Paschal’s Wager

“We toss the coin, but it is the Lord who controls its decision.” Proverbs 16:33 TLB

Our scientific age has schooled us to run calculations for every venture. The stock market, financial investments, business ventures and insurance policies are all predicated upon calculated risks. People enter sweepstakes, compete on game shows, bet on sports contests and play the lottery against impossible odds, all in the illusory quest for huge sums of money. Odds-making finds its way into nearly every aspect of life. Doctors inform patients as to the percentage of a surgery’s success and the chances of side effects from medications. Lawyers impress upon their clients the probability of winning a case. Geologists measure the likelihood of earthquakes and meteorologists forecast the chances of rain or snow.

Blaise Paschal, a brilliant mathematician who reached his prime in 1650, posed this stark conundrum to his colleagues in an effort to apply the new field of probability to matters of faith: “Either God is, or he is not. Which way should we incline? Reason cannot answer.” In other words, if we were to wager the existence of God, how would we stand? The conclusion he reached over three centuries ago remains instructive for us today.

According to Paschal, two questions demand an answer before anyone can decide whether to believe in God. First, what are the odds of being right? Second, and more importantly, what are the consequences of being wrong? The answer to the first question is simple: The odds are one out of two, or fifty-fifty. The second answer is far more crucial. If one says there is no God and he is wrong, he reaps eternal damnation. “Which way should we incline?” Such severe consequences heavily outweigh the most enticing odds. For Paschal, a deeply religious man, the only sensible answer was yes.

The willingness to take a chance varies according to the consequences. People will take long shots if losing means little or nothing. The higher the stakes grow, however, the more conservative they become. No thrill, even for the inveterate gambler, compensates for total loss. Despite these caveats, many fail to read the numbers accurately. Others are driven by rash and reckless behavior.

Just as the Roman soldiers gambled for Jesus’ robe, many impulsive souls today think that accepting or rejecting God rides on a mere roll of the dice. They place everything in this life, and the life to come, on the table, hoping that “Lady Luck” smiles on them. The tragic truth about Paschal’s wager is that there is no wager at all. Perhaps God is a fair bet in the minds of statisticians, probability experts and gamers. But the believer rejects even the premise itself.

Don’t gamble on God. The Bible says, “He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6). The gambler begins with uncertainty, but the believer begins with faith. The gambler hedges his bet, but the believer casts all his lot with God.

Don’t gamble on your soul. In the parable of the rich man who built more barns, God said, “…This night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? (Luke 12:20). A modern advertiser coined the phrase that “a mind is a terrible thing to waste”, but the eternal soul is a far more terrible thing to lose.

Don’t gamble on the rapture. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation…The Lord is not slack concerning his promise…but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” (II Peter 3:3-4, 10.) With the fulfillment of scores of Bible prophecies, many of them in our generation, we have every reason to expect the imminent rapture of the church.

Don’t gamble on the judgment . Hebrews 9:27 says, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Many people today to whatever they can to wiggle through every loophole and out of every commitment that they possibly can.

“The fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Psalm 14:1. God is not a gamble. The conclusions of atheists and agnostics find their basis not in statistics or probabilities, not in convoluted claims of superior logic, not in their finite experiences, but in folly. “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. II Timothy 1:12.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Growth trajectories often take off in directions that baffle even the experts. Who can predict what will work, or when the right elements will come together to produce a spiritual explosion? The concepts of reaching the lost, making disciples and mothering churches resist easy and painless human analysis. Nevertheless, it is time for us to step back, gather our senses and envision our next launch.

Plenty of ideas are out there. “The customer is king”, some believe, even in the church. Recently, a church marquee I saw fawned “All our seats have first class service.” Others insist that we “do the demographics.” Advertising blitzes, image re-casting, reworked strategies, media innovations, organizational shake-ups, extreme service makeovers, small group start-ups, redesigned logos, literature with pizzazz, group targeting, shifting meeting times and a thousand other changes, from massive to minute, capture our imagination today. Something—-anything—-needs to be done to get us moving.

