Tag: strength

How to Pray

Posted on by Dorci

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”  Luke 11:1

It was a wise request, and we would be wise to ask it, too.

So what did the Lord say?

“When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”
Luke 11:2-4

A lot of people take this instruction literally, and this is the only prayer they pray.  But God doesn’t want us to just recite words; He wants our hearts. Prayer is not getting God to do what we want, but it’s a gracious open door of communication so that God can show us His will and change the rhythm of our hearts to beat with His. Jesus gives His disciples, us included, a peek into God’s heart through this prayer.  So let’s unpack it just a little a bit and see how we are to pray.

“When you pray, say:”

This word prayer means worship.  Prayer is not a time to jump in, ask for a bunch of things, and leave.  It’s a time where we enter into worship of the Most High God.

“Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.”

These two sentences are very telling.

Jesus introduces the radical notion that we have the privilege of calling God our Father.  He is closer to us than some impersonal God “way up there.”  He loves us as a parent loves a child (and even more) and when we go to Him in prayer we can be assured that He hears us and will provide us with every good thing.

At the same time Jesus reminds us our Father is hallowed, or holy.  He is not like our earthly fathers.  He is sacred, pure, blameless and righteous.  Any fears or emotional baggage we may have because of our earthly fathers do not apply to our Heavenly Father.  We can trust Him.

Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

The word kingdom means rule, a realm or a reign.  Now that the Holy Spirit has come, we who have put our faith in Christ have the privilege of knowing God not just from the outside, but from the inside.  And to properly worship God in prayer we must continually give Him permission to rule our hearts.  It’s so easy to take back the reins, if you will.

As we give our hearts to be a kingdom for God to reside, we’ll want His will, not ours.  In heaven everything happens God’s way.  There is no sin.  It is filled with the glory of God and all He is.

In Isaiah 55:8-9, God tells us “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”

God’s thoughts, desires and will, are all so very different, so much higher than our own.  And when we pray that God’s will be done here on earth like it is in heaven, that’ll mean He’s going to shake things up a bit, and it’s going to start with changing our hearts.  Are you willing to let God do radical things in and through you?

“Give us day by day our daily bread.”

God doesn’t give us what we’ll need tomorrow today.  He gives us what we need today today, so we need to go to Him every day.

Not only do we need to get physical bread—food, and even on a broader scale, physical or material needs–but we need spiritual bread.

Most of us would never think of going a day (or even a few hours!) without eating.  We need to be spiritually fed as often.

“And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.’” John 6:35

Jesus is our sustenance.  As we remain in Him, He will bless us with everything we need.

“And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.”

When we hold unforgiveness (or any sin) in our hearts, whether we’re resisting repenting of our own sins or forgiving someone who has sinned against us, we put up a wall between us and God.

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” Isaiah 59:2

Ask God to bring to your mind those things you need to specifically repent of, and the people you need to forgive.  There are times that past, hurtful situations come to my mind and it’s easy to sit and stew in the anger all over again.  But those are divinely-inspired opportunities to forgive someone who may have slipped from our consciousness, but God knows that anger is creating a root of bitterness, and He brings them to our minds to give us a chance to forgive.  We may have temporarily forgotten, but God hasn’t. He knows the destruction it causes in our hearts.  Remember, forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling.

“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

This literally means to rescue us from the evil one–the one seeks to steal, kill and destroy.  We’ve repented of our sins and the last thing we want to do is rush right back into sin through the temptations we face.  We need discipline and as we hold onto the Lord, He will give us the strength and courage we need.

The concise way of saying all that is to remember ACTS:

Adoration – praising God for all He is
Confession – repenting of, or turning away from our sin
Thanksgiving – thanking God for all He’s done, all He does and all He will do
Supplication – presenting our needs before the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills

This is a good guideline to get our hearts right as we enter into worship so we don’t get a case of the “gimmes.”  You know, give me this and give me that.

The National Day of Prayer uses this acronym:

Praise
Repent
Ask
Yield.

And just as important as knowing what to say, is knowing how to be silent.  To sit before God and let Him speak to our hearts is a precious gift indeed.

God bless you as you pray,

 

 

 

Why Pray?

Posted on by Dorci

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’

And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?  I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’ Luke 18:1-8

This Thursday, May 1, is the National Day of Prayer, and our country and world are in desperate need of it.  Prayer has taken a back seat in favor of entertainment, the pursuit of money, even religion.  Our time with God has been neglected.  How do I know?  Because I look around at the state of things and I see the fruit of it.

