Friends:
Tag Archives: prayer
My New Book “Bless-ed” Is Now Out! Almost. Blessing #17!
Friends:
My new book, Bless-ed! Fifty-Two Weekly Blessings You Have as a Believer and How to Help Your Lost Friends Find Theirs will soon be available on Amazon here. I have advanced copies if you are interested. I will send you a copy for $10 (which includes shipping). Here’s Blessing #17 in Bless-ed:
Bless-ed! 52 Weekly Blessings You Have As A Believer — and How to Help Your Lost Friends Find Theirs
BLESSING #17: The Blessing of a Prayer Life
Samuel Chadwick, one of the greatest preachers of English Methodism, once said, “The one concern of the devil is to keep God’s people from praying . . . He laughs at your toil and he mocks at your wisdom. But he trembles when you pray!”
My lost friend Mike drives me to my knees every day as I think about what he doesn’t have in not knowing Christ. And his lack helps me focus on my blessings so I can pray for him to come into God’s family.
We are commanded in Psalm 103 to “Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits . . .” (v. 2). I don’t think most Christians even know all the benefits they have in being saved. It’s hard to forget what we aren’t aware we have.
Let’s think about another benefit or blessing which followers of Jesus have –
17. WE HAVE A PRAYER LIFE!
I am not suggesting that my lost friends never pray. I’m sure many of them do. They pray when a loved one is seriously ill, when they’ve lost a job, when a child has wandered from the family at the beach and gotten lost, when the doctor comes in and says, “I’m sorry. But I have bad news.” And we Christians pray the same SOS prayers, don’t we?
THE BLESSING But I’m thinking about a prayer LIFE. What do I mean? I mean the believer should treat prayer as a critical weapon in his arsenal. He resorts to prayer when under attack by his supernatural foe the devil. He turns to the Lord in faith when all around him seems to shout “you’ve been abandoned by your God!” He cries out to the Father when he faces situations he hasn’t been able to deal with on his own.
THE BIBLE But those circumstances are emergency situations. How about daily interceding for our loved ones, praying for another believer’s spiritual growth, pleading with the Lord for a friend’s salvation? The prophet Samuel hit the nail on the head when he said to the people of Israel: “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you” (1 Sam. 12:23). Do we believers ever think of our failure to pray for others as a sin against the Lord?!
And we need to pray for ourselves. For we have many needs – that the Lord would reorder our priorities (Eph. 5:17); that He would give us His joy when life brings us down (John 15:11); that we would rely on His strength instead of our own (Ps. 20:7); that we would engage in precious times of contemplating the Lord and His attributes (His mercy, goodness, kindness, strength, love, etc.) (Ps. 1:2; 77:12; 119:148; 143:5; I Tim. 4:15). How we must grieve the heart of God when we treat Him only as a kind of celestial vending machine. He is our Father, our Lord, our best friend, our Savior.
Scripture teaches us that prayer — (1) Can keep us from falling into temptation (Matt. 26:41); (2) Can help us love our enemies (Matt. 6:5); (3) Can give us sweet and secret times with our Father (Matt. 6:6); (4) Can remind us of God’s knowledge of our circumstances (Matt. 6:9); (5) Can test our belief in God’s meeting our needs (Matt. 21:22); (6) Can clarify God’s will for us and for others (Rom. 1:10); (7) Can make us aware of the Spirit’s assistance in interceding for us (Rom. 8:26); (8) Can test our faithfulness (Rom. 12:12); (9) Can practically help other believers (2 Cor. 1:11); (10) Can motivate us to pray for the spiritual growth of others (Eph. 1:18); etc.
ACTION STEPS
1. Thank God for the gift of prayer, confessing your poor exercise of that discipline, if such is the case.
2. Is it not true that we often pray only mundane (meaning “earthly”) prayers, for such matters as health and jobs and conflicts? Each day this week read over one of the Apostle Paul’s prayers for a co-worker (such as Col. 1:9-14) and make a list of what Paul prays for, for others. Do the same for one of your friends each day this week.
