2021-08-28
Psalm 34:6 NKJV
J.C. Penney has died and gone to heaven, but hundreds of department stores across America still carry his name. When he started out in life he was interested in one thing only: making money. Working as a clerk for six dollars a week, his consuming ambition was to be worth a hundred thousand dollars. When he reached that goal he felt temporary satisfaction, but soon set his sights on being worth a million dollars. Then tragedy struck his life. His wife caught cold that developed into pneumonia, of which she subsequently died.
He recalled, “When she died my world crashed about me. To build businesses, to make a success in the eyes of men, to accumulate money – what was the purpose of it all? I felt mocked by life, even by God himself.” Before long he was ruined financially and in deep depression. It was at that point he turned to God and experienced a miraculous conversion. He said: “When I was brought to humility and the knowledge of my dependence on God…it was like a light illuminating my being. I cannot otherwise describe it, than to say it changed me as a man.”
Have things fallen apart in your life today? Are you down, wondering if you’ll ever be able to get back up? Turn to God; He’s only a prayer away. And David the psalmist prayed that prayer: “This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” And what God did for David, He will do for you today.
Soul food: Eze 5-9; Luke 18:18-30; Ps 119:169-176; Prov 19:9-10
Psalm 34:7 NLV
J.C. Penney het reeds gesterf en hemel toe gegaan, maar honderde kettingwinkels dwarsoor Amerika dra nog steeds sy naam. Toe hy begin werk het, was hy net in een ding geïnteresseerd: om geld te maak. Terwyl hy as klerk vir ses dollars ‘n week gewerk het, was sy brandende begeerte om meer as ‘n honderdduisend dollar werd te wees. Toe hy daardie doelwit bereik het, het hy vir ‘n rukkie tevrede gevoel, maar gou sy mikpunt na om ‘n miljoen dollar werd te wees, verander. Toe het tragedie sy lewe getref. Sy vrou het siek geword en van longontsteking gesterf.
Hy het daardie tyd as volg onthou: ‘Toe sy sterf, het my wêreld om my ineengestort. Om besighede te bou, om ‘n sukses in mense se oë te wees, om geld bymekaar te maak – wat was die punt van dit alles? Dit het vir my gevoel of die lewe, en selfs God, met my spot.’
Kort voor lank was hy finansieel verwoes en in ‘n diep depressie. Dit was op daardie punt wat hy na God toe gedraai het en ‘n wonderbaarlike omkering ervaar het. Hy het gesê: ‘Toe ek tot nederigheid en die besef van my afhanklikheid van God gebring is, was dit soos ‘n lig wat my wese verlig het. Ek kan dit nie anders beskryf nie, behalwe om te sê dat dit my as mens verander het.’
Het dinge vandag in jou lewe ineengestort? Wonder jy of jy ooit weer sal kan opstaan? Draai na God toe; Hy is net ‘n gebed weg. Dawid het gebid: ‘Hierdie geringe mens het geroep, en die Here het gehoor. Hy het hom uit al sy benoudheid gered.’ Wat God vir Dawid gedoen het, sal Hy vir jou vandag doen.
Sielskos: Eseg 5-9; Luk 18:18-30; Ps 119:169-176; Spr 19:9-10
2021-08-27
1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV
Two things about prayer are truly amazing: 1) God listens when we pray. ‘You can pray for anything, and if you believe that you have received it, it will be yours’ (Mark 11:24 NLT). He hears every prayer, and when we pray in alignment with His will, He’ll move to meet our requests.
2) We don’t pray enough. We have the greatest privilege imaginable – access to the control centre of the Universe – but we rarely use it. And our lack of prayer surprises God. Through the prophet Ezekiel He lamented: ‘I sought for a man among them who would…stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one’ (Ezekiel 22:30 NKJV).
When Abraham learned that Sodom and Gomorrah were going to be destroyed, he didn’t rush to warn the cities. Instead he chose to’ … [remain] standing before the Lord’ (Genesis 18:22 NIV). When God said Israel deserved a nationwide death penalty for the golden calf, Moses interceded and saved them. One paraphrase of Exodus 32:11 says, ‘Moses tried to calm his GOD down’ (MSG). An obscure priest called Phinehas begged God not to send the plague, and it was checked (see Psalm 106:30).
