Courageous Prayer (Pt.1)

Part 1 

“Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.” So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius! We are all in agreement—we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors—that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions. And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” So King Darius signed the law. But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.”-Daniel 6:1-10

The beauty of this passage is that the only grounds that these men could find to accuse Daniel was centered on the consistency of his prayer life! That single take away from this story challenged me in so many ways. It caused me to ask myself several question? 

Am I living a life that the only grounds by which to accuse me would be centered on the consistency of my prayer life? Is my prayer life so consistent that people would assume that if they were to search for me, at a given time, they would look for me in my prayer closet? 

Is my prayer life fueled by opposition or was it already an established pattern in my life. (Sometimes people only pray when they get pressed.) 

As we read these passages, we don’t get the impression that Daniel, upon hearing the decree, took on a militant tone. He didn’t organize a demonstration outside of the citadel or start a social media campaign blasting the administration. Instead, Daniel went home, knelt down as usual, and prayed as he always had done. Why?

Because courageous prayer is consistent prayer. The time to develop a solid prayer life is not at the onset of trouble. We need to begin now laying a foundation of consistent prayer that will carry us through those difficult moments. Did you notice it wasn’t the signing of the law that caused Daniel to go and pray! He was on his way to pray already. 

The biggest opposition that we face when it comes to prayer, is not external, it is ourselves. We make all kinds of excuses because we undervalue and underestimate the power of prayer. If we truly believed that prayer could shut the mouths of lions, we would be beating down the door of every prayer meeting we could find. But instead, we are either too tired, too busy, or too distracted to bother. 

It takes courage to be consistent. 

Scott Burr 

Dayspring Community Church 

Courageous Obedience (Pt.2)

Part 2

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”-Joshua 1:7-9

God instructed Joshua that courageous obedience would require him to study, meditate and obey the Word of God. First, God instructed Joshua to study this book of instruction continually. Study means to read with the intention of learning; to investigate and analyze. Would you say your level of engagement with God’s Word rises to the level of study? Paul, when writing to his apprentice Timothy, referred to study as rightly dividing God’s truth:

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”-2 Timothy 2:15

We have each been called to be diligent in our investigation and analysis of God’s Word. We cannot lean on another person’s understanding or revelation of God’s truth. We must dig into ourselves and dissect the Word and discover its’ promises. 

Then, God instructs Joshua to meditate on His Word. To meditate means to think deeply and focus one’s mind upon. This is a continual contemplation of God’s Word in the context of our current circumstance:

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”- Philippians 4:8

Mediation is the discipline of keeping God’s Word at the forefront of our hearts and minds. Meditating on God’s word helps transition us from comprehension to application, which is the final instruction God gave Joshua. 

He told Joshua that the final key to courageous obedience is put into practice those things we’ve have studied and learned: 

“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”-James 1:22

Obedience isn’t fully realized until what we have studied and meditated on has been applied to our lives and lived out. When it comes to courageous obedience remember these three simple truths: 

Courageous obedience means living according to God’s Word rather than our own fleshly passions and pursuits.  

Courageous obedience means living according to God’s Word in the face of societal norms. 

Courageous obedience means living according to God’s Word although we may have to sacrifice comfort for the sake of obedience. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Courageous Obedience (Pt.1)

(Part 1)

As we began drawing to the close of 2020, I felt the Lord speak to me about 2021. As many people and churches are limping out of 2020 just happy to survive, I felt God say it is going to take tremendous courage to go where He wants to lead us over the next several months. 

He wants to move us beyond simple obedience to courageous living. If there were a theme word for the coming year for our church it would be the word Courageous. Courage, although often used interchangeably with the word brave, does carry a slightly different connotation. 

Bravery is having the strength to face danger, but courage is the ability to do something that frightens us. As I read that I knew that God was calling us deeper in life, service and worship to Him, but in order to do that we are going to have to be courageous. We are going to have to do some things that frighten us. God wants to take us to a new level of obedience, prayer, generosity, witnessing, and worship. Greater than we’ve ever experienced. However, that means we are going to have to leave behind what is familiar to experience what God has in store for us. That begins with obedience. Courageous Obedience! 

“After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. 3 I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— 4 from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ 5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. 6 “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them.”- Joshua 1:1-6

God told Joshua, that Moses was dead and now the responsibility of leading the people was about to fall on him. He was certainly going to be facing some things he had never faced before. He was about to leave a wilderness he had spent 40 years accustomed to living in. Regardless of whether or not the conditions were ideal, he had grown accustomed to the nuances of living in the wilderness. 

He would be entering into a land, he had never lived in. He had visited it (spied it out) and believed God would give it to them, but now the reality of crossing the Jordan was on the table. I am sure there was some apprehension. Why? Because God had to reaffirm to Joshua to be strong and courageous several times. Truth is, Joshua had lots of experience assisting Moses, but never leading. He was about to step into a level of leadership that he had never experienced. That is when God makes him a promise. He promised Joshua that He would be with him as He was with Moses. 

That is where our courage finds its foundation. It is found in the promise that God will be “with us.” God never promised Joshua that he’d do everything Moses did. Nor did he promise that He’d give Joshua the same relationship with the people or the same skill sets as Moses. He promised Joshua that if he was careful to obey God’s instruction, that he would prosper and succeed in all he did. God was calling Joshua to courageous obedience.

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church A/G

A Divine Interruption (Pt.2)

 “Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.”-Matthew 9:35 

Jesus’ birth was a divine interruption in the lives of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and wisemen; however they would not be the last people’s lives that Jesus would interrupt. Another thing that Jesus was notorious for interrupting was the cycle of sickness in people’s lives. 

 

Remember, if the Good News isn’t interrupting anything it’s not transforming anything! Healing every much part of the Good News message as salvation:

 

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” 3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. 4 We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us.[a] The night is coming, and then no one can work. 5 But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. 7 He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!”-John 9:1-7

 

The healing, that this man received is part of God’s plan to seek and save the lost. His healing was a divine interruption to the cycle of sickness he had been living with for years, decades in fact! However, it is a foreshadow of a greater healing God intended for us. Ultimately, Jesus came to interrupt our sinful condition! 

 

The Gospel is about transforming lives, meaning that the continuity of our sinful lives has to be interrupted if we are going to experience the new life that God has in store for us. Romans 3:23 declares that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God and Romans 6:23 goes on to confirm that the wages of sin is death.

 

We were born into a cycle of sinfulness: 

 

“When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”-Romans 5:12 

 

However, God’s gift to mankind was Jesus. Romans 5:8 declares that while were were yet sinners Christ died for us. He took the penalty of our sin upon himself and broke the continuity of sin. 1 Corinthians 15:21 tells us that just as sin entered the world through one man, resurrection unto eternal life comes through one man-Jesus!

 

Jesus didn’t free us to sin, He saved us from sin. That is why He told the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more. He instructed her not to return to continuity of sin that He died to deliver us from:

 

“For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!”-Ephesians 5:8

 

Christmas was designed to interrupt us! The Good News that we declare, when received, will interrupt our lives in so many ways. Jesus wants to interrupt your misery with joy, your internal conflict with peace, your mourning with laughter, your fear with faith. Jesus came to break the continuity of pain that you are experiencing with His love and purpose. He came to interrupt your journey on the road that leads to destruction with access to a path that leads to eternal life. 

 

Who is ready for a divine interruption in their life?

 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church