A Prayer for Spiritual Healing

In at least four places the New Testament teaches us about the inner struggle between the soul and the sinful flesh. Paul calls it a war in Galatians five. In Romans seven he describes the agony Christians experience when "the good that I will to do I do not do..." Peter warns us of the "fleshly lusts that war against the soul." James also reminds us that "the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously..."

Above all of this there are spiritual attacks that come from outside of us either through evil spirits or through those under the control of those same spirits. It is inevitable that the Christian will suffer spiritual wounds, either self-inflicted or otherwise.

From time to time I feel great spiritual pain over things I have said or haven't said; things I've done or haven't done. The pain just doesn't go away. The word "Satan" means "accuser," and that is exactly what he does. He makes me feel the pain of deep spiritual wounds. Sometimes it seems to me that my soul has been bitten, and there is a venom that lingers on and on. I am just sick, spiritually sick.

God knows this, and in His love He not only explains what is happening, He also heals these wounds to the soul. Isaiah foretold that Jesus would bring healing through "his stripes." Malachi, the last Hebrew prophet, also said of Jesus, "The Sun of righteousness will arise with healing in His wings." Both Jesus and His apostles healed people who were "tormented by unclean spirits."

This is when a Christian begins to understand all those past teachers in the church who kept talking about how sweet the Gospel is. At first we believe it because it is true. But eventually we realize it as we experience the pain of the sinful flesh and of evil spirits. We know how true these words are: "There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole; There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul."

So I pray:

Dear God, Holy and Gracious God,

I am so sorry that I acted foolishly. I opened a door and let temptation in. I wasn't paying attention. I drifted into that no-man's-land where nothing good can come. Forgive me for Jesus' sake. Have mercy on me, a sinner.

I know You still love me. I know that You are still patient with me. I know I don't deserve it. I believe that You forgive me. I believe that for Christ's suffering and death You take away my sin. I appreciate that in my baptism, in all the promises of Your word, and in body and blood of Christ... for the forgiveness of sin.

Dear God, for Jesus' sake, please heal me and help me. Help me learn from my mistakes. Help me grow through this adversity. Make me wiser for the future.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Immanuel Prayer

O Lord Jesus, my Immanuel*
When I am guilty, Be with me and forgive me.
When I am frustrated, Be with me and give me peace.
When I am confused, Be with me and make we wise.
When I am afraid, Be with me and make me brave.
When I am proud, Be with me and give me Your humility.
When I am sad, Be with me and comfort me.
When I am tired, Be with me and give me rest for body and soul.
When I am in danger, Be with me and save me.
When I am hurt, Be with me and heal my wounds.
When I am tempted, Be with me and keep me faithful.
When I am tested, Be with me and make me strong.
When I am spiritually attacked, Be with me, protect me.
Make Your home with me through Your word. Amen.

*Immanuel means "God with us" in Hebrew.
(Picture: Dan Schutte)

Luther on Friendship

In Luther's exposition of John 15.9 "As the Father has loved Me, I have loved you; abide in My love" he tells us why it is important to maintain the bond of friendship.

"Although we are moved to suspicion and displeasure, we should remember to beat these back and remember not to allow them to sever the bond of love and extinguish its fire; but we should cling firmly to our friendship in the face of them. And if perchance displeasure and disagreement arise, we should renew and improve our love and friendship. For to begin to love is not so great, but to remain in love (as Christ here says) is a real task and virtue. In the estate of matrimony many meet who at first are ready to eat each other for great love and passion, but later on they become deadly enemies. This also happens among Christian brethern. Probably for an insignificant reason the bond of love is severed, and those who ought to be most firmly knit and bound together are torn apart, so that they turn into the worst and bitterest enemies... This is the joy and delight of the devil, who strives for nothing else but to disturb the love among Christians and to arouse pure hatred and envy." (What Luther Says, p. 527)

Help Fight Child Abuse... Here's One Little Thing You Can Do!

Change your Face Book profile pic to help fight child abuse? Okay, but then I read someone's post... "How will this really help?" That's a good question. I changed mine, but then I thought about one thing that I think can really help.

