2003-02-27
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
At last, we arrive at the final segment in this long, but meaningful, series on spiritual warfare. The subject is prayer, and it is a most cherished one in my own life. I can’t say it was always that way. For entirely too many years, I became the person who would jump at the chance to study God’s word, but who lived at the expense of taking time to be with Him in prayer. When I ask myself why, the only answer that made sense was a deep-seated and very foolish idea that God wasn’t interested in hearing anything I had to say. My problems were too unimportant to someone with as much importance as He has. Underneath my gregarious outer self was a very shy inner self that lacked the confidence to go before God to admit my imperfections, of which there are many. God, Who, of course, is omniscient knew all of this and cared enough to bring me to Him. The way He did it was quite unique. He brought about the series of events that led to my being asked if I would take over the e-mail portion of our congregation’s prayer chain. How could I say, “no”? Everyone knew that I write daily devotions sent all over the country by e-mail, and that I wanted to serve God full-time. Then, He gave me the idea to follow His command in EPH 6: 18, “Do all of this [donning God’s full armor] in prayer, asking for God’s help. Pray on every occasion as the Spirit leads. For this reason keep alert and never give up, pray always for all God’s people.” His next step was to give me the idea each prayer request should also include a few Scriptures chosen for being appropriate and helpful. Our generous Deity saw to it that 146 people, so far, would have it in their faithful hearts to come serve with me on our chain, agreeing to keep whatever they see confidential. I had no choice, but to learn well how to pray!
By seeing God at work in other people’s lives, I soon came to the conclusion that I also had to pray in my own life. In fact, I couldn’t really live without it! Some of my prayer is in private, just between myself and the Father. MT 6: 6 is the Lord Jesus’ own words on this subject. “But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, Who is unseen. And your Father, Who sees what you do in private, will reward you.” Believe me, this is true and wholly consistent with what we see in the OT. I can’t get the picture out of my mind of Daniel praying three times a day facing Jerusalem. DN 6: 10 takes place after King Darius had been tricked by his own men into signing the order to cast Daniel into the lion’s den. “When Daniel learned that the order had been signed, he went home. In an upstairs room of his house there were windows that faced toward Jerusalem. There, just as he had always done, he knelt down at the open windows and prayed to God three times a day.” Those who have read this story know that God later shut the mouths of the lions, and Daniel was able to emerge unscathed [DN 6: 22-23]. Just as Daniel did, I really needed this kind of contact with God. It’s our Commander-in-Chief’s line of communication with His foot soldiers in the war against the forces of evil.
Some of my prayer is corporate, meaning publicly within my congregation during services or just before I’m about to do a particular task for which I’ve been called. On a couple of occasions, I’ve been asked to present my testimony and on others I’ve given the key address at our annual Passover seder, taught adult Bible studies, or been a “lay reader.” All of this has gone well for one reason only. I asked God for His help, which I know to be essential to any success I might have personally. PS 10: 17, “You will listen, O Lord, to the prayers of the lowly; You will give them courage.” Satan likes to make us feel afraid when we are asked to do something new to us or something in front of others. He wants us to have doubts and the symptoms that fright brings. Through David, God tells us His slant on that. PS 18: 3, “I call to the Lord, and He saves me from my enemies. Praise the Lord!” The net result of all of this for me has been our loving Abba taking my spiritual life to an entirely higher and better level. That has impacted the rest of my life too, because it has helped me to put my rather considerable problems closer to God’s perspective and less in the realm of constant fleshly fear, bitterness, and complaining. What I’m trying to say is that God is revealing Himself in my life. IS 43: 13, “I am the Lord, your God; I strengthen you and tell you, ‘Do not be afraid; I will help you.’” Now, that’s awesome! He is also lightening my burdens. PS 55: 22, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never permit honest men to be defeated.”
There is much to say on this much-cherished subject of mine, and it all can’t be said in one devotion. From my heart, I must conclude today’s message with my own assertion that we can’t live without prayer. It is our way to learn from God what to do when we are in trouble, how to make a decision when faced with evil, to be encouraged when the weight of our challenges seems overwhelming, and a myriad of other things He wants to say to us. It is also our way to tell God our innermost concerns, to ask for the direction we need, to plead for His wisdom, and to share with Him the joy we are feeling. We must examine today where prayer fits in our own lives and the state of our prayer lives.
PRAYER: O Lord, You teach us through the experience of praying for others how we might see the mighty and righteous use of Your power in bringing about good. We are reminded when we humble ourselves before You in prayer of our own desperate need for Your hand in our lives. Long ago, a little known Jew named Jabez prayed a prayer, which many believers now pray, that has the power to change many lives for good. 1 CH 4: 9-10, “Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, ‘I gave birth to him in pain.’ Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.” Jabez acknowledges that You love him enough to want to bless him, and that You are eager to hear us ask for those blessings. This young man is not asking for more land. Instead, he is asking that he might influence more people for You, and the You know that. Jabez also knows that the power to accomplish this and any other task for You comes from our You, so he asks for Your hand to be with him. And, he knows that there will be opposition from the enemy, so he asks You for protection. From reading this prayer and praying it, we learn what we also need. Thus, You are blessing Jabez with more territory than he ever imagined. That is the way You want to bless each and every one of us. The words of PS 66: 8-9, 20 come to mind. “Let everyone bless God and sing His praises, for He holds our lives in His hands. And He holds our feet to the path…Praise God, Who did not ignore my prayer or hold back His love from me.” We come before You today in prayer, as we do every day, asking that You will help us to live honorable, righteous, and holy lives. Without You, we cannot do this. We humbly confess our sin and offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, honor, glory, trust, obedience, thanks and utmost praise. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, I am led to write about the importance of prayer, how we can cling to God, and what happens when prayer is neglected. As I gaze out my window on the snowy scene that is our back yard at this time of year, I can’t help but recall that everything I see, everything we have, and everything we are is given to us by our most generous Father. Even the very faith that we have in His Son Who died on the cross so we could be saved is a gift of His grace. How can we ever imagine that God doesn’t deserve our worship, adoration, and time in His word and prayer? Now that I think about it, that is a most self-centered way of looking at things. I believe Satan would like us to think that way, and we need to be cognizant of that. Since we have been clearly told to resist the devil and humble ourselves before God in JAS 4: 7, 10, there can be no question about what God’s will is. Why God wants these actions from us is clear as crystal. He loves each of us like we are His own special treasure, and He wants us to live eternally with Him in heaven. Trusting and obeying Him is the only way to make this happen. Praise to Him, He wants us to bask in the warmth His love every day of our lives. Peter and I send each of you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn