Doing what is right

Found another prayer verse to use when you desire someone to be following God.

Genesis 7:1      May You find ______ “who does what is right” just as you found Noah to be righteous in his generation.

The Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with your whole family; I have found that you are the only one in all the world who does what is right. – Genesis 7:1 GNT

Ezra was another person who set himself with an exemplary life for he determined in his heart to know, study and teach God’s word. As I do the same, I pray that I may be used by God to turn the hearts of some to Jesus.

Ezra had devoted his life to studying the Law of the Lord, to practicing it, and to teaching all its laws and regulations to the people of Israel. – Ezra 7:10 GNT

What does that look like – this kind of determination, especially when it comes to prayer?

Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks will receive, and anyone who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to those who knock.  Would any of you who are fathers give your son a stone when he asks for bread?  Or would you give him a snake when he asks for a fish?  As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!  “Do for others what you want them to do for you: this is the meaning of the Law of Moses and of the teachings of the prophets. – Mathew 7:7-12 GNT

Jesus is inviting me to pray – in fact, I believe I count three times where I am not only invited but it comes across as almost a command. One thing is noted for sure, the repetition is meant to say – “I mean this.”

There are promises to me when I pray. I believe I count seven promises.

[1] it will be given to you; seek, and [2] you will find; knock, and [3] it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks [4] receives, and the one who seeks [5] finds, and to the one who knocks [6] it will be opened.” Then at the end of verse 11b (7): “How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

I like the variety of ways I can reach out to God in prayer. If I am in His presence, I can ask. If I need to find Him, I can. If He is somewhere doing something that requires me to get His attention before I interrupt, I can knock.

Is it not true that for everyone who asks, they receive. What an encouragement to me to put aside my timidity, even my hesitancy. It puts away my self doubt that such blessings are for others and not for me.

Why am I so excited about all of this? I am coming before my Father in all of these situations. When I come to my Father through Jesus, He will never give me anything that is bad for me. He is better than my earthly father. So I can trust His goodness because I am His child.

“For what would he not now give to sons when they ask, when he has already granted this very thing, namely, that they might be sons?” – Augustine

The cross is the foundation of prayer. How is it that one who is a sinner is called a child of an all holy God? How can I presume to be a child, let alone ask and expect to receive, seek and expect to find, and knock and expect to have the door opened?

The death of Jesus is the foundation for all the promises of God and all the answers to prayer that we ever get. This is why we say “in Jesus’s name” at the end of our prayers. Everything depends on him.

The scriptural reason for prayer is based on biblical precedents for praying – especially when I look at Jesus. I think of how similar the prayer of Stephen was to the prayer Jesus gave at the cross.

They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!” He said this and died. – Acts 7:59-60 GNT

This is the journey of prayer – “Finding our way through duty to delight” – J.I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom

Teaching me to pray

I see a lot of private prayer in Jesus’ life. So it comes as no surprise that this is a key action in how I pray.

But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you. – Matthew 6:6 GNT

There is also something to be said for speaking plainly and simply.

“When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods will hear them because their prayers are long.  Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him. – Matthew 6: 7-8 GNT

When I start praying to God in my private space the same way I pray when surrounded by believers, I am in trouble. I should pray around believers the same way I pray to God in private. Praying is simply expressing what is on my heart to God.

Isn’t the idea – I need to pray – so who cares what it sounds like. If God likes it that is all that matters.

Look, prayer is spilling your guts. It doesn’t have to be pretty. It doesn’t have to be tidy. It doesn’t have to be particularly eloquent or even particularly intelligent…Spilling our guts in prayer is how we process God’s words to us. Prayer is how we interact with our friend Jesus. – Jared Wilson

The Lord’s Prayer really encourages me to pray about all areas of my life. It brings to my attention how I pray regarding my life with God and my life with others.

“The Lord’s Prayer stretches from the Father at the beginning to the devil at the end, from heaven to hell, and in between in six brief petitions everything important in life” Frederick Bruner

I am learning how to pray about God.

Our Father in heaven:
    May your holy name be honored;
 may your Kingdom come;
    may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. – Matthew 6:9-10 GNT

I want to pray that God’s reign will become a reality in my own world.

Then I am encouraged to pray about people, and about life.

Give us today the food we need.[a]
 Forgive us the wrongs we have done,
    as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.
Do not bring us to hard testing,
    but keep us safe from the Evil One. – Matthew 6:11-13 GNT

I have needs and I love that I am encouraged to only worry about my daily needs and not to worry about tomorrow. That goes the same about my sins and my relationships. Jesus knows I am going to mess up, instead of hiding it from God, I am encouraged to bring it straight to Him. I am going to bring my worst to Him.

