H E A R M Y C R Y, O G O D! T h e m y s t e r y a n d p o w e r o f p r a y e r

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1 VOL 12:2 FALL 2009 Prayer H E A R M Y C R Y, O G O D! T h e m y s t e r y a n d p o w e r o f p r a y e r P R A Y E R A N D J E W I S H L I T U R G Y A n i n t e r v i e w w i t h C r y s t a l B u c h h a l t e r W I N D O W S I N T O P R A Y E R P r a y e r a n d p r a c t i c a l m i n i s t r y

2 HEAR MY CRY O GOD! the mystery and power of prayer by Aaron Abramson Not long ago, the father of my friend passed away. The family had prayed for his salvation for years. At the end, he was physically unable to respond, leaving his family uncertain whether he had ever received the gospel. Another friend prayed for his father, a Holocaust survivor, to also come to faith. He continued to pray over the years, and his father gradually became more open, eventually accepting Y shua as his Messiah. In both cases, years were spent in prayer, and yet the outcome was different. We may wonder about our own prayers. Do they matter? Are we praying according to God s will? Will it make a difference if we spend twice as much time praying? Are we praying with the right measure of faith? One professor summed up the confusion we sometimes experience in this way: Expert advice on prayer abounds. At the Christian university where I teach, chapel speakers promote everything from praying directly from Scripture to just being quiet and listening. Orthodox speakers recommend the Jesus Prayer : Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me, a sinner. Other speakers say prayer is simply a conversation with God, and I think, Simply?! Just a regular old conversation with someone I can t see, hear, or touch, and whose voice is so tricky to sort from others, especially from the voices of my own hopes and fears? 1 The fact is that there is mystery surrounding prayer. We might not always understand the nature of prayer or what God is doing behind the scenes. Yet prayer is central in the life of a believer, and I want to offer some words to orient us and encourage us as we come before the living God. Prayer: Our Biblical Heritage The Tanach is rich with prayer. Page after page we encounter men and women who diligently sought God in prayer. The patriarchs experienced powerful two-way communication with God. Moses spoke with God face-to-face; and he himself became God s answer to Israel s prayers for a redeemer. Judges, kings and prophets sought the Lord in prayer and saw him intervene in history to heal, provide, lead, speak and save. PUBLISHED BY 60 HAIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA TEL: FAX: HAVURAH@JEWSFORJESUS.ORG WEB: JEWSFORJESUS.ORG PRINTED IN THE U.S.A EDITOR: RICH ROBINSON ART, DESIGN, PRODUCTION: DAVID YAPP FALL 2009, VOLUME 12:2 PUBLISHED QUARTERLY

3 The psalms are a particularly rich resource, a kind of field guide for understanding prayer. Martin Luther observed, The Christian can learn to pray in the Psalter, for here he can hear how the saints talk with God. 2 When I was traveling through parts of India frequented by Israelis, I met several people who read the psalms every day. It s not hard to see why. The psalms provide a glimpse into authentic prayer. Sometimes they express anger towards God, or ask for retribution on enemies ( Rise up, O LORD, confront them, bring them down; rescue me from the wicked by your sword Psalm 17:13). At other times they testify of God s righteousness and love ( Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me! Psalm 66:20). There are psalms that offer prayers of confession (Psalm 51:1-2), or that ask for God s guidance (Psalm 86:11) and protection (Psalm 60:5). There is even a psalm for unanswered prayer (Psalm 13). The psalms focus our thoughts and help us process our interactions with God. They give direction in times of uncertainty and are a source of hope when we are discouraged. They help us relate to God about the things he finds important. And because the psalms contain so much about God s attributes, they can provide a platform for speaking with our people about who God is. There are many other examples of prayer in the Tanach. Moses interceded for the people of Israel when they turned away from the Lord (Exodus 32:11-13). Elijah called on the name of the Lord while the prophets of Baal prayed to their own god (1 Kings 18). His offering was taken up in fire, God s people fell to their knees in worship, and God was able to display his power. In the New Testament, the earliest followers of Jesus relied on prayer to lift one another up through their tribulations. Paul was a living example of this. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18, he wrote that we are to pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God s will for you in Messiah Y shua. In addition to encouraging his communities of believers to pray, Paul faithfully lifted them up in prayer. prayer. 3 Philip Milledoler and a handful of Jewish believers met for prayer in 1813, interceding for the salvation of Jewish people. By 1816, they had established the first missionary society to the Jewish people in the United States. 4 Today, the International House of Prayer (IHOP) and similar movements continue to mobilize people around the world to pray. 5 Another area where the power of prayer is shown is in healing. An Anglican professor of mine told of his experience in Africa where, as a white traveler, he was mistaken for a doctor. A paralyzed man had been brought before him and, not being a physician, he settled on praying for the man. To his surprise, he was immediately healed. The professor was then sought out by many others in need of healing and was able to share the gospel with them. He remarked that not much in his Anglican background had prepared him for that experience! Yet not everyone who prays for healing receives it (not even Paul see 2 Corinthians 12:7-10). That may be the part of the mystery of prayer; someone once said that God always answers prayer, but his answer can be Yes, No, or Maybe! Prayer also has the power to change us. Through prayer, Scripture is opened to us, we find forgiveness and we are drawn into communion with the Lord. Writer Tim Stafford has said, We do not pray to tell God what he does not know, nor to remind him of the things he has forgotten. He already cares for the things we pray about... He has simply been waiting for us to care about them with him. 6 Prayer helps us get in step with where God is going. The Ingredients of Effective Prayer Pray with kavannah then your prayers will matter! This is what I was taught in yeshiva. Kavannah Hebrew for intent or heartfelt meaning was a key ingredient for an effective prayer life. Students would set their alarm clocks for 3 or 4 A.M. to recite slichot, prayers for forgiveness, in preparation for the High Holidays. There Continued on page 6 The Power of Prayer Prayer has the power to change things. Prayer movements have long been a catalyst for world change. The Moravians, one of the earliest Protestant missionary movements, experienced powerful revival after devoting themselves to 100 years of continuous 3 Photo by David Waterman

4 Prayer and Jewish Liturgy An interview with Crystal Buchhalter Crystal Buchhalter is a Jewish believer who served as cantorial soloist at a synagogue for several years. She and her husband Shaun currently serve with Jews for Jesus music team, The Liberated Wailing Wall. This has been condensed for print; for the full interview plus liturgical resources you can use, go to Havurah: Sometimes people ask, if we can pray spontaneously, what is the value of liturgy? Crystal: Liturgy is more than just prayers that people memorize or pray every week. In the first place, liturgy serves as a guide when we can t think what to pray. The Holy Spirit knows our hearts, of course, but we don t always. So liturgy helps draw out of us what we are unable to put into our own words. Liturgy also keeps us grounded in our relationships with God and with each other. Thank God, Jesus made a way for us to communicate directly to God through the Spirit. Spontaneous prayers often feel good. But as flawed people we can get overly wrapped up in our own emotions and feelings even in our prayer lives. I can t believe I m saying this, because as a musician, I am huge on individual expression! But there has to be a balance. Following Messiah is really about relationships. Another value to liturgy is that it brings people together in worship, which spontaneous prayer often cannot. One of my favorite things about growing up in synagogue was hearing hundreds of people pray the same prayer together. Jews and Christians alike recite the verse, You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength. Liturgical prayer can help us do exactly that, uniting us in heart, mind and purpose. And finally, liturgy reveals a person s heart by allowing the Word to pierce it in worship. Some people don t like to recite liturgy because they feel it is a dead form of worship. They couldn t be more wrong; most Jewish liturgy is simply praying Scripture back to God. This is huge! We study the word of God because we know it is living. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. When a heart is pierced it is closer to God. I ve experienced great revelation and conviction during liturgical worship. When we pray the Word, we pray him. Talk about God with us! Havurah: So tell us how you became a cantorial soloist at your synagogue and how you came to faith in Y shua. CB: I ve always had a passion for my Jewish people and a love of Bible stories. As a child, I would read about the power God displayed through the people he used, and I wanted that for myself. I didn t really know what I was looking for but I figured the best place to get it was in the synagogue. So I started going to Hebrew school and a whole new world was opened to me. I began singing in the children s choir every Saturday morning and was soon given solos for my passion as much as for my voice. By ten years old, my cantor had me singing liturgical solos at Shabbat services and opening concerts for him around the Detroit Jewish community. I loved singing in shul more than anything. To this day I can t explain it any other way than to say that God was with me, in my voice, when I sang the liturgy. By thirteen I was on staff as a madrich, an apprentice. I started conducting the children s choir, I was singing in the professional choir, I subbed for my cantor and taught others the liturgy. All this was in addition to concerts I was doing with other cantors and synagogues. Once I was in the Detroit Jewish News as an up-and-comer. My nana really kvelled over that one! Eventually, through the witness of faithful Christians, my father, brother, mother, came to faith, and as the last holdout myself. I remained on staff at my synagogue for 4

5 w i n d o w s i n t o p r a y e r seven years as a believer. It was a big enough place at about 10,000 members that this was possible. Those who knew me best didn t mind my faith and were even intrigued by it. Havurah: Is there a piece of Jewish liturgy that is a favorite for you? CB: That would be the Kaddish, which is best known for being a prayer for the dead. Actually, we don t say it so much for the person who has died but for those of us who are left behind. It reminds us who God is, that he s in control, that he is so much greater than us and yet remains so near to us. It is my favorite because it is about who God is and because it reminds me of the Lord s Prayer, which I venture it may have foreshadowed. Both are similar in content, and Messiah would have known it because in its earliest form it predates his life on earth. The disciples would have been able to relate to the Lord s Prayer because of it. And it's in Aramaic, his native language, the common language of Jews during the Babylonian exile when the earliest parts of it may have been written. When my grandfather died last year, a man who had a huge hand in my upbringing, I had to say Kaddish for him. A dear friend of mine was consoling me that if my grandfather had truly seen Messiah as we have reason to believe he did on his deathbed, then when I chant that prayer for him, we might as well be side by side, because worshipping is exactly what he will be doing at that moment. For me the Kaddish is a prayer of strength because though I know God is always with me, it brings me more into his greatness. We asked three Jewish believers on the mission field or in congregational service to share some of their thoughts on the practical place of prayer in their ministries. Peter Gittlen Peter Gittlen, with his wife Laura, is a member of Wycliffe Bible Translators. The Gittlens have been ministering in Mexico since Being Bible translators with an indigenous people group is a lot like being missionaries to our Jewish people. We all need to overcome the suspicions of the people we seek to reach: Who are these people? What do they really want? Are they trying to change our customs and religion? What chutzpah! (Well, indigenous people may not exactly be making that last statement!). In our situation we work hard to overcome reservations by being the first outsiders to learn the people s language and learning to act more like insiders. But prayer is our main means of conquering misgivings and mistrust. Through prayer God sent us people who were willing to be seen with us, help us understand their culture, and teach us their language. Through prayer God made people who were used to farm work willing to sit at a desk for long periods of time while we strange foreigners asked simple questions over and over. Through prayer God has enabled us to build trust among a people who are generally closed to outsiders. Martin Goldsmith Martin Goldsmith has been a missionary to the Muslim world and has taught at All Nations Christian College in London. He is the author of Life s Tapestry; Any Complaints? Blame God!; and Matthew and Mission: The Gospel through Jewish Eyes. Continued on page 6 5

