Mad Max - Part 1

 Yesterday in Sunday School we watched part 4 of Max Lucado's video series called "Glory Days." On this day we were watching part 4, called "Audacious Prayers."

Now I will be honest up front and say that I have not been impressed with what I have seen from the series. It reminds me a lot of the Joel Osteen types of messages. His mantra or chant at the front of each session bothers me as well, and reminds me a lot of what Mr. Osteen often does when he is preaching. But it seemed that yesterday reached new heights of audaciousness.

Mr. Lucado  was talking about  praying audacious prayers, and he was using the Book of Joshua  as his text. Specifically, Joshua 9 and 10 where Joshua is deceived by neighboring nation and later is called to help that same nation. He eventually gets into the place where Joshua prays to God for more time, and God causes the sun to stand still for a day.

Prior to getting into the meat of the message he speaks of Martin Luther, when apparently a co-worker of his became ill and Martin Luther prayed to God for his healing. According to Max, Martin attacked God using God's own weapons (Scripture). He also quoted Luther as saying,  “He must grant my prayer, if I was to henceforth put faith in his promises.” He also quoted Luther in another instance where he was praying for someone's recovery from illness, saying, “ for this I am praying, this is my will, and may my will be done, because I only seek to glorify the name of God.” 

Now I don't know how accurate these quotes are regarding what Luther said. I know that I would not want every word I have ever spoken to be written down. So I'm not addressing the fact that Luther may or may not have said these words, but what I am concerned about is Max's use of them. If  it is true that Luther said these words, do they present a means by which we should pray? Would it ever be okay to tell God that he must Grant a prayer request? And that if he didn't, we would no longer have faith in him? 

Lucado goes on to quote Hebrews 4:16. He read, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, and stay there, and stay there, and stay there, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need." The bold part is added by Lucado, but for those not familiar with the passage, it might seem more like he is just emphasizing and restating what he believes is an important part of the message. The point I believe he wants to make is that we can go boldly before God. That seems a stretch to me from this passage. To me, being able to go with confidence has more to do with our not being afraid, and when we do we can experience God's love through the grace and mercy that God has for us.