me

How do I pray?

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed. “Remember, Lord, that I have served you faithfully and loyally and that I have always tried to do what you wanted me to.” And he began to cry bitterly. Isaiah left the king, but before he had passed through the central courtyard of the palace the Lord told him to go back to Hezekiah, ruler of the Lord’s people, and say to him, “I, the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and in three days you will go to the Temple. I will let you live fifteen years longer. I will rescue you and this city Jerusalem from the emperor of Assyria. I will defend this city, for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David. – 2 Kings 20:2-6

I loved that he prayed. I need to be prayed for, prayed with and need to be free to pray. I learned that I am not in an empty place when I am waiting on God and in fact, prayers of faith bring in answers of peace. I will call on God as long as I live. The experiences I have had because of prayer, the engagements and the encouragements, continue when I pray. Situations can be reversed through prayer. It is God’s purpose, through mercy, to be asked. Even if irreversible, prayer has to be the best preparation for death – it is there that I will find my strength and God’s grace to finish well.

In the best way possible, the king turned to prayer in his prayer closet. I wonder if he was able if he would have went to the temple to pray. However, today I am encouraged because I can turn my face to Jesus when I pray. I believe that if I were given a death sentence today, I too would be praying for healing. Hezekiah did not even have a son yet, Manasseh was born three years after this prayer was uttered. I also love his attention to his walk with God. He saw his intentions as being right, his principles were right, and he ruled right.

I love that I did not read “spare me,” or “take me,” or “God’s will be done.” Rather, “remember me,” and by that I read – whether I live or die, I want to be yours. The answer was immediate, before Isaiah even left the court. God honours Hezekiah with a personal mention of hearing his prayer and seeing his tears. Prayers filled with life and affection matter to God. So much so, that God did more for him than what he asked. While he prayed to be remembered, God healed him. In fact, it could have been a miracle seeing that in three days he was supposed to go up to the Temple. In addition, God gave him much longer to live than I am sure he expected. In addition, He was going to take care of the Assyrians.

The Lord says, “I am the Lord your God, who led you out of Egypt. You have no God but me. I alone am your savior. – Hosea 13:4 GNT

My worship of God does not exist in words, but in faith, hope and prayer. God is the “I am,” the only God. God values the honour given to Him, that is due to Him, when I place my hope and send my prayers to Him and Him alone – when I seek and put the hope of my salvation in Him.

Psalm 137 has a few “remember” words as well in its prayer.

“All the mighty men of God outside the Bible have been men
of prayer. They have differed from one another in many
things, but in this they have been alike.” – R. A. Torrey

Wisdom

Here is a story that grabbed my attention. There is no direct correlation to prayer but I think there are issues here that I could consider as to what happens when I do not pray – and it is not all bad. At the end of the day, what God wants to happen, happens. I think He would prefer an invitation from me to participate.

Sheba passed through the territory of all the tribes of Israel and came to the city of Abel Beth Maacah, and all the members of the clan of Bikri[a] assembled and followed him into the city. Joab’s men heard that Sheba was there, and so they went and besieged the city. They built ramps of earth against the outer wall and also began to dig under the wall to make it fall down. There was a wise woman in the city who shouted from the wall, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab to come here; I want to speak with him.” Joab went, and she asked, “Are you Joab?”

“Yes, I am,” he answered.

“Listen to me, sir,” she said.

“I’m listening,” he answered.

She said, “Long ago they used to say, ‘Go and get your answer in the city of Abel’—and that’s just what they did. Ours is a great city, one of the most peaceful and loyal in Israel. Why are you trying to destroy it? Do you want to ruin what belongs to the Lord?”

“Never!” Joab answered. “I will never ruin or destroy your city! That is not our plan. A man named Sheba son of Bikri, who is from the hill country of Ephraim, started a rebellion against King David. Hand over this one man, and I will withdraw from the city.”

“We will throw his head over the wall to you,” she said. Then she went to the people of the city with her plan, and they cut off Sheba’s head and threw it over the wall to Joab. He blew the trumpet as a signal for his men to leave the city, and they went back home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king. – 2 Samuel 20:14-22 GNT

Joab has just murdered his cousin because he had lost his position as commander to him. So he was not in a “spiritual” mood when he approached the city where Sheba was hiding in. That is the first thing I noted. Here is the second thing – they had already built a ramp to the city wall and were now digging against the wall in order to topple it. Does it not seem odd that Joab is working hard for nothing? First of all, why not tell the town why he is there and what he wants? Secondly, if you have a ramp, why do you need to topple the wall? So finally, God has enough and sends a woman to end the day.

My takeaway is simple enough – without prayer, without communion with God, without a right relationship with God, I am going to be working twice as hard as I need to. What is worse – people who follow me see me working is such an inefficient manner that I loose respect as a leader.

A gentle reminder that with prayer comes wisdom.

Power in prayer so pray

Moses and Samuel were quoted by the Psalmist and by Jeremiah as being mighty men of prayer.

So Samuel prayed, and on that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. Then all the people became afraid of the Lord and of Samuel, and they said to Samuel, “Please, sir, pray to the Lord your God for us, so that we won’t die. We now realize that, besides all our other sins, we have sinned by asking for a king. – 1 Samuel 12:18-19 GNT

And when you are a mighty person of prayer, people will ask you to pray for them. It would seem then that it would be appropriate to do so.

