2006-01-06
Good Morning Treasured of God,
Our Lord Jesus made it abundantly clear in His Sermon on the Mount that prayer's purpose is two-way communication with God. It is not to be seen by the watching eyes of others [MT 6: 5-6]. When we do things mainly for the purpose of evoking attention in others, we miss the point about humility-a feature of the personality that God finds important and attractive. Not only that, but we are also setting up opportunities for others to be tempted to take their attention off of God. It's necessary for us to remember the advice in RO 14: 13, "So then, let us stop judging one another. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make your brother stumble or fall into sin." Yes, Dear Believers, we have a responsibility not only to ourselves to avoid sin, but we also have one to others to help them avoid sin. Hypocrisy is a very unbecoming sin, just as is being judgmental, and both can lead to even worse sins.
While there seems to be a slippery slope here, a truly faithful person doesn't have to slide down. He has checks and balances which he can choose to use. 1) He can spend daily time in the Scriptures, so as to set a firm godly foundation on Biblical truth in his life. 2) He can pray and pray often. David did this when he asked God to protect him from the traps hidden by the evil one in PS 31: 1-5. "I come to You, Lord, for protection; never let me be defeated. You are a righteous God; save me, I pray! Hear me! Save me now! Be my Refuge to protect me; my Defense to save me. You are my Refuge and my Defense; guide me and lead me as you have promised. Keep me safe from the snare that has been set for me; shelter me from danger. I place myself in Your care. You will save me, Lord; You are a faithful God." If we look at that passage carefully, we can see some of the reasons why God called David "a man after My own heart." David felt confidence in coming to God with his immediate needs. Remember Saul and his men were persecuting David and chasing him all over the countryside. David places his trust in God very clearly and also demonstrates his understanding of the evil one's behavior. God wants us warned about that and to take those warnings seriously. David was seeking God out whenever the need arose. That's exactly what God wants us to do. And David acknowledged God's promises made, His righteousness, and his faithfulness. God wants to hear from us that we acknowledge Him as the Savior in our lives, that we understand both His power and His righteousness in using it.
3) We can help ourselves by learning from the circumstances of our lives. God really has patience with us and is willing under most circumstances to repeat a lesson. We see that in the Scriptures. However, there are some lessons which we need to get by being exposed to them only once. While we are not to judge others, we can sometimes take appropriate preventative steps not to make the same mistakes as others around us are making. Certainly we must understand that as the holiday season approaches and the commercial world is pressing for our money harder than ever, we should not lose touch with the real meaning of Christmas. It is for no other purpose than to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and the promise of redemption that is in faith in Him.
At this point, the Holy Spirit presses me to write about what prayer does. I can't finish this important subject in this devotion, so I ask you to bear with me and allow me to extend a part of this discussion into my next message. Both prayer and study involve communication with God. If my own experience is any teacher, God loves it when we realize He is with us 24/7. He also loves it when we have a kind of running conversation with Him. But there are times when He particularly wants the floor. When we are studying the Scriptures and first praying, those are prime times for Him. I can only speak from my experience with this, but it has made a tremendous difference in my life. Others have told me the same is true for them. When we are studying and first praying, God gets His prime opportunity to reveal Himself and His will to us. He also does this after we have asked Him a question or for help in the course of our prayers. I am comforted by the story of Daniel when he had prayed for 21 days for God to release the Jewish people from the consequences of their sinfulness [the Babylonian Captivity] and included himself in this [DN 9: 5-19]. His humility delighted the Lord. Later in DN 10: 7-14, we learn that God sends His angel [probably Gabriel] to Daniel in a vision. The angel actually explains his delay [he was helping the Archangel Michael-Guardian of Israel-fight off the evil angel of Persia]. DN 10:11 delights me, as a trend in the Bible continues. "The angel said to me, 'Daniel, you are esteemed by God. Stand up and listen carefully to what I am going to say. I have been sent to you.'" The trend is that God has once again, as He did with Moses and others, allowed one He holds in esteem to have a vision of the world's future. What follows is the revelation of Daniel's vision of the seventy weeks. In case any of us ever questions if God loves us, meditate on the fact that we have compact Bibles laying out the future of the world and God's other many revelations. We are being given even more details about the end times, heaven, God's will, and His many lessons from the experiences of those written about in the Scriptures. Dear Ones, we have as much as any people in mankind's history. That is hardly something to waste with inattention, sinfulness, or refusal to communicate with our loving God!
PRAYER: O Lord, we take a few moments to listen carefully for any direction or comments that you have as we first begin our prayer... Then, we begin by thanking You for making this channel of communication open to us. We acknowledge Your presence, faithfulness, and wisdom in the Scriptures. If we are having trouble, Dear Lord, we ask You to help us make time in our busy schedules for daily study of Your word and prayer. You want us to have the solid ethical foundation of Your laws, commands, and wisdom shared. That will prepare us to deal with the ever-challenging circumstances of our lives. JER 29: 11-13 lets us know Your desire to have us seek You at every turn. It also tells us about Your plan for us. "I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you not to bring you disaster, plans to bring about the future for which you hope. Then you will call to Me. You will come and pray to Me, and I will answer you. You will seek Me, and you will find me because you will seek Me with all your heart." We stand before Your mighty throne with our heads bowed in reverence for You. We pledge to open our hearts to the increasing influence and leadership of the Holy Spirit, while at the same time closing them off to the evil one. While his dirty work goes on around us, we will not let it pull us down. PS 55: 22 is in our minds. Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never permit honest me to be defeated." I stand in awe at how You and Your Son have gone out on a limb for us-even through we hardly deserve it. JN 15: 7 is example. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, then you will ask for anything you wish and you shall have it." We confess our sins before You and ask You to always be there with Your wisdom, protection, provision, love, compassion, healing, patience, and faithfulness for us. You are to be thanked, worshipped, and praised forever. In Christ's holy name, we pray. Amen.
The sacrifice of His only begotten Son on the cross and the gifts of redemption and the Holy Spirit are so tremendous and important that no man can equal what God has done for us. Under the circumstances, He deserves to hear us pray to Him and to see us studying His word daily. Moreover, He deserves to know that we care enough to make Him the very center of and foundation for our lives. What we owe our Lord can only be paid with faithful obedience to Him and willingness to let Him take us through the necessary steps in our sanctification. That is His process of purifying and perfecting us in preparation for seeing His most important goal achieved [JN 6: 39-40; EPH 1: 4-5]-our glorification and return to His side for a blissful life of fellowship with Him for eternity. Can any of us imagine the love God has for His creation, those He created in His own image [GN 1: 27], those He created and set apart to be His royal priesthood and chosen people [1 PET 2: 9], those called according to His purpose [RO 8: 28]? How can we not feel loved by Him? No matter what kind of challenges, abuse, or other negativity that Satan-led men have done to us, we always can turn to our loving God. He hears our prayers and answers them, because He cares about every detail of our lives [PS 116: 1; PS 37: 23-24]. We need to make our prayer closets very busy places every day. First there are so many things we must let God say to us. Then, we have so many prayers and acknowledgments to offer Him for ourselves and for others. Our prayers cannot be selfish-only about what we want for ourselves. Our prayers must let God know that we know what a magnificent Being He is and how much we need Him in our lives.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn