The Essentials of Effective Prayer 09 December

On Wednesday we talked about becoming a living sacrifice and living in a state of spiritual worship. We are, by nature, selfish beings, and I for one would like to know “what’s in it for me?” when I live in a holy manner.

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! 2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, 3 who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! 4 You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. 5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! 6  Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. 7 I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. 8 I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!

9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10  With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12 Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! 13 With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. 14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. Psalm 119:1-16 (ESV)

Who does God call blessed?

1.       People who walk in the way of the Lord;

2.       Who keep his testimonies (read the Word);

3.       Who seek him with their whole heart (prayer);

4.       Who walk in his ways.

But how do we get to this exalted position in life? Is it possible to every walk blamelessly? Of course not. Not on this earth, with our sin natures. So what do we do?

1.       Fix our eyes on his commandments;

2.       Keep his statutes;

3.       Remain pure by following his commandments;

4.       Store up his rules in our heart;

5.       Meditate on his precepts, and

6.       Remember his word.

Wow! Some of us say that it’s hard to find the time to read the Bible every day, yet the psalmist seems to find great joy and delight in doing just that. Was that possible just because there was no technology back then? Things were simpler and they had more time on their hands? I don’t think so. Although they didn’t have nightly news and American Idol, they did have fields and flocks to tend to – every single day and night. Travel was pretty much nonexistent. “Horsepower” was literal. No air conditioning. No heaters. Kill what you eat. Preserve what isn’t eaten right away – all without electricity. Plus the sacrifices that God demanded, lack of clean water…and the common man couldn’t read and had to memorize God’s commandments! We think it’s tough to find time for God????

What do you think would happen to your prayer life, and your relationship with God, if you were able to do what the psalmist did? If you took time to memorize scripture every week? Pray every day? Read the Bible every day? Come to church every week? How would your life be enriched – blessed?

But what if you do everything we’ve talked about – you ask, you seek, you worship, you pray, you bless, you delight in His Word – and your prayers are not answered. (whiny voice) “But God, you promised you would give me what I asked for if I asked in Your will. You promised if I lived as a living sacrifice. You promised…” Have we considered that God isn’t the problem – that it’s me?

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”2 Cor 12:7-9 (ESV)

Paul, the super-Christian, admitted to a thorn in his flesh. He prayed three times. And God refused to take away his misery. Why?

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

God gave Paul a trial to keep him from filling up with pride. Paul – proud of himself? I can’t conceive it. But God could, and made sure that Paul had something for which he had to rely on God.

Has God ever pulled the rug out from under you? Things were going well… and suddenly, not so well? Could it have been that God was giving you a thorn in your flesh to save you from pride? I know it’s happened to me at least once.

We know now that we can ask anything of God. We know that He answers prayers – or not – to give us what we need, including correction.

What are other reasons God would have for not answering our prayers?

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4  You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9  Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. James 4:1-10 (ESV)

James was correcting a group of believers. They were murdering, coveting, quarreling and wanting to be like the world. They wanted to use God for their personal gain.

How is your “friendship with the world” hurting your prayer life? Are your relationships tense? Are you quarrelsome? Does your judgment stay outside your car when you drive, giving you “license” to offer a one-finger salute to those who don’t drive the way you think they should? Are you jealous? An “adulterer” towards God, loving the world more than Him?

God wants us to turn away from our sins – and from the world’s version of “fun”. I think I would prefer my life be more like the psalmist’s than those to whom James spoke. How about you?

Spend some time in prayer this weekend. Think of the ways that you’ve saddened God and make amends. Look toward the psalmist’s joy as the “gold standard” of living in Christ. Where can you turn from the world and turn toward God? I know there are many areas in my life. If you desire prayer for any issue, feel free to email me!

The Essentials of Effective Prayer 07 December

I briefly mentioned the will of God on Monday and said that we need to seek His will through prayer, Bible reading, and study. There are a few more items to consider when we choose to seek His will.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 (ESV)

What is my “spiritual worship”? How do I present my body as a living sacrifice?

That “living sacrifice” thing can be difficult! Sacrifices were to be perfect, with no blemish. That’s sure not me! How can I make that happen in my daily life?

