Archives - Redeeming God

No, I’m not pulling a “Harold Camping.” Though I do believe that Jesus will return to earth literally and physically at some time in the future, I am NOT saying that today is the day.

But I am saying that Jesus is returning today. And tomorrow. And the next day. And every day from now until He actually returns.

Confused yet? I am saying that Jesus returns daily until He actually returns.

The Daily Return of Jesus?

I think that as Christians we have often taught and thought about what Scripture says concerning the future return of Jesus Christ, while ignoring and neglecting what Scripture says concerning the present and daily return of Jesus Christ. If you didn’t know that such an idea is taught in Scripture, then you have proved my point. Most people don’t know it, which is why most people don’t live for it.

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The Kingdom New Testament

By Jeremy Myers

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I recently read NT Wright’s The Kingdom New Testament, which is a contemporary translation of the New Testament.

I think this is the first book by NT Wright that I did not like.

Some of the sections are great, but for the most part, his contemporary translation of the New Testament suffered from the same two problems that most other contemporary translations suffer from.

Contemporary Translations are So… Contemporary

The first problem with contemporary translations is that they are contemporary.

What I mean is this: Since culture and language changes so rapidly, what is “contemporary” now is no longer “contemporary” a few years from now. Contemporary translations of the Scriptures have a short shelf-life. Some contemporary translations from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s sound almost ridiculous today.

As I read NT Wright’s contemporary translation, I cringed at some of his word choices, as some of his phrases are already out of date. For example, in Matthew 23 when Jesus pronounces woes upon the Pharisees, NT Wright uses the phrase, “Woe betide you.” Maybe this is a British phrase, but I cannot recall hearing anyone ever use it. I looked it up online, and it was very popular in the 14th century, and was still in use by some in Great Britain up until about 20 years ago, but almost nobody uses it today. So NT Wright’s contemporary translation is already out of date in this instance, and there were numerous places this happened. One more example is in Matthew 2:8, where Herod says to the Magi: “Off you go.” I’m sorry, but no king then or now would speak with such informality.

When a contemporary translation fails at being contemporary, it ends up sounding silly. It is almost better to have a woodenly literal translation that sounds archaic, but is at least consistently archaic.

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Simply Jesus

By Jeremy Myers

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Simply Jesus by N. T. Wright may simply be the best book about Jesus I have ever read.

But the book is not just about Jesus. It is about the church, the Gospel, the Kingdom of God, Israel, history, government, social involvement, eschatology, and a mind-numbing array of other topics, all of which swirl around and center upon the person and work of Jesus Christ.

But don’t be scared. N. T. Wright may be one of the world’s leading New Testament scholars, but this book is highly readable. Unlike some of his academic-level books (such as The Resurrection of the Son of God), this book contains almost no footnotes, scholarly discussion of Greek words, or involved critique of ideas from other scholars.

If you have been hearing about N. T. Wright and are curious about his ideas, but have not wanted to tackle the 800 pages of The Resurrection of the Son of God or the 800 pages of Jesus and the Victory of God, this book is the the place to start. It is a concise summary of everything written up to this point by N. T. Wright about Israel as the people of God, Jesus as the Son of God, the significance of His resurrection, and the role of the church within the Kingdom of God.

Here, briefly, is what he argues:

There were numerous cultural, political, and theological winds swirling around Israel in the years before and after the ministry of Jesus Christ. Most of these winds led Israel to expect a Messiah who would overthrow Rome through military conquest and set Israel up as the nation that ruled the world in peace and justice.

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Biggest Hoping Day of the Year

By Jeremy Myers

Scripture on Thanksgiving

By Jeremy Myers

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Happy Thanksgiving!

As you enjoy time with family, eating lots of food, watching football, playing games, or whatever it is you do on Thanksgiving, remember to focus on what today is really about: giving thanks to God for all His blessings He showers upon us.

To help you do that, I want to direct you to one of my other websites: Scripture On.com, specifically, the page on Thanksgiving. If you want a few verses or devotional insights to encourage you about Thanksgiving, you might find some of the Scriptures on this page helpful.

One of my joys in life is studying and teaching Scripture, and while I have Grace Commentary.com for this, it requires too much study to write regular posts. So last week I launched Scripture On.com where I could write daily insights from Scripture on various topics and Bible passages. As I add more content, it will not only serve as a place for you to find Scriptures on these various topics, but I will also try to write daily posts which could serve as a daily devotional for you and your family.

