1 Chronicles 16:11
Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.
2 Chronicles 7:14-15
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
Psalm 4:1
Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer.
Psalm 5:3
My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct my prayer to You, and I will look up.
Psalm 17:1
Hear, O LORD, my righteous plea; listen to my cry. Give ear to my prayer--it does not rise from deceitful lips.
Psalm 37:7
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.
Psalm 50:15
Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."
Psalm 55:17
Evening and morning, and at noon, I will pray and cry aloud; and He shall hear my voice.
Psalm 65:1-2
Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled. You who answer prayer, to you all people will come.
Psalms 145:18
The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
Proverbs 15:8
The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.
Proverbs 15:29
The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the rrighteous.
Isaiah 55:6
Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Matt 5:43-44
You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.
Monday, December 28, 2009
God's School of Prayer, No. 8, Part Three: Are You Called to Be a Prayer Warrior?
While all Christians are called to be intercessors, some are called to a deeper ministry of intercession – they are called to be prayer warriors. Some of you reading this now are prayer warriors. Some of you are called to be prayer warriors but have not reached the deepness yet. But it is coming. Prayer warriors are people who are known for regularly interceding on behalf of others before God.
Prayer warriors are like defense attorneys, appealing to the Higher Court on behalf of their defendants. We're all guilty before God, but God is merciful. Prayer warriors recognize that quality of God's personality and call on Him for intervention.
Paul was perhaps the greatest example of a prayer warrior in the New Testament. He repeatedly prayed for others, especially the individual churches with whom he was working.
In Ephesians 3:14-21, while Paul was in prison, he prays for the believers in the church at Ephesus:
"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
Are your prayers filled with requests for others? You have been given this ministry of intercession and through prayer you can be used by God to touch lives of people - those you have never met and those who are very close to you. Are you a prayer warrior? If you are, submit yourself to God and He will lift you up to do mighty deeds for him in the realm of the supernatural. Open your hearts, open your minds, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you, to empower you, to fill you, to use you, so help you God!
To intercede means to come between, so prayer warriors are, in effect, coming between God and the trouble in another person's life. The Prayer Warrior goes into battle but his or her weapon is not a gun, it is prayer.
Prayer warriors are like defense attorneys, appealing to the Higher Court on behalf of their defendants. We're all guilty before God, but God is merciful. Prayer warriors recognize that quality of God's personality and call on Him for intervention.
Paul was perhaps the greatest example of a prayer warrior in the New Testament. He repeatedly prayed for others, especially the individual churches with whom he was working.
In Ephesians 3:14-21, while Paul was in prison, he prays for the believers in the church at Ephesus:
"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
Are your prayers filled with requests for others? You have been given this ministry of intercession and through prayer you can be used by God to touch lives of people - those you have never met and those who are very close to you. Are you a prayer warrior? If you are, submit yourself to God and He will lift you up to do mighty deeds for him in the realm of the supernatural. Open your hearts, open your minds, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you, to empower you, to fill you, to use you, so help you God!
To intercede means to come between, so prayer warriors are, in effect, coming between God and the trouble in another person's life. The Prayer Warrior goes into battle but his or her weapon is not a gun, it is prayer.
God's School of Prayer, No. 8, Part Two: Interceding in Prayer on Behalf of Others
One of the things that Christians msut do is pray for each other and pray for others who are not Christians. We are to be intercessors, standing in the gap in prayer for others.
Quite simply, intercessory prayer is the act of praying on behalf of others. The role of mediator in prayer was prevalent in the Old Testament, in the cases of Abraham, Moses, David, Samuel, Hezekiah, Elijah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Christ is pictured in the New Testament as the ultimate intercessor, and because of this, all Christian prayer becomes intercession since it is offered to God through and by Christ. Jesus closed the gap between us and God when He died on the cross.
Because of Jesus’ mediation, we can now intercede in prayer on behalf of other Christians or for the lost, asking God to grant their requests according to His will. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:34).
All Christians have the Holy Spirit in their hearts and, just as He intercedes for us in accordance with God’s will (Romans 8:26-27), we are to intercede for one another. This is not a privilege limited to an exclusive Christian elite; this is the command to all. In fact, not to intercede for others is sin. “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you” (1 Samuel 12:23).
Certainly Peter and Paul asked others to pray for them. “So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him” (Acts 12:5). Notice it was the whole church that prayed for him. In Ephesians 6:16-18, Paul exhorts the Ephesian believers—all of them—on the fundamentals of the Christian life, which includes intercession “on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” Clearly, intercessory prayer is part of the Christian life for all believers.
Further, Paul sought prayer on his behalf from all the Roman believers in Romans 15:30. He also urged the Colossians to intercede for him in Colossians 4:2-3. Those who seek others to intercede for them can use all the help they can get!
God calls all Christians to be intercessors. It is God’s desire that every believer be active in intercessory prayer. What a wonderful and exalted privilege we have in being able to come boldly before the throne of Almighty God with our prayers and requests!
Quite simply, intercessory prayer is the act of praying on behalf of others. The role of mediator in prayer was prevalent in the Old Testament, in the cases of Abraham, Moses, David, Samuel, Hezekiah, Elijah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Christ is pictured in the New Testament as the ultimate intercessor, and because of this, all Christian prayer becomes intercession since it is offered to God through and by Christ. Jesus closed the gap between us and God when He died on the cross.
Because of Jesus’ mediation, we can now intercede in prayer on behalf of other Christians or for the lost, asking God to grant their requests according to His will. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:34).
All Christians have the Holy Spirit in their hearts and, just as He intercedes for us in accordance with God’s will (Romans 8:26-27), we are to intercede for one another. This is not a privilege limited to an exclusive Christian elite; this is the command to all. In fact, not to intercede for others is sin. “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you” (1 Samuel 12:23).
Certainly Peter and Paul asked others to pray for them. “So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him” (Acts 12:5). Notice it was the whole church that prayed for him. In Ephesians 6:16-18, Paul exhorts the Ephesian believers—all of them—on the fundamentals of the Christian life, which includes intercession “on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” Clearly, intercessory prayer is part of the Christian life for all believers.
Further, Paul sought prayer on his behalf from all the Roman believers in Romans 15:30. He also urged the Colossians to intercede for him in Colossians 4:2-3. Those who seek others to intercede for them can use all the help they can get!
God calls all Christians to be intercessors. It is God’s desire that every believer be active in intercessory prayer. What a wonderful and exalted privilege we have in being able to come boldly before the throne of Almighty God with our prayers and requests!
God's School of Prayer No. 8 -- Intercession: We are Called to Be Angels on Earth, to Be Messengers of God, Carrying His Good News, Praying for Others
The word “angel” actually comes from the Greek word aggelos, which means “messenger.” The matching Hebrew word mal'ak has the same meaning.
Sometimes, the Bible uses these words for human beings:
ordinary people who carry messages (Job 1:14; Luke 7:24; 9:52)
prophets (Isaiah 42:19; Malachi 3:1)
priests (Malachi 2:7)
church leaders (Rev 1:20)
We usually think of the whole range of helping spirits whom God has created to carry out His will, including both good and fallen, evil angels, and special categories such as cherubim, seraphim, and the archangel.
Angels are mentioned 108 times in the Old Testament and 165 times in the New Testament Hence, there is ample information available in Scripture to allow us to build a foundation for our knowledge of angelic beings.
What does the Bible reveal about angels? Well, we see heavenly beings used as messengers, as we see in Luke 2, bringing good news to the shepherds and praising God:
"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Luke 2:8-16
While the Scriptures give no definite figures, we are told that the number of angels is very great (Daniel 7:10; Matthew 26:53; Hebrews 12:22). It appears that all angels were created at one time. No new angels are being added to the number. Angels are not subject to death or any form of extinction; therefore they do not decrease in number. It seems reasonable to conclude that there are at least as many spirit beings in existence as there will have been human beings in all their history on earth.
DO ANGELS HAVE BODIES?
Angels are essentially “ministering spirits,” (Hebrews 1:14) and do not have physical bodies like humans. Jesus declared that “a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke 24:37-39).
The Bible does, however, make it clear that angels can only be in one place at a time. They must have some localized presence.
Angels can take on the appearance of men when the occasion demands. How else could some “entertain angels unaware” (Hebrews 13:2)? On the other hand, their appearance is somet We don't know whether every angel carries out the same tasks, or whether some of them specialize in certain areas. The Bible does speak about classes of angelic beings like cherubim (Ezekiel 1) and seraphim (Isaiah 6). We also know the names of two notable angels: Michael (Daniel 10:13; Jude 9) and Gabriel (Daniel 9:21; Luke 1:19,26).
The unnamed angels who appear most often in Scripture carry out a variety of tasks—all designed to serve God…
Worship and praise - This is the main activity portrayed in heaven (Isaiah 6:1-3; Revelation 4-5).
Revealing, Giving Messages - They serve as messengers to communicate God's will to men. They helped reveal the law to Moses (Acts 7:52-53), and served as the carriers of much of the material in Daniel, and Revelation.
Guiding - Angels gave instructions to Joseph about the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1-2), to the women at the tomb, to Philip (Acts 8:26), and to Cornelius (Acts 10:1-8).
Providing - God has used angels to provide physical needs such as food for Hagar (Genesis 21:17-20), Elijah (1 Kings 19:6), and Christ after His temptation (Matthew 4:11).
Protecting - Keeping God's people out of physical danger, as in the cases of Daniel and the lions, and his three friends in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3 and 6).
Delivering - Getting God's people out of danger once they're in it. Angels released the apostles from prison in Acts 5, and repeated the process for Peter in Acts 12.
Strengthening and Encouraging - Angels strengthened Jesus after His temptation (Matt 4:11), encouraged the apostles to keep preaching after releasing them from prison (Acts 5:19-20), and told Paul that everyone on his ship would survive the impending shipwreck (Acts 27:23-25).
Used by God in Answering prayer - God often uses angels as His means of answering the prayers of His people (Daniel 9:20-24; 10:10-12; Acts 12:1-17).
Caring for believers at the moment of death - In the story of Lazarus and the rich man, we read that angels carried the spirit of Lazarus to “Abraham's bosom” when he died (Luke 16:22).
What is also true is now that Christians have been called to obey God through the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the leadership of the Holy Spirit, Christians are now called to do some of the tasks of angels here on earth. In essence, we are
Jesus said in the parable of the goats and lambs: "Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:40
We are called to help each other, to be a blessing to each other, to pray for each other. We are called to act as God's hands on earth to help:
1. To Meet the Spiritual, Physical, and Mental Needs of Others as Our Lord Makes it Possible.
2. To NEVER BE LIMITED by Race, Color, Religious Preference, or Organization, Where There Are Needs To Be Met.
3. To ALWAYS Put Our Confidence in God to Meet the Needs, and to Give Us Wisdom and Direction According to His Will.
4. That Whatever is Accomplished, Whether in Word or Deed, is Accomplished in Such a Way as to Demonstrate and Share the Love of Our Lord Jesus Christ and to Bring Praise, Honor, and Glory to Only Him.
Sometimes, the Bible uses these words for human beings:
ordinary people who carry messages (Job 1:14; Luke 7:24; 9:52)
prophets (Isaiah 42:19; Malachi 3:1)
priests (Malachi 2:7)
church leaders (Rev 1:20)
We usually think of the whole range of helping spirits whom God has created to carry out His will, including both good and fallen, evil angels, and special categories such as cherubim, seraphim, and the archangel.
Angels are mentioned 108 times in the Old Testament and 165 times in the New Testament Hence, there is ample information available in Scripture to allow us to build a foundation for our knowledge of angelic beings.
What does the Bible reveal about angels? Well, we see heavenly beings used as messengers, as we see in Luke 2, bringing good news to the shepherds and praising God:
"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Luke 2:8-16
While the Scriptures give no definite figures, we are told that the number of angels is very great (Daniel 7:10; Matthew 26:53; Hebrews 12:22). It appears that all angels were created at one time. No new angels are being added to the number. Angels are not subject to death or any form of extinction; therefore they do not decrease in number. It seems reasonable to conclude that there are at least as many spirit beings in existence as there will have been human beings in all their history on earth.
DO ANGELS HAVE BODIES?
Angels are essentially “ministering spirits,” (Hebrews 1:14) and do not have physical bodies like humans. Jesus declared that “a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke 24:37-39).
The Bible does, however, make it clear that angels can only be in one place at a time. They must have some localized presence.
Angels can take on the appearance of men when the occasion demands. How else could some “entertain angels unaware” (Hebrews 13:2)? On the other hand, their appearance is somet We don't know whether every angel carries out the same tasks, or whether some of them specialize in certain areas. The Bible does speak about classes of angelic beings like cherubim (Ezekiel 1) and seraphim (Isaiah 6). We also know the names of two notable angels: Michael (Daniel 10:13; Jude 9) and Gabriel (Daniel 9:21; Luke 1:19,26).
The unnamed angels who appear most often in Scripture carry out a variety of tasks—all designed to serve God…
Worship and praise - This is the main activity portrayed in heaven (Isaiah 6:1-3; Revelation 4-5).
Revealing, Giving Messages - They serve as messengers to communicate God's will to men. They helped reveal the law to Moses (Acts 7:52-53), and served as the carriers of much of the material in Daniel, and Revelation.
Guiding - Angels gave instructions to Joseph about the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1-2), to the women at the tomb, to Philip (Acts 8:26), and to Cornelius (Acts 10:1-8).
Providing - God has used angels to provide physical needs such as food for Hagar (Genesis 21:17-20), Elijah (1 Kings 19:6), and Christ after His temptation (Matthew 4:11).
Protecting - Keeping God's people out of physical danger, as in the cases of Daniel and the lions, and his three friends in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3 and 6).
Delivering - Getting God's people out of danger once they're in it. Angels released the apostles from prison in Acts 5, and repeated the process for Peter in Acts 12.
Strengthening and Encouraging - Angels strengthened Jesus after His temptation (Matt 4:11), encouraged the apostles to keep preaching after releasing them from prison (Acts 5:19-20), and told Paul that everyone on his ship would survive the impending shipwreck (Acts 27:23-25).
Used by God in Answering prayer - God often uses angels as His means of answering the prayers of His people (Daniel 9:20-24; 10:10-12; Acts 12:1-17).
Caring for believers at the moment of death - In the story of Lazarus and the rich man, we read that angels carried the spirit of Lazarus to “Abraham's bosom” when he died (Luke 16:22).
What is also true is now that Christians have been called to obey God through the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the leadership of the Holy Spirit, Christians are now called to do some of the tasks of angels here on earth. In essence, we are
Jesus said in the parable of the goats and lambs: "Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:40
We are called to help each other, to be a blessing to each other, to pray for each other. We are called to act as God's hands on earth to help:
1. To Meet the Spiritual, Physical, and Mental Needs of Others as Our Lord Makes it Possible.
2. To NEVER BE LIMITED by Race, Color, Religious Preference, or Organization, Where There Are Needs To Be Met.
3. To ALWAYS Put Our Confidence in God to Meet the Needs, and to Give Us Wisdom and Direction According to His Will.
4. That Whatever is Accomplished, Whether in Word or Deed, is Accomplished in Such a Way as to Demonstrate and Share the Love of Our Lord Jesus Christ and to Bring Praise, Honor, and Glory to Only Him.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
God's School of Prayer, Number Eight, Pasrt One -- Being a Prayer Warrior -- Interceding in Prayer for Others
Never stop praying, especially for others. Always pray by the power of the Spirit. Stay alert and keep praying for God's people. - Ephesians 6:18
What is intercessory prayer?
Intercessory prayer is simply prayer for other people. "If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you have done. Then you can pray for one another and be healed. The prayer of an innocent person is powerful, and it can help a lot." (James 5:16) In this sense everyone is called to be an intercessor as we pray for one another.
There is a further level of intercessory prayer in which God lays a particular burden on certain people to pray. This burden might be for a person, a church, a community, or a particular event. Paul speaks of continuing the suffering of Christ. After telling the Colossians that he has not stopped praying for them (Colossians 1:9) he continues to urge them to be deeply rooted and firm (verse 23) in the faith. Paul has an intercessory burden on behalf of the Colossian church. Intercessors should read all of Colossians 1.
