2025-01-03
Good Morning Dear Ones,
This morning, I’m commanded to discuss something very near and dear to my heart-prayer. It is an element of God’s full armor (from EPH 6: 11-18) and can have tremendous power to help not only the one who is praying but also the subject of his prayers. EPH 6: 18, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” There are times when one will pray for himself but there are even more times when he will pray for the sake of others. For example, I have a friend who contracted Covid, and I am praying for her to recover without the complications that have plagued some and even taken some lives. This was a bad time since we are in the middle of the holidays that come at year’s end. She blesses me with her example because she had been caring for her father, who has Alzheimer’s just before she got sick. She texted me the other day to say that she was using her time of self-isolating to come closer to God. For me, that was an answer to part of my prayers for her. Her recovery would be the answer to the rest of them.
Our part of the Covenant of Grace is to look within at our own sins and, with openness and honesty, confess them to the Lord, coupling this activity with stopping the commission of that sin. It isn’t easy for us to do this but with the Holy Spirit our Lord gives us it makes this contrition possible. There are times when we should do this privately. However, there are other times when we should do it with a trusted friend. JAS 5: 16, “Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” An example was when Elijah prayed earnestly that it would not, and it didn’t for 3 ½ years [JAS 5: 17-18]. [1 K 17: 1] Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe[a] in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” We must remember that “whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins” [JAS 5: 20].
As an answer to prayer, God will not forsake us or abandon us. He tells us, in DT 31: 6, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them (our enemies), for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you or forsake you.” After spending as much time with the stories of King David in 1 and 2 SAM and the Psalms as I have, how can we deny God’s presence in the lives of believers? King David was by far not the only human God watched over in our history! God loves us so much that He listens to every authentic prayer offered. He will answer “yes,” “no,” and often “maybe later.” Our task is to trust Him, just as King David did so many times. God never lies—1 JN 1: 5, “This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” We must understand that God’s timing is perfect, even if it seems awfully slow to us. He knows best when to maximize the good of lessons He wants to teach us. He doesn’t want us to live in a state of fright but instead wants to engender in us the habit of trusting Him.
A large part of that trust is our acceptance of the mighty strength that God has. Paul prayed, in EPH 1: 18-21, “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms…” We need to understand that this power was not just in the past or present, but it’s also for the future as well. God makes Himself available to us at any time of day, day of the year. That’s just a measure of how much He cares about us.
PRAYER: O Lord, it’s no accident that we are encouraged to pray to You often. You listen to our prayers and invite us to the shelter of Your wings. PS 91: 1-2, 4, “Whoever dwells in the in the shelter of the Most Hight will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God in Whom I trust…He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge…” It makes no sense that the One who created us “in their own image” [GN 1: 26a and 27] would not love that human creation. Mankind often disappoints You, Lord, but there are those of us who love, thank, and praise You for being the wonderful God You are. We are grateful You pledged to “live among us” and “built us together to become a dwelling together to which God lives by His Spirit” [IS 57: 15; JN 1: 14; EPH 2: 22]. In the holy/mighty name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: The Holy Spirit commands me to write about surrender and how service to God in various ministries next week is a form of surrender. Prayer is a two-way communication. Once we get in the habit of visiting the shelter under God’s wings, we not only pray to Him for self or others, but we give Him the chance to communicate with us. One of God’s frequent prayers in the Scriptures is one the prophet Ezekiel let us know, in EZK 37: 27, “My (God’s) dwelling place also will be with them (the people); and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” This notion is so important to God that I have found it in 20 citations in both the OT and NT in the Bible! ZECH 2: 11, “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you.” Praise and thanksgiving be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2024. All Rights Reserved.
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