All of these things work. None of these things work. Some did, and now don’t. Some didn’t, and now do. Admittedly, I am not being too helpful here. The point is that we need to fish for the right strategy that will work for each situation and it may not come through analysis. It will come via the biblical model of seeking the face of God through prayer, and then getting out there to start sowing the seed. When we don’t know what will work, we must rely on the conviction that something will work. The sower in the parable was not held responsible for the soil on which he sowed the seed, even though much of it landed on hard, stony and parched ground. His job was to broadcast the seed, so that’s what he did. He knew that a crop was never harvested that did not first begin with the planting season. Planting methods aside, the basic cycle of life remains unchanged from the dawn of creation.

The United Pentecostal Church , International looks toward a future alive with prospects of phenomenal growth. New fields of ethnic, social, economic and geographic differences continually break open to the same seed sown two thousand years ago. New methods of planting guarantee wider coverage; new ways of harvesting lead to greater retention; new plans for discipleship strengthen converts; new technologies make all of them hugely more effective. All of them beg to be implemented today.

First, where are we now? Our inventory fact sheet is impressive. It includes physical assets, a publishing house, a trained army of evangelists and crusaders, an array of pastors and churches, scores of Apostolic publications, Bible colleges, a seminary, campgrounds, conferences, developed ministries and leaders in place. Yet, as important as these assets are, one thing supercedes them all—-an all-consuming desire to reach the world and change it. That desire fueled the efforts of the first church and they succeeded in their mission without the considerable advantages our modern age has given us. We grossly err if we engage in tweaking and embellishing our vast holdings as though they existed for our pleasure. God did not give us what we have today to wallow in self-entertainment, but to totally invest it into his divine purpose—-seeking and saving the lost. If we only concern ourselves with hard drive upgrades and choosing new color schemes, we may well end up missing the planting season.

Where do we go from here? Four paths lead out from this question: where, we, go and here. We need to know where to go. We need unity in our efforts so we do not waste or cancel out our resources. We need a plan of action that gets the job done. We need to bring our entire present physical and spiritual capabilities to bear on the challenge.

1. We need to know where to go. The sheer number of people in the world today obliges us to reach a new level of growth. Some of us can go by mass evangelism, others by local revivals and home Bible studies, still others by one soul at a time. The one thing we must not do is mire down in the status quo or in negative energy drains. Jesus said to go the highways (public arenas) and hedges (private settings) to bring them in.

2. We need each other. A hokey cliché? No. Withdrawing into isolationism or retreating into the smug comfort of a few cronies runs counter to accomplishing the bigger task before us. No one needs much help to do a small job; tackling the big job, however, calls for many hands and great cooperation. Those who see the global need understand that the church cannot back down into a cozy little enclave. We need massive forces working in concert to get to the future where we belong.

3. We need to act. Don’t spend so much time figuring out what to do that you have no time to do it. Better to try and fail at a half dozen strategies before finding out the right one than to interminably pore over the possibilities but never get started. Go, go, go!

4. We must go from here with what we have. We are who we are and we have what we have. Understand it, accept it and get over it. The future has a starting point. This is it and we are the ones.

Body Language

Body language experts contend that we are much more likely to discover a person’s true feelings by studying non-verbal communication than to listen to the words he or she may speak. Corporations hire people who specialize in “reading” a prospective employee’s facial expressions, arm and leg movement, involuntary actions, nervous twitches and even choice of clothing. In the past few decades, psychologists have made much of dreams, paintings, inkblots and exercises involving shapes, sizes and colors. Lie detector tests focus on physiological reactions given by people who are asked certain questions, not on their verbal responses. All of these things signify the importance of actions and symbols without words.

Unfortunately, word lovers like me have a bias toward words. I actually like dictionaries, lexicons, encyclopedias and other tools of the trade. I have some idiolectic (sorry!) rules of thumb that I use to justify my word choices. At the same time, I realize that words do not begin to cover the entire spectrum of communication. In fact, our actions exert a far more powerful and meaningful effect on us than the most articulate and precise words we could possibly use.

Words often negate clarity or truth. Of politicians’ calculated word choices, Mona Charen, columnist writes, “After the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia in 1996, Mr. Clinton had Dick Morris take a poll. ‘We tested peacemaker or toughness,’ Mr. York quotes Mr. Morris as recalling. The public preferred toughness. ‘So Clinton talked tough.’ But the FBI director, Louis Freeh, became so exasperated by Mr. Clinton’s failure to raise the matter with Saudi officials that he actually asked former President George Bush to do so instead.”

