Tag: Prayer

Connecting in Prayer

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Prayer is often misunderstood. It is more connecting with God than it is a formula for getting answers or even stuff from God. Sometimes we think that God is like a genie waiting to grant our wishes if only we would ask Him. The fact is that the more we get to know God, the more our prayers are changed. We ask differently when we begin to realize the sacrifice of Christ. When we go through the pit with Christ, that experience changes our prayer life. Oswald Chambers once wrote something like, prayer is God’s avenue of change in us. When we pray, God will change our hearts and will often use us to bring about a solution or an answer to our prayers.

Quotes:

Prayer is not a means to an end. In so many ways, it is the end itself. — Beth Moore

Prayer lays hold of God’s plan and becomes the link between His will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit’s prayer. — Elizabeth Elliot

Work, work, from morning until late at night. In fact, I have so much to do that I shall have to spend the first three hours in prayer. — Martin Luther

Top 10 Steps to Connecting in Prayer:

  1. Inward – reflect, breath, prepare.
  2. Noise – declutter anxious and distracting thoughts.
  3. Let go – inhale the nearness of God, exhale hindrances.
  4. Hurts – acknowledge and confess your brokenness.
  5. Distractions – focus thought and life upon your Source.
  6. Holy space – be, receive from your heavenly Father.
  7. Outward – freely you have received, freely give.
  8. Self – savor the gift of God that is in you.
  9. Planet – feel the passion the Creator has for His cosmos.
  10. Others – call forth the purposes of God in your relationships.

Trust and Faith

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The essence of the Christian life is faith and trust. It’s one thing to simply believe the right stuff about Jesus but it totally another thing to live a life worthy of being called a Christian. Trusting God that He wants the best for you and any restrictions are for our benefit. Trust is a learned skill, and is something that is earned. The most we trust God, the more we come to realize that He is worthy of our trust (Jeremiah 29:11).

Quotes:

Jesus says that the root of anxiety is inadequate faith in our Father’s future grace. As unbelief gets the upper hand in our hearts, one of the effects is anxiety. The root cause of anxiety is a failure to trust all that God has promised to be for us in Jesus. — John Piper

The one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible. — Thomas Aquinas

Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods. — C. S. Lewis

Top 10 Places in Life That Require Trust:

  1. Prayer: knowing that He’s there and hears every word. Even the ones you have not said.
  2. Friendships: knowing that He can sustain the ones that matter.
  3. Parents: knowing that He can bring understanding and respect.
  4. Children: knowing that they are held by stronger arms than yours.
  5. Church: knowing that God is bigger than problems and messes.
  6. Personality: knowing that He is changing you and unlocking your true self.
  7. Career: knowing that God is preparing you for important things.
  8. Finances: knowing that God is absolutely committed to your supply.
  9. Destiny: knowing that your journey has a good destination (John 14:3).
  10. Your life: knowing that God will finish what He has started (Philippians 1:6).

Discerning God’s Will

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One of the foundational desires for a new believer is to discover God’s will, but the question posed is generally something like, “What is God’s will for my life?” I submit that we often ask the wrong question. We should rather ask, “What is God’s will?'” and then realign our lives in that direction. I don’t buy that God has a specific will all drawn out for each person. He has set into place a series of principles for us to follow and it is up to us to discover how to follow Him in obedience. (I can write a whole lot more on the topic, but will save that for another time).

Quotes:

Shine. Make ’em wonder what you’ve got. Make ’em wish that they were not on the outside looking bored. — Steve Taylor, Newsboys

Your career should be true to your inner wiring, your set of gifts and abilities, your passions. Otherwise, it’s just a job. — The New Rebellion

We serve God by serving others. The world defines greatness in terms of of power, possessions, prestige, and position. If you can demand services from others, you’ve arrived. In our self-serving culture with its me-first mentality, acting like a servant is not a popular concept. — Rick Warren

The Top 10 Tools for Discerning God’s Will:

  1. Prayer – bring your concerns and confusion to God.
  2. Listening – tune in to the responses from His heart.
  3. Community – hear God’s perspectives from those who know you best.
  4. Counsel – receive illumination from your spiritual authorities.
  5. Scriptures – look for God’s direction from His reveled Word.
  6. Passion – recognize the deep longings God has planted in you.
  7. Gifting – release the unique abilities God placed within you.
  8. Opportunity – consider the natural doors God opens supernaturally.
  9. Joy – welcome the Spirit’s confirming presence upon right choices.
  10. Confirmation – find where the above tools converge.