3. Begin a prayer journal. This need not require a massive amount of time and energy, but make a few daily notes on what are the top items on your prayer list.
4. PRAYER Pray for your unsaved friend — and perhaps even let him know that you are praying for him. Agree to pray for whatever he requests, and keep some notes so you can update your prayers for him.
With Friends Like These . . . Job’s Friends and Religious Foolishness (XXV. Epilogue -Part 1 Ch. 42:7-9)
We now come to the conclusion of the Job saga. He has suffered greatly. But he has also engaged in lengthy debates with his friends about the problem of evil and suffering. He has also had an audience with the Almighty Himself. And has been put in his place by the Lord. But how does this story end?
We first notice that the Lord is not done speaking. He now addresses Eliphaz, the first friend who rebuked Job, the one who had claimed that he had had a vision from God (ch. 4).
God’s Anger: Unlike His addressing Job, God describes His stance toward Eliphaz as anger. “I am angry with you . . .” (v. 7). What a shock those words must have been! Eliphaz and his friends were certain they were speaking the truth on God’s behalf. And instead of commendation, he receives censure.
The Objects of God’s Anger: Notice that God singles out Eliphaz “and your two friends” (v. 7). God doesn’t name Bildad and Zophar by name. And He completely leaves out Elihu!
The Reason for God’s Anger: God tells Eliphaz specifically why He is angry. He says it is “because you have not spoken the truth about me” (v. 7). Not speaking the truth about God — is there a greater sin?
And as if being rebuked by God for not speaking the truth about Him isn’t enough, the Lord uses a comparative statement in his chastising of the Three: “you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has (v. 7)! What an incredible statement by the Lord! Has Job spoken only truth about the Lord? Of course not. He has accused the Lord of unfairness, of not dealing with the wicked, of making Job His target. But God’s estimation of Job is that he has spoken the truth about God and his circumstances, and the friends haven’t!
The Requirements of God’s Anger: God’s anger needs to be propitiated (satisfied). And the way to do that is to offer a sacrifice. So the Lord tells Eliphaz to take seven bulls and seven rams and go . . . “to my servant Job”! (v. 8). We were introduced to Job in 1:2 where we read, “2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants.” These seven bulls and seven rams are not being given to Job who, as far as we know, is bereft of any livestock. These fourteen animals are to be offered as a burnt offering. DETAILS ON A BURNT OFFERING? SAME AS HE OFFERED FOR HIS CHILDREN?
The Lord then declares, “My servant Job will pray for you . . .” (v. 8). This is the Lord’s second reference to Job as “my servant.” And the Three needed Job to pray for them! This is the one the Three described as under God’s judgment, as facing the same fate as the wicked, as guilty of numerous social sins, as obviously estranged from the Lord. The Three now require Job to intercede for them.
What will be the result of Job’s praying for them? God says, “and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly” (v. 8). So some prayers are accepted — and others — aren’t!
What a shock those words must have been! These three friends had spent nine chapters lecturing Job about his estrangement from the Lord. [This isn’t counting the six chapters of the bombastic badgering of Elihu]. How upsetting to hear from the Almighty that their advice had been “folly”!
We read in Proverbs 11:14 says “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” (KJV). There has been precious little safety in the multitude of counselors who have given Job their best therapy. In fact, it isn’t too strong to say that in that multitude of counselors there has been folly!
WORD STUDY ON “FOLLY!” God Himself defines what He means by “folly” when He declares: “You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” (v. 8). This is God’s second statement that Eliphaz and his two friends haven’t spoken the truth about me, “as my servant Job has.” Isn’t this one definition of BLASPHEMY — not speaking the truth about God and professing to do so when one is speaking?
The Response to God’s Anger: The Three do exactly what God told them to do. They are specified by their full titles: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. And we are told that they “did what the Lord told them” (v. 9). We are then informed that “the Lord accepted Job’s prayer” (v. 9). Some prayers are accepted and some aren’t. I wonder if Job was surprised that the Three asked him to pray for them. I wonder if Job forgave his friends before he prayed for them. [It’s hard to pray for someone you’ve not forgiven].