I am glad that I can suffer for you. I am pleased also that in my own body I can continue the suffering of Christ for his body, the church. - Colossians 1:24
What is an intercessor?
If everyone is called to some form of intercessory prayer, why do we call some people "intercessors?"
An intercessor is someone who is especially called and equipped by God through the Holy Spirit to spend time in earnest prayer for others. You become an intercessor simply by receiving such burdens from God to pray for others. You learn from the Holy Spirit how to pray for certain people or groups. "Ask me, and I will tell you things that you don't know and can't find out." (Jeremiah 33:3) Intercessors are also called PRAYER WARRIORS!
Why are intercessors needed?
At many times in history God has searched for certain righteous people during times of judgment. In the time of Noah, only one family was found (Genesis 7:1). In Sodom, only Lot and his family were found. In Jerusalem God searched for anyone who was "truly upset and sad about the disgusting things" being done (Ezekiel 9:4).
And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. - Ezekiel 22:30 (NRSV)
How is intercession guided?
Intercessors must be listeners. Intercessory prayer is prayer guided by the Holy Spirit. We are not on our own in prayer.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. - Romans 8:26 (NRSV)
What is intercessory prayer?
Intercessory prayer is simply prayer for other people. "If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you have done. Then you can pray for one another and be healed. The prayer of an innocent person is powerful, and it can help a lot." (James 5:16) In this sense everyone is called to be an intercessor as we pray for one another.
There is a further level of intercessory prayer in which God lays a particular burden on certain people to pray. This burden might be for a person, a church, a community, or a particular event. Paul speaks of continuing the suffering of Christ. After telling the Colossians that he has not stopped praying for them (Colossians 1:9) he continues to urge them to be deeply rooted and firm (verse 23) in the faith. Paul has an intercessory burden on behalf of the Colossian church. Intercessors should read all of Colossians 1.
I am glad that I can suffer for you. I am pleased also that in my own body I can continue the suffering of Christ for his body, the church. - Colossians 1:24
What is an intercessor?
If everyone is called to some form of intercessory prayer, why do we call some people "intercessors?"
An intercessor is someone who is especially called and equipped by God through the Holy Spirit to spend time in earnest prayer for others. You become an intercessor simply by receiving such burdens from God to pray for others. You learn from the Holy Spirit how to pray for certain people or groups. "Ask me, and I will tell you things that you don't know and can't find out." (Jeremiah 33:3) Intercessors are also called PRAYER WARRIORS!
Why are intercessors needed?
At many times in history God has searched for certain righteous people during times of judgment. In the time of Noah, only one family was found (Genesis 7:1). In Sodom, only Lot and his family were found. In Jerusalem God searched for anyone who was "truly upset and sad about the disgusting things" being done (Ezekiel 9:4).
And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. - Ezekiel 22:30 (NRSV)
How is intercession guided?
Intercessors must be listeners. Intercessory prayer is prayer guided by the Holy Spirit. We are not on our own in prayer.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. - Romans 8:26 (NRSV)
Sunday, December 13, 2009
God's School of Prayer, Number Seven, Part Three: Agreement is a Spiritual Prayer Warrior Secret
We are called to be prayer warriors. And a secret of prayer warfare is that agreement is a powerful tool of our prayer work. You can experience a place of agreement with God’s Word, and harmony that will produce power, as you forgive and agree with another believer.
You can affect governments, families and the lives of others. You can change your financial situation, affect your church and your pastor with the power of prayer. Find someone who can agree with you according to the Word of God.
The same principle works the other way. If you are in disagreement, the door is open for Satan to come in. “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work” (James 3:16).
In Matthew 18:21, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus replied, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus replied, “I tell you, not seven times, but Until seventy times seven” (verse 22). Forgive because God said to, and not because you feel like it.
Build your home, your church and every other area of your life on the unselfish love of God. Selfishness has never built anything it did not destroy. But love never fails. The love of God is the very center of the family of God because God is love. You are His very own child, born again with His love nature inside you.
Don’t let that love lie dormant. Cast down selfishness and let loose the love of God in you. You cannot fail when love is in dominion.
When you forgive and reach for harmony, you come to a place where you have the spiritual awareness to perceive the closeness of God. Jesus said if you get into harmony and agree together, He would be in the midst of you. God wants to be involved with you.
When you are in harmony and agreement with those around you, you will step into a deeper, more personal fellowship with God. He becomes real and vital to you. Fellowship with your heavenly Father is one of the greatest things you will ever have in your Christian walk! It causes a confidence and an assurance deep down in your heart.
You know your prayers will be answered because you have conformed yourself to His will. As you forgive, the joy that comes through answered prayer will become your own personal experience. Jesus said, “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24).
You can affect governments, families and the lives of others. You can change your financial situation, affect your church and your pastor with the power of prayer. Find someone who can agree with you according to the Word of God.
The same principle works the other way. If you are in disagreement, the door is open for Satan to come in. “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work” (James 3:16).
In Matthew 18:21, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus replied, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus replied, “I tell you, not seven times, but Until seventy times seven” (verse 22). Forgive because God said to, and not because you feel like it.
Build your home, your church and every other area of your life on the unselfish love of God. Selfishness has never built anything it did not destroy. But love never fails. The love of God is the very center of the family of God because God is love. You are His very own child, born again with His love nature inside you.
Don’t let that love lie dormant. Cast down selfishness and let loose the love of God in you. You cannot fail when love is in dominion.
When you forgive and reach for harmony, you come to a place where you have the spiritual awareness to perceive the closeness of God. Jesus said if you get into harmony and agree together, He would be in the midst of you. God wants to be involved with you.
When you are in harmony and agreement with those around you, you will step into a deeper, more personal fellowship with God. He becomes real and vital to you. Fellowship with your heavenly Father is one of the greatest things you will ever have in your Christian walk! It causes a confidence and an assurance deep down in your heart.
You know your prayers will be answered because you have conformed yourself to His will. As you forgive, the joy that comes through answered prayer will become your own personal experience. Jesus said, “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24).
God's School of Prayer, Number Seven, Part Two: Agreement in Prayer is a Powerful Tool from God
Coming into harmony with another or others when you pray is a Biblical way of prayer effectiveness. Remember the disciples praying in one accord in the Upper Room in Acts 2, and then the Holy Spirit came with a sound like a rushing mighty wind!
Every congregation and all believers everywhere need united agreement in prayer and faith. True, we can play privately, but we must also come together with others, two or more, or the whole local church expecting to find one accord in prayer. The church in Acts began in one accord in prayer (Acts 1:14; 2:1).
United prayer was a top priority of the apostles and the people (Acts 6:4; 4:18-33; 12:1-25; 15:1-30). United agreement in prayer is necessary because of who we are as followers of Christ, united in Him. And we must live with forgiveness and love! Forgiveness, being on the same page spiritually, is important in the prayer of agreement.
Jesus prayed in the Lord's Prayer, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:9-12). He put a condition on forgiveness. The condition is “I don’t expect to be forgiven until I forgive.” He displayed the kind of discipline the believer should exercise when he is praying.
How important is this? In Galatians 5:6, the Bible says faith works by love. If you are operating with an unforgiving heart, your prayer life will be paralyzed.
The Word says we know we have the petitions we have desired of Him, if we do the things that are pleasing in His sight (I John 3:22). Put these scriptures together and you quickly see unforgiveness would actually ruin the whole prayer system.
Every congregation and all believers everywhere need united agreement in prayer and faith. True, we can play privately, but we must also come together with others, two or more, or the whole local church expecting to find one accord in prayer. The church in Acts began in one accord in prayer (Acts 1:14; 2:1).
United prayer was a top priority of the apostles and the people (Acts 6:4; 4:18-33; 12:1-25; 15:1-30). United agreement in prayer is necessary because of who we are as followers of Christ, united in Him. And we must live with forgiveness and love! Forgiveness, being on the same page spiritually, is important in the prayer of agreement.
Jesus prayed in the Lord's Prayer, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:9-12). He put a condition on forgiveness. The condition is “I don’t expect to be forgiven until I forgive.” He displayed the kind of discipline the believer should exercise when he is praying.
How important is this? In Galatians 5:6, the Bible says faith works by love. If you are operating with an unforgiving heart, your prayer life will be paralyzed.
The Word says we know we have the petitions we have desired of Him, if we do the things that are pleasing in His sight (I John 3:22). Put these scriptures together and you quickly see unforgiveness would actually ruin the whole prayer system.
God's School of Prayer Number Seven, Part One: The Wondrous Prayer of Agreement
The prayer of agreement when prayed according to Matthew 18:18-20 will cover every circumstance in life: “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Agreement with the Word and another believer are not the only things involved in this kind of prayer. Agreement is also harmony. Harmony is extremely important. When speaking of prayer in Mark 11:25-26, Jesus said, “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” This is vital in your prayer life. Jesus said, forgive when you pray. FORGIVE!
Agreement makes prayer work. Your agreement will produce power, as you forgive and agree with another believer. You can affect governments, families and the lives of others.and yourself, You can affect your church and your pastor with the power of prayer. >Find someone who can agree with you according to the Word of God. A spouse, a relative, a friend can agree with you in prayer!
Jesus said that if any two on earth agree, He would be in the midst of that agreement to see that it comes to pass. You are on earth so you qualify. If you agree with another believer as touching anything that lines up with the Word of God, He is there in your midst to carry it out.
Jesus wants you to agree and will see to it that it comes to pass. The word agree is translated in The Amplified Bible as “agree and harmonize together or make a symphony together.” The word symphony caught my attention one time, so I looked it up and found that it means “all available instruments in harmony.” You must have your spirit, mind and actions in agreement with the Word.
Agreeing spiritually is to agree with the Word of God. Make up your mind God’s Word is true and that it will come to pass.
Secondly, be strong in your mind. That is Satan’s battleground. You must control your thoughts. Writing down your agreement will be beneficial for this reason. It will keep it before your eyes so when your mind tries to change directions, control it with your agreement on God’s Word. Do not tie God’s hands. Allow Him to work.
You have agreed, spirit and soul (mind). Then your actions must come in line. If finances are what you agreed on, expect the money to come in. This is part of being in agreement. You cannot agree in prayer about something, then act the opposite and expect it to come to pass. If you do, your actions will eventually take over your thinking.
Agreement with the Word and another believer are not the only things involved in this kind of prayer. Agreement is also harmony. Harmony is extremely important. When speaking of prayer in Mark 11:25-26, Jesus said, “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” This is vital in your prayer life. Jesus said, forgive when you pray. FORGIVE!
Agreement makes prayer work. Your agreement will produce power, as you forgive and agree with another believer. You can affect governments, families and the lives of others.and yourself, You can affect your church and your pastor with the power of prayer. >Find someone who can agree with you according to the Word of God. A spouse, a relative, a friend can agree with you in prayer!
Jesus said that if any two on earth agree, He would be in the midst of that agreement to see that it comes to pass. You are on earth so you qualify. If you agree with another believer as touching anything that lines up with the Word of God, He is there in your midst to carry it out.
Jesus wants you to agree and will see to it that it comes to pass. The word agree is translated in The Amplified Bible as “agree and harmonize together or make a symphony together.” The word symphony caught my attention one time, so I looked it up and found that it means “all available instruments in harmony.” You must have your spirit, mind and actions in agreement with the Word.
Agreeing spiritually is to agree with the Word of God. Make up your mind God’s Word is true and that it will come to pass.
Secondly, be strong in your mind. That is Satan’s battleground. You must control your thoughts. Writing down your agreement will be beneficial for this reason. It will keep it before your eyes so when your mind tries to change directions, control it with your agreement on God’s Word. Do not tie God’s hands. Allow Him to work.
You have agreed, spirit and soul (mind). Then your actions must come in line. If finances are what you agreed on, expect the money to come in. This is part of being in agreement. You cannot agree in prayer about something, then act the opposite and expect it to come to pass. If you do, your actions will eventually take over your thinking.
God's School of Prayer, Number Six, Part Two: Praise Him! Praise Him! Mary Praises the Great Attributes of God!
In Mary's great song of praise, Luke 1:46-55, she praises the great attributes of God:
God Is Mighty
The first attribute Mary speaks of is the might and power of God. He is the mighty God, ho dunatos, and in Luke 1:49 she sings, "For the Mighty One has done great things for me." Mary’s God was God Almighty, the Creator of the ends of the earth. There is no one mightier than her God. He alone is able, and with him alone nothing is impossible.
In the first part of verse 51 Mary says of this mighty God, "He has performed mighty deeds with his arm." From Genesis 1 on the Bible speaks of the great and marvelous acts performed by the mighty arm of God. All nations together are considered as nothing by this El-Shaddai, this God, the strong and mighty one. He alone is almighty, and Mary knew it.
Let me ask you: Are you weak? The answer, of course, is yes. But that is not the end. He is strong, and it is in him that we trust. What about the devil and his demons—are they strong? Yes. Martin Luther recognized that in his great hymn, "A Mighty Fortress," and all of us must recognize it. But our God is stronger than all the forces of this world. Remember what Luther said? "One little Word shall fell him." That Word is the name of Jesus.
Knowing who God is, Mary realized that she had nothing to fear. We too have nothing to fear as well. The gates of hell shall not prevail against us, because our God is mighty. Thus, we can say with Paul, "We are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Romans 8:37).
God Is Holy
The second attribute Mary speaks about is God’s holiness. In verse 49 Mary declared, "Holy is his name." Throughout the Scriptures God tells us, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. He is the One separate from us—the One without sin.
God Is a Judge
The third attribute of God that Mary speaks about in her hymn is that God is a judge. In the latter part of Luke 1:51 she says, "He [God] has scattered those who are proud in their innermost thoughts." Additionally, in verse 52 we find, "He has brought down the mighty rulers from their thrones," and in verse 53, "He has sent the rich empty away."
God Is Merciful
The fourth attribute Mary speaks of is that God is merciful. The word "mercy" appears five times in Luke 1—in verses 50, 54, 58, 72 and 78. Mary reveled in the knowledge of this great attribute of God.
What is grace? It is God’s love shown to guilty sinners. But what is mercy? Mercy is God’s love shown to the guilty sinners who are miserable in their sinful condition. In Exodus 3;7 we read what the Lord—the eternal God, the great I AM THAT I AM—spoke from the burning bush to Moses: "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering." God was merciful to the Israelites in Egypt and he delivered them. Our God is a merciful God.
God Is a Covenant God
The fifth attribute of God that Mary speaks of is that God is a covenant God. We must realize that God does not have to enter into a covenant with sinful man. There is nothing in his being necessitating that he stoop down and promise salvation to anybody. But the truth is, God did just that. He entered into a covenant with Abraham, promising to show mercy to him and his descendants by granting them salvation.
God Is Faithful to His Covenant
If God promises through a covenant, he will fulfill it, because he is the God of the covenant. The sixth attribute of God Mary speaks of in this passage is the faithfulness of God to his covenant.
Then, all of a sudden, in the fullness of time, God saw the sin and misery of his people and remembered to be merciful them. Our God cannot lie; what he promises he will do. In 2 Corinthians 1:20 Paul writes, "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ." All of God’s promises to us are fulfilled in the indescribable gift of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
God Is the Savior
The final attribute of God that Mary describes here is that God was her Savior. "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices. . . ." In what is Mary rejoicing? ". . . in God my Savior."
Two thousand years after God made his promise to Abraham, the Savior had come. Mary knew that it was he alone who could take away sins and destroy the works of the devil. But how would he do these things? By his death on the cross.
This was God’s plan of salvation for us. Because God is holy, he must punish sinners. But God is also love, so he does not desire to punish us. But how can God not punish sinners and still be holy? He punished his own Son who freely gave himself to be punished for our sins on the cross.
God reached out with his strong arm in Jesus Christ and saved the people of God from their sins. He did not do that for angels who sinned, but only for the descendants of Abraham. In him we are forgiven of all our sins and justified forever. In him we find mercy. In him we are made children of God. In him the hungry are filled with his perfect righteousness. In him we are adopted into God’s own family. In him we enjoy fellowship with God.
That is why Mary was singing this song, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." Mary praises the Lord, and so should we!
