David’s prayer

When David prays for the people and for Solomon, he prays that they may be faithful, as faithful as the day they started serving God. He calls into being the covenant that God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is thankful that God gives grace so that we can make good our part of the covenant and thereby not lose its benefits. For the people he prays that what God had put in their minds, He would keep there. He prays that they will never be worse than they were now, never losing their convictions nor cool to their affections to the house of God. There were great consequences either way – everything depended on their hearts, what they were trying to grasp and what they loved to think about.

Give my son Solomon a wholehearted desire to obey everything that you command and to build the Temple for which I have made these preparations. – 2 Chronicles 29:19 GNT

It is good to commit to God, by prayer, the custody of those that matter most to the grace of God. When I am gone, God keep them. In fact, give them a wholehearted desire to obey and to serve You. I love the fact that he did not pray for riches or greatness – just that he might be an honest man with a focus on his God.

Then David commanded the people, “Praise the Lord your God!” And the whole assembly praised the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and they bowed low and gave honor to the Lord and also to the king. – 2 Chronicles 29:20 GNT

What a way to bless God.

There are few converted in this world unless in connection with some one’s prayers. I formerly thought that no human being had anything to do with my own conversion, for I was not converted in church or Sunday-school, or in personal conversation with any one. I was awakened in the middle of the night and converted. As far as I can remember I had not the slightest thought of being converted, or of anything of that character, when I went to bed and fell asleep; but I was awakened in the middle of the night and converted probably inside of five minutes. A few minutes before I was about as near eternal perdition as one gets. I had one foot over the brink and was trying to get the other one over. I say I thought no human being had anything to do with it, but I had forgotten my mother’s prayers, and I afterward learned that one of my college classmates had chosen me as one to pray for until I was saved. – R. A. Torrey

When I pray, seek to pray

And to Solomon he said, “My son, I charge you to acknowledge your father’s God and to serve him with an undivided heart and a willing mind. He knows all our thoughts and desires. If you go to him, he will accept you; but if you turn away from him, he will abandon you forever. You must realize that the Lord has chosen you to build his holy Temple. Now do it—and do it with determination.” – 2 Chronicles 28:9-10 GNT

The charge is strong, it is personal and yet it is corporate. It is the reason a Temple needs to be built. It is also a warning. Should I leave my walk with God, and turn my back to God rather than my face, should I not spend time with Him in prayer, in His Word, everyday finding time for fellowship and to spend time with other followers of Jesus – I will be in trouble.

I once visited, upon his death-bed, a professional man who had evidently forsaken God all his life, and whom God forsook in the hour of death. He then sought God earnestly, but it was too late. He could not find Him. When I prayed with him, he tried to follow my petitions, but his mind — distracted and bewildered — would not allow him. He told me over and over again that he sought to pray, but he never could find words. He also told me that he endeavoured to write his prayer upon a slate, but that his fingers refused to move. And in that awful state of mind he went to his final account. Another whom I visited seemed to be actually amid the pains of hell, whilst his body was still upon earth. As the large drops of perspiration stood upon his agonised forehead he exclaimed, “There is nothing you can tell me. I know it all. I have heard these things from you and from others, and that is my misery. I am entering hell with my eyes wide open.” – C. Clayton

How many a Sunday-school teacher has taught for months and years, and seen no real fruit from his labors, and then has learned the secret of intercession, and by earnest pleading with God, has seen his scholars brought one by one to Christ! How many a poor preacher has become a mighty man of God by casting away his confidence in his own ability and gifts, and giving himself up to God to wait upon Him for the power that comes from on high! John Livingstone spent a night, with some others likeminded, in prayer to God and religious conversation, and when he preached next day in the Kirk of Shotts five hundred people were converted, or dated some definite uplift in their life to that occasion. Prayer and power are inseparable. R.A. Torrey

Prayer is the key

There was also Obed Edom, whom God blessed by giving him eight sons. – 1 Chronicles 26:4 GNT

This was the only man whom the scriptures indicated was blessed by God by giving him eight sons. All the other heads of family had sons but none had the description of being blessed by God.

It caught my attention and I had to remind myself why this was the case.

Obed Edom was the man who owned the property where the Ark of God resided after Uzzah died after touching it. It stayed there for threee months and I recalled that God blessed his household and everything he owned in such a manner that King David noticed.

Here is the chapter where Obed Edom name is mentioned quite a few times – 1 Chronicles 15

What I did find interesting, is that Obed Edom sold his property, all of it to King David. So what occupation did he have after the Ark left his home? He moved himself and his family along with the Ark to Jerusalem.

