Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living. 

President Obama’s War on Religion, Part 1 

Don’t miss Denny Burk’s passionate commentary against Obama’s war on religion. Here’s an excerpt.

The President rolled out a regulation that will force religious organizations to pay for abortions. The regulation is all a part of Obamacare, and it requires faith-based hospitals and universities to provide birth-control without a co-pay. Many Christian groups (especially Roman Catholics) have religious objections to birth control, but those groups will now have to pay for it. What is worse is that some of the birth control methods that will be covered are abortifacients. Nearly all conservative Christian groups (both Protestant and Catholic) oppose abortifacients because they are medicines that cause abortions. In effect, Obamacare now requires these Christian groups to pay for the killing of unborn human life.

Read the rest, and pray, and vote: President Obama’s War on Religion. 

President Obama’s War on Religion, Part 2

Nor should you miss Al Mohler’s equally scathing rebuke of the new law in The President, the Pill, and Religious Liberty in Peril.

Here’s an excerpt. 

In 1808, President Thomas Jefferson stated the matter bluntly: “I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises.” Fast forward 204 years and President Barack Obama has reversed that logic, ordering religious institutions to provide insurance coverage for employees that must include contraceptives, including those that may induce an abortion.

5 Reviews of The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams 

Heath Lambert’s new book The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams is attracting some well-deserved attention. Here are 5 recent reviews.

• Biblical Counseling Coalition/Jeff Forrey

• The Gospel Coalition/Bob Kellemen

• Thirsty Ones/Greg Wilson

• The Association of Biblical Counselors/Jay Younts

• The Institute for Nouthetic Studies/Donn Arms 

6 De-Churching Trends 

Pastor Paul Tautges nails it and challenges consumer “churchianity” in his summary of 6 De-Churching Trends. 

Intelligent Design 

Justin Taylor posts videos of An Interview with Stephen Meyer on Intelligent Design. In the videos, R.C. Sproul interviews Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, on philosophy, evolution, education, Intelligent Design, and more.

Join the Conversation 

Which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

RPM Ministries: Equipping You to Change Lives with Christ’s Changeless Truth

As I speak around the country on Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, I’m frequently asked, “What do you think about Black History Month?” 

The question comes from my African American friends, many of whom are divided on the issue. Some think Black History Month is a net positive for African Americans, while others believe it is a net negative. The question also comes from my non-African American friends, who are equally split, and for various reasons.

Having outlined The History of Black History Month, now it’s time to discuss Is Black History Month Still Necessary?

Is Morgan Freeman Right?

Morgan Freeman, a long-time critic of the holiday, strongly believes that Black History Month is not just unnecessary but “ridiculous.” According to Freeman in a 60 Minutes interview, Black history should not be relegated to a month. In fact, argues Freeman, Black history, after all, is American history.

Jessica McElrath asks it this way, “Has African American history now converged with American history, and, therefore, should the celebration be eliminated?”

Some believe that this is the case. According to Rochelle Riley, yes, the time has come to end Black History Month. Riley asserts that Black history is American history. So, suggests Riley, it’s time to stop celebrating, learning, and being American separately. It’s time to be an America where learning about Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians is part of school curriculums.

Jesse Washington, AP National Writer, asks the question with his title, “Time to End Black History Month?” He opens with the follow-up question, “Should Black History Month itself fade into history?”

Many people, both Whites and Blacks, argue that Black history should be incorporated into year-round education. Washington quotes Stephen Donovan, a 41-year-old lawyer, saying, “If Obama’s election means anything, it means that African American history IS American history and should be remembered and recognized every day of the year.”

Donovan believes that ending “paternalistic” observations like Black History Month would lead to not “only a reduction in racism, but Whites more ready, willing, and able to celebrate our differences and enjoy our traditions without feeling the strain of guilt that stifles frank dialogue and acceptance across cultures?”

What Does the President Think?

Other portions of Washington’s article support another side of the story: the continued need for Black History Month. President Obama, like all his predecessors since the 1970s, believes Black History Month should continue. He lauded “National African American History Month” calling upon “public officials, educators, librarians, and all people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs that raise awareness and appreciation of African American history.”

Daryl Scott, Chairman of the history department at Howard University believes Black History Month is still needed to solidify and build upon America’s racial gains. “To know about the people who make up society is to make a better society. A multiracial, multiethnic society has to work at its relationships, just like you have to work at your marriage.”

