Tag Archives: Prayer

Fasting. No really. Fasting.

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We’ve been reflecting this week on different scriptures that point the way to things that deepen our faith. These things that help us grow closer to God, these things are what Wesley called a “Means of Grace.”  In these things – God gives us grace to grow.

Thus far they’ve been things that we all like and agree are important. Prayer. Scripture.  Things such as that.  Listen today, though, to this important thing talked about in Acts 14:23:

Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

With prayer and fasting. Fasting.  Oh my. Yes. Fasting.

Fasting is something that we don’t talk about in church as much as should because, well, it’s not fun.  None of us want to fast.  None of us want to give up something.  None of us, in the end, want to do it.

You don’t, I don’t, no one does. It’s not what we’d think about as “fun.”

Yet, in scripture, we see it over and over again as a command. We see it over and over again as something that God’s people are instructed to do. We see it as something that the church is challenged do to. It’s important.

Why?

I can just tell you, from my experience, that fasting gives us two major benefits.  First, it drives us to prayer.  When you fast (by the way, fasting, for those that aren’t familiar, is giving up something, normally food, for a time period, to seek God) we are driven to prayer. When you miss that chocolate, pray.  When you miss that coke, pray.   When you miss whatever you give up, pray.  Every time we see fasting mentioned in scripture, it’s in relation to prayer. Fasting is useful in that drives us to pray.

Second, in my experience, when you give up something, you see what really controls your actions. We see that our actions are not controlled by our needs, or many times, by God, we see that our actions are controlled by our desires.  Our wants.  Us.  We aer driven so many times in our lives not by what God wants. But by what we want.

That’s not the way that God wants us to live. That’s not what God has for us. That’s not His desire for us.

So, while it won’t be something that we look forward to doing, I do believe it’s something that can change our lives and our walk with God.  Fasting is still important.

And today, in some way in your life, I pray that you can find a way to experience that gift in your life!

 

Don’t Worry

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Today, don’t worry.

I don’t know about the be happy part. That may depend on how much coffee you get this morning as to whether are not you are happy. But, you don’t have to worry.

Listen to what Paul writes to us in Philippians 4:6 this morning:

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

Great words, powerful words. Words we need to hear! don’t worry about anything!  Big or small.  Important or unimportant.  Don’t worry about it!

Well that was easy!  I guess we are all done!

Wait, you mean there’s more? That’s right. Don’t worry about it.  Instead, pray about it.

I like to joke that the reason I worry so much is that it makes me feel productive. If I’m worrying, I’m able to “do” something.  If I’m worrying, I feel like I’m doing my part to help God out.  He takes care of  it all and I worry. We’re partners that way!

Paul tells us not to worry. And to do our part. Pray.

See, when we take time to stop worrying and start praying, we find something. We find that we don’t need to worry. Because of all the things that prayer does, perhaps the most amazing thing that it does is this – it draws us closer to God.

And when we are drawn close to God, we find this out.  We really don’t have to worry.

Because God is good. And God is with us. And God will never leave not forsake us. And, as corny as it sounds, we don’t have to worry about.  Because God is for us. So, who can be against us.

And have peace and hope and joy and peace.

But, this all comes, only when we take it God in prayer.

Today, don’t worry.  Pray. And in prayer, you’ll find that, in the end, you’ve got nothing to worry about anyway.

When You Pray

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Sometimes, when we think about prayer, we mistake what’s going on.

The mistake we can make is that we focus on what it is that we are saying.  We can equate our prayers to what we say.  And, when we do that, we can take away this horrible thought.

We can think – I can’t pray.

I can’t say the right things.

I don’t know what to pray.

My prayers aren’t any good.

How many of us have thought that?  How many of think that even now. We get tongue-tied or lost in what we are saying, and so we think that we can’t pray at all.

Listen to what Jesus says today in Matthew 7:

When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again

Jesus reminds us – our prayers are not about what we say.  Yes, their may be a vocal part to it.  But, our prayers are not about what we say. They are about what is on our hearts.  Our hearts communicate to God through prayer.

In the end, what happens in our prayer lives has very little to do with what we say.  It has to do with an awareness that we are in God’s presence. That God loves us and sent His son to die for us. And that He wants to know us.

It’s about allowing our hearts to realize that we are in the presence of an amazing and holy God. And, what can we really say in that situation? Our words fail us.  None of us know what we can say at that point.

