This week I was drawn back to a prayer book by Ken Boa called “Handbook to Prayer – Praying Scripture back to God”. Ken wrote this book as a guide to help those that want to take their prayer life to a deeper and more meaningful level. He noted in his introduction that many people, if they pray at all, fall into two extremes of prayer time.

The one extreme is to turn it into a repetitious form that is mechanical and never changing. I remember as a child how I was taught to pray at meals and at bedtime. The meal prayer was the same and the bedtime prayer was the same every day. The prayers became rote with no thought about what I was saying to God. As I remembered those prayer times, it occurred to me that if I conversed with other people that way, always saying the same thing, always telling the same stories, we wouldn’t get to know each other.

The other extreme has no form to it, but rather is just free-wheeling. This approach has no context to scripture and generally turns into a litany of asking God for all of our wants and cares. Conversing with other people that way doesn’t work either.

If our prayer time is to become deeper and more meaningful, it has to be linked very closely to the scriptures. Prayer is a constant theme throughout scripture and by reading and meditating on it, we can develop a deeper relationship with our Lord and Savior. Reading and meditating on scripture allows us to have a good balance between the form of our prayers and the freedom to converse with God about the things He wants us to know about Him.

Are you reading scripture each day? Do you reflect on what you have read all throughout the day? Do your prayers reflect what you have read? Are you getting to know God more and more? Maybe we should pray about that.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Romans 15:4-7 (NASB)
4 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
5 Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus,
6 so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

Paul’s prayer to the Romans is needed so much today. He encourages them in the first verses of Romans 15 to a life of self-denial rather than the worldly life of self-interest, just as Christ modeled that for us. Then in verses 4-7, he encourages them, through the power of the Scriptures, to be of the same mind, with one accord, with one voice.
The bride of Christ was meant to be a place of self-denial, a place where all are of the same mind, with one voice praising God.

Regretfully, we are not. I confess that I am critical at times of others that I am supposed to support and encourage. And even when it is not open criticism, I can cleverly disguise it as helpful suggestions. Those that consider themselves to be more mature in the faith can often discourage others by attempting to steer them onto their path. This feeling of discouragement can be especially true for those that have been called by God to lead in various ministries. As they prayerfully follow the leading of Christ, they can become discouraged by the helpful suggestions of those that are standing on the sidelines. But as the body of Christ, we are not to try to create others in our image, but love them as all of our images change into the person of Christ.

I pray that God would take away my critical spirit. I pray that I would love others and accept them, just as Christ accepted all of us to the glory of God.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Here is a quote from A.W. Tozer from his collection of essays called “The Price of Neglect”.

And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. –John 14:13-14

“In all our praying, however, it is important that we keep in mind that God will not alter His eternal purposes at the word of a man. We do not pray in order to persuade God to change His mind. Prayer is not an assault upon the reluctance of God, nor an effort to secure a suspension of His will for us or for those for whom we pray. Prayer is not intended to overcome God and “move His arm.” God will never be other than Himself, no matter how many people pray, nor how long nor how earnestly.

God’s love desires the best for all of us, and He desires to give us the best at any cost. He will open rivers in desert places, still turbulent waves, quiet the wind, bring water from the rock, send an angel to release an apostle from prison, feed an orphanage, open a land long closed to the gospel. All these things and a thousand others He has done and will do in answer to prayer, but only because it had been His will to do it from the beginning. No one persuades Him.

What the praying man does is to bring his will into line with the will of God so God can do what He has all along been willing to do. Thus prayer changes the man and enables God to change things in answer to man’s prayer.”

Let’s pray,

Heavenly Father,
Praises to You who are in heaven. Holy is Your name. We pray that your kingdom would come. That your will would be done, on earth as it is in heaven. May our will conform to Yours.
We pray this in Jesus name,

Amen

Always praying for the glory of God,

Revelation 12:9 (NASB)
9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

We celebrate the birth of the Son at Christmas, who came to take away the sins of the world. And we look forward to the day that Satan will be completely conquered, even though we know that the victory is now assured based upon the sacrifice of Jesus.

