Could You Not Pray?

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?  Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”  Mark 14:37-38

Have you ever imagined that Peter and the other disciples were just awful people to be asleep when Jesus most needed them to be in prayer with Him and for Him?  Have you thought that if you had been there, never ever would you have fallen asleep?  Have you ever wondered how one could fall asleep on the hard ground ... outside in the cold ...  almost immediately after having eaten the Passover meal with Jesus? 

Have you ever fallen asleep while on your knees in prayer? Have you awakened, felt a call to pray, started to do so, and then it was time to get up, hours later? Did you pray?  For how long?  Could you even remember?  Have you wanted to pray but couldn't get your mind focused? Have you been in prayer and stopped to answer the phone ... read a text ... check your e-mail ... respond to someone else ... or some other distraction?  Did you ask God to wait for a few minutes, or did you just abruptly leave Him?

I can only thank God for His grace, and mercy, and loving kindness.  Even when I don't do what I want to do, when my flesh overrules my spirit, when my best desire fails, Jesus graciously acknowledges "the spirit is willing, but the body is weak."  He gently encourages me to "watch and pray."  I can only say, Yes Lord, I will watch and pray. Starting right now, I will watch and pray more diligently, more faithfully, more consistently, more often.

 

How To Receive God's Best Blessings, part 5

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:13-14

God promises to heal our land.  In a recent discussion, one of the sisters commented on how evil and dirty and low down people have become, she expressed grave concern over the senseless murders that are so rampant.  She lamented the great loss of life and how there seems to be so little regard for life.  I felt a sense of despair, thinking how bad it is and how never have the times been so bad.  Headings and sub-headings in both local and national newspapers that day included: "15 year old student shot and killed" ... "mayor sickened by T-shirt logos" ... "health department investigating reports of unlicensed abortions" ... university student shot and killed himself ... "balcony-climbing rapist gets life sentence" ...  "patrolling officers make drug bust" ... "police seek man in fraud scheme" ... "pediatrics group backs same-sex marriage" ... "S. Korea: cyberattack came from China" ... and more.

Before lapsing into a heightened state of despair, I remembered words Solomon penned some 900 years before Jesus was born.  "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time." (See Ecclesiastes 1:9-10) Uhmmm, man's inhumanity to man is nothing new.  Sin is not new.  Violation of God's commands is not new.  Uhmmm, neither are God's promises new.  They are just as real and meaningful today as they've ever been.  God will heal our land IF we do our parts. What can I do, you may be thinking? Do your part, obey God's commands.  Hear and receive the final word from Solomon's pen found in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.  "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil."

How to Receive God's Best Blessings, part 4

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:13-14

Do I have a wicked ... evil ... wrong ... bad ... no good ... impure way(s)? I have many.  What about you? If getting my prayers answered is dependent upon my meeting the condition of turning from my wicked way(s), then why have I not turned away from them ... some of them ... more of them ... all of them?  One biblical definition of turn away is to repent, and vice-versa.  To repent means to turn away. So why have you not turned away from your wicked way(s)?  Is it hard to do so?  Does it hurt to do so?  Do I want to do so? Do you?

As I write this, I'm reminded of a season of my life during which I smoked.  I actually quite enjoyed smoking.  For a long time, I saw nothing wrong with doing so.  I reasoned that since I was, at some point, going to die, I might as well die while doing something I enjoyed.  Never mind the fact that smoking would bring on death more quickly, a fact I ignored.  Take Romans 12:1, the biblical call to present your body as a living sacrifice.  I ignored the passage as much as possible.  I reasoned again that it wasn't applicable to my smoking habit.  On other occasions, I reasoned as Solomon wrote that we should eat, drink, and be merry, and that we should enjoy life.  Smoking was one way that I enjoyed life. So it must be okay.  I must be okay.  Surely, this little habit was not a bad sin.  I went to church, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.  This was not really a wicked way that I was called to turn from.  There were a whole lot more wicked ways that I did not practice at all.  Was I okay? No.  Are you okay? Probably not.

Do I really want God to heal my land?  Do you really want God to heal your land?  Why am I not obedient to God's commands totally and completely?  Why is it so hard to do the right things?  Even when I want to do good, it seems that I can't.  Sometimes I start to turn from my wicked ways, and then turn back.  Probably, I am more the wretched one than I choose to believe.  (See Romans 7:21-24) Even when I want to do good, evil is right there.  Is the command/condition to turn from our wicked ways an impossibility for us?  How important is the promise from God to heal my land? How important is that promise to you? Choose to meet the conditions.  When? Today!!!

How to Receive God's Best Blessings, part 3

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:13-14

Seeking the face of God is the third of the four conditions God gives in this passage as one prerequisite to His best blessings.  Consider that seeking means to search out, to dig as for gold, hunt, go after with full enthusiasm and gusto, learn about, inquire of, look for, investigate, desire, require.  God reminds us that He may be found when we search for Him with our entire being – spirit, soul, and body. 

