The Proper Perspective on Prayer - Part I

Whatever your view point on prayer is, we should all agree that prayer is a necessary component in a Christian’s life if they are going to grow in Christ.

Doctrinally speaking…

There are three basic fundamentals to Christian living. As a child of God, you will not grow in God’s grace without these three fundamentals actively working in your life.

Church will give you a measure of growth. Weekly services will give you a measure of growth. However, if your life lacks these three fundamentals, then your growth will be greatly hindered if existent at all.

The first fundamental is the word of God. Without the word of God active in your life, you can not grow beyond the maturity level of a babe in Christ.

The second fundamental is fasting. Fasting is a way for us to crucify our flesh so that the desires and lusts of our flesh will pass away and God’s nature can be revealed in a greater light through us.

The third fundamental is of course, prayer.

But……

Before we discuss what prayer is, let us examine what prayer is not.

Prayer is not twisting God’s arm.

We do not pray to get God to do what we want him to do. It is ok to go to God with supplications and prayer requests, asking God to move in your life, but we do not go to God for the purpose of persuading him to act.

You don’t have to persuade God.

Who is sly enough in negotiating that they can be successful in persuading God? He knows every thought you think. Every word you say before you even say it. He knows the desires, the motivations, and the intentions of your heart.

Persuade – to prevail on someone to do something. To induce to believe, to convince.

Who can convince God of something? He already knows everything! Who can prevail on him and induce him to believe what they want him to believe? No one can.

Paul asked the question, “For do I now persuade men or God?” (Galatians 1:10).

Later, this same apostles declares

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come,

nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

Prayer does not give us the ability to persuade and twist God’s arm. Rather, prayer persuades us that God’s promises are yea and amen!

Prayer persuades us that God’s truth is real. It persuades us that God’s spirit is real. Prayer persuades us, and brings us in line with God’s way of thinking.

Not the other way around.

Prayer is not winning brownie points

Prayer is not a mechanical process whereby we earn favors from God. Rather it is a way of communicating with God and maintaining our relationship with him.

You don’t win brownie points by praying. Some people approach praying as a points system. For every hour you pray, you rack up points in heaven. If you pray thirty minutes, you rack up lesser points, but points none the less.

I’ve talked to people who sincerely believe God is obligated to do what they want him to do because they have been faithful in prayer. They act as if their time in prayer has been storing up brownie points for when they need to cash in on a divine favor.

God will always respond to prayer. I believe God will be swift to answer the prayers of a faithful saint. However, praying does not win us brownie points.

This isn’t Chuck-E-Cheese; we don’t win tickets that we can cash in later. Prayer allows us to build a consistent relationship with God; a relationship through which God will move and God will respond. However, prayer does not win us points that we can use to purchase power from God.

Prayer is not working to convince God to do what you want him to do.

I’ve often heard people in the prayer room begging God to move for them. I’ve heard people at the altar begging God to fill them with the Holy Ghost.

I’ve heard people begging God to heal their loved ones, save their children, touch a need, and respond to their voice.

We do not have to beg God.

God is not some obstinate deity sitting on a celestial throne saying, “C’mon, let me hear you beg.”

When we pray we should approach God in faith, believing that he rewards those that diligently seek him.

To beg God for something shows a lack of faith. We are working hard to convince him to do what we want him to do because we don’t believe he will do it without our convincing him.

Another reason people tend to beg God is because their prayer life, and general walk with God, is weak and they feel that God may be upset with them, or that they don’t have the influence they need with God.

So, if you find yourself begging God to move,

stop and evaluate why you are working to convince God to do something. Is it because your walk with God is weak at that time? If so, repent for the lack of faithfulness and believe God is still as willing and able to meet your need as ever.

If you are working to convince God because your faith is low, pray for faith and believe that God will hear you because you prayed.

Prayer is not just communication.

Prayer is not your daily “tag in” with God. It’s fine to talk to God about what has happened during your day, your week, this year, etc.

However, prayer is not where you come to God and give a report of what happened today.

It is so much more than that.

It is the intimate communication between a God and his people. It is the loving conversation between a father and his child.

It is our opportunity to bring God into our lives, and it is God’s opportunity to bring us into his heart.


