lenten journey, day 7 — a prayer for the affluent

We all know someone with a fat wallet but an empty life, don't we? Someone whose answer to the question "How much is enough?" would invariably be "Just a little bit more."

Jesus spoke so often about the perils of wealth, that it is virtually impossible to turn a page in the gospels without finding a warning or a rebuke or a parable concerning the impossibility of serving two masters. Jesus’s encounter with the rich young ruler in Luke 18 is the one that I find the most troubling, because I see way too much of myself in it.

You know the story…a rich young man asks Jesus what to do to deserve eternal life, but the answer—“sell everything you own and give it to the poor”—wasn’t quite what young Mr. Trust Fund expected. I love the way the passage is translated in The Message:

This was the last thing the official expected to hear. He was very rich and became terribly sad. He was holding on tight to a lot of things and not about to let them go.

Seeing his reaction, Jesus said, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who have it all to enter God's kingdom? I'd say it's easier to thread a camel through a needle's eye than get a rich person into God's kingdom."

"Then who has any chance at all?" the others asked.

"No chance at all," Jesus said, "if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it."

God created us with hearts that long for the type of satisfaction that only He can give. But what God intended for good, the fallen world has corrupted. When we do not fill our hearts with Him, something else will rush in. Something that becomes very hard to let go, even if our very souls are at stake.

Merciful God, in this world where poverty and hunger are so prevalent, I find it hard to ask you to consider the plight of the wealthy. Yet so many with plentiful lives experience a “poverty of riches” in which their deepest longings—longings for you—remain unmet. Lord, in your mercy would you pursue the hearts of those who value the things of this world more than they value you? And Lord, since I am certainly wealthy in comparison to most of the world, would you help me not to be one of those rich, fat camels trying to squeeze through the eye of a needle? Help me to mean it when I say, “Jesus, have it all.” Yes, and amen.

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." — Matthew 6:24

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." — 1 Timothy 6:17

lenten journey, day 6 — a prayer for more nouhs

How does God draw a person who has never heard the Gospel to Himself? Dreams? Visions? Street preaching? Sure...God can and does use these things to reach the unreached. Sometimes, He uses something a much less dramatic. In the case of Nouh Ag Infa Yattara, He used a ball-point pen.

Nouh is a member of an islamic Saharan people group known as the Tamasheq. Once a rich and powerful people, the Tamasheq gradually became poorer and more desperate due to colonialism, civil war and famine. Nouh was kidnapped in 1959 and forced by the French rulers of the day to attend school in the city, far from his nomadic people

At school, Nouh noticed that some children owned "click-clacks"—ball point pens given away by missionaries in the area. To get a pen, children had to recite four Bible verses. Nouh got his pen, got a beating for associating with "infidels," and was told by his family that Christianity "is only for white people." He found out otherwise four years later when the missionaries sent him to a Bible camp where he met Christians of all colors and languages.

Long story short, Nouh has found abundant life and salvation through Jesus Christ (despite being tied up by his father, being expelled from the family, and being routinely assaulted by random people). God had a heroic life planned for Nouh, though. Because of Nouh's desire to see his people have access to scripture, the New Testament has been translated into the Tamasheq language.

All because of a ball-point pen. Oh, and God's perfect plan to draw all nations, tribes and tongues to faith in Christ!

God, I am amazed that you could use something as simple as a pen to bring about the redemption of an islamic boy in Africa, and through him bring your Word to an unreached people group. Forgive me, Father, for thinking that sharing your love has to be something grandiose. Forgive me for making excuses like "I wouldn't know what to say to a muslim," or "I can't speak their language." God, through Nouh's story, I see that if I will bring the love (and possibly the pens!), You will do the work. Father, would you send more Nouhs into my life? Would you set your church alight with holy fire to seek out the Nouhs of this world? Yes, and amen.

“The LORD has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.” — Psalm 98:1-2

“For this is what the Lord has commanded us:
‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” — Acts 13:47

lenten journey, day 5 — a prayer for india

I almost couldn’t write about India. While researching this nation—its religions, its crises, its extreme poverty, and its seemingly hopeless future—I felt India's suffering was too big to wrap my head and heart around. I just wanted to look away.

Yet God, who made and desperately loves every person in India—and whose heart must break immeasurably for their plight—does not look away. And I believe He wants us to see this nation of a billion people and a million false gods through His loving and hopeful eyes. I feel Him saying, “Life is terribly hard for my children in India, but do not forget that in my name, there is always hope.”

The Heartbreak:
• India contains one fourth (412 million) of the 1.6 billion people on earth who have never heard the Gospel.
• The hindu religion is devoid of hope, and filled with uncertainty: though offerings are made to idols, and bells are rung to wake the gods and goddesses, the faithful never expect kindness from their one million false deities.
• 600 million people in India live in deep poverty.
• Of India’s 400 million children, 70+ million are child laborers, 10 million are bonded laborers (a form of slavery to pay off family debt), 13 million are homeless, and 2 million are orphaned street children. Nearly 600,000 are child prostitutes.
• 1.5 million lepers (63% of the world’s total) live in India.
• 10 million Indians are blind (25% of the world’s total).
• It is estimated that by the year 2020, over 200 million Indians will carry HIV.

