Three Prayers

Graphic Source Unknown

It was an e-mail with a prayer, and I receive it (or one almost like it) several times each year:

"God, our Father, walk through my house and take away
all my worries and illnesses and please watch over and heal my family in Jesus name, Amen."

Of course there are admonitions to keep it going, and someone always does.  Let’s take a moment to consider this little egotistical prayer.

Ooops, did I offend someone by calling it egotistical?  It is very much like one Jabez spoke millennia ago:

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!

Hard to fault either one of them, right?  Especially when we’re  told:

And God granted him that which he requested. (1 Chronicles 4:10 KJV)

We know that Jabez was more honorable than his brethren and this his mother bore him in sorrow (1 Chronicles 4:9), but we aren’t told how dishonorable his brothers were, nor what caused his mother’s sorrow.  Yet, God granted him that which he requested – so shouldn’t we be able to pray the same type of prayer?

Of course.  If earthly comfort is all we are looking for.  Look at what is missing from this prayer.  Compare  both of these with one from another who most certainly was more honorable than His brethren, and His mother pondered over His birth, then watched in sorrow as He died.

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13 KJV)

Let’s take a quick look at the manner of these three prayers. 

Both biblical prayers acknowledge God – one as the God of Israel, the other as our Father.  The e-mail does not define God as either, though the prayer is given in Jesus name which precludes most religions.

Only Jesus’ example exalts God, praising Him and bending to His will before asking for daily needs. The two others ask for material things, personal requests – though Jabez does pray that God be with him in all things.
Both Jabez and Jesus ask that God keep them from evil – the third one does not acknowledge the presence of evil in this world. Jabez made it personal – that evil would not grieve him.

Only Jesus closes with the glorification of God, stating His eternal presence.

I don’t really care to determine which one God listens to, for He knows our hearts and our needs.  I would like for you to think about which one you’d rather pray.

Fathers

Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers. (Proverbs 17:6 KJV)

There were several verses in between tonight, but one Pastor used stuck in my mind:

And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. (1 Samuel 4:21 KJV)

We don’t know the mother’s name, just that she was the wife of Phinehas, son of Eli.  We meet Eli through Hannah as she prayed for a child and he thought she was drunk with wine.  She explained her situation and Eli blessed her:

Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. (1 Samuel 1:17 KJV)

God did grant her petition and her son Samuel came to Eli to serve the Lord.  It was a very good thing, for Eli’s sons, though priests, were ungodly.  They mishandled sacrifices for personal gain and were unfaithful to their wives with women at the tabernacle.  Eli’s words went unheeded.

If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them. (1 Samuel 2:25 KJV)

Ichabod was born the day his father, uncle and grandfather died, then his mother died, too. The glory of this child died.

How many children do we know that could be named “glory is departed” because they do not have a father to be their glory?  How many fathers fall out of love with mothers and leave their children without beauty, honor or valor – the definitions of the noun ‘glory.’  The definition of the verb glory include:  joy, rejoice, boast, pride. 

How many children are left with remnants of their family instead of pride and being able to boast of their father’s achievements? How can these children’s children be their grandfather’s crowning joy? So much is lost.

So, what can we do about it?  What has been done cannot be undone. We can’t go back and undo a family’s breakup.  We can’t create fathers for the fatherless.  Acknowledging that is hard, and sad.

What we can do is introduce them to a Father who will not leave.  The Father who hears our prayers.  The Father for whom all of us can say:

We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19 KJV)

The Father who teaches us daily to love His children.

Do You Stagger?

The caution sign shows a staggered road ahead, a decent graphics choice since our paths often become staggered as we make our way through life.  There’s also the thought of a staggering man, unable to keep his way straight, whether by choice or shock.  There are times in our lives where we feel staggered.  We often waiver and stagger in our faith.

Paul tells us that Abraham didn’t:.

