Praying Job-style for others: transaction vs trust
- As a pastor, what spiritual authority do I have — for example, to release a troublemaker from the congregation?
Dan wrestles with praying Job's prayer for his family — "will you cover the sins of all my family today?" — and whether that's even allowed. Ben argues we've become transactional in our faith ("you can blame the German theologians"), treating prayer, baptism, and even the cross as one-for-one exchanges, when the gospel writers saw far more in Jesus' death; he cites "saved through childbirth" as a text that refuses to fit the box. Mike shares his pastor's-heart question about what spiritual authority he has, telling of times he prayed "I release them" over a troublemaker and watched them leave within days. Dan closes it: we're not failing to see God move because we use the wrong words, but because we use no words — scheming instead of surrendering.
More on Prayer
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'When God is silent': what counts as hearing from the Lord?
- What does it mean to 'hear from the Lord,' and how often should we expect it?
Mike brings a question from his Bible study, whose paragraph heading was 'when God is silent': the author wrote that he experienced God's silence for a couple of weeks and freaked out, and Ben expected a relatable years-long drought story — 'Oh, two weeks.
From No. 603 · Found Out
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'What would I fight God on?': buildings, pews, and the zero-fruit youth group
- What would I fight God on — and would my heart go along with following him?
Ben shares what he ran into in the last couple weeks: 'what would I fight God on even if I knew it was him?'
From No. 603 · Found Out
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Is modern Christianity biased toward a personality type?
- Is modern Christianity (its sermons and worship music) biased toward a certain personality type?
A host asks whether what churches teach, focus on, and sing is biased toward a certain personality type — prompted by emotive worship lyrics (the 'sloppy wet kiss' line in a…
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Should following Jesus feel more comfortable as time goes on?
- Should following Jesus feel more comfortable as time goes on?
A host asks whether following Jesus should feel more comfortable as time goes on — noting the low-level tension many feel around am-I-doing-enough and the stigma that contentment equals laziness.