In John Piper’s excellent book, “Let the Nations be Glad”, he provides a list of Biblical prayer topics. I have found these very helpful as pointers for my own prayer life, and I typed it up a while ago so I could print it out and refer to it. If you find your prayers tend to get stuck in a rut and are lacking in a bigger kingdom perspective, then I recommend you try making use of this list:

Call on God…

To exalt his name in the world (Matt 6:9)
To extend his kingdom in the world (Matt 6:10)
That the Gospel would run and triumph (1 Thess 3:1)
For the fullness of the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13; Eph 3:19)
To vindicate his people in their cause (Luke 18:7)
To save unbelievers (Rom 10:1)
To direct the use of the sword (Eph 6:17-18)
For boldness in proclamation (Eph 6:18-19, Acts 4:29)
For signs and wonders (Acts 4:30; James 5:17-18)
For healing of wounded comrades (James 5:14-15)
For the healing of unbelievers (Acts 28:8)
For the casting out of demons (Mark 9:29)
For miraculous deliverances (Acts 12:5,12; 16:25-26)
For the raising of the dead (Acts 9:40)
To supply his troops with necessities (Matt 6:11)
For strategic wisdom (James 1:5)
To establish leadership in the outposts (Acts 14:23)
To send out reinforcements (Matt 9:38, Acts 13:2-3)
For the success of other missionaries (Rom 15:30-31)
For unity and harmony in the ranks (John 17:20-21)
For the encouragement of togetherness (1 Thess 3:10)
For a mind of discernment (Phil 1:9-10)
For a knowledge of his will (Col 1:9)
To know him better (Col 1:10; Eph 1:17)
For power to comprehend the love of Christ (Eph 3:14,18)
For a deeper sense of assured hope (Eph 1:16,18)
For strength and endurance (Col 1:11, Eph 3:16)
For a deeper sense of God’s power within (Eph 1:16,19)
That our faith not be destroyed (Luke 22:32; 21:36)
For greater faith (Mark 9:24; Eph 3:17)
That we might not fall into temptation (Matt 6:13; Matt 26:41)
That he would complete our resolves (2 Thess 1:11)
That we would do good works (Col 1:10)
For the forgiveness of our sins (Matt 6:12)
For protection from the evil one (Matt 6:13)

I recently looked up all the times when Jesus started a sentence with “I am”. There are of course a lot of famous ones, but a large number of less well known instances too.

One that grabbed my attention was in Matthew 15:32, at the feeding of the 4000:

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”

Above and beyond the implications for that crowd’s physical hunger on that particular day, the phrase “I am unwilling to send them away hungry” speaks of Jesus’ ongoing heart towards any who come to him aware of a profound spiritual hunger in their lives. He is unwilling to send them away hungry too. As he said after a similar miracle feeding the 5000, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35). This should give us confidence as we approach him in prayer, hungry for more of him in our lives. He wants to satisfy that hunger as we spiritually feed on him.

Hungry I come to you, for I know you satisfy
I am empty, but I know your love does not run dry

But as well as speaking to me of Jesus’ openhanded attitude to all who come to him, it also challenged me about my own life as a follower of Jesus. Do I send people away hungry?

This could be answered at all sorts of levels – spiritual, emotional, physical. We of course are called literally to feed the hungry (e.g. Isa 58:7,10; Matt 25:41-43; James 2:15,16). Are their people in our church’s hungry for friendship, help and encouragement that we could help and yet we don’t make time for? And spiritually speaking, do we have unsaved friends who are hungry for something more in their lives, yet our cowardice prevents us from offering them the bread of life? Let us learn to have the same heart of compassion for needy people that Jesus did, and be unwilling ourselves to send anyone away hungry.

I posted a while ago about what I think is a misunderstanding of the parable of the wise and foolish builders. I think they both built their houses on the sand, but one dug down to rock first.

