Ephesians–3:20-21–To Him Who Is Able To Do More!

Ephesians 3:20-21–"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen."

Sometimes, a lot of the times, we don't know what to pray for.  We know we need to pray, we might even have some sense of what we need to pray for–but still, we are at a loss for words when it comes time to pray.  It is at these times, when we are at a loss, that we can turn to Scripture.  Scripture is rife full of prayers, benedictions, and doxologies that can be very valuable not only as examples for prayer but, and perhaps more so, as prayers we can ourselves pray.  Let us not forget this basic truth as we seek to worship God through prayer!

Proverbs 15:8–Pleasing the Lord in Prayer

Proverbs 15:8–"The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases Him."

This is one among many passages of Scripture that speak about what God is looking for in His children.  The point here is not that some pray while others offer sacrifices.  The reason the Lord detests the sacrifice of some but the prayer of others has nothing to do with the content of the prayer or the subject of the sacrifices; it's all about the heart of the person.  The wicked will not please God no matter how heartily they pray or even how much they give to charities; God is interested in the heart.  Let us then strive to be a people of honest goodness, made righteous by the atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:8–Contemplate the Right Things

Philippians 4:8–"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

My personality is such that I am prone to obsessiveness.  This means that at all hours of the night I may be found lying awake in bed thinking intensely about life.  Admittedly, this is both a gift and a curse for sometimes it is beneficial to have the ability to earnestly consider life while at other times it would be nice to just go to sleep.

All this being said, though I do not in any way promote others to try to think like me, I would say that Paul is asking the Christian man and woman to take seriously the call to think.  But this is not merely a call to think like you would normally think, rather, this sort of thinking is one of focused intensity aimed at those things that are true, right, and beautiful.

In other words, Paul isn't asking us merely to think as we would already think about those common things that we already think about.  No, Paul is imploring us to think about God and the stuff of God: beauty, justice, excellence, holiness, honor, et al.

The point, ultimately, would be that we would take our faith as seriously as we take every other thing in our lives.  After all, how many of us have expired our intellects on our schedules, our families, our homes, our jobs, our relationships, etc.?  Humans seem prone to intense and arduous thought about any number of different things or people; Paul is asking that we would focus that ability at the right things: God.

My earnest prayer, then, is that we would make it an active part of our lives to think heavily about God and godliness.  In the end, wouldn't we do the same for anyone we claim to love–why should God be any different?

Psalm 19:14–A Prayer

Psalm 19:14–"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."

This is a simple but profoundly sincere prayer.  It is a request for devotion, as if the psalmist is actually asking that God would direct his heart and mouth towards a posture of praise and worship.  But the psalmist is requesting more than a mere "attitude adjustment."  Instead, the writer is asking for a complete internal transformation.  But this is more than a verse, it is a plea, an earnest prayer for faith. Let it become our own prayer too!

James 5:16b–The Power Of A Righteous Prayer

James 5:16b–"The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

Prayer is powerful.  It transforms lives and invokes the power of God.  Even more so, prayer is communication.  It is our line to God.  But as this line is available to all humans through Christ, it is also severed by unrighteousness and sin.  However, while the transaction of prayer is a real ordeal the necessity for the sincerity of our hearts and the value of our devotion is not unweighted in this.  What I mean to say, and what I think James is saying, is that, quite frankly, the righteous person, because of the process of attaining righteousness (devotion to Christ over time) the prayers of the righteous possess a depth and power otherwise inaccessible.

This is to say that righteousness is what strengthens our line of communication with God.  Let us strive for and pursue righteousness so that our prayer would not be merely noise but would be empowered by the Lord!

A Prayer Request

I want to be vulnerable for a second.  I need prayer.  The last two days have been a veritable deluge of spiritual attack for my youth group kids.  My heart is more than heavy; it is breaking.  Add to that the reality that I start a new class on Tuesday (after almost 8 months off), and my sister is getting married this upcoming Saturday.

