Part of my traditional New England upbringing was to learn to maintain boundaries between private issues, family matters, and public information. When I asked my parents what they were talking about, at times I heard, “Well, it doesn’t concern you.” Nothing gruff, like “it’s none of your business,” no “you wouldn’t understand.” Just, “if you needed to know, we’d tell you.” It’s the polar opposite to the tell-all autobiography, the Kardashian, Povichian, let-me-show-you-where-my-appendix-scar-is-itchin’ culture in which we daily bathe. That probably explains my reticence about sharing the details of my private devotional life, which I’m as eager to declare publically as I would be to tell you what I whisper to the missus.
Nevertheless, I’ve been learning that to teach others to pray is one must provide an example. Much of what I know about prayer has been by listening to older believers as they approach God (this teaching method is sometimes called mimesis). So, if I blog or teach, I’m not just to communicate “doctrine” but also demonstrate prayer.
Let me share some principles that guide me, and then the personal details:
- I go to devotions repeating to myself, “There is nothing remotely more pressing on my agenda than what I’m about to do.” Not preaching, not teaching, not writing.
- I spend a lot of my day preparing classes, teaching, preaching or writing. I mean sometimes 10 hours in the Word. It’s not enough. Sometimes I run into preachers who tell me that preparing their sermon or praying at meetings gives them all the spiritual nutrition they need. I remain doubtful, but I guess it’s between them and their Maker; I for one don’t see how it could work. My own Bible study is “just for me.”
- I have a “Devotions in Progress” sign for my door; I’m talking with the King of the Universe, for goodness’ sake.
- Whenever one opens the Bible, it is with the Spirit working through the heart and the mind, at the same time: There is no such thing as “devotional” Bible study that neglects careful reading in context. There is no true Bible study that doesn’t include meditating on its meaning for life.
- I usually put all of my reading time into the Bible rather than devotional books. Occasionally I’ll add on Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening, but other books (Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship, for example) are not for devotional time per se but for later.
- Sometimes my Bible reading includes a psalm or a New Testament reading in the original languages, but only if it doesn’t become a distraction.
- Meditation is meditation on God’s truth. Good meditation also requires a quieted mind, but not an emptied one. Nor is yoga Biblical meditation.
- Prayer must include at the least praise, confession of sin and repentance, petition for God to intervene in specific ways, and grateful thanks for what he has done.
- Reading and praying aloud is more suitable than doing it all in one’s head: that’s a long-standing tradition, and educational specialists are now beginning to confirm that what we say aloud “sticks” better.
- I have no firm opinion on this, but with regard to technology: having devotions on my laptop is a distraction; having them with my iPad is a completely positive experience. A principle might be: If you have devotions with computer, smart phone or iPod, will you say “excuse me” to God and answer some random text or Tweet? Then I suggest you find another way to have devotions. Some Christians turn off all technology.
- If I miss a day? I tell God I’m sorry; I salvage what can be salvaged for today; and get myself ready for our next time together.
- And finally: although I regard a solid daily devotional time as a crucial for my ministry – the most important thing I can do for my students –, I would like to think that I would do the same if I were not in Christian work. I’m at a stage of my life where we don’t have small children to draw our attention; nevertheless, this is similar to plans I’ve followed in other years.
And now for the details. My devotional life gets a refit usually every New Year, so 2012 resembles not at all what I did in 2011 or 1995:
Morning. I spend between 30-60 minutes (usually around 45) in prayer and Bible reading. Bible study: Because I hadn’t done it for a while, this year I’m following a “Bible in One Year” program that I really like; it involves 3-4 chapters a day. I try to slow down and if it’s possible read aloud in order to keep myself paced. Prayer: I maintain a prayer log on an iPad app (see below), where I write down the names of all my students, my co-workers, family members, unsaved people, ministries that Karen and I are involved in, specific requests for ESEPA, issues of my own spiritual walk, etc. I keep a running list of specific requests about my own heart, mind and soul. I keep another diary where I write down what I’ve read, commented on my prayers and write down other lessons of the day. Besides requests which I’ve put in a calendar, I pray for other things which the Spirit brings to mind. My written list is the minimum, not the total, of what I’ll pray for.