Sometimes, we may expect God to answer in certain ways, to be in certain places, to be found by praying a certain way or in a certain position, to respond as He has previously done only to not find Him.  So now, what are we to do?  Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on inquiring, keep on knocking, keep on searching.  Elijah, when at a time that he was running to save his life, was told by the Lord that He was about to pass by.  When the Lord wasn't in the great and powerful wind, Elijah kept standing.  When the Lord wasn't in the earthquake, Elijah kept standing.  Even when the Lord wasn't in the fire, as might be expected, Elijah kept standing.  When the Lord saw that Elijah would not be moved, the Lord appeared as a gentle whisper.  (See 1 Kings 19:11-13.)

On occasions, we might be like Elijah.  We're in trouble and need a word from the Lord. Our wait seems too long.  Our ears hear nothing.  Our eyes see nothing.  We're on the edge of the cliff about to fall off at any second.  What are we to do?  Seek His Face!!!

How to Receive God's Best Blessings, part 2

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:13-14

In this passage, God gives first four conditions to receiving His amazing three fold blessing.  Condition number two is pray.  Pray!  Prayer -- consider the who, what, why, when, where, and how of prayer.  We sometimes need to stop and consider one or more of these questions.  It is so easy to get stuck in a rut, to pray at the same time, in the same manner, using the same words.  Would we want God to respond to us with this same degree of sameness? Probably not. 

I'm learning to be in continual prayer.  Paul reminded the Thessalonian church to pray without ceasing, to be in continual prayer (see 1 Thessalonians 5:17). Much speaking is not required.  When the work of restoring the walls of Jerusalem was threatened and the people were fearful, Nehemiah simply said "O God, strengthen my hands" (see Nehemiah 6:9).  I'm learning that brevity works too, i.e., -- thank you ... help ... yes, Lord ... show me ... lead me ... send me ... I'll go ... use me ... forgive them ... forgive me ... I'm sorry ... amen ... Jesus ... etc.  I'm learning the power of agreement with another or others, as well as agreement with the Word because it is His Word that does not return void or empty (see Isaiah 55:11). I'm learning the boomerang effect in praying for others, that what I offer up or declare on behalf of another returns to me (see Galatians 6:7). I'm learning the necessity of praying the Word, of putting God in remembrance of what His Word says.

Prayer is amazing. What are you learning in prayer?  Through prayer?  By prayer?

 

How To Receive God's Best Blessings, part 1

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:13-14

I think of this passage as a seven-fold prayer. In actuality, it is God responding to King Solomon's prayer to Him upon the dedication of the magnificent temple the king had built in Jerusalem. What we find in this message from God are three amazing promises dependent upon our meeting four conditions.  If you're like me, I go quickly to the promises of God and may skip or skim lightly over the conditions and requirements. And that's not good.  In this passage, God is instructive by spelling out the conditions first, then making the promises. 

Let's examine this message over the next several blogs. No matter what you may be going through in your life, no matter how difficult a situation may be, no matter how tough the time, how hard the struggle, how challenging the relationship, no matter how long it's been going on, if you are called by His name, Christian, then pay attention to these conditions or prerequisites. 

Condition number one, humble yourself.  And what does that mean you may be thinking?  Humble comes from a Hebrew word meaning to be subdued, brought down low, brought into subjection, not proud or pretentious.  Romans 12:3 reminds us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. If a biblical example would help your understanding, then consider Moses, referred to by God as the most humble... meek...gentle ... kind man on earth (see Numbers 12:3).

Humble yourself.  Can you?  Will you? Remember, if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.  Make the change.  Do it.  Humble yourself.

 

The Greatest Story, part 8

Empathy is "the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another."  Quite simply, empathy is like putting yourself in another's place or position.  Let's empathize with Job's wife. Though not impossible, this may be easier for women than men.  We all know to some degree Job's story.  Out of the lengthy telling of his story, Job's wife is mentioned only once (see below).  Our experience with her comes through a question and then an exclamatory statement, and this followed by Job's exclamatory statement and then a question.

 

‎His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!” ¹⁰ He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” Job 2:9-10

Not only did Job the father lose seven sons and three daughters and their families, so did this mother. Job wasn't the biggest loser by himself, so was his wife.  Who tended Job's physical needs?  Most likely, Mrs. Job did.   On one day she lived as the wife of one of the most prosperous and successful men in the known world.  In a brief span of time, not only did Job lose everything, so did Mrs. Job.  Job had friends who spent time with him.  Did she have friends who spent time with her?  This test of Job's faith was a test of her faith as well.

When the year of Job's trial was over, he was doubly blessed.  Praise God, so too was Mrs. Job.  Who gave birth to the seven sons and three daughters?  Job lived twice as long as he had already lived, what about Mrs. Job?  As the husband and wife are one, what happens with one part of the partnership affects the other part.  As we pray for, encourage and support one mate, let us not be unmindful of the other mate.  While one receives care, the other gives the care.  Both have needs.  When all is well for one, all is well for both.  When we empathize with another, we may see more clearly and understand much better a situation.