Hey, friend, welcome to another episode of the podcast, whether
you are watching us as we were sitting here recording this with
coffees and Bibles and other things in hand got work, work
like work. So grateful to be able to do
this and it almost started praying there and I'm just like,
it's I love. I just love that we're
appropriate. I know, I know, I just love that
we're able to do this and have conversations that we really
hope and pray are are helping you have conversations.
So, you know, admit 100% like podcasting feels like very much
1 directional and it, it's not intended to be that, right?
Like we're having a conversation.
We know that you're listening to this and maybe you listen to it
with a, a small group of people. Maybe you listen to it ahead of
conversations and then have conversations with a small
group. But also we know that people are
listening on your commutes and as you are doing various things
day-to-day. So here's the challenge for you.
Don't let this end here with just listening.
Allow this to challenge you to have conversations.
And I would put it this way this week because we're talking about
prayer conversations with someone else, another human
being in conversations with God. So try to have two other
conversations about some of this stuff this week.
And the other layer is that we, you know, your sermon this past
Sunday clearly sparked something because there has been
conversation happening. When I opened up my questions at
courtrightchurch.org inbox, there was a couple questions
there, three questions there that were like significant
questions that are like. And so that's another layer of
this conversation is that, you know, if you are like, hey, I
don't agree with you on this or this feels weird to me, like
being able to name that and and dialogue about.
It so. So I think sometimes I think
sometimes people assume that pastors exaggerate their
stories, especially on opening points.
So for the last two weeks, I have said that this like the
topic of prayer. I get more questions on prayer
than I get about anything else. And I think some people would
hear that be like, yeah, you're just saying that maybe you get a
lot of questions. But do you know, Yeah, is it
really actually more than everything else?
And I just, I think it's it's perfectly fitting that that's
not this in this case, that is not an exaggeration.
And and we got, you know, we've we've received a lot of
questions. So thanks for sending in your
questions this week. We love that we have a starting
place that we already know you're thinking of.
So we're going to hop into those.
But Luke 18, the parable of of these two, these two guys who
are praying really it's, you know, it's a parable light, I
would call it. But it is a story about two
people who are praying very different prayers in very
different ways. And the challenge is to think
about the way you pray and for us to think about the way like
for me to think about the way I. Pray and in in both of these
past two passages on prayer there like the, the section
starts off with like Jesus, Jesus kind of sharing the point
of why he's about to share these, these stories about
prayer, right? Like, so it's like the first one
Jesus told the tables of parable to show them they should, they
should always pray and not lose heart, not give up.
And then for this one, to some who were confident of their own
righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this
parable like, so, so like we get the framing for exactly why
Jesus is, is sharing these parables right off the get go,
which is kind of interesting. Yeah.
And so I think it's helpful to know, and we're reading from
different versions here, but I really like the way this
translation opens the parable. So he also told this parable to
some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.
So I think that there's, you know, I read this version and I
go, wait a second, we're not supposed to trust that we're
righteous. Hold on, right.
Am I supposed to question my, like, salvation until the day I
die? Like, am I supposed to die with
the fear of God, like literally shaking in my boots of, you
know, how this thing is going to turn out?
And then I read this translation, I go, oh, OK, uh,
to some who trusted in themselves that they were
righteous. And so it, it just gives a
little bit different of a nuance that Jesus is really speaking
here to people who have chosen to trust in themselves to do
what only God can do. So right standing with God and
ultimately right standing with others with people can, I
believe only come via right standing with God.
And that is given that is a gift, it is imparted.
It is not something that we earn.
It is something that causes us to work.
For sure it is hard. But this is, you know, what we
talk about is the righteousness of Christ that is earned by the
life and actions, death and resurrection of Christ being
given to the believer. So then the response is how odd.
I live my life in response to what what Jesus has given to me,
what God has given to me. And I think so many of us get
this, get this twisted. And I don't mean that in like a
mean way. I just think that it can be bent
so even subtly that we go, yeah, but I know that people don't
treat me that way. Hmm.
So what do I need to do? That sounds too good to be true.
Like, what do I need to, what do I really need to do to earn this
thing? And.
And so that's how this guy's praying, right?
And so then we get a whole lot of messiness in these two
prayers and some really good questions.
So just to sort of recap, so these two men when they go to
the temple, right, which is I think noteworthy, especially
with the, the proximity for, for a couple of these, for the, for
the ways in which they position themselves in the temple.