God has given us the ability to communicate, and as children of God he loves to hear our praises, thanksgiving and petitions. Until we see Him face to face though, we still live in a broken world, where we rely on the Holy Spirit to work in us and sanctify us each and every day.

While our salvation has nothing to do with anything we do, our sanctification is dependent on how we respond to the Spirit. Repentance is necessary for the sanctification of our souls. In earlier times, repentance was a key learning of the saints. I fear that repentance is often moved to a lessor importance in many churches today. It isn’t very joyful to think about our sins. And even less joyful to do something about them. Repentance, in many cases, has been reduced to “saying you’re sorry”. The great deceiver has reduced repentance to something that is now impotent. For when we only believe that it involves a few words, with no action behind it, it really has no impact on our lives.

Repentance, turning away from our sins, is a lot harder than just saying we are sorry. In fact, it is impossible without God’s help. And when we don’t actively work with the Spirit’s help to turn away from sins that He has revealed to us, our prayer life is also impotent.

Why would God answer our petitions, if we refuse to truly repent? I think we all know the answer is that He won’t.

Do you want your prayer life to be one where God amazes you with the answers he provides? I know I do. In order for that to happen, I’m going to have to actively, proactively, prayerfully, repent of those things the Spirit brings before me.

Always praying for the glory of God,

1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 (NASB)
11 Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you;
12 and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you;
13 so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

Paul studied the thoughts of his prayers. They were not impromptu. And he prayed often for the churches he wrote about, his epistles are full of prayers. His whole heart was in his prayers.

Robert Murray M’Cheyne was a 19th century Presbyterian pastor in Scotland. He was quoted as saying:  “Study your prayers. A great part of my time is occupied in getting my heart into tune for prayer.”

Here is one of his poems that can prepare us for prayer.

“When I stand before the throne,
Dressed in beauty not my own,
When I see Thee as Thou art,
Love Thee with unsinning heart,
Then, Lord, shall I full know –
Not tell then – how much I owe.”
Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Do you spend your time getting your heart in tune for prayer? It would seem that if we do, then our prayers become in tune with God, worshiping Him in Spirit and in Truth.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Revelation 2:17 (NASB)
17 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’

In John’s vision, Jesus describes 7 churches, each with their own challenges. Each church is different. However, each church is given a promise to those that overcome. These are amazing gifts from God that will be presented to those that persevere, those that cling to Jesus and follow Him. The seven churches have a unique characteristic and a special promise. These churches are an image of the church throughout history.

Ephesus, the steadfast church
Smyrna, the persecuted church
Pergamum, the morally compromising church
Thyatira, the doctrinally compromising church
Sardis, the counterfeit church
Philadelphia, the obedient church
Laodicea, the materialistic church

Revelation 2:17 is the promise given to those in Pergamum who overcome. They are promised the hidden manna, the bread of angels (Psalm 78). What an amazing God we worship, who loves us and will share the glories of heaven with us one day.

Pray for the church universal and especially Crossgate Church. Pray that we will overcome and remain steadfast. Come and pray with us this Tuesday night, as we lift up our church to the only One who can help us to overcome.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Philippians 1:8-11 (NASB)
8 For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,
10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;
11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Do you love others with the intensity that you love Christ?  That’s a pretty tall order and one that I fail to meet, and yet Paul clearly did in his letters to the churches. His love for others was expressed in his fervent prayers for them. To the church of Philippi, he prayed –

– That their love would abound in Christ,
– That they would strive to live in excellence for Christ,
– Praising God that Christ lived in him and that his very life was Christ.

Paul’s supplications for other Christians did not include relief from suffering, but that through all circumstances, their love for Christ would abound.

To Paul, his personal circumstances and those of other believers was not his primary concern, but rather their relationship with Christ.

What does Paul’s approach teach us about our prayer life and how we approach our prayers of supplication?

