October 6, 2016

"When you pray, don’t be like those show-offs who love to stand up and pray in the meeting places and on the street corners. They do this just to look good. I can assure you that they already have their reward." Matthew 6:5

Still another sincere prayer for your consideration and mediation. I'll bet you will identify with parts of David's prayer - if not all of it!

 "Listen while I build my case, God,

    the most honest prayer you’ll ever hear.

Show the world I’m innocent—

    in your heart you know I am.

3 

Go ahead, examine me from inside out,

    surprise me in the middle of the night—

You’ll find I’m just what I say I am.

    My words don’t run loose.

4- 

I’m not trying to get my way

    in the world’s way.

I’m trying to get your way,

    your Word’s way.

I’m staying on your trail;

    I’m putting one foot

In front of the other.

    I’m not giving up.

6- 

I call to you, God, because I’m sure of an answer.

    So—answer! bend your ear! listen sharp!

Paint grace-graffiti on the fences;

    take in your frightened children who

Are running from the neighborhood bullies

    straight to you.

8- 

Keep your eye on me;

    hide me under your cool wing feathers

From the wicked who are out to get me,

    from mortal enemies closing in.

10 

Their hearts are hard as nails,

    their mouths blast hot air.

They are after me, nipping my heels,

    determined to bring me down,

Lions ready to rip me apart,

    young lions poised to pounce.

Up, God: beard them! break them!

    By your sword, free me from their clutches;

Barehanded, God, break these mortals,

    these flat-earth people who can’t think beyond today.

I’d like to see their bellies

    swollen with famine food,

The weeds they’ve sown

    harvested and baked into famine bread,

With second helpings for their children

    and crusts for their babies to chew on.

15 

And me? I plan on looking

    you full in the face. When I get up,

I’ll see your full stature

    and live heaven on earth." Psalm 17

AMEN!

Hannah Prayed & Said...

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full."  Matthew 6:5

Jesus said when you pray you should pray sincerely. That means your prayers should be marked by humility, by honesty and they should be heartfelt.

Here is another classic example of a sincere prayer from the Old Testament.

Then Hannah prayed and said:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. “Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed. “The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength. Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry are hungry no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away. “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; on them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” I Samuel 2:1-10

This is the pray of a barren and desperate woman whose only hope was in her God. So, she offered this humble and honest and heartfelt prayer to her God.

Meditate on this prayer.

What can you learn?

Can you be this honest and humble with the barren area in your life?

Are your prayers as heartfelt as this one?

By the way, this prayer was answered!

October 4, 2016

"When you pray, don’t be like those show-offs who love to stand up and pray in the meeting places and on the street corners. They do this just to look good. I can assure you that they already have their reward." Matthew 6:5

Each of us serve as an example - either a bad example or a good example.

Which are you?

Jesus pointed to the religious leaders of His day and told His followers, "Don't pray like them! They are bad examples!"

What would Jesus say if He pointed to your prayer life?

The point Jesus wants to make in pointing out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees is this, "Prayer must be sincere!"

In my next several posts leading up to my message on Sunday I will be sharing some examples of some classic sincere prayers from the Bible.

"Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with." James 5:16

"About this time, Hezekiah got sick and was almost dead. Isaiah the prophet went in and told him, “The Lord says you won’t ever get well. You are going to die, so you had better start doing what needs to be done.” Hezekiah turned toward the wall and prayed, “Don’t forget that I have been faithful to you, Lord. I have obeyed you with all my heart, and I do whatever you say is right.” After this, he cried hard." II Kings 20:1-3

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;  a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise." Psalm 51:1-17

Do these sound anything like your prayers?

Sincere prayers are honest and heartfelt!

Some Doubted Him

"When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted." Matthew 28:17

Now, why did they put that last phrase in there? Isn't that curious? I understand that Matthew would want us to know that the eleven remaining disciples worshiped the Risen Jesus - but did we need to know about the doubters?

How could you doubt Jesus when He is right there; risen, alive, and triumphant?

This serves as one more proof of the authenticity of the Bible. Had it been written by men who were trying to deceive they would not have included those three words "but some doubted".

So, what should we make of that statement?

Personally, I take encouragement from it! Here's why:

First, it tells me that these "some who doubted" (and we don't know how many of them there were) worshiped through their doubts. Even though they were unresolved in their faith, they didn't let it keep them from falling at the feet of the Resurrected Jesus.

Haven't you come to church some time when you were struggling with a doubt? What better place to be when you are unresolved in your faith?

Second, it tells me that God can use spiritually unresolved people to change the world! This same group of eleven became the foundation for the Church of Jesus Christ. So, not only did they worship through their doubts but the served through their doubts.

How many times have you stepped out into some new endeavor for the Lord and you weren't sure what the result would be. It was scary and uncomfortable for you but you leaned on His strength and worked through your doubts! I'm sure you have done that. I know I have!

Third, it doesn't say whether the doubts they had were toward Jesus or about themselves. For every doubt I have had about Him, I have had a thousand toward myself. In fact, when God began to lay the calling for ministry upon my heart, I resisted for four years primarily because I had serious doubts about my ability to measure up to that calling. I believed God could do it I just didn't think I could. Fortunately, a good friend assured me that when He calls He enables.

Why are those three words included in this significant portion of Scripture? I think it is because God want us to know that it is okay to have doubts as long as we worship through them and work through them.

God is greater than our doubts!

If you are struggling with some doubts today - bring them to the feet of Jesus!