During the day. I try to pray at random times, and in particular before doing new tasks and also at mid-day.
Evening. This additional devotion time happens maybe 5 times a week, when I spend another period of time in prayer and the reading of Psalms, perhaps for 30 minutes. In the evening I read less Scripture, but read it deeply and repeatedly: first, going through it to gain its general meaning in context; then meditating on its meaning for me, asking the Spirit to guide me as I read slowly; then using the text as the basis for prayer. Some people use the term Lectio Divina, while others argue (wrongly, I believe) that LD is per se a “New Age practice.” What I do isn’t New Age by any stretch, so let’s call it “meditative Bible reading.” If my Bible reading is faster-paced in the morning, it’s quieter and more reflective in the evening. I believe both methods are valid.
What else can I tell you? Probably the most interesting point is that, despite a Baptist background that doesn’t use much liturgy, I have used the Book of Common Prayer for the last decade (sometimes the version by the Reformed Episcopal Church). I also use the wonderful collection of Puritan prayers called The Valley of Vision – that might help my Reformed comrades to accept the usefulness of written prayers. Many believe that prayer which is spontaneous and unplanned is more authentic or more likely to be Spirit-led. This has certainly not been my experience, nor am I convinced by Scripture that if we pray with no agenda the Spirit will infallibly guide us to pray right. By following a guideline, I’m pushed more deeply in prayer. For example, when a person confesses sin, it tends to run, “Now, what did I do wrong today?” The BCP disciplines me to remember before God, “We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves.” That puts “sin” on a whole other level of nuance, in the category of “things we have left undone.” It’s relatively easy to say “I have no known sins on my conscience”; it is impossible to say: “Today I have loved God as I should.” The BCP also reminds me to pray for missions, people in government, the unemployed, the people in prison, for addicts, for world peace, you name it.
That is a general description. I hardly regard it as the Gold Standard for devotions; I have friends who spend far more time in prayer than I do. But it is what we’ve put together for 2012, and I’m highly blessed by what I receive, the biblical instruction and the intimacy it helps create with God.
RESOURCES:
Tools are only tools, and I have never found a bag of tricks to guarantee a good time of devotions. I like the following, maybe you will too:
Read through the Bible: some years I read a short passage every day, some years I read through the whole Bible. This is the cleverest Bible in a Year Program I’ve ever encountered: “Bible Reading Program for Slackers & Shirkers.” It assumes you will occasionally miss a day, so it has a built-in safeguard against getting discouraged. I’ve tweaked it a little for myself (See http://ransomfellowship.org/articledetail.asp?AID=378&B=Margie%20Haack&TID=7).
Book of Common Prayer: for many years I have used Mission St. Clare’s program. This is a Protestant website. You click on the day in the calendar, and it provides prayers, Bible readings, hymns complete with words and music. Go to http://www.missionstclare.com/english/, click on Rite II and Calendar on the left-hand side.
A collection of prayers by Puritans: The Valley of Vision, ed. Arthur G. Bennett (http://www.amazon.com/Valley-Vision-collection-Puritan-Devotions/dp/0851512283/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329943055&sr=8-1). Also available from Amazon in leather-bound for a good price. There is a companion website that I thought was helpful, called Walking through the Valley of Vision (http://www.joethorn.net/valley/). By the way, I would not recommend the similarly-themed book A Treasury of Prayers by Fortosis.
Prayer Journal. Pocket Prayer Pro HD is a fantastic app, with plenty of flexibility. You can add pictures, arrange a prayer calendar, mark down when prayers are answered. It takes just a couple of minutes to learn it. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocket-prayer-pro-lite-prayer/id359866395?mt=8
Journal. I use the nice and simple My Daily Journal app to write down when I had devotions, what I read, how I prayed, what I learned.
