Tag: Prayer

UPDATED: How Long Is Long Enough?

This post was updated on June 13

Pray Hard

This past week my pastor continued teaching on prayer in the The Circle Maker Series. The subject of this weeks message was “Praying Hard.” The story that he used was that of the persistent widow in Luke 18. The story tells how a widow seeking justice pestered a judge until he caved into the requests of the woman, just to get her off his back. It is an interesting story because she did not wait until her appointed court day. She continued to seek after the judge. The twist in the story is that this is not seen as inappropriate. Jesus seems to imply that God desires this kind of tenacity and stubbornness. Continue reading “UPDATED: How Long Is Long Enough?”

Are My Prayer’s Big Enough?

My pastor, Pastor David, started a series on the book The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson. Batterson is the pastor of National Community Church is Washington, D.C.

The heart of the message on Sunday looked at the legend of The Circle Maker a man named Honi ha-M’agel. The story of Honi (“hoe-knee”) revolves around an event where he drew a circle with his staff and prayed that God would send rain to help put an end to the drought that was ravaging the land.

On one occasion when God did not send rain well into the winter (in the geographic regions of Israel, it rains mainly in the winter), he drew a circle in the dust, stood inside it, and informed God that he would not move until it rained. When it began to drizzle, Honi told God that he was not satisfied and expected more rain; it then began to pour. He explained that he wanted a calm rain, at which point the rain calmed to a normal rain.

He was almost put into cherem (excommunication) for the above incident in which he showed “dishonor” to God. However, Shimon ben Shetach, the brother of Queen Shlomtzion, excused him, saying that he was Honi and had a special relationship with God. [Source]

The impression that I was left with after the story was that this was a very brash and ostentatious way of praying. I do not think that I have ever, in my life, talked to God that way. And that is exactly what we learn from Honi. Honi was not demanding for God answer to him, but that God was more than capable to do what no one else could. That is a very different way of thinking about prayer and why we pray. We have to believe that God can do what he promises because if we do not, then what are we doing praying at all?

Pastor David challenged us to realize that we were not praying bold enough if we are praying for things that we can accomplish on our own, in our own strength. I have heard this often in the church. I get it. It is a challenge to trust God more and more. But, do you know what really struck me as I was listening to Pastor David? What about me? Am I praying that God would conform me into the image of Jesus? Am I praying that God would change my heart, mind, attitudes, emotions and values?

You see, one of the dangers of praying for “BIG” things is that the biggest thing gets overlooked because “I have it under control.” This is a terrible mistake. I can not change who I am, save myself, or even guarantee the next moment of my life, and we want to pray boldly about “big” things. What could be bigger than being the person that Jesus died for us to be?

Pastor David was right, my prayers are not big and bold enough. But, I left with the impression that the subject of those prayers, at least for me, is not those “big” things “out there,” but the big things inside my own heart. I know that this is my tendency, to look inside rather than out. What I have realized is that I want to be the person that prays bigger and bolder prayers because I do believe that God WILL, not just another a person who prays big prayers because I think God CAN.

The National Day of Prayer is Today

It can be so easy at times to forget that prayer is the duty of every believer and follower of Jesus. While I cannot say that I do this as I should, I understand that the leaders of this country need the prayers of the people, but not for the reasons that you might think. Many times our prayers descend into a kind of political jockeying with God. Here is the bottom line.

God is NOT interested in our politics.

As a matter of fact, God could care less about the political situations in this world. God is more interested in accomplishing his purposes through his people. Therefore, it is important for us, the children of God, to quit trying to get God to change the political situation due to some preference we might have. This could very easily descend into a rant, but I will keep myself from that!

My desire on this National Day of Prayer is this: That we as Christ followers would not pray for God to change the political situation or climate or whatever. I would like for us to pray that God would change the hearts of the politicians toward himself. I want my confidence to be in God, not in some man or woman that wants to represent “my interests.” The only one I trust with my interests is God.

And I want to leave it that way.

Prayer

Most Gracious God,

You are greater and more wonderful that any political system, philosophy, or candidate. I pray that we, your people, would spend more time trusting you, rather than some elected official.

Father, I pray, that as a follower of your Son, I would call out to you for the heart and soul of every member of Congress and every elected official. I ask that you would transform them and conform them into the image of your Son. Trusting in others for what only you can provide will lead us toward idolatry and hopelessness.

Help us to increase our trust in you. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

A Prayer on 9/11

A prayer offered during morning worship at Cordele First United Methodist Church, September 11, 2011.

Father,

We are here this morning with thoughts and memories that we would rather not have.  We are here this morning and we remember where we were ten years ago on this day. We are here this morning and we recognize that for many there are loved ones who are not.

There are no words that will ever be able to capture the feelings of sorrow, pain, loss, anger, frustration and disbelief that many of us felt as we watched our innocence stripped away. There are no words that could ever be spoken or written that could ever capture the struggle of faith that many of us endured as we tried to make sense of the wickedness and evil that exists in this world.

The danger that we faced that morning, and the danger that we face this morning is not that terrorists or war will end our lives. The danger that we faced that morning, and the danger that the we face this morning is that terrorists and war will end our faith.