So this week, I focused on Thanksgiving. Here is an excerpt from the post on Psalm 107:1:

When you feel like you have been abandoned in the wilderness, or have been exiled to a foreign land, read through this Psalm and give thanks to God for the ways He has delivered you in the past.

If you are facing tough decisions in life, read through this Psalm, asking Him for wisdom and discernment, remembering that He has provided direction for you in the past.

If life’s storms are howling about you, throwing the full force of their winds against you, remember that God has delivered you from storms in the past, and will calm this storm as well.

When you are in need of food and daily sustenance, trust God to provide for your needs as He has done in the past.

And when rich and the powerful people oppress and enslave, remember that God is on the side of the poor.

Give thanks to God, for He is good. His mercy endures forever!

Head on over to Scripture On.com to read the others.

Lord, Teach us to Pray (Luke 11:1)

By Jeremy Myers

6 Comments

If there is one thing we learn from the Lord’s prayer in Luke 11:1, it is that the best ways to think about prayer is to view it as simply having a conversation with God.

If you can talk to a spouse, coworker, friend, or neighbor, they can talk to God in prayer. No special training or vocabulary is needed. No special posture and location are necessary.

Whatever you would talk to a friend about, you can talk to God about. Wherever you might speak to a friend, you can speak to God.

You do not need to be gathered together with others, though sometimes that is helpful for the sake of the conversation. You do not have to be in a certain building or room, though sometimes, that is helpful so you can focus on what is being said.

Even still, some people are uncertain of what to say when they pray, since having a conversation with God seems different than having a conversation with a friend. So it is helpful to give people some ideas of the sorts of things that can be said in conversation with God. In the next few posts, we will look at four places in Scripture some people find helpful as they learn to converse with God.

The Disciples’ Prayer

The passage that many people think of as The Lord’s Prayer might better be called “The Disciples’ Prayer.”

Near the middle of the three years of Jesus’ ministry, His disciples noticed that He spent a lot of time in prayer, and they came to Jesus, asking Him to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1).

They did not ask this because they did not know how to pray, for the Jewish people had many daily and weekly times of prayer. But most of these prayers were memorized and recited, and were formal, ceremonial prayers for particular events and holidays.

The disciples must have noticed that Jesus prayed differently. He seemed to talk with God as a man talks to a friend, or a Father. For Jesus, prayer was natural and normal, and the disciples wanted to pray this way as well.

So Jesus taught His disciples how to pray (Luke 11:2-4; Matt 6:9-13).

He lists several things to say to God, and several types of prayer requests. But despite how many use this prayer today as something that should be recited on a regular basis, I don’t think Jesus was telling His disciples exactly what they should pray, but was giving them examples of the sorts of things they could pray for. He wasn’t giving them exact words to pray for, but was giving them broad themes and ideas.

And what are these themes and ideas?

They include giving praise and glory to God, and requests for the rule and reign of God to expand on earth, that God provide for our daily needs, and that He would forgive us for the ways we have failed to keep His will, and protect us from further failures. These are basic requests, and can be prominent themes of any person’s prayer life.

When you pray, you can pray similarly. Don’t worry too much about what you are saying or how to say it. Just talk to God the way you would talk to anyone else about whatever is on your heart and mind. That’s how Jesus prayed, and how He taught us to pray as well!

Now, the Lord’s Prayer contains some dangerous prayer requests, which we will look at next time.

Do you want to pray like never before?

Do you what to talk to God like you talk to a friend? Do you want to see more answers to prayer?

If you have these (and other) questions about prayer, let me send you some teaching and instruction about prayer to your email inbox. You will receive one or two per week, absolutely free. Fill out the form below to get started.

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Pitfalls of Prayer Meetings

By Jeremy Myers

15 Comments

I have heard thousands of prayers in prayer meetings that are genuine, heart-felt, meaningful, conversations with God about Who He is, what He has done, and how we would like Him to help us live life and serve Him better.

But even where the prayers are meaningful and heart-felt, there are still numerous pitfalls to prayer meetings.

Pitfalls of Prayer Meetings — Pitfall - One of my favorite games as a kid.

Questioning Prayer Meetings

For example, have you ever noticed that the true “prayer warriors” of the typical church rarely come to “Prayer meetings”?

