I hate to pray. There. I said it. I know that there are times in my life when I pray that the Lord will confront me with something that needs attention. Why can’t I have the “feel good,” prayers, the “peaceful” prayers, the prayers of “wisdom” and “revelation?”

Today I’ve been reading in Colossians, going through its verses again and again until finally this little passage hit me between the eyes:

“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving” – Colossians 4:2.

This is not the kind of verse that normally stands out to people. For me the passages that stand out the most are those that describe the majesty, power, or sovereignty of Christ—or passages on ethics and the Fruit of the Spirit. But Colossians 4:2, a simple admonition to prayer? What’s so special about that, that it should take hold of my attention?

Maybe its that little word, “Devote.” Ouch. The meaning here is not simply to perform a function regularly, or to be dedicated. The Greek word used for “devote,” is the word, “proskartereo.” It means, as John MacArthur points out, “to be courageously persistent.”

Wait a minute. “Courageously persistent” in prayer? Isn’t prayer supposed to give “peace,” “strength,” and so on? What need is there for “courage” in prayer?

Since I already had my MacArthur commentary on Colossians opened I read further to see just why Paul uses such a profound word about prayer. MacArthur quotes a 1976 Christianity Today article by Virginia Stem Owens, and it’s a jaw dropper.

“Once you start praying there is no guarantee that you won’t find yourself before Pharaoh, shipwrecked on a desert island, or in a lion’s den. This is no cosmic teddy bear we cuddle up to…we must struggle with him as Jacob did at Peniel where he earned his name Isreal—”he who strives with God.” We too must be prepared to say, ‘I will not let you go until you bless me.’ But in this combat with God we must be ready to bear the consequences…’Jacob’s thigh was put out of joint, and he went away lame.’ Awful things happen to people who pray. Their plans are frequently disrupted. The end up in strange places. Abraham ‘went out, not knowing where he was to go’…After Mary’s magnificent prayer she finds herself the pariah of Nazareth society. How tempting to up the stakes, making prayer merely another consumer product. How embarrassing to admit that not only may prayer get you into prison, as it did Jeremiah, but also that while you’re moldering away in a miry pit there, you may have a long list of lamentations and unanswered questions to present to your Lord. How are we going to tell them they may end up lame and vagrant if they grasp hold of this God?”

MacArthur continues the theme…

“That stands in marked contrast to the glib self-centered prayers of our day. [God] is too often viewed as a sort of automatic teller machine. If we punch in the right code, He’s obligated to deliver what we want. The Lord might well ask the modern church what He asked the rebellious priests of Malachi’s day: ‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my respect?’ – Malachi 1:6

As I thought through the examples provided through the lives of the Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles I realized that there isn’t a Christian I can think of that I admire that hasn’t struggled in prayer. Every one admired are those to whom God has said hard things—of whom God has required difficulty and suffering. The ones who met God in the ring are the ones who walk away in triumph to do great things. They are the ones who establish the kingdom and who become a living example of their Lord. But the prayers only for personal satisfaction, of peacefulness and calm—these are the prayers to nowhere.

Only then does Paul’s admonition to be persistently courageous in prayer make sense. Likewise his following admonition to be alert (you are in a battle!), and be thankful—God uses the man or woman who has struggled with him in prayer.

I was reading an article today from Touchstone magazine on language usage and the movement to make the Bible, “relevant,” to the average reader. Part of the article captured my attention, not so much for the longstanding difficulties that some people in Mongolia have with Bible translation and terminology issues, but because of a project we are working on to translate more than 75 hours of seminary level video instruction.

We entered into an arrangement with Third Millennium to translate a Masters level course on the Old Testament, including classes on Making Biblical Decisions, and Building Your Theology. Our desire for some time has been to present the Mongolian Christian community with the highest level of biblical education available, absolutely free over the airwaves. Third Millennium, which features course material from some of America’s leading seminary professors, was a perfect match for what we wanted to do. The challenge, however, is that translating such material into Mongolian—for a general audience—is a daunting task.

The team that works on the project meets regularly and consults with one another often, and they consult with me periodically on theological issues. But we are all aware that much of what is being translated in truly new ground for Mongolian Christianity. Much of the terminology necessary in Mongolian to convey the original meaning of what is being presented, just doesn’t seem to exist. Therefore, we have come up with creative ways of describing certain concepts that remain true to the intention of the instructor (and the theology), while at the same time making the concepts accessible to the viewer.

Of course we believe that the first translation will not be perfect. In fact, it will be far from perfect. That’s why we intend to go back and do it again once the first round is complete. In fact, we intend to retranslate the entire series at least 3 times over the next 3 years, each time raising the level and quality of translation until it matches the academic standard as closely as possible. Our team does not have all of the skills or knowledge base to make a highly academic translation of this material. However, we can begin contributing to the knowledge base now so that it can be built upon and improved as time goes by.

Since we are translating the project for television, we know that the broader audience will primarily be people who are not Christians. However, they are not the target audience. In fact, we have no intention of marketing these programs to our primarily unbelieving audience. Our target audience is, rather, Christians. The Third Millennium programs are designed to serve the educational and discipleship needs of the Mongolian church—to make solid, academically oriented Bible instruction as widely and repetitively available as possible for the next 3 years.

It was said for many years that Eagle TV made the name of Jesus a household word. But my vision (my personal vision, if I can call it that), is to make biblical concepts household concepts. The Gospel doesn’t begin or end with Jesus. Jesus is the center of the Gospel and it is out of him that all things which we concern ourselves with, spring. There is a whole lot more to the Gospel than the simple message that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. That is what is means to “Make disciples” (Matthew 28:18).

So—to get back to my original reason for writing this post—as I read this article from Touchstone, I was reminded of the difficulties that our team faces when taking highly academic material and trying to present it to a Christian audience with almost no historical knowledge or other background for the theological concepts presented. One might argue that “Mongolians aren’t ready for that.” But in the words of the great sitcom theologian, Sherman T. Potter, “Horse hockey!” From the earliest Christian fathers to the reformers, the great leaders of the church worldwide didn’t dumb down their message for the masses—the vast majority of which were illiterate and had no ready access to education, books, etc. On the contrary, they presented those illiterate masses with their best. Mongolians are not illiterate, or without reasoning skills. Mongolian Christians are, in fact, hungry and eager to learn as much as they can. Our job, and our opportunity, is to present them with what they need so they can learn on their own, or assisted, and trust the Lord with the outcome.

So with that I present a link to the article that got all of these things stirring around in my head this evening. The article is entitled, Preaching Without Reaching, (awesome title). If communicating the Gospel is important to you, especially if you are in full time ministry, I highly recommend you read the entire article.

So I’m talking to my daughter after she had her wisdom teeth pulled and I ask her, “So, now that you’ve gotten your teeth pulled are you dumber?”

Insert significant pause.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe. No. Whatever.”

I laugh.

We chat for a few minutes more then hang up.

An hour later a voice mail is waiting for me on Skype. “Dad, when you asked me if I was dumber ‘cuz I got my wisdom teeth pulled, I didn’t get it. But I just got it. So I guess I’m dumber.”

Insert significant pause from Dad followed by roarous laughter.