Whole Lot of Shaking Going On

I shake.  I’ve always been a shaker.  I have what is referred to as essential tremor or benign essential tremor.  It’s a nerve disorder that causes parts of your body to involuntarily shake—usually its in the hands.  And typically shaking occurs during simple tasks like drinking from a glass, tying your shoes or holding a microphone when you preach.  Essential tremor effects five percent of the population, so if you have it, raise your shaking hand. 

Essential tremor is hereditary.  My Dad shook.  My grandpa was a big shaker.  Nicci says Tim has it.  The severity is based on how much fun you made of your grandpa when he was shaking.

Back in high school my cousin Larry came up to me excitedly, “Did you hear that Grandpa got a job down at the hardware store?”  “What?” I replied, “No way, he’s in his eighties.”  “I know,” Larry said, “But they needed him to shake the paint cans.”

Larry doesn’t shake.  I do.

Last month I asked my doctor about it.  He lit up, “Good news, there’s a treatment for your shaking now!”  It’s a medication that calms your nerves.  He wrote me a prescription and said, “Take it one hour before you preach.”  This is the first time I’ve taken it.

If it works I’m really going to miss people asking me, “Are you okay?  Do you have Parkinson’s?”

I shake.  And I suspect that you shake too.  This past year has shaken all of us.  The virus, the shutdowns, the isolation, the racial tension, the political theater, the so-called “news” narratives and propaganda riling us up against each other.  The roller-coaster of life has us all shaking.  Some of us could get a job down at the hardware store.

In the immortal words of Jerry Lee Lewis:

“We ain't fakin'

Whole lotta shakin' goin' on.”

 Good news!  There’s a treatment for your shaking.

 Its seen in the life and teaching of Jesus:

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray…” - Luke 11:1 (NIV)

 Jesus’ followers noticed that he wasn’t shaking.  There had been multiple storms; he was surrounded by thousands of hangry people; he kept fending off attacks from the political and religious leaders; and he insisted on constantly mentioning his upcoming death.  But he wasn’t shaking.

 He was praying.

 The Apostle Paul put it this way: 

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

 The treatment for staying steady in a shaken world is prayer.

But prayer isn’t our natural go-to weapon.

“Prayer for many is like a foreign land. When we go there, we go as tourists. Like most tourists, we feel uncomfortable and out of place. Like most tourists, we therefore move on before too long and go somewhere else.” - Robert McAfee Brown

 We concur with the disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray…”

“He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.  Give us each day our daily bread.  Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.  And lead us not into temptation.”  - Luke 11:2-4 (NIV)

 Jesus gave us a model, a pattern for prayer.  So, what have we done?  We’ve memorized it and used it as a prayer.  Back in Matthew 6, in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:

“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition…” - Matthew 6:7 (AMP)

We’ve turned Jesus teaching into meaningless repetition.  No!

Instead, check out the pattern: 

1.  Make it about God.

“Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.” - Luke 11:2 (NIV)

This isn’t some magic password.  It is starting your prayer by acknowledging that it isn’t about you, it is about God.

Here are a couple of tips on how to do that:

• Get on your knees.

• Thank God for what he has done.  I suggest starting with a list of ten things you are thankful for today.

  “My grandmother taught me the power of gratitude through a practice she called The Golden List, which simply involves making a daily list of things for which you are thankful,’’—Jim Stovall, “The Art of Optimism”

2.  Do it daily.

 “Give us each day our daily bread.” - Luke 11:3 (NIV)

 To stop shaking we need to pray regularly—daily.

 And we might want to keep our requests close to daily too.

 What do we worry about?  Yesterday and tomorrow. 

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” - Matthew 6:34 (NIV)

 Pray daily for your own needs, and pray daily for the people who are watching you from your front row.  Pray for opportunities every day to do something to help others.

3.  Admit my sins.

“Forgive us our sins.” - Luke 11:4 (NIV)

This is the first part of the ABC Prayer, which is the first prayer we should pray.  Pretty straightforward isn’t it?  Daily confessing our sins.  Refusing to hide.  Coming clean.  Keeping short accounts.

I ate too much.  I was snarky.  I looked at stuff I shouldn’t have.  I lied.  I cheated.

Andy Stanley says the first step toward better decisions and fewer regrets is asking the question, “Am I being honest with myself?  Really?’

And with God.

Action:  Pray the ABC Prayer:

Admit I need a Savior

Believe Jesus died and rose to offer me forgiveness

Choose, commit to following Him

4.  Forgive other people.

“As we forgive those who sin against us.” - Luke 11:4 (NLT)

Wait a minute?  I need to forgive in order to be forgiven?  It certainly seems so.

Have you ever encountered someone who in the first minute of meeting them, they drop some hint of how terrible their ex-wife or ex-husband is?  They can’t go 60 seconds without mentioning how the ex-monster hurt them.  Their lack of forgiveness spills out like a poison all over everyone they meet.

Here's the bad news.  That’s me!  And that’s you!  Even if you’ve never been divorced or never even been married!  Our lack of forgiveness spills out.  We burp up that poison without ever even knowing it.

It might be our ex.  Or our Mom or Dad.  Or a boss, or the person who cut us off in traffic, or even that politician we don’t like.  Have you noticed that whatever your news source, they don’t end their broadcast, podcast or program with, “Now, let’s take a few minutes to forgive those who disagree with us.”  They never do that.  And so we carry that bitterness around.   It spills out, hurting us and even blocking our understanding of how much God forgave us.

If you struggle with prayer, try taking a few minutes and asking God to reveal to you those you need to forgive.  Release the poison.

5.  Ask for protection.

“And lead us not into temptation.” - Luke 11:4 (NIV)

Here is one of the most widespread lies from our culture:  Your temptations define you.

I call bull-crap!  That is a lie from the pit of hell.  Sure, you and me, we’re sinners.  But here is the truth:  We can reduce and resist our temptations.  We can!  And we have.

Here is one example.  There used to be a Krispy Kreme Donuts store in our town of Elk Grove.  It is now a Chick-Fil-A.  Krispy Kreme built that drive-thru, but its now serving chicken.   Guess what happened?  We resisted and reduced that temptation!  Maybe we can’t eliminate temptation (There’s a Krispy Kreme in the next town to the north.)  But we can reduce temptations and resist temptations.  It starts with prayer.

Prayer can make us steady.  So, pray.  Make it about God; Do it Daily; Admit my sins; Forgive others; and ask for protection.

Jesus gave his followers a model.  Then he concluded with two tips about prayer that may seem contradictory:

Be persistent. 

Jesus told a story about a neighbor knocking on your door at midnight.  You tell him to go away, but if he keeps knocking, you will eventually answer.

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” - Luke 11:9 (NLT)

 So Jesus says to ask, seek and knock.  Keep at it.  

 I prayed for one person on my front row for twenty-two years before she prayed the ABC prayer.

 Recognize God’s goodness.

 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” - Luke 11:11-14 (NIV)

You like to give good gifts.  You do.  And you are a mess.  God is perfect and he loves to give good gifts to you, his children.  He just wants us to say, “Please,” and “Thank you.”  He wants to know we’re serious.  He wants to give you the Holy Spirit—God’s actual presence and power in your life, in a shaking world.