And, and so the, the Pharisee kind of praise is fairly like
arrogant prayer, which you argue is almost not a prayer.
Like it's, it's more just like, I'm just talking to myself, you
know, and then this tax collector who stood at a
distance, he could not even look up to heaven, but beat his
breast and said, God have mercy on me, a Sinner.
So the first question that they came up was, how do we square
the humility of the tax collector standing far off with
the command of God that we see in Scripture to approach the
throne of grace with boldness. So we see that in Scripture that
like, hey, like we can, we can ask God bold things.
We can come before God and and, you know, not, not demand of
God, but that we can approach God with a sense of, of
confidence, right. And and so the the writer of
this question appreciates that parables and sermons can't cover
everything, which is that's yeah, absolutely.
But it's, it's a it's a worthwhile conversation around
like, OK, humility. Was the tax collector being
humble or something else? Yeah, let's talk about.
It yeah, I don't think that the tax collector is on the surface
just simply standing off by himself as an act of humility.
I think it would probably be closer to like a shame response
in someone. So there's varying discussion on
where this tax collector would have been, but very likely he is
in the location within the temple that the the Gentiles
would have. So the court of the Gentiles,
Yeah, the court of Gentiles is as if you were a Gentile as far
into the temple as you could go. So you know it, it very much
carries this tone that he is excluding himself from the place
where he ought to be. Like because you like the
Jewish? Right, likely Jewish.
Yeah. And you know, but by virtue of
his chosen occupation, his saying, well, I kind of, you
know, self selected my self out of community.
And so I think that the tax collector is in my mind modeling
more of a shame response to the choices that he's made and the
life that he lives. Then he is modeling good healthy
humility. So CS Lewis has this great what
about humility? He says humility is not thinking
less of yourself. Humility is thinking of yourself
less. So it is a quantitative thing,
not a qualitative thing. Humility isn't about beating
yourself up and OHS, woe is me and you know, nobody likes me,
everybody hates me. Going to the garage to get worms
and like. Shout out to Worm theology.
Right. That kind of that kind of
response is, is I think a much more and I'll say this
carefully, like natural shame response.
Hmm. So I see the I see the tax
collector as recognizing the depth of his life choices and
where that would have placed him before God.
So. So I think that in that way,
what he is doing is actually exceptionally bold.
Hmm. So the fact that he's standing
far off means that he sees himself as excluded from the
covenant people of God. He's got no right to be there.
He has no right to approach God. He has no right to ask God what
he's about to ask him. That's how he views himself.
And yet he still does so actually think.
It's a very bold move that this this guy makes.
He's like. Twisting it on his head.
I love it. He's like, I know, I know
exactly what what I've done, but the only chance at this that
I've got is if you have mercy on me, Like I can't fix this on my
own. I can't, I can't change, you
know, enough of the things to make everything right.
Only you can. And so in that way, really, I
think what a lot of what a lot of writers write about this
parable is that it is foreshadowing righteousness
earned by Christ on the cross through his death and
resurrection. That has much more to do than
just simply by being about prayer.
That this, this is this is Jesus teaching about prayer.
And this is Jesus foreshadowing the way in which all of
salvation history is going to unfold because of his death and
his resurrection. So you see all of salvation
history immediately present here, right?
You get the worldview that says I've got to earn the right for
salvation, I've got to work toward it.
I've got to have all my life figured out and I'm going to do
all the things outwardly that I can, and yet inwardly the gospel
says, hey, you can still be a mess.
And then you've got this guy who on the outside can't figure any
of it out and has made some very devastating choices for his own
life and for others has turned his back on his own people,
excluded from community, excluded from religion.
So that's the other piece that I think we lose here is that
religion in in our day and age has become so insanely
privatized that we think, oh, you can, you know, if you're
excluded from one community, you go and find another community.
Even like, you know, even if you've done nothing wrong and
you're excluded because of everything's going on over
there, like even if you self exclude, you can just go find
another community. You go find another church man.
Like this happens all the time. Like, listen, I don't like the
music over at this church, so I'm going to go come here.
You said something that offended me, so I'm going to move to that
church. And like, you know, we get
people who shared. Around never happen.
Listen. Listen topic for another day.
But but we we have this capitalistic, like consumerist
mentality when it comes to religion that says I get to be
the deciding factor, the agent in which community I'm involved
in and to the degree that I'm involved.
