for the local food pantry and meals program and fundraising for the local crisis pregnancy center. In 2006, two members of the group went on a 10-day missions trip to Haiti.

Music
Bob and Sue were both performing Christian musicians when they met in 1974 and combined their ministry to churches and coffeehouses around New England. Although their travel schedule was cut back by other (youth) work and the raising of their two children, they continue to provide worship music for the Warren church and take engagements whenever possible. They are working on recording their first album.

Background
Sue is a trustee of their home church and a communion steward. Bob is a certified lay speaker in the New Hampshire District, New England Conference of the United Methodist Church and a member of both the Youth Council and Ministry Team for the district. A Christian broadcaster for 18 years, Bob was the announcer and producer for the syndicated radio programs, Trinity Pulpit and Shalom. He also served as the ‘interim’ lay pastor for a small Baptist church for 6-and-a-half years. Together, they led the junior high ministry at First Presbyterian Church in Quincy, MA for several years before moving to New Hampshire.

Donations
Donations are gratefully accepted for the support of these ministries.

Although their work is under the auspices of the Warren church, it is funded independently of the church budget. As such, donations are not tax deductible for the giver and are subject to income tax, so no single donation should be above the amount of $20.00. All receipts will be tithed upon and the after-tax amount will be used entirely for support of FevaH and the music ministry.

Checks should be made out to “Robert Moulton” and sent to
POB 141, Wentworth, NH 03282

Donations can also be made via PayPal to: rmnc@adelphia.net

Epiphany

Well, it's not quite Epiphany yet... but the Matthew story (2:1-11) is so often included in Christmas celebrations. Besides that, our youth group is studying Proverbs and this seemed to fit our Christmas devotion.

The NIV calls them 'Magi', but we know them better as the (KJV) 'wise men', or the 'three kings' of the carol. Scholars, learned men, influential and powerful, if not actual princes of their kingdoms.

They were from the east -- Babylon and/or Persia -- modern Iraq and Iran. These are the regions in which astrology was developed, the forerunner of astronomy. If they weren't 'scientists' in the modern sense, they nonetheless watched and interpreted the stars.

Because of successive conquests, beginning with Assyria conquering the northern kingdom of Israel and then Babylon taking Judah, Jewish thought and teaching was introduced to the scholars. So they were aware of the prophecies concerning the Messiah.

Taken together, these things caused them to organize a caravan and travel to find the Christ child, to worship Him with costly gifts.

A few years back, it was common to see bumper stickers reading "Wise men still seek Him". Perhaps that's trite now, but it's still true. Proverbs repeatedly reminds us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. True wisdom will always lead us to God.

Sadly, in 21st century America, we seem to have developed a focus on knowledge rather than wisdom. We teach math and science, we teach language and history -- but we exclude the religious and moral framework for understanding these things. We learn facts, but not how to think about them. Religion aside, our children aren't even taught logic. Even that ancient discipline would show us the limitations of the 'facts' our children are being taught. That WE were taught.

Proverbs 9:9 -- 'Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.'

The first attribute of a wise person is that he understands the limitations of his knowledge and wisdom. He is open to learning. He wants to know more and to integrate it into his thinking about the world.

The second attribute of a wise person is righteousness: he has good moral standing before God. God is the foundation stone of his thinking, and all knowledge and wisdom lead back to Him.

Even those of us who are long out of the classroom still have the opportunity to learn, to become wiser, every day. Let's make some effort to think about what we learn in the context about what we know of God -- His existence, His loving and just nature. If we do, every new scrap of knowledge will bring us closer to Him and prompt us to worship... just like the Magi.