God Is Mighty
The first attribute Mary speaks of is the might and power of God. He is the mighty God, ho dunatos, and in Luke 1:49 she sings, "For the Mighty One has done great things for me." Mary’s God was God Almighty, the Creator of the ends of the earth. There is no one mightier than her God. He alone is able, and with him alone nothing is impossible.
In the first part of verse 51 Mary says of this mighty God, "He has performed mighty deeds with his arm." From Genesis 1 on the Bible speaks of the great and marvelous acts performed by the mighty arm of God. All nations together are considered as nothing by this El-Shaddai, this God, the strong and mighty one. He alone is almighty, and Mary knew it.
Let me ask you: Are you weak? The answer, of course, is yes. But that is not the end. He is strong, and it is in him that we trust. What about the devil and his demons—are they strong? Yes. Martin Luther recognized that in his great hymn, "A Mighty Fortress," and all of us must recognize it. But our God is stronger than all the forces of this world. Remember what Luther said? "One little Word shall fell him." That Word is the name of Jesus.
Knowing who God is, Mary realized that she had nothing to fear. We too have nothing to fear as well. The gates of hell shall not prevail against us, because our God is mighty. Thus, we can say with Paul, "We are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Romans 8:37).
God Is Holy
The second attribute Mary speaks about is God’s holiness. In verse 49 Mary declared, "Holy is his name." Throughout the Scriptures God tells us, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. He is the One separate from us—the One without sin.
God Is a Judge
The third attribute of God that Mary speaks about in her hymn is that God is a judge. In the latter part of Luke 1:51 she says, "He [God] has scattered those who are proud in their innermost thoughts." Additionally, in verse 52 we find, "He has brought down the mighty rulers from their thrones," and in verse 53, "He has sent the rich empty away."
God Is Merciful
The fourth attribute Mary speaks of is that God is merciful. The word "mercy" appears five times in Luke 1—in verses 50, 54, 58, 72 and 78. Mary reveled in the knowledge of this great attribute of God.
What is grace? It is God’s love shown to guilty sinners. But what is mercy? Mercy is God’s love shown to the guilty sinners who are miserable in their sinful condition. In Exodus 3;7 we read what the Lord—the eternal God, the great I AM THAT I AM—spoke from the burning bush to Moses: "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering." God was merciful to the Israelites in Egypt and he delivered them. Our God is a merciful God.
God Is a Covenant God
The fifth attribute of God that Mary speaks of is that God is a covenant God. We must realize that God does not have to enter into a covenant with sinful man. There is nothing in his being necessitating that he stoop down and promise salvation to anybody. But the truth is, God did just that. He entered into a covenant with Abraham, promising to show mercy to him and his descendants by granting them salvation.
God Is Faithful to His Covenant
If God promises through a covenant, he will fulfill it, because he is the God of the covenant. The sixth attribute of God Mary speaks of in this passage is the faithfulness of God to his covenant.
Then, all of a sudden, in the fullness of time, God saw the sin and misery of his people and remembered to be merciful them. Our God cannot lie; what he promises he will do. In 2 Corinthians 1:20 Paul writes, "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ." All of God’s promises to us are fulfilled in the indescribable gift of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
God Is the Savior
The final attribute of God that Mary describes here is that God was her Savior. "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices. . . ." In what is Mary rejoicing? ". . . in God my Savior."
Two thousand years after God made his promise to Abraham, the Savior had come. Mary knew that it was he alone who could take away sins and destroy the works of the devil. But how would he do these things? By his death on the cross.
This was God’s plan of salvation for us. Because God is holy, he must punish sinners. But God is also love, so he does not desire to punish us. But how can God not punish sinners and still be holy? He punished his own Son who freely gave himself to be punished for our sins on the cross.
God reached out with his strong arm in Jesus Christ and saved the people of God from their sins. He did not do that for angels who sinned, but only for the descendants of Abraham. In him we are forgiven of all our sins and justified forever. In him we find mercy. In him we are made children of God. In him the hungry are filled with his perfect righteousness. In him we are adopted into God’s own family. In him we enjoy fellowship with God.
That is why Mary was singing this song, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." Mary praises the Lord, and so should we!
God;s School of Prayer Number Six, Part One: Praising God -- A Key to Prayer and the Example of Mary, Mother of Jesus
And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me--holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants for ever, even as he said to our fathers."Luke 1:46-55
Here we see a key to a powerful prayer life -- Praise and Worship of God. We are to praise Him and Worship Him. Psalm 22:3 states that "He inhabits the praises of His people." Another version puts it this way -- "He is enthroned on the praises of His people." Does not that just make you wish to praise the Lord! If you are depressed --Praise the Lord! If you need help, Praise the Lord! If someone you know needs help, Praise the Lord!
Here we see Mary, the Theotokis, the God bearer in her womb, praising the Lord. In Luke 1:46-55 we find the portion of Scripture called "Mary’s Magnificat." This great worship hymn of Mary is called the Magnificat because it begins in the Latin Bible in verse 47 with the words "Magnificat animum mea Dominum," which means "My soul magnifies the Lord."
When you open the gospel of Luke, you notice it is filled with music, especially the first two chapters. There we find five "hymns": the hymn of Elizabeth (Luke 1:42-45); the hymn of Mary (Luke 1:46-55); the hymn of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79); the hymn of the angels, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests," (Luke 2:14); and the hymn of Simeon in Luke 2:29-32, which he prayed when he saw the infant Jesus Christ and realized that God’s promise that he wouldn’t die until he saw God’s salvation had just been fulfilled.
The Christmas season is a time of great singing and joy because of the divine announcement of good news of great joy to all the people of the world. As sinners, we need a divine Savior, and the message of Christmas is that God has given us such a competent Savior in his Son who became man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This divine announcement first came to a poor Jewish teenager, a peasant girl who lived in the despised town of Nazareth in northern Israel. The divine Savior made his grand entrance into history by being born, not in the famous cities of Rome or Jerusalem, but in Bethlehem; not to a famous queen mother, but to a poor Jewish teenager betrothed to the town carpenter; not in a palace, but in a stable and placed in a manger.
The angel Gabriel told Mary that by the power of the Holy Spirit, she would conceive and give birth to a son who would be heir to the throne of David, the Holy One, the Son of God, the Son of the Most High, the King of Israel. Mary and Joseph were to call him Jesus, for he would save his people from their sins.
Mary was puzzled at this stupendous announcement the angel made to her. "How will this be," she asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" In other words, "How can a virgin conceive without the aid of a man?" Mary knew that the recent miracle of her elderly relative Elizabeth conceiving was not unique, because such a miracle had happened previously, when God enabled Sarah to conceive Isaac. But for a virgin to conceive and give birth to a son was unique, so Mary asked the angel, "How will this be?"
"The Holy Spirit will do it," Gabriel told Mary. "The Holy Spirit will come upon you," he said in Luke 1:35, "and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." Then he added in verse 37, "For nothing is impossible with God." Nothing is impossible with God! We must keep this in mind always. How did the universe come to be? The answer is God. How are we going to be raised from the dead? The answer, again, is God. How could old Zechariah and old barren Elizabeth in their old age have a son through natural human reproductive processes? The answer is God. How could a virgin conceive and give birth to the Savior, Jesus Christ, who is eternal God? The answer is God. God is sovereign, and he alone does what he pleases. Nothing is impossible for him.
Mary’s confusion disappeared at this great answer that she received from the angel. She told Gabriel, "I am the Lord’s servant." Then she said, "May it be to me as you have said." Mary believed God.
Mary’s Song of Praise
After the angel left, Mary got up quickly and traveled to Judea to visit with Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant. When Elizabeth saw Mary, an amazing thing happened: through the Spirit of the living God, she recognized Mary, this unmarried teenage girl, as "the mother of my Lord," and began to prophesy.
When that happened, Mary also began to sing in the Spirit, exalting and worshiping God. It is this song that is recorded as the Magnificat, and at this point I want to note something: Although Mary was just a poor peasant girl, she had been brought up in a godly home, where Mary was thoroughly versed in the Holy Scriptures. Like Zechariah, Simeon, Anna, and others, Mary was looking forward to God’s redemption of Israel. So when she heard Elizabeth’s greeting, she was filled with the Holy Spirit and Scripture came pouring out of her heart.
Mary praised the Lord from the depth of her being, and it is a great witness to us of the power of praise!
Here we see a key to a powerful prayer life -- Praise and Worship of God. We are to praise Him and Worship Him. Psalm 22:3 states that "He inhabits the praises of His people." Another version puts it this way -- "He is enthroned on the praises of His people." Does not that just make you wish to praise the Lord! If you are depressed --Praise the Lord! If you need help, Praise the Lord! If someone you know needs help, Praise the Lord!
Here we see Mary, the Theotokis, the God bearer in her womb, praising the Lord. In Luke 1:46-55 we find the portion of Scripture called "Mary’s Magnificat." This great worship hymn of Mary is called the Magnificat because it begins in the Latin Bible in verse 47 with the words "Magnificat animum mea Dominum," which means "My soul magnifies the Lord."
When you open the gospel of Luke, you notice it is filled with music, especially the first two chapters. There we find five "hymns": the hymn of Elizabeth (Luke 1:42-45); the hymn of Mary (Luke 1:46-55); the hymn of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79); the hymn of the angels, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests," (Luke 2:14); and the hymn of Simeon in Luke 2:29-32, which he prayed when he saw the infant Jesus Christ and realized that God’s promise that he wouldn’t die until he saw God’s salvation had just been fulfilled.
The Christmas season is a time of great singing and joy because of the divine announcement of good news of great joy to all the people of the world. As sinners, we need a divine Savior, and the message of Christmas is that God has given us such a competent Savior in his Son who became man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This divine announcement first came to a poor Jewish teenager, a peasant girl who lived in the despised town of Nazareth in northern Israel. The divine Savior made his grand entrance into history by being born, not in the famous cities of Rome or Jerusalem, but in Bethlehem; not to a famous queen mother, but to a poor Jewish teenager betrothed to the town carpenter; not in a palace, but in a stable and placed in a manger.
The angel Gabriel told Mary that by the power of the Holy Spirit, she would conceive and give birth to a son who would be heir to the throne of David, the Holy One, the Son of God, the Son of the Most High, the King of Israel. Mary and Joseph were to call him Jesus, for he would save his people from their sins.
Mary was puzzled at this stupendous announcement the angel made to her. "How will this be," she asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" In other words, "How can a virgin conceive without the aid of a man?" Mary knew that the recent miracle of her elderly relative Elizabeth conceiving was not unique, because such a miracle had happened previously, when God enabled Sarah to conceive Isaac. But for a virgin to conceive and give birth to a son was unique, so Mary asked the angel, "How will this be?"
"The Holy Spirit will do it," Gabriel told Mary. "The Holy Spirit will come upon you," he said in Luke 1:35, "and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." Then he added in verse 37, "For nothing is impossible with God." Nothing is impossible with God! We must keep this in mind always. How did the universe come to be? The answer is God. How are we going to be raised from the dead? The answer, again, is God. How could old Zechariah and old barren Elizabeth in their old age have a son through natural human reproductive processes? The answer is God. How could a virgin conceive and give birth to the Savior, Jesus Christ, who is eternal God? The answer is God. God is sovereign, and he alone does what he pleases. Nothing is impossible for him.
Mary’s confusion disappeared at this great answer that she received from the angel. She told Gabriel, "I am the Lord’s servant." Then she said, "May it be to me as you have said." Mary believed God.
Mary’s Song of Praise
After the angel left, Mary got up quickly and traveled to Judea to visit with Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant. When Elizabeth saw Mary, an amazing thing happened: through the Spirit of the living God, she recognized Mary, this unmarried teenage girl, as "the mother of my Lord," and began to prophesy.
When that happened, Mary also began to sing in the Spirit, exalting and worshiping God. It is this song that is recorded as the Magnificat, and at this point I want to note something: Although Mary was just a poor peasant girl, she had been brought up in a godly home, where Mary was thoroughly versed in the Holy Scriptures. Like Zechariah, Simeon, Anna, and others, Mary was looking forward to God’s redemption of Israel. So when she heard Elizabeth’s greeting, she was filled with the Holy Spirit and Scripture came pouring out of her heart.
Mary praised the Lord from the depth of her being, and it is a great witness to us of the power of praise!
Friday, December 04, 2009
God's School of Prayer Number Five -- The Blessing of Covenant Prayer
Matthew 6:19-21 – Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there you heart will be also.
We have begun prayer covenants in our churches -- praying for each other intentionally. Our friend and personal pastor, Pastor Judy Junkermeier, introduced the concept to our churches from some work shared with her by Dr. Stanley Ott, head of the Vital Churches Institute. While our prayer convenants are for a few weeks, Ott recommends a 30 day prayer covenant and we are working toward that goal.
Have you ever heard of a 30-day prayer covenant? The typical response to this question, says Stan Ott of The Acts 16:5 Initiative, is “No.”
A prayer covenant is an agreement between two (or more) people to pray an agreed upon prayer for one another. Jesus said, “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18:19 NIV)
Think about agreeing with one another to be in a prayer covenant to pray an agreed upon prayer, for yourself and for the other person(s). Thirty days seems to work well. Ott says, "I have tried it for a longer time, but now think 30 days is more realistic. After the 30 days, of course, you can renew the prayer covenant with the same person; or you can enter a new prayer covenant at any time with anyone who will agree to enter it with you."
Stan says that if you ask someone, “Would you like to make a prayer covenant?” the vast majority of people will say, “Yes!” People love and appreciate being prayed for. Praying for one another gives them and us a formal means of growing in our prayer lives. And God answers our prayers.
One prayer for use in prayer covenants that I Dr. Ott recommends goes:
God, grant _____________ and me the grace each day to commit our lives without reservation to the Lordship of Jesus Christ; and grant _______________ and me the grace to know your strength and your guidance each day. Amen.
It’s brief and to the point. The members of our Acts 16:5 team in our area recently covenanted to pray a prayer like this for each other.
Scripture can also be used as the basis for a prayer covenant. See Ephesians 3:16-19 and Colossians 1:9-12 for possibilities.
Ask someone to make a 30-day prayer covenant with you and as you pray for one another expect God to answer your prayer!
in our churches already, we have seen several prayers answered. Some have even been the unspoken desires of our hearts. Sometimes though being part of a prayer group or covenant can be difficult. Yes it requires putting aside that time to bring others before God in prayer. It requires fitting it into a busy schedule. But it can also be discouraging to see the prayers of others answered if yours are not, or don't appear to be being answered.
It's about letting God be God and answer, as and when He chooses. Sometimes answers come quickly. It is like what Joseph said to Pharaoh with regard to the meaning of his dreams, 'the matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about,' Genesis 41:32. God's answer was clear, specific and prompt.
Other times we may need, as my friend reminded all of us before we started this prayer covenant, to be like Jacob in Genesis 32:24-30. Jacob wrestled with God until he received the blessing. Often these prayers where we really have to persist and keep praying, bring the greatest blessing when they are answered.
The key thing is to intentionally pray for each other on a regular, committed basis. God knows each one and where we are at. As we have prayed for each other and exposed the concerns of our hearts God has brought blessing and helped us connect in a very real way.
Maybe God is calling you to initiate a prayer covenant? Think about it. Pray about it. Pray for others! As you pray for them and they pray for you,the blessing is magnified by the Lord your God!
We have begun prayer covenants in our churches -- praying for each other intentionally. Our friend and personal pastor, Pastor Judy Junkermeier, introduced the concept to our churches from some work shared with her by Dr. Stanley Ott, head of the Vital Churches Institute. While our prayer convenants are for a few weeks, Ott recommends a 30 day prayer covenant and we are working toward that goal.
Have you ever heard of a 30-day prayer covenant? The typical response to this question, says Stan Ott of The Acts 16:5 Initiative, is “No.”
A prayer covenant is an agreement between two (or more) people to pray an agreed upon prayer for one another. Jesus said, “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18:19 NIV)
Think about agreeing with one another to be in a prayer covenant to pray an agreed upon prayer, for yourself and for the other person(s). Thirty days seems to work well. Ott says, "I have tried it for a longer time, but now think 30 days is more realistic. After the 30 days, of course, you can renew the prayer covenant with the same person; or you can enter a new prayer covenant at any time with anyone who will agree to enter it with you."
