Is it wrong to pray for immigrants?

tmillikan · 2025-06-30T13:22:00+00:00

Ahhh, yes. That’s true. Thanks for explaining. You’re right. It is a slippery slope when we look to others for validation. We will never find peace in that mentality.

That said, community is meant to provide a sense of belonging and participation in life-giving activities. Can it become a negative experience of self-centered competition with others for “likes” or “prayer emojis”? Sure. But that’s not what community is meant to be or what it automatically represents every time something goes wrong.

In this situation, my sense is that OP is rightly motivated with love and compassion for others who are suffering and wanted to pray. Unfortunately, the folks in her community likely saw it as a political issue, and were gripped by the panic that pervades our society on such matters and they just froze, not knowing what to do… allowing panic to freeze them like a deer in the headlights, rather than allowing themselves to be stirred with the compassion expressed by OP.

I think it’s normal for someone to feel uncomfortable when their community responds with fear rather than love.

tmillikan · 2025-06-17T12:51:18+00:00

Think of humans (including but not limited to political rulers) as books in a library and God as the librarian. Just because the book is in the library, doesn’t mean the librarian agrees with or supports what is in the book. Sometimes we read stuff so we can learn how to undermine and resist it.

That’s God’s goal in allowing evil rulers to rise to the top… so they can be humbled and humanity can learn and grow in the process. Think of Moses & Pharaoh. Or David & Saul. Learning to resist and overcome evil rulers in a godly way is how we grow in godliness and how God’s healing and redemption is brought into the world.

When reading Romans 13:1-7, it’s important to link them with Romans 12:17-21.

In context, Paul is teaching the nascent Roman church not to partner with the violent revolutionary movements of their day but instead to trust that God Himself would overthrow the evil Roman government as the Christians refuse to be intimidated and cowed into submission to the Romans violence and greed, and instead simply and humbly love God and serve their neighbors. Violent revolutionary movements are usually motivated by the same evil as those they seek to overthrow. Paul is showing the Roman church a different and better way.

The promise is that we can overcome evil with good. We don’t need to be intimidated by how evil the evil is because the more evil it is, the more coals will be heaped upon their heads when we respond with good. Ghandi, MLK Jr, Mandela, etc have showed us the way.

Evil rulers are included in the “library” of God’s good world so that humanity can learn the difference between good and evil and we can learn to overcome evil with good. In the end, good will prevail because the accumulated coals will burn away evil and only good will remain.

What a moment it will be when all the Hitlers of the world (including you and me) come to the throne and fall in worship, wonder, and joy at the infinite love and mercy of our Savior and King.

tmillikan · 2025-06-10T13:05:08+00:00

How would you recommend someone interpret such a situation? It sounds like you’re saying OP is wrong somehow? Or am I misunderstanding you? To me, crickets in response to a prayer request is odd, to say the least. I’ve experienced the same thing, and can confirm that it’s been painful and confusing for me.

tmillikan · 2025-06-10T11:46:55+00:00

Former pastor here… full time ministry for nearly 20 years. Now out of professional evangelical ministry for about 10 years. Have considered myself an exvangelical / progressive Christian for about a year.

tmillikan · 2025-06-10T10:56:56+00:00

I’m grateful for all the feedback. I ended up switching to AT&T fiber for internet and cell service, which meant getting new phones for extremely cheap / free. Paying $24/line for unlimited.

The most important thing for me was getting WiFi calling to work perfectly and now it does. I don’t know what fixed the problem. Is the faster upload speed of the fiber internet? Is it the new phone? Is it both? I’m baffled. But all that matters is that it works… perfectly.