“I don’t see it going away,” said Spencer Crew, a history professor at George Mason University, adding that a diverse year-round history curriculum can still be augmented in depth during Black History Month. “There’s a Women’s History Month,” Crew said. “No one would argue that we don’t need to be reminded of women who have done things that are important.”

Jessica McElrath surmises that most historians and African Americans believe that Black History Month remains necessary. According to McElrath, Black History Month is the only time of the year when Black history is recognized in many schools. She argues that schools often focus on White history year round, and, therefore, Black History Month is a necessary celebration.

Are We Fair and Balanced Yet?

Much of the discussion about whether Black History Month is still necessary relates to whether “main stream” history is accurately covering Black history year-round. My specialty is Black Church history, so I’ll speak to that. Evangelical Black Church history is not being fairly covered year round…not even close.

As Karole Edwards and I researched the history of African American soul care and spiritual direction, we found hundreds of primary sources for Black Church history from 1500-1900 (our time-frame). However, when we looked in secondary sources written today about American Church history, we found an embarrassing dearth of focus on women and minorities. Even in 2011, most general texts on American Church history continue to focus on dead White guys.

I’m not against the dead White guys. One day I will be one of them! I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation on one of them: Martin Luther.

I’m simply of the conviction that fair and balanced history is still not being written. Just today I received the following testimonial to this fact.

“I hold an MA in biblical counseling from an Evangelical seminary. I also did coursework in ethics related to race relations. I ordered your book Beyond the Suffering and was deeply touched by it. It is a book that I longed for while in seminary as the majority of my textbooks were from an Anglo-American perspective.”

Others agree. As I present around the country on Heroes of the Black Church, participants are angry. because no one else is presenting these historical facts. In their Evangelical Bible colleges, Christian liberal arts colleges, and seminaries, they’re taking Church history courses and hearing nothing about Black Church history, especially Evangelical Black Church history. I’m being told that even Historically Black Colleges and Universities are not teaching about Evangelical Black Church history.

I always find it interesting when someone says, “Let’s just read about good people of all races and not focus on just one race!” I like to follow-up with the question, “So tell me the most recent book you’ve read, especially the most recent American Church history book that talked about anyone other than dead White guys…”

Or, I’ll ask, “So tell me some great heroes of the faith who are from a culture different from yours…”

Unfortunately, 99% of people can’t provide an answer. In theory, we say we want to read about all people of all cultures. In reality, most general studies books on American Church history are only about the dead White guys. And most of us read only about people who are like us.

What Does God’s Word Say?

We’ll celebrate unity in diversity in heaven for all eternity according to Revelation 7:9-10. God’s end game is not one homogenous group, but unity in diversity. Such unity in diversity reflects God. Our Trinitarian God is Three-in-One: unity in diversity.

Even if racism, prejudice, and imbalanced awareness were wiped from the face of the earth, the Bible still commands us to value diversity throughout eternity. The end of racism would not be the end of diversity. It would be the beginning of unity in diversity. There’s a world of difference.

While people may debate whether “race” is culturally-constructed, the Bible is clear that culture is God-constructed and approved. God does not want us to be “culture-blind.” He wants us to recognize, appreciate, and celebrate our differences in biblical unity.

What Should We Do Now?

Ideally, life could and should be both/and. We could have books that highlight the unique accomplishments of various cultural groups—celebrating their legacy. And, we could have books that integrate in a fair and balanced way the contributions of all cultural groups.

The same could be true of “history months.” We could have months celebrating specific cultural groups. And, we could and should, year-round, celebrate the contributions of all cultural groups.

Given the clearly documented lack of past and current historical balance (dead White guys getting all the press and other cultures and women given little honor), it is still necessary to highlight “minority cultures” and women in special months, books, etc. We can do this while also working toward integrating men and women, and people of all cultures, into year-round study and into overview books.

Join the Conversation

What do you think? Is Black History Month still necessary?

RPM Ministries: Equipping You to Change Lives with Christ’s Changeless Truth

As I speak on Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, I’m frequently asked: “What is the history behind Black History Month?” The answer is fascinating and instructive.

The Father of Black History

With the following compelling words, African American historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) explained his purpose for founding what in 1926 was known as Negro History Week.

“We should emphasize not Negro history, but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice.”

A decade before he conceived of Negro History Week, Dr. Woodson launched the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (1915). He was motivated by the belief that publishing “scientific history about the Black race would produce facts that would prove that Africa and its people had played a crucial role in the development of civilization.” As a Harvard-trained historian, Woodson believed that truth would prevail over prejudice.