As for me, the Lord forbid that I should sin against him by no longer praying for you. Instead, I will teach you what is good and right for you to do. – 1 Samuel 12:23 GNT

Even as I reviewed Psalm 20 I realize just how valuable prayer for others are. Intercessory prayer will benefit not only the receipient but the one doing the praying. It would seem to be an offer more of comfort to the one being prayed for and an offer of grace by the one praying.

Can you imagine if I stopped praying for someone because they were sinners? I think the success of my ministry is because I have created a habit and practice of praying for all who the Holy Spirit brings to my attention.

Romans makes this very clear.

My friends, how I wish with all my heart that my own people might be saved! How I pray to God for them! – Romans 10:1 GNT

I am not sure if there is any kind of doctrine out there that excuses me from the need to pray for the salvation of those who do not follow Jesus.

I also believe that God does provide, through His Spirit, my willingness and ability to pray. In fact, is it not true that there is no one who can be saved unless they lift up their heart in prayer and ask for it?

Paul definitely felt the pain of knowing so many who did not know Jesus.

The Daily Office Lectionary (DoL) went through several layers of development during the five years of its existence in trial form. The final form as it appears in the Book of Common Prayer (2019) will look quite different to those who are accustomes to the 1979 DoL.

The differences in these particulars will make more sense if they can be seen in light of a great guiding light of Daily Office Lectionary revision, Thomas Cranmer’s preface to the Book of Common Prayer of 1549.

It is most noteworthy that in his preface to the whole prayer book, Cranmer concentrates chiefly on the Daily Office, and of his own revision of it, which had one singular aim, to restore the centrality of the plain listening to Scripture to the center of public prayer. – Anglican Compass

Praying for deliverance, victory, success

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Psalm 18 gives some prayer guidelines to this end.

How I love you, Lord!

    You are my defender.

The Lord is my protector;

    he is my strong fortress.

My God is my protection,

    and with him I am safe.

He protects me like a shield;

    he defends me and keeps me safe.

I call to the Lord,

    and he saves me from my enemies.

Praise the Lord! – Psalm 18:1-3 GNT

What a great way to start a prayer – with a summary of praise. To declare my love for God first thing and to hear Him respond with love to me makes my prayer time very special. It becomes my celebration theme – God responds and delivers.

The danger of death was all around me;

    the waves of destruction rolled over me.

 The danger of death was around me,

    and the grave set its trap for me.

In my trouble I called to the Lord;

    I called to my God for help.

In his temple he heard my voice;

    he listened to my cry for help.

Praise flows because of the memories of struggles – struggles turned over to God when I asked Him for help. In calling out, He heard.

There is something to be said about making the decision to rely on God. It becomes second nature in moments of distress to find myself on my knees before Him.

I am reminded to pray for spiritual growth, and if that means a surrendered, faithful, loyal and obedient heart, than that is what I want. I trust Him to give it to me.

It will mean I will spend time asking for forgiveness and asking God to strengthen me and give me courage to do what is right.

It will mean that I will ask God to keep revealing His purpose in His Word, to allow me to see what I should do and to make my path clear.

It means I can be confident that God will make a way and that will be both victorious and successful.

“The complainers in each situation are regenerate children of God (regeneration was an Old Testament fact, though the theology of it was not made known until Christ came) and their complaints are fundamentally prayers for deliverance from evil and for the fulfillment of promises of protection, provision and relational enrichment that God himself gave. The plea embedded in their complaints is that joyful fellowship with God may be restored and present pain become a thing of the past. Feeling with their minds and thinking with their feelings, their emotions of distress are as vivid and intense as are their perceptions of current disaster due to God’s noninterventions. In terms of direction and intention, their lament and complaints to God are acts of petition and promise-claiming, in a very strong form.” – J.I. Packer

Learning how to pray from others

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Abraham is a great person to observe when it comes to prayer. On one occasion he built an altar before calling on God.

The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “This is the country that I am going to give to your descendants.” Then Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.  After that, he moved on south to the hill country east of the city of Bethel and set up his camp between Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There also he built an altar and worshiped the Lord. – Genesis 12:7-8 GNT

Abraham built an altar everytime he was obedient in listening to God and going where He called Him to go. Abraham knew who was blessing Him.

Here is what I am praying about, reflecting and asking myself:

Do I enjoy the mercy and love of God for me? In following the Lord, do I feel safe in Him? In times of pain, suffering and anxiety, do I put my total trust in the Lord? When tired, down and confused, do I find rest and peace in His loving heart? Do I trust the Lord at all times? Do I love the Lord at all times. Here is what He calls me to do and the outcome of the type of prayer that makes our relationship different. Jesus starts the prayer and then invites me into the secret of how it works.

At that time Jesus said, “Father, Lord of heaven and earth! I thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what you have hidden from the wise and learned.  Yes, Father, this was how you were pleased to have it happen.

“My Father has given me all things. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

 “Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest.  For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light.” – Matthew 11:25-30 GNT

Nehemiah’s risk in prayer was very similar to that of Esther. His request to the king was considerable, yet he considered that God had put him in this situation “for such a time as this.”

Listen now to my prayer and to the prayers of all your other servants who want to honour you. Give me success today and make the emperor merciful to me.” In those days I was the emperor’s wine steward. – Nehemiah 1:11 GNT

Yes, [Acts 2] was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But we all get that now, and it is unconscious, we are not aware of it, it happens to us the moment we believe and we are regenerated. It is just that act of God which incorporates us into the Body of Christ. That is the baptism of the Spirit. So it is no use your praying for some other baptism of the Spirit, or asking God to pour out His Spirit upon the church. . . . It is not surprising that, as that kind of preaching has gained currency, people have stopped praying for revival.” – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones