formality

Praying for and against others

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I find myself naturally blessing people in the context of my everyday language. Sometimes my wife thinks there are those I should not be blessing and at those times I wonder if I am spreading too much around. When I read the way Boaz greets his workers I was encouraged to keep being liberal.

Some time later Boaz himself arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the workers. “The Lord be with you!” he said.

“The Lord bless you!” they answered. – Ruth 2:4  GNT

I think the exchange here was very kind and real. Let’s face it, when I think of all the other choices of words and expressions that could have been used, or in attitudes that could have been expressed, nothing comes close to this “prayer” for his employees.

I think both parties entered into this expression because they both understood that they depended on God for everything they had. Not only were they kind but in a way they were “praying” for each other.

These short prayers matter and as long as I do not let them degenerate to something I do as a formality, it will help me keep my conversation with God to be ongoing and to solicit mercy and grace from Him always.

Such would be the prayer style of Psalm 10.

You will listen, O Lord, to the prayers of the lowly;
    you will give them courage. – Psalm 10:17  GNT

Prayer, in itself, is a humbling act of faith. It can be called a spiritual prayer when it is a humble prayer. Whenever I ask from God it requires humility on my part.

“The lower the heart descends, the higher the prayer ascends.” – Thomas Watson

What a testimony to respond to someone who is asking how I have received the things I have received with this answer – they have been obtained by prayer. Desires are the soul and life of prayer. There is a kind of omnipotency in prayer as I consider and have an interest and am occupied with God’s omnipotency.

Satan hath three titles given in the Scriptures, setting forth his malignity against the church of God: a dragon, to note his malice; a serpent, to note his subtlety; and a lion, to note his strength. But none of all these can stand before prayer. The greatest malice of Haman sinks under the prayer of Esther; the deepest policy, the counsel of Ahithophel, withers before the prayer of David; the largest army, a host of a thousand Ethiopians, run away like cowards before the prayer of Asa. Edward Reynolds,

“Besides, even if God grants our prayer, he does not always respond to the exact form of our request but, seeming to hold us in suspense, he yet, in a marvelous manner, shows us our prayers have not been vain. This is what John’s words mean: “If we know that he hears us whenever we ask anything of him, we know that we have obtained the requests we asked of him” [I John 5:15]. This seems a diffuse superfluity of words, but the declaration is especially useful because God, even when he does not comply with our wishes, is still attentive and kindly to our prayers, so that hope relying upon his word will never disappoint us.”  – John Calvin

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