To be continued…. Part II – What prayer is.

An Eclipse of the Cross

Earlier today I had a discussion with someone on Facebook. For the remainder of this blog post I will refer to him simply as Don. Prior to this afternoon I had never really met, nor dialogued, with Don. Our history of interaction consisted completely of trading items while playing Mafia Wars.

At some point this afternoon Don took a quiz that asked him to express his opinion on homosexual marriage. Don is a supporter of homosexual marriage and made the below comment when publishing his post to his Facebook wall.

He said,

“How can any sane person in this day and age oppose two people being able to legally marry? If you do oppose same-sex marriage, why? Is it based on religious views or are you just a homophobe? If your views are based on religion, you are seriously misguided….”

I took the opportunity to explain to Don my views on homosexual marriage, as well as what the Bible say concerning homosexuality. Needless to say, he didn’t agree. In fact, he called the Bible a book of Bronze Age Fairy Tales. However, it wasn’t his blatant disregard for the word of God that caught my attention. Rather, it was what was revealed somewhat later in the midst of our discussion.

One of Don’s major arguments against Christianity was his perception of us as hypocrites who “cherry pick” scripture. He accused us of only following those passages which suit us. Later in the discussion he revealed that at some point he had been subjected to Christians whose response to the topic of homosexuality was basically “fags burn in hell,” “God hates fags!” He was put off from Christianity because of the attitudes of Christians he had come in contact with at some point in his life.

While the ungodly attitudes of those “Christians” do not justify his disdain for the things of God, his experience should remind us of one very important principle.

When propagating the message of Christ, it is extremely important that we exhibit the Spirit of Christ.

We must never forget that a good message will ALWAYS be eclipsed by a bad attitude. It doesn’t matter how “right” you are, if you present the truth with an ungodly attitude you will never draw a person to Christ. Rather, you will drive a wedge between them and God and create an even deeper chasm than what they currently experience.

The Bible tells us,

“By mercy and truth iniquity is purged:” –Proverbs 16:6-

The two work together. You can not separate them. Some believe that truth must be proclaimed with a hard demeanor and a firm brow. Such promulgation only serves to alienate the recipient instead of exalting Christ. We can not blame a person for rejecting our gospel if our presentation of it is tarnished by our ungodly deportment.

I don’t believe people who reject our doctrine always do so out of a hatred for holy things. Even if they do reject the gospel, this does not give us vindication to reply discordantly. Our response should always be with a humble and contrite spirit. Never one seasoned with harsh and unbridled tones.

In having this discussion with other Christians, it is often brought up that Christ himself showed an antagonistic spirit when he knocked over the tables of the money changers and called the Pharisees hypocrites and vipers. They argue that because Christ showed angry passion in his response to the blatant deformation of God’s law, then they are justified having more than harsh conversations with people today who show no desire for the things of God.

We must not forget however, that while Christ identified the Pharisaical spirit as poisonous and serpent like, he also responded to the Pharisees with compassion and truth when the opportunity presented itself. He met a Pharisee on the rooftop one night to proclaim the gospel. He reached into the heart of a venomous viper that was bent on the desolation of his people and turned him around on a dirt road on his way to Damascus. While Christ’s indignation was clear in scripture, we must not forget that his mercy is even more evident.

Paul makes the statement in Romans 2:1,

“Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.”

We should not forget that if it were not for the grace of God, we would be the ones who were on the opposite side rejecting the gospel message. We have this truth because of the mercy of God. When we fail to exhibit that same mercy, we fall short of the very gospel that saves us.

We do nothing when we defend this gospel in angry voices. We do nothing when we respond to others with judgmental tones. We accomplish zero when we promote the word of God without the Spirit of God.

However, love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8).

Paul asked the question, “What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?” –1 Corinthians 4:21-

Two verses before, he makes the following statement about certain men in the Corinthian church, “Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.” -1 Corinthians 4:18-19-

The Apostle makes it clear that the bad attitudes expressed by the Corinthian men toward him were a result of puffed up spirits. He responded by saying that he would not come in the same manner, but rather with love and meekness.

That is an example to us all today. Bad attitudes get us nowhere. They are the product of a puffed up spirit. Pride is the origin of such behavior, and as Christians we are called to interact with others in a meek and charitable spirit.