Stan says that if you ask someone, “Would you like to make a prayer covenant?” the vast majority of people will say, “Yes!” People love and appreciate being prayed for. Praying for one another gives them and us a formal means of growing in our prayer lives. And God answers our prayers.
One prayer for use in prayer covenants that I Dr. Ott recommends goes:
God, grant _____________ and me the grace each day to commit our lives without reservation to the Lordship of Jesus Christ; and grant _______________ and me the grace to know your strength and your guidance each day. Amen.
It’s brief and to the point. The members of our Acts 16:5 team in our area recently covenanted to pray a prayer like this for each other.
Scripture can also be used as the basis for a prayer covenant. See Ephesians 3:16-19 and Colossians 1:9-12 for possibilities.
Ask someone to make a 30-day prayer covenant with you and as you pray for one another expect God to answer your prayer!
in our churches already, we have seen several prayers answered. Some have even been the unspoken desires of our hearts. Sometimes though being part of a prayer group or covenant can be difficult. Yes it requires putting aside that time to bring others before God in prayer. It requires fitting it into a busy schedule. But it can also be discouraging to see the prayers of others answered if yours are not, or don't appear to be being answered.
It's about letting God be God and answer, as and when He chooses. Sometimes answers come quickly. It is like what Joseph said to Pharaoh with regard to the meaning of his dreams, 'the matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about,' Genesis 41:32. God's answer was clear, specific and prompt.
Other times we may need, as my friend reminded all of us before we started this prayer covenant, to be like Jacob in Genesis 32:24-30. Jacob wrestled with God until he received the blessing. Often these prayers where we really have to persist and keep praying, bring the greatest blessing when they are answered.
The key thing is to intentionally pray for each other on a regular, committed basis. God knows each one and where we are at. As we have prayed for each other and exposed the concerns of our hearts God has brought blessing and helped us connect in a very real way.
Maybe God is calling you to initiate a prayer covenant? Think about it. Pray about it. Pray for others! As you pray for them and they pray for you,the blessing is magnified by the Lord your God!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Think on These Things -- How is It WIth Your Prayer Life? -- Powerful Quotes About the Power of Prayer
I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.—John Wesley
I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go. -- Abraham Lincoln
Always respond to every impulse to pray. The impulse to pray may come when you are reading or when you are battling with a text. I would make an absolute law of this – always obey such an impulse. --Martyn Lloyd-Jones
One can believe intellectually in the efficacy of prayer and never do any praying. --Catherine Marshall
Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?-- Corrie Ten Boom
Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan --John Bunyan
Of all the duties enjoined by Christianity none is more essential and yet more neglected than prayer. --François Fénelon
The only way to Heaven is prayer; a prayer of the heart, which every one is capable of, and not of reasonings which are the fruits of study, or exercise of the imagination, which, in filling the mind with wandering objects, rarely settle it; instead of warming the heart with love to God, they leave it cold and languishing. --Jeanne Guyon
We must alter our lives in order to alter our hearts, for it is impossible to live one way and pray another. --William Law
The Third Petition of the Lord's Prayer is repeated daily by millions who have not the slightest intention of letting anyone's will be done but their own.--<Aldous Huxley
Is the Son of God praying in me, or am I dictating to Him?....Prayer is not simply getting things from God, that is a most initial form of prayer; prayer is getting into perfect communion with God. If the Son of God is formed in us by regeneration, He will press forward in front of our common sense and change our attitude to the things about which we pray. --Oswald Chambers
I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go. -- Abraham Lincoln
Always respond to every impulse to pray. The impulse to pray may come when you are reading or when you are battling with a text. I would make an absolute law of this – always obey such an impulse. --Martyn Lloyd-Jones
One can believe intellectually in the efficacy of prayer and never do any praying. --Catherine Marshall
Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?-- Corrie Ten Boom
Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan --John Bunyan
Of all the duties enjoined by Christianity none is more essential and yet more neglected than prayer. --François Fénelon
The only way to Heaven is prayer; a prayer of the heart, which every one is capable of, and not of reasonings which are the fruits of study, or exercise of the imagination, which, in filling the mind with wandering objects, rarely settle it; instead of warming the heart with love to God, they leave it cold and languishing. --Jeanne Guyon
We must alter our lives in order to alter our hearts, for it is impossible to live one way and pray another. --William Law
The Third Petition of the Lord's Prayer is repeated daily by millions who have not the slightest intention of letting anyone's will be done but their own.--<Aldous Huxley
Is the Son of God praying in me, or am I dictating to Him?....Prayer is not simply getting things from God, that is a most initial form of prayer; prayer is getting into perfect communion with God. If the Son of God is formed in us by regeneration, He will press forward in front of our common sense and change our attitude to the things about which we pray. --Oswald Chambers
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Listen to God and Obey His Commands -- Humbly Follow His Call for You
Prayer is not just our requests, but it is also humbly listening to our God. Have you refused to listen to God?
"Now if you will fear and worship the Lord and listen to his voice, and if you do not rebel against the Lord's commands, and if you and your king follow the Lord your God, then all will be well. But if you rebel against the Lord's commands and refuse to listen to him, then his hand will be as heavy upon you as it was upon your ancestors." 1 Samuel 12:14-15 NLT
To reject God's call upon us is to rebel
The word rebel conjures up images of motorcycles, black leather jackets, tattoos, and arrogant, angry attitudes. Sometimes rebellion against God does manifest itself in such dramatic forms, but rebellion can be much more subtle.
A failure to worship God leads to a failure to listen to his commands. Such disrespect is rebellion against God—whether we wear black leather or suits and ties.
What subtle forms of rebellion tend to creep into your life? They can be a real hindrance to your prayer life. Repent and be make whole. Listen to God when you pray and read Scripture, and humbly obey Hiw Commands and His call upon your life.
"Now if you will fear and worship the Lord and listen to his voice, and if you do not rebel against the Lord's commands, and if you and your king follow the Lord your God, then all will be well. But if you rebel against the Lord's commands and refuse to listen to him, then his hand will be as heavy upon you as it was upon your ancestors." 1 Samuel 12:14-15 NLT
To reject God's call upon us is to rebel
The word rebel conjures up images of motorcycles, black leather jackets, tattoos, and arrogant, angry attitudes. Sometimes rebellion against God does manifest itself in such dramatic forms, but rebellion can be much more subtle.
A failure to worship God leads to a failure to listen to his commands. Such disrespect is rebellion against God—whether we wear black leather or suits and ties.
What subtle forms of rebellion tend to creep into your life? They can be a real hindrance to your prayer life. Repent and be make whole. Listen to God when you pray and read Scripture, and humbly obey Hiw Commands and His call upon your life.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Enter His Presence With Prayers of Thanksgiving!
God blesses those who seek after him. Pray for your church services. Prespare your heart to worship Him. Church is about what you do for God, not what He does for you! Worship God with all your being!
With what attitude do you enter a worship service?
With what attitude do you enter into prayer with your Lord?
"Enter his gates with thanksgiving: go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation." Psalm 100:4-5 NLT
If thou would thus leave thy heart with God on Saturday night, thou should find it with him in the Lord's day morning. Puritan preacher Geroge Swinnock
Let us give thanks for God's goodness!
Imagine yourself entering the gates at the entrance to the temple alongside a throng of people gathering to praise the Lord. As you near the courts of the temple, you are swept up in the words of this prayer uttered by all those around you: "Enter his gates with thanksgiving…" This prayer functioned as a call to worship for people entering the temple. It helped the people to focus their thoughts on God and his good gifts to them. It set a tone of thankfulness for the worship service that would follow.
Let the words of this prayer focus your thoughts on God's goodness to you. Come into his presence with thanksgiving and praise on your lips. This goes for personal prayer time as well as for Sunday worship services.
It is good to begin your prayers with praise and thanksgiving. "Lord, I enter into your presence with thanksgiving and praise, for you are good."
With what attitude do you enter a worship service?
With what attitude do you enter into prayer with your Lord?
"Enter his gates with thanksgiving: go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation." Psalm 100:4-5 NLT
If thou would thus leave thy heart with God on Saturday night, thou should find it with him in the Lord's day morning. Puritan preacher Geroge Swinnock
Let us give thanks for God's goodness!
Imagine yourself entering the gates at the entrance to the temple alongside a throng of people gathering to praise the Lord. As you near the courts of the temple, you are swept up in the words of this prayer uttered by all those around you: "Enter his gates with thanksgiving…" This prayer functioned as a call to worship for people entering the temple. It helped the people to focus their thoughts on God and his good gifts to them. It set a tone of thankfulness for the worship service that would follow.
Let the words of this prayer focus your thoughts on God's goodness to you. Come into his presence with thanksgiving and praise on your lips. This goes for personal prayer time as well as for Sunday worship services.
It is good to begin your prayers with praise and thanksgiving. "Lord, I enter into your presence with thanksgiving and praise, for you are good."
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
God's School of Prayer No. 4 -- Life is Fragile, Handle With Prayer
Life Is Fragile: Handle With Prayer
Life is fragile: Handle with prayer.
Remember that Jesus will always be there
To hear our problems and to gather our tears,
To calm the storms, and to settle the fears.
It does not matter how great or how small,
Jesus will answer to our every call.
Just call on the Lord, it matters not when-
His office is not closed at half-past ten.
He's never on lunch, He can't take a break;
If He did, this old world would just crumble and shake.
His lines are never busy, He won't put you on hold.
He won't ask you twice what He's already been told.
There's no account number, nor address to give;
No matter where you've moved, He knows where you live.
Yes, the Lord always answers, He never leaves home.
He won't leave us to handle it all on our own.
So when things get rough, and things aren't fair,
Remember: Life is fragile, so handle with prayer.
By Gloria J. Ames
James 4:14 Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. (And that is a fact) For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Recenlty my friend Franklin Becker gave a powerful witness to both the fragile nature of life and the wonder of family and the power of prayer. Franklin gave us all a wake-up call. He testified that sometimes we do need to just stop and ponder what a miracle it is to be alive. And we ponder just why do we have to go through life that includes suffering.
Sometimes there are all kinds of acts of depression, sometimes acceleration; oftentimes there are challenges that seem to be beyond our ability to cope. What is it all about? Some people seem to think that whoever gets the most goodies at the end wins? When we read very clearly the bible says when you die you do not get to take it with you -- although some people live their lives as if they do not believe that.
Life is fragile and we have to pray for one another, and dry the tears from each other’s lives and life each other up.
You know the prayers avail much of God's people because when we pray for people's suffering we understand that suffering is a great roadblock to accomplishing our mission and we need to have deliverance, we need to have encouragement, we need to learn from all of our sufferings. I might just add to that thought, pray that he understands how fragile life is and what a gift God wants to give to those who understand His purpose; that is we get to live as a member of God's family for eternity.
Christ didn't say, "All your prayers will be granted," but He said, "All things, whatsoever you ask in prayer, BELIEVING, you shall receive." (Matthew 21:22)
So, the first step to receiving your desires is to trust in God and believe in His love. Whenever things appear to be going wrong, it is just God telling us that He has better plans for us. That's why it makes sense to submit to the will of God. God always answers our prayers. he does this by giving us either what we prayed for or what we SHOULD have prayed for.
We are called to submit or surrender to God. It is hard to do, Most of us are bull-headed and naturally selfish. But we surrender to the will of God not to be enslaved, but to be set free from making bad decisions. Pastor Nicholson told me that "The greatest prayer is patience." We not only should be patient, but we should pray persistently, for as William McGill wrote, "The value of persistent prayer is not that He will hear us, but that we will finally hear Him."
An ancient Jewish proverb teaches "Do not make prayer mechanical. Let it be a cry for grace and mercy, so that love replaces fear in the place in which you stand."
A pastor friend of mine in Wisconsin told me that Your requests do not become holy just because you ask God for His favor, Rather your requests be4come holy and worthy when they are aligned with His will as found in His word.”.
We need to head the advice of St. Augustine who said, "Pray as though everything depended on God, and work as though everything depended on you!”
Remember that the Holy Spirit will help you with your prayers. Prayer is the work of God's Spirit reaching out to us with an invitation to travel the highway of Spirit seeking after and being found by God. It is waiting upon God, it is listening to God, it is calling upon God and giving ourselves to God in the moment by moment events and actions of our lives.
To pray is to pay attention to God, to enter into conscious contact with God whereby we learn the ultimate faithfulness of God. Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness.... It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.
Whatever the posture of the body, prayer is the soul is on its knees.
Prayer is the soul on its knees, the soul longing for God, the soul longing for God's reign, not only in the world, but in your life, in my life, not only in our crises, not only in our successes, but in every aspect of our living--paying attention to God.
As a poster I had on my wall in college said: "Life is Fragile, Handle with Prayer."
Without a doubt, "Prayer Changes Things." While prayer may or may not change your present situation or circumstance, there is always a good chance it will change you, the one who prays. It can change the way you look at your circumastances. Can prayer change the world? Not always, not right away; but it will change the way you look at it, and through whose eyes you see it.11 Can prayer change things? Absolutely! But unless you are prepared to change, as one writer put if. Don not pray, because prayer will change the one who prays! That is for certain, too.
Prayer is the sound of the mustard seed of faith in your life; it is the gratitude that transforms healing into wholeness; it is the pesky persistence of the widow demanding what is right for herself and for the world. The life-blood of faith, your prayer will mark the difference between faith and faithlessness, and that is a wonderful blessing!
But – know this – as much as God desires for us to pray for one another, the devil wants us NOT TO PRAY. What various hindrances we meet In coming to the mercy-seat.
We have hindrances to prayer, many of our own making, but all things that keep us from praying make the evil ones happy! God wants you and me to pray. The devil does not want you and me to pray, and he and his fallen angles do all they can to hinder you and me. They know full well that we can accomplish more through our prayers than through our work. The evil ones would rather have us do anything else than pray. They oppose prayer. They despise prayer.
Fallen Angels our march oppose us who still in strength excel
Our secret, sworn, relentless foes, Countless, invisible.
But we need not fear them, nor heed them, if our eyes are ever on the Lord. The holy angels are stronger than fallen angels,
and we can ask the celestial hosts to guard us.
Billy Graham said that the hosts of evil start those wandering thoughts which so often wreck prayer. We no sooner kneel than we "recollect" something that should have been done, or something which had better be seen to at once.
RESIST THE DEVIL AND HE WILL FLEE. (James 4:7).PRAY AND PRAY AGAIN> LIFE IS FRAGILE< HANDLE WITH PRAYER!
Life is fragile: Handle with prayer.
Remember that Jesus will always be there
To hear our problems and to gather our tears,
To calm the storms, and to settle the fears.
It does not matter how great or how small,
Jesus will answer to our every call.
Just call on the Lord, it matters not when-
His office is not closed at half-past ten.
He's never on lunch, He can't take a break;
If He did, this old world would just crumble and shake.
His lines are never busy, He won't put you on hold.
He won't ask you twice what He's already been told.
There's no account number, nor address to give;
No matter where you've moved, He knows where you live.
Yes, the Lord always answers, He never leaves home.
He won't leave us to handle it all on our own.
So when things get rough, and things aren't fair,
Remember: Life is fragile, so handle with prayer.
By Gloria J. Ames
James 4:14 Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. (And that is a fact) For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Recenlty my friend Franklin Becker gave a powerful witness to both the fragile nature of life and the wonder of family and the power of prayer. Franklin gave us all a wake-up call. He testified that sometimes we do need to just stop and ponder what a miracle it is to be alive. And we ponder just why do we have to go through life that includes suffering.
Sometimes there are all kinds of acts of depression, sometimes acceleration; oftentimes there are challenges that seem to be beyond our ability to cope. What is it all about? Some people seem to think that whoever gets the most goodies at the end wins? When we read very clearly the bible says when you die you do not get to take it with you -- although some people live their lives as if they do not believe that.
Life is fragile and we have to pray for one another, and dry the tears from each other’s lives and life each other up.
You know the prayers avail much of God's people because when we pray for people's suffering we understand that suffering is a great roadblock to accomplishing our mission and we need to have deliverance, we need to have encouragement, we need to learn from all of our sufferings. I might just add to that thought, pray that he understands how fragile life is and what a gift God wants to give to those who understand His purpose; that is we get to live as a member of God's family for eternity.
Christ didn't say, "All your prayers will be granted," but He said, "All things, whatsoever you ask in prayer, BELIEVING, you shall receive." (Matthew 21:22)
So, the first step to receiving your desires is to trust in God and believe in His love. Whenever things appear to be going wrong, it is just God telling us that He has better plans for us. That's why it makes sense to submit to the will of God. God always answers our prayers. he does this by giving us either what we prayed for or what we SHOULD have prayed for.
We are called to submit or surrender to God. It is hard to do, Most of us are bull-headed and naturally selfish. But we surrender to the will of God not to be enslaved, but to be set free from making bad decisions. Pastor Nicholson told me that "The greatest prayer is patience." We not only should be patient, but we should pray persistently, for as William McGill wrote, "The value of persistent prayer is not that He will hear us, but that we will finally hear Him."
An ancient Jewish proverb teaches "Do not make prayer mechanical. Let it be a cry for grace and mercy, so that love replaces fear in the place in which you stand."
A pastor friend of mine in Wisconsin told me that Your requests do not become holy just because you ask God for His favor, Rather your requests be4come holy and worthy when they are aligned with His will as found in His word.”.
We need to head the advice of St. Augustine who said, "Pray as though everything depended on God, and work as though everything depended on you!”
Remember that the Holy Spirit will help you with your prayers. Prayer is the work of God's Spirit reaching out to us with an invitation to travel the highway of Spirit seeking after and being found by God. It is waiting upon God, it is listening to God, it is calling upon God and giving ourselves to God in the moment by moment events and actions of our lives.
To pray is to pay attention to God, to enter into conscious contact with God whereby we learn the ultimate faithfulness of God. Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness.... It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.
Whatever the posture of the body, prayer is the soul is on its knees.
Prayer is the soul on its knees, the soul longing for God, the soul longing for God's reign, not only in the world, but in your life, in my life, not only in our crises, not only in our successes, but in every aspect of our living--paying attention to God.
As a poster I had on my wall in college said: "Life is Fragile, Handle with Prayer."
Without a doubt, "Prayer Changes Things." While prayer may or may not change your present situation or circumstance, there is always a good chance it will change you, the one who prays. It can change the way you look at your circumastances. Can prayer change the world? Not always, not right away; but it will change the way you look at it, and through whose eyes you see it.11 Can prayer change things? Absolutely! But unless you are prepared to change, as one writer put if. Don not pray, because prayer will change the one who prays! That is for certain, too.
Prayer is the sound of the mustard seed of faith in your life; it is the gratitude that transforms healing into wholeness; it is the pesky persistence of the widow demanding what is right for herself and for the world. The life-blood of faith, your prayer will mark the difference between faith and faithlessness, and that is a wonderful blessing!
But – know this – as much as God desires for us to pray for one another, the devil wants us NOT TO PRAY. What various hindrances we meet In coming to the mercy-seat.
We have hindrances to prayer, many of our own making, but all things that keep us from praying make the evil ones happy! God wants you and me to pray. The devil does not want you and me to pray, and he and his fallen angles do all they can to hinder you and me. They know full well that we can accomplish more through our prayers than through our work. The evil ones would rather have us do anything else than pray. They oppose prayer. They despise prayer.
Fallen Angels our march oppose us who still in strength excel
Our secret, sworn, relentless foes, Countless, invisible.
But we need not fear them, nor heed them, if our eyes are ever on the Lord. The holy angels are stronger than fallen angels,
and we can ask the celestial hosts to guard us.
Billy Graham said that the hosts of evil start those wandering thoughts which so often wreck prayer. We no sooner kneel than we "recollect" something that should have been done, or something which had better be seen to at once.
RESIST THE DEVIL AND HE WILL FLEE. (James 4:7).PRAY AND PRAY AGAIN> LIFE IS FRAGILE< HANDLE WITH PRAYER!
Sunday, November 08, 2009
School of Prayer No. 3: Life is Fragile, Part Two
Prayer is the sound of the mustard seed of faith in your life; it is the gratitude that transforms healing into wholeness; it is the pesky persistence of the widow demanding what is right for herself and for the world. The life-blood of faith, your prayer will mark the difference between faith and faithlessness, and that is a wonderful blessing!
But – know this – as much as God desires for us to pray for one another, the devil wants us NOT TO PRAY. What various hindrances we meet In coming to the mercy-seat. We have hindrances to prayer, many of our own making, like sin in our lives, but all things that keep us from praying make the evil ones happy!
God wants you and me to pray. The devil does not want you and me to pray, and he and his fallen angles do all they can to hinder you and me. They know full well that we can accomplish more through our prayers than through our work. The evil ones would rather have us do anything else than pray. They oppose prayer. They despise prayer.
Fallen Angels our march oppose us who still in strength excel
Our secret, sworn, relentless foes, Countless, invisible.
But we need not fear them, nor heed them, if our eyes are ever on the Lord. The holy angels are stronger than fallen angels, and we can ask the celestial hosts to guard us. Billy Graham said that the hosts of evil start those wandering thoughts which so often wreck prayer. We no sooner kneel than we "recollect" something that should have been done, or something which had better be seen to at once.
These thoughts come from without, and are often due to the promptings of fallen spirits. The only cure for wandering thoughts is to get our minds fixed upon God. Undoubtedly a man's worst foe is himself. Prayer is a great gift for a child of God -- and one who is living as a child of God should pray and pray again. It is a mighty spiritual weaopn. Use it. Be the Prayer Warrior you are called to be!
God is propelling us into a different level of prayer. let us seek God for direction, listen to His voice, and incorporate prayer into every aspect of our daily life. The Bible tells us it will begin to make a powerful difference in our spiritual well-being.
I once read a statement that said, "Seven days without prayer makes one weak." And by experience I found that to be true. The more consistently I prayed, the better I was able to handle what each day would bring. The less I prayed, the more stressful my life became. Then, if circumstances seemingly spiraled out of control, I was left with no spiritual strength to withstand the attacks of the enemy. I learned the hard way that daily prayer really isn’t an option, but a necessity. Prayer needs to be our default -- what we go to in every instance. No griping, just prayer. No gossip, just prayer. No worry, just prayer. Prayer is the answer to life's questions, becuase Jesus has given us the authority to pray in His Name.
LIfe is Fragile -- Handle with Prayer!
But – know this – as much as God desires for us to pray for one another, the devil wants us NOT TO PRAY. What various hindrances we meet In coming to the mercy-seat. We have hindrances to prayer, many of our own making, like sin in our lives, but all things that keep us from praying make the evil ones happy!
God wants you and me to pray. The devil does not want you and me to pray, and he and his fallen angles do all they can to hinder you and me. They know full well that we can accomplish more through our prayers than through our work. The evil ones would rather have us do anything else than pray. They oppose prayer. They despise prayer.
Fallen Angels our march oppose us who still in strength excel
Our secret, sworn, relentless foes, Countless, invisible.
But we need not fear them, nor heed them, if our eyes are ever on the Lord. The holy angels are stronger than fallen angels, and we can ask the celestial hosts to guard us. Billy Graham said that the hosts of evil start those wandering thoughts which so often wreck prayer. We no sooner kneel than we "recollect" something that should have been done, or something which had better be seen to at once.
These thoughts come from without, and are often due to the promptings of fallen spirits. The only cure for wandering thoughts is to get our minds fixed upon God. Undoubtedly a man's worst foe is himself. Prayer is a great gift for a child of God -- and one who is living as a child of God should pray and pray again. It is a mighty spiritual weaopn. Use it. Be the Prayer Warrior you are called to be!
God is propelling us into a different level of prayer. let us seek God for direction, listen to His voice, and incorporate prayer into every aspect of our daily life. The Bible tells us it will begin to make a powerful difference in our spiritual well-being.
I once read a statement that said, "Seven days without prayer makes one weak." And by experience I found that to be true. The more consistently I prayed, the better I was able to handle what each day would bring. The less I prayed, the more stressful my life became. Then, if circumstances seemingly spiraled out of control, I was left with no spiritual strength to withstand the attacks of the enemy. I learned the hard way that daily prayer really isn’t an option, but a necessity. Prayer needs to be our default -- what we go to in every instance. No griping, just prayer. No gossip, just prayer. No worry, just prayer. Prayer is the answer to life's questions, becuase Jesus has given us the authority to pray in His Name.
LIfe is Fragile -- Handle with Prayer!
School of Prayer No. 3 -- Life is Fragile, Handle with Prayer, Part One
When I was in college I had a poster that said something very profound in just a few words -- "Life is fragile, Handle with Prayer."
Life can be tough. We live in a broken world and the brokenness touches us at times. Sometimes it affects our lives more than other times. Sometimes that hurt and shattered-ness seems to affect some people more than others. But know this -- everyone you know is dealing with some problem, and they can use the blessing of your prayers.
We cannot be sure what tomorrow may bring. The Bible tells us that fact. James 4:14 Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. (And that is a fact) For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Last week one of our members gave a powerful witness to both the fragile nature of life and the wonder of family and the power of prayer. His situation gave us all a wake-up call: he was a healthy man in the prime of his life, workind hard all day, then eh gets a headache, and, when it gets worse he goes to the emergency room. The word comes back that he has bleeding on the brain. and suddenly he is being med-flighted by helicopter to the Mayo Clnic miles away. Thank God he recovered! But here we see a picture of how fragile this life can be!
Sometimes we do need to just stop and ponder what a miracle it is to be alive. And we ponder just why do we have to go through life that includes suffering. Sometimes there are all kinds of acts of depression, sometimes acceleration; oftentimes there are challenges that seem to be beyond our ability to cope. What is it all about? Some people seem to think that whoever gets the most goodies at the end wins? When we read very clearly the bible says when you die you do not get to take it with you -- although some people live their lives as if they do not believe that.
Life is fragile and we have to pray for one another, and dry the tears from each other’s lives and life each other up. You know the prayers avail much of God's people because when we pray for people's suffering we understand that suffering is a great roadblock to accomplishing our mission and we need to have deliverance, we need to have encouragement, we need to learn from all of our sufferings. I might just add to that thought, pray that he understands how fragile life is and what a gift God wants to give to those who understand His purpose; that is we get to live as a member of God's family for eternity.
Christ didn't say, "All your prayers will be granted," but said, "All things, whatsoever you ask in prayer, BELIEVING, you shall receive." So, the first step to receiving your desires is to trust in God and believe in His love. Whenever things appear to be going wrong, it is just God telling us that He has better plans for us. That's why it makes sense to submit to the will of God. God always answers our prayers. he does this by giving us either what we prayed for or what we SHOULD have prayed for. We are called to submit or surrender to God. It is hard to do, Most of us are bull-headed and naturally selfish. But we surrender to the will of God not to be enslaved, but to be set free from making bad decisions.
The great Presbyterian Pastor Willis Nicholson told me that "The greatest prayer is one for patience." We not only should be patient, but we should pray persistently, for as William McGill wrote, "The value of persistent prayer is not that He will hear us, but that we will finally hear Him."
An ancient Jewish proverb teaches "Do not make prayer mechanical. Let it be a cry for grace and mercy, so that love replaces fear in the place in which you stand."
A pastor friend of mine in Wisconsin told me that Your requests do not become holy just because you ask God for His favor, Rather your requests be4come holy and worthy when they are aligned with His will as found in His word.”.
We need to heed the advice of St. Augustine who said, "Pray as though everything depended on God, and work as though everything depended on you!”
Remember that the Holy Spirit will help you with your prayers. Prayer is the work of God's Spirit reaching out to us with an invitation to travel the highway of Spirit seeking after and being found by God. It is waiting upon God, it is listening to God, it is calling upon God and giving ourselves to God in the moment by moment events and actions of our lives. To pray is to pay attention to God, to enter into conscious contact with God whereby we learn the ultimate faithfulness of God.
Prayer is not just simple asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness.... It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart." Whatever the posture of the body, prayer is the soul is on its knees."10 Prayer is the soul on its knees, the soul longing for God, the soul longing for God's reign, not only in the world, but in your life, in my life, not only in our crises, not only in our successes, but in every aspect of our living--paying attention to God. It is true: "Life is Fragile, Handle with Prayer."
Without a doubt, "Prayer Changes Things." While prayer may or may not change your present situation or circumstance, there is always a good chance it will change you, the one who prays. It can change the way you look at your circumastances. Can prayer change the world? Not always, not right away; but it will change the way you look at it, and through whose eyes you see it.11 Can prayer change things? Absolutely! But unless you are prepared to change, as one writer put if. Don not pray, because prayer will change the one who prays! That is for certain, too.
Life can be tough. We live in a broken world and the brokenness touches us at times. Sometimes it affects our lives more than other times. Sometimes that hurt and shattered-ness seems to affect some people more than others. But know this -- everyone you know is dealing with some problem, and they can use the blessing of your prayers.
We cannot be sure what tomorrow may bring. The Bible tells us that fact. James 4:14 Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. (And that is a fact) For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Last week one of our members gave a powerful witness to both the fragile nature of life and the wonder of family and the power of prayer. His situation gave us all a wake-up call: he was a healthy man in the prime of his life, workind hard all day, then eh gets a headache, and, when it gets worse he goes to the emergency room. The word comes back that he has bleeding on the brain. and suddenly he is being med-flighted by helicopter to the Mayo Clnic miles away. Thank God he recovered! But here we see a picture of how fragile this life can be!
Sometimes we do need to just stop and ponder what a miracle it is to be alive. And we ponder just why do we have to go through life that includes suffering. Sometimes there are all kinds of acts of depression, sometimes acceleration; oftentimes there are challenges that seem to be beyond our ability to cope. What is it all about? Some people seem to think that whoever gets the most goodies at the end wins? When we read very clearly the bible says when you die you do not get to take it with you -- although some people live their lives as if they do not believe that.
Life is fragile and we have to pray for one another, and dry the tears from each other’s lives and life each other up. You know the prayers avail much of God's people because when we pray for people's suffering we understand that suffering is a great roadblock to accomplishing our mission and we need to have deliverance, we need to have encouragement, we need to learn from all of our sufferings. I might just add to that thought, pray that he understands how fragile life is and what a gift God wants to give to those who understand His purpose; that is we get to live as a member of God's family for eternity.
Christ didn't say, "All your prayers will be granted," but said, "All things, whatsoever you ask in prayer, BELIEVING, you shall receive." So, the first step to receiving your desires is to trust in God and believe in His love. Whenever things appear to be going wrong, it is just God telling us that He has better plans for us. That's why it makes sense to submit to the will of God. God always answers our prayers. he does this by giving us either what we prayed for or what we SHOULD have prayed for. We are called to submit or surrender to God. It is hard to do, Most of us are bull-headed and naturally selfish. But we surrender to the will of God not to be enslaved, but to be set free from making bad decisions.
The great Presbyterian Pastor Willis Nicholson told me that "The greatest prayer is one for patience." We not only should be patient, but we should pray persistently, for as William McGill wrote, "The value of persistent prayer is not that He will hear us, but that we will finally hear Him."
An ancient Jewish proverb teaches "Do not make prayer mechanical. Let it be a cry for grace and mercy, so that love replaces fear in the place in which you stand."
A pastor friend of mine in Wisconsin told me that Your requests do not become holy just because you ask God for His favor, Rather your requests be4come holy and worthy when they are aligned with His will as found in His word.”.
We need to heed the advice of St. Augustine who said, "Pray as though everything depended on God, and work as though everything depended on you!”
Remember that the Holy Spirit will help you with your prayers. Prayer is the work of God's Spirit reaching out to us with an invitation to travel the highway of Spirit seeking after and being found by God. It is waiting upon God, it is listening to God, it is calling upon God and giving ourselves to God in the moment by moment events and actions of our lives. To pray is to pay attention to God, to enter into conscious contact with God whereby we learn the ultimate faithfulness of God.
Prayer is not just simple asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness.... It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart." Whatever the posture of the body, prayer is the soul is on its knees."10 Prayer is the soul on its knees, the soul longing for God, the soul longing for God's reign, not only in the world, but in your life, in my life, not only in our crises, not only in our successes, but in every aspect of our living--paying attention to God. It is true: "Life is Fragile, Handle with Prayer."