And if I don't like this, I'm going to go find what I do like
over here and listen like for some of that, I think there's
some beauty in that. I think there's beauty in the
fact that not all churches are cookie cutter and that there is
a church like if listen if the way we do music with a band and
drums. If if that's not a place where
you can genuinely stand and worship God, lift in the name of
Jesus, then I'm grateful that there's a church down the road
where you can. But I think the the mentality is
it's so insanely privatized that you are the 8.
You are the deciding agent that we miss for this guy.
For this tax collector to be excluded by his community is to
be excluded religiously. So for like the 1st century
collectivist Jew, this would be like you would be just you would
not have a religion. Basically like you would be
removed from your religion entirely.
Right. And, and, and absolutely like
removed from any means of like experiencing the salvation of
God through any of the ritual practices.
Excuse me. So you know, this, this guy know
he can't, you know, he knows he can't even go into the place
where he ought to be. And, and so I, I think it's
actually a much more bold request of God then it is
anything else, because he realizes that he can't, he's got
nothing and that his only hope is not in himself, but it is in,
is in God. And so I, I do think like it's,
it's a beautiful foreshadowing of, of the gospel, which would
say there's nothing you can do to earn this and you are going
to exhaust yourself trying. The only hope that we have is
forgot to be merciful on us. And that's, that's the hope of
it. So, yeah, so I see him.
I see him reflecting some shame. I don't necessarily see him
reflecting in this moment, humility in in a healthy way,
but I do see him speaking exceptionally boldly.
So I wouldn't misconstrue his his distance as not being bold.
I I think it actually probably represents greater boldness.
There there's a lot of subversion in this parable where
where Jesus is flipping things on its head.
And and I think he does that even in the way that I would
imagine the for for Jesus to say that this guy praying this
prayer who is the least likely candidate goes home justified.
Yeah, you know, goes home as the one who is, who is put in right
relationship with God, right. Like that.
I, I would imagine, would be bold and shocking unto itself in
that way for the hearers. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So everybody, everybody's looking around at what's
happening, assuming that the Pharisee is the one walking
away, justified, and the tax collector is the one walking
home, not justified. Now Jesus is telling a story.
So you can picture Jesus telling a story and people listening and
then anticipating a specific outcome, and then that outcome
being exactly the opposite. They're going ohk, OK, OK, So
what does it communicate about the Kingdom of God, right?
Like this is, this is a Kingdom where the, the more you attempt
to raise yourself, U exalt yourself, the lower down you
actually become. And, and I think that that's
just like a, that's just a statement that Jesus is making
like, like the harder you try, the worse it's gonna go, right?
Like, so this would be like, I'm in this battle right now with my
bathtub that I broke. So the tub was drained.
Like this this. Isn't a parable.
No, this is this. This is not.
Well, this is I guess sure it could be, but it's also based in
this is currently what's happening in my life.
So, you know, pray for me because I've got three daughters
and one bathtub and the bathtub, the bathtub was clogged, right?
Like I'm learning this about like, I don't have a lot of
hair, OK, I don't have a lot of hair.
Some people in my family do. And so the tub was clogged.
The drain was clogged and I needed to fix it.
So I did that. I fixed like I, I was, you know,
cleaning the drain out and needed to remove the actual
drain because it's got a hair trap in it and I needed to pull
that whole thing out. Well, it's a little bit too
corroded and so I used the tool to unscrew the drain and I
snapped the hair catcher in the bottom.
So now I got to get the drain out, but the tool to get the
drain out didn't work. So that's a drain removal tool.
So now there's something called a drain extractor tool that I
had to go and get also so that I can abstract the broken drain,
and I'm just hoping that the whole thing doesn't end with me
having to replace my entire bathtub.
And, Rabbi Grant, what's the point of this parable?
I. Have lost my point entirely
gone. Entirely gone.
Fantastic. OK, so here's here's the point.
Here's the point. The harder you try, the further
away you're going to get, right? And and the harder I'm trying to
fix this stupid tub, the further away I've gotten.
I've done that before from. From fully functional tub,
right? So I just think that like our
human inclination is to try and when it doesn't work, when you
meet resistance, you try harder. And then when you meet
resistance, you push harder and you break that, you break the
drain and then you're buying more tools and hopefully not a
brand new bathtub. But I think that's, so that's
what I want people to hear about the big picture, you know, sin,
salvation, Kingdom of God in its arrival.