Anyway, here’s another Sunday school favourite I think we’ve got wrong. Whenever anyone tells the story of the baby Moses, even in children’s Bibles and in television adaptations, Moses is launched downstream in his basket, his mother saying a sad farewell to him, and sending Miriam to watch what will become of him. I have searched Exodus 2 in vain to see where this idea comes from.

Moses was placed in a basket in the reeds along the bank of the Nile (Ex 2:3). This was first of all so he wouldn’t be seen or heard (rivers have at least a moderate amount of background noise at all times). But it was also so he would not float away.

What mother in her right mind would launch her baby out to float down a river? He would die of hunger or exposure or drowning before long. No, her plan was surely that he remained hidden in the reeds, and she would come regularly and feed him. Miriam wasn’t left to see where the basket would float off too, but to keep an eye on it (watch out for crocodiles or something). In Ex 2:5, we see that the basket was still in the reeds when Pharaoh’s daughter saw it.

From verse 6, we get the impression that the basket had a lid – another feature rarely told in the story. This would serve to keep him a lot quieter. The gentle noise of a river wouldn’t be enough to block out the crying of a 3 month old baby on its own.

I’m not opposed to artistic license when telling Bible stories, but the whole idea of launching Moses off to no particular destination has never struck me as at all convincing.

Yet again, the general business of life as a father of three has kept me from posting much up here, so I’ll direct any visitors to some cool stuff I’ve come across this week.

• Mark Mould has started blogging. Mark has become a good friend over the last year or so as I discovered he shares my passion for theology, an appreciation for the Puritans (he’s reading the works of John Flavel at the moment), and a crazy enough sense of humour to be able to enjoy full faith.
• Jon Brombley has put some of his songs online at myspace. In fact, I’ve just noticed that Harun Kotch another friend from my church has some of his songs online too as well as some from his band Replenish.
• Mark Roberts has been working on an excellent series on the Da Vinci Code, with some very useful posts on the historical reliability of the New Testament
• Paul Schafer has created a great list of newfrontiers churches with audio sermons online.
• If you thought you would skip downloading sermons from Bethlehem Baptist Church while John Piper was on sabbatical, think again. He has a first rate lineup of stand-in preachers, including Wayne Grudem and Sam Storms.
• NT Scholar Andreas Kostenberger is blogging.
• And finally, Richard Collins has produced another podcast. I haven’t listened to it yet, but he’s always thought-provoking.

As you may have noticed, since having my third child I have not had much time for blogging. But that doesn’t mean I’ve spent all my time changing nappies. There’s a book review, and two home studio recordings on their way, and I’m spending a lot of time at the moment preparing for a talk I’m doing on Sunday.

In the meantime, I thought I would direct any readers disappointed with the lack of action here to some other blogs I have enjoyed in recent weeks.

• Ger Jones asks some interesting questions about Restorationist views on Sanctification
• Dave Skipper writes a excellent post about musicians and pride
• Scot McKnight fears that “church borging” may become prevalent
• Richard Collins has started podcasting – well worth a listen
• And finally, Dan has been prolifically blogging on all things Ern Baxter, with a bit of Lloyd-Jones, Owen and Coates thrown in for good measure.

I’m going to be 30 this week, and so I thought I really ought to make the effort to do something to celebrate my birthday this time. So I decided to have a “Puritan Party”:

If you are reading this and I haven’t given you an invitation in person, then you are of course still welcome to come (unless you are a spammer). If you have any suggestions of what would be suitable games and activities at a Puritan party, please add them in the comments.

John Piper’s short message on church planting is worth reading. He gives four reasons why we should be involved in church planting. Justin Taylor summarises them as follows:

1. We do not have too many churches today. We have too few.
2. Experience has shown, and the Bible would support, that new churches are one of the most effective means of evangelism.
3. New churches awaken and engage much of the under-used leadership potential of the saints in the older, larger churches.
4. Breaking free from the risk-free comfort of long-standing patterns of church life is a good thing. It’s good for your faith to be tested. It is good to take risks.