Join us this Tuesday at 7pm as we love others with the love of Christ through prayer.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Revelation 3:17 (NASB)
17Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,
Malachi 3:7 (NASB)
7 “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

I recently shared the ingredients to repentance from the book by the Puritan, Thomas Watson, entitled “The Doctrine of Repentance”.

In order to get to the steps of repentance, though, we have to get beyond our natural inclination to avoid repentance. Watson shares a number of impediments to repentance. Here are a couple that I can see in my life.

We do not really see the need for repentance. I mean, really what is the big deal. John is telling the church in Laodicea in Revelation that they are lukewarm in their faith, they need to address the sin in their lives. The church’s response is “We are rich, we have plenty and don’t need anything.”

Or we are stubborn, as the prophet Malachi warns. When we are confronted with our sin, we brush it off by saying – How do we return? When we really know that we need to repent and turn away.

The second impediment is that we trivialize repentance, thinking it is an easy thing to do. We say a few prayers, ask God to have mercy, never confronting the specific sins. If we are honest, we have a mountain of sin to deal with in our lives. Yes, we are forgiven and God loves us, but He wants so much more for us. It takes a steady climb each and every day to deal with that mountain.

Watson’s purpose in sharing these things is not to give us a mountain of guilt, but to give us an appreciation for the importance of repentance.

Our prayer life cannot consist of only the requests that we make to God, but it has to start with humbly repenting of the things the Holy Spirit has revealed to us that grieves the Father.

Join us this Tuesday night at 7pm as we lift our voices to God, praising Him for the forgiveness He is ready to give us. We only have to ask.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Matthew 3:1-2 (NASB)
1 Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

If we are not careful, we can make repentance something that it is not. The early Catholic Church elevated repentance to a sacrament. The idea was that repentance leads to salvation, that we have something to do with meriting our righteousness with God.

In fact, as we know from scripture, it is just the opposite. Repentance is a response to faith bestowed, which is the free gift of God.

The Puritan, Thomas Watson described gospel repentance in the book, “The Doctrine of Repentance”. He said repentance is a spiritual medicine made up of six special ingredients:

1. Sight of Sin – begins with the illumination by the Holy Spirit.
2. Sorrow for sin
3. Confession of sin
4. Shame for sin
5. Hatred for sin
6. Turning from sin

He believed that if we leave out any one of those steps, repentance loses its virtue.

Watson also said, “Christ’s blood only can merit pardon. We please God by repentance but we do not satisfy Him by it.”

As I read that list of steps, I thought about how I approached the repentance of sin in my life. Not sure I have fully made it through all of those steps without skipping over some of them.

Our tears of repentance do not wash away sin, only the blood sacrifice of Christ is able to do that. Repentance is the result of understanding the magnitude of our sin, which only comes through faith.

Father, as I repent of my many sins, help me to understand that the regret that I feel and the tears that may follow are only the result of your saving grace and not something that I can do alone. Help me to focus on the amazing sacrifice of Jesus, so that I may plead for the changes in my life that will make me more like Him.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Amen

James 1:2-4 (NASB)
2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:12 (NASB)
12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

1 Peter 3:13 (NASB)
13 Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?

We deal with many trials and temptations in our lives. The greatest temptation is often to be without temptation, for then we are most likely to fall into a lukewarm faith, content with our current state of sanctification, or even worse we take pride in our self-righteousness.

For most of us, when we face trials initiated by others, it isn’t physical but rather verbal. But who can really harm us with words? Isn’t it often rather our own pride, our passions, and the sin within that rises up and injures us? Do we try to defend our positions because of our Christian faith, or is it that our self-image is tarnished? If our faith is being tested, then we must persevere, knowing that God will bless us.

James give us a tough command when he says we are to consider it all joy when we face trials. Only when we pray that God will increase and we will decrease, can the trials purify rather than fester in our hearts. When self is rendered to nothing, there is nothing left to tempt.

We can only reach that joyful state through prayer. Join us this Tuesday at 7pm as we call out to the only One that can renew our hearts and bring us joy.

Always praying for the glory of God,