Capernaum

Wisdom

person-resting-on-mountain-top

I am thinking again of Jacob’s lack of prayer when it came to dealing with Laban. When the time came for him to leave, he had to flee. There had to be a number of ways he could have dealt with this even though the problem was very real. Prayer would have been a good place to start.

 Jacob deceived Laban by not letting him know that he was leaving. – Genesis 31:20

Wisdom comes through prayer. I think Esther was able to stand and expose the truth regarding Haman because she committed it to prayer.

Then King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who dares to do such a thing? Where is this man?”

Esther answered, “Our enemy, our persecutor, is t Bs evil man Haman!”

Haman faced the king and queen with terror. – Esther 7:5-6 GNT

I think there is a relationship between prayer and taking action. When I look at the story of a man’s friends taking him through a roof to see Jesus, and the subsequent  forgiveness of sins and healing, I think it offers some insight here.

A few days later Jesus went back to Capernaum, and the news spread that he was at home.So many people came together that there was no room left, not even out in front of the door. Jesus was preaching the message to themwhen four men arrived, carrying a paralyzed man to Jesus.Because of the crowd, however, they could not get the man to him. So they made a hole in the roof right above the place where Jesus was. When they had made an opening, they let the man down, lying on his mat. Seeing how much faith they had, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”

Some teachers of the Law who were sitting there thought to themselves,“How does he dare talk like this? This is blasphemy! God is the only one who can forgive sins!”

At once Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, “Why do you think such things? Is it easier to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’?I will prove to you, then, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man,“I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!”

While they all watched, the man got up, picked up his mat, and hurried away. They were all completely amazed and praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” – Mark 2:1-12 GNT

When we think we are acting out our faith but notice no internal changes, those should be red flags that we may be hiding behind our religion. May our time of prayer give us the wisdom as to how we will move forward in our relationship with God.

“Those who believe in the Holy Scriptures are bound to observe its teachings. Those who do not are to be bound by its consequences.” – William Bradford

“A salty pagan, full of the juices of life, is a hundred times dearer to God, and also far more attractive to men, than a scribe who knows his Bible…in whom none of this results in repentance, action, and above all, death of the self. A terrible curse hangs over the know-it-all who does nothing.” – Helmut Thielicke

We modern Christians are long on talk and short on conduct…It is easier to pray, “Lord, help me to carry my cross daily” then to pick up the cross and carry it. A.W.Tozer

Prayer points

There is an interesting perspective on prayer from the story of Noah.

God had not forgotten Noah and all the animals with him in the boat; he caused a wind to blow, and the water started going down.  The outlets of the water beneath the earth and the floodgates of the sky were closed. The rain stopped,  and the water gradually went down for 150 days.  On the seventeenth day of the seventh month the boat came to rest on a mountain in the Ararat range. The water kept going down, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared. – Genesis 8:1-5 GNT

Despite the fact that God could have made the water to disappear instantly – He did not. In fact, the initial setting was that it took 150 days. Here is my thinking – my challenges are not usually solved instantly. There usually is a gradual process and for now those best reasons are known to Him only. I am encouraged to not give up praying as somehow I am somewhere in that gradual process and so why mess up a good thing.

I know this is in contrast, for example, with the model of prayer shown to us through the centurion who approached Jesus.

When Jesus entered Capernaum, a Roman officer met him and begged for help:  “Sir, my servant is sick in bed at home, unable to move and suffering terribly.”

 “I will go and make him well,” Jesus said.

 “Oh no, sir,” answered the officer. “I do not deserve to have you come into my house. Just give the order, and my servant will get well.  I, too, am a man under the authority of superior officers, and I have soldiers under me. I order this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and I order that one, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and I order my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” – Matthew 8:5-9 GNT

I know I have talked about the things that touch Jesus’ heart and this dialogue definitely did. I want to touch Jesus heart when I pray like this.

I can imagine our prayer life being more like the disciples as they were going through the storm.

Jesus got into a boat, and his disciples went with him.  Suddenly a fierce storm hit the lake, and the boat was in danger of sinking. But Jesus was asleep.  The disciples went to him and woke him up. “Save us, Lord!” they said. “We are about to die!”

 “Why are you so frightened?” Jesus answered. “What little faith you have!” Then he got up and ordered the winds and the waves to stop, and there was a great calm.

 Everyone was amazed. “What kind of man is this?” they said. “Even the winds and the waves obey him!” – Matthew 8:23-27 GNT

Is it not a comfort to know that I have a Saviour to trust in and pray to? He knows what it is like to be on the water and to be in storms. In fact, would it not be true that if I am walking with Jesus over the ocean of this world, that there would be storms? I will have my own set of fears in a stormy day – that may include thoughts that are dismal or even worse. What a blessing though to see these great storms, even those that are under the spirit of bondage end in a wonderful calm, created and spoken by the Spirit of adoption. There was nothing gradual in this story.

When it comes to storms, Ezra had the right idea – include a fast.

There by the Ahava Canal I gave orders for us all to fast and humble ourselves before our God and to ask him to lead us on our journey and protect us and our children and all our possessions.  I would have been ashamed to ask the emperor for a troop of cavalry to guard us from any enemies during our journey, because I had told him that our God blesses everyone who trusts him, but that he is displeased with and punishes anyone who turns away from him.  So we fasted and prayed for God to protect us, and he answered our prayers. Ezra 8:21-23 GNT

I do not look at fasting as an escape from a problem, but rather an attempt to ask the Holy Spirit to come and be part of solving the problem. I think that whenever I am going through a major change in life, fasting makes a difference.

Ezra provides a powerful example of how fasting and prayer go together. I believe we have to chose who we want involved in the fast. When our children became older, my wife and I set a fasting and praying time every Wednesday afternoon. Of course, whoever you invite into the fasting and praying time, you will have to share the problem with them. Fasting without prayer is just a diet plan. For it to be serious, prayer has to happen because I believe we are looking for spiritual breakthroughs.

“Originally, when people faced a life-threatening situation, they were too frightened or distressed to eat. They adjusted their diets out of agony and deep struggle of soul. The cause was the problem; the effect was diet adjustment. Eventually, people began to see that they needed this deep spiritual exercise to pray properly. Thus they reversed the effect—fasting, so everyone might enter into the cause—spiritual travail in intercession.” – Elmer Towns

Is it not true that we find ourselves attempting the solution before the praying and fasting? Only when that does not work do we resort to what should have been the main direction in the first place. Prayer walking could have been part of Ezra’s plan when he went to the banks of the river – so let’s consider the idea of walking in our problem areas and pray while we walk.

Back to my earlier thoughts on a gradual process – Ezra here shows the step-by-step guiding principles of what makes a good fasting/praying session. Outcomes are important but maybe the process needs our prayers too.

Dear God, I cannot love Thee the way I want to. You are the slim crescent of a moon that I see and my self is the earth’s shadow that keeps me from seeing all the moon. The crescent is very beautiful and perhaps that is all one like I am should or could see; but what I am afraid of, dear God, is that my self shadow will grow so large that it blocks the whole moon, and that I will judge myself by the shadow that is nothing. – Flannery O’Connor