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August 12, 2024

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Bible Stories, Church & Worship, Obedience, Sharing Our Faith, Today: Make it Count

THE DRAGNET

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [Matthew 13:47-50 (ESV)]

Because most of the disciples hailed from Galilee where fishing was fundamental to the area’s economy, Jesus’ parable comparing the Kingdom of Heaven to a fishing net gave them a beautiful visual image of the Kingdom when the final judgment occurs. Since we’re not Galilean fishermen, however, our picture of a fishing net might be like the hand-held ones used for trout or bass fishing. Jesus, however, used the word sagéné, meaning dragnet; its English equivalent is seine.

Unlike the trammel and cast nets the disciples used when Jesus provided them with miraculous catches, the fine meshed dragnet could be as long as 1,000 feet, as tall as 25-feet at the middle point, and required a team of fishermen. One end of the net would be firmly secured on shore while the other was attached to the boat. The boat would make a large circle out in the water before returning further down the shore. Because cork floats were attached to the net’s top while lead weights were attached to its bottom, the dragnet formed a net wall parallel to the shore from the top of the water to the bottom of the lake. Once the net was set, a team of up to 16 men (half on each side) would man the ropes attached to the net’s upper and lower corners and start pulling them in as they walked further inland and toward each other. Any fish between the net and shore would be trapped and hundreds of pounds of fish could be caught this way.

Because the net allowed nothing to escape, more than the desired fish were caught. Jewish law considered the musht (tilapia), biny/barbels, and sardines fit to eat because they had scales and fins. The dragnet, however, trapped everything in its path including weeds, trash, and all kinds of undesirable sea life like catfish, eels, shellfish, mollusks, frogs, snails, and turtles. The fishermen had to sort through the catch. While the fish worth keeping were collected in baskets, the worthless were tossed back or thrown away. After sorting the fish on shore, the net would be reordered and the fishing team would begin again in a different spot.

In this parable, the fishing net that is put into the sea is like the gospel message that is to be broadcast into the world. Just as the good fish can’t be distinguished from the bad ones until the net is pulled ashore and the fish are sorted, the true believers can’t be recognized from the false until the last judgment when, like the trash and worthless fish, the wicked will be thrown away. The parable repeats the lesson of the parable of the wheat and tares—that the righteous will have to coexist with evil until God’s final judgment when only the righteous will remain.

While the parable is about the last judgment, it also is about evangelism. Jesus called the disciples to be “fishers of men” and He calls us to the same task. As Christ followers, we are called to cast our nets and share the Gospel message. Dragnet fishing required a team and each person had to pull the weight; the same goes when we fish for men. Spreading the word isn’t the pastor’s job; it’s ours and each of us is responsible for our part of the net! Moreover, a Galilean fishing team didn’t stop after the first catch and neither should we!

Spreading the gospel is not like sport fishing with a rod and tackle designed to catch a specific type of fish. Spreading the gospel is casting a dragnet far and wide and drawing in all that it touches. The dragnet doesn’t decide which fish are worth catching and neither should we! Just as the Galilean fishermen didn’t know whether they were catching biny or turtles, musht or eels, we can’t possibly know what’s in the hearts of the people with whom we share the good news. Our job is to do the fishing while knowing that God will do the sorting at the right time.

Cast in the net and gather them in,
Out of the depths of sorrow and sin;
Out of the gloom and darkness of night,
Gather the lost to gladness and light. [Mrs. C. L. Shacklock]

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. [Mark 1:16-18 (ESV)]

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July 29, 2024

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Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, God's Word: The Bible, Peace of God, Sharing Our Faith

SHALOM

Shalom I leave you, My shalom I give to you; but not as the world gives! Do not let your heart be troubled or afraid. [John 14:27 (TLV)]

zebra swallowtail Today’s verses are from the Tree of Life Version (TLV) that was produced by a diverse team of Christian and Messianic Jewish scholars. With the possible exception of the book of Job, all the Bible’s writers were Jews and Jesus was a Hebrew-speaking Jewish rabbi. No matter how good the translation, there are times English doesn’t capture the fullness of the original words used and this translation embraces the rich Hebrew roots of Christianity. To help the reader better understand the intent of the original manuscripts, some original Hebrew names, like Adonai (Lord) and Elohim (God), Ruach ha-Kodesh (Holy Spirit), and Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ) were used and some Hebrew terms, like shalom, amen, hineni, matzah, and mikveh (ritual bath), were restored. Fortunately, this translation offers a glossary for its Gentile readers.