John Piper is not just looking for greater numbers of churches. The type of church is vitally important. They must be “God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated, missions-mobilizing, justice-pursuing churches”. (Perhaps as a charismatic I would want to sneak in “Spirit-filled” as well!)

It is great to see people like Piper lend their support to church planting initiatives. Another interesting article is this one by Tim Keller. Despite increasing numbers of leaders lending their support to the idea of church planting, there still seems to be in many people’s minds the concept that it is only to be done in exceptional circumstances, if absolutely no other way can be found to accomodate growth.

But existing churches should not feel threatened by the idea of church planting, even if it is to be resourced by key members of their own congregations. There are more than enough unsaved people to go round, as Dan points out with this thought-provoking quote from Bryn Jones: “It is tragic to hear Christians self-congratulatingly referring to their church as numbering over 200 or 300 people without mentioning the fact that this is still one thousandth of the population of their city!”.

May God stir many of his people up to be involved in church planting initiatives throughout the world. And may our existing churches fight to ensure that they remain God-centered, Christ-exalting, Spirit-filled, Bible-saturated, missions-mobilizing, and justice-pursuing.

For some reason, our babies just don’t seem to want to come out of their own accord. But today at 12:30, Steph gave birth to Joel by caesarean section. He weighed 8lb 7. Apologies to friends reading this who we have not managed to contact by other means yet.

We are extremely grateful to God for a safe delivery, and for his protection on Joel and Steph. Joel is a Hebrew name, meaning “Yahweh is God”.

I’m off to bed to get some rest now…

I am reading I H Marshall’s Tyndale commentary on Acts at the moment, and under the heading of the “Theology of Acts” he discusses the theme of “the continuation of God’s purpose in history”. Underneath that, he makes the fascinating four points (on p24). Interestingly, I feel they reflect an understanding of the church that is very similar to the “Retorationist” outlook.

“First, the events recorded in Acts are seen as being brought about by the will and purpose of God”

This included not just the death and resurrection of Jesus, but even the opposition that the church faced. A robust belief in the sovereignty of God will give a church faith to boldly do what he has called them to, knowing that they need not fear consequences that God will not enable them to handle. We are not just trying to survive, we are actively fulfilling God’s purposes in our day and generation.

“… secondly, … the life of the church was regarded as taking place in fulfillment of Scripture.”

In other words, the second coming is not the only Biblical prophecy yet to be fulfilled, but the very spread of the gospel is to be understood as fulfilling Scripture. How long has it been since you heard prayers pleading for fulfilment of prophecies of a worldwide spread of the gospel? Have hermenutical doubts made us afraid of to ask (“that promise isn’t for us”). And maybe a drift to premillenial or a pessimistic amillenial eschatology has lowered our expectations.

Hab 2:14 “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”
Jer 31:34 “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest”
Num 14:21 “But truly, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.”
Isa 9:7 “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end”

“Thirdly, the life of the church was directed by God at crucial stages.

By this Marshall refers to the direction of the Spirit though angels, prophecies and visions. To be sure, the Bible does give every church its mission and values. However, every church must choose between a million possible good works, and potential ventures of faith, and here is where the charismatic element comes in. Supernatural guidance gives us faith that will cause us to attempt things that seem humanly impossible or foolish. Churches that are open to the present-day prophetic leading of God are in a position to be used to accomplish his kingdom purposes in ways that we would not dare to believe otherwise.

“Fourthly, the power of God was seen in signs and wonders …”

Marshall’s point here is that “the work of the Christian mission can be said to be carried out by God”. The signs and wonders thus served as reminders that the growth of the church was not down to human gifting or good strategy, but the favour of God himself. We are God’s co-workers (1 Cor 3:9). What we achieve is done by the working of his mighty power within us. This realisation causes us to value prayer more, as we realise our total dependence on him, calling on him to work in us and through us. Some charismatics have exaggerated the number of miracles in Acts, as though every Christian performed at least one miracle a day. But correcting that should not result in an anti-supernatural attitude, where we our expectation of God working in power drops to zero.