You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘prayer’ tag.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6
Have you ever meditated on what it means to have the Creator God, the almighty, all knowing, ever present God in relationship with you? He’s not watching us from heaven on high like we often think of. He’s walking with us! He’s sitting in our car with us during rush hour traffic. He’s holding our hand in the doctor’s office when the test reports come in. He’s got his arm around you when the news comes that a loved one has joined him for the eternal portion of their lives.
You know that feeling of elation you have when the boss tells you that you have a promotion coming…and a raise? Well, he feels it too and he smiles with pride. Just like he does when he’s sitting with you at the basketball game watching your son/daughter score the winning basket! And he cheers too!
When your little one lays sick with fever he has one hand on their tiny little body, and the other on your shoulder. I think he may even have tear on his cheek. Not because he’s worried about the baby, but because he feels your pain of worry and the pain of the little one.
During those times when the challenges of life seem too much to bear and you feel like you are bearing them all alone, he’s there. You may not sense his presence. Especially during those times of weakness when you give into temptation. You may not sense him during those times of disappointment with a spouse, a child or your parents. But God’s presence with you isn’t determined by your awareness of him. He’s always by your side. Watching your back, guiding your future. Comforting your present.
The next time you are attacked by the enemy named worry, worship instead. Worship isn’t reserved for Sunday. Worship isn’t reserved for any particular place or time. Worship is daily walking with the assurance that the one walking with you and loving you is God. That’s grace. That’s relationship. That’s God for you.
PRAYER: Father God, I praise and worship you for your promise to always be by my side. Forgive me for the times I forget that you not only watch over me but you walk with me, side by side and hand in hand. Today I ask that in every circumstance we go through together I will be aware of your presence by my side. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:40-42
There are so many times in our lives when, like Martha, we get distracted. There are, after all, so many ‘good things’ that need to be done. People are being devastated by war, natural disasters, health issues and economic woes.
Then there are churches that need to be built and maintained. Youth groups that need planning. Worship teams that need to practice. Bible Studies need to be held. Accountability partners need to be met with. Prayer groups need to be held and nurtured.
And while we are doing all that, the laundry at home needs to be done. The lawn needs to be mowed. The car needs fixing. Grandma and Grandpa need to be visited…and don’t forget Aunt Tillie’s birthday card, (she never forgot to send you one). The house needs cleaning and painting. The kid’s homework and music lessons must be completed and school activities attended.
Is it any wonder we get tired? Is there any question why sometimes it’s hard to squeeze just one more thing into our lives? There are so many noble and worthy causes around us that need attention. So many people who need to hear about Jesus and to see his love acted out on a daily, personal basis. Kingdom work will never get done unless Kingdom people do it.
Maybe that’s why Martha was so intense that day. Maybe she saw how tired Jesus and his disciples were. Maybe she saw this moment as an opportunity to show Jesus just how much she loved him, appreciated him and was thankful that he raised Lazarus from the dead. Perhaps this was her act of worship to the most high God.
Christian author, Larry Crabb, states in his book “The Pressure is Off” that many Christians have burned out and given up on ministry and even church because they are just too tired and too caught up in life to fulfill the requirements of the Christian walk.
What Jesus really wants from us is to sit at his feet. He just wants to spend time with us; to share life with us. The other things need to be done, for sure. There are many ministry opportunities for us to involve ourselves in throughout the community, in our churches and in our family. But what Jesus really longs for is for you to spend just a few minutes at his feet. It’s time, not activity that builds relationship. He wants that relationship with you.
Time. Time in his word, the laundry will get done. Time. Time in prayer and meditation, the Sunday School lesson can wait. Time. It’s the one thing Jesus longs to have with you.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I confess to you that I’ve just been way to busy with good things to take time at your feet. I realize that the most important part of my day is the part where I sit at your feet. Empower me with your Spirit to make the time to spend with you so that I can have the energy I need to minister for you. In your name I pray, Amen.
Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
On occasion I used to officiate sporting events. Yep, I was one of those dreaded guys in stripped shirts. Generally speaking you have to have a pretty solid view of yourself to don the stripes and whistle. You go into each event realizing that at least half of the people at the event could very well hate you before you leave.