Have you ever wondered why? Have you ever thought it odd that when you ask your pastor to pray for a pressing need in your life, he writes it down, and then says, “I’ll bring it up at the prayer meeting this Wednesday”?

Has it ever seemed strange to you that although there can be dozens of people out in the community loving others, serving the poor, meeting needs, and helping the homeless, the “truly spiritual people” are those who come to church on Wednesday night for the prayer meeting where they pray for the poor, the homeless, and the other needs of the community? Why are the ones who pray about these needs more spiritual than the ones who actually go meet the needs?

Prayer Meeting Slogans

And then there are all the sermons and slogans about how the church advances on its knees, how kneeling men are real men, and how the attendance at the prayer meeting reveals the true health and vitality of the church. Aside from the fact that I am just not sure these ideas are true, it seems that these sermons and slogans really don’t get people to pray more, but simply guilt them into showing up for another meeting in the church building.

Prayer Meetings Teach Bad Prayer Habits

The main reason a church might want to consider letting prayer meetings cease is that even when prayer meetings are healthy and people don’t learn bad types of praying, they still teach people bad habits about prayer.

Biblical Prayer Posture — Is bowing the head, clasping the hands, and closing the eyes the Biblical prayer posture?

Rather than show people how to pray without ceasing, they teach people that there is a time and a place and a particular method for prayer. We must sit in a circle, clasp our hands, close our eyes, bow our heads, and only then, will God hear our prayers. Prayer meetings teach people that prayer is more effective when there are several people gathered in a room praying about something. They teach people that aside from attending church on Sunday morning, the next most important thing in their life as a follower of Jesus is attending church on Wednesday night.

But none of this is actually true!

Prayer is vital, and gathering with other believers is vital, and praying together with others is vital, but none of this requires a regularly scheduled prayer meeting, as practiced in some churches today. Learning how to pray, learning what to pray for, and learning how prayer is answered, might best be accomplished in other ways.

Like what? Receive my online email training about prayer to find out:

Do you want to pray like never before?

Do you what to talk to God like you talk to a friend? Do you want to see more answers to prayer?

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Hey Pastor! Stop talking to the devil in your prayers!

By Jeremy Myers

30 Comments

So far in this series on prayer, we have looked at a few types of “bad habit” prayers you might have heard: Magic Words prayer, the Let God to the Talking prayer, and the Father God Jesus Christ Glory Hallelujah prayer. We now turn to another shocking type of prayer you might hear in a prayer meeting or from a pulpit.

This type may be the worst because although the person thinks they are talking to God, they actually spend a good portion of the prayer talking to the Devil.

Have you ever heard a prayer like this? You probably have.

Here is an example of a prayer I heard quite recently:

God, we thank you for your many answers to prayer this week, and—Devil! I rebuke you in the name of Jesus—and God, may you guide us and direct us this week according to your will—Satan! I bind you and cast you out with the authority of the name of Jesus!—and God, we especially want to lift up to you today Sister Maynard—Get out Satan! Get out! Leave her alone!—who is struggling with the flu this week—Evil spirit of the flu, get out of her! Leave foul demon!—may you use your power and might to restore her to health…

I’m not sure God likes to share prayers to Him this way. Half of the prayer is a conversation with Him, and the other half is a conversation with the devil. I know that they are praying against the devil, but such a practice is not learned from Scripture (the opposite is actually taught: 2 Peter 2:10-11; Jude 9).

When we pray to God, we should not spend time also talking to the devil.

When you pray, talk to God, focus on God, glorify God, and listen to God. Don’t waste any time or words trying to talk to the devil, rebuke the devil, or cast out the devil. Satan is already defeated. You don’t need to give him a second thought (or even a first).

Do you want to pray like never before?

Do you what to talk to God like you talk to a friend? Do you want to see more answers to prayer?

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Father God Jesus Christ Glory Hallelujah

By Jeremy Myers

25 Comments

In a previous article we saw how people sometimes repeat God’s name over and over in their prayer. This is not a natural way of praying to God.

Another type of unnatural prayer is the one where two or three words are repeated over and over throughout the entire prayer. Sometimes these words are “Glory to God! Hallelujah!” Other times they are “Father God,” “Holy Jesus,” “Glorify Your Name, Oh Lord” or some combination or variation of these ideas.