6 Continued from page 5 As I have been praying, I feel that one of you is sick. So I am praying that God will send you a Christian doctor and that he will have the right medications for you. So wrote old Mrs. Gilkes, my wife Elizabeth s house-bound former landlady. We were working as missionaries in Sumatra, Indonesia at that time. We had never told Mrs. Gilkes that we had only one doctor for our area s large population. We were young and healthy normally, but in that tropical mountain plateau I suffered badly from asthma. Without sprays or medications I got worse and worse. Amazingly, just at that time the government replaced our local non-christian doctor with a fine Chinese Christian man. Before moving to Sumatra he packed a large suitcase with medicines, including some for respiratory problems. So God answered both points of Mrs. Gilkes prayer. As Christian workers we have realized our great need for true supporters who will pray intimately for us, and will listen to God to know what they should pray for. Indeed, all of us need to learn to listen and to pray with faith. Stuart Rothberg Stuart Rothberg is one of the teaching pastors at Sagemont Church, Houston, Texas, online at I have been trained as a minister. I studied theology (in fact, I was assisted in going to seminary by Jews for Jesus). I know that God knows everything. If that s the case... then why pray? I ve learned that the primary purpose of prayer is not to inform God; it is to do life together with God. Ministry is potentially all-consuming. When I commune with God in prayer, I m reminded that he is more concerned with me, the minister, than with my ministry. Doing ministry apart from him has often left me overwhelmed. At those times, I can almost hear him say I miss my time with you. When I pray, I remember to remember my first love, the Lord Y shua. Prayer means doing life and ministry together with God. Prayer is the opposite of doing things, even good ministry things, by myself. Prayer says, I cannot live without you. I do not want to live without you. I want to experience life with you. Prayer is romance with the Messiah. Continued from page 3 was an unspoken assumption that the sacrifice of rising early put a person in a state of kavannah. Adherents of other religions have their own emphases when it comes to prayer. Muslims pray five times a day, bowing their heads to the floor in an act of humility. For Buddhists, quantity of prayer is important: some will spin prayers to heaven on special Hindi-inscribed prayer wheels, while others will download these prayers to their hard-drives so that they spin out 5,400 prayers per minute! 7 In the right context, kavannah is important for believers in Y shua, too. Of course, we would also add aspects such as praying in faith, with thankfulness, in the name of Jesus, and so on. At bottom, effective prayer is less about what one says or how often one prays than it is a posture toward God that seeks his will and his glory. The ACTS model of prayer has proven helpful for many people. ACTS is an acronym for a way to approach God in our prayers. Prayer begins with adoration of God, reminding us of God s power, love, and care as we thank him for who he is and what he can do in our lives. Next comes confession which allows us to clear our slate with the Lord and strengthen our relationship with him. This is where we ask for forgiveness and the ability to forgive others. Thanksgiving follows, prompting us to realize the ways in which God has already blessed us. Last is supplication, where we come before the Lord with our needs and desires. 8 Prayer and Our People From the inarticulate cries of Israel in Egypt (Exodus 2:23) to the evolved Jewish liturgy of the Kol Nidre service, Jewish people have prayed as a way of relating to God and to their fellow Jews. These prayers may concern anything from the blessing of a newborn to the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem, and they can be uttered in the synagogue or through Twittering prayers to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Traditional Jews still pray three times a day. Prayer creates continuity among the Jewish people no matter what country or century they live in. Many Jewish people have active prayer lives. I have met some who claimed to spend hours seeking God each day. There are spiritual renewal movements in Judaism that emphasize prayer and meditation. Some pray through the psalms (tehillim) as a way of earning merit and growing closer to God. 6