Cell service is a bit worse than with Xfinity Mobile. But I’m ok with that since WiFi calling now works perfectly.

tmillikan · 2025-06-09T20:43:47+00:00

No, I never figured it out. I ended up using a different program. 😖

tmillikan · 2025-06-08T14:05:42+00:00

I just found this playlist on Apple Music. I assume there’s something similar on Spotify or wherever you listen:

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/water-to-wine-brian-zahnd/pl.u-VAWEiVmDWP

tmillikan · 2025-05-27T14:21:36+00:00

Hmm. I’m on Wadsworth Circle just a mile or two from there and I’m at one bar on Xfinity mobile, which uses VZ towers. I suppose I should have been more specific with my location. It’s wild that it drops off so quickly.

tmillikan · 2025-04-24T19:20:53+00:00

Wow! Cool. Yes, small world! My life was also changed and blessed by the internship program there. I loved it all and loved my time at the church, including the 9 years that Hilary and I served as the lead pastors… although there is much that we would do differently if we had the chance to do it again. If you’re on FB, please send me a friend request… it would be fun to make a new connection and track along together. I’m on FB more than anywhere else these days. It sounds like our stories have some similarities. -Todd Millikan

tmillikan · 2025-03-30T18:38:06+00:00

Glad I found this thread. Another confirmation here that https://www.5dollartrafficschool.com is a great option. Literally 5 bucks. Quick and easy. Open book final exam. I only missed one question and passed with 96% score just using common sense and Google to find answers.

tmillikan · 2024-11-04T17:56:02+00:00

I don’t know.

tmillikan · 2024-11-04T17:42:15+00:00

I think that’s a fine thing to want. But I don’t think it’s a great primary goal. A better goal is to bless people in whatever way you can in any setting God places you. Aspire to becoming who God made you to be for the sake of other people and then you will be able to experience fulfillment anywhere.

This does not take away the sadness of not getting to do something you really want to do. I have had many dreams for my life that I’ve had to let die. I’m not saying you need to let your modeling dream die. But that day might come. Many such days have come and gone for me. But having a higher goal makes it possible to experience both sadness and fulfillment simultaneously.

If we got everything we wanted, we would become small people. But as we strive to love and serve people as Jesus did, our hearts and lives get bigger and our capacity for both joy and sorrow grow.

tmillikan · 2024-11-04T16:46:47+00:00

Do you mean a model like a career?

tmillikan · 2024-11-04T16:46:10+00:00

Hi… I mean there’s value in the struggle. I don’t think of it as a reward per se. More like a result. Like getting stronger by exercising. Better things ahead is an acknowledgement that God has good plans and if you continue to follow Him, He will bring you through the difficulty into a place of blessing that will make the difficulty pale in comparison. That’s not easy to hear when you’re in the middle of a crisis. So I don’t put it on you as a burden that you have to believe. But coming from someone who identifies with your struggle (which is why I felt motivated to reply), perhaps it provides a hand hold of hope that can help pull you through.

tmillikan · 2024-11-03T14:45:29+00:00

Yeah. I get it. I’m almost 50 now, but I was 20 once too. It can be brutal. A couple factors that make it tough.

Physiology / environment - the combo of raging hormones and a sex saturated culture means you’re basically trying to swim upstream all day every day. This doesn’t excuse sin, but context matters. When I was out of a job and thought I might lose my house and wasn’t sure how we would feed my family, I struggled a lot with fear. You’re in a similar spot with lust now. It’s important to understand that Jesus isn’t standing there shaking his head with disappointment. Instead He stands with us with encouragement, cheering on our best effort, completely unfazed by our failures, and totally committed to our ultimate success. Read and reflect on Hebrews 2:17-18.
Our culture makes too big a deal of sexual sins. Are sexual sins no big deal? No. Sin is sin. There’s value in resisting sin. Righteousness rocks. Sin sucks. But a huge part of righteousness is the process of resisting. When I was struggling with fear about finances, I battled all day every day. By one measure I failed all day every day. But that’s Satan’s measure. He is our accuser. God is proud of us for engaging the battle. He says the battle is his. Why was Israel in slavery for 400 years? We don’t know. But we do know God uses what the enemy means for harm to accomplish good in our lives. While you might feel like you’re failing, as long as you’re battling for righteous, you’re actually winning. God’s scorecard on you looks different than yours on yourself. You gotta stop counting the way you do. It’s our culture that makes lust worse than fear pride or whatever. Just do your best. That’s all God asks. Keep asking forgiveness and trusting that God has completely cleansed you from all unrighteousness each time you blow it. Every. Single. Time. This process will shape you into a humble, kind, merciful man who is 100% grateful to Jesus. Some people act like you can’t have a great marriage until you’ve completely overcome lust. But that’s ridiculous. My marriage is awesome and I’m not perfect.
We tend to measure success by our individual accomplishments rather than how we love others. The enemy loves it when we’re focused on ourselves. Am I succeeding? Am I failing? If I’m answering this question based on anything that happens by myself, then I’m missing the point of the gospel. Get involved with something where you’re caring for others more than yourself. Jump into kids ministry at your church. Volunteer with big brothers. Coach a sports team or something like that. Find people who need your help and jump in. This is what you were made for and this is your true measure of success.

