Tag: prayer

A Dissertation on White Wall Tires

Hands down, Cars is easily one of my favorite movies. It falls in somewhere behind Forrest Gump, but ahead of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Cars is a sentimental piece evoking nostalgia for Route 66, the Southwestern lifestyle, and for the relationships of small-town life.

There’s a moment in the film, as Lightning McQueen is preparing to return to his normal life of racing for Piston Cup glory, where he decides to patronize the businesses of the cars that hosted him in the fictitious small Route 66 town of Radiator Springs.

First stop, Luigi’s tire shop.

Luigi, who hasn’t had a customer in years, is overjoyed at the prospect of fitting Lightning for the perfect set of tires. (The scene is reminiscent of the old days of buying shoes in an actual shoe store with a salesman who not only helped you find the right fit, but the right look as well.)

Lightning, being as good a customer as possible, asks for the best set of black wall tires Luigi has, to which Luigi iconically replies, “No, you don’t know what you want, Luigi knows what you want.”

Lightning replies, “You’re the expert,” and completely goes along with whatever Luigi suggests. The same thing happens when Lightning visits Ramone’s paint and body shop.

The result, a shiny, sparkling Lightning McQueen that radiates on a main street that has just been repaved, with the neon signs fixed, and its Route 66 glory on full display. For a moment, the people, er, cars of Radiator Springs enjoy a beautiful time reminiscent of their former glory.

Lightning McQueen, a modern racecar, had only known racing tires, black wall, slick tread, and made by Goodyear. Yet, when he followed Luigi’s advice, he was introduced to a whole new world.

Out on my walk today, I got to thinking about how often we fail to understand what we really want, defining our desires around things that we’ve already known, and missing blessings that we’ve never seen.

You see, we don’t know what we want. God knows what we want.

Just like Lightning thought black wall racing slicks would meet his need, as it is all he has ever known, we think that our desires can be fulfilled with a better job, more money, better health, or maybe we’re just wishing that our one main problem would be solved.

And as Lightning so innocently asked for black wall tires, we pray to God asking for those things. Asking for the new job, the financial solution, for healing, or for God to resolve our conflict and win our battle once and for all.

But, unlike Lightning, who was fitted and placed into a set of white wall tires within a matter of seconds, often, our requests seem to go unanswered for days, weeks, months and even years.

What strikes me about this is that scripture says in Romans 8:28 that “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

The premise of this verse is that God is good. Not only is God good, but God does good. Not only does God do good (for the greater good), but He does what is good for us personally.

Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for our good. Our own good. Everything that life brings you, God uses it for your good.

That doesn’t mean that everything that happens in your life was God’s idea, neither does it mean that everything that happens in your life is good.

Some things happen in your life that are horrible, things that were perpetrated upon you by people who had the worst intentions. Yet, God, in His infinite wisdom, knowledge and goodness, saw a way to turn the evil done to you into a blessing. So, the road may be paved in suffering, but God drew the map and the road is taking you someplace amazing.

And the wild thing about this concept is that the good God is leading you to is something that you may never have imagined. That thing may be better than the solution or the desire you have imagined.

Sometimes, we get what we think we wanted, only to find out it’s not what we really wanted.

But, with God, we get what we didn’t really think we wanted, only to find out it’s what we really wanted all along.

The thing that helps me get through tough times, and gives me hope even when my prayers go unanswered, is that God knows me better than I know myself. Therefore, even if I don’t get what I ask for, I will come to realize that the answer that I do get will be good, and will probably be better than I could’ve imagined.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

My Prayer for You

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My daily Bible reading took me through Psalm 20 today, which says:

The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; 2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion; 3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.

4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel. 5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the Lord fulfil all thy petitions. 6 Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. 7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. 8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright. 9 Save, Lord: let the king hear us when we call.

Reading these words made me think of my church, and my friends, and my ultimate desire for them.

As I take stock of everything, I am reminded of the numerous battles each individual member of my church, and each of my friends face. I am reminded of the challenges that lay before my children, and the challenges that each of the students in FCA face.

Some face health crises, some financial, some family problems, but in each situation, the anxiety is high and the consequences are potentially devastating.

So, we pray.

So, my prayer for you, for each of you, is that the Lord hear your prayers. I pray that He not only hears your prayers, but your cries, the silent cries that well up in our hearts but never escape our lips.

I pray the Lord steps up and defends you, sends you help, and I pray that He remembers your faithfulness and everything that He has done for you.

And, when the Lord hears and answers your prayers, I pray that I am there so that I can rejoice together with you.

This is a prayer that Psalm 20 says we can pray in faith, because the Lord saves His anointed. He rescues His people. While others trust in their own resources and abilities (chariots and horses,) our God makes us to stand.

So, I don’t know what you’re praying for today. I don’t know what’s on your heart. But my prayer for you is that God brings His divine resolution to it and brings you peace.

The Magic of an Honest Prayer

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Several months back, the walls were closing in on me. I had been laid off from Texas Farm Bureau, I was two months without employment, and things in my personal life had gone from bad to worse.

At that moment, a former church member texted me, “People who have no secrets from each other never want for subjects of conversation.”

He went on to explain that his quote was from a 16th-century Bible teacher who used the quote to teach open and honest prayers to God.

He went on to say, “Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and pains to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles that He may comfort you, your joys that He may sober them. Tell Him your longings that He may purify them.

“People who have no secrets from each other never want for subjects of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration, they say what they think.

“Blessed are they who attain such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God.” (Francois Feneion, 1651-1715)

After receiving that text, I drove out to a local picnic area and lifted my heart up to God, sharing every anxiety of my financial and family situation, my anxieties and fears, my needs and requests.