I see morals being thrown out the window by the bucketful.  I see people using one another for their own gain.  I see adults’ behavior regressing into immaturity and downright childishness.  I see the family unit disintegrating more and more. I see disrespect and even hatred on a whole new level. I see sin coming out of the darkness and living proudly in the light for all to see, and I see people afraid to stand up against it.  I see the pain and suffering caused by rampant sin.

And more and more those who call themselves Christians are looking and walking and talking no differently than non-believers.

Yet I see Christians pointing an accusing finger at the world and talk about how awful it is and if they’d just straighten up and fly right everything would be okay.  But God says that “if MY people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

God doesn’t tell the world to change, He tells His own people that if we will repent, and if we will submit and turn from our old man and live righteously before Him, then God will our land.  We are the example to the world.  We are to be salt and light.  And when we are right with God then we will be able to, by the grace of God and the blood of Christ, stand in the gap between God and unbelievers and pray that God will open their spiritual eyes and that they will be saved.

It starts with us.

I was saved, because of the persistent, year-long prayers of a Christian, when I was 25 years old.  By that time I’d already formed a lot of erroneous beliefs.  One was that abortion was acceptable since our laws give us a right to it, and the other was that God and satan were equal powers, the only difference being that one was a power for good and the other for evil.

But the moment I was saved and indwelt by the power of the Holy Spirit, my eyes were opened and those two beliefs were dispelled.  I knew immediately that abortion was wrong and that God’s power over satan was infinite.

The only way to see our country and world transformed is to pray for them, one person at a time.  To pray that God will soften hearts and open eyes, like He did mine, and that people will be saved.

A lot of us are weary, though.  We’re weary of seeing sin gain the upper hand.  We’re weary of trying and feeling like we’re moving two steps forward and one step back.  We’re weary of praying and praying and praying and not seeing results.  I get it.  I’ve been there.

There are some things I’ve prayed years for and still have yet to see fruit.  But that doesn’t mean nothing’s happening.  God is making things happen behind the scenes that I’ll never see.  He waits for circumstances, other people, our hearts and a multitude of other things to be just right before He can answer prayers.

Some He’ll answer quickly, and some take a lifetime. But His timing is always, always perfect.  There are some answers where I’m beginning to see the bud develop, but it’s taken an excruciatingly long period of time.  And there are some things I prayed a long time for, and now know those things will never happen.  And in those instances hope can take a hard hit.

But God says don’t give up.  Hope in Him.

In the Luke 18 parable, Jesus illustrated that if even an unrighteous person relents to someone’s pleas simply because they don’t give up, how much more will God, who is fully righteous and loving towards His children, give to them when they continue to seek Him?

Yes, you’re weary.  And distracted.  So am I.

So why pray?  The bottom line is this: God wants to see our prayers answered.  He wants to show us His will.  He wants to broaden our dreams and give us victory in this life. And what’s more, He wants us to have the peace and courage and wisdom we need every day, and the only way to have those is through prayer.  That’s why He tells us to pray and keep on praying.  Some answers to prayer simply take a long time.  And what if we give up before it’s time?

So let’s find a little corner and sit down at the feet of Jesus—the giver of strength and peace and wisdom–and pray, and gain our strength again.

Let’s stand in the gap for our family, our church, our friends, our neighborhood, our state, our country, our world.

Our children and grandchildren are growing up fast and the legacy we leave them in this world will depend on if we choose to pray or not. It’s a responsibility and privilege we can no longer take for granted.

Here is the link to the website for the National Day of Prayer.  I hope you’ll choose to be one of those on the front lines of prayer for our nation and our world as the time draws closer to the Lord’s return.

And when He does, as Jesus asked, will He find faith?  Will you and I be the ones He sees holding onto our faith in Him as we continue to seek Him in prayer?

Tomorrow we’ll talk about how to pray.  Please pray for me as I seek the Lord for wisdom.

God bless you as you pray!

 

Are You Still Wrestling?

Posted on by Dorci

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  Ephesians 6:10-12

The closest I’ve ever come to a wrestling match is breaking up my boys when they were little.  They never wrestled angry, just for fun.  It’s a boy thing, I guess.

But the second I was saved, I faced a wrestling match of a spiritual kind.  Whether I acknowledged it or not, I was on the mat, and my opponent was out for blood.

He still is.

He knows every trick in the book and he’ll use them to his advantage.  He knows my weaknesses, he knows when I’m tired, he knows when my attention is on something else.

But I think his greatest advantage is coming at me when I’m nowhere near the ring.  When I’ve let down my guard, and he looks less like an opponent and more like a movie everybody else is seeing that somewhere deep inside I know I shouldn’t, or that shiny thing I can’t afford, or an attitude I think I’m entitled to.

