How to Lift Jesus Up, and Other Mysteries

Mike Hosey, An Elder

We sing song after song about how we exalt God.  We sing  how we lift his name on high, how we will exalt him forever, how we should “lift Jesus up, lift Jesus up, for the world to see,” and so on and so on. You get the picture.

But from one frame of reference, this is patent nonsense, silliness, perhaps even rubbish. We simply cannot lift Jesus up any higher than he already is. He is seated at the right hand of God, and possesses the name above all names (Ephesians 1:19-21, Philippians 2:9)! Nor can we exalt God. He is the God most high (Genesis 14:22, Psalm 78:35, Daniel 4:2, Luke 8:28, Hebrews 7:1).  There is nothing you can do with your weak and worldly, sinful nature to lift them up, and even if you could, whatever height you are able to lift them to is embarrassingly low.

But from a different perspective, there is one place where you can lift them up, and when you lift them up in this place, they are elevated in so many others. When this chain reaction occurs, the world in which you have influence becomes profoundly changed.  The one place where you can lift them up is in your mind. This makes perfect sense because we are told that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). It is unlikely, if you are human, that God inhabits the highest place in your mind.  A quick view of your priorities over the last few hours will likely bear this out uncomfortably well. The best way to lift God up in your mind is to pray.  Prayer is a focused mental and spiritual activity in which you prioritize communication with God. When creating this focus you are raising God up in in the hierarchy of your mind. And when God is first, so many other things fall into place. You will find that your will aligns with his. You will find that in your world, his will is being done in your life as it is being done in heaven.  You find that he will show you your shortcomings, and you will realize that he has the power to fix them. You’ll find yourself becoming more loving, more honest, stronger, and ultimately, more like Jesus.

Desperation and Prayer

Mike Hosey, An Elder

There is an interesting story in the bible in which Jehoshaphat, one of good kings of Judah, is being ambushed by an alliance of enemies (2 Chronicles 20:1-30).  The attacking armies are said to be vast. This alarms Jehoshaphat.  Thankfully, the first thing he does is ask God about it, and call a fast.

His move was wise.  In doing so he rallied his people and caused them to focus their thinking, beliefs, and energies on the one power they really had -- the God of everything! His spoken, public prayer is informative. In it, he lifts God up, calling to their remembrance how their Lord rules all the nations, and that no one can fight against him. He recalls the mighty things that God had produced for his people, like driving out the evil hordes that existed in the land before they arrived, and how he had given that land to his people. He asks God directly for assistance in this dire situation.  Ultimately, God answers the prayer, telling them that the won't even have to fight the enemy. In the end, the ambushing armies turn on themselves and collapse.

There is much to be taken from Jehoshaphat's story. But a few things stand out:

1) Jehoshaphat prays directly to God, and in the presence of other believers.  He speaks the words. He doesn't just silently go over them in his head. Everyone hears them. It is faith producing a behavioral result.

2) His words testify and remind everyone of the greatness of God.  Sometimes we forget what God is. We forget that he is master of all, that he has made everything, and that no one is above him, and that he is all powerful.

3) His words built faith because they were a remembrance of the great things God had already done, and everyone had already witnessed. When faith becomes real, people act on it.

4) They put their faith in action. When God told them to march out against the enemy, they did it.  And when they did, God put his power in action, and their enemies fell!

Jehoshaphat saw these things in a moment of desperation. Crisis has a way of creating focus. But these principles are just as valid when there is no crisis.

What's In a Name?

Mike Hosey, An Elder

Being specific is a necessity in so many of life’s domains.  For instance, if you’re going to set life goals, they should be specific, otherwise those goals will have no meaning. “My goal is to be the best,” doesn’t tell you anything. However, “I’m going to be the best by selling the most widgets,” gives you an actual, measurable target. “Lord, please forgive me for my sins,” isn’t nearly as helpful as, “Lord, please forgive me for the way I treated my co-worker this morning.” 

All prayer is the same way. This is especially true when we are praying for others. “Lord, please heal my friends in Sunday School,” is good, but, “Lord, please heal Edward from his addiction,” is exponentially better. Not because there’s any magic in using Edward’s name, and not because God doesn’t know his name or his addiction.  Instead, one reason that it’s better is that using your friend’s name creates a more personal connection in your own mind. It causes your mind to focus on your friend. While prayer is certainly a spiritual activity, it is also a mental one, so using his name will increase your empathy for him, and hopefully increase the earnestness of your petitions to God on his behalf because he’s no longer some fuzzy “anybody” in your Sunday School class. Further, it increases the likelihood of you remembering him throughout the week, and checking up on his progress when you see him again, which in turn will influence your future prayers. There is, more often than not, simply more sincerity in a prayer with a name, than in a prayer without one. 

This kind of sincerity and earnestness is modeled by Jesus.   Consider his plea for Simon Peter (Luke 22:31-32). Jesus calls him by name, twice.  He tells Peter, specifically, that he has prayed for him. The battle that Jesus engaged in was a dangerous spiritual one.  Satan had asked for Peter so that he could be “sifted like wheat.” Jesus entered that spiritual battle with specific mental focus in his prayers on Peter’s behalf. His prayer was personal.

If you want to make your prayers for others as effective as they can be, then don’t neglect to make them specific by naming the person for whom you are praying.

What Does Prayer Do?

Mike Hosey, An Elder

There are few Christian disciplines as important as the discipline of prayer.  Ironically, there are few Christians who engage that discipline with either the frequency or the intensity that it warrants. In fact, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 commands us to pray without ceasing. What Paul meant by the command was that we should be ever aware of God’s power in our life, and that we should be ever listening for him, and ever focused on him at all times, and in all of life’s domains. Unfortunately, too many of us (me included) walk through our days without nary a thought of God. When we do that, the world will rob us of great power.

Here are a few examples of the great power that prayer offers:

It transforms us: One of the ways that we are transformed into new creatures so that we are no longer chained to the corruptions of this world is by the renewal of our minds (Romans 12:2). Prayer is as much a sacrificial mental activity as it is a spiritual one. When we pray, we focus our minds on God. When our minds are focused on God, our behaviors, attitudes, values, emotions, and spirits will follow.

It provides us with a weapon: In describing the Armor of God to the church at Ephesus, Paul tells them to consider the Word of God as a sword, and then commands them to pray at all times (Ephesians 6:18). He is equating prayer with military hardware in our daily spiritual battles.

It helps us to determine God’s will: When we set our minds on God, and he renews that mind, and transforms us, we are better able to know what his will is (Romans 12:2). When we know what that will is, we are better able to walk in  line with God’s plan for our life.

Prayer brings comfort: The bible teaches us not to be anxious about anything, but to make our requests known to God through prayer, and that when we do, we’ll have an all surpassing peace (Philippians 4:6-7).