His occupation included being a Temple Guard, a musician (played the harp) and a gatekeeper – with a focus surrounding the Ark. God’s blessing also included his apppointments and postion of service.

Remember his eight sons? His sons had sons, sixty-two in all. What did Obed Edom do to gain such favour? Was it only because the Ark was on his property that all of this happened?

The Jewish scholars believed that Obed Edom did not just have the Ark on his property but that through his faith, his attitude and prayerful actions created a relationship with God and that relationship was reciprocated back to him with the Lord establishing a legacy of generational blessing.

Today, I do not need to go to a physical place to meet with God. I can meet Him anywhere. However, I believe that I do not take that relationship for granted, but rather seek and desire to have more of Him and to be consumed by the Holy Spirit.

I can sense His desire for that relationship to happen. It calls me to repent, it calls me to forgive, and it causes me to be careful with what my eyes and ears see and hear that may take me away from having such a sweet relationship with Him.

Prayer becomes a key in making this all happen.

A woman with a little boy who was perfectly incorrigible, once came to me in desperation and said: “What shall I do with him?” I asked, “Have you ever tried prayer?” She said that she had prayed for him, she thought. I asked if she had made his conversion and his character a matter of definite, expectant prayer. She replied that she had not been definite in the matter. She began that day, and at once there was a marked change in the child, and he grew up into Christian manhood. – R.A. Torrey

Drawing lots

Since there were Temple officials and spiritual leaders among the descendants of both Eleazar and Ithamar, assignments were made by drawing lots. 1 Chronicles 24:5 GNT

This struck me odd, only in the sense that it made me question my spiritual thinking when it comes to identifying and choosing what my strengths and skillsets are, the tasks I volunteer for, even my own calling. Since I do it for myself, I find that I want to do it for others too.

I find I pray a lot, sense the peace of God when making decisions, and see the moving of His hand in appropriate areas of my life to confirm or deny the things I bring before Him.

There was a direct sense of not looking at these men with the understanding of the giftedness, skill or training, but rather, who did God want doing what? And since we look with our ears, eyes and mind and God looks at the heart, this was the only way to determine it appropriately. I never heard anyone complaining when this method was used in other areas of decision making. Solomon even stated that the drawing of lots resolved disputes between two powerful contenders.

There are 88 accounts in the Old Testament and 7 in the New where lots were drawn and God did not step in to say that it was wrong. He moved in those opportunities to ensure His will was done.

I am sure that no one today practices this, even though I know I tried to determine my mission field this way (Japan). Prayer is more the determining factor. But I still wonder sometimes 🙂

Prayer brings power into our work. If we wish power for any work to which God calls us, be it preaching, teaching, personal work, or the rearing of our children, we can get it by earnest prayer. – R. A. Torrey

Intercessory prayer, teach me to pray

The idea of burning incense, in the Old Testament is a picture of intercessory prayer.

“The fragrant incense stealing heavenward is a beautiful emblem of intercessory prayer. Let us pray more, not for ourselves so much as for others. This is the sign of grown in grace, when our prayers are fragrant with the names of friend and foe, and mingled with the coals of the golden altar.” – Meyer

Aaron and his descendants were set apart to be in charge of the sacred objects forever, to burn incense in the worship of the Lord, to serve him, and to bless the people in his name. – 1 Chronicles 23:13 GNT

“It is not enough to linger in soft prayer within the vail, we must come forward to bless mankind. He who is nearest to God is closest to man.” – Meyer

It takes a certain kind of focus to be able to pray.

The end of all things is near. You must be self-controlled and alert, to be able to pray. – 1 Peter 4:7 GNT

In other words, keep a clear head. It is the only way I can pray more effectively, even more appropriately. It is the exercise itself in being self-controlled and alert that leads me to prayer. If I really knew how totally and dependent I am on God and how I can do nothing without Him, I would pray a lot more. If I understood the spiritual battle for the souls of those who have not yet been touched by the Holy Spirit, I would pray with much more focus. If the end of all things is really near, and if I knew what that meant, I guarantee that I would pray.

And so a disciple, who was watching Jesus pray, asked Him as He was finishing, teach us to pray.

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” – Luke 11:1 GNT

John the Baptist had done it. Now I must listen to the Holy Spirit as He begins to teach me how to pray.

John Welch, son-in-law to John Knox, was one of the most faithful men of prayer this world ever saw. He counted that day ill-spent in which seven or eight hours were not used alone with God in prayer and the study of His Word. An old man speaking of him after his death said, “He was a type of Christ.” How came he to be so like his Master? His prayer life explains the mystery. – R. A. Torrey