Shalom is one of those beautiful Hebrew words that loses its full meaning when translated into English. Usually translated as peace, shalom is more than a sense of calm, serenity, or the absence of hostilities or war. Meaning wholeness, soundness, health, safety, harmony, tranquility, and prosperity, shalom conveys an inward sense of fullness and completeness in mind, body, and circumstance. With its implication of permanence, a connection to God is necessary for shalom. As Jefferson Bethke says, “Shalom is when you are dancing to the rhythm of God’s voice.”

Rather than Hebrew or Aramaic, the language of the people, the New Testament’s writers wrote in Greek, the language of scholars. They weren’t in error in their reporting nor did the Bible’s translators err in their renditions; they simply were limited by the language they used. Neither Greek nor English have a word that fully captures the spiritual depth of shalom.

On the night of Jesus’ birth, when the multitude of angels announced “Peace on earth!” they wouldn’t have used the Greek word eiréné used by Luke. [2:14] Those shepherds were Jewish and the word would have been shalom. When Jesus told the woman with the blood to go in peace and be healed, it was to go in shalom not eiréné, the word Mark used. [5:34] Eiréné, defined as peace, quietness, national tranquility, or absence of conflict, doesn’t fully apprehend shalom’s meaning.

Addressing people with “Hello” or “Good Morning” is simply a greeting but, when “Shalom” is used as a greeting or farewell, it is a blessing of peace. The Jews of Jesus’ day regularly greeted one another with shalom or shalom aleichem (peace be upon you). The person then returned the blessing with aleichem shalom (unto you peace). Since a connection with God is essential to shalom, both greeting and response were a way of bringing godliness into their encounter and the physical world with their words.

When the angel Gabriel visited Mary, he didn’t greet her with chaire, the Greek word translated as “hail” or “greetings.” [Luke 1:28] He would have blessed her with the word shalom. When Jesus greeted the women Easter morning, He would have said “Shalom” and, when He appeared to the disciples later that day, He probably said “Shalom aleichem!” Considering their shock at seeing the risen Christ, it’s understandable why both women and disciples failed to properly return His greeting with “Aleichem shalom!”

Shalom is a blessing of peace—peace throughout the world and in one’s personal life—and it is one of the greatest blessings one can give or receive. The peacemakers to whom Jesus referred in the Beatitudes weren’t mediators or political negotiators. They were people whose connection with God gave them shalom. They became peacemakers by transferring their inner sense of fullness, harmony, and well-being (their shalom), to the world around them.

The full meaning of shalom reminds us that true peace is not the absence of conflict or trouble; it is the presence of God. Shalom, my friends; shalom!

In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight—a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be. [Cornelius Plantinga]

So Messiah’s community throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had shalom and was built up. Walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Ruach ha-Kodesh, it kept multiplying. [Acts 9:31 (TLV)]

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July 25, 2024

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CHUTZPAH IN ACTION

“And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness. [Acts 4:29-31 (NLT)]

lion - ngorongoro

When writing about praying recklessly brave prayers earlier this week, I wrote of chutzpah and that it can be both good and bad. Bad chutzpah is seen in the man who shouts for help while beating you up, the counterfeiter who pays his lawyer with phony money, the person who calls up tech support about a problem in pirated software, and the embezzler who opens an account in the bank from which he stole the money! These examples, however, are tame compared to some of the outrageous, destructive, arrogant, and self-seeking behavior we can find in Scripture—what I call unholy chutzpah.

It was Pharaoh’s disregard and arrogance that caused his people to suffer through ten increasingly horrible plagues. Even when it became clear that Jehovah was greater than any of Egypt’s gods, the obstinate man refused to back down. That’s unholy chutzpah! Despite being warned of the consequences, the boastful King Nebuchadnezzar showed unholy chutzpah when he claimed to be solely responsible for Babylon’s greatness. Pompous Belshazzar, Babylon’s last king, showed unholy chutzpah by dishonoring God and drinking from sacred cups stolen from Israel’s temple while toasting Babylon’s gods! The brazen Absalom showed unholy chutzpah by insolently calling himself king when Solomon was chosen, leading a rebellion against his father, and publicly taking David’s concubines for himself! The ultimate example of unholy chutzpah, of course, is found in Satan—the proud angel who overstepped boundaries by thinking he could sit on a throne higher than God’s!

Holy chutzpah, however, advances God’s kingdom on earth and we see several examples of it in Scripture, as well. The midwives who fearlessly refused to kill Israel’s baby boys and courageously lied to Pharaoh showed holy chutzpah. Consider Moses, a man who’d lived apart from the Hebrews for most of his 80 years, and the chutzpah it took to go to the elders of Israel and tell them he was the one who would bring them out of Egypt! David showed chutzpah when the shepherd boy confidently approached Saul and said he’d be the one to fight Goliath! Obadiah, the man in charge of King Ahab’s palace, courageously hid a hundred of God’s prophets from Jezebel’s wrath in two caves and the food and water he supplied them daily probably came from Ahab and Jezebel’s palace. Now that’s real chutzpah!

Think of Mordecai’s chutzpah when he defiantly refused to bow down to Haman and Esther’s when she broke the rules and dared to approach King Xerxes. When knowing the punishment for their disobedience, consider the chutzpah of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue and Daniel’s chutzpah when he openly defied the order that prayers were to be offered to King Darius alone! Prophets like Elisha, Jeremiah, Amos, Elijah, Micah, Isaiah and others were ridiculed, rejected, accused, threatened, victimized, and even killed but they continued to boldly serve the Lord with holy chutzpah!

John the Baptist showed holy chutzpah with the courage that publicly rebuked Herod for his incestuous marriage. Peter and John showed holy chutzpah when these ordinary men had the audacity to question the High Council and again when they defied their authority by continuing to speak about Jesus. Within the Roman Empire, it was illegal to preach, observe, or worship a god not endorsed by the Roman senate and yet that’s exactly what Paul and the other apostles did whenever they spoke of Jesus. The early church was on fire with holy chutzpah. Are we?

Proverbs 28:1 tells us, “the righteous are bold as a lion.” A lion isn’t well-mannered, self-conscious, weak, or frightened and neither is holy chutzpah! Committed to God’s purpose and confident in His power, holy chutzpah fears nothing and no one except God! The need for such chutzpah, however, didn’t end with the last page of the Bible. To his fellow Jews, Rabbi Tzvi Freeman says, “To be a good Jew, you need two opposites: A sense of shame that prevents you from acting with chutzpah to do the wrong thing, and a sense of chutzpah that prevents you from being ashamed to do the right thing.” The same holds true for Christians today.

Christians should be the boldest people in the world – not cocky and sure of ourselves, but sure of Him. [A.W. Tozer]

But the apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders. [Acts 14:3 (NLT)]

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July 1, 2024

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Bible Stories, God's Word: The Bible, Love & Works, Obedience, Sharing Our Faith

POSTING THE COMMANDMENTS

Then God gave the people all these instructions: “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god but me.” Exodus 20:2-3 (NLT)]

Moses - Meiringen - Michaelskirche On June 19, Louisiana’s Governor Jeff Landry signed legislation requiring all public K-12 classrooms and state-funded universities to display a poster-sized version of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” in every classroom next year. As expected, a lawsuit has been filed to block what some say is an unconstitutional requirement. I’ll leave the arguments about civil liberties and constitutional law to the lawyers and courts; Louisiana’s law is troubling for other reasons.

For the poster’s required wording, Louisiana’s legislators didn’t look to the original Hebrew or any of the more than 60 accepted Christian Bible translations. Instead, they canonized their own version of the commandments by using the same words placed on a Texas monument the U.S. Supreme Court found to be “on the permissible side of the constitutional line.”

Although the “approved” commandments appear to be from the King James, they are more like a Reader’s Digest version than the real thing. While the prohibition about graven images (Ex. 20:4) is included, verses 5 and 6 with the rest of that commandment along with its warning for disobedience are omitted. The 3^rd commandment’s warning of punishment if the Lord’s name is taken in vain also is omitted. Although the commandment to remember the sabbath and keep it holy is included, its prohibitions of work and the reason for the commandment (Ex. 20:9-11) are not. Governments are designed for writing laws, not re-writing Scripture, and God made it clear that His words were not to be edited or abridged in any way!

While Jews, Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox Christians observe the Ten Commandments, their commandments are not all the same! Disregarding the 16% of their population who are not Christian and the 26% of Louisiana Christians who are Roman Catholic, the required poster uses the Protestant version of the commandments.

In the Texas case, because the monument in question was one of 38 monuments or historical markers on 22-acres of the Texas Capitol grounds and had been there for more than 40 years without objection, the court considered it “historical.” Latching onto the word “historical,” Louisiana’s law doesn’t put the commandments in the Biblical context of who gave them, when and why they were given, and where they are written. Instead, they put the commandments in the context of an historical document. The poster must be accompanied by a four-paragraph “context statement” describing how the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.” Along with the Ten Commandments’ poster, the law also requires the posting of the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance.