What's the point to the thing? The point is that I think this
parable, while talking about prayer also is pointing us
toward the fact that there's no amount of hard work that will
earn the Kingdom on your behalf. But the good news is that God
wants to generously give the Kingdom.
And what does he say we need to do?
We need to ask. And that's what this, that's
what this tax collector is doing.
So we get the one guy, the Pharisee, he's not asking for
anything. There's no dependence, there's
no request made of God. He's like, thanks for all of
these things. My life is perfect.
God, how lucky are you to have me and the tax, the tax
collector standing off, He's the one who actually asks God for
the thing. And so that's, you know, we just
talking elsewhere about ask. Continue asking, keep asking and
be bold in your asking and God will give you the Kingdom.
So that's what this this tax collector experiences.
He asks boldly, and God gives him what God promises to give
him. Hmm.
So continuing on with that, because that obviously that, you
know, we talked about how that would have been quite the, you
know, quite the disruption for the hearers to hear that this
tax collector is the one who goes home justified.
And then at the end, Jesus says, I tell you that this man
referring to the tax collector rather than the other went home
justified before God for all those who exalt themselves like
the fairs he was doing will be humbled and those who humble
themselves will be exalted, right.
And and so I want to talk a little bit about that word
exalted. That was the second question
that came in was that that can feel a little bit weird.
Like I can feel a little bit kind of almost like icky of
like, well, I'm going to I'm going to humble myself so that I
can be exalted. Like, and I don't even know what
that means. Like does that mean like I'm
going to like be put on a pedestal and praise like?
I hope not. I sure.
Because that's awkward.
And so then because you could imagine that slipping into then
that person who has been exalted turning in, you know, turning
prideful, right? Yeah.
I could imagine a scenario where there's someone who, you know,
someone who sort of started at the lowest of the low and then
they make their way to the top and then they become who they,
you know, never wanted to be. Like, think about someone who,
you know, like, went to the top of the food chain.
They become a billionaire and all of a sudden they're the
least humble person on Earth, Right?
Which often happens. That does happen, yeah, for
sure. So this is like the cyclical
nature of parables. You could just keep reading it.
So, you know, everyone for everyone who exalts himself will
be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves.
Right. Like, you could just go right to
the right to the top again, like.
OK, well, I guess I missed it. Yeah.
So this, this word exalted is like, this is where some work is
is helpful. And yeah, you know, admittedly
you can't do all this on a Sunday and then a sermon.
But that's why we do this. Like this is the exact reason
why we love having these conversations for this reason.
So exalted, I think carries this.
Yeah, put on a pedestal, like lifted up, like I almost picture
like, you know, somebody, somebody's when they're exalted,
it's like, well, you get like a royal or like a king, like a
dudes gotta wear a crown and like jewelry and robes, right?
Like that's where that's where my head goes.
It's like I. Don't think about Jesus being
exalted. Yeah, like.
I forget that I don't like, don't put a robe on me, right?
Like you'll never catch me wearing a gown to preach.
And it's like, forget it, it's not happening.
But we have that tradition. What kind of within the church
right of, of raising certain people up, maybe in in improper
ways or in unhelpful ways? Pastors.
Yeah. Political figures.
The word there whoops, so literally means to raise up and
just to temper the word a little bit, because I do.
You read this and you go, well, what does that mean?
Everybody who humbles themselves will be exalted.
I guess if I humble myself, I can be exalted too.
Well, so it's actually the same word that John uses in the
Gospel of John to talk about Jesus being raised up on the
cross. So that should take a little bit
of the wind out of your sails. OHS.
I thought I felt it right. I felt that.
Yeah, like so when when Jesus is raised so so John talks about
Jesus being raised up on the cross.
That's the word that's used hoops.
So, and part of that is just that that's the word that means
to raise up, but part of it is that that's the word that's
being used. And so when Jesus again, just to
add to the foreshadowing of Jesus's death, um, we, we know
that this, this parable is about prayer and we know that this
parable is foreshadowing Jesus's death and his resurrection.
Well, what's the same word used to talk about Jesus being raised
up to new life hoops. So, so the same word that John
uses to talk about Jesus dying on a cross, literally being
raised up on a cross. Whoops.
So is also used by John and then later by Peter.