Without a doubt, "Prayer Changes Things." While prayer may or may not change your present situation or circumstance, there is always a good chance it will change you, the one who prays. It can change the way you look at your circumastances. Can prayer change the world? Not always, not right away; but it will change the way you look at it, and through whose eyes you see it.11 Can prayer change things? Absolutely! But unless you are prepared to change, as one writer put if. Don not pray, because prayer will change the one who prays! That is for certain, too.
Monday, November 02, 2009
School of Prayer Number 2, Part Two: Prayer BInds Our Soul to God
In my father's office when I was a child was a plaque over his desk that said simply "PRAYER CHANGES THINGS." A simple statement it was, but oh so powerful to one who beleives it! I still have that plaque from my father's things, and I firmly believe the truth it proclaims for us.
Throughout the centuries faithful followers of God have proclaimed the power of prayer.
In Psalm 62, we find: "For God alone my soul waits in silence, my hope is from God, On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge, is God. Trust in God at all times, O people; pour out your heart before God.”
"Our hearts are restless, God, until they find their rest in thee," as did Augustine sixteen hundred years ago.
"Prayer binds our soul to God." Julian of Norwich said that in 1400.
Jesus Himself prayeed this prayer: "Holy Father, keep (thy disciples) in thy name … that they may be one, even as we are one… That they may all be one even as thou, father, art in me and I in thee, that they may also be in us…" Jesus said that in his farewell prayer in John Chapter 17.
The Bible and Christian leaders through the ages make enormous claims about prayer, and they all say that prayer does matter, that it reflects and reveals our created connection not only to the Body of Christ but to the whole of the universe and the transcendence and immanence of God. And they mean that what we do for a moment before bed, or for an hour in the middle of the night,
what we do every morning reading scripture or every once in a while in airplanes and hospital rooms has a power, a purpose, and a presence. God wants, the world needs, our prayer. And, brothers and sisters, if Jesus is right, and I know that He is, then it is worth our time and understanding and attention and practice to pray and to pray well.
It is worth our mature thought, too. For what prayer can offer is reality based, not magic based. It is grounded in the goodness and omnipresence of God and in the admission that we can't reverse the irreversible but that we must pursue the possible. One author writes that if every baseball player's prayers at bat were answered they would all hit 1000, and the game would be ruined in 24 hours. But, again, prayer represents God's invitation to participate in bringing the world closer to the fullness and reflection of God's character.
It's not about magic. It's about hope and joy in God. It is not about every prayer answered yes, but the adventure of finding out God’s answers to our prayers, and our interaction with His loving presence in our lives!
How do you begin to pray? Well, it is a conversation with God. A sentence will do , but I hope it grows into a wonderful exchange, with not only you talking, but you listening. You will soon find that listening for God is the most fun of all. And do not forget to praise God.
For over 5,000 years Jewish and then Christian prayer form has begun with praise or blessing for God. To be thankful is a lifestyle for Christians – we are to have an attitude of gratitude, not complaint or lament or depression. These all may come, but praising God will chase them away. If you are having trouble praying, pray anyway – say “PRAISE THE LORD!” and say the Lord’s Prayer. But I pray your prayer life becomes as deep and wide as ocean.
John Chapman, a contemporary writer, says "The only way to pray is to pray; and the way to pray well is to pray much." It makes a difference. To ourselves, to our God, to God's creation.
Prayer has many forms -- public, private, liturgical, petitionary, intercessory, confessional, invocational, and more -- and they all come down to this: prayer is God's gift, revealing the union that we have with the divine and the creation and the cosmos -- even with one another.
When we pray it changes the way the world is and what the world can be. It is simple, and complex, and it is something to be done, and done again. To be practiced, alone and together, as the key to our lives, so let us be a people and a House of Prayer. REMEMBER -- PRAYER CHANGES THINGS AND PRAYER CHANGES THE ONE WHO PRAYS FOR THE BETTER! Change the world one prayer at a time!
Throughout the centuries faithful followers of God have proclaimed the power of prayer.
In Psalm 62, we find: "For God alone my soul waits in silence, my hope is from God, On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge, is God. Trust in God at all times, O people; pour out your heart before God.”
"Our hearts are restless, God, until they find their rest in thee," as did Augustine sixteen hundred years ago.
"Prayer binds our soul to God." Julian of Norwich said that in 1400.
Jesus Himself prayeed this prayer: "Holy Father, keep (thy disciples) in thy name … that they may be one, even as we are one… That they may all be one even as thou, father, art in me and I in thee, that they may also be in us…" Jesus said that in his farewell prayer in John Chapter 17.
The Bible and Christian leaders through the ages make enormous claims about prayer, and they all say that prayer does matter, that it reflects and reveals our created connection not only to the Body of Christ but to the whole of the universe and the transcendence and immanence of God. And they mean that what we do for a moment before bed, or for an hour in the middle of the night,
what we do every morning reading scripture or every once in a while in airplanes and hospital rooms has a power, a purpose, and a presence. God wants, the world needs, our prayer. And, brothers and sisters, if Jesus is right, and I know that He is, then it is worth our time and understanding and attention and practice to pray and to pray well.
It is worth our mature thought, too. For what prayer can offer is reality based, not magic based. It is grounded in the goodness and omnipresence of God and in the admission that we can't reverse the irreversible but that we must pursue the possible. One author writes that if every baseball player's prayers at bat were answered they would all hit 1000, and the game would be ruined in 24 hours. But, again, prayer represents God's invitation to participate in bringing the world closer to the fullness and reflection of God's character.
It's not about magic. It's about hope and joy in God. It is not about every prayer answered yes, but the adventure of finding out God’s answers to our prayers, and our interaction with His loving presence in our lives!
How do you begin to pray? Well, it is a conversation with God. A sentence will do , but I hope it grows into a wonderful exchange, with not only you talking, but you listening. You will soon find that listening for God is the most fun of all. And do not forget to praise God.
For over 5,000 years Jewish and then Christian prayer form has begun with praise or blessing for God. To be thankful is a lifestyle for Christians – we are to have an attitude of gratitude, not complaint or lament or depression. These all may come, but praising God will chase them away. If you are having trouble praying, pray anyway – say “PRAISE THE LORD!” and say the Lord’s Prayer. But I pray your prayer life becomes as deep and wide as ocean.
John Chapman, a contemporary writer, says "The only way to pray is to pray; and the way to pray well is to pray much." It makes a difference. To ourselves, to our God, to God's creation.
Prayer has many forms -- public, private, liturgical, petitionary, intercessory, confessional, invocational, and more -- and they all come down to this: prayer is God's gift, revealing the union that we have with the divine and the creation and the cosmos -- even with one another.
When we pray it changes the way the world is and what the world can be. It is simple, and complex, and it is something to be done, and done again. To be practiced, alone and together, as the key to our lives, so let us be a people and a House of Prayer. REMEMBER -- PRAYER CHANGES THINGS AND PRAYER CHANGES THE ONE WHO PRAYS FOR THE BETTER! Change the world one prayer at a time!
Sunday, November 01, 2009
School of Prayer No.2, Part One -- Prayer Changes Things and Prayer Changes the One Who Prays!
Hear me now, people – this is a great and important truth -- God hears and answers prayer If you will ask it shall be given unto you, if you seek you shall find, and if you knock it shall be open unto you! That our joy may be full, Jesus said. It is how we are able to stand the fiery trials; THE JOY OF THE LORD is our strength!
Psalms 1 says blessed is the man who delights himself in the law of the Lord, someone who meditates in His law day and night, David said, that he would be like a tree planted by the rivers of water -- Living water that will flow from the inner most part of your being! From your belly springing up into everlasting life!
You are like a tree brings forth fruit in its season, his leaf also shall not wither (The gift or calling God has placed in your life will not fade away, you can keep the same anointing that will cause you to bring forth much fruit!) and whatsoever you do God shall cause it to prosper! You will be blessed in your deed because you are a doer of the word and not a hearer only.
God’s eyes are over watching over the righteous and His ears are opened unto their cries! And if you have Jesus as your Lord and Savior His blood makes you one of the Righteous, Praise the Lord! He hears and answers prayers! Prayer changes things; it changes people, circumstances, and situations. Prayer is one of the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven!
James tells us that: The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much! What a powerful promise. Christ makes you righteous through His blood and then he gives you prayer as a mighty spiritual weapon and He urges you to use it!
You and I belong to God. For in the waters of Baptism God has washed away our sins. In our Baptismal waters God has given to you new life in Christ. You have been saved: “not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, [6] whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, [7] so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:5-7
When Martin Luther's puppy happened to be at the table, he looked for a morsel from his master, and watched with open mouth and motionless eyes; he (Martin Luther) said, 'Oh, if I could only pray the way this dog watches the meat! All his thoughts are concentrated on the piece of meat. Otherwise he has no thought, wish or hope." Now that kind of focus would lend to a fervent prayer. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus, not on our problems!
Friends, there is power in prayer. It changes things – and it changes us for the better when we pray. There is power in prayer because prayer turns away from self and to God. Luther put it well: “we are beggars, all of us. Nothing in our hands we bring, simply to the cross we cling.”
In prayer we come to the Savior, to the Spirit, to God the Father. Humbly we come, and we are lifted up in his power as we cling to the cross. We bow our heads and He crowns us with His righteousness and love. What a mighty God we serve!
What is it that troubles you today? Know that God hears you in Christ. There is power in prayer because our God is powerful and able to save. He has saved us, and so we pray to him as his Children, made right by the blood of Christ and the amazing grace of His salvation. He gives us the right and privilege to pray – the mighty tool of God that He has placed in your hands.
Prayer is a miraculous, wonderful gift from God to us, from your heavenly father to YOU! "Prayer changes the way the world is, and therefore changes what the world can be." Prayer changes the way the world is, and therefore changes what the world can be. With God's participation. The Bible tells us that God is everywhere. Our God is omnipresent to us.
Our relationship with God can enhance our ability to lead lives of peace, justice, and beauty. Prayer builds this relationship and goes to the depths of ourselves. Prayer is our openness to the God, who pervades the universe and therefore ourselves, and this prayer is also this God's openness to us.
Because God desires us to pray, God has also ordained that Prayer increases the effectiveness of God's work with the world? God's invitation to us to pray -- indeed, God's gracious command to us to pray -- suggests the possibility that our prayers make a difference to God, and therefore, as John Wesley eloquently stated, might possibly make a difference to what God can do in the world, because God gave dominion on the earth to humankind and Jesus gave authority on the earth to his followers, those that believe in Him. And that, brothers and sisters, is us!
Psalms 1 says blessed is the man who delights himself in the law of the Lord, someone who meditates in His law day and night, David said, that he would be like a tree planted by the rivers of water -- Living water that will flow from the inner most part of your being! From your belly springing up into everlasting life!
You are like a tree brings forth fruit in its season, his leaf also shall not wither (The gift or calling God has placed in your life will not fade away, you can keep the same anointing that will cause you to bring forth much fruit!) and whatsoever you do God shall cause it to prosper! You will be blessed in your deed because you are a doer of the word and not a hearer only.
God’s eyes are over watching over the righteous and His ears are opened unto their cries! And if you have Jesus as your Lord and Savior His blood makes you one of the Righteous, Praise the Lord! He hears and answers prayers! Prayer changes things; it changes people, circumstances, and situations. Prayer is one of the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven!
James tells us that: The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much! What a powerful promise. Christ makes you righteous through His blood and then he gives you prayer as a mighty spiritual weapon and He urges you to use it!
You and I belong to God. For in the waters of Baptism God has washed away our sins. In our Baptismal waters God has given to you new life in Christ. You have been saved: “not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, [6] whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, [7] so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:5-7
When Martin Luther's puppy happened to be at the table, he looked for a morsel from his master, and watched with open mouth and motionless eyes; he (Martin Luther) said, 'Oh, if I could only pray the way this dog watches the meat! All his thoughts are concentrated on the piece of meat. Otherwise he has no thought, wish or hope." Now that kind of focus would lend to a fervent prayer. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus, not on our problems!
Friends, there is power in prayer. It changes things – and it changes us for the better when we pray. There is power in prayer because prayer turns away from self and to God. Luther put it well: “we are beggars, all of us. Nothing in our hands we bring, simply to the cross we cling.”
In prayer we come to the Savior, to the Spirit, to God the Father. Humbly we come, and we are lifted up in his power as we cling to the cross. We bow our heads and He crowns us with His righteousness and love. What a mighty God we serve!
What is it that troubles you today? Know that God hears you in Christ. There is power in prayer because our God is powerful and able to save. He has saved us, and so we pray to him as his Children, made right by the blood of Christ and the amazing grace of His salvation. He gives us the right and privilege to pray – the mighty tool of God that He has placed in your hands.
Prayer is a miraculous, wonderful gift from God to us, from your heavenly father to YOU! "Prayer changes the way the world is, and therefore changes what the world can be." Prayer changes the way the world is, and therefore changes what the world can be. With God's participation. The Bible tells us that God is everywhere. Our God is omnipresent to us.
Our relationship with God can enhance our ability to lead lives of peace, justice, and beauty. Prayer builds this relationship and goes to the depths of ourselves. Prayer is our openness to the God, who pervades the universe and therefore ourselves, and this prayer is also this God's openness to us.
Because God desires us to pray, God has also ordained that Prayer increases the effectiveness of God's work with the world? God's invitation to us to pray -- indeed, God's gracious command to us to pray -- suggests the possibility that our prayers make a difference to God, and therefore, as John Wesley eloquently stated, might possibly make a difference to what God can do in the world, because God gave dominion on the earth to humankind and Jesus gave authority on the earth to his followers, those that believe in Him. And that, brothers and sisters, is us!
Friday, October 30, 2009
School of Prayer No. 1, Part Two: Lessons from Abraham-- Called to Pray for Other People
In Genesis 20 we get the curious story of Abram, King Abimilech and Sarah.
For a while Abraham stayed in Gerar. While in Gerar the king, Abimelech, came to Abraham. Abraham told him that his wife, Sarah, was really his sister. Abimelech therefore took Sarah.
Then God told Abimelech in a dream “You are as good as dead because of the women you have taken: she is a married women.” Abimelech explained that he didn’t know she was married and Abraham told him that they were brother and sister. God said that Abimelech could either return Sarah to Abraham or have he, and everyone he knows, die.
Now Abimelech summoned all of his officials and told them what happened, obviously they were all afraid. Then Abimelech summoned Abraham and asked “What was your reason for doing this?” Abram replied, “I said to myself: ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will surely kill me because of my wife.’ Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother, and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.“‘“
Then Abimelech gave Abraham some sheep, cattle, slaves, and Sarah, and told him he can live where ever he would like in my lands. Abimelech gave Sarah 1000 shekels for his offense against them.
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his slave girls so they could have children again, for the Lord had closed up every womb in Abimelech’s household because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.
We Find Abraham (who would become Abraham), mighty man of God, lying, and seeming to lack faith that God can defend him, so he takes matters into his own hand and lies! Fearing that Abimelech, a Philistine king, was a man who had no fear of God, Abraham played Sarah to be his sister rather than his wife. Once again Sarah found herself being taken to be the wife of a pagan king.
What now of the promises of God? How can God give Sarah a son of Abraham if she is to become the wife of another? And how can Abraham- the patriarch of our faith, who trusts God with his soul, be so unfaithful to God when it comes to trusting him with his physical welfare? The scripture here also reveals a very important piece of information: Abraham had formed this policy back in Ur: Abraham said, "And it came to pass when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is the kindness which thou shalt shew unto me, at every place wither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother."
Abraham had become a new man since that day back in Ur, and had even had his name changed; yet we still see evidence of his old man- the man who feared. He had never address this old sin and now we see it popping up again. But God would be faithful when Abraham was not.
Abraham thought God was unable to change the ways of a pagan man, but as the scripture says, "the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord" God also protected Sarah by keeping Abimelech from her. God then warned him in a dream that he was a man's wife.
And faithful and loving God did not condemn Abraham and take away his recorded righteousness but told Abimelech, "he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live." When we would have left Abraham to fend for himself in his own selfish choice, God stepped in a restored him. This is the FIRST CASE OF SOMEONE PRAYING FOR SOMEONE ELSE IN THE BIBLE. It teaches us that God desires us to pray for one another and he will answer such prayers when they are heartfelt and true.