An old joke among officials is that if you leave the event with EVERYONE mad at you, you have done a good job! You simply won’t make everyone happy in that situation. In fact, you may be praised one minute for making ‘a good call’ and lambasted the next for being a complete idiot.
The people in stripes, for the most part, enter into each event with the goal of keeping the event fair for everyone. Regardless of what we think, the vast majority of the time they have no ‘ax to grind’ as they enter the arena. However, they are human and will miss calls, make bad calls and like any of us, just plain blow the call. Expect it. They are human.
So what does all this have to do with ‘taking delight in the Lord?’ Too often, whether we want to admit it or not, we often see God as a ‘super-powered referee’. We expect that because He is God, and He is perfect, and He loves us and promises to take care of us, that the ‘call’ will always go our way. Life shows us that simply isn’t the case. Life is hard. Life deals us bad ‘cards’. Finances fail, relationships fail, health fails, we grow old. We make mistakes, we sin, we are abused.
The Psalmist encourages us to take delight in THE LORD, not necessarily in the things He allows to happen in our lives. The main difference between God and the people wearing the strips is that God can see ahead, is perfect and has our best interest in mind.
Taking delight in Him requires that we grow in relationship with Him, trust Him in every situation, and acknowledge that even when things don’t go our way, our Heavenly Father always knows what is best.
It’s an interesting phenomenon but people who take delight in the Lord can enjoy peace and contentment even in the toughest times. Don’t judge God on the things we see around us. Judge Him on who He is. His loves for you supersedes the tough times of life.
PRAYER: Father God. I confess to you that there are times when I don’t agree with the way things are going in my life. Some of my prayers seem unanswered. Others are answered but not in the way I asked. I get angry with you. I lose hope. When that happens the joy of relationship with You is tarnished. Forgive me for wanting my own way. Help me to trust You even during the times when You don’t answer me the way I want. In Jesus name, Amen.
I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him. Isaiah 57:18
The prophet Isaiah was called by God to minister to a people who never seemed to get the ‘living for God’ thing right. Their history with Him wasn’t stellar by any means. Even though God blessed them time and time again they refused to see Him as the source of their success. Any time something came along that looked better than God’s ways they followed it. They were stubborn, rebellious people who didn’t seem to care what God said.
Not only did they have a hard time following God’s ways, they blamed God when they didn’t get their own way. If God didn’t get them what they wanted they’d find a god that did. It may be money, new relationships, or stealing from other people. The bottom line was God’s people weren’t very godly after all. The people chose religion over relationship but that didn’t satisfy them so they found other things to soothe their pain.
Isaiah came before the people with a message straight from God. It was a simple message: “I know your name.” Things really haven’t changed much since Isaiah was prophet. We all still struggle with our spiritual walk. We try to live for God but are pulled in so many other directions that we lose sight of His way. People fail us, or abuse us, so we find others who will treat us well. We find comfort in drugs and/or alcohol but that is only a temporary fix to our pain. We try religion but religion is demanding and often doesn’t seem relevant to our pain. We get tired of trying and failing and trying and failing again. When we continue to fail like that it’s easy to just give up. We may decide God doesn’t exist or care. We may decide we are just too hopeless of a case and try to go it alone because there is no way He’ll accept us.
None of that is true. Isaiah 57:18 tells us that God knows who we are from the very beginning. He knows our name. He’s seen what we are like from the inside out. We humans tend to determine who we are and who others are by what we see on the outside. We associate a certain kind of behavior, looks and attitudes by what we see on the outside because we are limited by our humanity.
Our name gives people the framework for who we are. If I say I saw ‘Mary Jones’ today, and you know Mary, then in your mind you can relate all you know about Mary by that name. The same is true to a much larger degree with God. He knows who you are from the inside out. He doesn’t just know what you do, He knows the real reason you do it.
Not only does God know you better than anyone else, including yourself, He loves you. He wants to heal you. The Bible refers to our sin nature as a disease. It’s a disease we are born with and one we can’t heal ourselves. We seek all sorts of ‘medication’ to deal with it like relationships, chemicals, and religion, but nothing works. The only thing that will heal you is forgiveness by God through Jesus Christ.
