Prayer Life Lessons

At the very beginning of the book of Daniel, we see that Daniel started small. He set himself apart from the rest of the unbelieving culture around him by his food choices. By the time we got to the second chapter, we know that Daniel had faced his first major test in Babylon, and passed. Did he have a powerful, dynamic prayer life before the test? The Scriptures do not tell us, but we know for sure that he had one by end of the first test!

For me, every trial and test that I passed with the help of God only served to cement the importance of a living relationship with God into my mind. I can get busy, distracted or even rebellious, but sooner or later I will return to seriously worshipping God, praying to him and seeking him in his Word. This was probably the case with Daniel. After he cleared the first major test he probably realized that he needed to walk close with the LORD in order to survive and thrive in Babylon.

Daniel 6:3 (ESV) - Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.

By this time Daniel was no longer merely the royal dream interpreter or the head of the astrology and sorcery department of the Babylonian civil service (the thought of that always tickles me, though I am sure Daniel and the magicians of Babylon did not find it funny). He was actively involved with the day-to-day running of the Persian Empire. And he performed his duties faithfully AND flawlessly (Daniel 6:4).

So his foes sought to make praying illegal, just for the sake of catching Daniel out. Sometimes, I wonder how many other schemes and plots they tried before they figured out that Daniel was only vulnerable through his prayer life. Did they try to tempt him with illicit gain? Did they try to catch him showing partiality to special interest groups? Did they call for audits on his accounts to uncover misuse of government funds? Whatever else they did, nothing worked.

Since I have a lot less responsibilities than Daniel did, that was something for me to really think about!

So the decree was passed. Daniel had just received the news that he could be jailed for his prayer life. What did he do?

Daniel 6:10 – (ESV) … he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.

That verse, with core Hebrew words put in, looks like this:

… He kneeled (b^erak, Strongs’s H#1289 to kneel or to bless) upon his knees three times a day, and prayed (ts^elâ', Strong’s H#6739, to bow down), and gave thanks (y^edâ', Strong’s #3029, to throw up the hands) before his God…

So even at Daniel’s advanced age, prayer was a physical activity. He kneeled, he bowed down and he raised his hands to the LORD. He kept to a private place, yes, but if you ever watched him there you will know for sure he was praying.

Daniel 6:11 – Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying (b^e‛â'  b^e‛âh, Strong’s H#1156, to swell, to gush over, to desire) and making supplication (chănan, Strong’s H#2604, to move to favour via petition, to implore a benefactor to bend over to show favour) before his God.

If the earlier verse didn’t convince you of the intensity of Daniel’s prayer life, this one certainly would. He was literally gushing over to God. He was also imploring, beseeching, earnestly begging that God be gracious (show favour) to him. No timid requests from Daniel, he prayed as if his life depended on it.

And later on we would see that it did!

Another point – When speaking to Daniel, King Darius referred to the LORD as “Your God, whom you serve continually…” The word “serve” in both vs 16 and vs 20 is p^elach, which can also be translated as “worship”. Bear in mind, Daniel was not a priest serving at the Temple of Solomon, he was a full-time civil servant involved with the running of a massive empire. He spent the bulk of his time on secular matters. But consistent, intense prayer three times a day caused King Darius to see Daniel’s prayer life as a life of continual worship and service to God.

Would he say the same of OUR prayer lives?

Conclusion:

There is so much for us to learn from Daniel’s prayer life. We can learn from it

1)      Consistency, even in the midst of a busy and productive secular job;

2)      Frequency, three times a day;

3)      Expressiveness; you can see from even his physical posture he was praying;

4)      Variety, he would engage in worship, thanksgiving and supplication; and

5)      Intensity, imploring, beseeching and pleading for God to be gracious.

More importantly, for those of us holding full-time jobs in the secular world, we can see here what it takes to live a life of continually serving and worshipping God. Praying like Daniel will be a challenge for some of us but it can be done. And I believe even trying for it will cause us to walk closer to God.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s get praying!

The Turning Point

As I shared before, I served in the worship ministry before I had ever encountered God in worship. Or maybe I did, but thought that it was just the effect of really cool music. So coming from that perspective, I ended up assuming worship=music.

And that meant that getting better worship required getting better music. Whatever “better” means…

When I believed that, and didn’t have any conclusive encounter with God through worship, it led to two problems:

1. My own personal worship life was very weak. Why invest time in it if I believed I had to be in a large congregation with a hyper-cool band for it to work? Worship in your own personal prayer time does not always feel good immediately. If you don’t believe in it you will give up easily.
2. I became frustrated with small group worship sessions. I didn’t encounter God in worship there, so I didn’t believe it was possible. Looking back, I realize that it was because most of the worship leaders in the small groups I attended didn’t have enough understanding to stay on a good song long enough for the singing to be unified. A technical issue. And also, they would shy away from the presence of God and choke down everything before things got really intense. Probably a sin-consciousness issue.