In other words, I am overwhelmed.

Because of all of this, and some more, I am asking, imploring, for prayer today and this week.

I am grateful to all my brothers and sisters who would do this.

Thanks.

Psalm 19:14–A Simple Prayer

Psalm 19:14–"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."

There are certain passages of Scripture that can speak to a person directly where they are at precisely the right time.  This is one of those passages.  It is my earnest prayer to bring glory to God; to please Him in all His wondrous majesty with every beat of my heart and breath in my lungs.  I find so much stability and comfort from a passage like this that speaks right into my soul.

Not much more needs to be said except to praise God for this wonderful statement of adulation and devotion.

Amen!

A Few Thanks

Not a whole lot to say today other than thank You, Lord.

Thank You for air to fill my lungs with breath.  Thank You for food to fill my belly and fuel my body.  Thank You for health to live and to serve You.  Thank You for my amazing and gorgeous wife whose beauty and countenance astounds me daily.  Thank You for my beloved family whom I am blessed to love as well as like.  Thank You for my friends, who love me in spite of my innumerable faults.  Thank You for resources like car, books, glasses, and the like, so that I may worship and serve You with mobility anywhere.  Thank You, Lord, for my education.  Thank You for my body and may it be used only to bring You glory.  Thank You for my mind and may it be renewed everyday so as to discern Your will and think Your thoughts after You.

And thank You, Lord, for Your Son, whose precious blood was spilt upon that wretched but glorious cross for my sin and the sin of the whole world that all mankind may enter into a restored  relationship with You through faith in Christ Jesus.

Thank You.

Praying to the Father

Matthew 7:9-14
"Pray then like this:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

This sequence comes to us in the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7.  It is Jesus' direct teaching on prayer.  As we start another week, I have a simple request for devotional homework.  Every day this week, as we wake up in the morning, let us commit to praying this prayer as the start to our day.  In this way we will be, in the most literal sense, devoting ourselves to God as He has commanded.

Romans 12:12–Rejoice, Patient, Constant in Prayer

Romans 12:12: "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."

The central issue of this verse is the word tribulation.  It answers, in effect, the question of how to handle tribulation and suffering: rejoice, be patient, and be constant in prayer.  This is meant as more than mere comfort, it is more so a matter of attitude, an expectation not only that the tribulation will come to an end but also that the tribulation serves a distinct and divine purpose.

There is so much in this verse, however, it speaks sufficiently for itself.  Amen!  Let us then heed its words and take them to heart as we learn to abide by its truth!

No Substitute for Speaking Prayers

Prayer is powerful.  It is the way we communicate to and with God that has been prescribed to us in Holy Scripture.  Consider that: Jesus Himself prayed!  Jesus prayed constantly.  Prayer is how we bring our requests to God.

Again, it is quite simple.  In truth there is not much to it.  Pretty much all you need is a heart of faith, honesty, reverence, quiet, and time.  However, there is one more element that I submit is a necessity of prayer: speaking out loud.

For some who think that those 'silent' prayers are just as effective and powerful as the spoken ones, this may seem like an altogether controversial or provocative thought but, again, I submit that prayer is as much a vocal activity as it is a spiritual one.

After some analysis, there seem to be no instances of 'silent' prayer in the Scriptures.  It seems that prayer is always, it turns out, a spoken-spiritual activity.  Space may not permit for an exhaustive look at why this is so, suffice to say that God intends us to speak our prayers to Him.

Let us not forget this.  Prayer is an essential part of the Christian life.  Because of this that it is so important that we learn how to do it.  Remembering what it is goes a long way to understanding how we should it.  Jesus' words of instruction are also quite useful: Matthew 6:9-13.

Making Time in 2013

2013 is at hand.  A new day but another year too.  As this year turns, my earnest desire is to have a year full of blessing and of devotion.  This year, I am not making resolutions per se.  Instead, I am only making a concerted and intentional point to set some sure and definite goals; no surface flippancy or whim this year.

