Mike Fisk & Built with Grace

Simple Prayer; Huge Results

November 25, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: grace, Jesus Christ, Luke 18:13, mercy, proud prayer, simple prayer, tax collector, the prayer God listens too | 2 comments

The tax collector stood off at a distance and did not think he was good enough even to look up toward heaven. He was so sorry for what he had done that he pounded his chest and prayed, “God, have pity on me! I am such a sinner.” Luke 18:13 (CEV)

When I was about four years old my father, a pastor, invited some regionally famous friends and musicians to our church for special evangelistic meetings. One afternoon my dad and the musicians were in the living room discussing the upcoming service and I eagerly listened in.

Then it came time to pray. I kneeled as the men did and listened as my dad prayed. He was a passionate pray-er. When Dad prayed it was as if he left the room to talk with a friend. We listened, but we were not part of the conversation. Then one of the men followed in prayer, equally eloquent as I remember.

I don’t remember much of what happened next. What I do remember is that I decided I was next and began to pray what I thought was an eloquent, theologically based, Holy Spirit empowered prayer. I began by lifting my voice loudly and saying “OH LORD GOD IN HEAVEN! WE COME BEFORE YOU THIS AFTERNOON IN PRAYER!”

It was about that time my dad interrupted me. It was a gentle interruption but the lesson stuck with me all these years. Prayer isn’t about fancy words. Prayer isn’t about voice inflections designed to conjure up the Spirit of God and make him see the value of listening to us. Prayer isn’t about trying to get an alienated God to pay attention to us. Prayer is talking to a loving Father, a dear friend, an intimate lover.

Thus it was in the temple that day. The Tax Collector entered the far part of the temple. His guilt was ever before him. His burden too great to bear. His heart heavy with disgrace and embarrassment. We aren’t told what his sin was. It doesn’t matter. What we do know is that his simple prayer of just seven words was far more powerful than the 30 some eloquent words of the Pharisee up front at the altar.

No one, except the Pharisee, even noticed the tax collector in the corner, head bowed, fists clenched against his chest, a demeanor that spoke of humility, repentance and simplicity.

He was aware of the fact that there was nothing, absolutely nothing that he had to offer God.

He was aware of the reality that only because of God’s grace and mercy was he even able to take the next breath.

Yet, he was aware that there was no place on earth where he could find forgiveness than at the feet of his father.

When we pray, the angels aren’t holding score cards to judge our words and eloquence. The Father is looking at us to see the sincerity and simplicity of a broken and contrite heart. Our religious and social activity doesn’t impress him, our brokenness before him is what moves him to act in our lives.

PRAYER: Holy Father. I confess to you that from time to time I still try to impress you with my many words and activity when all you want is my heart. I’m so unworthy of all you have given me. Thank you for your grace and mercy to help me on the way. Amen.

To my followers

November 24, 2012 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

Musings of a Bipedal Vertebrate

I don’t know the exact reason you chose to read and follow my blog but I’m assuming it is because you find something about the way I think and/or write appealing. Even if it was only to try to get one more person to follow your blog that’s fine, why blog if nobody is reading it.

You know the situation I’m in, going to be homeless and I’ve been forced to ask for donations because every job I’ve managed to find has turned out to be short term for a company’s busy season. I’ve asked everyone I know for leads on jobs, if they know someone with a spare room I can barter for, if they have or know anyone who has cash work they need done with no results.

Now I’d like to ask you to help. If you can please reblog one or more of the posts about…

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Thanking God for the Wrong Things

November 24, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: arrogant prayer, degrading others, grace, Jesus, Luke 18:11, pharisees prayer, praying to myself, thanksgiving week | 2 comments

The Pharisee stood over by himself and prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not greedy, dishonest, and unfaithful in marriage like other people. And I am really glad that I am not like that tax collector over there. Luke 18:11 (CEV)

Tradition states that in Biblical times, a prayer every Jewish man was encouraged to pray every day went something like this: “Blessed be thou, that thou hast not made me a Gentile”; blessed art thou, that thou hast not made me an unlearned man; blessed art thou, that hast not made me a woman.”

It’s little wonder then, that when the Pharisee entered the Temple to pray that day, his prayer centered on who he was. God certainly should be proud of the way he’d turned out. On the other hand, that guy in the corner? The tax collector. How can he even show his face in the Temple. Simply disgusting.

When Jesus taught us to pray he warned us against being so caught up in our own righteousness that our prayers be more like talking about ourselves than talking to God. Usually, when our thoughts focus on ourselves they do so at the expense of other people. In this story, the one to bear the brunt of the Pharisees critical spirit was the tax collector in the corner.

The writer to the Hebrews tells us that we can come before the throne of grace (prayer) with confidence (Hebrews 4:16), not arrogance. The difference? The confidence we have before God comes through the grace offered through Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with our own works; it isn’t compared to anyone else. Arrogance, on the other hand, compares our status in relation to other people.

I may be able to jump higher than you, but if we both decide to see who can jump to the moon, we both lose. Whichever one of us gets an inch closer means nothing. We both missed the mark. On the outside, the Pharisee was a ‘good, church going Christian’. On the inside he was no better off than the very people he degraded with his words. The Pharisees words were in the right place (I thank you God) but his heart wasn’t (that I’m not like him).