Online Hymns. There are several sites; the one I like is The Cyber Hymnal at http://www.hymntime.com/tch/ It gives lyrics and plays the music.
“How I have Devotions,” by Gary Shogren, Professor of New Testament, Seminario ESEPA, San Jose, Costa Rica
How I have devotions
“So I once knew a guy who…” Part I of Are preachers allowed to stretch the truth?
A famous visiting preacher, the Rev. Johnson, is wrapping up his message on sacrificial love. He concludes with a story:
In the church where I used to be the pastor, there was a boy named Jimmy, 10 years old. He was good-hearted and liked by everyone in the neighborhood. One day Jimmy saw the little girl next door run out into the street after a lost ball, just when a truck came barreling towards her. Jimmy didn’t have to think twice – he dove into the street and pushed the girl out of the way, but not quickly enough so he could escape; the truck knocked Jimmy flat. The driver jumped down and held Jimmy while he was dying. Later, choking back the tears, he told the boy’s parents: “The last thing he said was, ‘Mister, tell my folks it’s okay; I just did what Jesus would have done.’”
The preacher’s voice catches as he tells the story; he concludes his message, and there is not a dry eye in the house.
You are so taken with this story that you try to track down more information. To your disappointment, you find out that the newspaper in that town had never run any such story about anyone even resembling “Jimmy.” What’s more, the local police have no record of such an accident. So, Jimmy never said those words; he never saved that little girl; in fact, Jimmy never existed. It was all made-up; a gripping story, but untrue. [1] (For our purposes, we will use the word “untruth” rather than “lie”, since untruth is a broader category).
Given that the story had its desired effect – people left the building, dedicated to be more loving – was the preacher justified in inventing the story, even giving a name and composing the lad’s final words? Does the end justify the means? I will argue that he does not. Even further, can Rev. Johnson fall back on the defense, “Wellll now, it was just an illustration to make a point”? A news reporter would be fired for taking that same liberty.
Whether in sermons, political speeches or motivational talks I have sometimes sensed that a “true story” that “really happened” sounded just a little too perfect. I’ve wondered how come some preachers seem to have experiences that lend themselves neatly to sermon illustrations, while the events of my life don’t come out so tidy. I suspect I might be hearing a fiction or, as Hollywood assures us, a tale “based on a real story”.
To have your book recommended by Oprah’s Book Club is virtually a guarantee that sales will skyrocket. That’s what happened in 2005, when she announced that James Frey’s autobiography, A Million Little Pieces, was a must-read. The publisher advertised it as a “brutally honest” report. Frey wrote how he had been an outlaw, wanted in three states, in prison multiple times, on drugs, in a train accident, that is, he was living proof of what goes wrong when young people go astray. He sold millions of copies; but then much to Oprah’s chagrin, it turned out that the publisher had not properly verified the facts. Many of the key events were simply made-up: his only jail time was a few hours he spent in the local lockup while a friend arranged bail. [2] (more…)
The Night that the Rivers Rose and the Sky Fell
“There are two kingdoms, the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God. One works one way and the other another way. And you can really see the difference between them.” That was how Pastor Flor summed up her ministry. I’m visiting her home and her work in a shantytown (or precario), along with my own pastor, Marvin of Nazareth Bible Church. Maybe the best symbol for the two kingdoms is the holes that pepper the outside of Flor’s church. Marvin sticks his little finger in one and draws my attention: “Do you know what these are? Bullet holes. The drug lords shot it out here one day and this is a reminder.” They make sure that I saw the man seated a few feet from the church, smoking crack cocaine.