Based upon this conviction, Woodson established The Journal of Negro History in 1916. However, a decade into his work, he recognized that scholarship alone was not defeating the race problem. Unfortunately, many White historians were not promoting the truth even when they read its riches.

It Takes a Community

If the scholarly community would not be moved by truth, then how could the legacy of Black achievements ever become appreciated? Dr. Woodson began to urge Black civic organizations to promote the achievements that researchers were uncovering.

Woodson prodded his fraternity brothers at Omega Psi Phi to take up the work. In 1924 they responded with the creation of Negro History and Literature Week, which they later renamed Negro Achievement Week.

Within a year, Woodson knew that the Association had to expand its program. They refocused their goal to be: popularizing the truth of Black achievement. The Association had to reeducate Blacks as well as Whites, and its doors had to be opened to all, not just to historians and scholars.

When the Association announced Negro History Week for 1926, Woodson was overwhelmed by the response. Black history clubs sprang up, teachers desired materials to instruct their pupils, and many Whites, not simply White scholars, stepped forward to endorse the effort.

So Why February? 

Dr. Woodson selected a week in February for the initial Negro History Week. Why?

The week in February included the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Lincoln, of course, issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Frederick Douglass had been one of the great African American leaders of the previous century.

By the time Woodson passed away in 1950, Negro History Week had become a central part of African American life. Progress was being made in bringing more Americans to appreciate the African American legacy and to embrace the celebration.

However, people recognized the need to devote more time to Black history. The nation was coming to recognize the importance of Black history in the drama of the America story. So, in 1976, fifty years after the initial celebration, the first Black History Month was celebrated. Since 1976, all American Presidents have issued Black History Month proclamations.

Now We Know the Rest of the Story

Here’s what we’ve learned about the history of Black History Month.

1. The Original Need: There existed in the 1920s an imbalance in historical study. Most history was written by “White men” about “dead White men.”

2. The Original Motivation: Dr. Woodson and other African American scholars recognized this imbalance. In response, they did not want to emphasize “Black history.” They simply wanted a factual, scholarly study of Blacks in history. In fact, they insisted that what we needed was not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national, racial, and religious prejudice.

3. Scholarly Disappointment: Being a Harvard-trained historian, Dr. Woodson assumed that the truth would set us free. He believed that when White historians saw the facts of history—that all people of all ethnicities have made sterling contributions to civilization—that their biases would die. He was wrong.

4. Spreading the Word: Seeing the failure of White historians to present the facts, Woodson and others now realized that it would take a community. The average citizen needed to be educated in the historical truth of the beautifully diverse nature of the history of civilization. Thus was birthed what we now know as Black History Month.

5. Historical Clarity: For those who might say, “Why should Blacks have their own month?” we need to answer historically. “Blacks needed their own month to begin to overcome the distortion not only of the other eleven months, but of the preceding 1,000s of years of recorded history.” Leaders like Dr. Woodson never insisted on the supremacy of any one race. They simply wanted to uncover the buried historical riches of any neglected cultures. (That’s the identical motivation that led to my writing Beyond the Suffering).

The Rest of the Story

Join us again tomorrow as we address the important, controversial question: Is Black History Month Still Necessary?

Join the Conversation 

Now that you know the history, what is your view of the original need for Black History Month?

RPM Ministries: Equipping You to Change Lives with Christ’s Changeless Truth

]]> http://www.rpmministries.org/2012/02/the-history-of-black-history-month-3/feed/ 0 http://www.rpmministries.org/2012/01/quotes-of-note-martin-luther-master-pastor-part-9/ http://www.rpmministries.org/2012/01/quotes-of-note-martin-luther-master-pastor-part-9/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:27:28 +0000 Bob http://www.rpmministries.org/?p=5792 Quotes of Note: Martin Luther—Master Pastor, Part 9

Note: You’re reading the final post in a nine-part blog mini-series sharing Quotes of Note derived from my Ph.D. dissertation: Spiritual Care in Historical Perspective: Martin Luther as a Case Study in Christian Sustaining, Healing, Reconciling, and Guiding. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, and Part 8.  

Luther’s great lifelong terror was that he would not be accepted by God. His great lifelong pursuit was to find a way to earn God’s favor. Before coming to his convictions about salvation by faith alone though grace alone through Christ alone, to find peace with God Luther followed the methods common in the Medieval Church of his day.