The Ten Commandments do not get their authority because they’ve been printed in schoolbooks since the 17^th century nor do they get their significance because they were written thousands of years ago! While they have existed longer than the New England Primer or the Mayflower Compact, Scripture is no more an “historical document” than the Declaration of Independence or Webster’s The American Spelling Book are sacred ones! Treating the God-breathed Ten Commandments as an historical document diminishes them by placing them on equal footing with McGuffey’s Readers and a 1787 ordinance laying the basis for the government of the Northwest Territory. As well-written as they may be, theirs are secular words written by men; the words of the Ten Commandments, however, are sacred words spoken by God! Moreover, placing God’s law alongside the teacher’s rules about raising your hand or working quietly further diminishes them.

We could post the Ten Commandments on the walls of every building but that would make no difference in our world today because we can’t legislate God. We can, however, display Him. If we’re to make the world a better place, we won’t do it by posting the Ten Commandments in schools, courtrooms, billboards, or anyplace else. We will do it by posting God’s commandments in our hearts and obediently living God’s way every day!

No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. [Matthew 5:15-16 (NLT)]

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. [Ephesians 5:1-2a (NLT)]

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May 30, 2024

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Bible Stories, God's Word: The Bible, Sharing Our Faith, Wisdom & Guidance

UNICORNS

God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. [Numbers 24:8 (KJV)]

ancient mosaic of auroch Some believers insist that unicorns actually existed because they are mentioned nine times in the Old Testament. Claiming the Bible is completely without error, they insist that you must believe the same thing—including the unicorns! On the other hand, some people disparage believers and discount all of Scripture because of those same unicorns! Do we blindly believe or do we “throw out the baby with the bathwater” because of one word?

While the Bible is infallible, that’s not always true of translators. The Hebrew word used for this wild animal was re’em and seemed to mean a beast with a horn (but not necessarily only one horn). It’s found in Numbers 23:22, 24:8; Deuteronomy 33:17; Job 39:9,10; Psalm 22:21, 29:6, 92:10; and Isaiah 34:7. When looking at the context, re’em always refers to someone or something with great power. In Numbers, we find God comparing His strength to that of the re’em and, in Psalm 22:21, David refers to his formidable enemies as re’em.

By the third century BC, the language and culture of Greece had spread throughout the world and the Jewish knowledge of Hebrew was declining. The Jewish community in Egypt (along with the Hellenic Egyptian ruler Ptolemy II) initiated the translation of the Torah into Greek. During the next two centuries, the entirety of the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek in what is called the Septuagint. At that time, the Hebrew re’em (wild beast with a horn) was inaccurately translated into the Greek monokeros (one horn). When citing the Hebrew Scriptures, the epistle writers quoted from the Septuagint and, since Gentile Christians knew nothing of Hebrew, the Greek Septuagint became the Bible of the early church.

Fast forward to the fourth century when Latin began replacing Greek as the language of the people. In 382 AD, Pope Damasus I commissioned his secretary, Jerome, to produce a new Scripture translation in Latin. Written in the Latin of the day, St. Jerome’s translation is known as the Vulgate. It is from this translation that we get English words like scripture, salvation, justification, and regeneration. In Jerome’s translation, the Greek monokeros became the Latin unicornis (a one-horned beast).

Fast forward again to the 16^th century and the first English translations of Scripture—William Tyndale’s and the Geneva Bibles followed by the King James version in 1611. Although unicornis was rendered as unicorn in these Bibles, it’s unlikely the translators believed it to be the mythological unicorn. Not knowing what it was, they simply transliterated the Latin word into the English “unicorn.” Closely associated with chivalry, by the 1600s the unicorn was a symbol of purity and grace that could be captured only by a virgin. The horse-with-a-horn of myths and fairy tales doesn’t sound much like the untamable, ferocious, and powerful wild re’em of the Old Testament!

Nowadays, only a few Bible translations continue to use unicorn. I found only six (out of 62) and all of those are based on the Wycliff, Geneva, or King James translations. While most other versions translate re’em, monokeros, or unicornis as wild ox, a few use wild bull, rhinoceros, or buffalo. Since no one knows absolutely for sure, Young’s Literal translation returns to the original with reem! The Orthodox Jewish Bible uses wild bull, wild ox, and “re’eim (wild ox).”

