Thursday, August 31st | The Power of Prayer (pt. 2)

Welcome back, everyone. Today is Thursday, August the 31st. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. You're listening to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-58-25028, or you can email us at contact at ClearViewTodayShow.com.

That's right. You guys can help us keep the conversation going by supporting the podcast. You can share it online. Leave us a good review on iTunes or Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasting content from.

We're going to leave a couple of links in the description so you can do just that. The verse of the day today comes from Proverbs 11, verse 25. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself.

That's right. You know, God is generous. We know that, and we can see that in Scripture. And what his longing is, his desire is for his children to be made like him in this grace of generosity. And so our place on earth is not to be hoarders of blessing. A lot of times as Christians, we try to hoard as many blessings as we can. Just hold onto it, save those blessings, because in a few weeks or a few months, hard times are going to come. I need to hold onto all these blessings that I have. But to be generous is what God wants from his people, because he's generous.

Well, the principle is this. If you have your hand open and you allow your resources, financial and otherwise, to pass from your hand to bless others, God can put more resources into your hand that you can then use to bless others. But if you close your hand around what you have, well, then that's all you're going to have.

God can't put any more into your hand because your hand is closed. I heard that a while ago, and it really transformed the way that I thought about being generous. And I love what you said, John, about we try to hoard this and save it just in case we might need it. What about the Israelites in the wilderness in the manna? God told them to get what they needed for that day.

And so, of course, people will try to hoard. And what if God doesn't send it tomorrow? Well, that manna would spoil.

That manna would go bad. The same principle is true in our lives. We need to be generous with the resources that God has given us, and in doing so, God will meet our needs as well. I'm really glad you say that, because God has put you in charge of some really, really important resources at Clearview. And I don't mean the collective you, like you, Ryan. You order all the coffee creamers that come to this church.

I actually don't do that anymore. Who orders the coffee creamers? It's a collaborative effort. There's a coffee creamer committee, the CCC of Clearview Church.

The CCC of CC. Yeah, yeah. So, we have, at any given point on a Sunday, or during the week, we have French vanilla, we have hazelnut. We also have half and half, but I'm not counting that, because it doesn't have a flavor. So, nobody's going to drink half and half. Well, there are some people who like half and half.

We're going to get half and half out of here. What do we have on tap? We have French vanilla and hazelnut.

We do. Nothing wrong with that. First off, hazelnut's gross.

It's not. Hazelnut's gross. Hazelnut is delightful.

I like it. I like hazelnut. The only people who like hazelnut are older people.

I was going to say old people, but I'll be polite and say older people. Bold of you to say that. I'm not that much older than you.

Right. How old are you? 34. My gosh. How old are you? 31. Boom. But I don't like hazelnut. Give it time. You will.

When I get the 34, I'm like, this isn't going to have bad. This is not bad. Right now, I'm drinking toasted brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tart coffee creamer. Okay, so I'm already irritated because that's too many words in the flavor. Before this, I was drinking Blueberry Cobbler coffee creamer.

Great value. Which is delicious. It is delicious. My question is, why are we limiting ourselves and the rest of our congregation to two flavors? You can have French vanilla or you can have coffee creamer. This is not some podunk backwoods little nasty mom-and-pop coffee shop that only has two creamers on tap. We can have any creamer under the sun. Can I tell you why? Yeah.

I'll give you the reason why. The creamer part of the cafe is self-serve. How do you mean is all? You serve yourself the creamer. The person who's running the cafe does not put creamer in the coffee for you. Because how much creamer you want, how little creamer you want, that's up to you. So you take the creamer and you put it in there yourself. Find any Starbucks, what are the creamers that they have out for people to put in their coffee? I'll go ahead and tell you.

You want me to tell you? Half and half and milk. That's it. No, because they're serving themselves, you limit their options. No, because if we have caramel macchiato, then we need to have blueberry, and then we need to have amaretto, and then we need to have birthday cake. That's too many options to put out on a table.

Disagree. You go to a car dealership and they say, listen, because you're going to be driving this car yourself, you can have car A or you can have car B. No, that's not the same thing. That's not at all the same thing. That's not the same thing.

Go for it. How are they different? What is a car and what is a cup of coffee? How are they different?

Use your eyes. No, I'm just saying, yes, they're different things, but the principle is the same. No, it is absolutely not the same. It is not the same.

A vehicle that you are going to be driving and a cup of coffee that you're going to consume are not the same thing. But you have said yourself, you like the blueberry creamer. I do like the blueberry creamer. You like the cinnamon roll creamer.