We are walking through one of the most notorious precarios of the region. When I mentioned to a friend that I was going there, she exclaimed ¿Por qué? and made me promise to be careful. The name of the place is synonymous with narcotics, violence, prostitution, and murder. In short, the drug lords run the town. To get here, we drove a 
mere 5 minutes from ESEPA Bible College and Seminary where I teach, a cheerful place with well-lighted classrooms and happy students. Then we entered another planet. It is a village that takes up only 10 acres or so. Yet some 6 to 8 thousand people are crammed in. You have to cross a narrow foot bridge over a river in order to enter. While we waited for the pastor to meet us there, a couple of ladies spoke to us and pointed to the spot where I was standing. “This is where they murdered that taxi driver on Saturday night,” they said. “He drove too close, and they broke in to the car, dragged him out, took his clothes and car and everything and left him for dead.” “Right here?” I said. They nodded. (more…)
Tim Tebow punts on false teaching
Along with all true New Englanders, I cheered when the Patriots beat back the Denver Broncos on Jan 14, and went on to win the AFC championship.
Tebow spots a wolf
Nevertheless, Denver’s Tim Tebow earns a tip of the cap, not just for his prayers and public testimony, but for his spiritual discernment. He had agreed to speak at a conference by Rev. Rod Parsley, but quickly cancelled when he learned exactly what Parsley preaches.
Rod Parsley (the “Breakthrough” TV show, World Harvest Church) represents the Pillage-and-Plunder Division of the Prosperity Gospel, aka Word of Faith or Rhema teaching. Word of Faith shows up on our TV screens through the Trinity Broadcasting Network and in the words of Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copland, Creflo Dollar, and throughout Latin America. Like several other prominent Word of Faithers, Parsley teaches the Oneness doctrine, that is, he denies the trinity. Last year he asked his followers to donate $1 million each in order to buy protection from Satan. This is not Christianity; it’s a protection racket.
Tebow was to have spoken at Parsley’s “Contending for the Faith Weekend” in March, along with Kenneth Copeland. The Saturday schedule will include an “anointing meeting” for which the entry fee is, you guessed it, to be a financial contributor to his ministry. I guess “it is not to the sick I came to save,” but the sick who are still strong enough to write a check.
The sad thing about Tebow’s decision is that plenty of Christians will not grasp why mere theological details should affect where one should or shouldn’t speak. Can’t he go and give a nice pep talk for the young people and trust the Lord for the results? In fact, no. The only appropriate message from such a toxic pulpit is “Why Your Pastor’s Message is a Deception.” To do anything else is collusion. A true Christian is not simply “nice”; he or she also makes unpleasant decisions when necessary.
I’ve spoken before groups of many denominations, and I don’t focus on “why my group is right and yours is wrong”; in fact, I lead off with a smile and a “Now, what do we have in common?” and go from there. But I don’t do that in the case of Word of Faith groups – I give them a heads-up that if I am invited, I will plan to speak against their doctrine. Word of Faith is not “another denomination”; it is another gospel, which distorts the doctrines of sin, the atonement and in many cases, the trinity.
Tebow had the spiritual sense to punt on this one.
The just shall live BY FATE?
I occasionally visit an English-language church in San José, attended by African-Caribbean believers. For me, their English is harder to understand than most Spanish.
A few months ago, a lady behind me was leading us in prayer, and for a heart-stopping 15 seconds I thought she said that we Christians “live according to Fate.” What in the world…? Then I realized that with her accent the “th” sound comes out as “t” – ah, that’s better, she said that we live according to faith. Phew. One the truth, the other not, and just one letter separating them.
Two philosophies vie for our attention. One is Fatalism, the belief in Fate: qué será, será, whatever will be, will be.
The 3 Fates from Greek myth
And so, for example, a girl asks, Will this boy like me? and her friend answers, “Well, I believe that if it’s meant to be, then it’ll happen.” Into this category of Fate we can also throw other odds and ends: astrology, Mayan Calendars, Nostradamus. But some Christians view the world that way: “If it’s God’s will, it’ll happen, if it’s not, it won’t, so relax, what will be, will be.” Listen, I believe in the Sovereign God, but we sometimes act as if “God’s Will” is binding on God himself. “God cannot act contrary to his will,” to be sure; but that doesn’t mean that his will is a straitjacket.[1] Part of this error is the idea that prayer does not change things, but only changes the attitude of the pray-er to accept what would have happened anyway. More about prayer later (more…)
Can stay-at-home Dads be “real men”?
