pray for you

To pray, I must pray

“And now, O Lord, fulfill for all time the promise you made about me and my descendants, and do what you said you would. Your fame will be great, and people will forever say, ‘The Lord Almighty is God over Israel.’ And you will preserve my dynasty for all time. I have the courage to pray this prayer to you, my God, because you have revealed all this to me, your servant, and have told me that you will make my descendants kings. You, Lord, are God, and you have made this wonderful promise to me. I ask you to bless my descendants so that they will continue to enjoy your favor. You, Lord, have blessed them, and your blessing will rest on them forever.” – 1 Chronicles 17:23-27 GNT

David is boldly praying, asking God to what He promised. It was not a passive prayer, nor arrogant.

He has courage to pray because he was promised by God. The promise does not mean I possess it, however, believing prayer appropriates it.

David prays from his heart – not from a legal prespective. I know this because throughout his prayer he uses the designation, Lord, nine times.

I believe that David had the assurance of God’s generosity – it is what enable him to pray. He knew that of all the things he could do, bringing his prayer requests to God was the least he could do.

The prayer moved me because it has an attitude of gratitude – wonderfully God-centred.

And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures. – James 4:3 GNT

It is hard to believe I pray with selfish motives. I do know I think I have earned the right to ask because of what I do – fast, pray, evangelize etc. So when I drop my defenses there is more self-centredness than I thought. How much easier for the evil one to twist what prayer looks like.

I need to remember that what I am asking from God, have I also determined how I can bless others with it once I have received it? Would that help in determining my motive – maybe asking why I pray is more important than what I pray for.

It is possible to pray for the right thing, albeit, with the wrong motive. I am not suggesting that prayer for personal needs has to stop. No, Jesus asked me to, even for my own desires. It is the motive where the root problem lies. The conditions of prayer is an honest relationship with God. He is teaching me to pray effectively.

There is great power in prayer – I am spiritually poor because I do not pray or do not ask when I pray.

“If you may have everything by asking, and nothing without asking, I beg you to see how absolutely vital prayer is, and I beseech you to abound in it… Do you know, brothers, what great things are to be had for the asking? Have you ever thought of it? Does it not stimulate you to pray fervently? All heaven lies before the grasp of the asking man; all the promises of God are rich and inexhaustible, and their fulfillment is to be had by prayer.” – Spurgeon

My purpose in praying is not to persuade a relucant God to do my bidding but rather to align my will with His – to be in partnership with Him – to do what He has asked me to do.

“When a man so prays he asks God to be his servant, and gratify his desires; nay, worse than that, he wants God to join him in the service of his lusts. He will gratify his lusts, and God shall come and help him to do it. Such prayer is blasphemous, but a large quantity of it is offered, and it must be one of the most God-provoking things that heaven ever beholds.” – Spurgeon

Jesus dropped a bomb in my life when He asked me to pray for, forgive and bless the one who was abusing me.

Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. – Luke 6:38 GNT

It is true – when I prayed for the person I took back the power they robbed from me. It was not a call to be pushed around or taken advantage of, but rather an opportunity to change the world through love and peace – only a follower of Jesus is strong enough to do that.

I know I think about Old Testament things at times like these – similar to this old Irish prayer I found —

“May those that love us, love us. And those that don’t love us, may God turn their hearts. And if He doesn’t turn their hearts, may He turn their ankles so we’ll know them by their limping.”

Here is a country song called Pray for you. Here are the lyrics:

I haven’t been to church since I don’t remember when.
Things were goin’ great ’til they fell apart again.
So I listened to the preacher as he told me what to do.
He said you can’t go hatin’ others who have done wrong to you.
Sometimes we get angry, but we must not condemn.
Let the good Lord do His job and you just pray for them.

I pray your brakes go out runnin’ down a hill,
I pray a flowerpot falls from a window sill and knocks you in the head like I’d like to.
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls,
I pray you’re flyin’ high when your engine stalls.
I pray all your dreams never come true,
Just know wherever you are honey, I pray for you.

I’m really glad I found my way to church,
‘Cause I’m already feelin’ better and I thank God for the words.
Yeah I’m goin’ take the high road,
And do what the preacher told me to do,
You keep messin’ up and I’ll keep prayin’ for you.

I pray your tire blows out at 110,
I pray you pass out drunk with your best friend and wake up with his and her tattoos.
I pray your brakes go out runnin’ down a hill,
I pray a flowerpot falls from a window sill and knocks you in the head like I’d like to.
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls,
I pray you’re flyin’ high when your engine stalls.
I pray all your dreams never come true.
Just know wherever you are, near or far, in your house or in your car,
wherever you are honey, I pray for you.
I pray for you

Yes, my taking from Old Testament prayers are that they were honest, as many as mine are. But those days need to be seen through the eyes of Jesus – He called me to pray blessings and love. God will take care of His business, my business is to pray like Jesus – He prayed for His enemies too. Stephen did too as he was being stoned to death.