But, we do know this. God desires us to draw near to Him. God desires us to know Him. God desires that we realize we are in His presence.

So, today, you can pray.  It’s not about what you say.  It’s about a heart that desires to know God. Today, you can pray. May we seek after God with all that we are today.

 

 

Yes, Pray for Everyone!

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One of the things we see Paul tell Timothy in 1 Timothy is that God doesn’t play favorites.

He tells him in chapter two that God wants all to be saved and that there is one mediator, one route to the Father, and that’s Jesus Christ. God wants all people to come through that route, though.

God wishes for all to know Him and know His saving power.

God doesn’t play favorites, He doesn’t love some more than others.

He loves each of us, with great and amazing love.

And, He wants us to treat each other the same way.  He wants us to pray for each other, to love each other. Even those that way may not like or agree with.  Listen to what Paul says in chapter 2

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

Pray for all people.  Everyone.  Ask God to help them.  Give thanks for them.

You know that person you don’t like?

Come on, we all have one.

Pray for them.  Spend some time today, and each day, praying for them.

Ask God to draw them close to Him.  Ask God to reveal Himself to them.  Even ask God to bless them.

Do this today, and each day. And you know what will happen?  God will change your heart.  You may never be best friends. But God will allow you to move on past whatever problems you may have.

We are called to pray for everyone.  Yes, pray for everyone! Even the folks we don’t like, or that we have major disagreements with.  We pray for them.

Because God loves them. God wants to see them saved. And God desires relationships with them.

And we, as His children, are called to pray for them.

Thanksgiving

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This morning, I was reading through an old devotional favorite of mine, a book called A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God.  It has within a scripture for the day, some suggested reading, and a guide for prayer.

And, as I was reading, it talked a lot about thanksgiving in prayer, and when it came time for the prayer, it said start off with thanking God for the blessing of your life.

So, I thanked God for my family. . . .

My church. . . . .

My friends. . . . .

My health. . . . .

And it hit me.  I can’t remember the last time I actually did that.  That I actually stopped in my prayer time and thanked God for these things.

Now, I pray for my family all the time. I pray for church all the time. I pray for my friends all the time.

But, I don’t thank God for them enough. I am not thankful enough for what God has given me.

We can get so busy with good things, we can forget to be thankful.  We can get so busy focusing on what should be or needs to be, we can forget to thank God for is.

May the words of Paul in Philippians 1:3 ring true to us today:

I thank my God every time I remember you

Today, what are you thankful for?  What are your blessings? Where has God blessed you this day?

Today, as you go throughout your day, may you take time to stop, every so often and thank God.

Thank Him for the blessings of your life, thank Him for the goodness He has given you.

May we take time today to thank our God.

Our First Option? Or Our Last Option?

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Troubles come. That’s part of life. Times of trial come.  That’s part of life.

What will be our response to our troubles. What will be a our response to our trials?

What will we do when we are in these tough times. When those we love are in these tough times?

I was reading about Peter this morning in Acts. It had gotten tough. James had been killed.  Now Peter was locked up, and would probably be killed later.

He was in jail, waiting, when an angel of the Lord came and freed him.

Then this happens:

11Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.’ 12As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and were praying.

The thing that struck me this morning in this text was not Peter’s imprisonment.  It wasn’t the angel freeing him.  It was the response of his friends and family.  What did they do?

They gathered, and they prayed.

In our life, we sometimes have to respond to unpleasant situations. Things that happen to us. To those we love. To those we care for.

How will we respond?  Will we grow angry?  Bitter?  Resentful?

Or, will we do what they did in the text today?

Will we pray?  Will we turn it over to God? Will we seek His face?

When the tough times come, when the trials come, what will be our response?

Prayer should not be our last option. For many of us, we pray when we’ve done everything else.

Pray shouldn’t be our last options.  It should be our first option.

May we be a praying people.

Access

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A couple of years ago, Holly and I went to the Holy Land. I’ll be honest with you, I was never a person that really wanted to go.  I know lots of folks that went and said it was the greatest thing ever. I’d heard all that. And while I was excited to go – it wasn’t something I’d really ever desired.

But when you get there, wow. It’ really is something else. It opens up your eyes to some many things in Scripture that you didn’t see before. It really makes thing make sense in a way the didn’t before.  It really is a power experience.