Obviously, the first thing to do is make sure that I am asking forgiveness for my sins.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he put our sins from us. Psalms 103:12 (BBE)

Now that I am blameless in Him, what steps do I need to continue to make my life a living sacrifice? Will I need to stop looking at things? Listening to certain music? Or something else? What is it in your life that keeps you apart from Him, that keeps you from being that living sacrifice?

Think about it – what are you doing, right now, today, that keeps you from being a living sacrifice? That is a real thought provoker for me. I know a few areas where I am far from perfect. How about you?

What does the Lord really require of us?

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8 (ESV)

Okay. Do justice – that is part of the living sacrifice thing. Love kindness? How is that an element?

Love kindness. The King James says “mercy”. Hmmmm… mercy might be forgiving others, and kindness might be helping others. How is that a living sacrifice? When you are kind and merciful to others, especially when you intentionally connect it to Jesus, you are showing others that God loves them.  When you humble yourself to be a servant of others, you are mirroring Jesus’ actions on this earth.

Take some time in the next couple days to think about the living sacrifice/spiritual worship aspect of prayer. How will your prayer life change when you focus on asking God to satisfy other’s needs instead of your own?

Now is the time to start “praying the Bible”. Use scripture as a part of your prayer life. You claim His promises, and at the same time recite His word. This prayer is based on Colossians 1:9-12.

Father, I ask that I be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of You, fully pleasing to You, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of You. May I be strengthened with all power, according to Your glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to You, because You have qualified me to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

If you have time, email me and let me know how your prayer life has changed since beginning this study. See you Friday!

The Essentials of Effective Prayer 05 December

Give us this day our daily bread.  Matt 6:11 (KJV)

This week we will discuss telling God about our needs. We’ve already talked about the first two elements of prayer – worship and allegiance.

We will examine the words of the Master as He explains, in parable form, how we should pray:

And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. 5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Luke 11:1-10 (KJV)

Why did the friend get out of bed to give bread? Because of importunity (persistence). Jesus gives us a great promise in these verses, but He also tells us that we have to ask persistently. Cry out to Him. Pour out our hearts – not just use Him as an “Christian insurance policy”.

Have you ever persistently prayed, and then watched God answer? Tell me about it! I’d love to know.

Does Jesus give us carte blanche to ask for anything we want? A house? Winning the lottery? A new car?

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15 (ESV)

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8  By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. John 15:7-8 (ESV)

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6  do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:4-7 (ESV)

God expects us to act responsibly and ask according to His will. And how do we know what His will is? By reading the Bible, studying, and praying. The cycle which leads to knowing God better.

Paul gives us a formula for happiness:

1.       Rejoice in God;

2.       Be reasonable;

3.       Don’t worry;

4.       Pray, and

5.       Receive God’s peace through Jesus

That seems, on the surface, to be simple. But is it really? The rejoice part is easy – when we are on the mountaintop. It’s not so simple when we are in the lowest valley. It’s in the valley, however, that we receive the most nourishment; the most teaching; and the strength to climb up that mountain. So rejoice in the Lord always!

I once had a job that I loved. I worked there for 10 years. One day, I was called into the boss and was told that “my relationship with [company] was severed”. The boss gave me a wonderful letter of recommendation – and told me the reason I was fired was to give the wife of another employee a job! I was devastated, of course. I thought about all the things I wanted to do – scream, shout, tell people how badly I had been treated. I didn’t. I calmed down and thanked God for my time there. Of course, I was now in need of a job but felt that God wanted me to wait (not a task in which I excel!). So I did. The days were long and dry. I felt I needed to do something. I was in a valley and it didn’t seem like I could see the bottom of the hole, much less the mountains above. I waited. And waited. I got creative again and started making jewelry. Praising God for my valley, I began to feel calm. One day, I needed a small part for a piece I was working on. I got my keys to go to the store and felt very strongly that I should wait. AAAAAAGGGGGH! I put down my keys and waited. And prayed some more, thinking that God had saved me from an accident by making me wait. This went on for several hours. Finally, I felt that I could go. As I walked into the store, the owner mentioned that her teacher just quit and she was now in need of a teacher. I was hired! Without applying for a single position, waiting on God, I found a new job and a new passion. Not only did He give me a mountaintop experience, He showed me that if I rejoice and pray and wait, He has a plan for my life!

How about you? Are you worrying about the rent? The job? The kids? Are you anxious about that next raise? Or are you asking God to get you through? What difference will it make when you decide to cling to His promises and simply trust?