Holy Living and Submission

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The topic of Submission and the command for holy living may not be very popular these days, but this Sunday we will take a look at both, from 1 Peter 3:1-7.

  1. What have you admired about your grandparents’ marriage, or some other older couple? Think of someone who displays inner strength and beauty. What have you learned from that person?
  2. How do you define submission by wives (1 Peter 3:1)? How are husbands to live “in the same way” (1 Peter 3:7)?
  3. In a society where wives were rated among the slaves, what can you find that is progressive about Peter’s marriage principles in 1 Peter 3:1-7? This is a topic that is hard for many Americans to grasp. Note the phrase in 1 Peter 3:1, “in the same way.” How does that help us understand submission (refer back to 1 Peter 2:23)? Can it be that a wife entrusts herself to her husband in the marriage vows, submitting herself to her husband’s care? This does not allow any form of cruelty, emotional or physical abuse, since Peter’s instruction to husbands is to treat them with respect. Submission and respect go together. A husband who respects his wife cannot make her a doormat. A wife who commands respect will not allow it.
  4. What reasons did Peter give for acting according to these principles? For wives (1 Peter 3:1). How can believing wives win their unbelieving husbands to Christ? What may be difficulties spouses of unbelievers encounter? For husbands (1 Peter 3:7). That you prayers will not be hindered?
  5. Why is inner beauty precious to God? List some ways we can cultivate inner beauty.
  6. What can we learn from women, like Sarah, who lived long ago (1 Peter 3:5-6)? Key passages on Sarah include Genesis 12:1-5. Name some of the difficulties Abraham’s obedience may have caused for Sarah. She had to leave her home, her friends, her family; suffer hardship and even risk her life because her husband obeyed God.
  7. In what general ways do other people benefit when believers live holy, pure lives?

An Inspirational Thought:

The holiness we are to exhibit is not our own, but the holiness of Christ in us. We are not holy, and we will not become holy humans. Christ in us can manifest His holiness if we will yield our flesh to Him. This is not a human operation; it is a spiritual one. Jesus installs His holiness in us by grace. Not a once-for-all-time transaction, this is a daily, moment-by-moment striving to live more by the Spirit and less by the flesh.

… A friend bought his daughter a new car, but it must sit in the garage until she reaches the legal driving age. Until her sixteenth birthday she only has partial use of the car, when accompanied by an adult. Similarly, holiness is like a gift already purchased for us (by the blood of Christ), but we cannot have full use of it until a certain date in the future (our glorification).

Becoming holy is a process which includes God’s part and our part. On one hand, our part is to stay out of God’s part—to yield, to surrender, to stop seeking God on our own terms. But our part also is to obey. It is to enter His rehabilitation program.

When you put yourself under a doctor’s care, he cannot help you if you don’t follow his instructions. As the patient surrenders his own good ideas and obeys the doctor’s instruction, he becomes well. The same is true in sanctification. If you and I want to be made holy, then we must willingly surrender ourselves to His care, and we must also actively obey His instructions.

We have no more power to make ourselves holy than a dying man has to save himself. We are weak and tired, and we cannot offer much help. However, we can submit to His rehabilitation program—sanctification. The key to our part is faith—to seek Him in obedience.

(From Walking with Christ in the Details of Life by Patrick Morley)

  1. How can we demonstrate holiness with our lives? Some additional verses you may want to include are Ephesians 4:22-24 (put off the old self and put on the new self) and Paul describes what holy living looks like in Ephesians 4:25-32); 1 Timothy 2:1-4 (prayer, quiet living, godliness, dignity); Hebrews 12:14 (pursue peace, and sanctification).
  2. Why is it important to realize that becoming holy is a process, not a one-time event?
  3. What is God’s part and what is our responsibility in the sanctification process (Philippians 2:12-13)?
  4. Walking in his steps often leads to submission, and even to suffering. In spite of hardship, how might you choose this route?
  5. What is one area in the foreseeable future where you could practice Christ-like submission? And how will you do that?