Human interaction has never been limited to words alone. An amazing number of signals and ideas can be transmitted from one person to another with nary a word being spoken. Were this not the case, the realms of art and music would be desolate, indeed. When it comes to emotions, we actually rely on body language to convey our feelings more than words. Complex or intellectual thoughts may need words to express fully, but even these use a complementary pattern of gestures and unspoken movements to provide emphasis and guidance to the conversation. Here is a sampling of non-verbal actions:

• Eyes : Staring. Narrowing. Rolling. Closing. Glancing.
• Voice : Laughter. A sound. A cough.
• Body : A hug. Raising the arms. Leaping. Dancing. Running. Bumping.
• Hands : Pointing. A handshake. Clapping the hands. High fives. Gesturing.
• Mouth : Smiling. Frowning. Kissing. Whistling.
• Clothing : Colors. Uniforms. Certain articles of clothing.
• Head : Nodding. Shaking. Tilting. A haircut.
• Face : Distorting. Turning away. Looking up or down.
• Signs : Tattoos. Ornamentation. A gift. Insignias.
• One’s self : One’s presence or absence. Stepping forward. Standing back.
• Actions : Owning a certain model of car. Swerving. Pointing a gun. Brandishing a knife.

While the spoken word remains a central aspect of the power of God, we must also recognize that he communicated many things without words. In Genesis, God made coats of skins for Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness. This is a profound statement of divine intention. Even if there were no subsequent words to explain God’s act, the imagery of slaying and bloodshed itself would suffice to depict God’s assessment of sin. The rite of circumcision, Jacob’s wrestling match, the burning bush, pillars of cloud and fire, Aaron’s rod that budded, the Urim and Thummim, the tabernacle plan, the sacerdotal rituals and other actions that God did or commanded to be done show the importance of meanings in absence of words.

Going further, Samson’s uncut locks of hair, judges giving a white or black stone, saluting and bowing to officials, ceremonial gift-giving, kisses, foods, preparation of meals, style and material for clothing, observation of days and time-periods, kinds of sacrifices and a host of other symbols were all used for various reasons in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, we see baptism in water by immersion, washing of feet, the communion supper, breaking of bread, anointing the sick with oil, fasting, giving of alms, and other sacraments or forms of service that had great meaning attached to them. The Bible overflows with non-verbal images.

Without question then, non-verbal expressions in Bible practice were an important way to communicate thoughts, feelings and information to others. It is very instructive, the, to place this concept into the context of a Christian lifestyle as taught in the scriptures. For example, when someone declares that the wearing of long hair for women has no significance, he or she denies the reality of non-verbal communication. A woman’s long hair symbolizes a number of important concepts: submission to authority, distinction from the male gender, acceptance of a God-given role and a display of feminine glory. Likewise, when a woman’s hair was shorn, it was considered a mark of shame before the community.

Other non-verbal practices in the New Testament demonstrate this fact as well. Sexual relationships outside the bonds of marriage defined a person as corrupt. Killing, stealing, idolatry, eating meat offered to idols and drinking blood were all condemned. On the positive side, many actions were encouraged because they underscored righteous living and understanding. Faithful attendance to duty, working with one’s own hands, giving in offerings, paying tithes, attending church, and many other things were practiced by the early believers. These were just as important as their verbal confessions of faith because they represented the inner-workings of the heart.

Apostolic men and women bear noticeable distinctions from the general public in the way they dress and behave. Strangers often approach us and ask about our appearance or want to confirm their opinions about the church we attend. At large gatherings such as General Conference, we hear and read comments by the local population about what they see in our people. And well they should. It seems logical to conclude that a conversion experience as radical as the new birth should make a profound difference in every aspect of a person’s life, including their appearance, behavior and spirit.

Should anyone say that the gospel of grace pertains only to matters of faith and heart, and not to any outward manifestation, nearly every book in the New Testament stands in objection. Two representative selections are Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Also, I Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Scriptural terms such as modest apparel, shamefacedness, appearance of evil, and others give attention to non-verbal communication. Many corroborative verses can be cited, but all of them underscore the fact that genuine faith has a decided effect upon our behavior, our appearance and the way we present ourselves in the world.

