[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fpraying-uneasily":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fpraying-uneasily-surround":91},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":10,"columnName":73,"date":74,"description":5,"extension":75,"image":76,"meta":77,"minRead":78,"navigation":79,"path":80,"postType":81,"publication":82,"publicationUrl":76,"seo":83,"stem":84,"topics":85,"__hash__":90},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fpraying-uneasily.md","Praying Uneasily",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9],"",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":70},"minimark",[13,16,19,22,25,28,31,34,37,40,43,46,49,52,55,58,61,64,67],[14,15,5],"p",{},[14,17,18],{},"Publication: The Lookout",[14,20,21],{},"Date: March 14, 1999",[14,23,24],{},"Column: From the Editor's Desk",[14,26,27],{},"Category: Persecution; Church; Suffering; Prayer",[14,29,30],{},"During a mission trip to Ethiopia last year, I was the guest of a gracious Christian family who invited me to their tiny hut for dinner. As we tore large pieces of injerra (thick bread) from a common plate and dipped it into a spicy dish called chicken wat, I talked with a fellow named Sima who sat next to me on a wooden bench.",[14,32,33],{},"\"How did you become a Christian?\" I asked.",[14,35,36],{},"\"I learned about Christ from American missionaries who came here in 1963,\" he responded. Proudly, he pointed to the leather-bound volume lying on the bench beside him, and his voice grew soft and somber. \"They gave me this Bible when I accepted Christ,\" he said, \"but I had to hide it for 17 years because of the Communists. They would have taken it from me, or punished me for owning it.\"",[14,38,39],{},"I thought about my bookshelf at home where not just one Bible but several, in different translations, sit ready for use.",[14,41,42],{},"\"You must be relieved now that you can worship more freely,\" I told Sima.",[14,44,45],{},"He scratched his chin.",[14,47,48],{},"\"Actually,\" he said thoughtfully, \"in some ways we were probably better off then. The Christians had to be more committed.\"",[14,50,51],{},"Poking another chunk of injerra into the chicken mixture, he sighed, \"We have it too easy now.\"",[14,53,54],{},"\"Easy?\" I wondered. By American standards, Ethiopian Christians have it anything but easy. Many of them gather in simple church buildings with dirt floors where worshipers sit on rough wooden benches. Surrounded by unspeakable poverty and hindered by unsympathetic government policies, they still sing, pray, study the Bible, and preach the gospel with zeal and determination. Easy? Not the way I see it.",[14,56,57],{},"Throughout history, great men and women have held onto their faith despite severe persecution. The biblical account of Daniel and the lion's den, for example, isn't just a cute story for kids; it's a real-life saga about a high-ranking government official who risked his career, his reputation, and his very life in order to serve the Lord faithfully despite tremendous pressure. Mordecai and Esther dared to intervene for God's people when hostile opponents threatened their lives. And the book of Acts tells how brave men like Stephen and James gave up their lives rather than give up their testimony.",[14,59,60],{},"In 1536, Bible translator William Tyndale was strangled and burned at the stake for his efforts to bring the English Bible to the common people. Closer to our own time, in the days before airplanes and e-mail made travel and communication easier, brave Christians waved goodbye to their loved ones and set sail to perilous foreign fields where they laid down their lives for the kingdom's sake.",[14,62,63],{},"Even today missionaries, urban evangelists, Bible translators, and other courageous believers confront difficult conditions daily in order to take the gospel of Christ into places of spiritual darkness and physical danger.",[14,65,66],{},"I wonder: How dare we ever take for granted our freedom to worship and the comfortable buildings where we do so? How dare we treat the church with a casual \"take it or leave it\" attitude? How dare we take for granted the freedom to pick and choose a congregational style that best suits our personal preferences? How dare we become so preoccupied with our own comforts and controversies that we forget to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world?",[14,68,69],{},"And I wonder: Do we appreciate our Bibles as much as Sima appreciates his?",{"title":9,"searchDepth":71,"depth":71,"links":72},2,[],"From the Editor's Desk","1999-03-14","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fpraying-uneasily","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":5},"articles\u002Fpraying-uneasily",[86,87,88,89],"Biblical Theology","Spiritual Formation","Church Leadership","Perseverance in Suffering","IyD8jG40MJYNEigm06LPkD2m9yOJMiJZRL6UJ4thnSg",[92,97],{"title":93,"path":94,"stem":95,"description":96,"children":-1},"Prayer Still Changes Things","\u002Farticles\u002Fprayer-still-changes-things","articles\u002Fprayer-still-changes-things","In my files is a *Newsweek *cover story called \"Talking to God: An Intimate Look at the Way We Pray.\" It cites a study showing that 78 percent of all Americans pray at least once a week. Even among the 15 percent of Americans who consider themselves atheists or agnostics, nearly one in five still prays daily. (I can't help but wonder, to whom?)",{"title":98,"path":99,"stem":100,"description":101,"children":-1},"Praying When Your Mind Wanders","\u002Farticles\u002Fpraying-when-your-mind-wanders","articles\u002Fpraying-when-your-mind-wanders","Do you ever find it hard to focus your thoughts when you talk with God? You bow your head and close your eyes as someone prays aloud, but after the final \"amen,\" you can't recall a word that was said. Or maybe you offer a prayer when you go to bed, only to fall asleep in mid-sentence. Or during devotions, your thoughts flit involuntarily from one topic to another: \"Lord, thank you for this day . . . boy, it's cold in here . . . and help me do your will . . . I can't believe what happened at work yesterday . . . and bless our missionaries, Lord . . . hmmm, I wonder if any of that pizza is left over from last night . . .\" And on it goes."]