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; (Romans 4:20 KJV)

This really belongs with the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, where the writer speaks of all that great cloud of witnesses:

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13 KJV)

Abraham lived decades with God’s promise afar off, continuing to believe them even when God required his son as a sacrifice.  His faith, and his ability to prophesy, strike me every time I read his answer to Isaac’s question about the lamb:

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. (Genesis 22:8 KJV)

God did not provide a lamb that day. 

And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. (Genesis 22:13 KJV)

Not until John do we see God’s provision of that offering:

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29 KJV)

We have much more information than Abraham.  We have record of his descendants.  We have the writings of Moses, telling of Jacob’s sons, and their tribes taking God’s promise of a promised land as literal fact.  We have the songs of David, a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), telling of God’s greatness, looking forward to a Messiah through elation and depression, pleas and praise, through sin, sorrow and salvation.
We have other writings – history, poetry and prophecy.  The story of people looking forward while always remembering the past, confirming God’s hand in all that is done.

Some of them staggered.  Some of us still do.  Mostly we stagger when we attempt to move forward alone, reacting to the prideful sinfulness that says, “I don’t need God.”  Sometimes we add, “…yet” but more often we just neglect to include Him in our daily lives.  We relegate Him to a position similar to a fire extinguisher, handy for emergency purposes when we’ve made misjudgments. 

When we seek His will, walk with His instructions, the likelihood of emergencies lessen.  Then we can, as David did, sing out about our Lord:

Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. (1 Chronicles 16:8 KJV)

How’s Your Training?

This is a photo of the Honor Guardsmen from our nation’s armed services, marching to the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, Va., during Veteran’s Day ceremonies in 2004.

They serve here in honor of the Unknowns, but it is also an honor to provide this service.  There is a selection process with many requirements.  Those requirements exclude a large number of applicants, making this a very exclusive group.

Christianity is exclusive, too, though some would say that as a pejorative, state it in a derogatory manner.  Christianity is exclusive not because any person is turned away, but because many turn away from the requirements.

Before going into any job, certain training is expected.  It’s part of job descriptions.  Without that training, no need to apply.

God has a slightly different way of recruiting. Everyone can apply, the position is open to all.  The requirement can be stated in one verse:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)

Or another, after a jailer asked how to be saved:

And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31 KJV)

It’s something we believe and we tell others:

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. (Acts 15:11 KJV)

That’s the easy part.  Living with that knowledge, that salvation, takes more effort.  Paul likened it to running a race:

But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: (2 Timothy 4:5-7 KJV)

Paul’s call for Timothy (and us) to endure and work also calls for making full proof – and that requires training. Where do you get your training? What do you look for?  My suggestion is with the scriptures, in prayer. Don’t look for confirmation of what I write or what you believe. Hear what the Bible has to say, not another:

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8-9 KJV)

There was an example set for us:

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:11 KJV)

Expecting Big Things?

‎"How often we expect big things from God without preparing for big things from him"
Beth Moore.

Before quoting someone, I want to know more about them, so I went looking for Beth Moore and found her at Living Proof Ministries.  She writes that she came to love God’s word in a Bible Doctrines class. I can understand that.  Though I’ve read and memorized from the Bible since a pre-teen, not until I began studying God’s word did it come to mean my life.

Setting our expectations from God often confines His work, His will in our lives.  If we look upon Him as someone to call upon when we’re in trouble, we've limited God to a fixer-upper.  We won’t be listening for Him any other time.  We won’t be seeking His input on other things in our lives.

It is not easy to look to Him first.  We’ve been taught to take care of ourselves, to be able to stand up against all odds and overcome.  We are taught to look for the good in people and help them grow in their own individual ways, taking different paths, learning on their own. That’s good advice, but I prefer not to do it alone.

Sometimes it appears to me as though we’ve been encouraged to fight our way through heavy jungle growth with a machete, overcoming but also overlooking a path God laid through it.  It is not because of that path’s ease that we should choose it, but for the best use of time, material and energy.