Do I wrestle then?

Do I go to God in prayer and fight the temptation, or do I just give in?

Maybe I assume that if everybody else is doing it, it must be okay.  Or, I might think I don’t want to bother God, because, well, I really, really want to do it.  Or have it.

So, just like I think I’ll trick my body into ignoring the calories of a strawberry cupcake if I eat it really fast, somehow we believe God will turn a blind eye if we do this one thing really quick.  It’ll just a take a minute.  Or a couple of hours.

And before we know it, satan has us pinned.

Theoretically, we know scripture says there’s a struggle with the enemy.  The question is, are we struggling back? Are we fighting to put aside our own will and certainly the enemy’s, and seeking God’s will for us personally, or have we given up the fight? Have we assumed certain things are okay because everybody else, even other Christians, are doing it?

The enemy is ruthless in his efforts to defeat us.  He’ll fight dirty, he’ll fight hard, he’ll simply wait until we’re too tired to keep fighting back.  Until the world around us is screaming “Barrabas!” (or at least trying to blend in with the crowd) and we don’t want to be the only one screaming “Jesus!”

Don’t let the enemy defeat you by stealing your convictions and shoving you into the world’s compromise.

Calories are calories, and God’s truth is the truth.  Period.  He loves us too much to turn a blind eye.

Who knows, maybe God wants us to have that particular shiny thing. But He most definitely wants us to ask.  He wants us to stand with Him and when we do, He’ll be in the ring with us and we can’t lose.

The goal in wrestling is to gain a superior position over our opponent.  God tells us how to do that:

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13

Whatever you’re dressed in today, make darn sure you have on the full armor of God.

And be prepared to fight.

 

In the love of Christ,

The Joy of the Lord Really is Your Strength

Posted on by Dorci

I recently came across a video tape (yes, an actual VHS tape) of our oldest son sitting in a highchair conflicted over the beets on his tray, and I was instantly transported back 20 years ago.

I so much wanted to crawl through that screen and do things differently.  Better.  With the bit of wisdom I’ve picked up in the years since.

As the lyric goes, I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger..

My kids stood there watching with me and they commented that even my voice is different now.  Granted, I’m not talking to three year olds anymore, but still.  I’ve changed and I could look back and see my mistakes so clearly.  And it grieved me. 

It seems the older and closer I get to the end of my life, the more I can look back at decisions I’ve made and my heart breaks with disappointment.  If I’m not careful, I can get stuck in the mud of regret.  

The Israelites almost did that very thing.

The walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and the city lay burned to the humiliation of the Israelites for over 100 years until God called Nehemiah and His people to rebuild the city.  They worked non-stop for months rebuilding while being armed and ready for enemy attacks. 

It had been a long haul, but God had restored them. 

The Israelites gathered and stood while Ezra, the priest, read the Word of God from daybreak until noon.  As they heard the Truth, they became overwhelmed with conviction. 

God’s Word will do that. 

Standing in the holiness of God in the reading of the Word they felt the depths of their sin.  They mourned from the pit of their souls and they wept. 

But the people were told..

Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

The past was gone and God had forgiven them.  He had restored their city and their people and now was a time for rejoicing! 

God never intends for us to carry around regret. He so desires rivers of living water to flow through us, not for us to stand in a quagmire of regret.  That’ll only slow down our journey, weaken our faith and our testimony.

The word strength in this verse means “a fortified place; a defence, a fortress, a rock.”

The enemy had continually tried to pull the people away from God’s work of rebuilding through taunts, lies and deception.  But they were unsuccessful because Nehemiah kept his focus, and the people’s, on the Lord and the work they were called to do.

Just as a wolf will attack a sheep that is injured or sick, God’s enemy (and ours) will seek out someone who is spiritually weakened.  It’s easy prey.

Living in a state of grief over past sins weakens us.  Refusing to forgive ourselves cripples our spirit.

There is a time for grieving over our sin, but that grief should take us directly to the feet of Jesus in repentance. 

And when we do, God’s forgiveness is immediate.  His grace gives us the freedom to let it go, accept the joy He gives and move on.  And that brings us His strength.  We’re free to step out of the quagmire and onto the Rock. 

We join with the Lord and He becomes our fortress, our defence against attacks from the enemy.  Our faith grows stronger and our testimony brings Him glory.

The past is gone and God’s mercies are new every morning. 

My feet may be a little muddy, but I’m stepping out, washing them in the river and standing on the Rock.

How about you?

 

 

Lord Jesus, help us to repent, forgive ourselves, and accept the joy we have in You!”

 

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