The toasted brown sugar cinnamon pop tart creamer. And I am all for options, but we need to have those behind the counter so that we can add them as we see fit to drink. OK, so you're saying you will put them on the grocery order going forward? No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that I will bring it to the CCC of CC and we'll decide if we're going to put it on the grocery order going forward.

Bottom line, here's the underlying principle. We need more space. We need more space for the creamer. So we have to propose another multi-billion dollar building project to get blueberry condor. That's not what I said. I'm not saying we need another building. I'm just saying we need more space in the cafe kitchen currently. We can start, radio audience... And here's the deal. Let's make this clear for everyone.

You can bring and utilize whatever creamer that you would like. I have. And that's perfectly fine. I have. I just can't continue to have that on my conscience.

I can't have that on my card. Because why? Because it's costing a lot of money. Oh, so someone else foot the bill for your coffee habit. It's not my coffee. We offer it to the people. Now I would drink a blueberry. And now the one that you drink, is that your coffee or no?

Yes. OK, so it's your coffee. But I'm saying we can offer it to the people who are paying for coffee. What if the people don't want that? What if we put a survey out and people vote for their favorite coffee creamer and your flavor is not on there?

Then what do we do? I don't see that happening. I don't see that happening.

I don't see that happening. Uh-huh. It all comes to clear now. I think if you're listening out there, we can start a revolution. Here's the deal.

If you're listening, here's what I would genuinely like to know. Write in and let us know what your favorite flavor of coffee creamer is. It's not hazelnut. It's not hazelnut.

I know that. And when Dr. Shock comes in, I'm going to ask him what's up with the hazelnut. Because I see it and drink it. He likes hazelnut. I don't get it. I don't get it.

As smart as he is. He likes hazelnut. OK. Let us know what your favorite coffee creamer is and back me up on the hazelnut thing and offer John some, I don't know, comfort.

I'm not sure. Write in Texas. Let us know 2525825028 or you can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. We'll be right back. Hey there, listeners. I'm John Galantis.

And I'm Ellie Galantis. And we just want to take a quick second and talk to you about Dr. Shaw's and Nicole's book, 30 Days to a New Beginning. Daily devotions to help you move forward.

You know, this is actually the second book in the 30 Days series. And the whole point of this devotional is to help us get unstuck from the ruts of life. You know, when it comes to running the race of life, it matters how you start. But a bad start doesn't ultimately determine how you finish the race. You can have a good finish even with a bad start. And that's where this book comes in. No matter who you are or where you are in life, you're going to get stuck.

Instead of going out and buying some gadget or some planner like I know I've done several times. I know that's right. 30 Days encourages you to find your fresh start in God's Word. And life doesn't have a reset button. But our God is a God who does new things.

His mercies are new every day, which means every day is a new chance for you to start over. You can grab 30 Days to a New Beginning on Amazon.com. We're going to leave a link in the description box below. And if you already have the book, let us know what you think about it.

That's right. Send us a text 252-582-5028. Share what God has done in your life through this devotional. Hey, maybe we'll even read your story on the air. Ellie, you ready to get back to the show? Let's do it.

All right. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. Or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text 252-582-5028. That's right.

If today's your first time ever joining us here on the Clear View Today Show, we want to welcome you, let you know exactly who's talking to you today. Dr. Abbadan Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. You can find all of his work on his website, and that's AbbadanShah.com. You know, for years I've been saying Dr. AbbadanShah is a PhD. Is it has a PhD or is a PhD? You could be a PhD, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, but you also have a PhD.

That's right. But you are the PhD. I'm lost now. I don't know what to say. I both have one and am one.

I am just AbbadanShah comma PhD. So we're focused on First Timothy 2.8, where Paul tells Timothy, I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. And we often hear that passage, but we don't really study it in its context.

In its context we learned last show that Paul wrote this to encourage young Timothy not to quit his ministry in Ephesus. Right. And, you know, we talked about how Ephesus was an imposing city filled with gods and goddesses filled with magical practices and Christianity single-handedly emptied the temples. There's a lot of animosity coming. There was animosity, I'm sure. Yeah. Demonic forces were against, imagine all these magical books were burned.

Remember that? And the cost is also given in the book of Acts. So this was the place where young Timothy was the pastor of the first church. I believe they had thousands of people.

I mean, it has to be, right? Yeah. To shut down all the temples. I mean, where did the people go?

They didn't just stay home. Right. Yeah.

You can't have like a congregation of like 20, 30 people. And then all the major temple of the city is completely shut down. Yeah. Like, are they going to go stay home? Yeah.