Trying to Find Peace with God through Works

“I was a good monk, and I kept the rules of my order so strictly that I may say that if ever a monk got to heaven by his monkery it was I. All my brothers in the monastery who knew me will bear me out. If I had kept on any longer, I should have killed myself with vigils, prayers, reading, and other work” (cited in Bainton, p. 45).

“When I was a monk I was unwilling to omit any of the prayers, but when I was busy with public lecturing and writing I often accumulated my appointed prayers for a whole week, or even two or three weeks. Then I would take a Saturday off, or shut myself in for as long as three days without food and drink, until I had said the prescribed prayers. This made my head split, and as a consequence I could not close my eyes for five nights, lay sick unto death, and went out of my senses” (LW, Vol. 54, p. 85).

“I almost fasted myself to death, for again and again I went for three days without taking a drop of water or a morsel of food. I was very serious about it” (LW, Vol. 54, pp. 339-340).

“Whatever good works a man might do to save himself, these Luther was resolved to perform” (Bainton, p. 45).

“While I was a monk, I no sooner felt assailed by any temptation than I cried out—‘I am lost!’ Immediately I had recourse to a thousand methods to stifle the cries of my conscience. I went everyday to confession, but that was of no use to me” (cited in D’Aubigne, 1950, p. 24).

Luther entered the monastery to find peace with God. Though driven there for rest for his soul, monastic life failed to ease his guilt. “Then, bowed down by sorrow, I tortured myself by the multitude of my thoughts. ‘Look,’ exclaimed I, ‘thou art still envious, impatient, passionate! It profiteth thee nothing, O wretched man, to have entered this sacred order’” (cited in D’Aubigne, 1950, p. 31).

Finding Peace with God through Christ Alone by Faith Alone through Grace Alone

If Luther could not find peace with God through human effort, what hope then did he or anyone else have? Luther found his hope in Christ alone.

“Now I should like to know whether your soul, tired of its own righteousness, is learning to be revived by and to trust in the righteousness of Christ. For in our age the temptation to presumption besets many, especially those who try with all their might to be just and good without knowing the righteousness of God, which is most bountifully and freely given us in Christ. They try to do good of themselves in order that they might stand before God clothed in their own virtues and merits. But this is impossible. While you were here, you were one who held this opinion, or rather error. So was I” (To George Spenlein, an Augustinian Friar) (LW, Vol. 48, p. 12).

“Hence it comes that faith alone makes righteous and fulfills the law . . .” (Luther, Commentary on Romans, p. xv).

“He who was without sin, for our sake became sin for us and so identified Himself with us as to participate in our alienation” (Luther, Commentary on Romans, pp. 75-77).

“You want to be an imaginary sinner and to regard Christ as an imaginary Saviour. You must accustom yourself to think that Christ is a real Saviour and that you are a real sinner. God does nothing for fun nor for show, and he is not joking when he sends his Son and delivers him up for us” (LSA, p. 12).

“This Epistle [Romans] is really the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest Gospel, and is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul” (Luther, Commentary on Romans, p. xiii).

“Then he begins to teach the right way by which men must be justified and saved, and says they are all sinners and without praise from God, but they must be justified, without merit, through faith in Christ, who has earned this for us by His blood, and has been made for us a mercyseat by God, Who forgives us all former sins, proving thereby that we were aided only by His righteousness, which He gives in faith . . . God certainly desires to save us not through our own righteousness, but through the righteousness and wisdom of someone else or by means of a righteousness which does not originate on earth, but comes down from heaven. So, then, we must teach a righteousness which in every way comes from without and is entirely foreign to us” (Luther, Commentary on Romans, pp. xix, 28-29).

“Very well, then, we know of ourselves that we are unrighteous; we also know that we are inclined to evil and that inwardly we are enemies of God. We believe therefore that we must be justified before God, but this we desire to achieve by our prayers, repentance and confession. We do not want Christ, for God can give us His righteousness even without Christ. To this the Apostle replies: Such a wicked demand God neither will nor can fulfill, for Christ is God; righteousness for justification is given only through faith in Jesus Christ” (Luther, Commentary on Romans, p. 77).

“Hence Christ calls unbelief the only sin, when He says, in John 16, ‘The Spirit will rebuke the world for sin, because they believe not on me.’ For this reason, too, before good or bad works are done, which are the fruits, there must first be in the heart faith or unbelief, which is the root, the sap, the chief power of all sin” (Luther, Commentary on Romans, p. xvi).

“Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man would stake his life on it a thousand times. This confidence in God’s grace and knowledge of it makes all men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and all His creatures; and this is the work of the Holy Ghost in faith. Hence a man is ready and glad, without compulsion, to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything in love and praise to God, who has shown him this grace; and thus is impossible to separate works from faith, quite as impossible as to separate heat and light from fires (Luther, Commentary on Romans, p. xvii).

“Righteousness, then, is such a faith and is called ‘God’s righteousness’ or ‘the righteousness that avails before God,’ because God gives it and counts it as righteousness for the sake of Christ, our Mediator, and makes a man give to every man what he owes him” (Luther, Commentary on Romans, p. xvii).

“The words ‘righteous’ and ‘righteousness of God’ struck my conscience like lightning. When I heard them I was exceedingly terrified. If God is righteous (I thought), he must punish. But when by God’s grace I pondered, in the tower and heated room of this building, over the words, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live’ (Rom. 1:17) and ‘the righteousness of God’ (Rom. 3:21), I soon came to the conclusion that if we, as righteous men, ought to live from faith and if the righteousness of God should contribute to the salvation of all who believe, then salvation won’t be our merit but God’s mercy. My spirit was thereby cheered. For it’s by the righteousness of God that we’re justified and saved through Christ. These words (which had before terrified me) became more pleasing to me. The Holy Spirit unveiled the Scriptures for me in this tower” (LW, Vol. 54, pp. 193-194).

“Another thunderbolt is Paul’s statement that the righteousness of God is manifested and avails ‘unto all and upon all them that believe’ in Christ, and that ‘there is no difference.’ Here again in the plainest words he divides the whole human race into two. To believers he gives the righteousness of God; to unbelievers he denies it . . . In Rom. 8, dividing the human race into two, ‘flesh’ and ‘spirit,’ as Christ does . . . . (Luther, The Bondage of the Will, pp. 290, 299).

“‘Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom we have access by faith . . .’ Since God now has justified us by faith, and not by works, we have peace with Him both in heart and conscience . . . .” (Luther, Commentary on Romans, pp. 87-88).

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (3:24). God does not justify us freely by His grace in such a way that He did not demand any atonement to be made (for our sins), for He gave Jesus Christ into death for us, in order that He might atone for our sins. So now he justifies freely by His grace those who have been redeemed by His Son” (Luther, Commentary on Romans, p. 78).

“At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, ‘In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’ There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith . . . Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. There a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me. Thereupon I ran through the Scriptures from memory. I also found in other terms an analogy” (LW, Vol. 34, p. 337).

Join the Conversation 

Which of today’s Quotes of Note impact your life and ministry the most?

Note: These quotes are derived from Spiritual Care in Historical Perspective: Martin Luther as a Case Study in Christian Sustaining, Healing, Reconciling, and Guiding. The entire 212-page dissertation is available in PDF form at the RPM Store. 

RPM Ministries: Equipping You to Change Lives with Christ’s Changeless Truth

]]> http://www.rpmministries.org/2012/01/quotes-of-note-martin-luther-master-pastor-part-9/feed/ 0 http://www.rpmministries.org/2012/01/paul-prays-for-the-elephant-in-the-room/ http://www.rpmministries.org/2012/01/paul-prays-for-the-elephant-in-the-room/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:25:01 +0000 Bob http://www.rpmministries.org/?p=5787 Paul Prays for the Elephant in the Room

This past Thursday I provided a host of links about the Elephant Room 2 (ER2) in A Special Elephant Room 2 Edition of Five to Live By. 

James MacDonald launched the Elephant Room to provide a place for Evangelicals to talk to one another about controversial issues rather than talk about one another behind each other’s back. Thus it is ironic and sad that the invitation of T. D. Jakes and his subsequent participation in ER2 resulted in the larger Evangelical world talking about one another.

In this post, I’m not “taking a side.” Rather, I’m pondering how we might apply the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians to the aftermath of ER2.

With that goal in mind, I offer the following “paraphrased applied prayers.” As I offer them, I wonder how our discourse might be different if we applied these principles of Christian relating to our ER2 interactions.