This plight of Abraham should seem painfully familiar to us. How often have we fallen into the same sinful traps time after time? How often have we trusted God for something great only to turn away from him in fear over something small?
How often are our own problems a result of our own bad decisions? But God does not forget us. He waits to restore us, and to use us to pray for those we have hurt. How often he shows us that even the Heathen are in his hand and that he is in control over all things. How often does he call on you to pray for other people?
For a while Abraham stayed in Gerar. While in Gerar the king, Abimelech, came to Abraham. Abraham told him that his wife, Sarah, was really his sister. Abimelech therefore took Sarah.
Then God told Abimelech in a dream “You are as good as dead because of the women you have taken: she is a married women.” Abimelech explained that he didn’t know she was married and Abraham told him that they were brother and sister. God said that Abimelech could either return Sarah to Abraham or have he, and everyone he knows, die.
Now Abimelech summoned all of his officials and told them what happened, obviously they were all afraid. Then Abimelech summoned Abraham and asked “What was your reason for doing this?” Abram replied, “I said to myself: ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will surely kill me because of my wife.’ Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother, and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.“‘“
Then Abimelech gave Abraham some sheep, cattle, slaves, and Sarah, and told him he can live where ever he would like in my lands. Abimelech gave Sarah 1000 shekels for his offense against them.
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his slave girls so they could have children again, for the Lord had closed up every womb in Abimelech’s household because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.
We Find Abraham (who would become Abraham), mighty man of God, lying, and seeming to lack faith that God can defend him, so he takes matters into his own hand and lies! Fearing that Abimelech, a Philistine king, was a man who had no fear of God, Abraham played Sarah to be his sister rather than his wife. Once again Sarah found herself being taken to be the wife of a pagan king.
What now of the promises of God? How can God give Sarah a son of Abraham if she is to become the wife of another? And how can Abraham- the patriarch of our faith, who trusts God with his soul, be so unfaithful to God when it comes to trusting him with his physical welfare? The scripture here also reveals a very important piece of information: Abraham had formed this policy back in Ur: Abraham said, "And it came to pass when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is the kindness which thou shalt shew unto me, at every place wither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother."
Abraham had become a new man since that day back in Ur, and had even had his name changed; yet we still see evidence of his old man- the man who feared. He had never address this old sin and now we see it popping up again. But God would be faithful when Abraham was not.
Abraham thought God was unable to change the ways of a pagan man, but as the scripture says, "the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord" God also protected Sarah by keeping Abimelech from her. God then warned him in a dream that he was a man's wife.
And faithful and loving God did not condemn Abraham and take away his recorded righteousness but told Abimelech, "he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live." When we would have left Abraham to fend for himself in his own selfish choice, God stepped in a restored him. This is the FIRST CASE OF SOMEONE PRAYING FOR SOMEONE ELSE IN THE BIBLE. It teaches us that God desires us to pray for one another and he will answer such prayers when they are heartfelt and true.
This plight of Abraham should seem painfully familiar to us. How often have we fallen into the same sinful traps time after time? How often have we trusted God for something great only to turn away from him in fear over something small?
How often are our own problems a result of our own bad decisions? But God does not forget us. He waits to restore us, and to use us to pray for those we have hurt. How often he shows us that even the Heathen are in his hand and that he is in control over all things. How often does he call on you to pray for other people?
Sunday, October 25, 2009
School of Prayer No.1 God Desires for Us to Pray
The apostle Paul has a word from God which we need to hear all the time, The word is found in his first letter to Timothy, chapter 2, verses 1–4:
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thankgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
The main point of the text is the command to pray, and Paul mentions three things about this command to pray that we should listen to very carefully. First, he mentions its paramount importance: "First of all, I urge you to pray!" Second, he mentions the wideness of its scope: "Pray for all men, especially kings and all in high positions." Third, he mentions the content or aim of these prayers: they include thanksgiving and the request that our lives be spent in peace and tranquility to the end that men might be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.
Prayer Is of First Importance
First, let's focus on the paramount importance of the command to pray for others. Why Paul thinks this is of first importance becomes clear when we look at the preceding context. Notice the word "then" or "therefore" in verse 1: "First of all, then (or therefore), I urge that you pray for all men." That word alerts us to the fact that Paul's command to pray for all men is an inference or a conclusion that follows from something he had just said. In the preceding verses (1:18–20)
Paul is saying is that in order for your ship of faith to stay afloat, you need to see to it that you don't do the things your conscience condemns or leave undone the things which your conscience demands. Paul's charge to Timothy to hold on to faith by keeping a good conscience is tremendously important, and any help Paul gives on how to keep a good conscience should be received with open arms. We are to pray because God desires us to pray!
In the Great Commandments of Mark 12:28-31, all God's instruction is summed up in this: Love God with your whole being, and love your neighbor as yourself. Therefore, anything we do to people that is unloving will prick our conscience and threaten our faith. With that as a foundation we can start to see why prayer for other people is at the top of Paul's list of things we must do in order to keep a clear conscience.
What Makes Prayer So Important?
I see three reasons why prayer for other people is of first importance in keeping a clear conscience, in view of Jesus' teaching that love is our greatest duty. First, prayer taps the power of God on behalf of others. We could try to help others, even presidents and congressmen and governors and mayors and aldermen and police chiefs, without praying for them. And, judged from a very limited perspective, we might do a little good that way. But the little good that we could do by our little power is not worthy to be compared with the great good God can do for people that he sets out to work for. So if we want the best for people, if we really love them, of first importance will be prayers on their behalf. The first thing you do for a person, if you love them, is to ask God to work for them. Of course, God's answer to your prayer will almost always include your work of love, but it will also include much more than you alone could accomplish.
A second reason prayer is of first importance in keeping a clear conscience is that it is the easiest step of love. You don't even have to get out of bed to pray for kings and all those in high positions. It requires no financial sacrifice and no great physical exertion. Of all the forms that love for others can take, prayer is the easiest. And isn't it true that if you are unwilling to do something easy for the good of another, then it is very unlikely that you will be willing to do something hard for them? So it makes sense that Paul, in urging us to keep our consciences clear, would first of all urge us to do the easiest act of love, to pray for people.
And the third reason prayer is of first importance in keeping our consciences clear is that it reaches farther in its effects than anything else we can do. Before the satellites were orbiting the earth we could broadcast a TV program live across the country but not around the world. But now it is easy to reach the other side of the world with a live broadcast by sending our signal out into space and bouncing it off a satellite.
That is the way it is with prayer. If a Christian wants to do the most good possible to the most people in the short time he has, he will turn to God first, whose influence reaches, without interruption, to every molecule and every mind in the universe.
Paul urges you first of all to fulfill the love command by praying for all men, because prayer taps the power of God on their behalf, prayer is the first and easiest step of love, and prayer reaches farther in its good effects than anything else we can do.
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thankgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
The main point of the text is the command to pray, and Paul mentions three things about this command to pray that we should listen to very carefully. First, he mentions its paramount importance: "First of all, I urge you to pray!" Second, he mentions the wideness of its scope: "Pray for all men, especially kings and all in high positions." Third, he mentions the content or aim of these prayers: they include thanksgiving and the request that our lives be spent in peace and tranquility to the end that men might be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.
Prayer Is of First Importance
First, let's focus on the paramount importance of the command to pray for others. Why Paul thinks this is of first importance becomes clear when we look at the preceding context. Notice the word "then" or "therefore" in verse 1: "First of all, then (or therefore), I urge that you pray for all men." That word alerts us to the fact that Paul's command to pray for all men is an inference or a conclusion that follows from something he had just said. In the preceding verses (1:18–20)
Paul is saying is that in order for your ship of faith to stay afloat, you need to see to it that you don't do the things your conscience condemns or leave undone the things which your conscience demands. Paul's charge to Timothy to hold on to faith by keeping a good conscience is tremendously important, and any help Paul gives on how to keep a good conscience should be received with open arms. We are to pray because God desires us to pray!
In the Great Commandments of Mark 12:28-31, all God's instruction is summed up in this: Love God with your whole being, and love your neighbor as yourself. Therefore, anything we do to people that is unloving will prick our conscience and threaten our faith. With that as a foundation we can start to see why prayer for other people is at the top of Paul's list of things we must do in order to keep a clear conscience.
What Makes Prayer So Important?
I see three reasons why prayer for other people is of first importance in keeping a clear conscience, in view of Jesus' teaching that love is our greatest duty. First, prayer taps the power of God on behalf of others. We could try to help others, even presidents and congressmen and governors and mayors and aldermen and police chiefs, without praying for them. And, judged from a very limited perspective, we might do a little good that way. But the little good that we could do by our little power is not worthy to be compared with the great good God can do for people that he sets out to work for. So if we want the best for people, if we really love them, of first importance will be prayers on their behalf. The first thing you do for a person, if you love them, is to ask God to work for them. Of course, God's answer to your prayer will almost always include your work of love, but it will also include much more than you alone could accomplish.
A second reason prayer is of first importance in keeping a clear conscience is that it is the easiest step of love. You don't even have to get out of bed to pray for kings and all those in high positions. It requires no financial sacrifice and no great physical exertion. Of all the forms that love for others can take, prayer is the easiest. And isn't it true that if you are unwilling to do something easy for the good of another, then it is very unlikely that you will be willing to do something hard for them? So it makes sense that Paul, in urging us to keep our consciences clear, would first of all urge us to do the easiest act of love, to pray for people.
And the third reason prayer is of first importance in keeping our consciences clear is that it reaches farther in its effects than anything else we can do. Before the satellites were orbiting the earth we could broadcast a TV program live across the country but not around the world. But now it is easy to reach the other side of the world with a live broadcast by sending our signal out into space and bouncing it off a satellite.
That is the way it is with prayer. If a Christian wants to do the most good possible to the most people in the short time he has, he will turn to God first, whose influence reaches, without interruption, to every molecule and every mind in the universe.
Paul urges you first of all to fulfill the love command by praying for all men, because prayer taps the power of God on their behalf, prayer is the first and easiest step of love, and prayer reaches farther in its good effects than anything else we can do.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
What the BIble Says About the Shepherd -- Do Not Forget Your Calling to Fully Love the Sheep
In a haunting portion of Holy Scripture, in Ezekiel 34, The Lord calls out the leaders of the people of Israel in exile. He says:
You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured.You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. Ezekiel 34:4-8
It comes through the centuries to us as a check list for pastors and elders and all leaders of churches. How are we doing on compassionately reaching out to the hurting, the confused, and the lost. Are we reaching out in love and treating them as a shepherd tenderly treats his or her sheep?
The Pastor is usually known as the shepherd; in fact, pastor is the Latin word for herdsman or shepherd. The 23rd Psalm says, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” This beautiful piece of literature, which is deeply embedded in its Old Testament milieu, has also proven meaningful to people of many different religious traditions.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for you are with me – your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” The rhythm and the words seem to evoke a comforting and soothing presence, even in the midst of danger or loss.
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” The Lord, the shepherd, is a gracious host, preparing a table of generous sustenance and blessing even when one is in the midst of enemies.
The 23rd Psalm presents a protective and empowering picture of God as a shepherd to God’s people, and it is daunting that one of the titles ordained folks like me are known by is Pastor – shepherd. Ours is a great responsibility -- sometimes the weight of it seems overwhelming. The prophet Jeremiah underlined the weight of the calling when he said, “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture.’”Jeremiah 23:1
The story from the Gospel of John highlights the difference between the thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy, (John 10:10)and the Good Shepherd, who comes to lead and protect the sheep.
In all these texts, the good shepherd protects and empowers the flock; the bad shepherd is too harsh and forgets his true calling. Sometimes the voices of the culture may lead pastors astray. Sometimes it is the well-meaning, but misguided voices of the congregation, echoing positions taken by past pastors that may no longer apply in the current situation. It is easy to get off the message that God has given you as your core theme. God in Ezekiel and Jeremiah tells us to stop it, to get on our knees and repent, and to return to the call He has given us with renewed commitment.
It is in the area of marriages that I have struggled. In my first three pastorates I held the view, shared by my session boards, that you married anyone who legitimately wanted to come to the Lord to be married, whether they were living together or not. Marriage is a sin-stopper. It puts a couple on the right track.
In my current pastorate, I tried to uphold the standards set by a previous pastor, some that were and are firmly held by current members of the congregation. I have tried, oh Lord, I have tried, and I have spent many sleepless nights. Sometimes I think it would be so much easier not to celebrate any marriages at all. But that is not possible, so I have sought to uphold these standards and still be as loving as possible.
The problem is that such standards are artificial and legalistic and so hard to implement fairly. And upholding artificial conditional standards gets in the way of loving unconditionally, and such unconditional love is the Jesus way.
And how do you judge someone as more worthy of a wedding in their home church than someone else? Just because two people have different addresses, does it mean that they are not "living together" at least part of the time. And how can you prove that their has been no premarital sex? I daresay there have been lots of brides who have gone down the ailse with another person growing inside them.
Two of my heroes are President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy. Reagan was divorced when he remarried in 1952 to actress Nancy Davis at a time when she was already become pregnant. Their marriage was on March 4, while daughter Patti was born on October 21 of the same year. God blessed the Reagan's marriage despite this fact.
Take another person that many people respect -- the Reverend and lawyer Pat Robertson. When he ran for President (and he finished second in the Iowa caucuses, polling ahead of future president George H. W. Bush),Time magazine dug up Robertson's marriage license, and found that he was married in August of 1954, about ten weeks before his first son's birthday. Robertson said he and his wife had always celebrates their anniversary in March, on his own birthday, "because our son was conceived that day."
By Reverend Pat's thinking, everyone who has a child before marriage, or has one on the way, was "married" by God at the child's conception. I post this fact, not because I wish to put down Reverend Pat, since I admire much that he has done for the Lord, but to show that God can still use a person who makes mistakes in their life. There are many more examples like this -- perhaps you know some from personal friends and experiences. Remember, we are all sinners saved by grace. As a good friend of mine reminds me -- when you point that finger, three are pointing back at you.
I now see that some of my efforts in "raising a standard" were hurtful to ones who needed love and compassion, not finger-pointing. I now see that when I was thinking I was throwing them a lifeline, I was tossing them a rock.
So it is that I repent. In some areas of my ministry, since I came to my current call, in an effort to align with what I thought were church standards set in place by other pastors in another time, I have at times been too Pharisaic, too legalistic, too judgmental. For that I apologize to God, to the people, and to myself.
God gave Billy Graham and Dwight L. Moody core salvation messages. He gave Mother Teresa one of great pastoral care for the poor and the sick. He has given me the core message of the transcendent power of love and the miraculous power of prayer and the deeper things of God.
That is where I must major. That is where I am called -- to glorify God and point to His love, mercy and grace, and to win those lost and hurt back to the Lord with examples of that great love He gives us, not kick them in the teeth or beat them with a judgement stick. For the times I may have done that, I apologize. I must let God deal with their hearts, even as I give my heart to them as a shepherd. May I live as an apostle of His love all the rest of my life. May I be a loving shepherd.
Clearly, I am not the only one who misses it sometimes, who may have heard other voices and reacted in error. All of us need to help each other in recognizing and differentiating between the voice of the thief-the stranger, and the voice of Jesus – the Good Shepherd. And a strong faith should give us the courage to act with compassion and love as Jesus did. May the grace of Jesus Christ-the Good Shepherd, guide and protect you, now and always. Amen.
You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured.You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. Ezekiel 34:4-8
It comes through the centuries to us as a check list for pastors and elders and all leaders of churches. How are we doing on compassionately reaching out to the hurting, the confused, and the lost. Are we reaching out in love and treating them as a shepherd tenderly treats his or her sheep?
The Pastor is usually known as the shepherd; in fact, pastor is the Latin word for herdsman or shepherd. The 23rd Psalm says, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” This beautiful piece of literature, which is deeply embedded in its Old Testament milieu, has also proven meaningful to people of many different religious traditions.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for you are with me – your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” The rhythm and the words seem to evoke a comforting and soothing presence, even in the midst of danger or loss.
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” The Lord, the shepherd, is a gracious host, preparing a table of generous sustenance and blessing even when one is in the midst of enemies.