For this year, my resolute goal is to pray better and more.  I want 2013 to be a year of seeing God's hand move in and around my life.  I pray for wisdom, for grace, for knowledge, for provision, and for miracles.  So, in the spirit of this resolution, I ask that we all spend some time today and this week in earnest and intentional prayer for 2013.  God has big plans for 2013, let us pray that we can be big part of them!

Persisting in Prayer

Matthew 7:7-8: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."

These two verses come near the end of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7).  They are poetic, pithy, and memorable.  Yet, for all the lyrical elegance and fine poeticism, we should not miss the real and important point that Jesus is making.

Jesus is exhorting believers to persist in their pursuit of God, to persevere in the quest for the Lord.  There is a progression: ask, seek, and knock.  Essentially, Jesus is prescribing the persistence it takes to get to God.  This is in no way to say that God is distant or far off.  Rather, their is a refinement, a proof-in-pudding that occurs when we truly commit to pursue after God.

Think of Abraham: waiting decades for God to provide him with a son.  Yet when the son is born, God asks him to sacrifice his son, Isaac.  Abraham then climbs the mountain with his son, ties Isaac, places him on the altar, and then, as he is about to sacrifice Isaac, God relents Abraham's hand, providing the sacrifice himself.  In the end, God knew that He wouldn't actually have Abraham sacrifice Isaac, but He needed Abraham himself to recognize his utter commitment to God.

Similarly, God knows when we will come to Him, but He wants us to ask, seek, and knock so that we will acknowledge how utterly devoted we are to God.  This is the essence of Jesus' exhortation.  Let us then commit to ask, seek, and knock with perseverant pursuit, eagerly chasing after the Lord.

The Pacific Gospel Mission

Since 1877, the Pacific Gospel Mission has cared and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the men and women of Chicago.  The mission was founded and funded by George and Sarah Clark from the very beginning and would quickly become a mission of massive size.  As a result of the increase, the Clarks, who had been bearing the cost of the mission, were unable to fund it any longer.

Despite their best efforts to fundraise, the financial burden came to a head to such a degree that if the Clarks did not garner the money, the mission would have to close its doors.  The Clarks spent the whole night on their knees in the house praying that God would provide the money to save the mission.

In the morning, when the couple emerged from its Morgan Park home, they looked with awe at their yard.  Filling the yard were hundreds of the highest quality mushrooms.  This was made even more remarkable because not only had there never been mushrooms in their yard before but it wasn't even season for them.  The couple spent all morning picking the mushrooms, then brought and sold them to the chefs at the Palmer House, the famed hotel.  The Pacific Gospel Mission was able to keep its doors open, all because of the providential hand of God Almighty.

The essence and point of this story is fairly self-evident.  God is a God who provides for those who earnestly seek after Him.  This is one of the keys to the Christian life.  No matter our circumstance, if we are seeking to live in the center of God's will and we are worshiping Him in faith and humility, He does and will bless us for our faithfulness.  Let us then continually and persistently come to God with our requests, big and small, so that we may be blessed by the Lord!

Praying Persistently

Think of this all-too familiar scene:

A parent is pushing the grocery cart as fast as they can through the store, navigating it like a needle and thread, sewing through the aisles and getting just the essentials so as not to be there any longer than needed.  The reason for their frantic but focused speed is because they have a loud, obnoxious child at their heels, incessantly begging for a piece of candy.  

With every expert weave of the cart and stop to dump product into the basket, the child makes the same whimpered plea, "Mommy! Please, just one!"  On and on the battle rages, the mother determined not to give in to her child and the child knowing that if he plays this game long enough he'll wear her down and get the candy.  By the time the mother and child get to the register, the kid is eating the aforementioned candy and the mother is harried and hoarse from yelling under her breath.  Persistence pays off.

