Willing to pray

willing to pray

When I think of the Sabbath, I think of it as a holy convocation – where I am called to holy exercises if you will, prayer and praise being key as well as hearing the word and re-committing myself or re-offering myself as a sacrifice to God.

You have six days in which to do your work, but remember that the seventh day, the Sabbath, is a day of rest. On that day do not work, but gather for worship. The Sabbath belongs to the Lord, no matter where you live. – Leviticus 23:3 GNT

In these moments my prayer becomes real  and proves to be the unfailing resource that I have.

I called to you, Lord;
    I begged for your help. – Psalm 30:8 GNT

There is always a day that I can go to the mercy seat of God, the throne of grace. Here I never forget to pray and I never doubt the success of prayer. Prayer is a place of solace that is offered by nothing else. My cry for help will succeed where all else fails.

“Bernard, under a fiction, proposes a fable well worthy of our beholding: therein the kings of Babylon and Jerusalem, signifying the state of the world and the church, always warring together; in which encounter, at length it fell out, that one of the soldiers of Jerusalem was fled to the castle of Justice. Siege laid to the castle, and a multitude of enemies entrenched round about it, Fear gave over all hope, but Prudence ministered her comfort. “Does thou not know,” saith she, “that our king is the King of glory; the Lord strong and mighty, even the Lord mighty in battle? Let us therefore despatch a messenger that may inform him of our necessities.” Fear replies, “But who is able to break through? Darkness is upon the face of the earth, and our walls are begirt with a watchful troop of armed men, and we, utterly inexpert in the way into so far a country.” Whereupon Justice is consulted. “Be of good cheer,” saith Justice, “I have a messenger of especial trust, well known to the king and his court, Prayer by name, who knoweth to address herself by ways unknown in the stillest silence of the night, till she cometh to the secrets and chamber of the King himself.” Forthwith she goeth, and findeth the gates shut, knocketh again, “Open, ye gates of righteousness, and be ye opened, ye everlasting doors, that I may come in and tell the King of Jerusalem how our case standeth.” – John King

Prayer is my ambassador.

When I think of trials and difficulties it naturally comes around to money.

God will give us wealth, honor, and property, yes, everything we want, but then will not let us enjoy it. Some stranger will enjoy it instead. It is useless, and it just isn’t right. How are the wise better off than fools? What good does it do the poor to know how to face life? It is useless; it is like chasing the wind. It is better to be satisfied with what you have than to be always wanting something else. – Ecclesiastes 6:2, 8-9  GNT

I am challenged to ask myself these questions. Have I wisely handled the material possessions that God has given me? Has the faithful practice of giving generously and increasingly to His work been difficult? Am I willing to pray that God would teach me how to manage my possessions and lead me to be generous in giving even if it means that those same possessions may decrease? Am I willing to pray my money away?

It may very well happen on a Sabbath day.

The prayer is not, that we should not be tempted, but that we should not be brought into temptation: as if, were it necessary that any one should be examined by fire, he should pray, not that he should not be touched by the fire, but that he should not be consumed. For “the furnace proveth the potter’s vessels, and the trial of tribulation righteous men.” – Augustine

Watch and pray for those in authority

watch and pray

Those in authority not only include those outside my world but it also includes me. I need to be specially on guard against common and offensive sin. Even though Leviticus describes something outside my practice, the analogy to watch and pray against the commission of wrong-doing is not lost on me.

The priests shall not profane the sacred offerings by letting any unauthorized people eat them; this would bring guilt and punishment on such people. I am the Lord and I make the offerings holy.” – Leviticus 22:15-16 GNT

I am under special temptation to commit sin in this area because of my very professional familiarity with the truth and service of God, I am likely to have irreverence, pronounce God’s word without feeling or act without divine inspiration.

My example is far more influential. When I am any of these things, either in time or immediately, those who I lead will know it. It will be communicated and will seriously lessen or at least lower the impression God could have had on their hearts and lives.

I therefore try to stay away from my human tendency to speak without thinking before God and others. It is foolish to speak too much and hear too little in God’s presence.