So Peter is giving this sermon where he says that Jesus is
exalted. He says he exalted Jesus is and
that same hoops. So, so when the early church was
wrestling out what this means, like when the they're, they're
really referring to being raised up in, in his death and then
also being raised up in his new life, resurrected life and Jesus
being exalted, raised up where he, you know, the creed says
sits at the right hand of the father, same word in all of
those instances. So I think it, that helps temper
the, the reality of it because it, it carries this, I think
very significant meaning for you and I for listeners, which is,
yes, it's talking about being raised up, but really I think
what Jesus is talking about is being raised up into Kingdom
life. So this means identifying what
Jesus is death. It means identifying with his
new life. It means identifying with the
Kingdom. And so it's, it's not like this
isn't like a, well, if you humble yourself, you're going to
get the A1 position, right? Just, you know, if you're
humble, humble yourself, you then will be given exactly what
you want in life. Like that's not what Jesus is
saying. Jesus isn't saying that you will
be exalted. It's not even saying that you
will be exalted by human beings, by people.
He's so you know, it's, it's not Jesus isn't saying if you humble
yourself in a group of people, they're going to see that and
they're going to raise you up and they're going to honor you
and glorify you. No, he's saying the work that
you have to do, we have to do me is to humble yourself like
that's So I think it's helpful also to look at where Jesus puts
the sub, like the subject who's who's acting on these things.
That's my role. That's my my.
My role is to humble myself and not to exalt myself or to put
myself in a position where I'm going to be exalted.
Nor is it others roles. Yeah.
To exalt you, Yeah. Or to exalt me.
Yeah. It is to humble ourselves.
And so I think that as we do that, what what we're doing in
greater and greater measure is identifying with the raising up
that Jesus lived, the raising up on the cross to die with in in
in perfect humility, right? The being raised up to new life
and the being exalted and sitting at the right hand of the
Father. So you know my role, your role,
listeners role is to humble ourselves because as we humble
ourselves, we identify more with the life and teaching and
example of Jesus. Yeah, and even in his raising.
Up this passage has so much more kind of like salvific context to
it than I ever thought before. We kind of were looking at it
like in our, you know, sermon prep last week and during the
sermon and even now as we're talking.
And so I'm even just connecting this idea of being exalted
potentially to the idea of, of this tax collector being the man
who went home. Justified, right?
But there is, there's gotta be a connection there between the,
the, the salvific language being used.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so he what Jesus is saying
is that this this man went home saved.
Yeah, right. Like to use kind of modern
language like he got saved do met Jesus.
Yeah, right. Like this is this is what he
went home in right standing with God.
And so I think it's meant to change the way we pray, um,
because prayer has everything to do with salvation and the work
that God is doing in my life, in your life.
What? So even just to expand a little
bit more, right, Christians for a long time have talked about
two different things when it comes to, I'm using air quotes
here, salvation. So we've talked about
justification and sanctification and you can and and this is a
very simplistic view of those things, so much so that it's
flawed. OK, so caveat.
But you for the caveat. We talk about justification as
the like a moment of salvation. Now I think we are all filled
with moments, plural, of repentance and turning and
turning again, right? This is an ongoing thing.
But the to to the point of these words, the churches typically
talked about justification as being a moment of imparted
righteousness, the moment where you are made clean, made right
with God. And different theologians talk
about it in different ways. Carl Bark talks about being
woken up to the reality of Jesus death and resurrection.
We become awake to who we really are and who God really is.
So there's a, there's, there's an instant, right?
So maybe that's a prayer that you've prayed.
Maybe that is like working toward a recognition of your own
sin and need for God and an outside Savior acting upon
yourself. But like again, very, very basic
view of of justification, the moment where you are made right
with God, where God's righteousness, where Jesus is
righteousness is given to you. Sanctification is this ongoing
lifelong work of being made into to a greater measure the
likeness of Christ. So that work never ends.
Paul's got language like now we see him part.
But then I shall see fully. Now I know in part.
Then I shall be known fully, right?
Or know know fully just as I am known fully.
So, so there's, there's language.
We've got language around this within the church and again,
very simple view of it for today.
But like you can talk about this righteousness here as this man
walking away justified because that's that's the language that
is made right. He is justified before God.
He is his. His standing has been declared
clean, even on good terms. However you would like to
describe the thing. So yeah, the the whole thing has
everything to do with it. Now what I was gonna come back
around to is prayer has everything to do with our
salvation life because it's in prayer where God gets to do the
hardest work of sanctification. Saying hey like this is how you
become greater and greater made into the image of Jesus.