Certain non-verbal forms of communication send a wrong message because of the cultural milieu. Some societies take offense at particular gestures, types of clothing, actions, and etc. because their traditions forbid them. We do not have to be raised in a certain culture, however, to develop a conscience about particular practices. When we read in the Bible about the things God blesses or curses, when we study the original Apostolic church and learn what it considered right and wrong, good and bad, we then have an obligation to assimilate those things into our own lifestyle, regardless of the culture.

It is very difficult to say one thing and do another. For example, try shaking your head and saying “yes”, or nodding your head and saying “no”. If you concentrate, you might do it, otherwise, it’s hard to do. Those who interpret body language say that despite a person’s words, actions, most of which are involuntary, convey his or her actual meaning, mood and intent. In the church, when a man says, “I am living a holy life,” and then gets drunk, philanders, and steals from his employer, his body language clearly contradicts his verbal messages. If a woman avows that she is pure and chaste, and then dresses like a prostitute and is frequently seen with different men at all hours of the night, what are we to conclude but that her claims are bogus? Actions verify words, not vice versa. Incidentally, the term to use for people who use words to cover up their actions is lying. No one needs resort to torrents of verbiage to convey a sense of godliness. If they would only act the part, many words would be unnecessary.

The Apostolic church of the twenty-first century must not buy into old heresies disguised as new truths. The more faith gets pushed out from reality into the haze of sham, smoke and mirrors, the more we risk losing it all. Righteousness that is not really righteous eventually destroys its own meaning. Holiness that is not truly holy will soon become farcical. Truth that answers to a hundred different names will not know what to call itself. Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Truth that exists in word only will lead to freedom that is word only. Only truth that encompasses body, soul and spirit will make one truly free.

Let’s Pretend

Kids live in a make-believe world. A million Shaquille O’Neal’s slam-dunk mini-basketballs into hoops five feet off the ground. Little mommies snuggle life-like infants, karate kick-boxers mow down enemy hordes, and Indy 500 drivers careen through neighborhood sidewalks. It’s the pretend world.

Nothing goes wrong in this world. No one lies, cheats, steals or disappoints. Nobody gets hurt. Pretend world daddies always come home, mommies always kiss away the bumps and scrapes, and problems always get solved.

Adults leave this pretend existence behind and grow to embrace the real world—-right? Hardly. We would be shocked to know how many people hang onto ideas and impressions that are nothing short of elaborate coping schemes, with little basis in reality.

Consumers pretend that sex and violence, beer and liquor ads, and constant ridiculing of God and religious ideals on television do not hurt us or undermine our values.

Entertainment gluttons pretend that R-rated movies with their raw language, nudity, vulgarity, immoral plots and obscene humor are harmless.

Parents pretend that kids don’t lie, that adolescents are clueless about sexual intimacy and that teens are immune to peer pressure to drink beer, try drugs or commit immoral acts.

Some Christians pretend that church attendance, prayer, Bible-reading, spiritual conversation and quiet meditation on God lost their significance to us long ago.

Older people pretend that adult attitudes and interests have no effect on the kids, and that the younger generation will maintain faith in God even though their adult role models slip into a casual and careless kind of spiritual life.

The pretend world is always just right. A gentle breeze always blows, the climate hovers at a perfect temperature, roses have no thorns, insects don’t bite, no one speaks unkind words, enemies never seek to destroy us, and no devil tempts us. Trouble is, it just doesn’t exist. But, we keep on pretending.

My son, Ross loved horses as a little boy. Dozens of toy horses lined his room, and he always talked about going horseback riding. One summer, we put him on a live Shetland pony to ride around in circles. He hated it. He panicked and we had to get him off in a hurry. Real ponies scared him, but pretend ones didn’t.

Too many believe that the real world is too scary to deal with. We think that survival means returning to our pretend world where we can continue to believe things that are not true. This sounds alarmingly like the scripture found in II Thessalonians 2:9-12: “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” (NIV)

Can you imagine that? People will actually believe a lie! How? Could they become so used to living in a pretend world that they prefer it, even though it is obviously not according to truth? Is it possible that people who have actually heard about the anti-Christ will accept him anyway when he comes on the scene? Or, that they would know about the rapture, but will actually believe the explanations given by the world after it happens?