Usually, while the person is praying out loud, they will inject these words at the beginning of every sentence, and sometimes right in the middle of a sentence.

In church prayer meetings, we usually don’t think much of this sort of praying because it is so common. And while this sort of praying is not quite as strange as speaking in tongues, when it is carried over into a real-world conversation with another human being, it sounds completely bizarre. Imagine that instead of praying to “Father God” two men, Theo and Andrew are having a conversation where Andrew repeats Theo’s name every few words. Here is how this conversation might sound:

Theo: Hey Andrew! How have you…

Andrew: Oh Theo, I thank you for letting me come into your presence today, Theo, and Theo, I ask that you bless me today, Theo. For I am your servant, Theo, and come before you with nothing but an outstretched hand, oh Theo, hoping that you might, Theo, in your glory, Theo, and out of your grace, Theo, see fit to listen to my needs, Theo, and hear my requests, Theo, and grant them, Theo, according to your mercy, Theo.

Theo: Uhhhh….

Andrew: And Theo, there are many people in this place, Theo, who have many burdens, Theo, and they come before you with many sins, Theo, which you, oh Theo, in your infinite wisdom, Theo, already know about, Theo. And we thank you, Theo, that because of your blood, Theo, shed for us, Theo, we might enter your presence, Theo, with boldness, Theo, before your throne of grace, Theo…

Theo: You can stop saying my name now. I’m not going to forget it.

Andrew: Oh Theo, Theo, Theo, Theo, Theo, Theo, Theo. We love your holy name, oh Theo. For in your name, Theo, there is strength, oh Theo, and power, oh Theo, and might, oh Theo, and glory! In your great name, Theo, we cast out evil spirits, Theo, and bind the enemy, Theo…

Have you ever heard prayers like this? Where “Father God” or “Lord Jesus” is mentioned every third or fourth word? This sort of prayer goes on for a while, and the person praying develops quite a rhythm, and pretty soon, those listening to the prayer start whispering, and even shouting the name of God also.

It’s a great way to pray if you want to drum up some enthusiastic “Amens!” to an eloquent and energetic prayer, but when it comes to having a conversation with God about what is important to Him and to us, I’m not sure that this is the best way to pray. When we talk to God, our goal should be to talk to God … not to get people to shout “Amen.”

Do you want to pray like never before?

Do you what to talk to God like you talk to a friend? Do you want to see more answers to prayer?

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Thanks for visiting this page ... but this page is for Discipleship Group members.

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Well Said…

By Jeremy Myers

Great Blog Posts

Have you been hurt by the church? Kathy Escobar is starting an online class called “Hope for the Wounded: Helping Those Hurt by the Church.” I encourage you to participate, if you can.
Valdez from a new blog called “Faith in the Postmodern World” wrote a great article summarize the Emergent/ Emerging/ Missional/ Organic church that has been developing over the past twenty years or so. If you are wondering about these movements, or need a refresher, go check out his post.
Brad Brisco from the Missional Church Network wrote a great post called “Meeting the Neighbahs.” If you need ideas for loving and serving your community, reading that post is a great place to start, and then head over to Sam’s series on Loving Your Neighbors for a more in-Depth look.
Eric Carpenter from A Pilgrim’s Progress asked some great questions about how big of a church is too big? What do you think? Go on over and read his post, and weigh in on the conversation.
I was interested to read what Alan Knox wrote this week about speaking in tongues, since I knew that I would be posting on it earlier today. Alan has some great input on the subject, pointing out that when we are “gathered with the church (i.e., other Christians) [we should] always and only do and say things that will benefit the group.” Right on, Alan! (As always)

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Jesus is Returning Today!

The Daily Return of Jesus?

The Kingdom New Testament

Contemporary Translations are So… Contemporary

Simply Jesus

Biggest Hoping Day of the Year

Scripture on Thanksgiving

Lord, Teach us to Pray (Luke 11:1)

The Disciples’ Prayer

Do you want to pray like never before?

Pitfalls of Prayer Meetings

Questioning Prayer Meetings

Prayer Meeting Slogans

Prayer Meetings Teach Bad Prayer Habits

Do you want to pray like never before?

Hey Pastor! Stop talking to the devil in your prayers!

Do you want to pray like never before?

Father God Jesus Christ Glory Hallelujah

Do you want to pray like never before?

Well Said…

Great Blog Posts

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