And, and justification is, is all the work of God and
sanctification is this weird, sort of like we're doing a
little bit of our thing, but God is still the actor in, in our,
in our sanctification. I was just reminded of his first
lesson, Onians 5, which says May God himself, the God of peace
sanctify you through and through.
Like just the idea that like, hey, this is God, this is God
still doing that work. We've got we've got a role to
play in it, but we've still got doing the work prayer.
And prayer is the way that God will often reveal the thing that
hey, like, hey, I'm gonna show you something.
It might be uncomfortable. It might be a little bit, you
know, it might make you feel like you need to change some
things in your life. Yeah, yeah, God is going to do
what God is going to do. Like I, I wrestled this out.
You're like, I had a line where where I think in in one
iteration of the line, I said God can't do anything with a
prayer that says, God, how great am I, right?
Like, you know, how lucky are you to have me?
And I changed that line in conversation, right?
Like you, you brought this up in preparation, which is like, you
know, God is going to do what God is going to do.
And and so to say God can't do something is to put a limitation
on God that doesn't exist. So I think it changed it to to
say, you know, God won't do very much with a prayer that says,
you know, how great am I? How lucky are you to have me?
I, I just believe that to be true.
God can do everything with a prayer that says, God, be
merciful to me, have mercy on me.
I, I know that I need you. And I think the prayer is just
the practice of showing up and reminding ourselves that we need
God. Hmm.
I mean, there are a lot of things that prayer is, but at
present, the posture, the position that we put ourselves
in for God to do his best work, Yeah.
That's good. So one final question, and this
is this is an interesting place, I think for us to to close out.
So the writer asks as I reflect on listening to someone this
week who just keeps missing out because they really don't see a
place for God in their life. I find that I can pray and thank
God that I have him and am not like them with their rejection
of God, which, you know, in this person's view is compounding
their misery that all the things are going through.
It's it's really making them struggle.
The fact they don't have God in their life.
And, and so just providing a little bit of insight on, on
that perspective of like, how do we, how do we pray in a way that
that like doesn't other people like, because the way, that, the
way that the Pharisees praying, he's othering the, the, the,
the, all the people that are, that are lesser than him, right?
That are less morally upright than him.
But like, how do we pray in a, in a, in a way that feels
appropriate for when we know like, hey man, like I God, thank
you for the grace in my life. And also, I pray that that
person would have it, you know? Yeah, I think you answered the
question. Yeah, I think that's, I think
that's exactly it, right. So I would say think about like
a three tier hierarchy here. Think about like 3.
You know, it's it's not like a game of like a good, better,
best. But but let's talk about, I
think, you know, great place to start and to land and to end in
prayer is gratitude. I think what gratitude is at its
core is, is being, is practicing being thankful for what someone
else has done in your life, right?
Like it's I don't know that it's gratitude to be thankful for
what you've done, right? Like, I don't know that that's
so. So are there instances for sure?
Can we, you know, split hairs and find certain circumstances
maybe, you know, avoid sort of real hard, definitive, absolute
language? But, you know, I think at its
core, one of the ways that my prayers of gratitude have
changed is in the language. So you know, I heard someone
talking about and I, I don't remember who this is, but I
heard somebody talking about how sometimes we can start gratitude
from a self centred place by accident.
I'm thankful for, I'm thankful for this.
I am thankful for that. I am thankful that and you know,
that's really what this prayer that was taught does.
You highlighted all the eyes. I am thankful, right?
Yeah. And so for a long time, I prayed
that way. I'm thankful.
So what's wrong with that? Well, on the surface, nothing my
prayers sound more like God. Thank you for right now and and
it was like convicting to hear this person talking about it
because you know, in their mind it was to start with.
I is to miss them, miss the boat.
Right on what gratitude is. Change the subject.
God, thank you for thank you for this.
So I think that there's a way to be grateful for what God is
doing in your life that doesn't just circle back on yourself
necessarily, but that is genuine gratitude.
Like gratitude is so powerful, but genuine gratitude for what
God is doing in your life. So I think that's one, right?
2 would be allow that prayer of gratitude to shape the way you
pray for others. O God, thank you for what you
have done in my life. And because I've experienced it,
I know how desperately this person needs to experience it.
So would you do the same thing for him, for her, as you've done
for me? Like they need you desperately.
So I'm praying on their behalf for you, for you to move.
Hmm. That is a that's a good prayer.
That's not the prayer of the Pharisee.
Yeah. Um, so this is first.