Bless-ed! 52 Blessings You Have As a Believer! (Blessing #17)
BLESSING #17: The Blessing of a Prayer Life
Samuel Chadwick, one of the greatest preachers of English Methodism, once said, “The one concern of the devil is to keep God’s people from praying . . . He laughs at your toil and he mocks at your wisdom. But he trembles when you pray!”
My lost friend Mike drives me to my knees every day as I think about what he doesn’t have in not knowing Christ. And his lack helps me focus on my blessings so I can pray for him to come into God’s family.
We are commanded in Psalm 103 to “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits . . .” (v. 2). I don’t think most Christians even know all the benefits they have in being saved. It’s hard to forget what we aren’t aware we have.
Let’s think about another benefit or blessing which followers of Jesus have —
17. WE HAVE A PRAYER LIFE!
I am not suggesting that my lost friends never pray. I’m sure many of them do. They pray when a loved one is seriously ill, when they’ve lost a job, when a child has wandered from the family at the beach and gotten lost, when the doctor comes in and says, “I’m sorry. But I have bad news.” And we Christians pray the same SOS prayers, don’t we?
THE BLESSING But I’m thinking about a prayer LIFE. What do I mean? I mean the believer should treat prayer as a critical weapon in his arsenal. He resorts to prayer when under attack by his supernatural foe the devil. He turns to the Lord in faith when all around him seems to shout “you’ve been abandoned by your God!” He cries out to the Father when he faces situations he hasn’t been able to deal with on his own.
THE BIBLE But those circumstances are emergency situations. How about daily interceding for our loved ones, praying for another believer’s spiritual growth, pleading with the Lord for a friend’s salvation? The prophet Samuel hit the nail on the head when he said to the people of Israel: “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.” (I Sam. 12:23). Do we believers ever think of our failure to pray for others as a sin against the Lord?!
And we need to pray for ourselves. For we have many needs. That the Lord would reorder our priorities (Eph. 5:17). That He would give us His joy when life brings us down (Jn. 15:11). That we would rely on His strength instead of our own (Ps. 20:7). That we would engage in precious times of contemplating the Lord and His attributes (His mercy, goodness, kindness, strength, love, etc.) (Ps. 1:2; 77:12; 119:148; 143:5; I Tim. 4:15).
How we must grieve the heart of God when we treat Him as a kind of celestial vending machine. He is our Father, our Lord, our best friend, our Savior.
Scripture teaches us that prayer — (1) Can keep us from falling into temptation (Mt. 26:41); (2) Can help us love our enemies (Mt. 6:5); (3) Can give us sweet and secret times with our Father (Mt. 6:6); (4) Can remind us of God’s knowledge of our circumstances (Mt. 6:9); (5) Can test our belief in God’s meeting our needs (Mt. 21:22); (6) Can clarify God’s will for us and for others (Rom. 1:10); (7) Can make us aware of the Spirit’s assistance in interceding for us (Rom. 8:26); (8) Can test our faithfulness (Rom. 12:12); (9) Can practically help other believers (2 Cor. 1:11); (10) Can motivate us to pray for the spiritual growth of others (Eph. 1:18); etc.
ACTION STEPS 1. First of all, thank God for the gift of prayer, confessing your poor exercise of that discipline, if such is the case.
2. Is it not true that we often pray only mundane (meaning “earthly”) prayers, for such matters as health and jobs and conflicts? Each day this week read over one of the Apostle Paul’s prayers for a co-worker (such as Col. 1:9-14) and make a list of what Paul prays for . . . for others. Do the same for one of your friends each day this week.
3. Begin a prayer journal. This need not be a massive amount of time and energy, but make a few daily notes on what are the top items on your prayer list.
PRAYER 4. Pray for your unsaved friend — and perhaps even let him know that you are praying for him. Agree to pray for whatever he requests, and keep some notes so you can update your praying for him.