Be careful about going to the Temple. It is better to go there to learn than to offer sacrifices like foolish people who don’t know right from wrong. Think before you speak, and don’t make any rash promises to God. He is in heaven and you are on earth, so don’t say any more than you have to. The more you worry, the more likely you are to have bad dreams, and the more you talk, the more likely you are to say something foolish. – Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 GNT

“When we come before God, our minds are full of our own business rather than with the worship of God. When we talk too much, we usually talk like fools. This can be especially bad in the house of God.” – Wright

J. Edwin Orr used to advise brief, earnest prayers, especially in prayer meetings. He said that when one prays in a meeting, for his first three minutes everyone prays with him. Should he continue a second three minutes, everyone prays for him. Should he continue for a third three minutes, the others start to pray against him.

“For as it is not the loudness of a preacher’s voice, but the weight and holiness of his matter, and the spirit of the preacher, that moves a wise and intelligent hearer, so it is not the labour of the lips, but the travail of the heart that prevails with God.” – Trapp

“As personal and business cares produce dreams, which are unsubstantial things; so many words produce foolish and empty prayers.” – Wright

So I cry out to God to hear me.

O Lord, my defender, I call to you.
    Listen to my cry!
If you do not answer me,
    I will be among those who go down to the world of the dead.
Hear me when I cry to you for help,
    when I lift my hands toward your holy Temple. – Psalm 28:1-2 GNT

For those who only pray as a formality, they may be content to go in life without their prayers being answered, but I cannot. I need more than just the comfort and submitting of my will – I need God to respond and I cannot rest completely until I hear from Him. I dread when even a little bit of time goes by when God is silent.

So I am not put off when I am in the spirit of prayer until I hear from God. My voice is not what I speak audibly, it is my heart voice. Raising my hands is an act of seeking mercy. Raising of hands has always been a form of devout posture, a readiness, and eagerness to receive blessings. I stretch my hands, empty as they are, seeking for them to be filled with everything I need. My expectation of a response is on His mercy. May I have a humble heart as I approach the throne of God.

We petition that forgiveness comes to us, as we forgive our debtors”, namely
as we spare and pardon all who have in any way injured us, either treating us
unjustly in deed or insulting us in word. Not that it is ours to forgive the guilt of transgression or offense, for this belongs to God alone (Isa 43:25). This, rather, is our forgiveness: willingly to cast from the mind wrath, hatred, desire for revenge, and willingly to banish to oblivion the remembrance of injustice. For this reason, we ought not to seek forgiveness of sins from God unless we ourselves also forgive the offenses against us of all those who do or have done us ill. If we retain feelings of hatred in our hearts, if we plot revenge and ponder any occasion to cause harm, and even if we do not try to get back into our enemies’ good graces, by every sort of good office deserve well of them, and commend ourselves to them, by this prayer we entreat God not to forgive our sins. – Calvin

Raised from suffering by prayer

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I was reading Psalm 26 – what a great prayer model for times of suffering – times where I need God help – when I know that my suffering is not because of my sin.

This kind of prayer comes from knowing I have been totally forgiven by God.  In other words, I am brimming in confidence – not in my ability to do good – but in God’s ability to forgive.

Declare me innocent, O Lord,
    because I do what is right
    and trust you completely. – Psalm 26:1 GNT

David’s confidence came from God’s love and His faithfulness.

Your constant love is my guide;
    your faithfulness always leads me – Psalm 26:3 GNT

This is the kind of prayer that can be prayed by anyone at any time. No matter who prays, how they pray or where they pray it – the words are an active desire to act with integrity and enjoy a covenantal relationship with God.

This allows me to walk with others and pray for them too. When I walk with another and should anyone one of us fall, there will be one still available to lift the other up.

 If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it’s just too bad, because there is no one to help him. – Ecclesiastes 4:10 GNT

The Targum paraphrases it this way.

“If one of them falls upon the bed, and lies sick, the other will cause his friend to rise by his prayer.”

If I am the one who is well and can help – I am called to visit, sympathize, speak words of comfort and pray with him – so that restoration takes place. It is even more than that – distress, poverty, falling into error, sin – for we can all fall into those ways along our journey and if I walk it alone and fall, who will pray for me?

 “If anyone insists on his own goodness and despises others…let him look into himself when this petition confronts him. He will find he is no better than others and that in the presence of God everyone must duck his head and come into the joy of forgiveness only through the low door of humility.” – Luther

 

 

 

Soul prayers for answers and guidance

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I look at prayer as part of my journey in being holy. I want to be holy because God has asked me to be holy.

