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Dear Friends,

I think it’s time, and that there’s a need, for us to learn (or re-learn) how to pray in exile. Bear with me:

I posted a prayer and then a lament on Facebook this week. Both were related to political events, political actions, or political promises (the Inauguration, an Executive Order that will force schools to let those born with male DNA play on girls’ sports teams and have access to girl’s locker rooms, and the promise that President Biden will restart the USA paying other nations to abort their children). As you know, I generally avoid posting about political or politically divisive issues on Social Media. I rarely do that. But I think I’ve reached a new level of resolved to not do it again. It’s not that my posts went badly (I don’t know that they did), it’s just that I think I and we need to return to focus more on active exile prayer. We need to believe that prayer is a more productive and powerful use of our time and energy than posting or commenting on Social Media. Beyond that, I am increasingly concerned about how politics and Social Media are tearing apart our country and our community.

In Daniel 9, God teaches us what it looks like for us to learn to pray in exile. If you are a Christian – you live in exile in this world. God says that you, and we, are aliens, strangers, and exiles in this world. What does it look like to think, act, and pray as an exile instead of as a majority, a “past majority,” or as a significant minority? Daniel 9 also teaches us that we should pray in accordance with God’s character, his will, and his promises. I encourage you to take some time to reflect on Daniel 9. As you do that, compare, contrast, and consider:Read More

Dear Friends,

As we turn to Daniel 8, we come to another vision that sounds bizarre to our modern ears: a ram and a flying goat with weird horns fighting on the banks of a canal in Susa, the capital of Persia. As strange, foreign, and perhaps even personally irrelevant as prophecies like this might sound to us, the abundance of details, and specificity of this particular prophecy, give unequivocal proof of God’s existence and his Sovereignty. This should strengthen our faith and confidence in God! 400 years after this prophecy was given and written down, it was clearly fulfilled is the actions of Antiochus IV Epiphanies who named himself “God Manifest.” In (approximately) 602 BC, God prophesied in detail, through Daniel in Babylon, Antiochus Epiphanies’ persecution of the Jews and his desecration of the Temple that happened 400 years later in Jerusalem. The resolution of these terrible actions and the fulfillment of Daniel 8 are celebrated to this day in the annual Jewish celebration of Hanukkah.

But this isn’t just about history and the clear fulfillment of God’s prophecy. In Antiochus’ actions and persecution, we clearly see the marks of Satan’s ongoing war against the Church. The tactics and goals of Satan’s war against the Church have been consistent throughout history. In Daniel 8, God warns all of his people to be aware of these diabolical tactics so that we might recognize Satan’s goals and prepare for his attacks. So, I encourage you to take some time to read Daniel 8 and identify the following tactics and goals of Satan’s ongoing war against the Church:Read More

Dear Friends,

“What are you looking forward to?”

I think if you asked yourself or anyone that question today, the top answer would probably be, “For COVID-19 to be over and everything to go back to normal!”

I confess that, 10 months ago, beginning March 2020, I was not only looking forward to that, but that my hopes were perpetually too short-term: that we’d be basically over COVID-19 by Easter, then by the summer, then by the fall, and then maybe by the end of the year. Then, right before Christmas, when I got the breaking news from back home about the new virulent strain that had appeared in the UK leading to new “lock-down” and quarantine measures, I was especially demoralized. The things we look forward to can give us hope, but sometimes they also bring disappointment. My too-short timeframe and hopes for this world led to perpetual and increased disappointment.

As followers of Jesus Christ, maybe 2020 (and 2021 thus far), should teach us that our first answer to the question, “What are you looking forward to?” should be “Jesus’ return and the final birth of the New Heavens & Earth!”Read More