October 2, 2016

"When you pray, don’t be like those show-offs who love to stand up and pray in the meeting places and on the street corners. They do this just to look good. I can assure you that they already have their reward. When you pray, go into a room alone and close the door. Pray to your Father in private. He knows what is done in private, and he will reward you. When you pray, don’t talk on and on as people do who don’t know God. They think God likes to hear long prayers. Don’t be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask." Matthew 6:5-8

A man bought a donkey from a preacher. The preacher told the man that this donkey had been trained in a very unique way, (being the donkey of a preacher). The only way to make the donkey go, was to say, "Hallelujah!" The only way to make the donkey stop, was to say, "Amen!"

The man was pleased with his purchase and immediately got on the animal to try out the preacher's instructions. "Hallelujah!" shouted the man. The donkey began to trot. "Amen!" shouted the man. The donkey stopped immediately. "This is great!" said the man. With a "Hallelujah," he rode off very proud of his new purchase.

The man traveled for a long time through some mountains. Soon he was heading toward a cliff. He could not remember the word to make the donkey stop. "Stop," said the man. "Halt!" he cried. The donkey just kept going. "Oh, no... Bible!....Church!...Please Stop!!" shouted the man. The donkey just began to trot faster. He was getting closer and closer to the cliff edge. Finally, in desperation, the man said a prayer. "Please, dear Lord. Please make this donkey stop before I go off the end of this mountain, In Jesus name, AMEN."

The donkey came to an abrupt stop just one step from the edge of the cliff.

"HALLELUJAH!", shouted the man.

It is hard to emphasize how vital prayer is to the Christian life, so getting it right makes a huge difference!

I'm sure that is why in His first teaching on prayer Jesus said, "When you pray, don't pray like these religious leaders. Rather, pray like this:"

1) Pray sincerely

Don't pray in a showy way trying to impress others with your piety. Prayer should not call attention to you it should call attention to God. Simply pour out your heart-felt desires to God in a humble and contrite spirit.

2) Pray secretly

When you pray, spend at least as much time praying alone in your secret place as you do publicly. Getting alone with God to pray is much more important than standing before people. Kneel before you stand!

3) Pray securely

When you pray, come to God with confidence in His love and grace and mercy. Know that He longs to hear from you and commune with you! You need not try to coerce Him or cajole Him to bend to your will. He desires to give you what you need!

What you say in prayer is important, but how you say it and where you say it is even more crucial. The story illustrated it but Jesus validated it!

October 1, 2016

"When you pray, don’t talk on and on as people do who don’t know God. They think God likes to hear long prayers. Don’t be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask." Matthew 6:7-8

As we have been examining this teaching of Jesus on prayer we have learned two truths from Him thus far:

1) Pray sincerely

2) Pray secretly

Today we will examine a third - pray securely. Come to God in a secure knowledge He is leaning toward you welcoming your prayer. You don't have prattle on with long and pretentious prayers. God doesn't have to be leveraged, cajoled or nagged.

Force?

These two verses from Jesus' teaching on prayer beg the question, "Is it the force of your prayer OR is it the focus of your prayer?"

It seems that, based on how the religious leaders prayed, they thought they could "soften God up" or "wear Him down" or "win Him over" by the sheer force and volume of their prayers. 

Have you been tempted to think that way?

 "When you pray, don’t talk on and on as people do who don’t know God. They think God likes to hear long prayers." Matthew 6:7

  

  "Can worry make you live longer? Why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow. They don’t work hard to make their clothes. But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth wasn’t as well clothed as one of them. God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow.He will surely do even more for you! Why do you have such little faith?

Don’t worry and ask yourselves,“Will we have anything to eat? Will we have anything to drink? Will we have any clothes to wear?” Only people who don’t know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows that you need all of these." Matthew 6:27-32

  

·  Focus?


When you pray, come to God with the secure knowledge of Who He is and who you are in Him.

  "Don’t be like them. Your Father knows what you    need before you ask." Matthew 6:8

"I tell you not to worry about your life. Don’t worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn’t life more than food or clothing? Look at the birds in the sky! They don’t plant or harvest. They don’t even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes care of them. Aren’t you worth more than birds?" Matthew 6:25-26

"But more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well." Matthew 6:33

THROUGHOUT THIS CHAPTER JESUS REFERS TO GOD AS “FATHER” AND INSTRUCTS US TO DO THE SAME! HE TELLS US TO FOCUS ON THAT WHEN WE GO TO PRAYER AND BE SURE KNOWING:

·       He hears you!

·       He listens to you!

·       He loves you!

·       He knows what you need!

·       He cares about your needs!

·       He will provide what you need!

I don’t know about you, but I get excited about the thought of a God I don’t have to try to leverage, or coerce, or force to get what I pray for. It gives me a great deal of security to go in a room and close the door and pray to a God who loves me and longs to spend time with me and knows what I need and who is willing and able to provide it!

September 30, 2016

"When you pray, go into a room alone and close the door. Pray to your Father in private. He knows what is done in private, and he will reward you." Matthew 6:6

"When you pray", Jesus said, "Don't pray to make a public spectacle but go into a private place an close the door."

First, you are to pray sincerely and second you are to pray secretly.

Why pray privately not publicly?

• What if prayer is about not you being seen but about you seeing God?

• What if prayer is not about making an impression about God but about being impressed by God?

• What if not about being heard by God but more about hearing from God?

• What if prayer is not about displaying your religion in public but about developing a personal relationship in private?

• What about making sure you spend time kneeling in private before you spend any time standing in public.

Do you think Jesus had any of these things in mind when He instructed His followers "When you pray, go into a room alone and close the door"? 

Notice that Jesus didn't say, "Stay in that room alone with God forever and never come back out." He calls you into the world of darkness to be a light. It was Him Who prayed that you would be "In the world but not of the world?"

There is no doubt God calls you into the world to witness and serve and seek to reach the lost. BUT, first He calls you into a room to shut the door and be alone with Him.

"When you pray, pray secretly."