Bless-ed! 52 Blessings Your Lost Friend Doesn’t Have . . . And What You Can Do About It! (Part 16)
We are commanded in Psalm 103 to “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits . . .” (v. 2). I don’t think most Christians even know all the benefits they have in being saved. It’s hard to forget what we aren’t aware we have.
My lost friend Mike drives me to my knees every day as I think about what he doesn’t have in not knowing Christ. And his lack helps me focus on my blessings so I can pray for him to come into God’s family.
Let’s think about another blessing which my lost friends don’t have —
16. THEY DON’T Have a Prayer LIFE!
I am not suggesting that my lost friends never pray. I’m sure many of them do. They pray when a loved one is seriously ill, when they’ve lost a job, when a child has wandered from the family at the beach and gotten lost, when the doctor comes in and says, “I’m sorry. But I have bad news.” And we Christians pray the same SOS prayers, don’t we?
But I’m thinking about a prayer LIFE. What do I mean? I mean the believer should treat prayer as a critical weapon in his arsenal. He resorts to prayer when under attack by his supernatural foe the devil. He turns to the Lord in faith when all around him seems to shout “you’ve been abandoned by your God!” He cries out to the Father when he faces situations he hasn’t been able to deal with on his own.
But those circumstances are emergency situations. How about daily interceding for our loved ones, praying for another believer’s spiritual growth, allowing the Lord to reorder our priorities by getting before Him in systematic prayer? How about engaging in those precious times of contemplating the Lord and His attributes (His mercy, goodness, kindness, strength, love, etc.)? God is no celestial vending machine. He is our Father, our Lord, our best friend, our Savior.
Samuel Chadwick, one of the greatest preachers of English Methodism, put it this way: “The one concern of the devil is to keep God’s people from praying . . . He laughs at your toil and he mocks at your wisdom. But he trembles when you pray!”
One of my blessings as a believer is the possibility that I will develop a life of prayer, not primarily to make the devil tremble, but to help me grow in so many areas of walking with Jesus. Scripture teaches us that prayer — (1) Can keep us from falling into temptation (Mt. 26:41); (2) Can help us love our enemies (Mt. 6:5); (3) Can give us sweet and secret times with our Father (Mt. 6:6); (4) Can remind us of God’s knowledge of our circumstances (Mt. 6:9); (5) Can test our belief in God’s meeting our needs (Mt. 21:22); (6) Can clarify God’s will for us and for others (Rom. 1:10); (7) Can make us aware of the Spirit’s assistance in interceding for us (Rom. 8:26); (8) Can test our faithfulness (Rom. 12:12); (9) Can practically help other believers (2 Cor. 1:11); (10) Can motivate us to pray for the spiritual growth of others (Eph. 1:18); etc.
So, how do I pray for my unsaved friend? I may on occasion tell him I’m praying for him, not just for his salvation, but for his family, for his crises, for his coming to know Christ. Then I am to regularly and strategically intercede for his salvation. (to be continued)
How to Pray for Other Believers — Part 6
Prayer — Such a mysterious habit for the believer in Jesus. Maybe you don’t struggle with the discipline of prayer, but I do. I often treat prayer as a last resort, when I’ve run out of humanly-produced options, when I’m helpless and can’t solve my own problems. It’s like I have God on speed dial and His only number is 9-1-1. What a poor view of prayer!
And how often — when I do pray — are my prayers for me and mine? What about others? I’m slowly learning that God expects and invites me to intercede for others, to put their needs ahead of my own, to bring them before the throne of God and to earnestly pray for them.
I’ve recently been challenged by Colossians 1 and Paul’s prayer for those believers. Here’s what we read:
How to Pray for Other Believers (Col. 1:9-14)
We’ve noticed two parts of my outline of this challenging text:
I. The Commitment to Pray for Others (v. 9)
We’ve seen that Paul’s praying for these Colossians is not described as something he started to do, but as something he would not stop doing. And we asked, for whom are you continually praying?