If There’s Time:

  1. Why do we pay more attention to what people do than to what they say?
  2. List some ways we focus more on enhancing our outward appearance than developing our inner character.
  3. What about our lives will attract people to Christ?

More Bible passages on holy living, see Leviticus 11:44–45; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30; 1 Thessalonians 4:3–7; 2 Timothy 1:8–9; Hebrews 10:10–14; 1 Peter 1:14–16; 2 Peter 3:11.

When Things Go Wrong

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Life is hard. We are not guaranteed a life of ease just because we have died to self and followed Christ. We expect his hedge of protection and we often find hardship and pain in everyday life: we are involved in an auto accident, our job is lost, our health declines, our promotion falls through, our expenses exceed our income, our teenagers rebel and make poor choices that will affect the rest of their lives… It’s a burden, yes, and God wants us to cast our cares on him because he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). We complain to God and let him know that we think this life is unfair and it stinks. Remember this, he is big enough to take all of our complaints, the Bible is full of people who questioned what God was doing in their lives (Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Job). There’s no sin in speaking out to God, but we need to get an eternal perspective.

I found this awesome message in a song called “Held” by Christian music artist Natalie Grant:

Two months is too little. They let him go.
They had no sudden healing.
To think that providence would take a child from his mother while she prays, is appalling.

Who told us we’d be rescued?
What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?
We’re asking why this happens to us who have died to live?
It’s unfair.

Chorus:
This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life and you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was when everything fell we’d be held.

This hand is bitterness.
We want to taste it, let the hatred know our sorrow.
The wise hand opens slowly to lilies of the valley and tomorrow.

Bridge:
If hope is born of suffering.
If this is only the beginning.
Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior?

When Bethany crashed on her bike years ago, she did not sit there on the driveway and complain that I did not care about her, that it was a bit casual of me to allow this to happen to her, or worse, that I sent this accident to teach her some sort of a lesson. She wanted daddy to run to her and hold her and reassure her that she was not alone and everything was going to be alright. Does not God do the same for us? Faith sustains us during the hard times of life, especially that this life is not all that there is.

I recently received this interesting story that puts hardships into perspective:

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.

One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, “God! How could you do this to me?”

Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! “How did you know I was here?” asked the weary man of his rescuers. “We saw your smoke signal,” they replied.

So, the moral of this story? It’s easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn’t lose heart, because God is still at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.

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God Providing Through Prayer Alone

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I read a great book on the life of George Muller of Bristol, a guy who ran several orphanages in the mid-nineteenth century in England. He was a man of extraordinary prayer. He believed that God was his provider. He was so convinced that God alone would supply the needs of the hundreds of orphans under his care, that he would not even mention the needs publicly where men would be able to supply the needs. In 1841, he would not even publish the annual report for the organization, knowing that people would read about the needs and cough up donations due to what they read.

  • How often do we believe that the more people we have praying the more likely our prayers will be answered favorably?
  • When we have needs, how often to we publicize those needs so that others with the gift of giving would have opportunity to respond?
  • How often do we pray to God alone, in secret, in our inner chamber, and wait in humble anticipation for God to come through?

The story below is taken from George Muller of Bristol, by Arthur Pierson, Revell, pp. 180-182 (I did not even find a publishing date in the copy I have!). The introduction was written in 1899 by James Wright, Muller’s son-in-law and successor to the work of George Muller.

It was in December of this same year, 1841, that, in order to show how solely dependence was placed on a heavenly Provider, it was determined to delay for a while both the holding of any, public meeting and the printing of the Annual Report. Mr. Muller was confident that, though no word should be either spoken or printed about the work and its needs, the means would still be supplied. As a matter of fact the report of 1841-2 was thus postponed for five months; and so, in the midst of deep poverty and partly because of the very pressure of such need, another bold step was taken, which, like the cutting away of the ropes that held the life-boat, in that Mediterranean shipwreck, threw Mr. Muller, and all that were with him in the work, more completely on the promise and the providence of God.