Too many believe that there is nothing they can do anyway. Give up. The world is what it is, and we are not going to change it. Learn to live with it. Yet, the scripture emphatically says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Too many believe that they don’t really have to give up—-just give in.”  In other words, they don’t intend to deny their faith. They just want to accommodate the radical changes that modern life has thrown at us. Now is the time, however, for us to “stand in the evil day.”

May I remind you that there is a real Jesus. He gave us a real gospel, he died a real death on a real cross. His blood, his tomb, his resurrection were real. He did this so we could have a real salvation from a real hell. The pretend bubble will not survive the coming storm. Living in denial results in catastrophic consequences.

If you’re still playing with toys and doll, put them away.  It’s time to get real.

Truths About Governments

The following pithy statements have been mistakenly attributed to Abraham Lincoln for many years.  Lincoln may have indeed believed them, but it was left to a man in a succeeding generation to spell them out in the form below.  Regardless of their origin, they bear reading and thinking about today.  The contemporary political dialogue that routinely rages in the public square too often pushes the exact opposite of these bedrock truths.  Every time you hear a politician speak, measure his words against this template.  I promise you that it will be an enlightening experience.

1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
   
2. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
   
3. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
   
4. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
   
5. You cannot lift the wage-earner by pulling down the wage-payer.
   
6. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
   
7. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
   
8. You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
   
9. You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man’s initiative and independence.
   
10. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.

The “Ten Points” appear every February 12 in newspaper ads honoring Abraham Lincoln. In fact, these aphorisms are from the pen of Reverend William John Henry Boetcker (1873-1962).

Are We Getting Too Gray?

“Come out from among them, and be ye separate.” 2 Corinthians 6:17

The accelerated graying of the church should stir great concern among Apostolics today. No, not the graying hair of elders, but the bleed between black and white, the confusion between right and wrong, and the blending of good and bad. It used to be easy to blame television and the movies for cultural degradation. Now, techies familiar with TXT , IM, PIX and FLIX, MySpace, iPods and dozens of other ways and means to share information—and exert influence—will tell you that the new electronics has skyrocketed the level of difficulty in staying separate from the world. But the toughening of the job shows us how serious Satan takes it. It’s time to fight back, and we must start with a refreshed understanding of why separation is so important.

Few principles find more backing in the scriptures yet encounter more resistance from the flesh than the doctrine of separation from the world. Even after years of teaching, preaching, writing, and explaining, separation continues to be a contentious, unrelenting battle between the flesh and the Spirit. The Ancient Hebrews had trouble with it as evidenced by their desire for a king. The early church dealt with it as a matter of course, as Paul confesses, “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.” (2 Timothy 4:10.) And God knows the trouble we have with it in the twenty-first century.

The aggregate of scriptures amasses too great a case for separation from the world for true Bible believers to ignore it. Abraham separated himself from Lot . Jacob separated certain lambs from others of Laban’s flock. The Israelites were commanded to separate themselves from their uncleanness (not that they always obeyed!) Nazarites were ordered to separate from wine and strong drink and other substances. The nation of Israel had to separate themselves from among all the people of the earth, even to the point of leaving heathen wives.

In the New Testament, Jesus said. “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company…for the Son of man’s sake.” Luke 6:22. Separating the sheep from the goats, as related in Matthew 25:32, is the very basis of end time judgment. Jesus himself is declared to be “separate from sinners.” Hebrews 7:26.

Separation manifests itself in practical aspects of holy living. God’s people were to look different than those from other nations. They held to a higher standard of behavior. They were to abstain from sin, from sinful associations and from sinful practices. Why? To make a difference between holiness and uncleanness. “Touch not the unclean thing.” But what does God consider unclean?

Swine, certain kinds of sea creatures, and other animals were ceremonially unclean to the Hebrews. Pork, shrimp and lobster may have been delicious to eat, but they were off limits. This prohibition had nothing to do with appearance, taste or nutrition. It had to do with ceremonial acceptance. While Paul in the book of Romans lifts the eating ban, the symbolism of these Old Testament prohibitions remains in force. This means that believers do not indiscriminately consume anything offered up by the world. We must not look at the spiritual foods of the world and judge whether they are beautiful, tasty, fun or socially acceptable. The operative questions are what does the Bible say about them and will indulging in them displease the Lord of our salvation?

