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
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
2021-07-07
Psalm 119:11 NIV
Senator Bill Nelson trained for and flew on a six-day space shuttle mission on board the Columbia. In his book Mission, he explained how difficult it is to maintain a proper orbit in space. There’s no resistance in space, so an astronaut can literally turn over the huge shuttle on their own. To maintain the correct orbit, the onboard computers constantly make course and altitude corrections by firing small rockets which make tiny adjustments, while larger jets burn fuel to make major adjustments. These rockets are critical – if they don’t consistently fire at the right time, the shuttle can drift from its orbit and go tumbling into outer space or crashing into Earth’s atmosphere.
There’s an important lesson here for us. Left to ourselves, we tend to drift out of our spiritual orbit into lukewarmness and indifference. Or worse, we end up in sin and rebellion. That’s when the rockets of prayer and Bible study, ‘fired’ on a continuous and consistent basis, help us to keep our course correct, and prevent our lives from spinning out of spiritual control.
Bible study and prayer go together. We should pray before we read the Bible, asking God to help us understand what we’re about to read. And we should also pray after we read it, asking God to help us apply what He’s told us through His Word. ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness’ (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV). Getting into a habit of a daily prayer and Bible study time is so important – it’ll help us stay close to God and quickly become aware if we’re drifting off His path so we can make whatever adjustments are necessary to get back to Him.
Jer 49-50; Luke 5:27-39; Ps 122; Prov 15:10-14
2021-06-15
Matthew 6:7 NAS
Knowing our tendency to complicate things, Jesus said, “When you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition…for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (vv. 7-8). By using the words “meaningless repetition,” He’s teaching us that prayer doesn’t have to be long, loud, or labored. And because He said “your Father knows what you need before you ask Him,” He’s inviting you to find a scriptural promise that corresponds to your need and stand on it.
Charles Swindoll, who uses his driving time to pray, writes this: “Often I speak to God out loud. Sometimes I sing to Him. Occasionally the entire prayer will be in my mind. Each time I commit myself to prayer, I notice that God becomes my focus rather than some personal struggle. I’m relieved of worry. I’m able to release anything concerning me so that I can become altogether lost in the majesty of His presence and the joy of ministry. When I arrive, I’m excited to do as God pleases. I find myself refreshed, relieved, and ready. My mind is focused. My heart is prepared. My emotions are clear, and whatever was troubling me when I began that drive no longer concerns me. Prayer has made that possible. Now I wish I could say I use every commute every day for time in prayer. But like many people, I often forget. My mind will be spinning from one problem to the next and rather than pray, I churn. At times I’ll be so anxious it doesn’t occur to me that I should quit worrying and commence praying.”
Prayer: make it simple, and frequent.
Soul food: 2 Ki 21-23; Luke 1:1-10; Ps 73:1-16; Prov 13:17-19
2021-05-25
Matthew 6:7 NASB
When it comes to prayer, Jesus knew that we tend to complicate things, so He gave us this advice: ‘When you are praying, do not use thoughtless repetition…for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him’ (vv. 7-8). By using the words ‘thoughtless repetition’, He’s teaching us that prayer doesn’t have to be long, loud, or laboured. And because He said ‘your Father knows what you need before you ask Him,’ He’s inviting you to find a scriptural promise that corresponds to your need.
Author Charles Swindoll, who uses his driving time to pray, wrote this: ‘Often I speak to God out loud. Sometimes I sing to Him. Occasionally the entire prayer will be in my mind. Each time I commit myself to prayer, I notice that God becomes my focus rather than some personal struggle. I’m relieved of worry. I’m able to release anything concerning me so that I can become altogether lost in the majesty of His presence and the joy of ministry. When I arrive, I’m excited to do as God pleases. I find myself refreshed, relieved, and ready. My mind is focused. My heart is prepared. My emotions are clear, and whatever was troubling me when I began that drive no longer concerns me. Prayer has made that possible. Now I wish I could say I use every commute every day for time in prayer. But like many people, I often forget. My mind will be spinning from one problem to the next and rather than pray, I churn. At times I’ll be so anxious it doesn’t occur to me that I should quit worrying and commence praying.’
When we’re praying, let’s keep it simple and frequent.
1 Ki 10-11; Mark 11:12-26; Ps 45; Prov 12:7-9
