To be honest, I am currently really rethinking my theology of prayer and have some concerns about the underlying assumptions that seem to be building in the 24-7 prayer movement; many which I am starting to think are stretching biblical truth to far and counter-productive to a healthy spiritual life. Obviously I support any gathering of the local church around Christ for the purpose of worship or evangelism or works of Justice. But I don't believe in conjuring God in any way, shape or form, which I fear is subtly being taught, inadvertently or consciously.
Conjuring mentality is something that charismatic and Pentecostals have a real problem with in practice and theologically. I am from that wing of the church and over the years I have seen the growing trend towards more and more experiential focused events, music and ministry. And it all begins in the language, mindsets of leaders. I personally dont want to enforce the man centered focus of much of this movement. To me it doesn't exalt Christ or emerge from a finished reality of the work of Christ but a move to move God. It puts man as the one who awakens God, pushes God, calls God down, arranges this or that to somehow convince Him to come or do something...which to me, is dangerously anti-new-covenant.
God is here, He has come, He has been poured out, His work has accomplished most of what we are asking Him to accomplish. I fear there is a host of Christians that have found a way to serve God without really doing anything but talking to each other. The whole temple worship, ministry and pattern is a mere shadow of the REALITY we now HAVE in CHRIST...I have real trouble with teaching that builds on the shadows of the law era. We are in a new covenant that according to Hebrews is "not according to the old" Heb 8:9. So when I see a "rebuilding David's tabernacle" approach either functionally or theologically, I have to pull back. The whole point of "David's Tabernacle" was the inclusion of the gentiles not worship, a grave misapplication of scripture that has been the backbone for a whole lots of unscriptural ideas, teaching and practices. I worship, dance, speak in tongues, prophesy, wave banners, use instruments, sing in the spirit, lay on hands and all that but none of it is meditorial or has any summoning power...no matter how long I do it, how loud I don it, how energetic or skilled I do it.
Much of what I see and hear seems to imply or move people towards this kind of understanding. It becomes not an unveiling of Christ but a work that we accomplish to move Christ. I am concerned that we are going against the apostolic admonition that warns in Romans 10:6 "The righteousness based on faith speaks as follows "Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down...I see that mentality spreading quickly through many branches of the church. We can't bring Christ Down.
I am not writing this to sound elite or aloof but simply desire some theological discussion but the underpinnings of this progression scripturally and as it relates to the gathering together of the saints, local. I have maintained a connection to all things "church of Spokane" out of respect for the elders of the city and the teaching of the new testament and to maintain the unity we all ready have in Christ and will continue to do so but I will also raise these issues as I have a responsibility as an elder in the city as well, to lovingly hold fast to the head, so that we can experience a growth that God causes.
4 comments:
Excellent points, and a discussion I'm ready to get into.
I love the ministry program I was a part of. I loved the people and everything. But...and I believe this is the first time I'm publically saying this...I got the feeling that our leaders had that "conjuring God" thrust. Not just them, a lot of the speakers and leaders I heard over that span of time seemed to go in that direction.
Let me make this perfectly clear, just in case someone on here knows someone out there. I have no issue with the people at that program. They do not hold these theological bearings out of malicousness, it's just what they've been taught.
However, being taught that, for me, was a drain on what I considered an exuberent spiritual life before I went. Being in that teaching was really telling me that I wasn't "in touch enough" with God. Praying (in tounges or otherwise) became a religious act that I had to force myself to do, as with singing in worship.
All of that to say this. Yes, Christ is with us NOW. We don't need to "break through the celing", or shout, or flog ourselves. "Is your god asleep? Perhaps you should yell louder!" as Elijah told the false prohpets, while he himself merely prayed a simple prayer and knew that God would answer it, without theatrics on his part.
We have Christ now. Let's start using what we have (Christ) instead of sitting on our thumbs waiting for something to happen.
I'm really in the dark about this issue and it is new to me. I live in a Christian cave. Anyway, with the brief summary you posted it just brought one thought to my mind from an old Puritan work.
The author escapes me, but he simply stated that our prayers are not prescriptions for God.
That always makes me think when I pray, am I prescribing to God?
It is a tricky because we want God to do things and so we ask him to care for Bob and heal Judy, or be near Larry; but somehow I think God put Bob, Judy and Larry on our hearts because He cares so much more for them than we do. So, I have not the answer of precisly how to pray, but I consider my words more now. Surly, we do not have to ask God to come, maybe we need to pray we have ears to hear?
I don't go to a charismatic church. The church we go to is a small Thai church of simple villagers mixed with some Karen and a few westerners. It's the kind of church that is probably really similar to the ones that were planted a hundred years ago. They sing hyms and read scripture together. They pray good prayers about what is on their heart, without much fanfare. Anyone is welcome to pray and someone from the pews always prays. I find myself very comfortable with it. I like to bow my head and clasp my hands. I have been in services where they get loud and try to get the building to shake and it makes me uncomfortable. I feel like it's man getting excited. I'm not sure it matters, but I think we should do what suits us. I never thought much about all night prayer vigils either though until I did one. When we were in the heaviest of fighting areas in Karen State the commander of that area asked that we participate in an all night vigil. He is not charismatic, but rather old testament. We were not excited about the idea because we were very tired from walking. But we did it. We took turns through the night going into a little hut that had a fire, a bible and a lit candle. The idea was to pray the attacks would stop. I prayed many things and enjoyed the exercise. But wasn't convinced it was any more significant than any other prayer. The next day the attacks stopped.
Matt,
Now there is a prayer meeting I would attend! I am not trying to imply that prayers are not important or that prolonged prayer isn't biblical. When God says to pray all night, you pray all night. That is holy, I wouldn't seek to disdain that. I was trying to get at some underlying theological concerns that I think can harm or hinder our pursuit of the One pursuing us.
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