We’ve also seen —
II. The Primary Purpose in Praying for Others (vv. 9-10)
Paul writes: “We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives . . .”
Our prayers are to be for the critical issue of others knowing God’s will and growing in the wisdom and understanding the Spirit gives.
Let’s continue our study and notice —
III. The Specifics of What We Should Pray for Others (vv. 10-14).
How easy it is for us to pray for each other’s health, job, family, choice of college, etc. So what makes Paul’s list as he intercedes for these believers? He prays —
A. That They Would Live a Life Worthy of the Lord (v. 10)
B. To please Him in every way (v. 10).
C. Bearing fruit in every good work (v. 10).
Let’s notice a fourth request Paul makes for these believers —
D. Growing in the knowledge of God (v. 10)
When we get saved, we come to know God. But we must grow in that knowledge! And that, my friends, is a life-long quest for we will never reach a full understanding of God Himself.
J.I. Packer’s Knowing God is a must read for every believer who wants to grow in his or her knowledge of God. Packer writes, “How can we turn our knowledge about God into knowledge of God? The rule for doing this is simple but demanding. It is that we turn each Truth that we learn about God into matter for meditation before God, leading to prayer and praise to God.”
What truth have you learned about God recently? Is it leading you to prayer and praise to Him?
How to Pray for Other Believers — Part 5
Prayer — Such a mysterious habit for the believer in Jesus. Maybe you don’t struggle with the discipline of prayer, but I do. I often treat prayer as a last resort, when I’ve run out of humanly-produced options, when I’m helpless and can’t solve my own problems. It’s like I have God on speed dial and His only number is 9-1-1. What a poor view of prayer!
And how often — when I do pray — are my prayers for me and mine? What about others? I’m slowly learning that God expects and invites me to intercede for others, to put their needs ahead of my own, to bring them before the throne of God and to earnestly pray for them.
I’ve recently been challenged by Colossians 1 and Paul’s prayer for those believers. Here’s what we read:
How to Pray for Other Believers (Col. 1:9-14)
We’ve noticed two parts of my outline of this challenging text:
I. The Commitment to Pray for Others (v. 9)
We’ve seen that Paul’s praying for these Colossians is not described as something he started to do, but as something he would not stop doing. And we asked, for whom are you continually praying?
We’ve also seen —
II. The Primary Purpose in Praying for Others (vv. 9-10)
Paul writes: “We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives . . .”
Our prayers are to be for the critical issue of others knowing God’s will and growing in the wisdom and understanding the Spirit gives.
Let’s continue our study and notice —
III. The Specifics of What We Should Pray for Others (vv. 10-14).
How easy it is for us to pray for each other’s health, job, family, choice of college, etc. So what makes Paul’s list as he intercedes for these believers? He prays —
A. That They Would Live a Life Worthy of the Lord (v. 10)
B. To please Him in every way (v. 10).
Let’s notice a third request Paul makes for these believers —
C. Bearing fruit in every good work (v. 10).
We are to be fruit-bearers! We are not simply decorative trees that take up space! We are to bear fruit. We are not to live for ourselves but are to look for opportunities to be fruitful in the works that we do. Our faith is not solely verbal. We are commissioned to do good works (Eph. 2:8-10).
What good work can you choose to do today that will bear fruit?
How to Pray for Other Believers — Part 4
Prayer — Such a mysterious habit for the believer in Jesus. Maybe you don’t struggle with the discipline of prayer, but I do. I often treat prayer as a last resort, when I’ve run out of humanly-produced options, when I’m helpless and can’t solve my own problems. It’s like I have God on speed dial and His only number is 9-1-1. What a poor view of prayer!
And how often — when I do pray — are my prayers for me and mine? What about others? I’m slowly learning that God expects and invites me to intercede for others, to put their needs ahead of my own, to bring them before the throne of God and to earnestly pray for them.
I’ve recently been challenged by Colossians 1 and Paul’s prayer for those believers. Here’s what we read:
Dr. Larry Dixon
larrydixon.wordpress.com 