Prayer is so important and valuable because when we work, we work, but when we pray, God works. Scripture attaches breathtaking power to prayer. The Message paraphrases Matthew 18:19 like this: ‘When two of you get together on anything…and make a prayer of it, My Father in heaven goes into action’ (MSG). Does any other activity promise such results? Did God call us to preach without ceasing? Or have meetings without ceasing? No, but He did call us to ‘pray without ceasing’.
Eze 1-4; Luke 18:1-17; Ps 119:161-168; Prov 19:3-8
Ephesians 6:18 NIV
To help you remember these four fundamental elements, think of the acrostic P-R-A-Y.
(1) P – praise the Lord. Before you petition God, spend time praising Him. There’s a specific protocol involved when approaching a president or prime minister, and it’s the same when you approach God. The Psalmist said, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him” (Psalm 100:4 NIV).
(2) R – repent of your sins. Just like the heat from a furnace forces the impurities in metal to surface so that the refiner can remove them, prayer brings to light attitudes that must be changed, habits that need to be broken, and barriers to spiritual progress that must be removed. And what if you forget some of your sins? Paul tells us, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness…he who searches our hearts…intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27 NIV).
(3) A – ask for yourself and for others. Your prayers invite God into the situation, and your faith activates His power to change it. There’s no distance in prayer, and no language barrier it can’t overcome. Like throwing a switch and getting power, light and heat, things start to change when you pray. Jesus said, “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven…whatever doors you open on earth shall be open in heaven!” (Matthew 16:19 TLB).
(4) Y – yield to God’s will. If you don’t know what God’s will is, prayer is the starting point. And if you already know and you’re not doing it, prayer will convict, correct, and channel you in the right direction.
Soul food: Eze 1-4; Luke 18:1-17; Ps 119:161-168; Prov 19:3-8
Efesiërs 6:18 NLV
Dink aan die letters van die woord P-R-A-Y om die vier fundamentele elemente van gebed te onthou.
1) P – praise the Lord. Voor jy versoeke aan God rig, bestee eers tyd om Hom te prys. Daar is ‘n spesifieke protokol wat gevolg moet word wanneer jy ‘n president of eerste minister benader; en dis dieselfde wanneer jy God benader. Die Psalmdigter het gesê: ‘Gaan sy poorte in met dankliedere, sy hofsaal met lofgesange. Dank Hom en Prys sy Naam’ (Psalm 100:4 NLV).
2) R – repent of your sins. Net soos die hitte van ‘n smeltkroes die onsuiwerhede in metale na die oppervlak bring sodat die metaalsmid dit kan verwyder, so bring gebed die houdings wat moet verander en die gewoontes wat verbreek moet word, na vore. Wat as ons egter sommige van ons sonde vergeet? Paulus sê vir ons: ‘Die Gees van God help ons ook nog boonop in ons onbeholpenheid… Dié God, wat die dieptes van elke hart deurgrond, weet wat die Gees in die oog het – dat Hy in harmonie met God se wil vir die gelowiges intree’ (Romeine 8:26-27 NLV).
3) A – ask for yourself and for others. Jou gebed nooi God in die situasie in en jou geloof aktiveer sy mag om dit te verander. Net soos ‘n skakelaar krag, lig en hitte kan laat voortbring, begin dinge verander wanneer jy bid. Jesus het gesê: ‘Ek vertrou die sleutels van God se koninkryk aan jou… wat jy ook al oopsluit, sal ook by God oopgesluit bly’ (Matteus 16:19 NLV).
4) Y – yield to God’s will. As jy nie weet wat God se wil is nie, is gebed die beginpunt. As jy reeds weet wat God se wil is en jy doen dit nie, sal gebed jou in die regte rigting stuur en korrigeer.
Sielskos: Eseg 1-4; Luk 18:1-17; Ps 119:161-168; Spr 19:3-8
