hear

Pray for them and for me when desperate

I am reading about David trying to prove to King Saul that he has nothing against him. It reminds me how I ought to pray for others who I find turning against me.

You can see for yourself that just now in the cave the Lord put you in my power. Some of my men told me to kill you, but I felt sorry for you and said that I would not harm you in the least, because you are the one whom the Lord chose to be king. Look, my father, look at the piece of your robe I am holding! I could have killed you, but instead I only cut this off. This should convince you that I have no thought of rebelling against you or of harming you. You are hunting me down to kill me, even though I have not done you any wrong. May the Lord judge which one of us is wrong! May he punish you for your action against me, for I will not harm you in the least. – 1 Samuel 24:10-12 GNT

I ran across this poem that speaks right into this message.

Vengeance will not be mine
Even though they come against
To them I give my prayers
Their fate now to the Lord
For He is judge and deliverer
And here I pray for them
That they may find in Him
The peace in this heart I hold

With this gift of prayer it is as if I have become a watchman for others.

“Mortal man,” he said, “I am making you a lookout for the nation of Israel. You will pass on to them the warnings I give you. – Ezekiel 3:17 GNT

Obviously not just for those who are against me, but for my brothers and sisters in Christ. I do find myself enjoying the task of discipleship – watching for their safety, preaching for their edification and praying for their eternal welfare.

I believe I enjoy it because I myself have established my walk with God by faith and prayer – God communicates to my spirit and that is what gives me strength of spirit and life in my words I choose to use – it is only by His Spirit that they become bread from heaven.

I have spent time, like David, asking God to take away my sin first, and then following that up with my ask to remove the troubles that have come against me.

Don’t punish me any more! I am about to die from your blows. – Psalm 39:10 GNT

One thing I know, I must not stop praying. I am also resigned to pray for the removal of trouble or trials. It is in my heart to pray for deliverance and when I have sin in my life I notice that is not so.

I added the word trials to my description of troubles because sometimes I do feel it is the hand of God correcting my ways. As I set my relationship right with Him it is there that I can pour out my heart and pray for relief.

Hear my prayer, Lord,

    and listen to my cry;

    come to my aid when I weep.

Like all my ancestors

    I am only your guest for a little while.

Leave me alone so that I may have some happiness

    before I go away and am no more. – Psalm 39:12-13 GNT

All I ask is that God will hear my prayer. It is here in this prayer that I see a witness to God’s understanding of how I need to speak when I am desperate.

Here are two verses from a hymn written by William Cowper that speaks into this.

SOMETIMES A LIGHT SURPRISES

1. Sometimes a light surprises
The Christian while he sings;
It is the Lord Who rises
With healing in His wings:
When comforts are declining,
He grants the soul again
A season of clear shining,
To cheer it after the rain

2. In holy contemplation
We sweetly then pursue
The theme of God’s salvation,
And find it ever new;
Set free from present sorrow,
We cheerfully can say,
Let the unknown tomorrow
Bring with it what it may.

Pattern of prayer that God will hear

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Charles Spurgeon preached a wonderful sermon on Judges 1:12-15 titled, Aschsah’s Asking, A Pattern of Prayer. Spurgeon showed how the request from a daughter (Aschsah) to a father (Caleb) gives us a “parable of prayer.”

 One of them, called Caleb, said, “I will give my daughter Achsah in marriage to the man who succeeds in capturing Kiriath Sepher.” Othniel, the son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz, captured the city, so Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah in marriage. On the wedding day Othniel urged her[a] to ask her father for a field. She got down from her donkey, and Caleb asked her what she wanted. She answered, “I want some water holes. The land you have given me is in the dry country.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs. – Judges 1:12-15  GNT

She thought about what she wanted before she asked and was very definitive with her ask.

“Think what you are going to ask before you begin to pray, and then pray like business men. This woman does not say to her father, ‘Father, listen to me,’ and then utter some pretty little oration about nothing; but she knows what she is going to ask for, and why she is going to ask it.” – Spurgeon

She also asked for help when it came to her request.

“A friend, some time ago, said to me, ‘My dear pastor, whenever I cannot pray for myself, and there are times when I feel shut up about myself, I always take to praying for you: ‘God bless him, at any rate!’ and I have not long been praying for you before I begin to feel able to pray for myself.’ I should like to come in for many of those odd bits of prayer. Whenever any of you get stuck in the mud, do pray for me. It will do you good, and I shall get a blessing.” – Spurgeon

She was confident because it was her father that she was asking.

She went humbly, yet eagerly.

It was encouraging to her to have her father ask her what she wanted. God asks that too when we engage with him. That is why it is good to know what we want.

Asking is important – I would say it is one of God’s pleasures to hear me ask.

She simply came forward and she simply asked for a blessing.

There was an acknowledgement of gratitude for what was already given and that thankfulness was mingled with the ask.

So there was the past blessing which set up the openness to request more and she knew she needed more.

“What is the use of the hearers if there be not the power of the Holy Spirit going with the Word to bless them? Give me springs of water.” – Spurgeon

Obviously this is a great example because she received what she asked for and I believe she received more than what she asked for.