It might be inferred that, where such a decision was made, the Lord would make haste to reward at once such courageous confidence. And yet, so mysterious are His ways, that never, up to that time, had Mr. Muller’s faith been tried so sharply as between December 12, 1841, and April 12, 1842. During these four months, again, it was as though God were saying, “I will now see whether indeed you truly lean on Me and look to Me.” At any time during this trial, Mr. Muller might have changed his course, holding the public meeting and publishing the report, for, outside the few who were in his councils, no one knew of the determination, and in fact many children of God, looking for the usual year’s journal of ‘The Lord’s Dealings,’ were surprised at conclusion conscientiously reached was, for the glory of the Lord, as steadfastly pursued, and again Jehovah-Jireh revealed His faithfulness.

During this four months, on March 9, 1842, the need was so extreme that, had no help come, the work could not have gone on. But, on that day, from a brother living near Dublin, ten pounds came: and the hand of the Lord clearly appeared in this gift, for when the post had already come and no letter had come with it, there was a strong confidence suggested to Mr. Muller’s mind that deliverance was at hand; and so it proved, for presently the letter was brought to him, having been delivered at one of the other houses. During this same month, it was necessary once to delay dinner for about a half-hour, because of a lack of supplies. Such a postponement had scarcely ever been known before, and very rarely was it repeated in the entire after-history of the work, though thousands of mouths had to be daily fed.

In the spring of 1843, Mr. Muller felt led to open a fourth orphan house, the third having been opened nearly six years before. This step was taken with his uniform conscientiousness, deliberation, and prayerfulness. He had seen many reasons for such enlargement of the work, but he had said nothing about the matter even to his beloved wife. Day by day he waited on God in prayer, preferring to take counsel only of Him, lest he might do something in haste, move in advance of clear leading, or be biased unduly by human judgment.

Unexpected obstacles interfered with his securing the premises which had already been offered and found suitable; but he was in no way ‘discomforted.’ The burden of his prayer was, “Lord, if Thou hast no need of another orphan house, I have none”; and he rightly judged that the calm deliberation with which he had set about the whole matter, and the unbroken peace with which he met new hindrances, were proofs that he was following the guidance of God and not the motions of self-will.

As the public meeting and the publication of the Annual Report had been purposely postponed to show that no undue dependence was placed even on indirect appeals to man, much special prayer went up to God, that, before July 15, 1844, when the public meeting was to be held, He would so richly supply all need that it might clearly appear that, notwithstanding these lawful means of informing His servants concerning the work had for a time not been used, the prayer of faith had drawn down help from above. As the financial year had closed in May, it would be more than two years since the previous report had been made to the public.

George Muller was jealous for the Lord God of hosts. He desired that “even the shadow of ground might be cut off for persons to say, ‘They cannot get any more while, during the whole progress of the work, he desired to stand with his Master, without heeding either the favourable or unfavourable judgments of men, he felt strongly that God would be much honoured and glorified as the prayer-hearing God if, before the public had been at all apprised of the situation, an ample supply might be given. In such case, instead of appearing to ask aid of men, he and his associates would be able to witness to the church and the world, God’s faithfulness, and offer Him the praise of joyful and thankful hearts. As he had asked, so was it done unto him. Money and other supplies came in, and, on the day before the accounts were closed, such liberal gifts, that there was a surplus of over twenty pounds for the whole work.

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Disappointment With God

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Philip Yancey has written a thought-provoking book (about 20 years ago) called Disappointment With God that asked the questions: Is God unfair? Is God silent? Is God hidden?  

 

I suppose that disappointment in anything comes to us when there is a gap between our expectations and reality. If we have the expectation that God should act in a certain fashion (like we read about in the Bible), we can become disappointed with Him when He does not. I suppose atheists don’t feel disappointed in God since they expect nothing and receive nothing. But as believers, perhaps we begin to think that God is toying with us. Why doesn’t He quit fooling around and show himself? Many might say, “If He would just speak aloud one time so that everyone could hear, then I would believe.” Probably the whole world would. So why doesn’t He? 

