Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....May 7, 2018
How a Christian Prays.
Since yesterday was National Prayer Day, I thought it would be good to teach this week on that very subject. I do not consider myself a gifted prayer warrior. I am not good in a crowd but in seeking guidance from the Lord, He has told me it is not the amount of words, or even the fluidity of the words. It is the heart of the words you pray that is important. So I am encouraging all of you to take some time, each day, all day, and pray to Him for people.
I am using Colossians 4:2-6 as our guide for this teaching. Hope it helps you.
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
A young man named Johnny had been misbehaving and was sent to his room. After a while he emerged and informed his mother that he had thought it over and then said a prayer.
"Fine", said the pleased mother. "If you ask God to help you not misbehave, He will help you."
"Oh, I didn't ask Him to help me not misbehave," said Johnny. "I asked Him to help you put up with me."
Do you ever get that “how do I pray” syndrome? As a pastor and a Chaplain, I am learning everyday how to pray better and it is hard. Sometimes I just keep repeating the same prayer over and over because I am at a loss of words. But at least I am trying….
F.B. Meyer, the author of the great little book, The Secret of Guidance said, "The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but un-offered prayer."
Instead of it being something we do everyday, like breathing, eating and walking and talking, it seems to have become like that little glass covered box on the wall that says, "break in case of emergency." It is true that so very often we associate prayer with crises in our life.
I heard a story the other day of a man who encountered a bit of trouble while flying his little airplane.
He called the control tower and said, "Pilot to tower, I'm 300 miles from the airport, six hundred feet above the ground, and I'm out of fuel.
I am descending rapidly. Please advise. Over." "Tower to pilot," the dispatcher began, "Repeat after me: "Our Father Who art in heaven...'"
Prayer is, for the most part, an untapped resource, kind of like an unexplored continent where untold treasure remains to be unearthed. It is talked about more than anything else, and practiced less than anything else.
And yet, for the believer it remains one of the greatest gifts our Lord has given us outside of salvation.
In 1952, Albert Einstein was delivering a lecture on the campus of Princeton University. A doctoral student asked the famous scientist "What is there left in the world for original dissertation research?" In other words, what is left to research??
With considerate thought and profundity Einstein replied, "Find out about prayer. Somebody must find out about prayer."
Paul was somebody who understood prayer and its power. Prayer was a part of Paul's life, and he took it for granted that it would be a part of the life of every Christian.
You cannot really be a good Christian and not pray, just like you cannot have a good marriage if you don't talk to your wife.
You can be a Christian and not pray, just like you can be married and not talk to your spouse. But in both circumstances you will be miserable.
Prayer is the pipeline of communication between God and His people, between God and those who love Him. Here are some hints for praying.
I. Pray with persistence
Paul begins by saying, "Devote yourselves to prayer," (NASB) or "Continue earnestly in prayer," (NKJV). In the original language it says, "continue steadfastly in prayer." The word translated, "continue steadfastly," is one word in the original language. It can be translated, "persist in, adhere firmly to, or remain devoted to or to give unremitting care to." It caries with it the idea of dedication. Of the ten times it is used in the New Testament four of them have to do with being devoted to prayer. It is a very powerful word and in this verse is given as an imperative, or a command. In other words, persistence in prayer is not an option for the Christian it is an order from the Lord Himself.
Two of the most instructive parables Jesus ever told on prayer, one in Luke 18 and the other in Luke 11, both have to do with being persistent and not giving up in prayer.
- Luke 18:1 says, "Now He was telling them a parable to show them that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart."
- Luke 11:9 is where we find the promise that says, "ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you." Each of those verbs are in the present tense, active voice and could be translated, "keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking." Jesus does not want us to give up in prayer, He instructs us to be persistent.
Now there is a difference between a persistent prayer and a long prayer. A person who is persistent in prayer does not necessarily have to pray for a long time. Persistence means not giving up.
Some people give up easy, they quit because they say they don't feel like praying, the joy is gone, the feeling is gone. But we are not to live by our feelings but to live by the commandments of our Lord who tells us to pray without ceasing.
George Muller, known as one of the greatest prayer warriors of all times had this to say about persistence in prayer"
"It is a common temptation of Satan to make us give up the reading of the Word and prayer when our enjoyment is gone; as if it were of no use to read the scriptures when we do not enjoy them, and as if it were no use to pray when we have no spirit of prayer. The truth is that, in order to enjoy the Word, we ought to continue to read it, and the way to obtain a spirit of prayer is to continue praying. The less we read the Word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray."
Be persistent in prayer.