“There is mercy for a sinner, but there is no mercy for the man who will not own himself a sinner” Spurgeon

There is also included here the prayer for protection. I pray this one probably more than any other for without His covering and favour I know I will not go far. I am called to pray through and to pray for strength to resist. At the end of the day I am encouraged not to struggle on my own, I need to ask God for help. How I live and my prayer life need to connect. It is surprising how Jesus ends His instructions on how to pray.

If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done. – Matthew 6:14-15 GNT

Is this not Jesus insisting that our insides and outsides match. How can I pray and then ignore my personal relationships? God cares about relationships. Seems like I cannot claim to be forgiven if I do not extend forgiveness to others.

When this connection happens, it is amazing how those who are not followers of Jesus will ask for prayer. King Darius did this in Ezra’s time.

This is to be done so that they can offer sacrifices that are acceptable to the God of Heaven and pray for his blessing on me and my sons. – Ezra 6:10 GNT

King Darius saw prayer working and wanted some of that blessing for himself and his family. What a testimony to God’s faithfulness when our prayer life connects with living life.

So let us do what the apostles committed themselves to do.

We ourselves, then, will give our full time to prayer and the work of preaching. – Acts 6:4 GNT

Devotion is more than mere emotion. It is disciplined adherence to a chosen path, uninterrupted, earnest pursuit towards something precious, a willingness to persevere, constant diligence towards one purpose.

“We should not drive a wedge between seeking personal communion with God and seeking the advance of His kingdom in hearts and in the world. And if they are kept together, then communion will not be just wordless mystical awareness on the one hand, and our petitions will not be a way of procuring God’s favour “for many words” on the other.” – Tim Keller

God helps

Here are two scripture verses I started out praying today for those who need God’s help.

This is the list of the descendants of Adam. (When God created human beings, he made them like himself.  He spent his life in fellowship with God, and then he disappeared, because God took him away. – Genesis 5:5,24 GNT

Genesis 5:1    May ______ know that he/she is made in the likeness of You, God.

Genesis 5:24    May ______ walk with You, God, just as Enoch did

When we spend our lives talking with God and spending time with Him, it means that we really are not doing all of that while kneeling or standing or even with our eyes closed. We are working, eating, exercising, and even relaxing.

I have met Christians who, after reading the Bible, go out and walk around their neighbourhood. They note anything they sense the Holy Spirit is saying as they pray. It is like – talk as you walk.

Then there are times when we need God’s help with a very specific desire to be more like Him. One for me was loving my enemies.

But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. – Matthew 5:44 GNT

Praying for my enemies has to be one of the deepest forms of love because it means that I really want something good to happen to them.

It may be for their conversion. It may be for their repentance. It may be that they would be awakened to the enmity in their hearts. It may be that they will be stopped in their downward spiral of sin, even if it takes disease or calamity to do it. But the prayer Jesus has in mind here is always for their good.

Ezra confirms how God steps in when He has to. He sends prophets to move the work again.

At that time two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo, began to speak in the name of the God of Israel to the Jews who lived in Judah and Jerusalem. 2 When Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak heard their messages, they began to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, and the two prophets helped them. – Ezra 5:1-2 GNT

When God needs work to be done, it is supported by prayer. At the end of the day I need to make a choice. I pray that my choice will be to obey God regardless of what others may have to say. 

The simple thing is the greatest thing… As for the will of the “Father in heaven”, it is always clear and transparent, simple and intelligible to the simple heart… It is the will of all those in heaven who share his will, all who, together, enter into the Father’s loving will in all its concrete dimensions… People are only rarely aware of this when they pray. Unless they are rare mystics who actually encounter heaven’s inhabitants – angels, saints, the Mother of the Lord, or the Son himself – they are inclined to act as if they were encountering God in a solitude which is total on both sides, God’s and theirs; as if they were alone in approaching God, alone in trying to come to grips with his word and law. This is wrong in both respects. – Hans Urs von Balthasar

How shall I pray?

When did prayer become an exercise? It happened when people on earth started to multiply. It would seem that Cain’s offspring had a monopoly on every part of life. They were the ones who were involved and pioneering the building and owning of cities, ruling over and killing others, marrying the way they wanted, running all the businesses, military and entertainment places.

Where were the people who were following after God, who were the ones involved with the one dimension not mentioned above, the one they left untouched?

Seth had a son whom he named Enosh. It was then that people began using the Lord’s holy name in worship. – Genesis 4:26 GNT

That makes it prayer, for worship is a form of prayer. This is the first mention of a kind of public and private, corporate and personal, scheduled and as needed call on the Lord.

Jesus shared the same experience for a prayer of deliverance not only requires attitude but demands action. Jesus faced temptation on several occasions and with a submissive attitude, acted in obedience to God. In a prayer of deliverance, we are affirming that God truly is our Deliverer from all forms of evil.