Keep yourselves holy, because I am the Lord your God. – Leviticus 20:7 GNT

John Wesley and his brother Charles were at Oxford University in England when they became part of a group dedicated to prayer, Bible study, self-examination, and works of charity. The group was called the “”Holy Club,”” and it included the great preacher George Whitefield. But even though John Wesley practiced rigid spiritual discipline, he grew increasingly frustrated. After three years in America, he wrote in his journal: “”I went to America to convert the Indians; but oh, who shall convert me?”” It wasn’t until after Wesley returned to England in 1737 that he realized he had been trying to practice holiness without a saving relationship with Christ. He was converted in 1738. John Wesley’s attempts to please God by religious activity and self-discipline put him in a long line of sincere, well-meaning people who have tried to manufacture holiness.

This is why I hear from those who pray everyday, read their Bibles daily, and go out and serve in the community and their lives are not transformed – they are so frustrated because they do not know why. I experienced this in a much smaller scale as a child – went to Sunday School every Sunday, memorized all the verses, tried my best to be a good student and yet something was missing.

As important as holiness is – being dedicated to and set apart for God – it is not meant to be achieved by human effort – God is the one who makes us holy.

 Obey my laws, because I am the Lord and I make you holy. – Leviticus 20:8 GNT

Now I can engage in what I call “soul” prayers. Let’s see if I can share what they look like with the help of Psalm 25.

“Prayer is the ascent of the soul to God; God must be eyed and the soul employed” – Matthew Henry

True prayer may be described as the soul rising from earth to have fellowship with heaven; it is taking a journey upon Jacob’s ladder, leaving our cares and fears at the foot, and meeting with a covenant God at the top. Very often the soul cannot rise, she has lost her wings, and is heavy and earth bound; more like a burrowing mole than a soaring eagle. At such dull seasons we must not give over prayer, but must, by God’s assistance, exert all our powers to lift up our hearts. Let faith be the lever and grace be the arm, and the dead lump will yet be stirred. – Charles Spurgeon

I trust God to keep me from shame.

 In you, my God, I trust.
Save me from the shame of defeat;
    don’t let my enemies gloat over me!
Defeat does not come to those who trust in you,
    but to those who are quick to rebel against you. – Psalm 25:2-3 GNT

I am open to being being taught and guided by God.

Teach me your ways, O Lord;
    make them known to me.
Teach me to live according to your truth,
    for you are my God, who saves me.
    I always trust in you. – Psalm 25:4-5 GNT

I ask God to forgive and forget my sins as I confess them. I appeal to the character of God.

Remember, O Lord, your kindness and constant love
    which you have shown from long ago.
Forgive the sins and errors of my youth.
In your constant love and goodness,
    remember me, Lord!

Keep your promise, Lord, and forgive my sins,
    for they are many. – Psalm 25:6-7, 11  GNT

“You or I may take a hold at any time upon the justice, the mercy, the faithfulness, the wisdom, the long suffering, the tenderness of God; and we will find every attribute of the Most High to be, as it were, a great battering ram with which we may open the gates of heaven.”   – Charles Spurgeon           

I focus on how God works and how He moves.

Because the Lord is righteous and good,
    he teaches sinners the path they should follow.
He leads the humble in the right way
    and teaches them his will.
 With faithfulness and love he leads
    all who keep his covenant and obey his commands. – Psalm 25:8-10 GNT

I experience intimacy with God.

Those who have reverence for the Lord
    will learn from him the path they should follow.
 They will always be prosperous,
    and their children will possess the land.
 The Lord is the friend of those who obey him
    and he affirms his covenant with them. – Psalm 25:12-14 GNT

I love getting closer to God when I pray. It is one of my most cherished thoughts that I could be a friend of God and through that friendship He shares things with me that are dear to His heart. Maybe even to the type of friendship that Abraham had with God.

I ask, I pour out my heart to the Lord to rescue me from danger, from loneliness, from my worries and distress and from the consequences of my sin. My eyes are on Him.

I look to the Lord for help at all times,
    and he rescues me from danger.
Turn to me, Lord, and be merciful to me,
    because I am lonely and weak.
Relieve me of my worries
    and save me from all my troubles.
Consider my distress and suffering
    and forgive all my sins. – Psalm 25:15-18 GNT

In order to continually lift my soul to the Lord, I need Him to guard it for without His help everything else can get out of order and turn into chaos. In Him I find refuge.