The age old question of evil in the world causes us to doubt and to question your goodness and your power and your presence in our lives. But, it is in moments like these that we must focus our attention toward one point in history. A moment in time long before there were words like “terrorist” and “America” and “9/11”. That point in history, in many ways, looks very much like our day.

Two-thousand years ago, in the city of David, the Savior was born so that he might bring to an end the reign of evil, not just in the world, but in our hearts. Two-thousand years ago, on the banks of the river Jordan, the Son of God, initiated the plan of God to redeem his enemies unto himself. Two-thousand years ago, outside the city gates, the lamb of God was slain, and the veil in the temple was rent so that ALL might approach the throne of grace.

Jesus is the answer to the suffering of our world. Jesus is the answer to the sorrow of our hearts. Jesus is the answer to the doubts of our minds. Jesus is the answer to the fear of our souls. Jesus is the answer that God has given to us when our lives are loosing their bearing. Jesus is the answer.

And because Jesus is the answer we all can call upon you, God, as our father. You see all of our concerns and you ask us to come to you. And for that we give thanks.

Word to the Wise | “God’s Goodness”

How would you feel if God responded to us according to the measurement of our faithfulness?  How could He do this?  Well, let’s assume that God has a “Human Motives Meter” that was able to measure our faithfulness.  For every sincere and heartfelt prayer, you get a half-day’s supply of oxygen.  For every two prayers, you will get a day of oxygen.  If attended church on Sunday, that’s a week’s supply of oxygen.  If you miss Sunday worship, you will get only three days of oxygen and if you wanted to finish the week, you had to pray twice a day for the rest of the week.

Imagine God actually having this “Human Motives Meter” and on Wednesday morning you received an e-mail that says: “You only have 24 hours of oxygen.  Unless you make two sincere and heartfelt prayers today, you will be out of luck tomorrow morning at this hour.”  This is kind of scary.

We have no idea how good God is.  He provides the oxygen regardless of our faithfulness.  He is faithful even when we are unfaithful.  You see, God’s goodness is not something God does.  It is what He is.  He is good.  I pray that each one of us would learn to recognize, and appreciate, God’s goodness in our lives.  We should consider living as if God actually had the “Human Motives Meter” because even though God does use it, He really knows how to measure our faithfulness.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(02/26/09)

Chrysalis Journey #15 | The Power of Patient Persistence (Pt. 1)

It would almost seem contradictory to talk of patient persistence, but this is exactly what prayer is.  One of the most amazing aspects of Chrysalis is the amount of prayer that goes into the preparation of these weekends and the amount of prayer that happens during the weekend.  I almost say this to my shame, but prayer is not as powerful a reality in my life as it should be.  I don’t know why I don’t pray more often, more consistently, more intentionally.  I think that part of it is that I don’t know if what I am saying is me wanting my will to be done or God’s.  This is the struggle that I face.

Over the last couple of months I have discovered several scriptures that have helped me to focus in on what praying in God’s will actually is.  I know that I have tended to pray hoping that what I was praying for was what God wanted me to be praying for.  What I have discovered is that God’s will more readily available than we think.  God has put His will within the Scriptures so that we can have a place to begin with.  The age old question of what God’s will is for each of our lives has become such a distraction to what God has actually said that we fail to live out what God has already said, and we fail to live into the fullness that God has purposed for His children.  Let’s just look at a few of these scriptures.

3For this is the will of God, your sanctification… 1 Thessalonians 4:3 (ESV)

Paul writes to the Thessalonians and tells them that one of God’s purposes for them is that they grow in sanctification, or holiness.  What this means is that God is interested in the transformation of the heart and our lifestyles.  Sanctification begins on the inside, but inevitable manifests itself in daily living.  This is unavoidable.  Therefore a sign of our compliance with and submission to God’s will should be seen in our increased sanctification.  Are you different?  Have you changed in the time that you have come to know Jesus?

15For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 1 Peter 2:15 (ESV)

Peter provides for us the reason that our sanctification is so important to God.  God desires that our lives serve as proof that there are no other gods except Him.  Only the true God could change a life so that it reflects the love, grace and power of God.  God desires that all men come the realization that there is no other being in the created universe worthy of worship.  But the only way to do this is through the effect of the love of God as it is experienced and passed on through the believer.

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40 (ESV)

Jesus leaves no doubt in the mind of those that were listening to him when he says this.  God’s will is that whoever looks, i.e., believes in, Jesus will have eternal life.  Not only that, but Jesus makes a promise to those that do believe in him.  Jesus promises to also raise them from the dead in the last day.

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:17 (ESV)

The will of the Father is waiting to be done!  The world is wasting away because it has failed to see and do what it is that God desires.  But for those that find it, there is the promise of abiding forever with Jesus.  This verse does raise the question: What is will of God?  If we are supposed to be doing this will how to we find it so that we can do it?

In the second part of this post we will look a little closer at who are the ones that we should connect with.  It is important that we associate and fellowship with those that are in agreement with the Word of God.  If our desire is to pray in God’s will we must remain connected to others that have the same desire.

Two Parts:
The Power of Patient Persistence (Pt. 1)
The Power of Patient Persistence (Pt. 2)

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