The 23rd Psalm presents a protective and empowering picture of God as a shepherd to God’s people, and it is daunting that one of the titles ordained folks like me are known by is Pastor – shepherd. Ours is a great responsibility -- sometimes the weight of it seems overwhelming. The prophet Jeremiah underlined the weight of the calling when he said, “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture.’”Jeremiah 23:1
The story from the Gospel of John highlights the difference between the thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy, (John 10:10)and the Good Shepherd, who comes to lead and protect the sheep.
In all these texts, the good shepherd protects and empowers the flock; the bad shepherd is too harsh and forgets his true calling. Sometimes the voices of the culture may lead pastors astray. Sometimes it is the well-meaning, but misguided voices of the congregation, echoing positions taken by past pastors that may no longer apply in the current situation. It is easy to get off the message that God has given you as your core theme. God in Ezekiel and Jeremiah tells us to stop it, to get on our knees and repent, and to return to the call He has given us with renewed commitment.
It is in the area of marriages that I have struggled. In my first three pastorates I held the view, shared by my session boards, that you married anyone who legitimately wanted to come to the Lord to be married, whether they were living together or not. Marriage is a sin-stopper. It puts a couple on the right track.
In my current pastorate, I tried to uphold the standards set by a previous pastor, some that were and are firmly held by current members of the congregation. I have tried, oh Lord, I have tried, and I have spent many sleepless nights. Sometimes I think it would be so much easier not to celebrate any marriages at all. But that is not possible, so I have sought to uphold these standards and still be as loving as possible.
The problem is that such standards are artificial and legalistic and so hard to implement fairly. And upholding artificial conditional standards gets in the way of loving unconditionally, and such unconditional love is the Jesus way.
And how do you judge someone as more worthy of a wedding in their home church than someone else? Just because two people have different addresses, does it mean that they are not "living together" at least part of the time. And how can you prove that their has been no premarital sex? I daresay there have been lots of brides who have gone down the ailse with another person growing inside them.
Two of my heroes are President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy. Reagan was divorced when he remarried in 1952 to actress Nancy Davis at a time when she was already become pregnant. Their marriage was on March 4, while daughter Patti was born on October 21 of the same year. God blessed the Reagan's marriage despite this fact.
Take another person that many people respect -- the Reverend and lawyer Pat Robertson. When he ran for President (and he finished second in the Iowa caucuses, polling ahead of future president George H. W. Bush),Time magazine dug up Robertson's marriage license, and found that he was married in August of 1954, about ten weeks before his first son's birthday. Robertson said he and his wife had always celebrates their anniversary in March, on his own birthday, "because our son was conceived that day."
By Reverend Pat's thinking, everyone who has a child before marriage, or has one on the way, was "married" by God at the child's conception. I post this fact, not because I wish to put down Reverend Pat, since I admire much that he has done for the Lord, but to show that God can still use a person who makes mistakes in their life. There are many more examples like this -- perhaps you know some from personal friends and experiences. Remember, we are all sinners saved by grace. As a good friend of mine reminds me -- when you point that finger, three are pointing back at you.
I now see that some of my efforts in "raising a standard" were hurtful to ones who needed love and compassion, not finger-pointing. I now see that when I was thinking I was throwing them a lifeline, I was tossing them a rock.
So it is that I repent. In some areas of my ministry, since I came to my current call, in an effort to align with what I thought were church standards set in place by other pastors in another time, I have at times been too Pharisaic, too legalistic, too judgmental. For that I apologize to God, to the people, and to myself.
God gave Billy Graham and Dwight L. Moody core salvation messages. He gave Mother Teresa one of great pastoral care for the poor and the sick. He has given me the core message of the transcendent power of love and the miraculous power of prayer and the deeper things of God.
That is where I must major. That is where I am called -- to glorify God and point to His love, mercy and grace, and to win those lost and hurt back to the Lord with examples of that great love He gives us, not kick them in the teeth or beat them with a judgement stick. For the times I may have done that, I apologize. I must let God deal with their hearts, even as I give my heart to them as a shepherd. May I live as an apostle of His love all the rest of my life. May I be a loving shepherd.
Clearly, I am not the only one who misses it sometimes, who may have heard other voices and reacted in error. All of us need to help each other in recognizing and differentiating between the voice of the thief-the stranger, and the voice of Jesus – the Good Shepherd. And a strong faith should give us the courage to act with compassion and love as Jesus did. May the grace of Jesus Christ-the Good Shepherd, guide and protect you, now and always. Amen.
Pray for the youth, Pray for the Children
Please pray for our youth. It is a complex world they live in, and they need to be clothed in our prayers. Sometimes I feel that our youth grow up too fast, that they are thrown into the mix so quickly that they miss some of the joys I experienced in my high school years. Their schedules are full of activity, but is there room or time for careful reflection and gentle personal growth of a deeper nature? In an "it's all about me" world, is there any true focus on thinking beyond oneself, in helping others, and in intentionally living the Christian life.. In a world filled with so much greed and self-centeredness, the church cries out for a balance in life. The Bible gives us a path, the Jesus Way, but the world competes savagely for their attention. They need our nurture, our direction, and our prayers.
Proverbs 22:6 is just as true now as when it was written "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Youth are children, especially until they are 18 and in many ways until they are 21, and sometimes beyond that arbitrary age. Training is NOT letting children and youth have their own way all of the time. It involves guidance and leadership by the adults in their lives, and definitely by those who are their parents and by others caring adults who are in the churches they are affiliated with in their young lives. So we must pray fervently for them. It is our Christian duty to pray for them individually each day.
We are living in a time where there is less and less parental training, and more and more influence from the macro-culture and from peers. The vast communications revolution has made television and DVD movies the great electrobic babysitters. The constant struggle to make ends meet financially has forced a great majority of couples to both be working, limiting parental time with children from what the amount it was for centuries. So it is that we live in difficult times, and many of our national problmes are wrought by these societal situations and their impact on contempory lives. All the more we find the need to get down on our knees and to pray for our children and youth.
Proverbs 22:6 is just as true now as when it was written "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Youth are children, especially until they are 18 and in many ways until they are 21, and sometimes beyond that arbitrary age. Training is NOT letting children and youth have their own way all of the time. It involves guidance and leadership by the adults in their lives, and definitely by those who are their parents and by others caring adults who are in the churches they are affiliated with in their young lives. So we must pray fervently for them. It is our Christian duty to pray for them individually each day.
We are living in a time where there is less and less parental training, and more and more influence from the macro-culture and from peers. The vast communications revolution has made television and DVD movies the great electrobic babysitters. The constant struggle to make ends meet financially has forced a great majority of couples to both be working, limiting parental time with children from what the amount it was for centuries. So it is that we live in difficult times, and many of our national problmes are wrought by these societal situations and their impact on contempory lives. All the more we find the need to get down on our knees and to pray for our children and youth.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Aunt Virginia Dances in Heaven
My aunt Virginia Boyd went home to be with the Lord this week. She was a woman of faith and courage who had lived with a chronic, difficult illness for many years. She had contracted a rare blood condition that continually threatened and weakened her immune system many years ago. It caused her to have to seek experimental treatments to keep alive, often accompanied by long stays in the hospital.
Virgina Stephens Boyd lived a life that was hard, but she always met the challenges with a strong faith, a constant sense of good humor, and a beautiful smile. Her witness to the world was one of strength in the face of difficulty, and of believing in God's ultimate grace in the pits of situations that would put many of us into deep depression and despair.
Even before her own illness, Virginia lost her only daughter, Cathy Boyd, to leukemia at the age of 15. It was a terrible tragedy to lose such a bright child as Cathy, who had her own great courage in the face of devastating illness. I remember going to a movie with Cathy and Virginia, "The Summer of '42," when Cathy was having treatments in Gainesville, Florida in the early seventies while I was in college at the University of Florida. They were still smiling and fighting, though the prognosis was bleak. But then Virginia had to do that act that is always so out of sync with the natural thythms of life -- she had to bury her child.
However, Aunt Virginia always had a well of dignity and compassion that she could drink from, because of her strong faith in the Lord. Cathy's death devastated my Uncle Henry also, but Virginia nursed him back from depression with her good cheer and love and prayer. She was a model wife and mother and aunt. Even when Uncle Henry also died of leukemia in the early nineties, Virginia's faith, and her loving sisters, kept her moving ahead, living for Jesus and contributing to the world.
When I saw her for the last time on this earth, when I was in Florida with my brother in August, she was very weak physically. But the quick mind was active and that gentle smile was there, and she was asking about my wife and children, as he always did. She was always hoping and praying for the best for all of us. She continued to have great love and compassion for my mother, my sister, my brother and myself, long after Uncle Henry, my mother's brother, and my dad Sherman had gone on to be with the Lord.
Yes, my aunt Virginia is gone and the world is not quite as good a place without her here. But there is a new woman dancing in heaven with her beloved husband, and pausing to hold her daughter's hand, all of them rejoicing with theier Lord and Savior. And I am sure taht sweet woman will be waiting at Heaven's gate when we all get there, too. And she will be smiling that gentle smile, filled with intelligence and faith.
Virgina Stephens Boyd lived a life that was hard, but she always met the challenges with a strong faith, a constant sense of good humor, and a beautiful smile. Her witness to the world was one of strength in the face of difficulty, and of believing in God's ultimate grace in the pits of situations that would put many of us into deep depression and despair.
Even before her own illness, Virginia lost her only daughter, Cathy Boyd, to leukemia at the age of 15. It was a terrible tragedy to lose such a bright child as Cathy, who had her own great courage in the face of devastating illness. I remember going to a movie with Cathy and Virginia, "The Summer of '42," when Cathy was having treatments in Gainesville, Florida in the early seventies while I was in college at the University of Florida. They were still smiling and fighting, though the prognosis was bleak. But then Virginia had to do that act that is always so out of sync with the natural thythms of life -- she had to bury her child.
However, Aunt Virginia always had a well of dignity and compassion that she could drink from, because of her strong faith in the Lord. Cathy's death devastated my Uncle Henry also, but Virginia nursed him back from depression with her good cheer and love and prayer. She was a model wife and mother and aunt. Even when Uncle Henry also died of leukemia in the early nineties, Virginia's faith, and her loving sisters, kept her moving ahead, living for Jesus and contributing to the world.
When I saw her for the last time on this earth, when I was in Florida with my brother in August, she was very weak physically. But the quick mind was active and that gentle smile was there, and she was asking about my wife and children, as he always did. She was always hoping and praying for the best for all of us. She continued to have great love and compassion for my mother, my sister, my brother and myself, long after Uncle Henry, my mother's brother, and my dad Sherman had gone on to be with the Lord.
Yes, my aunt Virginia is gone and the world is not quite as good a place without her here. But there is a new woman dancing in heaven with her beloved husband, and pausing to hold her daughter's hand, all of them rejoicing with theier Lord and Savior. And I am sure taht sweet woman will be waiting at Heaven's gate when we all get there, too. And she will be smiling that gentle smile, filled with intelligence and faith.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Marriage is a Covenant Made Before and With God
Some Key Thoughts on Christian Marriage
According to Scripture marriage is ordained by God as an intimate and permanent partnership between a man and a woman in which the two become one in the whole of life. The ideal is an active lifelong monogamous heterosexual relationship. Sexual, emotional, physical and spiritual fulfillment are important goals of a marriage relationship that places God at its centre. Christian marriage is the ideal foundation for the birth and raising of children.
Some key biblical passages on marriage principles: Gen 1:26-28; 2:21-24; Mt 19:6; 1 Cor 7:1-40; 13:1-13; 2 Cor 6:14; Eph 5:21-33; 1 Th 4:3-7; Heb 13:4; 1 Pet 3:1-7.
Marriage is a solemn commitment, a holy event before God. It is a covenant -- the highest level of union in humanity. The vows one takes are not only vows to their beloved one, but also vows to God, witnessed by the church.
"I the groom, take thee, the bride, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health 'til death do us part."
"I, the bride, take thee, the groom, to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health 'til death do us part."
Those words or a slight variation of them have served Christians for centuries, and we couldn't find anything that better expressed what we were committing to each other. They expressed the vows we are making — an irrevocable commitment to each other with God as our witness.
According to Scripture marriage is ordained by God as an intimate and permanent partnership between a man and a woman in which the two become one in the whole of life. The ideal is an active lifelong monogamous heterosexual relationship. Sexual, emotional, physical and spiritual fulfillment are important goals of a marriage relationship that places God at its centre. Christian marriage is the ideal foundation for the birth and raising of children.
Some key biblical passages on marriage principles: Gen 1:26-28; 2:21-24; Mt 19:6; 1 Cor 7:1-40; 13:1-13; 2 Cor 6:14; Eph 5:21-33; 1 Th 4:3-7; Heb 13:4; 1 Pet 3:1-7.
Marriage is a solemn commitment, a holy event before God. It is a covenant -- the highest level of union in humanity. The vows one takes are not only vows to their beloved one, but also vows to God, witnessed by the church.
"I the groom, take thee, the bride, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health 'til death do us part."
"I, the bride, take thee, the groom, to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health 'til death do us part."
Those words or a slight variation of them have served Christians for centuries, and we couldn't find anything that better expressed what we were committing to each other. They expressed the vows we are making — an irrevocable commitment to each other with God as our witness.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Types of Prayer -- Be a Prayer Warrior for Jesus!
Prayer is basically talking with God. It is simply expressing your heart and spending time with Him. It is not a one way activity, God speaks, we listen, we speak and God listens to our hearts. Prayer can be exciting, powerful and fulfilling.
may this blog column inspire you to pursue your own personal study on this subject.
Types of Prayer
A. Thanksgiving
B. Petition
C. Prevailing
D. Praying For Others
A. Thanksgiving- Giving thanks to God for all things in your life. We are commanded to give thanks in all circumstances. Being thankful is being grateful for his protection , provision, blessing, and most of all for his Son.
B. Petition- We ask God for the specific things we need in our life. Give us our daily bread. Give us the things we need to survive, a roof over our heads, employment etc. Petitions are usually self orientated, presenting our personal needs to our Heavenly Father, in trust that He will provide. Be specific in your petitions, pray in details and not in generalities.
C. Prevailing Prayer- fervent consistent insistent prayer until a breakthrough takes place, whether in your personal life, or for someone else ( intercession). Example Believing for emotional or physical healing.
Biblical Example: Luke 18:1-8.(NIV) Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, `Grant me justice against my adversary.' "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, `Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
D Praying For Others- Love on its knees in prayer, for others. Pleading on behalf of the needs of someone else. Standing in the gap, that is, praying prayers of repentance, etc., identifying yourself with the sins of those for which you are in prayer.
Biblical Example: Nehemiah, a godly man, identified with the sins of his people, praying prayers of repentance, asking the Lord to forgive and to have mercy and to raise up once again the nation of Israel. Read Nehemiah 1 for this story. Be a prayer warrior for the Lord!
may this blog column inspire you to pursue your own personal study on this subject.
Types of Prayer
A. Thanksgiving
B. Petition
C. Prevailing
D. Praying For Others
A. Thanksgiving- Giving thanks to God for all things in your life. We are commanded to give thanks in all circumstances. Being thankful is being grateful for his protection , provision, blessing, and most of all for his Son.
B. Petition- We ask God for the specific things we need in our life. Give us our daily bread. Give us the things we need to survive, a roof over our heads, employment etc. Petitions are usually self orientated, presenting our personal needs to our Heavenly Father, in trust that He will provide. Be specific in your petitions, pray in details and not in generalities.
C. Prevailing Prayer- fervent consistent insistent prayer until a breakthrough takes place, whether in your personal life, or for someone else ( intercession). Example Believing for emotional or physical healing.
Biblical Example: Luke 18:1-8.(NIV) Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, `Grant me justice against my adversary.' "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, `Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
D Praying For Others- Love on its knees in prayer, for others. Pleading on behalf of the needs of someone else. Standing in the gap, that is, praying prayers of repentance, etc., identifying yourself with the sins of those for which you are in prayer.
Biblical Example: Nehemiah, a godly man, identified with the sins of his people, praying prayers of repentance, asking the Lord to forgive and to have mercy and to raise up once again the nation of Israel. Read Nehemiah 1 for this story. Be a prayer warrior for the Lord!
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