 

Yancey makes a great observation… the book of Exodus describes this kind of world. It showed God stepping into human history almost daily. 

 

Is God unfair? Why doesn’t he punish evil and reward good people? Why do bad things happen to people good and bad, with no discernable pattern? Imagine a world designed so that we experience a mild jolt of pain with every sin, and a tickle of pleasure with every act of virtue. This would be an elaborate system (or covenant) of rewards and punishments. Since the old covenant served as an object lesson, demonstrating that human beings were incapable of fulfilling a contract (covenant) with God, He needed to bring a new one. 

 

Is God silent? If He is so concerned about our doing His will, why doesn’t He just reveal it more plainly? A lot of people claim to hear a word from God but how do we know they have really heard from God? God simplified matters of guidance in the exodus: should we pack up and leave or remain here for a while? Simply look at the cloud over the tent. He set up other ways, like casting lots and some 613 laws that covered most anything else. Did a clear word from God increase the likelihood of obedience?  

 

Now for the philosophical question: why pursue God if he has already made himself known so clearly? Why step out in faith when God has already guaranteed the results? Why wrestle with the problem of choices when God already resolved the dilemma? In short, why should the Israelites act like adults when they could act like children? This method might help get a just-freed mob of slaves across the desert, but it doesn’t encourage spiritual development in human beings.  

 

Every choice would be a matter of obedience and not faith. Moses met with God, which was no secret, and God’s directness seemed to produce the opposite desired effect. The Israelites did not respond with worship and love, but fear and open rebellion. God’s visible presence did nothing to improve lasting faith. A burst of miracles would not nourish faith today, at least not the kind of faith God is interested in. The Israelites gave proof that signs from God only attract people to signs, not to God.

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The Purpose of Prayer

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When I taught at Hargrave Military Academy, one of my students in the Bible class brought to my attention a site he found that mocked prayer and the existence of God by appealing to the readers as educated and intelligent people who, if they were honest, must come to the same conclusion as him, that God is imaginary and prayer is an illusion. The site’s point was that prayer does not work, after all, just notice all the starving children around the world or the lack of world peace, or some other prayer request we feel has gone unanswered.  

 

We cannot discount the man’s questions, but he comes to the wrong conclusion based on his preconceived belief that God is imaginary. His anti-God bias affects his conclusion. God’s apparent silence is not as it seems. We cannot forget that we live in a fallen world. 

 

The best of all possible worlds is a place where there is no sin yet we still have free will (to do good and to love God because we choose to). To me, this sounds like the Garden of Eden before the Fall and eventually heaven. This is opposed to exercising our free will by sinning or perhaps loving God with no free will; like a robot programmed to recite a recording of its “love” for God. But in order to get to this “best of all possible worlds” we have to allow those who choose to sin or use their freedom to not love God, the option of not going to heaven. They are weeded out, so to speak. This present world, I believe, is the best way to the best of all possible worlds! 

 

Before I go on a tangent about all the solid and rational evidence that God exists, let me conclude with these two quotes from Oswald Chambers regarding the point of prayer and the purpose of prayer: 

The point of prayer is not to get answers from God, but to have perfect and complete oneness with Him. If we pray only because we want answers, we will become irritated and angry with God. We receive an answer every time we pray, but it does not always come in the way we expect, and our spiritual irritation shows our refusal to identify ourselves truly with our Lord in prayer. We are not here to prove that God answers prayer, but to be living trophies of God’s grace. 

 

Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man. We hear it said that a person’s life will suffer if he doesn’t pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer. When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life. Prayer is the way that the life of God in us is nourished. Our common ideas regarding prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself. 

If our understanding of prayer is faulty, no wonder this guy comes to the conclusion that God is imaginary and prayer is an illusion… he does not know what prayer is. He is like a child praying to God for candy, and when it does not miraculously show up, the child concludes that God must not exist.

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