one

Pray for fulfilled promises

globe-nature-gettyimages-romolotavani.1200w.tn

There are a lot of stats flying around these days on how people are dying. Some go far back into history and others talk about the first six months of the year.  I saw a stat that broke my heart. There was a list of the top 10 ways individuals are dying today and the greatest number, by millions, were abortions. There is an actually site that counts the number of abortions taking place in the world today. When I started to meditate on this verse it took me a while to come to a place of prayer.

‘We did not murder this one, and we do not know who did it. Lord, forgive your people Israel, whom you rescued from Egypt. Forgive us and do not hold us responsible for the murder of an innocent person.’ And so, by doing what the Lord requires, you will not be held responsible for the murder. – Deuteronomy 21:7-9 GNT

At first I was thinking this was a great verse to pray over my children, my city, my province and my country and that God would be merciful. Then I thought of the abortions and I was immediately overwhelmed for all of them were intentional. I had to take a few steps back just to breathe. Does that not make this prayer come to our lips.

May his life soon be ended;
    may someone else take his job!
May his children become orphans,
    and his wife a widow! – Psalm 109:8-9 GNT

Now I am evaluating why and for whom I pray. I need to find a place of grace and mercy and I need for those who have sinned so greatly, including myself, to find forgiveness and life.

“In order that people will praise my name,
    I am holding my anger in check;
    I am keeping it back and will not destroy you.
I have tested you in the fire of suffering,
    as silver is refined in a furnace.
But I have found that you are worthless.
What I do is done for my own sake—
    I will not let my name be dishonored
    or let anyone else share the glory
    that should be mine and mine alone.” – Isaiah 48:9-11  GNT

Out of this I have a prayer and it starts like this, “Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honoured.” I too need to find myself praying that God will fulfill His promises and rescue His name and His reputation from the world.

BUT herein it is required, that we rest not in the Notion of this Truth, and a bare Assent unto the Doctrine of it. The affecting Power of it upon our Hearts, is that which we should aim at. Wherein doth the Bles∣sedness of the Saints above consist? Is it not herein, that they behold and see the Glory of God in Christ? And what is the Effect of it upon those blessed Souls? Doth it not change them into the same Image, or make them like unto Christ? Doth it not fill and satiate them with Joy, Rest, Delight, Complacency and ineffable Satis∣faction? Do we expect, do we desire the same State of Blessedness? It is our present View of the Glory of Christ which is our Initiation thereinto, if we are exercised in it, until we have an Experience of its Transforming Power in our Souls. – John Owen

 

Invoking God in prayer for help even when feeling prayers are not being answered

cross-mountainside-snow-light.1200w.tn

Oil – never bluntly stated in the Old Testament but we know from the New Testament that it is symbolic of the Holy Spirit.

Then Moses took the anointing oil and put it on the Tent of the Lord‘s presence and everything that was in it, and in this way he dedicated it all to the Lord.He took some of the oil and sprinkled it seven times on the altar and its equipment and on the basin and its base, in order to dedicate them to the Lord.He ordained Aaron by pouring some of the anointing oil on his head. – Leviticus 8:10-12 GNT

The idea I get is that “without God, I can’t.” If I put my trust in rituals, and God is not in the picture, it is a waste of time. More importantly, maybe more specifically, if the Holy Spirit is not working in the background “lubricating the machinery,” it is a waste of time.

How can I help someone without invoking God in prayer for help? How could I teach God’s Word without asking God for help? There is a danger in relying on my own strength.

Being dedicated places everything in God’s hands. The tabernacle is no longer just a building – it is a building whose sole purpose is to help people intercede to God. Aaron is no longer an ordinary person, but “ordained” as one fully committed to dedicating his life to interceding for people to God.

I am ordained to help others too. I have been “anointed” for the purpose of helping other Christians.

I use the Psalms as they turn into a prayer for help and relief in the middle of trouble.

Be merciful to me, O Lord!
    See the sufferings my enemies cause me!
Rescue me from death, O Lord,
     that I may stand before the people of Jerusalem
    and tell them all the things for which I praise you.
I will rejoice because you saved me. – Psalm 9:13-14 GNT

I want to be one who seeks to live a godly life even to the very gates of death. The good news is that God is the One who lifts me up from those very gates. I can pray for help and receive it so that I might praise God for His deliverance and salvation. My deepen joy and praise to God are the end results of my prayer for help. As God increases my joy in Him so do my praises to Him increase.

God’s help is not given just because He favours one over the other. It comes because His people have a relationship with Him. They know Him. They trust Him. They come to Him.

Those who know you, Lord, will trust you;
    you do not abandon anyone who comes to you. – Psalm 9:10 GNT

It must be a serious trial for anyone to feel abandoned by God. I know that I feel that way sometimes when I have sinned, face more trouble than I can handle, have a job to do that is weighed with responsibility or when I feel my prayers are not being answered.

I come back to God, seeking Him, because I know Him.

“We never trust a man till we know him, and bad men are better known than trusted. Not so the Lord, for where his name is poured out as an ointment, there the virgins love him, fear him, rejoice in him, repose upon him.” – Trapp

“Men complain of their little faith: the remedy is in their own hands; let them set themselves to know God. . . .  But for all this, you must make time. You cannot know a friend from hurried interviews, much less God. So you must steep yourself in deep, long thoughts of his nearness and his love.” Meyer

“O Almighty God, in your unmerited goodness to us and through the merit and mediation of your only beloved Son, Jesus Christ, you have permitted and even commanded and taught us to regard you and call upon you as one Father of us all.” – Martin Luther