What I love most is that her father in no way offered criticism of her request and did not take it lightly in any way.

While Aschsah had her husband to walk with her during the ask, Jeremiah was stopped for doing the same thing for the people of Israel.

The Lord said to me, “Do not ask me to help these people. Even if they fast, I will not listen to their cry for help; and even if they offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not be pleased with them. Instead, I will kill them in war and by starvation and disease.” – Jeremiah 14:11-12  GNT

This is not the first time that Jeremiah was told to stop praying for the people. They may know the motions needed to look like they care about God but He knew how hard their hearts were and decided not to hear them. 

“O, how dreadful is the state of that people in reference to whom the Lord says to his ministers, Pray not for them; or, what amounts nearly to a prohibition, withholds from his ministers the spirit of prayer and intercession in behalf of the people!” – Clarke

The only way I believe God would hear their prayer would be if they all came together to repent, and to call upon His name.

“We begin by admitting the sin for what it is, but then secondly, we forsake it, rejecting and repudiating it. This is to adopt a right attitude towards both God and the sin itself.” John Stott

 

 

Change happens when I pray everyday

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Can prayer change God’s mind? Or does prayer affect only us who pray?

So the Lord changed his mind and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. – Exodus 32:14 GNT

God “changed His mind” or as the KJV says, “repented” and the NIV, “relented.” Anyway the word is translated does not change the fact that prayer has a powerful effect in our lives.

What does it mean to put my own life on the line like Moses did for his people? To think so much about the value of sinners that I would consider my life to be one with them? It has to be true intercession.

This passage screams on how effective prayer is. I am more encouraged today to pray and to intercede – God hears and responds. Prayer makes a difference in how He interacts with me.

There are some who would argue that Moses changed nothing – it was God’s ultimate plan all along. I am not so sure. I believe God gives us opportunity to participate in the administration of creation. Especially when David writes about this incident and shares a very similar point of view.

They forgot the God who had saved them
    by his mighty acts in Egypt.
What wonderful things he did there!
    What amazing things at the Red Sea!
When God said that he would destroy his people,
    his chosen servant, Moses, stood up against God
    and kept his anger from destroying them. – Psalm 106:21-23 GNT

Moses stood up to God – the prayers of Moses kept God from destroying the children of Israel – prayer does make a difference.

Moses knew God and knew His promises. This verse is a great promise that helps me in my prayer life.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die.” – John 11:25 GNT

As a follower of Jesus I have learned that when I pray God listens and answers my prayers. I know He is the same yesterday, today and forever. His Word is truth and through Him I have been set free. God loves me with an everlasting love and nothing can change that. I have learned that in Jesus is life.

Those who listen to me will be happy—
    those who stay at my door every day,
    waiting at the entrance to my home – Proverbs 8:34 GNT

How often do I find myself acting on my feelings. Sometimes I decide and then pray or pray and then decide (which sometimes works out just as badly). I know God wants me to pray and wait for an answer.

I would have liked to hear Paul pray – I am encouraged because many have been written.

 I have not stopped giving thanks to God for you. I remember you in my prayers and ask the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to give you the Spirit, who will make you wise and reveal God to you, so that you will know him. I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people, and how very great is his power at work in us who believe. This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength which he used when he raised Christ from death and seated him at his right side in the heavenly world. – Ephesians 1:16-20 GNT

I cannot go to far wrong when I am praying along with the Word of God. So I pray for a surer walk with the Holy Spirit so that I might know Him, and that I might see His light and know the hope that lies before me with His blessings and promises that sustain me along with His power working in me.

“I am the Lord your God, etc. You shall have no other gods before me,” etc. Here I earnestly consider that God expects and teaches me to trust him sincerely in all things and that it is his most earnest purpose to be my God. I must think of him in this way at the risk of losing eternal salvation. My heart must not build upon anything else or trust in any other thing, be it wealth, prestige, wisdom, might, piety, or anything else. Second, I give thanks for his infinite compassion by which he has come to me in such a fatherly way and, unasked, unbidden, and unmerited, has offered to be my God, to care for me, and to be my comfort, guardian, help, and strength in every time of need. We poor mortals have sought so many gods and would have to seek them still if he did not enable us to hear him openly tell us in our own language that he intends to be our God. How could we ever-in all eternity-thank him enough! Third, I confess and acknowledge my great sin and ingratitude for having so shamefully despised such sublime teachings and such a precious gift throughout my whole life, and for having fearfully provoked his wrath by countless acts of idolatry. I repent of these and ask for his grace. Fourth, I
pray and say: “O my God and Lord, help me by thy grace to learn and understand thy commandments more fully every day and to live by them in sincere confidence. Preserve my heart so that I shall never again become forgetful and ungrateful, that I may never seek after other gods or other consolation on earth or in any creature, but cling truly and solely to thee, my only God. Amen, dear Lord God and Father. Amen.” – Luther (providing an example of how he meditates on the Ten Commandments and in this case, the first one)