But one day…

The leader of my worship team sat us down and said “We’re a worship band, so we’re going to worship God!” And he proceeded to lead us in a worship session that honestly felt like being brought to heaven and back. This session shattered all my wrong ideas just like that. It was a small group (5-6 people) and had simple music (one acoustic guitar). And I KNEW, deep in my heart, that I had just met God in worship.

And I was hooked. Totally hooked!

Not only that, I also wanted to share that same experience, encountering God in worship, with every believer I could. I became totally obsessed with worship and worship ministry; I kept bugging the band leader for his ideas, concepts and opinions.

Now he wasn’t that much of a teacher; he just kind of stumbled across what works, but he couldn’t really explain to me how or why it worked.  So I continued with the smartest thing I ever did: I copied him wholesale. He led worship on solo guitar and it worked, so I started learning how to play the guitar. He would use certain songs and lead them in a certain way, so I would work on the same songs and do them the same way.

And it worked for me too!

Of course there were refinements I needed to make along the way. Things like what key to pitch songs in, how to use music to properly support what I was doing, and nitty-gritty things like that. But I had already achieved what many other worship leaders I knew could only pray and dream about – consistent success in leading worship. I would be able to bring the worship as deep and as intense as it could go that session, and the worshippers would encounter God, be blessed by him and want to seek him in worship more and more.

So, is that it? Was that all? Did I live happily ever after, end of story? Not quite. There still remained one more important step to reach and milestone to achieve. But it’s getting really late for me now, so I’ll share with you the story next time. In the meantime, be blessed!

Behind The Pastor's Back

As you probably know, I serve at a few churches during the week. Just yesterday, as I was running errands, I met someone who regularly attends one of those services I serve at. It was an interesting conversation, because he basically wanted me to change my style of playing.

Him: "the way you play when Pastor leads the people in prayer after preaching, very stagnant. No flow. You must flow…"

Under other circumstances I would have asked him what he meant by flow. After all, it could refer to a musical flow (which I know I have) or a spiritual flow (which I believe I have). However, I felt there was no need to find out more, because I wasn’t going to change my style of playing.

Me: "I'm playing the way Pastor wants me to play. He told me to play this way, so that is how I am going to play."

Him: "I've known Pastor for a long time already. And I've been playing for 40 years. I went to Berklee (a famous college for contemporary and jazz music). You cannot play like that, you must flow…"

By now I suspected that he meant to play more spontaneously, to use Pastor's exhortation time as an opportunity to display whatever musical chops I have. Whatever he meant didn't really matter, because I already had instructions from the Pastor. And I'm not going to change stuff like that without checking with the Pastor first.

But why would I need to check with the Pastor anyway? He's got a lot on his plate, and he already has the habit of telling me whatever he wanted me to know. Bugging him about trivia like that is implying his instructions weren't clear enough, or that he didn't know what he was doing. No thanks!

So I took the easy way out.

Me: "Since you say you have known Pastor for some time, how about YOU talk to him about it? I'll just do what he tells me…"

Him: "Cannot, he's not a musician so he won't know. You must change it yourself."

Err, wait a minute. He's not a musician, but he has been in ministry even longer than I have. Am I to believe that during all that time, having ministered in many different churches around the world, he hasn't come across different styles of music and he doesn't know what type works best for him?

He could see I was not convinced.

Him: "Do you know (mega-church A) and (mega-church B)? I trained their musicians. You think I can only play one instrument? I can play more than one instrument! When I tell the chief musician (of the church I am serving at) to flow, he does it. Even the other guy, who played for the service when you were not there, flows better than you…"

I haven't listened to the worship team from mega-church B, but I did know that mega-church A had a team of immature musicians, who were professional only in the sense that they were being paid, not in terms of their musicality. Those musicians tended to overplay and get in each other's way, and overall the sound would be too cluttered to let the congregation sing their hearts out. So the congregation would spend most of the worship time standing there and watching the show up on the stage.

You can guess that I was less than impressed by his name dropping. I wanted to tell him "So it's YOUR fault that band is so lousy? No wonder…" but I knew God wouldn't approve of me being THAT direct. So I switched back to my one and only argument.

Me: "OK, so if Pastor thinks the other guy is better, then he can tell me to play like him. So far, Pastor hasn't told me to play like him, so…"

Him: "They can flow. Why can't you? No wonder your playing is so stagnant."