Isaiah said, “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it.” Isaiah 35:8. The precedent was set: holiness eschews uncleanness. This principle reappears in the New Testament. “For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.” 1 Thessalonians 4:7. Referencing the scriptures that relate holiness and uncleanness, we can piece together a background picture of the kind of life we ought to live.

In a crash course, the Bible teaches us to separate ourselves from uncleanness. Anything associated with sexual immorality is unclean. (Fornication, adultery, sexual perversion lust, etc.) Anything that promotes immorality is unclean. (Questionable dress, appearance, behavior, associations, use of media and blurring gender distinctions.) Anything associated with deceit, dishonesty and guile is unclean. (Lying, stealing, coveting, greed, etc.) Anything associated with defilement of the body is unclean. (Tobacco, alcohol, illegal drugs, drug abuse, mutilation of the body, tattoos, disfigurement). Anything associated with vulgar, base behavior is unclean. (Profanity, dirty jokes, obscenities.)

Does God care about these things? Absolutely! The Word says, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Thank your pastor for preaching the separation principle!

The Prayer Dilemma

“We do not know how we ought to pray.” Romans 8:26

The Little Leaguer steps into the batter’s box, scrapes his cleats on the dirt and takes a few vicious practice swings. Briefly glancing to the sky, he says “Please, God, let me hit a home run.” Out on the mound, the pitcher watches his opponent intently. Gripping the ball tightly, he toes the rubber slab and breathes into his well-oiled glove “Please, God, let me strike him out!” Up in heaven, God surveys the entire scene with some amusement and lets nobody know his decision. In most cases, he seems to answer the prayers of the player who spent the most time in practice. Then again, the player with the most athletic skill gets his way much of the time.

Believers often find themselves caught in the human side of this dilemma. How should we pray? Is it wrong to pray for personal gain? Are our prayers wrong? When we pray for right things, where are the answers? Why does God tell us to ask whatsoever we will in his name when it often seems so ineffective? Does a larger principle govern the whole process?

First of all, let’s admit that we all want certain things, and some of us are willing to do just about anything to get them. James 4:1-5 says, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?” The origin of human conflict lies in the competing interests that we have with others, with nature, with ourselves, and even with God. While we say we believe in equality, we want to be first among equals or at least equal first.

The next verse shows the extent to which we go to get what we want. “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.” Other translations render this verse differently. “You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel.” NASU. We may not actually commit murder, but we may boil over with hatred and murderous intent. More likely, our anxiety causes us to resort to fighting and quarreling with each other. “If God won’t give it to me, I’ll get it myself!”

Much of the time, however, we turn to prayer when nothing else works. “You have not because you ask not.” We kill, covet and wage war. We worry, fret and stew. We speculate, manipulate and negotiate. We strategize, improvise and apologize. It is not so much that we neglect prayer; it is that we perceive it as weak. Rhetoric aside, prayer seems to be the feeble dregs of advice, mumbled by an uninspired mind.

Here is where we find ourselves gored by the horns of the dilemma. “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” Does this scripture mean that we should never ask anything for ourselves? Not quite, but close. There is a difference between wishing for something and praying for it. Pray for transportation, not a Mercedes Benz. Pray for clothing, not designer fashions. Pray for your daily bread, not for the whole loaf.

Prayer elevates and sanctifies its objects. Even as God told Simon Peter not to call the things he cleansed common or unclean, neither should we treat common or unclean things as cleansed or holy. When you pray for something, it takes on a serious, sober intent. Therefore, while temporal goals, carnal desires and frivolous gadgets make appear on our wish list, they don’t deserve our prayers. When we pray for those things, we ask amiss. James is talking about inappropriate praying. We must reserve our prayers for things that have eternal significance.

But what about praying for things with eternal value? Shouldn’t God always answer those prayers? Remember, “asking amiss” also refers to the why and how of a particular prayer, not just to its substance. A few years ago, I earnestly began praying that God would bless our church with a windfall of finance. Why? So I could give huge amounts to foreign missions and other spiritual needs. It didn’t happen. Eventually, God gently let me know that he had lots of ways to get money to the right places. He didn’t need me to be his clearing house. The fact is that many of our “spiritual prayers” are vocalized wishes of a carnal heart. Prayer for revival must not serve human notoriety. Prayer for church growth must not find its basis in pride. Prayer for spiritual triumph must not be a thinly veiled excuse to exalt the one praying.