II. Pray with passion
If you are persistent in something, it stands to reason that you are to be passionate about it. In fact, Paul says we should be vigilant or be watchful; it is the opposite of slothfulness. This describes passionate prayer.
Jesus was passionate about His prayer life, it was something He was always doing.
S.D. Gordon in his book, Quiet Talks on Prayer, says:
How much prayer meant to Jesus! It was not only his regular habit, but his resort in every emergency, however slight or serious. When perplexed he prayed. When hard pressed by work he prayed. When hungry for fellowship he found it in prayer. He chose his associates and received his messages upon his knees. If tempted, he prayed. If criticized, he prayed. If fatigued in body or wearied in spirit, he had recourse to his one unfailing habit of prayer. Prayer brought him unmeasured power at the beginning, and kept the flow unbroken and undiminished. There was no emergency, no difficulty, no necessity, no temptation that would not yield to prayer.
And every time we see Jesus praying He was praying with passion.
- In Luke 3:1 at His Baptism - while He was praying the heaven was opened. Passionate prayer opens Heaven.
- In Luke 6:12 before He called His disciples - He spent the whole night in prayer. Passionate prayer gives direction.
- In Luke 9:29 at His transfiguration - And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming. Passionate prayer enables us to experience the glory of the Father.
- In John 17 in His high priestly prayer - Passionate prayer impacts the lives of others.
- In Matthew 26:39 in the Garden of Gethsemane - It is only through passionate prayer that we can pour out our hearts to God.
- In Luke 23:24 as He hung on the cross - a life that is lived in passionate prayer will enable us to maintain that spirit, even in the most difficult of circumstances.
Jesus always prayed with passion, because He knew Who it was He was talking to and He knew that prayer to the Father is a powerful thing and not something to take lightly and glibly.
Prayer from the heart, that's what passionate prayer is, it is prayer from the heart not just from the head.
That is how He taught us to pray, not only through His example, but specifically through His teaching Look in Matthew 6:7, in the Sermon on the Mount as Jesus instructs on prayer. It is here that we find the Lord's prayer. But just before the Lord's prayer what does He say?
"When you pray, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do." (Jews around the world may now send prayers via fax to the Wailing Wall)
What has happened to the Lord's Prayer? People repeat it as if it were some kind of magic mantra that will bless them or move God to hear them.
They are doing with it is exactly what He was instructing us not to do with it. The gentiles, when they prayed tried, through their religious repetitions, with their chants and their mantras to call forth or impress their Gods.
That is not what you do when you are in a relationship.
You don't tell your spouse. "I love you, oh I really love you and I just wanted to tell you today that I love you, I'm so glad that I just have this time to just say I love you. Please feed the children, please clean the house and may all go well with you." Amen
James 5:16 says, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much."
III. Pray with thankfulness
Paul never fails to mention it.
- Ephesians 5:20 tells us that thanksgiving is the natural result of being filled with and walking under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
- Philippians 4:6 tells us to be anxious for nothing but in everything we should pray, giving thanks as we make our petitions known to God.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us that giving thanks at all times is God's will for us in Christ Jesus.
- Colossians 3:17 says that as believers everything we say or do should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus as we give thanks to Him.
- 1 Timothy 4:4 - says that food and marriage are good things given to us by God and are to be received with thanksgiving and gratitude.
Expressing gratitude does several things:
- It articulates dependence
- It demonstrates relationship
- It communicates gratitude - proper attitudes
- It generates humility
IV. Pray, making intercession
Intercessory prayer is basically praying for others, it is praying for God's will to be done in the lives of other people.
Intercessory prayers characterized the prayer life of Jesus.
- In Isaiah 53:12 the Bible says, He Himself bore the sins of many and, interceded for the transgressors."
- Luke 22:23 Jesus tells Peter, "I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail;"
- Luke 23:34 on the cross, Jesus was praying for others when He said, "Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing."
- John 14:15 Jesus interceded for us, asking the Father to send the Holy Spirit
- John 17:19 He prayed for us, the church, in His High Priestly prayer. Listen to the intercessory nature of this prayer, "I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom Thou has given Me . . . "
- Romans 8:34 tells us that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us.
- And Hebrews 7:25 says, "Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them."
Prayer isn't a suggestion; it's a command
Jesus prayed intercessory prayers, He was ever praying for others.
Understanding the power of Prayer, Paul wanted to be sure the Colossian Christians understood what it was they were to pray for. He wanted them to pray with a specific purpose. He wanted them to pray for him, asking God to open a door so that they could speak the gospel. It was the gospel that Paul lived for, it was the preaching of the gospel that had landed Paul in prison, it was the preaching of the gospel that was ever on the forefront of Paul's mind. You see, Paul wanted God's kingdom to expand. Like Jesus, he was concerned about others, about their souls, their salvation and their sanctification.