There are two passages of Scripture that speak directly to the necessity of persistance in prayer (Matt. 7:7-11; Luke 18:1-8).  In the first, taken from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches that believers ask, seek, and know so as to see, find, and gain admittance.  The primary purpose is the pursuit of God's presence but it is also a matter of perseverance in prayer.

God does not simply want us to come to Him like a vending machine: fifteen minutes of prayer for a trinket, an hour for a new car.  Instead, we are to ask Him, to seek after Him, and to knock on His door with the persistent tenacity of a loan shark.  There is a progression to the pursuit of God and we should be aware that God does not ever grow weary of our pleas for His grace and provision.  In fact He encourages that we ask in His name and remain like a branch to His vine (John 14:12-14, 15:1-17).

The other relavant passage in this regard is Luke 18:1-8, recounts the Parable of the Persistent Widow. In it, Jesus paints a picture of the value of persistent prayer and the need for consistency in pursuing God to provide for us.  God desires for us to come to Him for our provisions, for our desires, and for our cares.  But to do so in persistence.  Therefore, let us come to God like the child wanting candy in the grocery store, knowing that He does not grow weary of our badgering.  Praise be to God that He cares for us and wishes for us to come to Him for every need with a perseverance that is powerful!

As Simple as Prayer

Prayer is so fundamental and foundational for the Christian life.  Prayer is communication, it is deference and reverence, it is humility and praise, but most of all it is worshiping God who provides those who earnestly seek Him.  Prayer cannot be overemphasized for its value, and it is often relegated to the time between "Our Father" and "Amen".  This should not be the case, no not ever never; prayer is so much more!

Instead, prayer should be constant, the constant state of honoring God for who He is and what He has done while relying utter upon Him to provide for every one of our needs and desires.  In reality, the essence of prayer is aligning ourselves with the Holy Lord, not just aurally but in the deepest and most foundational parts of ourselves.

Prayer is like a conversation between a babbling infant and their parent.  The infant intuitively knows that the parent is in control while the parent merely wants to care for and help their child.  Prayer could also be described as a love letter from one partner to the other, or rather, like a letter from a sick child at camp to their loving parent back home.

Essentially prayer is about vulnerability before an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and holy God. It is this realization that dominates heartfelt and effective prayer.  When we remember who we are praying to, the what of the prayer becomes secondary and will reflect the prayer's receiver, i.e. God.  Therefore, prayer needs not be rehearsed or refined or liturgical; it only needs to be sincere and humble reverence to a Holy God.

Although much could be said about format and the like, it will suffice to say that the heart determines both prayer's validity and its efficacy.  Simply put, when we pray, two basic postures must be present: (1) the praise of God as the Holy Lord Almighty, and (2) faith that He will provide.  It should also be stated that thankfulness is a relevant aspect of prayer.  The point is that prayer should be more like breathing than talking on a phone, and less like conversing than blinking.  Let us then pursue a fervent and ever-greater life of prayer!

Setting the Morning Right

Every day that has ever been and that will ever be has begun and will begin with dawn, the morning.  It is true that morning may coincide with the dawning of the Sun, however, for the purposes of this dialogue, morning is the preparatory part of the day.  Morning sets the tone and color of the day.  If morning is rushed, all day will be spent catching up to it; if it is lethargic, all day will be slowed to a snail's pace; and if it is filled with strife or unease, the only hope for relief may be in fact tomorrow.  The point is that how we handle and use our mornings can have dramatic and significant effects on the whole of our day.

Morning marks a new day.  This straightforward assertion, though obvious, can be neglected for the simplicity of its truth.  Many people treat morning either as a time for preparing the flesh (shower, clothes, breakfast, makeup, etc.), and others as a transitionary period (a time of transitioning from sleep to responsibility like the time between getting out of bed and going to the office).  The truth is, because of the significance that morning can have over the whole of the day, a more intentional attitude towards morning begs development.