Protect me and save me;
    keep me from defeat.
    I come to you for safety.
May my goodness and honesty preserve me,
    because I trust in you. – Psalm 25:20-21 GNT

The evil that can present itself can be thwarted by the power of the Holy Spirit moving on my soul. As I wait on the Lord and seek Him continually, He will preserve me with integrity and honour and I will be in right standing with Him.

“Waiting in prayer is a disciplined refusal to act before God acts.” – Eugene Peterson

“What they mean is that Christians should pray long enough and honestly enough, at a single session, to get past the feeling of formalism and unreality that attends not a little praying…If we “pray until we pray,” eventually we come to delight in God’s presence, to rest in his love, to cherish his will. Even in dark or agonized praying, we somehow know we are doing business with God. In short, we discover a little of what Jude means when he exhorts his readers to pray “in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 20)—which presumably means it is treacherously possible to pray not in the Spirit.” – D.A. Carson

I ask on behalf of others.

From all their troubles, O God,
    save your people Israel! – Psalm 25:22 GNT

I remember the Lord’s Prayer when Jesus taught us “our Father”, “give us”, “forgive us” and “do not bring us”… This is the kind of prayer that connects us to the entire faith community.

When I pray at home, which is the place where I am safe, to search for meaning and identity, I deepen my interactions with family and from there find strength to face the increasing demands of life. We learn to pray and pray together and that enables us to be hope to other families who are in need for what we have found in Christ.

 But if any do not take care of their relatives, especially the members of their own family, they have denied the faith and are worse than an unbeliever. – 1 Timothy 5:8 GNT

Our faith community is a place from where God can speak to us. As we pray for answers and guidance they can become instruments of divine counsel. There is wisdom there and experience.

To pray “give us – all the people of our land –
daily bread” is to pray against “wanton
exploitation” in business, trade, and labor, which
“crushes the poor and deprives them of their
daily bread.” – Luther

 

 

 

Sanctified prayer life

prayer as worship leading to sanctification

I love the shepherd analogy of Psalm 23. God fully keeps His promises, He faithfully sees them through to the end. He leads people until each one finds their place to settle. At the end of the day, when the plans are complete, we are better off than we were before. Here are the four unmistakable traits of a shepherd that I can meditate on in my devotional prayer life.

He will cause us to:

  1. move when we need to
  2. lead and protect us along the way
  3. bring us to new and fruitful lands
  4. fully establish and settle us in them

These are big things to consider along the way, but God cares about the little things as well. For instance, praying before a meal – it matters to God what that looks like.

Everything that God has created is good; nothing is to be rejected, but everything is to be received with a prayer of thanks, because the word of God and the prayer make it acceptable to God. – 1 Timothy 4:4-5 GNT

The first thing I notice is that the actual emphasis is not on God blessing the food, but on thanking God for the blessing of providing food to eat. While it is good and proper for me to pray before a meal, it should not be done in a ritualistic, superstitious way. Nor should it be done to show others how spiritual we are. I remember my pastor taking me out to lunch one day and he suggested we not pray over our food as it was an unnecessary tradition. I quickly rejected that idea and am thankful that this was confirmed today as the right attitude to have and not to neglect prayer just because one thinks it could be traditional.

While the food we eat may not be pure – everything we eat is holy when received as His gift with thanksgiving and with prayer – that is what sanctified means. In other words, all food is sanctified by a grace before a meal. There is no formula as to what that prayer should look like, but if I keep referring everything to God as the giver of all – taking everything as a gift from God – I come with thanks to God from my heart and my prayer will reflect this.

Not that this is a formula prayer, but I found a prayer written, they say it may be the oldest form of Christian grace before a meal recorded in the Apostolic Constitutions. It is simple and not too long.

“Blessed be Thou, O Lord, who nourisheth men from very youth up, who givest meat to all flesh; fill our hearts with joy and gladness, so that we, always enjoying a sufficiency, may abound unto every good work in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom be ascribed to Thee glory, honour, and power unto the ages. Amen.”

“In speaking of our daily bread, we do not bid farewell to God’s glory, but we ask only what is expedient for Him. We come with our needs, expecting a positive response, but we do so, changed by our satisfaction in Him and our trust of Him. Because of that, we do not come arrogantly and anxiously telling Him what has to happen. Many things we would have otherwise agonized over, we can now ask for without desperation.” – John Calvin