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Listeining to the Briefing podcast this morning, I was struck by the timliness and simplicity of Dr. Mohler's explanation of "Christian realism." Our life group, last night, heard David Platt teaching against the idea that we get exactly what we pray for. In other words, we cannot tell our brothers and sisters who are in prison for Christ that God will guarantee that they get out of jail. Instead, we rest in knowing that the God of the universe is there in prison with them.

You can listen to Dr. Mohler's full podcast by clicking --> here <--

Here is his blurb on Christian realism and the continuing need for prayer:

Now as Christians, look at that, you recognize, well, wouldn’t we like to have a major victory here? Wouldn’t that lead to a regime change that would be a government we think would be friendly to the Iranian people, would respect human rights and human dignity, and might be a regime that would have the aim of living at peace with its neighbors and around the world? The fact is, yes, we should hope for that. We should pray for that. But this is where something called Christian realism comes into play. This was crucial as a development in Christian ethical thought, theological thought in the 20th century. Christian realism comes down to this. In a world so degraded and so distorted by sin, when you have such sinful impulses that are now set loose in powerful nations with the development of incredibly powerful, unbelievably threatening weapons, when you have all that together, realism means that given the biblical worldview, you are right to pray for world peace, but there is not going to be any lasting peace until Christ himself comes to establish that peace.

In the meantime, Christian realism means you do what you have to do to protect as much as you can protect, to preserve as much as you can preserve, to save as many lives as you can, to establish as much freedom and justice and democracy as is possible around the world, but you also recognize utopian dreams are just that, utopian and dreams.