Many times simply being Godly toward someone when they are being ungodly toward you, can be the greatest defense of true faith. Their entire argument falls to the ground when they fail to push you into the mold they accuse you of already fitting in.

If they accuse Christians of being hypocritical and having bad attitudes, show them a good one and they have no where to go. Show them a bad one however, and you only solidify their misperception. If that occurs, wherein is Christ glorified?

In closing I want to admonish us to make our conversations blameless. It is easy to get frustrated and ugly with someone who is so disrespectful toward the gospel we love. However, we must never forget that their disdain does not justify our unrestraint.

Show them love and you show them Christ. Return evil for evil and you further disaffect someone who God may be leading to a Damascus road.

In Christ & For the Kingdom
Joseph Castorina


Further Scriptures to study:

Romans 12:9
Romans 12:21
Romans 14:16
1 Corinthians 15:33
1 Thessalonians 5:15
1 Peter 2:12
1 Peter 3:16
3 John 1:11
1 Corinthians 13

It's the start of something new.

As many of you already know, last week my wife and I were approved to start a Home Missions church in Sugar Land Texas.

What a wild and exciting ride it has already been.

I can't tell you how fast things have been moving. God moved on me many months ago to start a church. I didn't know when or where, all I knew was that God was calling us to a new chapter in our lives and ministry.

It started in January when, unexpectedly, the door opened for us to go to Because of the Times - the preacher's conference held annually in Alexandria Louisiana. It was at this conference that God began working on me to start a church.

When we returned home, my wife and I began praying about God's timing, direction, and plan for our lives. Two months later I was sitting in another conference when the plea was made for Sugar Land Texas. It struck a cord in my heart and another piece of this puzzle was put in place.

Two months after that I was sitting in another conference. (Apparently God speaks to me in conferences :) ) God spoke to me again - this time through tongues and interpretation. I had wrestled with the idea for many months. I wanted to make sure that the voice I was hearing wasn't my own. Finally God broke through my stubbornness and I yielded to his call.

Two days later I sat at the Denny's in Texas City with my pastor explaining everything I felt God leading us to do. I was asking for his blessing, his release, his wisdom, and his direction.

After that a whirlwind started.

Phone call after phone call....

Conversation after conversation...

I talked to friends, family, district officials, neighboring pastors, and of course God. One week later I sat before the district board of the South Texas District and asked them to approve me to start a new church in Sugar Land.

One week later!

It all happened so fast. The Wednesday night of that week I fell asleep and God spoke to me in a dream. In that dream he gave me three words followed by descriptive words. When I awoke, I felt the Holy Ghost tell me, "these are to be the core values of the church." God had stepped into my slumber and embedded in my heart the core values we were to live and operate under.

This served as a confirmation that I had heard from God, and that he was orchestrating every step.

Today we walk into week three. We have selected a name for the church which we will reveal later. It's not a big secret, but I'm not fully ready to go public with it just yet. We have also written out our core values (which I will reveal later also) and have established a discipleship program concept that will help us get new comers grounded.

Tomorrow - or I guess I should say this afternoon since it is 12:26 in the morning - we are going to Sugar Land to get a P.O. Box and look at a house that is available. This is a testimony in itself because the houses are so high in Sugar Land that we were not sure how we were going to be able to find a place big enough and in our budget. Friday, a house came available that has more than enough room and is well within our means. This could be another miracle, and another confirmation of God's divine plan.

We are working to open an account in the church's name. We have already been blessed with wonderful people who have pledged to help us get established and on our feet. I have been totally amazed by the generosity we have experienced in such a short amount of time.

I'm not sure about when we'll get kicked off. I'm not even sure about what our next move ought to be (someone really should come up with a check list for Home Missionaries), but one thing I am sure about is that God is in this and we will not fail.

So, if there is anyone out there who has some suggestions for a first time church planter, then please load my plate. For those who may not know what the next step ought to be, please remember us in your prayers. Destiny's ride is an exciting one. It's a fast paced roller coaster of exhilaration and trepidation combined.

We are excited about the possibilities. Pumped about the future, and confident in our God. I can't wait to see what Christ has in store for the new church in Sugar Land Texas.

It's the start of something new......