I had been praying, but I had “Spiritualized” my prayers, couching the words in sanitized language so as to demonstrate acceptance and faith.

But with this prayer, I laid it all out on the table.

“God, you have given me the responsibility to provide for my family, but to do that, I NEED A JOB!”

“God, you have called me to preach your Gospel, but I need you to provide for and enable this ministry!”

“God, I need direction!”

Isn’t it interesting? By the end of the day, I had an interview with a company that would go on to hire me, and transfer me to Austin. After a few months in Austin, I learned that financial services was not God’s calling on my life, and the pursuit of career accomplishments and wealth would never feed my soul.

Again, I prayed, “Lord, please rescue me.”

And now, I sit here in the study at First Baptist Church of Hermleigh, TX, sharing this testimony with you.

Open and honest prayers not only work, and are not only recommended by 16th-century teachers, but they are also Biblical.

Take David’s prayer in Psalm 6, for example. David opens the prayer by begging for God’s mercy, asking God how much longer this season of grief and suffering will continue, and asking to be delivered.

He goes on to discuss how long and how intense his grief is, saying that he makes his bed to swim and waters his couch with his tears.

In Psalm 6, David lays it all out there, before ultimately expressing faith that the LORD will receive his prayer.

David’s prayer is not unlike Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 1, when she prayed out of the bitterness of her heart, asking God not to forget her, and that if she were blessed with a son, she would give him to the Lord and dedicate him to God’s service.

Scripture records multiple times when God heard and answered David’s prayer, and 1 Samuel records how God heard and answered Hannah’s prayer.

When Jesus taught us how to pray during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, He told us, “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”

This concept is what separates David and Hannah’s prayers from the ineffectual prayers of many others. People have been taught to use certain phrases and words when praying, and thus they lose the actual substance of the prayers they lift up to God.

What God wants, however, is for us to be open and honest with Him. He wants us to “Let our requests be made known unto Him.” (Philippians 4:6).

He wants us to be real, to truly explore our hearts and give them over to Him, to allow Him to refine our hearts, answer our requests, and transform us through the process.

When this level of prayer becomes our method of operation, we will truly see the Lord move, and our anxieties will be abated as well.

And if you need help, if you have a special prayer request, feel free to send it to me below. I will be glad to lift your request up in prayer.

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The Answer Was Right There All Along

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At the end of “The Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy asks Glinda for help getting back to Kansas, to which Glinda says, “You’ve always had the power to go back to Kansas.”

Dorothy had been through a harrowing journey with the scarecrow, the lion, and the tin man on the yellow brick road to Oz, dodging the evil witch and flying monkeys, en route to a man behind the curtain blowing smoke and mirrors, all in hopes of solving their problems.

In the end, each character learned that the solution to his problems was right in front of him the whole time.

In life, we often face problems and seemingly insurmountable obstacles. We try to solve these problems with our own wit, and often self-medicate our own anxieties through TV, music, food and drink. At the end of the day, our problems still plague us.

However, when I read Psalm 4, I am confronted with the same truth that Dorothy faced at the end of The Wizard of Oz. My solution was always right in front of me.

In opening Psalm 4, King David writes, “HEAR me when I call, O God of my righteousness: Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.”

David’s first response was prayer, and in his prayer, he praised God for continually helping him in distress and hearing his cries.

David’s prayer life was so robust, and he often praised God even in the storms of life, because David had an intense faith in the Lord. You see this in his writings in the Psalms.

Often, David describes the calamity he faces, but then contrasts that calamity from God’s mercy, strength, love and grace. Psalm 4 is no different.

In Psalm 4:2, David asks his fellow man, “How long will ye turn my glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing?” He then writes “Selah,” which is an instruction to stop and ponder.

Human nature gravitates toward the vain, the empty. When David asks “How long will you love vanity?” he is asking “How long will you love emptiness?”

What are some things that we love that, at the end of the day, are empty and worthless?

How often do we get caught up in the temporary things of the day-to-day life and fail to take a moment to consider the goodness of God and the eternal things of His Kingdom? And how often do we misplace our priorities on those temporary things of this world while neglecting the eternal things of the Kingdom?

We become like Dorothy, needlessly taking a frightful journey down a yellow brick road to meet a “wizard” that offers no real solutions.

In the second phase of Psalm 4, David expresses his faith.

“But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: The LORD will hear when I call unto Him. Stand in awe, and sin not, commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.”

David tells us that the Lord sets apart His people. As His people, we are different, and we are set apart for God’s higher purpose. We are special.

Special items are set apart from the rest. The classic 1964 1/2 Mustang may be kept in the garage, while the 2003 Honda Civic sits in the driveway. The Civic may be driven more, but the Mustang’s trips are special, and are for certain occasions.

Likewise, when we become God’s children at the point of faith, the Lord sets us apart. We may not see the same highway miles as the rest of the world, but our highway miles are ordered and have a special purpose.

Like a car collector takes special care of his classic, God takes special care of us. Thus, He hears and answers our prayers in the most perfect way possible.

On that note, David implores us to take time, to stand in awe of this, and to ponder this in our hearts as we rest upon our beds.

David then concludes the Psalm by calling the people to worship, while praising God for the joy that He has given, and the provision He makes.

Life is not a bed of roses. (Seriously, why would that even be a good thing? Roses have thorns.) Life comes with trials and tribulations.

When we focus on life’s problems, often problems are all we see. How can we overcome these problems and find ourselves back in a peaceful place?

Simple. Remember that God has set you apart. Pray to Him, and trust Him to bring you through the storm. You have the power to do that, and you don’t even have to be wearing the ruby-red slippers in order to find peace in the Lord.