Look at what Ezra had to face, do you think he could have faced these without prayer.

Work on the Temple had been stopped and had remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of Emperor Darius of Persia. – Ezra 4:24 GNT

What a great reminder to pray for those in authority and for those under their authority. All the quietness and peaceableness of our lives depend very much upon the integrity and wisdom of inferior leaders as well as those who are above them. There are consequences of poor leadership, but we are called to pray through them.

What about those early Christians? Did they not pray for boldness?

And now, Lord, take notice of the threats they have made, and allow us, your servants, to speak your message with all boldness. – Acts 4:29 GNT

Do not be fooled in thinking this was done in ignorance because they had just come out of a situation – they knew what it meant when they prayed and the cost of that prayer. However, the mission did not change, neither had the source of their power. Look at the amazing example of how to pray.

When the believers heard it, they all joined together in prayer to God: “Master and Creator of heaven, earth, and sea, and all that is in them!  By means of the Holy Spirit you spoke through our ancestor David, your servant, when he said,

‘Why were the Gentiles furious;
    why did people make their useless plots?
 The kings of the earth prepared themselves,
    and the rulers met together
    against the Lord and his Messiah.’

 For indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together in this city with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Jesus, your holy Servant, whom you made Messiah.  They gathered to do everything that you by your power and will had already decided would happen.  And now, Lord, take notice of the threats they have made, and allow us, your servants, to speak your message with all boldness.  Reach out your hand to heal, and grant that wonders and miracles may be performed through the name of your holy Servant Jesus.”

It is marvelous in its simplicity and its comprehension of the Person and purposes of God.

God’s kingdom must include prayer to know God Himself. The Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us that our purpose is to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” In this famous sentence we see reflected both kingdom prayer and communion prayer. – Timothy Keller

What does prayer look like?

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The first prayer in the Bible was between Adam, Eve and God. There were words spoken by God to Adam earlier but when we think of prayer we think of a dialogue.

Prayer is essentially a simple conversation with God. We may talk about the different kinds of prayer – intercession, thanksgiving, petitions etc., but the fundamental component of them all – there is a conversation, a dialogue between an individual and God.

That evening they heard the Lord God walking in the garden, and they hid from him among the trees.  But the Lord God called out to the man, “Where are you?”

 He answered, “I heard you in the garden; I was afraid and hid from you, because I was naked.”

 “Who told you that you were naked?” God asked. “Did you eat the fruit that I told you not to eat?”

 The man answered, “The woman you put here with me gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

 The Lord God asked the woman, “Why did you do this?”

She replied, “The snake tricked me into eating it.” – Genesis 3:8-13 GNT

I hear of many who find their life not quite so exciting as Adam and Eve. They are dry and heavy and feel no joy. I wonder how many have prayed for the baptism of the Holy Spirit? I know it is not as simple as that but I do know that when I am engaging in my morning of devotions and prayer, I do ask the Holy Spirit to join me – He makes a difference.

I baptize you with water to show that you have repented, but the one who will come after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He is much greater than I am; and I am not good enough even to carry his sandals. – Matthew 3:11 GNT

Ezra kind of makes us all look bad when it comes to being excited about what God is doing. I pray that we can all find a time to express this kind of worship to God in our lifetime.

“The Lord is good, and his love for Israel is eternal.” Everyone shouted with all their might, praising the Lord, because the work on the foundation of the Temple had been started.  Many of the older priests, Levites, and heads of clans had seen the first Temple, and as they watched the foundation of this Temple being laid, they cried and wailed. But the others who were there shouted for joy.

No one could distinguish between the joyful shouts and the crying, because the noise they made was so loud that it could be heard for miles. – Ezra 3:11-13 GNT

I love the model that John and Peter gives us when it comes to prayer. They maintain the hour of prayer and make sure they are in attendance. The Jewish custom was to pray three times each day – morning, noon and mid-afternoon.

One day Peter and John went to the Temple at three o’clock in the afternoon, the hour for prayer.  – Acts 3:1 GNT

These are some great models for us to consider in our discovery of what prayer looks like.

The key to prayer is “not our action in preparing ourselves, but God’s action in revealing himself,” writes Dr. Donald G. Bloesch of Dubuque Theological Seminary. True prayer is not humanity rising to God in order to become one with him (the mystical ideal), but God reaching out to humanity and calling for a response of obedience. It is the constant struggle to take hold of the outstretched hand of God. This striving with a personal God is foundational to biblical prayer, stresses Dr. Bloesch. In “The Struggle of Prayer,” he outlines an evangelical spirituality that has at its heart the “outpouring of the soul before a living God.”