It is instructive to note that Paul is not asking them to pray for his legal situation or that he would be released from prison. He is asking them to pray that he will have the opportunity to lead someone to Christ.
Paul wanted their prayers to be in accordance with God's will not simply after the greedy desires of someone living for this world.
Paul was always concerned with doing the will of God. How many of our prayers are directed at the expansion of His eternal kingdom rather than the expansion of our petty kingdoms? If you were able to chronicle your prayers, knowing how much time you spent praying for different things, how much of your time would be spent praying for your family, for their health, for the health and well being of your loved ones, compared to how much time you were praying for the lost who are headed to hell?
Intercessory prayer changes things.
Howard Hendricks, who for years taught at the Dallas Theological Seminary and pastored in the area shared this story. He said:
Years ago in a church in Dallas we were having trouble finding a teacher for a junior high boys class. The list of prospects had only one name -- and when they told me who it was I said, "You've got to be kidding." But I couldn't have been more wrong about that young man. He took the class and revolutionized it.
I was so impressed I invited him to my home for lunch and asked him the secret of his success. He pulled out a little black book. On each page he had a small picture of one of the boys, and under the boy's name were comments like "having trouble in arithmetic," or "comes to church against parents' wishes," or "would like to be a missionary some day, but doesn't think he has what it takes."
"I pray over those pages every day," he said, "and I can hardly wait to come to church each Sunday to see what God has been doing in their lives."
You see, when you pray for others, when you pray for God's work to be done, for His will to be accomplished, He will begin to use you and grow you in ways that will astonish those around you. Sometimes I think we do not become what God wants us to become, because we are too focused on ourselves and not on others. It is when we pray for others that we will become more like Jesus, and as we become more like Jesus God will grow us more, show us more, and use us more.
We must pray for others.
Five things that happen when we pray:
1. Prayer internalizes the burden
It deepens our ownership of the burden and our partnership with God. As we pray we begin to become aware of how God might us to answer the prayer, how He might involve us in ways we had not theretofore foreseen.
2. Prayer forces us to wait
Part of prayer is always waiting for God. God has three answers to prayers: Yes, no and wait. Yes and no are no-brainers. But wait, that is tough. John MacArthur says: "There is a tension between boldness and waiting on God's will. That tension is resolved by being persistent, yet accepting God's answer when it finally comes." Instead of getting frustrated that God is not on our schedule, prayer forces us to be on God's timetable.
3. Prayer opens our spiritual eyes
It enables us to get in touch with what God is doing and how He is doing it.
In II Kings 6 you may recall the story of when the Army of Israel was surrounded by their enemies and Elijah's servant got nervous. Verses 15-17 say:
Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" So he answered, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." And the LORD opened the servant's eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Prayer opens our eyes, enabling us to see what God is doing, to see things we are blinded to without prayer. That's because prayer is communication. We speak to God, God answers us, speaking to us, showing us.
4. It aligns our heart with God's heart
Adjustment, alignment, setting our thoughts, emotions, actions.
5. Prayer enables us to move forward
Prayer engages God, enables God's people, and enlarges His kingdom. Jesus said, "without Me, you can do nothing." Once we have prayed we are ready to do anything, until we have prayed we can do nothing, but once we have prayed we can accomplish anything.
What does your prayer life look like this evening? Are you persistent in prayer? Are your prayers passionate or are they perfunctory? Are they filled with intensity and fervor or are they weak, timid and lacking faith? What about gratitude? How much time have you spent thanking God for all He has done for you? And who are you praying for? Is there anyone in your life that you are praying will get saved?
Is there a burden on your heart to see God's kingdom expand, to see His will done?
Let me ask you this in closing….How do you spell peace?
P-R-A-Y-E-R! Anything you believe you need is available to you through prayer.
We are not talking here about a magic formula of proper and distinct words. Oh no!
We are talking about opening your heart and your mouth, saying what's on your mind, knowing that once you do, the answer will be revealed. Amen??
….try a little prayer. I love you all.
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
Recently Steve had a car accident. So he put his car in the garage to carry out the repair work. Since he had to go to the job daily, he decided that until the car is ready, he will travel by the metro train. One day, he noticed a homeless gentleman at the train station at night. He felt pity for him, so he gave him some change from his pocket.