The Hope:
• In the past 10 years, poverty has been reduced by 10%.
• 100,000 Indians per day find out about Jesus through the Jesus Film.
• There is legal freedom in India to tell people about Jesus.
• Since the devastating tsunami in 2004, many small churches have started in areas previously resistant to the Gospel.
• There is dynamic growth in Indian mission agencies and church-based mission initiatives.

Father, you are truly the God of hope. Forgive me for my frequent sense of hopelessness over the sufferings of your people. Forgive me for praying small prayers that do not acknowledge your power to change entire nations, systems, and histories. Lord, I believe. Only help my unbelief! May your Sprit blow like a mighty wind over India, destroying injustices wherever they prey on the weak. May the name of your Son become the hope of the poor and afflicted. May you, Oh God, be the one true God of this hurting nation. Yes, and amen.

“But the needy will not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.” — Psalm 9:18

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." — Romans 15:13

selah

After The Last Tear Falls
by Andrew Peterson

After the last tear falls
After the last secret's told
After the last bullet tears through flesh and bone
After the last child starves
And the last girl walks the boulevard
After the last year that's just too hard

There is love
Love, love, love
There is love
Love, love, love
There is love

After the last disgrace
After the last lie to save some face
After the last brutal jab from a poison tongue
After the last dirty politician
After the last meal down at the mission
After the last lonely night in prison

There is love
Love, love, love
There is love
Love, love, love
There is love

And in the end, the end is
Oceans and oceans
Of love and love again
We'll see how the tears that have fallen
Were caught in the palms
Of the Giver of love and the Lover of all
And we'll look back on these tears as old tales

'Cause after the last plan fails
After the last siren wails
After the last young husband sails off to join the war
After the last "this marriage is over"
After the last young girl's innocence is stolen
After the last years of silence that won't let a heart open

There is love
Love, love, love
There is love

And in the end, the end is
Oceans and oceans
Of love and love again
We'll see how the tears that have fallen
Were caught in the palms
Of the Giver of love and the Lover of all
And we'll look back on these tears as old tales

'Cause after the last tear falls
There is love

lenten journey, day 4 — a prayer for the exploited

There’s no gentle way to state the obvious, so I’m just going to say it: Each of the women in this photo is a prostitute. They’re on display because they’ve been forced—either by desperate circumstances or by the thriving human trafficking industry—into selling their bodies to men.

What you don’t see in this picture are children. But they’re there. Adolescent and teenage girls and boys—child prostitutes—kept out of sight for fear they will run away or attract police attention. Not that the police, who are routinely bribed with complimentary services, would do anything about it.

There are an estimated 2 million prostituted children in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. And that number will only increase as “sex tourism” becomes more popular. Yes, there are people who actually travel to areas tolerant of prostitution specifically to exploit children. And an estimated 25 percent of these “tourists” are American. What's more, an estimated 17,500 women and children are trafficked into the United States each year to satisfy the appetites of the wicked.

Is there hope for these exploited women and children? Is there rescue for them from this dark place of despair? Who will redeem them from the pit? Their only hope is El Roi, our loving "God Who Sees." May He place in me—in us—His vision for these "least of the least".

Oh, Lord. Could anything be more wicked than the exploitation of children and desperate women? Please be the God Who Sees and the God Who Saves for all those who are victims of unholy desires. Raise up men and women in the church who will go into the dark places to be the hands and feet of Jesus—the same Jesus who sought out victims and outcasts like these. Father, would you forgive me for turning a blind eye and refusing to acknowledge this wickedness because it is so unpleasant to think about? Would you create a desire in me to fight for this broken world on my knees? Please, God, redeem these lives from the pit and crown them with love and compassion. Yes, and amen.

“…They will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid.” — Ezekiel 34:27-28

"He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” — Matthew 25:45

lenten journey, day 3 — a prayer for prisoners

In Zambia, there is a prison so overcrowded and neglected that more than 100 men share each small cell. They lie on their sides on the concrete floor for 14 hours per day, like sardines packed into a too-small tin. There is simply not enough room for them to stand or move.

In Bolivia, women who are sent to prison often have no choice but to bring their babies and small children with them. These innocent children become part of the overcrowded and undernourished prison population. Because there is no food allotted for the children of prisoners, they must simply share their mothers’ meager daily portion. This situation is not unique to Bolivia—there are countless children living in prisons all over the world.

Even in America, where conditions are much better, the lonely desperation of prisoners and their families is a largely unacknowledged reality.

Can there be hope in seemingly hopeless conditions like these? Can mercy, justice and punshiment coexist? Is it possible to mourn with victims of crime but still acknowledge the considerable physical and spiritual needs of criminals? Isn't my own sin just as offensive to God as the sin that sends a murderer to prison?