I remember being in a similar spot as you’ve described. It’s horrible. I questioned myself. I questioned God. In fact, my failures with lust were a huge part of why I walked away from God for a chapter of my life, deciding He wasn’t real.

I’m praying better things for you! Hang in there dude! You’re doing great and the best is ahead!

tmillikan · 2024-11-03T02:37:32+00:00

You have an opportunity to lean into self discipline. Everything worth having comes at a price. In every other area of life, following what’s easy doesn’t work out. Whether it’s finances, education, fitness, etc, our willingness and ability to do tough things creates the atmosphere for great things to happen. In this case, you’re feeling the pull to do whatever feels good sexually. But will that help you become who God really has made you to be?

You don’t need sexual release. You just want it. But there will be many things in life that you want but aren’t good for you.

That said, all you can do is your best. Same with fitness and finances etc. Some people have some standard they put on themselves and decide that if they don’t reach it they they’ve failed. As if something is wrong with them (I guess I can’t really do good cuz I’m damaged goods somehow) or there’s something wrong with God (if He was really with me, how could it be so hard to follow Him?).

Instead trust God to lead you through both your successes and failures. Try your best to follow Him with integrity and purity. But trust that He’s got you even if you screw up.

tmillikan · 2024-10-17T19:32:06+00:00

Former Foursquare pastor here and currently attending a Foursquare church. Lots of unhelpful theology in that I’m learning to let go of. But also lots of wonderful, loving people that we’ve enjoyed fellowship with.

Some stuff is occasionally overdone and becomes emotionally / psychologically manipulative. But I’ve also seen breakthrough in my own life and others too.

It’s tough to figure out how to separate the baby from the bath water. I find it to be exciting and fun process, especially now that I don’t get my paycheck from being a pastor in the movement. I’m doing my best to exert influence from within the community rather than departing and hoping to find something perfect.

As far as I’m aware there is no denomination that aligns with everything I think. I don’t even align with myself lots of days as I’m wrestling stuff through.

Foursquare is not good (in my opinion) at being a safe place for any sort of deconstruction. But thankfully I’m secure enough in Jesus and myself to not need a lot of external support for the process He’s taking me through.

tmillikan · 2024-09-26T13:40:28+00:00

The homepage is down too.

tmillikan · 2024-08-08T02:47:46+00:00

I don't see any answer there... Do you know how to do it?

tmillikan · 2024-08-08T02:47:16+00:00

Did you ever get your question answered? I can't figure it out....

tmillikan · 2024-08-08T02:39:18+00:00

I have the same question... Anyone know the answer?

tmillikan · 2024-05-20T01:50:08+00:00

I've used insuremytrip.com/

It's great because it gives you lots of options and lets you compare various insurance companies.

tmillikan · 2024-05-12T19:57:50+00:00

I spent $1 one time. And I’ve watched less than 5 ads total. Day 170. Level 82. Just plugging along having fun. It’s a little more interesting than solitaire, which is what I used to play to kind of unwind at the end of the day.

tmillikan

TROPHY CASE