The prayer dilemma is resolved by praying prayers that truly reflect the heartbeat of God, without regard to the consequences of glory or credit. “The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Romans 8:26.

Thorns Have Roses

“There was given to me a thorn.” 2 Corinthians 12:7

It sneaks through the back door of your consciousness; it looms before your tightly closed eyes in prayer; it pulls you down each time you take a step up; it laughs at your attempts at discipleship; it hollows out your achievements, voids your victories and ridicules your goals. No amount of fasting, prayer, study, counseling, rebuke or encouragement matters. It’s always there. It is your thorn.

We know about bothersome thorns on plants. Other meanings for thorn, however, include a stake for impaling; a surgical instrument; the point of a fishhook; something that causes severe pain or constant irritation. If it’s any consolation, this same nemesis beset the greatest Christian who ever lived. More than nineteen centuries have not eased speculation about Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Was it myopia, cataracts, or epileptic seizures? Earaches or headaches? Maybe malaria, sciatica, rheumatism, recurring nightmares plagued him. Who knows? Or, some may ask, who cares?

Paul cared. Given his proficiency with language, he could have spelled out exactly what he meant by his thorn in the flesh. He chose not to tell. In my experience, things left unsaid reveal as much or more about people as the things they say. Did Paul wrap his thorn in anonymity to avoid jeopardizing his ministry? Possibly. To share some personal, intimate details—-like a congenital problem, disfigurement, predisposition to depression, strained relationships, perceived personality failures—-would be throwing red meat to the dogs. And, the thorniness of a thorn worsens when prudence hides it. Careful analysis of Paul’s excursion into his privacy yields telling truths of his complex psyche to us. In turn, this leads us to a greater understanding of ourselves. This we know: something troubled Paul until his dying day.

The thing about the thorn—-brace yourself—-is that it never goes away. Paul prayed three times for deliverance. Each time, God gently, but firmly, said no. “My grace is sufficient for you.” God forced Paul to factor this impaling stake, this messenger of Satan, into the fabric of his life. As the pain increased, so did the grace. All of Paul’s spiritual exploits, all of his monumental missionary feats, all of the righteous influence he wielded, every inspired scripture he wrote took shape with a throbbing thorn permanently buried deep within his soul. The significance of this fact is simply this: The thorn made Paul what he was. It tempered his divine revelations; it prevented pride from destroying him; it keenly honed his dependence upon God; and it perfected him with God’s strength rather than his own. By refusing to identify the thorn, he focused our attention on what it does rather that what it is.

I grieve to see potential warriors of the church thrashing around for relief from their thorns. They return time after time to the same altar. They chafe against the prickings of problems that never get resolved. And, in their failure to see the value of the thorn, they never achieve the anointing that the thorn can bring. God designed thorns to be catalysts for perfection.

Jesus said, “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you…You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom. Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do!” Matthew 5:3-12. The Message.

Strength requires stress for development. “For two years, scientists sequestered themselves in an artificial environment called Biosphere Two. Inside their self-sustaining community, the Biospherians created a number of mini-environments, including a desert, rain forest, even an ocean. Nearly every weather condition could be simulated except one, wind. Over time, the effects of their windless environment became apparent. A number of acacia trees bent over and even snapped. Without the stress of wind to strengthen the wood, the trunks grew weak and could not hold up their own weight.” Jay Akkerman. Leadership. Tough conditions do make tough people.

“From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Galatians 6:17. Philip Harrelson asks some insightful questions: “Could it be that the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ, the marks of the Cross, were those marks that Paul obtained from the marks of his thorn? Could it be that the thorn was what shaped his life into the image of Christ? Could it be that what caused him to flame with holy fire was the presence of the stakes in hands and in feet? No man will arrive in heaven without some scars that life places upon him. But the scars of life should mark us in the manner of a Cross. The thorn is not to destroy us; it is to equip and empower.” “You can either complain that rose bushes have thorns; or rejoice that thorn bushes have roses.” -Unknown.