A Pauline Prayer for Truth as the Foundation for Unity: Philippians 1:9-11

“Father, as I reflect on the Evangelical world’s response to ER2, this is my prayer: that our love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight. This is not a ‘truth only’ issue; nor is it a ‘love only’ issue. It is a ‘living the truth in love’ issue. It is both/and: a ‘clarity and charity’ issue.

Regardless of ‘what side we’re on,’ may we all pray for Your wisdom to be able to discern what is best—to your glory and praise. Regardless of ‘what side we’re on,’ may our actions and interactions be pure and blameless until the day of Christ—to your glory and praise. Regardless of ‘what side we’re on,’ may we all be filled with the fruit righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to your glory and praise.”

A Pauline Prayer for Humility as the Foundation for Unity: Philippians 2:1-11

“Father, I wonder what might occur relationally if, regardless of “what side we’re on,” we did nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit? What if, instead of trying to ‘win the argument,’ in humility, we each considered others better than ourselves? What if, instead of trying to ‘come out on top in the competition,’ in humility, we each looked not only to our own party interests, but also to the interests of others?

For each of us, may the encouragement we have from being united with Christ, may the comfort we have from Christ’s love, may the fellowship we have with the Spirit, may the tenderness and compassion we receive from You, produce in us the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus. Since we are nothing, may we make ourselves nothing. Since we are servants, may we take on the very nature of a servant. May we humble ourselves even as Your Son humbled Himself on the cross. May our every spoken and written word about ER2 be prompted by the desire that the name of Christ be exalted so that every knee may bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to Your glory, Father.”

A Pauline Prayer for Christ’s Supremacy as the Foundation for Unity: Philippians 3:7-11

“Father, may ‘each side’ consider whatever was to our profit, loss for the sake of Christ. May ‘each side’ consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. May we consider rubbish any flesh-oriented motivation for our ‘defense of truth’ (orthodoxy) and our ‘defense of love’ (orthopraxy).

May we, instead, be motivated by the desire to be found in Christ not having our own righteousness, but that which is through faith in Christ. May we, instead, be Gospel-centered and Christ-centered: motivated by the desire to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, becoming like Him in His death.”

A Pauline Prayer for Purity as the Foundation for Unity: Philippians 4:1-9

“Father, therefore, on the basis of Your Words to us through Your servant, Paul, may we stand firm as brothers and sisters and dear friends in the Lord. May we conduct ourselves in all interactions about ER2 in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ.

I pray and plead that ‘both sides’ will agree with each other in the Lord. May you send loyal spiritual friends to encourage and exhort the brothers and sisters to stand firm in one spirit, contending together as one for the faith of the Gospel. May our gentleness be evident to all.

May we take all our concerns to you through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, presenting our requests to You. And may the peace of God, which transcends all understanding guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

May we pass every word we speak and write and think through the grid of: whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. May we put into practice—may we walk the talk—living truth in love. May we live and breathe with the awareness that You, the God of peace, will be with us.

In Jesus Name, Amen.”

Join the Conversation

Whether with ER2 or any other “issue” in your life and ministry, how could prayers like these impact your actions and interactions?

RPM Ministries: Equipping You to Change Lives with Christ’s Changeless Truth

O God, may Thy Spirit speak in me that I may speak to Thee. Lord Jesus, great high priest, Thou hast opened a new and living way by which a fallen creature can approach Thee with acceptance.

Help me to contemplate the dignity of Thy Person, the perfectness of Thy sacrifice, the effectiveness of Thy intercession.

O what blessedness accompanies devotion, when under all the trials that weary me, the cares that corrode me, the fears that disturb me, the infirmities that oppress me, I can come to Thee in my need and feel peace beyond understanding!

The grace that restores is necessary to preserve, lead, guard, supply, help me.

And here Thy saints encourage my hope; they were once poor and are now rich, bound and are now free, tried and now are victorious.

Every new duty calls for more grace than I now possess, but not more than is found in Thee, the divine treasury in whom all fullness dwells. To Thee I repair for grace upon grace, until every void made by sin be replenished and I am filled with all Thy fullness.

May my desires be enlarged and my hopes emboldened, that I may honour Thee by my entire dependency and the greatness of my expectation.

Do Thou be with me, and prepare me for all the smiles of prosperity, the frowns of adversity, the losses of substance, the death of friends, the days of darkness, the changes of life, and the last great change of all. May I find thy grace sufficient for all my needs.

Note: Taken from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, edited by Arthur Bennett

RPM Ministries: Equipping You to Change Lives with Christ’s Changeless Truth