So, what was the re’em? While it could refer to rhinoceros, buffalo, or antelope, it probably refers to aurochs, large cattle which once roamed Europe, Africa, and Asia. Ancient Assyrian and other Middle Eastern texts refer to this this wild ox-like animal with a similar word. Because ancient art usually depicted the auroch from a profile view (as does the ancient mosaic pictured), it appeared to have just one horn. Ancestors of domestic cattle, aurochs stood over six-feet tall and weighed over 2,200 pounds. Julius Caesar described them as “a little below the elephant in size,” having the shape and appearance of a horned bull, possessing “extraordinary” strength and speed, and being untamable, even when taken as calves. The auroch became extinct in Poland in 1627.

While we now have an answer to skeptics who mock us for believing in a book attesting to the existence of unicorns (when it doesn’t), we must be cautious in our response. Although Scripture doesn’t speak of a unicorn, that doesn’t mean some creature with just one horn never existed. After all, God created the one-horned narwal and rhinoceros, so who are we to say He never created something like the mythical unicorn? Although we’ve never seen them, we know animals like the wooly mammoth, dodo, saber-toothed tiger, and auroch existed. Having already seen strange creatures like jelly fish, giant anteaters, and the wildebeest, I know better than to deny God’s ability to create any creature He desires. What we can know for sure, however, is that the Bible can be trusted!

There’s no better book with which to defend the Bible than the Bible itself. [D.L. Moody]

God brings him out of Egypt, He is for him like the horns of the wild ox. He will devour the nations who are his adversaries, And will crush their bones, And smash them with his arrows. [Numbers 24:8 (NASB)]

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May 20, 2024

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Attitudes & Behavior, Challenges & Difficulty, Salvation: A New You, Sharing Our Faith, Temptation & Sin

ONWARD, CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS (Armor of God -1)

Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. [Ephesians 6:11-12 (NLT)]

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before!
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; Forward into battle, see his banner go!
[Sabine Baring-Gould]

armor at Chillon - Lake Geneva As a young child, I loved singing “Onward, Christian Soldiers” in Sunday school. My enthusiasm for the hymn waned as I grew older and learned about the evil and horrors of the Crusades and the World, Korean, and Vietnam wars. With its mention of war, soldiers, mighty armies, battles, and foes, the hymn seemed to glorify war. Even though the martial imagery comes from Biblical texts, the hymn’s combination of soldiers marching into battle and Jesus (the Prince of Peace) has caused controversy and some denominations have eliminated it from their hymnals.

Originally titled “Hymn for Procession with Cross and Banners,” Sabine Baring-Gould wrote the hymn’s text in 1864 for the celebration of Pentecost (Whitsunday) at his church. The children from his village were joining those from a neighboring one and the hymn was to be sung as they carried banners and crosses while processing to the next town. Baring-Gould set the hymn’s words to a less martial melody called St. Alban (an adaptation of the third movement of Haydn’s Symphony in D, No. 15) but, in 1871, Arthur Sullivan put the hymn’s words to a tune he composed. Calling it “St. Gertrude,” Sullivan’s is the melody we know and love. The son of a military bandmaster, the composer is more famous for his collaboration with W.S. Gilbert and operettas like H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado than the 56 hymns he composed. While the hymn’s martial meter is what made it popular as a processional, it also is what gives the song its militaristic overtones.

This hymn never was about political warfare, seizing land, bloodshed, or uniformed soldiers carrying weaponry into armed conflict. Nevertheless, it is about waging war—spiritual warfare against the powers of evil! Rather than flame-retardant and permethrin-infused clothing, the Apostle Paul tells us to wear the armor of God and, rather than an advanced-combat helmet with night-vision goggles, we are to don the helmet of salvation. Instead of tactical vest body armor, Christians wear the breastplate of righteousness and, instead of a tactical battle belt, we wear the belt of truth and personal integrity. Christ’s soldiers are to carry the shield of faith instead of a ballistic shield and to march in the gospel of peace rather than combat boots. We don’t do battle with grenades, rocket launchers, drones, or assault rifles; we rely on the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God! Paul continues with one last piece of equipment—prayer. The Christian’s version of a walkie-talkie radio, prayer keeps us in touch with Headquarters and our Commander in Chief! While the armor of God may not shield us from bullets, bombs, or shrapnel, it will protect us from our real enemy—Satan.

Let us never err by thinking the Christian life is a resort or playground—it is a training ground and battlefield. There are no spiritual pacifists or conscientious objectors in God’s kingdom and the children for whom this hymn was written were the newest recruits in His army. So, onward, Christian soldiers. Let us put on our armor and go forward into battle!

A Christian life is an unending engagement on the battlefield. [Watchman Nee]

Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. [Ephesians 6:13–18 (NLT)]