In the book, “The Prayers of Peter Marshall”, I read a prayer that he delivered on November 24th, 1947. In that prayer, he prayed,

“We pray for the bifocals of faith – that see the despair and the need of the hour but also see, further on, the patience of our God working out His plan in the world He has made.”

The imagery of faith described caught my attention. The bifocals of faith.
I know I am often remiss in praying with both visions in sight. Our prayers are often focused on the here and now, the issue that has our attention, the need that is present in our thoughts.

Jesus taught us to pray with our sights on both the here and now and the future in the prayer that He taught His disciples.

He tells us to focus on the immediate – “Give us this day our daily bread”.
And he asks us to focus on the God working out His plan – “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

It is a good image to keep in our minds as we pray. May we always look through both lenses of the bifocals as we pray each day to our heavenly Father.

Luke 6:12 (NASB)
12 It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.

We marvel at Jesus and how he would spend an entire night in prayer to the Father. It was a common thing for Him to do.

Jesus left the glories of heaven, where He was in constant communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit to live in a broken world He agreed to come to, so that He could live the perfect life and be the perfect sacrifice. When you think about it that way, it is amazing that He didn’t spend His time 24X7 in prayer. He probably wanted to, but He had other things to accomplish while He was on earth.

Do you crave the time you spend in prayer? Do you love to pray with others, pouring out your soul in petitions to the Creator of the universe? Does our prayer time seem to go by so fast that you wonder where the time has gone? Are you learning something new about God each day?

Or do you avoid talking to God unless there is a trial that you are going through? Do you cringe thinking about having to pray with others? When you do pray, are you relieved when you can stop and do something else?

It doesn’t matter which of those describe you at this point in your life. You are welcome to come on Tuesday night and pray. If you take the first step, God will bless you.

Matthew 10:38-39 (NASB)
38 “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
39 “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.

I was reading a book by Andrew Murray, a South African minister (1828-1917). He was prolific author of about 240 books and pastored churches in Cape Town and Wellington in South Africa.

The title of a book by Murray intrigued me. It was called “Absolute Surrender”. In a military context, when an army accepts the absolute surrender of its enemy, they then have total control over them. They enemy no longer can defend themselves, they are told what to do and where to go. Even their lives are at the mercy of the winning army.

Absolute surrender to God is something different. When we turn ourselves over completely to Jesus, we allow Him to do His will through us. His absolutely perfect love can work through us. Instinctively, I know and scripture tells us that is what He wants from us. I can imagine that it is more wonderful that words can describe. But how many of us have done that absolutely?

We read about people that have done that with their lives and how God has taken them through many trials, but has also blessed them in ways we don’t understand. Murray described how George Muller shared on his 90th birthday how God blessed him over the years. He ascribed it to two things.

• He had been enabled by grace to maintain a good conscience before God day by day, and
• He was a lover of God’s Word.

A good conscience before God is complete obedience to God day by day, and fellowship with God by study of His Word and prayer. His was a life of absolute surrender.

Most often, we see that in Christians in their last days. They know their time on earth is short, the “important” things are no longer important. They completely surrender to Jesus. There is an aura of peace that seems to surround them.

Absolute surrender. It is the only thing He wants, He wants all of us. Maybe we should pray for absolute surrender to Jesus in our lives. What do you think?

Psalm 94:11-15 (ESV)
11 the LORD—knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.
12 Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law,
13 to give him rest from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage;
15 for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.

Psalm 94:11-15 (MSG)
11 GOD knows, all right— knows your stupidity, sees your shallowness.
12 How blessed the man you train, GOD, the woman you instruct in your Word,
13 Providing a circle of quiet within the clamor of evil, while a jail is being built for the wicked.
14 GOD will never walk away from his people, never desert his precious people.
15 Rest assured that justice is on its way and every good heart put right.

It is easy today, with the messages from the world, to fall into the trap that anything that happens to us that is difficult, challenging, or painful is the work of Satan. The psalmist makes it clear that God, who knows our inner heart, often disciplines us. Discipline is done out of love. It is for our good, for all things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose.

And so, our initial reaction is that we often pray for relief from difficulties. I was reminded by these verses that we should also pray that, if it is discipline, we would recognize it and learn from God, embrace His law, for He will not forsake His people.

The Message version of the Bible with these verses make the message to us very blunt, especially verse 11. Outwardly, we put on a good face, but our thoughts need discipline.

I think back about some challenging times in my life. I have to admit I didn’t always, in fact have rarely recognized when it was God’s loving discipline. I pray that I don’t miss out on that anymore, especially being able to embrace the love that He shows me when He teaches.

Join us this Tuesday as we pray to the one and only God who loves us so much that He will correct us in love.