Me:"I've played other ways before, and Pastor has told me he wants it this way, so I am going to play it this way."

Him: "He's not a musician, he won't know. You must change, you must flow, then he will come and tell you that you are correct."

OK, this was going too far. One problem that has plagued many charismatic churches – some people think they hear from God better than the pastor does, and they don't want to discuss things with the pastor first. They deliberately choose to ignore or disobey the pastor's instructions on a specific matter. Those people then expect God to vindicate their disobedience by blessing them with obviously supernatural fruit, so the pastor has to swallow his pride and admit they were right all along.   

Hear this from me – no good will ever come out of doing this. Either get the agreement of your church pastor, submit to his instructions or leave to find another church. By this time I already realized that this person was NOT worth listening to. He may have music knowledge, but his understanding of the things of God was very lacking.

So I brought up the only topic that seemed to bug him, the pastor.

Me: "How about this? How about YOU play, then we let Pastor decide?"

He didn't like that, so he changed the topic.

Him: "Why, when you play, you don't play there and there (indicating the higher and lower parts of the keyboard), you only play here (indicating the middle)? I might as well chop off the top and bottom parts!"

God is my witness, he was THAT inane, thinking that playing solo piano accompaniment for worship was to be done the same way as playing for some show at Berklee. If other Berklee grads are like him, Berklee ought to get me to teach Musicianship 101. The fellow went back to his mantra of the day.

Him: "You must flow!"

Me: "You can flow?"

Him: "Of course!"

Me: "OK, then you play and show Pastor. We let him decide, OK?"

I guess he really had no answer, so he started getting personal.

Him: "I can flow, but can you follow it or not? Your playing is like sleeping! You ought to humble yourself. Other people can follow what I tell them, why not you?"

Me: "OK, then you play and we let Pastor decide, OK?"

By this time I guess he had enough. So he walked off. I wasn't too smart yesterday morning, it took me so long to figure out how to drive him away – keeping mentioning the Pastor! It was like showing a cross to a vampire, it might take a while but it will work in the end. Now I know what to say to him the next time we meet at the service…

The Point Is…

As you can tell from my previous posts, I can be very dogmatic. When I have the authority to tell musicians what to do, I fully expect them to follow my instructions. I don't want them changing things behind my back or without checking with me first.

And because I believe in treating people the same way I want to be treated (Matt 7:12), this is also how I follow instructions from my leaders as well. Don't expect me to try out suggestions and ideas from other people without checking with my church leaders first.

If you find yourself in the same place I was, with someone trying his or her best to get you to disobey clear instructions from your church leader or pastor, you may also find it helpful to do what I did – suggest that THEY themselves go discuss with the pastor or leader themselves. If they are sincere and have nothing to hide, they would be more than happy to.

But if the suggestion only seems to frustrate them into insulting you or arguing with you, you know they have an agenda and something to hide. Don't let yourself be manipulated by such people, OK?

Be blessed!

Giving to the Poor

"You must be led by the Spirit when it comes to giving to the poor."

Do you agree or disagree with that idea?

I've met a number of people who say that we should not give to the poor without the specific leading of God. Some of them argue from this passage in the parable of the Prodigal Son.

"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!" (Luke 15:17, NIV)

Their reasoning is:

1) The son came to his senses because he was starving.

2) What if someone gave him food before that? Would that not have delayed him coming to his senses, or maybe even short-circuited the process?

3) We cannot tell where poor people are at in their lives, if they are just about to come to their senses if their suffering lasts a little longer;

Therefore we need to inquire of the Spirit before giving to the poor, whether we should give and, if so, how much.

Here's My Answer

Firstly, anyone who can be bothered to just skim through the Bible will know God commands us to give to the poor.

In the Old Testament:

"During the seventh year, let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove." (Exodus 23:11 NIV)

And again,

"When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 23:22 (NIV)

All that is about leaving food for the poor to pick up. Notice it didn't say we need to be careful about who we leave the food behind for, nor does it warn us that letting the poor eat may delay them from coming to their senses. How about giving to them directly?

If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs… Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. (Deu 15:8-9, 10, NIV)

And in the New Testament:

Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." (Matthew 19:21, NIV)

Notice that Jesus did NOT say "follow me and I'll tell you who are the poor you should give to"? He also tells us not only to give to the poor, but to go one step further and have fellowship with them.

"But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind." (Luke 14:13, NIV)

Let's compare the "Spirit-led" reasoning and my answer.