In all honesty, your Heavenly Father loves you beyond measure. Regardless of your stature now, or your past, he gave everything he had to bring you to the place you are today. Frankly, He’s not as interested in your own achievements as he is knowing how you feel about Him. Without him nothing, absolutely nothing you have accomplished would have been possible.

The prayer of a thankful heart has very few “I’s” and “me’s” and many “You’s” and “Lord’s”. The prayer of a thankful heart is marked by love and compassion for all people. The prayer of a thankful heart measures our progress in life by God’s standards, not the actions of others.

PRAYER: Father God. I come before you in awareness that often my words betray my true feelings. While I thank you for where I am, it’s easy to measure my progress by the progress of others in living for you. I praise you and you alone for who I am and what I have. There is no one like you. Amen.

Thanksgiving Week 2012: The Healing of my Heart

November 23, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: forgiveness, hatred, haunted by my past, Healing the soul, Jesus Christ, leprosy, Luke 17:17-19, Religious bigotry, ten lepers | Leave a comment

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:17-19

‘He was a Samaritan.’

Only the most bigoted person would be able to grasp the full meaning of this simple phrase. To say the Jews hated the Samaritans would be far too soft of a statement. Self-respecting Jews would have nothing to do with Samaritans socially, religiously or in business transactions. People going from Galilee to Judea would do whatever they could to go around Samaria or travel through it very quickly.

The Samaritans had mutual feelings for the Jews. It was a hatred that went deep to the soul.

Funny how adversity can bring even the most hated enemies together though. As Jesus traveled the borderland of Galilee and Samaria he came to a village that must have been very close to the border. The group of lepers that approached him we most likely Jewish, except for one. Somehow, for whatever reason, the group of ‘walking dead’ had bonded. Now, as a last ditch effort, the group approached this Jewish teacher and begged to be healed.

There was absolutely no reason on earth that the Samaritan should be healed by Jesus. He was an outcast. He didn’t believe the same way as Jesus, in our society it might be best described by saying he was from a different denomination. Still, Jesus reached out to him.

It really should be no surprise that he would do that. He reached out to the Samaritan woman at the well. He reached out to the woman in Tyre. Jesus’ main ministry was to his Jewish brothers and sisters, but he wasn’t above reaching out to others.

He still does that today. We sit in our warm, comfy sanctuaries and thank God for all he’s given us, but do we really realize the extent of his reaching out? Do we fall to our knees as the Samaritan did and cling to him realizing the death sentence we lived under has been removed?

Ten men were healed of the terrible physical disease of leprosy that day. Ten men went home that night to restart life with loving family members. Ten men once again became members of a society that had branded them as outcasts. Only one went home with a healed soul.

We seek to heal our outsides in hopes that the healing will satisfy our soul. The tenth leper found that the only true healing comes from the inside out.

That’s why I’m thankful this morning. Like the leper, I was far from God. Things I’ve done had separated me from God and from others. Jesus never looks at what a person has done, he only looks as what he can do for that person and he freed me from the load of guilt, shame and embarrassment. All because he loves me.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I too fall on my knees before you in humble adoration and praise for all you have done for me. Others may still look down on me. Others may still criticize and doubt me, but you know my heart. Thank you for healing me. Amen.

Thanksgiving Week 2012: The Source of My Comfort

November 22, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: grace, having a gratitude attitude, Healing the soul, Jesus Christ, Luke 17:16, thanksgiving week, trust, What are you thankful for | Leave a comment

He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Luke 17:16

We all seek to be healed. In his book ‘Wild at Heart’ John Eldrege talks of ‘the Wound’ that each of us bears. The wound of our heart that comes from a variety of places and hurts in different ways. The question isn’t if we are wounded, because we all are. The question is how can we be healed?

The lepers in our story needed healing, that was obvious to anyone that dare venture near them. As the disease progressed fingers, toes and facial features were eaten away. The smell of rotting flesh was evident in the presence of leprosy.

The fact that one leper returned to thank Jesus isn’t particularly surprising. It’s the other nine neglecting to return that stands out. There could be a plethora of reasons why the others didn’t return. Excitement of returning home; seeing the priests as the source of their healing and not Jesus; simple ingratitude; not being fully aware of the horrific condition they were in. We aren’t told the reason and you may have your own ideas.

The point remains, the lepers needed healing and only one realized the source of their healing and returned to give thanks.

There is another aspect to the story we must remember. Leprosy was not only a disease of the physical body, it was a symbol of sin in a persons life. That’s why the leper and his family were often under suspicion by the church. The leper had the distinct disadvantage of not being able to hide his sin. We, on the other hand can go to great lengths to hide the leprosy of our souls. We use relationships, addictive behavior, anger, religion and a variety of other activities to hide the disease within us. Some of those activities are noble social causes. Some are more personal in scope. None heal the pain that chews away at our hearts.

That’s why I’m thankful this season for Jesus. Like the returning leper, I’ve come to realize that he, and he alone is worth of my praise. I’m not healed yet. There are still vestiges of the disease lurking in the corners of my being. But because of him, the spiritual leprosy will not succeed.

Before the Samaritan leper took one more step towards the priests, home and a life of normalcy, he went back to Jesus to thank him for being healed. The rest of his life he would carry the scars of his leprosy, but along with it, the reminder that through Jesus ‘I AM CLEAN’!

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I thank you for your death, burial and resurrection. Because of what you have done for me I have been cleansed from the leprosy that wanted to destroy me. In you I am clean and for that I’m eternally grateful. Amen.