These are hard questions. But this I know…God, who is rich in mercy, has always chosen to identify most closely with the broken, the scorned, and the rejected. In short, He has chosen to love sinners like me.

Father, thank you that you are a God who tempers justice with mercy. I ask you to remember prisoners around the world with compassion today, and to bring your perfect justice to their lives and the lives of their victims. Forgive me for believing that true justice is determined and dispensed by judges and juries. Forgive me for ascribing to fallen people an authority that only you, the righteous and perfectly just God, hold. Lead me in repentence, that I might not rejoice over punishments meted out, but would seek to share your love with the lonely prisoner and the brokenhearted victim alike. Father, would you send out workers to the harvest in jails and prisons across the world? Would you give me the courage and compassion to be one of those who proclaim the freedom of Christ to this and all margins of society? Yes, and amen.

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." — Luke 4:18-19

“Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners,
and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”
— Hebrews 13:3

lenten journey, day 2 — a prayer for the lobi people

Every seven years, the Lobi people of Burkina Faso in West Africa send their children into the bush for a two- to three-month initiation conducted by tribal leaders.

During this extended separation from their families, the children are put through many “tests,” which may not be discussed after the initiation is over. All the while, the children are told that an evil spirit called joro is controlling their time in the bush.

Eventually, the children are brought before an idol of the joro, where their teeth are filed to sharp points as a sign that they are true Lobis. Some children never return home, and parents are forbidden to ask what happened to them.

I can only imagine the spirit of fear that must pervade Lobi villages when the initiation time draws near. Thankfully, there are some Lobi Christians who are telling their kinsmen that belonging to Jesus is a far greater thing than belonging to the tribe. Through faith in Jesus, the Lobi may exchange the cruelty of sharply filed teeth for the absolute tenderness of His love!

Compassionate Father, I spread my hands before Your throne on behalf of the Lobi people. Forgive me, Father, for hearing many accounts like theirs over the years and feeling nothing. These are your beloved sons and daughters! I pray that you would blanket them with your mercy and kindness…that you would loose the chains that bind these beautiful people to cruel tradition…that you would rescue them from any spirit of fear or intimidation. Thank you, Lord, that as my forehead was marked with an ashen cross last night, I knew with absolute certainty that those ashes would someday be exchanged for beauty. How glorious it would be for all Lobis embrace that truth! Yes, and Amen.

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father.” — Romans 8:15

“…for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” — Galatians 6:17b

lenten journey, day 1 – a prayer to love orphans

This beautiful little girl has never known the joy of riding on her papi’s shoulders. She has not heard the sweet sound of mami’s lullaby soothing her back to sleep in the lonely darkness.

Although loved and cared for by very sweet people at her orphanage home outside Lima, Peru, she will never hear the story of the night she was born…or snuggle between her parents on a cold, rainy morning…or experience the fierce loyalty of an older brother.

I played with this baby. I discovered that pretending to punch myself in the face made her giggle uncontrollably. I changed her diaper, rocked her, and watched her little hands twitch as she drifted off to sleep.

God forgive me…I cannot remember her name.

Faithful Father, forgive me for loving your most helpless children so poorly. Help me to see orphans as you see them. Not as objects of short-lived pity. Not as snapshots in a mission-trip photo album. But as sons and daughters of the Most High God. Thank you, Father, that you see this precious little girl and delight over her and value her enough to send your own son to die for her. And thank you that you will never, ever forget her name. Father…please…teach me to love like that. Lead me to seek out ways to look after orphans in their distress. Yes, and Amen.

”A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” — Psalm 68:5

”Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” — James 1:27

the fast God desires

This coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Those of us who aren't members of church streams that observe the liturgical year may see Lent as unnecessary. I certainly did for many, many years.

Oh sure, I would say things like "I'm giving up chocolate for Lent," or "I'm not going to buy any expensive outfits for my baby daughter during Lent."

Like somehow an improvement in my diet or my financial bottom line would honor God. Like somehow my self-righteous denial of something as trivial as a chocolate chip cookie or a Gymboree baby ensemble would prepare my heart for Jesus's indescribable sacrifice.

Scripture is clear that such a flippant attitude towards fasting is NOT what God desires.

Consider Isaiah 58:6-7...

"This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families."

This year for Lent, I AM going to fast. But I'll be fasting on God's terms.

Beginning on Wednesday, and every day during Lent, I will be blogging on issues of justice, mercy, and compassion. The blog entries will be calls to prayer for specific places, people, injustices, afflictions, desperations, and world situations.

Please join me in a fast of prayer. Join me in minding the gap for those who have no voice. Join me in believing that when we pray, God works.

Visit my blog beginning on Wednesday and leave your prayers in the comments section. Let's let our petitions rise to God like sweet smelling incense!

"Then when you pray, God will answer.
You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'"
-Isaiah 58:9