No, they actually got saved. Right. When we said long last episode, too, the population was somewhere probably around half a million. Right. Even just numbers alone. You're going to have numbers in the thousands conservatively at a church.

Right. So Timothy was probably overwhelmed, stressed out, just feeling just so anxious, whatever, that he wanted to quit. And Paul gave him some encouragement.

Why not to quit? Encouragement, like stick to the word, preach the word, teach people to love, share the gospel. Also, he reminded him that ministry is a warfare, you know, wage the good warfare, don't run from the battlefield. Then he talked about Hymenaeus and Alexander, who more than likely were peoples who worked with young Timothy, who had now drifted away. And Paul says their faith had suffered shipwreck. I mean, what a figure of speech.

Yeah, absolutely. Their faith has shipwrecked. So picture the ship crashing into these jagged rocks and nothing but splinters and boards just floating on the ocean surface.

And you can see the mast broken down and bodies are lying around because it just took lives. Their faith has suffered shipwreck. I love that you pointed out Paul's words there, that you may wage the good warfare. Because I think, and I've seen and I've felt this in my life, that when we talk about spiritual warfare, we are passive.

We just endure. Spiritual warfare is an attack of the, this is what we make it out to be, it's an attack of the enemy that I just have to endure. But Paul is saying that you wage the good warfare, and I love that it's followed by that exhortation to pray.

That's right. And so then Paul jumps in in 1 Timothy chapter 2 now, verse 1, he says, Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of things be made for all men. For kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. So Paul is telling Timothy, instead of being frustrated and wanting to quit and getting all depressed and self-focused, see all this goes back to self-focus. It's one of the worst things that can happen to a believer, especially those in ministry, is self-focus.

What do you all think? I mean, that's the biggest trap I always fall into, is where do I fall into this crazy world with all the government and policies that are happening and all this stuff that's going on in the world that I have no control over? It just makes me feel hopeless. And so I'm so focused on where I and my life and my family and my ministry here at Clearview fit into that, that I'm not worried about what God is actually saying to me through all that stuff.

Yeah. Something I think that is really insidious is negative self-focus. When you start to just beat yourself up and be down on yourself and start to second guess and doubt and say, maybe what Timothy was struggling with when he was wanting to leave. Maybe I wasn't called to this. Maybe I'm not the right person for this. He's focused on self.

He's focused on what he is bringing to the table, and he's focused on maybe his shortcomings. There were early days in the radio show where we'd start posting our episodes to YouTube, and I would see like, okay, 15 views, 16 views, oh, maybe we've got 30 views. And I was like, man, this is not working out.

Nothing's happening. And it got me to think into where maybe I'm not doing something wrong, but I'm so... The next week after that, I was not as into recording the episodes, you know what I mean? Because I felt like this is hopeless. Not thinking about how God is using this show in areas that I can't measure, you know what I mean?

Areas that I can't measure. And since giving up that mindset and talking with you, Dr. Shaw, and you, Ryan, and coming together and making the show what it is today, I'm way more happier. We find energy when we record these episodes.

We talk to you guys about it. Any focus, whether it's good or bad, is not good for our spiritual lives. And that's what Paul is telling Timothy. Don't quit. Instead do this. Instead focus on the word. Instead focus on teaching people to love. Instead of that, focus on waging the good warfare. Instead of focus on truth rather than fables and endless genealogies. Instead of focusing on those who left and walked away from you, fight the good fight, wage the good warfare. Instead of focusing on your predicament, exhort people to supplications, prayers, intercessions, giving of thanks for all the people so that you may live a peaceable, quiet life.

Pray for those in authority. You see how the focus is outward, it's like, get away from you and focus elsewhere. And I encourage those who are listening or watching, start doing that. Instead of self-focus, whether it's positive or negative, because our world is big on self-care right now, right?

Is it not? Self-care? I care about me. I want to heal me. I want to take care of me. Because if you don't take care of you first, how can you take care of anybody else?

That's a bunch of garbage. Think about Jesus, Philippines chapter two, who made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, coming in the likeness of men. And being found in the appearance of man, he humbled himself to the point of death, even the death of the cross. So we're going completely contrary to what scripture says, because the culture around us is telling us to do that.

He didn't make sure his belly was full or that he had a place to sleep or lay his head at night before he went out and started preaching to the masses and trying to get salvation out to the people. Self-care also, that whole mindset, leads to isolation, because you always have another unmet need before you can check someone else's checkbox, before you can pour into someone else. I've got to make sure I have this. Oh, I've got to take care of me in this area.