Always praying for the glory of God,
Chris McKean

Exodus 13:21-22 (TLB)
21 The Lord guided them by a pillar of cloud during the daytime and by a pillar of fire at night. So they could travel either by day or night.
22 The cloud and fire were never out of sight.
Exodus 16:4 (TLB)
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for them. Everyone can go out each day and gather as much food as he needs. And I will test them in this, to see whether they will follow my instructions or not.

When God took Moses out into the wilderness, one of the lessons He taught the people was to live in the moment, always trusting in Him. Although they grumbled, God kept it up for 40 years. I guess it is an important lesson – to live in the moment as God leads us.

We are to follow Him, we are to trust that He will provide. God is our guide. We are not to live by our desires, but according to His good pleasure. We are to surrender ourselves into the hands of God, allowing Him to do whatever is in His will.

It all begins with prayer, listening to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to lead us as we follow Him and Him alone. It can be easier to allow someone or some group to do that for us. There is no effort involved when we simply take direction from others. But God wants us to follow Him. If you want that too, then prayer has to be central to your life. Prayer alone with God, prayer with others, prayer in worship. There are so many voices in this world today that want us to follow them. If you want to follow Jesus, it takes time and effort to get to know Him – and to hear His voice.

Join us this Tuesday as we get to know Jesus through corporate prayer and worship. He will lead us, if only we are willing to follow.

Always praying for the glory of God,
Chris McKean

Luke 23:34 (ESV)
34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Jesus had just been nailed to the cross, with two thieves on either side of him. It is almost as important what he didn’t say when he prayed this prayer.

He didn’t pray…

Father, forgive the Romans who just nailed me to the cross.
Father, forgive my enemies.
Father, forgive the Jews who called out for my crucifixion.

He simply said, “Father, forgive THEM. That simple pronoun that every one of us can identify with. It is a message to us all.

“For they know not what they do.”

What an indictment of us all. Before we are touched by the Holy Spirit, we have no eyes to see or ears to hear the message of the cross. We literally don’t know and will reject the message.

How can we respond to this simple prayer of Jesus?

1. Acknowledge we were once ignorant of God and His only Son, and we rejected Him. We served sin instead.
2. Confess to God that ignorance is no excuse.
3. Bless the Lord for pleading for us when we could not do it ourselves.
4. Praise and rejoice in the salvation we have obtained through Jesus.

Pray this response to Jesus now.

Always praying for the glory of God…

Hebrews 10:19-25 (NASB)
19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

The writer of Hebrews exhorts us to embrace the full assurance of faith through Christ, and not only that, but to draw together in sincerity and love, encouraging each other as we live out our faith.

One of the ways to encourage each other is drawing together in prayer.

But we struggle with that. We struggle with prayer. Prayer is not as easy as some people make it sound. And so, we find other things more pleasant to do with our lives. It is true though, that the things that are most meaningful to us are often a struggle. How can some people view prayer as a delight when so many others think of it as a duty?

And so for those of us that struggle, we find other things to do. Our lives become busy with life. We even become busy in our ministries, with our families, which are all good things. But we neglect prayer. I speak from experience.

That’s why the average church prayer meeting is so poorly attended. I praise God that we have faithful prayer warriors that meet each week. I pray that even more of us would be drawn in to face the struggle and eventually experience the delight. It is truly worth the effort.

Join us this Tuesday at 7pm as we pray to the living God who sacrificed it all, so we can call Him Father.

Always praying for the glory of God,
Chris McKean

Psalm 139:23-24 (NASB)
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.

Luke 5:39 (NASB)
39 “And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.'”

It is interesting that many Christians, after they become believers fall into a trap of thinking that their relationship with God doesn’t require any further change. I know that it is easy for me to do that. We all know that sanctification is a process that is never completed until we are fully glorified with Christ in heaven. But we get comfortable with where we are. We like where God has us right now. We don’t feel the need to change, the old is good enough.

That’s why we have to constantly do a spiritual checkup, a self-examination by listening to the Holy Spirit’s search of our heart. For centuries, spiritual self-examination was the heart of Christian devotions and understood to be necessary for spiritual growth.

These checkups involve taking a realistic assessment of our faith, acknowledgement of our sin and the need for repentance, and looking at our self-love and comparing it to our love for others.

All of these things involve an introspective look at our prayer life. Have our prayers just become petitions for health and comfort for ourselves and our family and friends? Or are our prayers a cry to God for more faith? Do we ask God to strip us of sin, even though we know that will require us to deny ourselves of those pleasures that pull us away from true worship? Do we earnestly ask God to cut out those tumors of pride in our lives?

On Tuesday nights, a group meets in prayer to ask the Great Physician to change them. Do you yearn for that too? If so, join us this Tuesday at 7pm.

Always praying for the glory of God,
Chris McKean