It is acknowledging entirely what God has done in your life,
and it's acknowledging that there are others who also
desperately need God to move in their lives too.
What it's not is 3 Tier 3 God, I thank you that I'm not like that
person because I think even in even even if it is like even if
you're you've, you've you're praying it because you're
thankful that you know and experience God's love and grace
in ways that somebody else does. I just think that automatically
what you've done is create this like defining line between you
and this other person. Yeah.
And it puts you on the good and right and correct side and then
on the wrong side. So you know, like if this
person's listening and I hope they are, I would just say be
very, very careful as to who is the subject in your prayers and
of your prayers and who is acting right and what is the
language around me and you insider outsider.
Like I do think it's natural to be like OHT, like I could not
imagine what my life would be like if I did not have Jesus.
Well, flip that around got things that I don't need to
Hmm's and it is right and good to be praying for other people.
So I think that would be the last thing I would say is your
prayers of gratitude shouldn't make you dwell more on what you
have. They should make you dwell more
on what God is doing and what you long for God to do in others
lives. That's that's a good, that's a
really good thought, because I think that maybe another,
another angle on it could be that we, you know, we pray for
things like God, Thank you for protecting me from, you know,
this scenario or like, you know, because we could so easily, you
know, but for, you know, like there's kind of a bit of a
cliche now, but like, but for the grace of God, I could be
like that person, right, which can also other that, you know,
those people as well. But there is a sense in which
it's good to pray. Like I got thank you for
protecting me from that. You know, maybe that that person
that I almost married, that could have been a disaster for
my life, right? Like, like there, there's I'm
not that's not a real life example, but like there's
probably some people who are like, man, that I, you know,
like dodged a bullet. Thank you, Lord, Yeah.
So so let me give you a an actual like a real world example
from my childhood. I can remember my, my dad
praying at dinner time and praying this like almost the
same prayer every night. But it was a prayer that that
began by saying like, thank you for what you have provided for
us and help us to be mindful of those who do not have what we
have. Hmm.
And so it's, that's not a prayer that says, ah, there's a whole
lot of people hungry out there. God thinks we have food, right?
That's backwards. It's a prayer that first
acknowledges and honors and is is thankful toward God.
God, thank you for what we have. Sometimes that was food.
Sometimes the pair was food. Sometimes with the prayer was
family and community. Sometimes the prayer was a warm
place to live and be and have our existence like to grow up.
And then he would always turn and and pray and help us be
mindful of those who go without these things tonight.
So whether that's without a place to like a warm place to
sleep, whether that's those who go without community and
meaningful relationships, whether that's people who go
without food often many of those same things at the same time.
And I always like as a kid, I'm like, really, you're gonna make
me think about this right before I eat.
Now I feel bad about what I'm eating and like the like, but
man, I'll tell you that prayer, like it stayed with me.
And I find myself praying it more and more now as I have
kids. And, you know, I think about the
way that I pray, teaching them how to pray and how to be and,
and how to position yourself toward other people.
And I find myself going back to that.
You know, you reach a point in your life where like you're
you're. You just go.
I guess my parents were right about more than I wanted them to
be. Right, well, I love, I love the
way that that like kids can catch on to those things like
you reflecting. That's cool because even for,
for my daughter, like we, you know, often we'll pray
especially like in the cold winter months, you know, like
something similar where we're like, God, God, thank you so
much that we have a warm house and God, we pray for those that
don't that, that God you would help you would help them to find
shelter in place. Like all the things like, and
there there's something that's like almost an unintended good
consequence where we're often I hear her talking about like I
was talking with my friends the other day and we're going to
like, when we're older, we're going to start a hotel that's
going to be just free for anyone who needs to stay there.
And I'm like, and I nearly started crying one time because
I was like, Lord, like, that's so beautiful.
The way in which you're at work in her life just turned like
encouraging her to like to be the answer to to the prayer, you
know? Yeah.
So I think that's, I mean that's as as practical as I can make it
today. I I do think be grateful for
what God is doing, not for what you are doing.
And be grateful for what God is doing good and allow your
prayers and allow the way you pray to shape your posture
toward others so that you are asking on their behalf and
praying for them and incorporate that into your prayer life.
I think I think that would be a prayer to pray.
That's a great place to end. Yeah, so we hope that this
podcast has helped you in some way Have another conversation.
So have one conversation with somebody in your life and go and
have a conversation with God. Please know that we're praying
for you and we look forward to seeing you in the next episode.