The homeless man thanked him for it. Next day again, he noticed the homeless man at the same place. This time Steve though to get him something to eat, so he went outside the station and brought him a meal. The homeless guy thanked him for his kindness. But Steve got curious and asked him, “How did you get to this point?”
The homeless man looked up at him and with a smile, he said, “By Showing Love.” Steve didn’t understand it, so he asked him, “What do you mean by that?” The homeless guy replied that “Throughout my whole life, I made sure that everyone was happy. No matter what was going right or wrong in my life, I always helped everyone.”
Steve asked him, “Do you regret it?” To which the homeless man replied, “No, It just hurts my soul that the very people I gave the shirt off my back to wouldn’t give me a sleeve of that same shirt when I was in need.
Son, It is better to build your own house and invite someone in for shelter than to hand them your bricks while you are building yours. Because one day you will turn around and look at the spot where you had planned to build your house. It will be an empty lot. Then you are the one looking for bricks.”
Steve understood what the homeless guy meant and thanked him for the good advice.
Moral: Helping others is not a bad thing at all. But Sometimes, while we are helping others, we forget our own problems and needs. One must remember that sometimes sharing is better than giving away. You can do a lot more by being in a strong position instead of bringing yourself into a weaker situation.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
Isaiah 7-14
14. Against the background of divine exasperation (13) and the change from ‘your God’, therefore draws a conclusion: the sign he proposes is no longer a movement of grace opening a door of faith to the king (10) but a movement of displeasure spelling out the dire result of his faithlessness. But can the sign itself be of less magnitude than the promise to ‘move heaven and earth’ (11), especially since its giver is the LORD himself (’ǎdōnāy, ‘the Sovereign One’)? The virgin (hā‘almâ): it is widely urged that, had Isaiah intended virgo intacta (as Matt. 1:23, 25 understood him to mean), he would not have used ‘almâ but bĕtûlâ and that, by using ‘almâ, he meant no more than a ‘young woman’ who, since she was to become pregnant, must charitably be assumed to be married. But it is argued here that Isaiah did indeed intend virgo intacta (see Additional note, pp. 90–91).
Be with child … give birth: cf. Genesis 16:11; Judges 13:5. The expression is ‘timeless’, with the context deciding in each case. Immanuel: ‘God with us’ (NIV MG.). The case for expecting a divine Messiah is strong in the Old Testament and was, in fact, Jesus’ understanding (Matt. 22:41–45). It is clear that at some point the expectations originating in 2 Samuel 7 developed into the hope of a perfect King who would reign universally for ever (9:7) and who would be both son of David and Son of God (see on 4:2; Pss 2:7; 45:6; cf. Acts 13:33; Rom. 1:4; Heb. 1:5; 5:5).
The view that the ‘almâ means, collectively, the young marrieds of Judah, who in the coming troubles would either express faith by naming their sons ‘God is with us’ or voice prayer by naming them ‘God be with us’, must surely be doubted. The you (pl.) to whom the Sovereign One gives this sign is the ‘house of David’, represented by Ahaz. In what sense would a rash of little Immanuels, which Ahaz would dismiss as women’s hysteria, constitute a heaven-sent sign, matching the momentousness of this passage, or prepare for the developing Immanuel-theme through 8:8 into 9:6?
15–17. Isaiah now allows Ahaz to believe that the birth of Immanuel is imminent and does so for a reason that hindsight justifies. Wrong … right: at most this means reaching the ‘years of discretion’ when moral choices are understood; but it could simply mean knowing the difference between nice and nasty tastes—a very early experience. The vagueness is deliberate, but three things are affirmed: (1) the child will grow up in poverty (15), for curds and honey, as verse 22 shows, are the diet of those left in a devastated land; (2) the northern threat from Aram and Israel will be ended (16)—and indeed Damascus fell to Assyria three years and Samaria thirteen years later; and (3) huge disaster would fall on the house of David (17).
The separation of Ephraim (1 Kgs 12:20) reduced David’s kingdom to a tiny remainder. The coming of the king of Assyria would take even this from David: the semblance of monarchy would survive for another century but the reality would never be restored. This was indeed the case: from the time when Ahaz disbelieved, he and David’s descendants reigned as puppet kings, by courtesy first of Assyria and then of Babylon, until the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC extinguished kingdom and monarchy altogether so that (with Christian hindsight), when Immanuel was born, the heir to David’s throne was an unknown carpenter in Nazareth (Matt. 1:16)!