Accepting that path establishes our expectations that God will provide the clearing to accomplish His will.  We come to Him as the beggar who spoke to Peter and John:

And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. (Acts 3:5 KJV)

His expectations were correct, he would receive something – something he never had before:

Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. (Acts 3:6-8 KJV)

Beth Moore's Living Proof Ministries’ Our Mission page closes with a scene of people praising God.  That scene will include me, because I expect Him to give such as He has, and He has salvation:

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. (Revelation 7:9-10 KJV)

Just A Sentence

A link from a Pastor's FB Notes brought me to a FAQs page about John Piper.  I found great truth there:

"It is sentences that change my life, not books."

That sentence stopped me in my tracks.  It agreed so much with what I've come to understand.

"What changes my life is some new glimpse of truth, some powerful challenge, some resolution to a long-standing dilemma, and these usually come concentrated in a sentence or two."

It has been sentences, a few or maybe just one, that I’ve posted each day.  A sentence here, another there, from God’s word.  It takes but a few words to create concepts, foundations, curiosity – and the Bible has sentences that will do all of that and more.

The first most Christians refer to is the gospel in a single verse:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)

That is the foundation of Christianity. It requires a belief in a loving God that makes promises with eternal ramifications. It creates curiosity about God and His Son.  We should wonder what is meant by “perish” and about “everlasting life.”

How about these two sentences:

A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalms 27:1 KJV)

How would that sound to someone new to the Bible.  Would they seek to learn of David?  Would they wonder who his Lord was?

Piper quotes sentences from other sources, too.  One we like in common is:

From C.S. Lewis in his sermon, The Weight of Glory: "If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak. We are halfhearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mudpies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

That last sentence can stand alone as a remarkable one.  “We are far too easily pleased” by television, music, celebrities, even what we term idols.  As a child we were shown “Leave It To Beaver” and recognized our families did not match theirs.  Today Americans are shown “Jersey Shore” and “Teen Mom” and our children are trying to match theirs.

What sentences impact your life?  What are you sentences are you taking into your life? What sentences come from your life?

Can you describe your life in a sentence?  I think Paul did:

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21 KJV)

A Prayer Request, Please

There is no graphic for this.  It was an accident, a boating accident that happened so quickly.  Instead of a pleasant day on the water, somehow the boat flipped, throwing the passengers out.  Doesn’t matter right now how it happened, it’s the results that are over powering.

My friend’s niece was in the boat and then in the water, where she was struck by the still running motor.  The damage was horrific. Her abdomen was badly cut, and her leg severed above the hip joint.

She is being kept in a medically induced coma.  The doctor said the medications they are giving her will help remove any memory of this time of pain.  Nothing will remove the shock of losing a portion of her body.
The damage to her abdomen means infection is to be expected, compounded by dirty lake water, and a portion of her intestines may be lost.  Her mother noticed that her left arm is quite swollen and believes it may broken.

She will be in the hospital for a long while, then moved to rehabilitation, changing all the plans she and her parents had for the rest of their lives.

My friend told her sister-in-law, “God had a plan for her or He would have taken her, so have faith.”  The mother’s response was, “I told Him last night .. I'll take her in any form.”

Luke 13 begins with a couple of tragedies that recently occurred. Christ spoke to let us know that such tragedies may happen to any of us.  We are not protected through holiness or works from such pain. But we can gather together:

And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. (1 Corinthians 12:26 KJV)

That coming together gives strength and lifts us:

Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. (1 Thessalonians 5:11 KJV)

We need to reach for the promised Comforter:

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; (John 14:16 KJV)

I like the verse Paul wrote to the the church at Colosse as he prayed for them – just as we pray for this family through their spiritual and physical pain:

For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; (Colossians 1:9 KJV)

Thus we come to all who read with us and request that for the next few weeks you please pray with us for this young lady and her family.

Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV)

Thank you.