by Eric Holter on June 5, 2005
“When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.’”
Luke 2:48
For three agonizing days Joseph and Mary searched for their precious Son. There have been a few times and places where I have lost track of one of my children. Those few anxious minutes felt like hours as the sickening feeling of anxiety welled up in my gut. How much more painful to lose track of a child for three days? Life need not deliver such extreme forms of distress in order to provoke my anxiety; its small doses produce dread and anxiety easily enough. My inner turmoil is a reflexive consequence of such circumstances.
[click to continue…]
by Eric Holter on December 17, 2004
John Piper preached a message he titled “Be Devoted to Prayer.” He invented an acronym – “F.A.D.E.S.” Each letter stood for a couplet of two complementary aspects of prayer that need to be balanced in order to keep our vulnerable prayer lives vital. “F” stood for Free and Formed; “A” stood for Alone and Assembled; “D” stood for Desperate and Delighted; “E” stood for Explosive and Extended; and “S” stood for Spontaneous and Scheduled.*
While developing the “F” (free and formed) part of the acronym, he broke it into several sub-points relating to the formed aspect of prayer. While the free aspect of prayer is also important – our words should flow freely from our minds through unplanned and unstructured expressions – counter balancing freedom in prayer is the use of “form.” Formed prayers are structured or modeled after patterns. Formed prayers follow outlines. Formed prayers do not rely on the mind’s capacity for self-expression.
My guess, based on my own experience, is that most evangelicals rely on and value freedom in prayer more than form. People like me embrace freedom, self-expression, and “genuine” experiences. This preference is even stronger in people who grew up in dry, liturgical, religious environments, where their disappointing experience with lifeless and formulaic prayer now makes formed prayer repulsive to them. Nevertheless, I think there is great value in embracing certain kinds of form in prayer. I’m not suggesting that praying in a formed way, without an engaged heart, is valuable. But in as much as my mind is weak, and my understanding of God is shallow, using forms to help me pray can deepen and strengthen my experience in prayer.
[click to continue…]
by Eric Holter on October 15, 2004
“…your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God.”
Acts 10:4
Cornelius, the centurion from Ceasarea, prayed to God continually. Now on a certain day his prayers came before God as a memorial. As Cornelius prayed a most historic event was about to unfold, an event which would lead to the kingdom of God being extended to my people, that is, to the gentiles. This massive, history-altering event was inaugurated by the prayer of a devout centurion. The unfolding of this event was continued as another man, Simon Peter, was also attending to prayer on the roof Simon the Tanner.
[click to continue…]
by Eric Holter on September 15, 2004
“Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low.”
Psalms 142:6
David’s spirit was overwhelmed and had fainted within him. His emotional stress was unavoidable since his life was threatened by enemies who sought to kill him, and they had the upper hand. David’s emotions did not run opposite to his circumstances. As a result he was troubled, he complained, and felt trapped. He felt weak and imprisoned. David’s piety however is that in such a low state he sought the Lord. He did not just cry; he cried to the Lord. He did not just pour out complaint; he poured out his complaint to the Lord. He did not just declare his troubles; he declared his troubles before the Lord.
[click to continue…]
by Eric Holter on May 5, 2004
“I called out of my distress to the LORD,
And He answered me.
I cried for help from the depth of Sheol;
You heard my voice.
For You had cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the current engulfed me.
All Your breakers and billows passed over me.
So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight.
Nevertheless I will look again toward Your Holy Temple.’ “
Jonah 2:2-4
Listen carefully my soul. What do you say when God, in his inscrutable ways, casts you into the deep? What happens in your heart when you feel expelled from the Lord’s presence? Whether you are engulfed as the result of your own sin, fleeing from the Lord like Jonah, or whether your trial is for no apparent cause, such as Joseph’s experience in prison, listen carefully to what your heart says in that day. O that you would say “Nevertheless I will look again toward thy Holy Temple!” Trials, whether self-inflicted from sinning, or purely from your heavenly Father’s perfect design for your holiness and purity, will come. Such times of affliction are appointed to you. What will you say when you are in such distress? Will you look toward the one who afflicts you, the one who casts you into the deep, and cry out to Him for help? Will you set your face steadfast toward His Holy Temple? Will you remember the Lord and look to Him to bring you up from the depths?
[click to continue…]
by Eric Holter on January 30, 2004
“In those days, I Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks …”
“Then he said to me, ‘do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for 21 days …’”
“Then he said, ‘Do you understand why I came to you? …’”
Daniel 10:2, 12-13, 20
The time the angelic visitor was kept from getting to Daniel was the exact amount of time Daniel had spent crying out to God, praying and morning. I wonder if his question to Daniel “Do you understand why I came to you …” had in it a reference to the amount of time Daniel had spent praying? He came to deliver a vision to Daniel of the future, but did this question not only test whether Daniel understood the vision, but did it also point out the correspondence between the amount of time he prayed and the time it took for the answer to come? Was he pointing out to Daniel that his prayers were prompted by great spiritual battles, and that his praying was influencing the outcome?
[click to continue…]
by Eric Holter on January 15, 2004
“O Lord, the God of my salvation,
I have cried out by day and in the night before Thee
Let my prayer come before Thee;
Incline thine ear to my cry!
For my soul has had enough troubles,
And my life is drawn near to Sheol.”
Psalm 88:1-3
This Psalm was troubling to read. The complaint of the Psalmist continues throughout the entire Psalm and is not answered. His cry, it seems, goes unheard. Unlike many of David’s Psalms, which contain equally impassioned cries for help, this Psalm does not end with a positive declaration of the Psalmist’s plea having been answered. David cried but ultimately said things like “Why are you in despair O my soul, and why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance, and my God” (Psalm 42:11). But this Psalmist does not testify to any answer from God, he remains in his distress. Nor does he give any hope from his past experience, he does not ask for a restoring to a previous better condition because he seems to have always been in distress, “I was afflicted in about to die from my youth on.” The experience of this Psalmist seems inconsistent with God’s promises to provide help and fill us with joy and gladness. Why would God seemingly pass this praying man over, and include his hopeless plea in his Word?
[click to continue…]