Thus Isaiah concertinas the centuries, for when Immanuel was born he inherited only the memory of a kingdom and a non-existent crown—and it was Ahaz’ fault. As we shall see, in the course of this section Isaiah adjusts the historical perspective (e.g. 9:1), but he uttered no lie when he made Immanuel the immediate heir of the Ahaz-débâcle.
Additional note on the term ‘virgin’ in Isaiah 7:14
On the assumption that the Bible is the best evidence for the meaning of its words, we note that bĕtûlâ occurs fifty times. Of these, twelve are metaphorical (e.g. 37:22) and fourteen are general, where (e.g. Ps. 148:12) ‘young men and maidens’ is equivalent to ‘young people’ and there is no more ground for demanding that the ‘maidens’ are unmarried than that the men in question (bāḥûrîm) must be bachelors. There are twenty-one cases (such as Exod. 22:16; Deut. 22:19) where the bĕtûlâ in question would be, or be assumed to be, a virgin, but the requirement is in the context, not in the word itself. The idea is ‘of marriageable age/ready for marriage’.
By contrast ‘almâ is found only eight other times. Of these, 1 Chronicles 15:20 and Psalm 46 (title) use the word in a musical direction that is no longer surely understood. Three further references are indeterminate. It is hard to see that the tambourine-girls (Ps. 68:25) would have to be specified as unmarried; in Proverbs 30:19 many commentators hold that the reference is to the mysteries of procreation, though it more reasonably suggests the often much less explicable matter of sexual attraction! Song 1:3 is more likely to mean ‘unmarried girls’ looking for a good match than the longing gaze of ‘young married women’! But Genesis 24:43, Exodus 2:8 and Song 6:8 refer unquestionably to unmarried girls.
Genesis 24 is particularly important as bringing ‘almâ and bĕtûlâ together. Abraham’s servant prays (24:14) for a ‘girl’ (na‘ărâ) to marry Isaac; the approaching Rebekah (24:16) is described as female (na‘ărâ), of marriageable age (bĕtûlâ) and single (‘no man had ever lain with her’). It is important to note that bĕtûlâ is not sufficient by itself to denote virginity but needs the explanatory qualification (‘no man …’). Finally (24:43), in the light of the knowledge of Rebekah that he has thus accumulated, the servant describes her as ‘almâ—i.e. female, marriageable and unmarried.
In the light of this there is no ground for saying that ‘almâ must mean ‘young woman’ and that bĕtûlâ is the technical word for ‘virgin’. Rather, to the contrary: Isaiah used the word which, among those available to him, came nearest to expressing ‘virgin birth’ and which, in the event, with linguistic propriety, accommodated that meaning. It is also worth noting that outside the Bible, ‘so far as may be ascertained’, ‘almâ is ‘never used of a married woman’.
14. himself—since thou wilt not ask a sign, nay, rejectest the offer of one.
you—for the sake of the house of believing “David” (God remembering His everlasting covenant with David), not for unbelieving Ahaz’ sake.
Behold—arresting attention to the extraordinary prophecy.
virgin—from a root, “to lie hid,” virgins being closely kept from men’s gaze in their parents’ custody in the East. The Hebrew, and the Septuagint here, and Greek (Mt 1:23), have the article, the virgin, some definite one known to the speaker and his hearers; primarily, the woman, then a virgin, about immediately to become the second wife, and bear a child, whose attainment of the age of discrimination (about three years) should be preceded by the deliverance of Judah from its two invaders; its fullest significancy is realized in “the woman” (Ge 3:15), whose seed should bruise the serpent’s head and deliver captive man (Je 31:22; Mic 5:3). Language is selected such as, while partially applicable to the immediate event, receives its fullest, most appropriate, and exhaustive accomplishment in Messianic events.
The New Testament application of such prophecies is not a strained “accommodation”; rather the temporary fulfillment of an adaptation of the far-reaching prophecy to the present passing event, which foreshadows typically the great central end of prophecy, Jesus Christ (Rev 19:10). Evidently the wording is such as to apply more fully to Jesus Christ than to the prophet’s son; “virgin” applies, in its simplest sense, to the Virgin Mary, rather than to the prophetess who ceased to be a virgin when she “conceived”; “Immanuel,” God with us (Jn 1:14; Rev 21:3), cannot in a strict sense apply to Isaiah’s son, but only to Him who is presently called expressly (Is 9:6), “the Child, the Son, Wonderful (compare Is 8:18), the mighty God.” Local and temporary features (as in Is 7:15, 16) are added in every type; otherwise it would be no type, but the thing itself. There are resemblances to the great Anti-type sufficient to be recognized
Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 437). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
Motyer, J. A. (1999). Isaiah: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, pp. 88–91). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
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