I spent one year serving as a chaplain at a mental hospital in Nebraska. I met many people with tragic histories of abuse. Abuse disrupted their lives so severely that they sometimes attempted suicide and eventually came to the mental hospital.

Many times these people sought me out for help. But where do you begin? I would ask this question: As you look back on your life and see all this pain and abuse, do you ever remember a time when you felt the closest to God? Many times the answer had something to do with Sunday School. "I remember a friend who invited me to Sunday School." Or, "I remember my grandma bringing me to church and Sunday School."

Sunday School is still one of the most helpful ways to reach vulnerable children. It's free. It's age appropriate. And best of all it's all about Jesus. Sunday School was often that glowing ember grace that Satan just couldn't completely snuff out. Because of it, even as they were coming so close to the end of a miserable life, they reached out for Him once again... The One they heard about in Sunday School!

I'm sure there are many ways to fight child abuse. But I believe Sunday School is truly one of the simplest. What can you do?

1. Pray for your Sunday School.
2. Send your kids to Sunday School and encourage them to invite their friends.
3. Volunteer in your Sunday School.

Faith and Thanksgiving

Most popular Thanksgiving illustration from yesterday's sermon:

A pastor goes to eat at a restaurant by himself. A stranger joins him at his table. When their food arrives, the pastor bows his head and silently prays.

The stranger asks: "Do you have a headache?" "No," the pastor says.

"Is your food okay?" "Yes, I was just giving thanks," the pastor says.

"Oh, you're one of those guys," the stranger replies. "I work for my money and pay for my food. I don't give thanks to anyone. I just dig right in."

The pastor smiles a bit and then says, "Yeah, that's what my dog does too!"

Giving thanks to God is the first response of the gift of faith. No faith, No thanks.

[This illustration was adapted from Ray Stedman, Folk Psalms of Faith]

The Philosophical Black Hole of Atheism

There are important questions that all of us should think about:

1. Where did I come from?
2. Who am I?
3. What should I be doing?
4. Where am I going?

The Christian answers:

1. From God ("So God created man in His image..." Genesis 1.27-28)
2. God's child ("See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God..." 1 John 3.1)
3. Loving God and my neighbor ("Love the Lord Your God... and your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22.37 &39)
4. To be with God eternally ("For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." John 6.40)

The Atheist answers:

1. An accident of nature.
2. What I do... an engineer, teacher, mother, etc.
3. What pleases me.
4. To nothing.

The Atheist considers the Christian answers nothing more than imaginative constructions to give him a sense of meaning and hope. But the Atheist denies God so that he can imagine the universe to be God. There are no absolute morals, only molecules. For this reason the Atheist lives in the middle, lives for the moment, does what is pleasing for now.

Those choices are all arbitrary. Ultimately everything becomes a mechanical, mindless process of evolution. And if that is so, why care about poverty? Why care about the environment? Why care who lives or dies? Why? Does the sodium ion argue with the chloride ion about becoming salt?

The philosophical black hole of atheism is to deny the spirit in nature. In the Nicene Creed we confess: "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth AND of all things visible and invisible." God created us with a spirit, and it is through the spirit that we are able to believe in God.

Scripture Alone for Doctrine and Practice

Roman Catholics often appeal the the church Fathers over and against Scripture. I have a little essay on our church website about the differences between Catholics and Lutherans. In many of the email responses, my Roman Catholic friends argue that the consensus of the church Fathers must determine the doctrine of the church.

But many of the writings of the church Fathers were destroyed, and we cannot say that what we have left truly represents the consensus of the church. Luther's opinion about this is interesting. He said that many of their writings were destroyed, "so that men would not find the time which they should devote to the reading and scrutiny of Scripture taken up by the study of the wallowing of the Fathers and the councils" (quoted by Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol. 1, footnote on p. 205).

This important truth not only applies to the doctrine we teach but also to the practices of the church. How we worship, teach and show the mercy of Christ should primarily be guided by the light of Scripture and not necessarily by the example of those who were ancient. We deeply appreciate the writings of the Fathers as they offer us important insights to Scripture and church practice. But we must be very careful of the temptation to elevate them to a place alongside or above Scripture.