In their thinking, only the first point is supported by Scripture. The second is a --what-if-- and –maybe--. The third is true. But the conclusion, that we need to be led by the Spirit to give to the poor, is based entirely on the --what-if-- and –maybe-- given in the second point.

It is NOT directly stated in the Bible at all, nor do we see it demonstrated anywhere in the Bible. It looks good and sounds very spiritual, but it is only human teaching. And Jesus' opinion of that is "They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." (Matthew 15:9, NIV)

I Understand Where They Are Coming From

I really do. Poverty is actually a spiritual problem, and the poor very often are poor because of some attitudes, beliefs and wrong ideas that they hold. After all, everything we see in our lives originates first from our hearts (Pro 4:23) and we experience physical prosperity is tied in with our soul-prosperity (3 John 2). So we can argue that if someone is poor there may be some spiritual problem causing it, or some spiritual lesson the person has to learn in order to get out of poverty. Maybe.

And I have seen some poor people who only care about milking you for all they can get. They may say they don't want to be poor, but they are still doing the things that keep them poor. They also avoid doing what will bring them financial provision and abundance. As long as they can get a hand-out from you, they have no motivation to change their lifestyle and behaviour. And they will stay in the cycle of poverty.

So if you decide that because of that you will NOT give to the poor, or you will give only to very selected cases, I understand fully. But please don't try to justify your decision with spiritual-sounding clichés and jargon. Call it what it is, a personal decision or personal conviction. Don't mention the Holy Spirit to make your decision sound more acceptable, I believe that is misusing the name of God (Exo 20:7).

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."( 1 John 3:17-18, NIV)

Why Am I Talking About All This?

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Hebrews 13:15-16. NIV)

Because giving to the poor is also tied in with worship. When you give to the poor, God calls it a sacrifice that pleases him. Some people think they should not give to the poor because they are struggling to make ends meet. That's like saying that only those with good voices should sing praises to God. It's disobeying the clear commands of Scripture.

In case you misunderstand, I'm not financially rich myself. There are always things to pay for, expenses I know are coming up and unexpected problems that cost money. So I following this command isn't easy for me either. But I will still find ways to do it. And there will always be ways.

Here's An Example

One day I was meeting a customer at a church in a poorer district of Singapore. There an unkempt woman with a scrawny little boy (about the same age as Jessiah) approached me and asked for a few dollars to feed her son. And as she talked the smell of alcohol hit me smack in the face.

Dilemma: Should I give her a few dollars, knowing she will throw it away on alcohol and leave her son hungry? Or walk away and leave the poor boy hungry? Both were unacceptable to me.

So I decided to take charge of the situation and overwhelm the woman with enthusiasm. "What?!??!? Your son is hungry? Little boy, how old are you?" I spoke to the boy directly. The kid was surprised at me talking to him directly, but he answered me with Jess' age at that time. "You're hungry? I'll buy food for you!" And I dragged mother and son off to a nearby food stall, told the boy to order what food he wanted and told the stallholder to pack a larger portion of rice, meat and veg for the boy and his mother.

"Boy, are you thirsty?" "I'm OK, I drink water from a tap." "No boy, that's not good enough. Come with me!" And I went over to a nearby convenience shop and bought them bottled water (Singapore water is fluoridated, bleah!!!) and apples too. It was fun actually, because I was both feeding the poor (as God commanded) AND playing along with the mother. You should have seen the look on her face as she saw me paying for the food and water. Total dismay. All that money that she could have spent on beer, and not a cent going to her! I spent more than the few dollars she was hoping for, and she couldn't stop me without admitting that she only wanted the money for beer.

In the meantime, I kept talking to the boy. It was heart-warming to see how happy he was. I made sure the food was enough for both him and his mother, and if she chose not to eat it but to get drunk instead, then the boy would have enough for 2-3 meals. On top of that, I talked to the boy as if he was an intelligent fellow, deserving dignity. He was a good kid, I could tell from the time I spent with him.

Finally, when I HAD to leave, the mother made one last try, asking for a few dollars again. And I could honestly tell her that I was out of cash, showing her my empty wallet. And I needed to rush off for another appointment. And with a cheery "God bless you!" to the son I left. She got what she asked for, but not what she wanted. Hahaha!

Conclusion:

I share the above story not to boast of my good works (many people do more than me, and much more often) but to show that there are always ways to help the poor. You just need to be a little bit more creative. It doesn't have to be just money, you can organize a church outing to clean the homes of some poor people, the aged who are staying by themselves and cannot clean up their homes.

And just as I have discovered that things go better in my life when I take time out to praise God, I believe you will find things going better in your life as you make the effort to do good and share with others. Be blessed!