If you are sick, you don’t say, “As soon as I get better I need to get to the doctor.” That’s a ridiculous idea. When you are sick you go to the one that can heal. Jesus not only heals you, He understands why you fail, comforts you in your pain and wants to help you learn to have a full, rich relationship with Him.
God knows your name. He knows who you are and exactly why you are the way you are. He’s real, powerful and loving. Through His Son Jesus, He can help soothe the pain you are in regardless of what you have done.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I’m so thankful that you know me. Other people think they know me, but even my best friends only know what they see on the inside. I praise you for knowing me from the inside out and understanding my pain. Forgive me of the mistakes I’ve made. Heal my wounds that run deep. Comfort me with your loving forgiveness. In Your Name I pray, Amen.
After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. Job 42:10
The story of Job is rich with lessons for each of us as we travel this journey called life. Here’s a man who ‘did everything right’ yet lost everything he had for no apparent reason to him. He’d lost his children, all of his wealth and the intimacy of a relationship with his wife. As he sat in emotional and physical agony his so-called friends show up and give him all sorts of answers as to why things happened the way they did.
All of their wisdom really could be boiled down to this: “Job, you messed up. You are a miserable sinner that God is punishing for your pride and arrogance. Why not just confess your sin. Everyone knows that tragedy only come because of our sin.”
They were wrong of course. We have the advantage of reading the entire script for the drama and seeing all that was going on backstage. Job was an innocent man. His trials were really the result of satanic attack. God himself was testified to His innocence and holiness backstage of the drama where only heavenly beings could hear.
Job is rich with lessons for our journey of life. God is in ultimate control of all that goes on in our lives. He allows things to happen. Painful things. Tragic things. Things that bring agony for a time. While He doesn’t explain Himself, we can know from the story of Job that although the agony is horrific, it isn’t always because of our sin and it is temporary. Even if it is sickness it is temporary because as Christ-followers were aren’t home yet. Our home is a place absent of sickness, pain, tears and death.
There’s another lesson we can learn from Job. It’s a lesson about prayer. After all his friends offered up their meaningless wisdom, God appeared to the three of them. Job was vindicated and his friends chastised.
After God was seen for who He was, the Bible tells us that Job prayed for his friends. There is no indication that he was healed of his pain or restored until he prayed for them. Imagine the scene. Job is still sitting in a pile of ashes. The piece of pottery he used to scrap his boils was laying nearby. All those involved were awestruck by the very presence of God. Then, in the midst of Job’s pain he prayed for his friends!
When we are in pain and agony we may hold that pain in because we wrongfully see pain as a sign of weakness. We may ask our friends to pray for us. But Job prayed for his friends even though he, himself had yet to be healed.
As we travel this journey called life there are many setbacks and hurdles along the way. Things that will hurt us to the point where we question if we can continue on. You could be suffering from the consequences of your own sin or poor decisions. You could be bearing the physical and/or emotional bruises of abuse. There could be no known reason for why you are in the place you are.
In the midst of your pain, don’t forget the pain of others. Job’s friends were wrong. They were judgmental, critical and compassionless. We all run across those people during our lives. People we’ve trusted laughed with and loved. Yet when times grew bad they turned on us. Follow the example of Job and pray for others in the midst of your pain.
Sometimes, in order to do this you will need to forgive others for their insensitivity. Sometimes you will need to overlook the fact that they are just plain wrong. Only you and your God know your heart. Never lose sight of the fact that while they can’t see your heart, you can’t see their heart and/or motives either.
After Job prayed, God blessed him. This wasn’t a small blessing. Job had all his wealth and more restored to him. I believe that one of the reasons he was restored so completely is because of his humble willingness to pray for those who mistreated him. This can only be done through the strength of God. Don’t let the pain of your own life cause you to overlook the pain of others.
PRAYER: Father God, I don’t understand why I have to endure some of this pain that you have placed along my path. I am so tired of so-called experts who offer all sorts of advice while overlooking my own pain or understanding my agony. Help me to forgive them and pray for them. Give me words of encouragement I can offer them even though they can’t return the favor. Thank you for being in complete control of all I do and am. Help me to trust you in the darkness. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 