I've got to have that protected time just for them. Right. Exactly. And that's not what we're called to do in scripture. We're called to love like Jesus did.

And before someone jumps down our throat and talks about how we don't know what we're talking about, just know we're not for a moment saying, go out there and completely burn yourself out and destroy. No, you've got to take care of yourself. You've got to feed yourself. You have to spend time with family. Sometimes you have to back away from things. We get it. But this ideology that is prevalent right now in our culture, which says you are the center of the universe, that's what we're talking about, not taking care of yourself.

Yes. Self-care can be, it's fine if that's a part of your daily habits of just living. It's not okay if that's your mindset and your worldview. Where everything revolves around me, if that's what you're going for, it is contrary to the word of God. It is contrary to the biblical worldview and it will not bring joy and peace.

It will bring destruction and death. Paul tells Timothy, hey, start praying for other people, start focusing on others. And then he says in verse three, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And then he gives the gospel and kind of in a nutshell, for there's one God, one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle.

I'm speaking the truth in Christ and not lying a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. So he's telling him, instead of focusing on self, start sharing the gospel and winning the loss. Yeah. And I think that's something that's sorely missing from our culture is just to focus on truth, not to focus on my truth or what I need in life or the things that'll make me feel good or feel happy, but the truth of the gospel, you know, elevating truth beyond all else.

Yeah. I remember one time there was someone, someone that shared, I think it was an interview with Penn and Teller, I think, where he, whoever the main guy is, he's talking about, like, he's famously an atheist. He, you know, denounces Christianity, but he said, if Christians believe what they say, believe what the Bible teaches to be true, and they don't tell people about who God is and about the plan of salvation, that is as hateful as you, I mean, that is, that is murderous. That's hateful to other people. If you genuinely believe this and you don't tell people about this need that they have, that's hatred toward them.

I saw that video a lot when it actually came out. It was an interview. And I think the person was asking, like, are you offended when Christians proselytize toward you? He was like, the opposite. He was like, I'm absolutely against Christianity in all its forms.

But if they truly believe it, they're the biggest haters and hypocrites if they don't proselytize. Yeah. I was like, wow. Yeah. But I mean, that's exactly what Paul is saying. But at least I respect that, I guess. That's exactly what Paul is saying here, though.

He's like, your focus doesn't need to be on you and all the unmet needs that you have. It needs to be on sharing the gospel with the lost. That's right.

That's right. And then there's the passage on intercession, which is 1 Timothy 2.8, I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Desire the word there is very interesting in the Greek is the word bullomai rather than telo.

Telo is I wish, which is how it's being translated here in the New King James. I desire. When I say I desire, it's like, you know what, I wish people would. That would be really nice. That would be really nice.

I hope that this happens. Yeah. But the word is bullomai, which is more set and expected. I am strongly urging. That's what he's saying there. Not just I desire.

It's not something I kind of hope to see one day. It's yeah. I think you said it best. It's expected. Yeah. This is an expectation. This is the wish of Paul. This is the expectation of Christian men. Right.

Right. You should be doing this. Why are you not doing this?

I want you to start doing this now. And then he wants them to start praying. But how do you pray lifting up holy hands kind of line in line with the Old Testament and the New Testament, but Old Testament primarily because repeatedly we see God's people praying with uplifted hands.

For example, Leviticus 9 22, it says, then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, bless them and came down from offering the sin offering, the burn offering and the peace offerings. He lifted his hands. Right. It's almost see this referee in a football game lifting it. I do not want to take away from the discussion, but can you just do that again? Look at the triceps. Look at the depth. Oh my.

Oh, if you're watching on the radio, man, y'all, y'all need to get on this video. And I haven't worked out in three weeks. Your triceps are looking good, dude. I have to work on them. Work has to be done. Nehemiah chapter eight, verse six, Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God.

Then all the people answered, amen, amen, while lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. There's a very intentional physicality to it. Yeah.

I love it. When you're talking about lifting hands, what imagery comes to your mind? Like a little... Like a V. Yeah.

Wouldn't be picked up. Hold me. Or surrender. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Gavin's in that now where he's just like... Yeah. Just reach out. ... doing this all the time. But yeah, surrender as well. Like you put your hands up.

I see that. But what is the child saying to the parent when he's holding up his hands? What is he saying?

He's saying like, I trust you. I want you to... Yeah. I want to be up there with you.

Yeah. I want you to hold me. I want you to hold me. I want you to hold me.

I can't carry myself. Right. Right, David?