A simple question might be in order: what constitutes the ideal day?  Not simply arbitrary, the perfect day is dominated with an outpouring of love for God, meaning that the perfect day has us fulfilling the two greatest commandments with fervor, loving God and loving others (Matt. 22:37-39).  In essence this is the life manner of Christians, to live by the Spirit and thus fulfill His commandments (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:17, 24).  Therefore, because walking in the Spirit is to love God and loving others selflessly should be the posture and tone of our very beings, it makes great sense to consider imprinting these traits into our mornings.

As the scenarios of morning can be the dominating pall or overwhelming joy over a day, integrating these key components of Christian life into our mornings is thus essential to ensure our morning does not set the course of our day for mourning but for love.  There needs to be an intentionality to the morning, just as there is to be an intentionality to our lives.  For this, a brief discourse on method is in order, focused on the routine of morning.

Because worship and love is to be the trait that characterizes all of Christian life, we need to make our mornings times of worship and love, preparing us for days of praise.  Although not exhaustive, there are basically three elements needed to take this attitude among us: (1) prayer, (2) praise, and (3) preparation.

The necessity of prayer is clear, we need to pray for God's provision and for His care to keep us throughout our day.  Praise, a part of prayer, is a practice of worship.  In the context of the morning routine, praise means acknowledging who God is and what He has done with thankfulness, an obvious necessity to the Christian life.  Preparation is a two-part endeavor.

The first part is in study, we should make a habit and practice of Bibly study in the mornings as it will set our minds to meditate on the Word for the day.  The second step of preparation is the focus on loving others, meaning that we will consider potential opportunities to love others as well as setting an attitude to love others.

Developing a sound morning routine that is focused on worshiping throughout the day is one of the most important ways to grow as a believer.  Setting our days off right with prayer, praise, and preparation is a simple but necessary way to love the Lord with the intensity and seriousness that He desires of us.  Let us then practice good morning habits as to press into Him!

The Lord's Prayer

One of the major facets of Jesus' life was His consistent prayer life, chronicled throughout the Gospels, particularly in Luke.  Jesus made such a habit of prayer, both corporate and seclusive, that His disciples finally asked Him to teach them how to pray.  In Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4, Jesus answers His disciples and offers a divine perspective into proper prayer.

The first part of the Lord's prayer is the most important part.  Jesus is clear to indicate that the object and recipient of prayer is God, the holy and heavenly Father.  This should be the focus that undergirds all prayer.  If we are not consciously centering our prayer on the Lord, then prayer is failing its primary function, which is communication between us and Him.

Secondly, prayer is defined as requesting the Lord's provision as well as expecting Him to do so.  When we pray, it is a declaration of allegiance as well as a statement of reliance on the Lord.  We are aligning our needs and desires with His sovereignty.  Allying with God's will is prayer's intention.  When we pray, we are uniting with the Lord in reliance of His power to provide.

Thirdly, salvation is intimately tied to prayer.  It is by prayer that the grace of salvation is appropriated by faith.  The vocalization of prayer is thus key, otherwise there would be no reason to prayer in private (Matt. 6:5-6).  It is important to note that although prayer can be silent, for Jesus, prayer was defined as an audible endeavor.  Unfortunately, the 21st century Christian has tended to overemphasized the privacy of prayer as to downplay the need for praying audibly.

The Lord's Prayer is not to be considered the only possible prayer for believers should pray.  Instead, it is a basic prayer rubric of form and content. The points include, reverence for the holiness of the Lord, reliance and alignment with His sovereignty, and recognition of the Lord as the sole source of salvation, are key components of effective prayers.  Let us strive to learn from our Lord Jesus' teaching and to apply His stated prayer principles to our prayers.

People of Prayer

When it comes to growth in the Kingdom of God, nothing is more of a necessity than becoming a people of prayer.  Every major decision or meaningful in the New Testament is paired with prayer, both individual and communal.  Prayer is the very life-blood for the Church and for believers.  It is the requisite communal aspect of prayer that is so woefully neglected in churches.  Because of this, churches flounder and fail to be effective in their ministries.