7 How should we relate to these phenomena? Does God hear the prayers of Jewish people who do not believe in Y shua? In 1980, Bailey Smith, then-president of the Southern Baptist Convention, made serious waves when he said, God Almighty doesn t hear the prayer of a Jew. 9 That kind of statement is not only difficult to substantiate, but it can alienate our audience from real interaction and discussion. Who are we to say that God cannot hear the prayer of a nonbeliever who is truly seeking him? God s answer to their prayer might be a stepping-stone on their way to faith. We should be careful about drawing unwarranted conclusions. Perhaps on some level we can learn from the kind of dedication many Jewish people show in praying to God. As Jewish believers, we have a special obligation to pray for Israel. The Bible teaches us to remember Jerusalem in our prayers (Psalm 122:6). We naturally have a vested interest in our people coming to know Messiah. And non-jewish believers will look to us for cues on how to best pray for Jewish people. Finally, prayer and proclamation have long been closely associated in the Hebrew Bible. The Shema, from Deuteronomy 6:4-9, is a declaration of who God is and a proclamation of our allegiance to him. The psalms frequently begin with reflections on the attributes of God before moving toward proclaiming him to others: It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night (Psalm 92:1-2; see also Psalm 9:11). This should encourage us to labor in prayer for unbelieving family and friends. We may even be an answer to our own prayer for our unbelieving family, as God uses us to talk of his great love for them. Our Biblical Heritage Again Ultimately, we have the example of Y shua himself. Y shua demonstrated his complete dependence upon the Father. His ministry literally began and ended with prayer: at his baptism, he was anointed with the Holy Spirit as he prayed (Luke 3:21), while of the seven statements he made from the cross, three were prayers (Matthew 27:46; Luke 23:34, 46). Jesus instructed us to ask our Father in heaven. He modeled many kinds of prayer, communing with the Father, making requests in his time of need, interceding on behalf of his disciples and even his enemies. He faithfully prayed for the needs of those around him. Demons were cast out and multitudes were healed. Some of his prayers, such as for unity among his followers, were not immediately answered. But this never stopped Y shua from carrying out the will of his Father. In fact, he himself was an answer to prayer and the vehicle God used to pour out his power upon those in need. And perhaps part of the mystery of prayer is that we become the ultimate answer to some of Y shua s prayers. So do our prayers make any difference? I know they do, and that s a good reason to keep on praying. Sometimes our prayers will be immediately answered; at other times we will We may even be an answer to our own prayer for our unbelieving family, as God uses us to talk of his great love for them. wait for a response with no discernable answer. Along the way, we will we grow closer to our Father in heaven, who gives good gifts to those who ask him (Matthew 7:11) As quoted by Ronald Barclay Allen, Praise! A Matter of Life and Breath (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1980), p Quoted in Philip Yancey, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), p. 58. Stafford is the author of Knowing the Face of God Photo by David Waterman

8 60 Haight Street San Francisco CA NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE P A I D VOL 12:2 FALL 2009 Prayer H E A R M Y C R Y, O G O D! T h e m y s t e r y a n d p o w e r o f p r a y e r P R A Y E R A N D J E W I S H L I T U R G Y A n n t e r v i e w w i t h C r y s t a l B u c h h a l t e r W I N D O W S I N T O P R A Y E R P r a y e r a n d p r a c t i c a l m i n i s t r y I N S I D E H E A R M Y C R Y, O G O D! T h e m y s t e r y a n d p o w e r o f p r a y e r P R A Y E R A N D J E W I S H L I T U R G Y A n i n t e r v i e w w i t h C r y s t a l B u c h h a l t e r W I N D O W S I N T O P R A Y E R P r a y e r a n d p r a c t i c a l m i n i s t r y CAMP GILGAL WONDERFUL WINTER WEEKEND February Plenty of fun along with opportunities for spiritual growth and fellowship for Jewish believing children and youth ages Camps are in New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Northern/Southern California. See or contact Dave Moose Garrett at moose@jewsforjesus.org NEW YORK WITNESSING CAMPAIGN Summer If you are a Jewish believer between the ages of 18 and 30, consider joining us for a month of what could be the most challenging evangelism opportunity of your life. Contact aaron.abramson@jewsforjesus.org LIBERATED WAILING WALL Our mobile evangelistic music and drama team begins training in Now accepting applications from Jewish believers between the ages of who can sing and preferably play an instrument. Contact jeff.millenson@jewsforjesus.org, phone Jeff at (x 151), or go to pray about your part! Front cover photo by David Waterman