Yeah. So the reason I really wanted to chime in here is because the last Wednesday or last Tuesday when you were gone, you had just preached that message on like raising the hands and how that was like, you know, child saying, God, you know, pick me up. I can't do this. I was holding Gavin in the soundboard and I put him up because he wanted to change the lights on the cross because our stained glass changes. He was like, I want to turn it red. And I was like, here, I'll show you how to do it. And I hit it and he watched it turn around. He was like, wow. I was like, all right, let's get down. And I walked away. He was like, you got to pick me up.

I can't do it by myself. And he said those words and I was like, well, I just preached on that. So hey, I guess. And he lifted up his hands and I just thought it was like the perfect representation of what you had preached on. Yeah. I mean, that's exactly what these people are doing when they lifted up their hands. This was, I mean, what else can you do when you lift up your hands? Yeah. It's like, we can't say they're pointing towards God, but I think it's more about God. You are it. You're like a father.

Pick us up. But then there's some qualifications. You can lift up your hands, but they have to be holy hands. It means these are not hands covered in blood like David. These are not hands with stolen items in them. These are not hands that are clenched like fists ready to hit somebody. These are holy hands.

What do you all think? Holy hands. Yeah.

I've often wondered about that. Like the holy hands that like, I'm thinking of that line. Well, what is it?

Give us, give me clean hands, give us pure hearts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

There's, there's done a song though. I can't, I can't, I want to think about what that is. Yeah. But then without wrath, without anger or gay, you know, if you have bitterness in your heart, if you have resentment in your heart, if you have unforgiveness in your heart, you truly cannot lift up holy hands. That's right.

Because your heart's too heavy. Yeah. You, you may physically raise your hands, but you're, you're going through motions at that point. It's choreography.

You're pretending. Exactly. And I think a lot of times that happens in our churches because it's, we, we sort of expect to have this moment of worship. So we walk in and we, and we know that we have to raise our hands and we know that we have to say all these words, but what is your motivation behind that?

And what is your, what is the condition of your heart before God? Can you genuinely say you're lifting up holy hands to your heavenly father? Or are your hands, like you said, are they bloodsane? Are they, are they clinched in fists?

Are they sending text messages to somebody that's not your spouse that you don't need to be talking to? What, what are, what are your hands doing that makes them not holy? I also have noticed, it was Psalm 24 and starting in verse three where it says, who may send into the hill of the Lord or who may stand in his holy place. I've always noticed that these go together. Who has he, who has clean hands and a pure heart. You know what I mean? It's kind of like the truth and mercy thing. Cause you, you have to have both. Like if, can I have clean hands and an un-pure heart? Can I have bloodstains hands and a pure heart?

It always seems that when I see those two, they're always together. Even that, what's that song, give us clean hands and pure heart, always together that the, the physical and the immaterial going together. The intent of the heart and the action of the hands.

That's right. So anger can do that. So Deologismos, which is, which can be translated dispute. So you can say, by lifting up holy hands without anger and disputing, like disputing with each other. I think Deologismos in this context means more disputing within yourself.

That's what I was thinking as well. Like sometimes when you pray, but you really, my heart's not in it. Yeah.

Right. You, you, you are double-minded. You are not really trusting God.

You're saying you are, but really truly you're not. And you say you have faith, but you actually don't. So if that's your case, then your prayers are going to be weak, if not lifeless. That's right. Yeah.

That's right. So don't be angry and don't be faithless. When you pray, start praying without anger and with faith. Now preacher, I hear what you're saying, but I live in the real world though.

That's the only thing is as I'm, I hear you. Doubt can creep in in the real world. I hear you, but, but I'm a realist. Yes.

We need people who look at the, the, the bottom line. I get it. But unless those people are filled with faith in the living true God, they are, they may be in the church and they may be trying to do the finances of the church, but you might as well call paganism. That's true.

The idea that there is somewhat of a spiritual life versus real world difference, distinction. That's not Christianity. That's exactly right.

You know? So we need men everywhere to lift up holy hands and start calling on the name of God. And Paul was telling Timothy, listen, get your men to start praying instead of sitting there focused on quitting Ephesus. Get over there, boy, and start getting them to pray.

That's right. Get over there and start praying. I love that. We let that be the encouragement for you as you go about your, the rest of your day or the rest of your week. Get over there and start praying, especially you men.

Step up and lead, step up and pray with holy hands lifted up without anger and without doubting. If you guys enjoyed today's episode, if you have questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028, or you can visit us online at clearveetodayshow.com. You can partner with us financially on that same website. Scroll to the bottom of that page, click that donate button, and let us know what's coming from our Clear View Today show family. We love you guys. We'll see you next time on Clear View Today.