This ought not be so.  For if we are to live lives by the example put forth by Jesus, then prayer should not simply be a check box on the list of church to-dos. Rather, prayer needs to be the focus of any and every church function and activity.  Prayer is so integral and necessary in our relationships with God that we should take the practice of prayer to be at the top of the priority list of church life.

Unfortunately, the church has neglected the life of Jesus as well as the examples set forth by the early Church.  If we look at Acts, every (not an understatement) decision was taken with prayer.  Replacing Judas: prayer; receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost: prayer; preaching in the synagogues: prayer; healings: prayer; fellowship: prayer; choosing the Seven: prayer, et al.

This is by no means an exhaustive survey of the significance of prayer to the early Church.  Clearly, prayer was important.  Moreover, this focus on community praying is not merely meant as historically descriptive of the first-century Church.  By no means!  This constant attitude and reliance on prayer is totally normative and wholly prescriptive for how Church should be done today.

Or remember Jesus, being in very nature God, prayed constantly (for a cursory understanding see Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28-29; 11:1, to name a few).  Needless to say but powerful to remember, prayer matters.  Praying is communication with God.  It is the practice of relationship with the Lord that we have been given through the work of Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Additionally, corporate prayer serves distinct and significant purposes, not the least of which being that it immediately connects the body of Christ.  When believers are joined in prayer, the Holy Spirit is present to guide, to teach, to encourage, to convict, to comfort, and to exhort.  We should strive then to become not only people of prayer but, and even more so, churches of prayer.

Prayer with Purpose

Throughout life there come moments and instances when we throw up our hands in defeat and cry for relief.  It is these moments, when we feel the overwhelming flood and weight of life, that we need to bow down to the Lord in prayer.  It is prayer that helps us make it through any and all of life's struggles.  Additionally, prayer helps us to encounter life with the vision and wisdom of the Holy Spirit.  However, an attitude of prayer, like every aspect of the Christian life, does not happen passively.


Throughout the Gospels, particularly in Luke, Jesus often leaves His disciples to be alone in prayer.  Why would Jesus, the very Son of God, need to pray or need to be alone to pray?  The truth is, two things are occurring when Jesus seeks solitude for prayer.  The first is teach.  Jesus is sure to teach His disciples and future believers that prayer is about solemn and secret communication, intimate relationship with the heavenly Father.


Secondly, and more importantly, when Jesus seeks the desolate places to pray alone, He is communing in perfect unity with the heavenly Father.  It is important to always note that Jesus is simultaneously fully-man and fully-God.  This being true, both of these natures are limited by the other.  For instance, Jesus was not able to exercise the infinite measure of His omnipotence or omniscience while housed in a single physical form.  Similarly, although sin is engrained into the very makeup of man, because He was God, He never sinned.


Being alone meant that Jesus could be unencumbered by His physical nature and so enter into the divine relationship that is between Himself, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.  In so doing, Jesus was exercising His divinity in supreme ways.  An example of this is the Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-9; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36).


At the Transfiguration, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up an unnamed mountain, presumably for the purpose of solitude and prayer.  When the group reaches their destination Jesus is transfigured from His earthly form into a semblance of His heavenly form and glorified state.  The three accompanying disciples are stunned and awed but are also bystanders.  James, John, and Peter are witnesses to Jesus in His glorified heavenly form, not active participants. 

Although this is the only instance that is recorded of Jesus inviting others to witness His solitary prayer time, it is not unreasonable to consider that this glimpse into Jesus' prayer time reveals the intimate and divine nature of prayer: it unleashes the divine into our lives.  Although we will not be transfigured in the same sense as Jesus, when we come to Him in devout prayer, He imparts and imputes His divine nature into us.  In this way, prayer is a definite and necessary part of sanctification as it is through prayer that God purifies us into a glorified state by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Let us then seek earnestly to come to God in prayer understanding that He uses prayer time to reveal to us who we truly are in Him!