One of the cool things we saw was in the south part of Israel the ruins of an old army fort that dated back to Solomon. I know, cool. But, the cool thing was to go inside of it and see how it was all laid out. And inside of this fort, there was a replica of the  Temple in Jerusalem.  And, inside that replica of the Temple was it’s on Holy of Holies. The most sacred place in the Temple. The very place the presence of God was believed to rest. The very place where the priest would tie a rope around their ankle so if God struck them down, they could be drug out. It was the most Holy place in all the land. And each outpost had their own, which was just as holy.

In the picture to your left, you see Holly standing in that Holy of Holies. And notice, she is not struck down.  It’s 3 years later and she is still with us and still alive. God did not strike her down at point.

Why?

Because of what happened in today’s text

50 Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.

In the death of our Lord, the curtain was torn. And we have access. We are welcomed into the presence of God.  No longer is God separated from us, but He is with us.

No longer do we have go through an other means of access. We can each go directly to God. We are each welcomed in. Each of us.

Today, you have access to the created of heaven and earth.  Your prayers are heard by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  You are welcomed in!

Wow!

Take advantage of that.  Seek after Him.  Seek His face.  You have access to the King!

May we know how blessed we are.  And we spend time each day seeking after Him!

Training

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Hello.  My name is Andy. (hello Andy). And I’ve got a problem.  I really enjoy running.  Now,while it is not a “problem” per sue, it can be a little crazy. I used to say the only way I’d run would be if Holly was chasing me.  Now, each morning before I leave for work, I try to jog at least 5K.  Yes.  That’s makes me a little off.

As I was reading one of the suggested texts today, I read something out of 1 Timothy that spoke about not just about jogging or training, but about something even more important:

Train yourself in godliness, 8 for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. 10 For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

As a jogger, I hate to miss a day. If I don’t jog, I feel sluggish and just don’t feel right.  Many of us today are starting different training routines – P90X or Couch to 5K, or whatever. These are all good, good things.

But, Paul reminds us today, that while these are good, there is something even better we should be doing.  We should be training out hearts and minds for Jesus Christ. We should be training ourselves in godliness. We should do doing things that strengthen our faith, and our ability to serve.

And, here’s where it can get tough. There are some days I don’t feel like jogging. But I go and make myself. And the feeling of accomplishment I get afterwards make the “making myself” worth it.

There are going to be days when we don’t feel like reading the Word. When we don’t feel like praying. When we don’t feel like serving.  When we just don’t want to.

And we have to, gasp!, make ourselves.  That’s ok. That’s part of training. That’s part of growing. That’s part of being transformed. CS Lewis once said the most powerful prayers we pray are the ones we pray when we don’t feel like praying.

Today, are we training for godliness?  Are we doing the things to help our faith grow? Are we being more faithful? Are we doing our part to allow God’s spirit to work on us?

We train daily for something much more important that a 5K. We train for the Kingdom. May we be faithful today!

Pride

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The suggested Old Testament readings the past few days have been from Proverbs. I’ve always loved Proverbs and Psalms.  Dr. Frank Pollard, one of the best preachers I’ve ever known, used to always tell folks to read three Psalms and a chapter of Proverbs a day, it would really make a difference. And I believe that to be true.

As I praying today, I started thinking about pride, and the famous passage we know from Proverbs popped in my mind Proverbs 16:18

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

It hit me this morning one of the ways that pride brings forth destruction in my life. It looks like this.

I need to be a better person. I need to be more faithful.  I need to do more.  I need to change.  I need to be different. I need to. . . whatever.

How is that prideful? Those look like good, Christian statements.  How is that pride?

It’s pride in that I’ve mistakenly though I can do it. I just need to bow up.  I just need to do more. I can do it.  I just haven’t.  But I can.

No, I can’t.  Pride fools us in to thinking we are stronger than we really are. Pride fools us into thinking we are smarter than we really are. Pride makes us think that if we just want it enough, we can do it!

That’s not what the Bible teaches.  The Bible reminds us that through God, all things are possible.  Yes, we can change. We can be different. We can do better. We can be new. We can be a new creation. We can experience all these things.

But, not through our strength and will. But through God’s grace.

Pride makes us think we can do it.

And, as long as we think we can do it, we will never be able to do it.

Only through His grace can we do any of it. Only through His grace can we be new and different. Only through His grace can we change. Only through His grace can we live.

The pride goes before the fall. May we not be prideful today. May we remember that our true strength comes not from ourselves.

But from God.