I guess I came in late for this controversy: from 2008 there’s a YouTube clip of a famous preacher and his wife, responding to the question: “What are your thoughts on stay at home dads if the woman really wants to work?”[1]
“Too many guys take too little responsibility” was part of the answer, one with which I fully resonate. We have a culture where men play at being boys well into their adult years. At a time when their fathers and grandfathers had buckled down to marriage and a job or were off fighting Nazis, some guys focus on playing the field or playing paintball until they’re, well, practically my age. The women are complaining and they oughta be. These guys need to hear a Word about their behavior.
But let’s put them to one side, since the gist of their response was something else: If men are not the primary bread-winners in the family, they are not doing “what the Word says.” Parenting must be done principally by the mother, not just “anyone,” not even the father. The idea of a father staying at home to focus on raising children is a perverted idea, taken from our modern culture, not the Bible. These men are “conformed to this world.” Such behavior would even by “a case for church discipline.”
Okay, let’s see “what the Word says.” (more…)
‘Twas the Day after Christmas (Luke 2:8-20) – Part II
In the first part of this blog, we saw how the shepherds heard the angels’ message, saw the Christ child and went out to proclaim what they had seen. We too should pass on the entire gospel message, not just parts of it. But there is a second application for the Christian, one that pushes us past superficial application of Luke’s gospel:
II. We should tell the message in a way that will be understood
In this case, we will not simply imitate what the shepherds did, but will honor their spirit and intention. Please notice that the shepherds were Jewish, and the people they told about Jesus would also have been Jewish. In fact, the angel spoke in terms that a Jewish person would have understood, using words like city of David, a Savior, Christ, the Lord, “Glory to God in the highest”.
Let’s play a game of “what if.” As far as we know, the shepherds did not speak to non-Jews, that is, gentiles. If the gentiles had heard the same message in the same language they would have understood it very differently than the 
Jews did. For example, “Savior” was one of the titles used by the Roman emperor – Caesar Augustus was “Savior” of the world, the one who brought it peace. “Christ” means “the Anointed One,” that is, a royal figure. The pagans also applied the terms “lord” and “god” to their idols. This means that if gentiles had accidently heard their message, they would not have heard it the way it was intended. To them it would have come across as badly distorted: “A new king has been born, he is a divine offspring of the Greek god Zeus, may Zeus be highly praised!”
If you and I are not speaking to people just like us, with our background, they will likely misunderstand us. Whose job is it to make him- or herself understood? One fundamental rule of communication is that it is the speaker, the person who is trying to communicate a message, who is responsible to make the message understandable. One of the things we do when someone doesn’t speak English is we speak louder, under the assumption that the message will get through with higher volume. Christians do the same thing, with equally poor results. (more…)
Is there healing in the atonement?
A friend writes asks about 1 Pet 2:24-25, where Peter alludes to Isa 53:4-6 – “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.” He states: I have always taken this to mean that by His stripes we are “forgiven”, not “physically” healed of some infirmity, though certainly, by being forgiven of something, especially of our sins, there can certainly be a physical healing as well. I have always bounced this verse off the verse in Isaiah 53:5 where it says that “by his wounds we are healed”. I’ve been hearing a lot of teaching where our physical healing comes through His stripes that He bore for us….
Thanks for the question! I know of three perspectives on this question of “healing in the atonement.” I agree with one, partially affirm the second, and wholly reject the third. (more…)
‘Twas the Day after Christmas (Luke 2:8-20) – Part I
Burned into our memory is the fact that the shepherds saw the angels, went to Bethlehem and worshiped the baby Jesus. All the Nativity displays end that way, with the shepherds fixed in place. But in fact, Christmas day was the very beginning of the shepherds’ story, since they rushed right out and began to tell others what they had seen.