Praying like this changes me. If those I pray for do not change, that has nothing to do with me, I am changed. The Holy Spirit is engaged when I pray. My praying for someone who would not naturally be inclined to pray is a prayer of faith and submitting to God. I know it does not sound like the natural thing to do, then again, I am not natural, I am a child of God. I must pray!

That is glorious, and as simple as it is glorious! Thank God, many are trying it. Don’t you know any one who is always serene? Perhaps he is a very stormy man by his natural make-up, but troubles and conflicts and reverses and bereavements may sweep around him, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding guards his heart and his thoughts in Christ Jesus. – R.A. Torrey

Pray always

praying-1

Leviticus chapter 13 provides a physical illustration of a spiritual problem through leprosy. It symbolizes the clinging, corrupting influence of sin on humanity. Splotchy, swollen, or boil-infected skin vividly illustrates how sin takes hold of us and ruins our health. As such, the people who lived in the midst of a holy God needed to address leprosy and other skin diseases immediately. Even more, lepers were powerless to do much to cure themselves except to watch, wait, and pray that God would heal them. And because they didn’t know much about the causes or cures of these skin diseases, other people could only wait in fear and pray that they would not contract those diseases from their fellow Israelites.

To this end we serve the Lord prayerfully.

That is why we always pray for you. We ask our God to make you worthy of the life he has called you to live. May he fulfill by his power all your desire for goodness and complete your work of faith. – 2 Thessalonians 1:11 GNT

Prayer must permeate my service for the Lord. I need the Lord’s help and we need His help.

Be glorified among all nations as thou art glorified among us, and Let your prophets be proved true, what else is one asking than Hallowed be thy name?  –  Augustine 

 

What do I want to repeat in prayer?

Close-Up Of Clasped Hands

“Yes, Lord,” he answered, “you know that I love you.” – John 21:15-17 GNT

It is a prayer that I often repeat – a humble one at that – mainly when I feel that I do not live up to my call from God or to the goodness of love I receive from Him. It comes in moments of shame and during those moments I know God does not see my point of view, He sees my heart and what I would like to be. I love my time of prayer for it is a time where I can be aware of God looking into my heart and loving me for who I am.

I was challenged to pray for the church again this morning. Paul has an amazing prayer in this regard.

For this reason we have always prayed for you, ever since we heard about you. We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will, with all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives. – Colossians 1:9 GNT

It would seem that Epaphras informed Paul of the needs of this church and the attack of a cult against it. This put Paul immediately into prayer mode. If I really knew how the church was being attacked it would probably change my prayer life. I am afraid for that very reason I stay away from the persecuted church reports for I would spend my entire day praying for them and yet I sense that is exactly what God wants.

Paul’s commitment to prayer needs to be mine as well and if Paul can pray for a church whom he has never met how much more should I be committed to praying for the same? So I pray in knowledge and I pray that God would fill the church with the knowledge of His will, and with wisdom and understanding.

Why do I pray and continue to pray?

He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of his dear Son, by whom we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. – Colossians 1:13-14 GNT

 

It is also of importance to observe, that the four laws of prayer of which I have treated are not so rigorously enforced, as that God rejects the prayers in which he does not find perfect faith or repentance, accompanied with fervent zeal and wishes duly framed. We have said (sec. 4), that though prayer is the familiar intercourse of believers with God, yet reverence and modesty must be observed: we must not give loose reins to our wishes, nor long for any thing farther than God permits; and, moreover, lest the majesty of God should be despised, our minds must be elevated to pure and chaste veneration. This no man ever performed with due perfection. For, not to speak of the generality of men, how often do David’s complaints savour of intemperance? Not that he actually means to expostulate with God, or murmur at his judgments, but failing, through infirmity, he finds no better solace than to pour his griefs into the bosom of his heavenly Father. Nay, even our stammering is tolerated by God, and pardon is granted to our ignorance as often as any thing rashly escapes us: indeed, without this indulgence, we should have no freedom to pray. But although it was David’s intention to submit himself entirely to the will of God, and he prayed with no less patience than fervor, yet irregular emotions appear, nay, sometimes burst forth,—emotions not a little at variance with the first law which we laid down. In particular, we may see in a clause of the thirty-ninth Psalm, how this saint was carried away by the vehemence of his grief, and unable to keep within bounds. “O spare me,471 that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more,” (Ps. 39:13). – Calvin