We read Luke’s gospel and see what the shepherds did – but what do we do to wrap up the Christmas season?
- We measure the diagonal on the wide-screen TVs,
- We rush out to spend our Christmas money.
- We Facebook our friends about going on diets to work off the eggnog.
- We return the gifts we didn’t like, plot to regift others in 2012, or wonder whether we should wait two years to regift, to make sure memories will have faded.
- We haul the tree to the curb, because they won’t let you burn it.
- We buy the discount wrapping paper and ribbon and store them away until next time.
The shepherds’ spiritual career began on Christmas. (more…)
How does one choose a Bible commentary?
“When you’re deciding which commentary to add to your library, what are the most important things to consider?” So asked Logos Bible Software on Facebook? To summarize my response:
1. Careful attention to the text, not an “agenda” (I see too many famous “exegetes” who merely reiterate what they already “know to be true”). I’m Reformed, but also thoroughly enjoy Wesley, the Greek and Latin Fathers, Catholics, Pentecostals, so long as they’re really dealing with the text. An ability to see the Big Picture. A commitment to theology and praxis. Open to seriously consider new ways of looking at the text.
2. Date. I read a lot of ancient works; for my 1 Corinthian commentary, I was constantly in 1 Clement, Tertullian, Origen, John Chrysostom, Theodoret of Cyr and others. Nevertheless it’s hit-and-miss with the “classic” commentaries. Logos just put out a large group of century-old commentaries on 1 Corinthians for $40 – a great price, but I’ve used Goudge et al.in my own studies, and would have rather spent that same money on a single book, such as Fee, Thiselton or Witherington. Books are usually cheap for a reason – their copyright is expired. You will get what you pay for.
Look for value, not a bargain
There is a myth that “older is better,” but this simply is not so: older writers worked with much less reliable data than do modern writers; they were not necessarily more sound in their theology nor spiritually deeper. I could not imagine recommending, for example, the Pulpit Commentary.
3. Grasp of the Original Languages. A commentary is not reliable just because it refers to the Greek and Hebrew. There are plenty of works, especially those published before the 1960s, where the author shows a poor grasp of semantics. I found Ernest Best’s commentary on 1-2 Thessalonians to be very useful; nevertheless, it is sprinkled with misunderstandings about the meaning of the Greek verb system. I won’t list other commentators, but there are very popular preachers and writers who apparently have just a couple of years of seminary Greek, and it shows.
4. Doctrine of the Spirit’s Illumination. The more I study and write, always hoping I’m using a sound hermeneutic, the more I discard the idea of “don’t look to the Spirit for a true interpretation.” I was taught to read the Bible like I would read a newspaper, but now that idea is repellant to me. When I read a paper, I have no prior commitment to accept it’s spin on the news; if I don’t like an editorial, I feel free to shrug if off or to write a letter to the editor. When I read the Bible, I’ve already decided to believe it, AND obey it, AND share it with others. None of this is possible without the Spirit’s direct help. One of the reasons I like authors like, for example, Gordon Fee or J. I. Packer or the late John Stott, is that without flaunting their spirituality, they give the impression of, “Here is a believer who seeks the Spirit in his research.” Bible study is a science, but not purely a science. Click HERE for an article on prayer and preaching.
5. I also would add that there is usually excellent help in Tremper Longman’s Old Testament Commentary Survey; and D.A. Carson’s New Testament Commentary Survey. Both are regularly updated.
- Aramaic
- Bible
- Bible study
- Biblical languages
- Church history
- Commentaries
- Contemporary theologians
- Discernment
- Divine guidance
- God's Will
- Greek of the New Testament
- Hebrew
- Holy Spirit
- Illumination
- J. I. Packer
- John Chrysostom
- John Wesley
- Origin
- Original language Bible
- Prayer
- Preaching
- Tertullian
on February 9, 2012 at 3:26 pm Comments (2)Tags: Bible, commentaries