CHRISTIAN PRAYER

Time with Jesus - Sunday, 30 June 2013

Hi all,

 If we have a look at the Scriptures for today, we find they have a common focus. All five refer directly or indirectly to prayer. So, is there a right way and a wrong way to pray? 

The writer of Ecclesiastes seems to think so! ² Don't make rash promises, and don't be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few. Ecclesiastes 5:2 NLT

Many, if not most Christians take one look at “Ecclesiastes”, shake their heads and walk away. Their concern is that it contains a number of statements which don’t fit in with their concept of “God’s Infallible Word”. After all, what do you with a book of the Bible which starts with the words, ¹ These are the words of the Teacher. He was the son of David. He was also king in Jerusalem. ² "Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Everything is completely meaningless! Nothing has any meaning." Ecclesiastes 1:1-2 NIrV I confess I make this comment from personal experience. I was one of them!

Something Fishy?

Getting a better understanding of God’s Word, has been one of my objectives for as long as I can remember. In the course of this, I’ve had to ask a number of questions which have challenged my thinking. Perhaps the most important of these are, “Why is it there?” and “Who said it?” 

Incidentally, in asking these questions, it is essential to realise that only God can give a full answer. In other words, such questions must be seen as “prayer questions”. It took some time to realise that the two questions are interrelated and boil down to exegesis and hermeneutics. i.e. a right understanding of all the circumstances associated with the words of Scripture.

King Solomon Unlimited
Power, Wealth & Sex

In brief, to give a partial answer, we need to know we believe Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon when he was an old man. By then, his thinking had been significantly impacted by his many pagan wives. It has been suggested he had become a “backslider”. What we can say is that he had been changed by heathen influence. It follows that when, as an old man, he looked around at prevailing conditions, he would not see what he saw with younger eyes. That’s when his expression, “Everything is completely meaningless!” begins to make sense.

Solomon was perhaps the only man who has ever had absolute power in His kingdom. He also had access to almost unlimited wealth. On the moral front the Book of 1 Kings tells us, ² The LORD had clearly instructed the people of Israel, 'You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.' Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. ³ He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the LORD. 1 Kings 11:2-3 NLT Here then was a man who could do anything his heart desired. What he found was that without God, everything was meaningless.

Do Everything with
all your might

Solomon sums up Ecclesiastes with the following statement ¹³ That's the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey His commands, for this is everyone's duty. Ecclesiastes 12:13 NLT

Two are Better then One

The great danger to all who have power and wealth is that it can shift our focus away from the One Who provides everything! Access to many, many sexual partners exacerbates this. The danger is we stop listening to God in prayer, and focus on His provision. If and when that happens, we will find, as have countless other men and women, everything is meaningless. Only God can provide meaning to His creatures. Find Him and meaning through prayer. Thus, Solomon’s statement, “Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” warrants its place in the infallible Word of God. Without God, everything is meaningless.

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – 30 June 2013					Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes							©
	INTRODUCTION		DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES			CHRISTIAN PRAYER
About 30 years ago, Tim Le Haye published a book describing the various types of personalities found in people. He described four basic styles. I can’t remember the details. But what I did see was that people are very different. Some of us have a happy disposition. Others are sad. Melancholy is how it was described. It’s just as well. We all react differently to different situations. One of the best examples of this is Obadiah and Elijah. Obadiah was the servant of the Lord, who hid 100 prophets of God in caves, away from the eyes of King Ahab. He had a position of importance in Ahab’s court. Today we would probably call him “non-confrontational”. Elijah was different. It takes bold-faced courage to take on 400 prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel. Indeed, he knew that God was with him. A lesser man would have turned and run away.  Each served the Lord In his own way. This should not be a surprise. God had formed them in the womb to be exactly what they were. Elijah was bold and brash, except for when he was running away from Jezebel. Obadiah was more reserved and easily intimidated. We need both types in God’s service today. When it comes to prayer, we also have many different types of “prayer warriors”. Warriors may be a misnomer, because the ranks of the “prayer warriors” in the 21st century appear to be mainly women. There’s nothing wrong with this. What women lack in physical strength, God compensates them with dedication and commitment to prayer. In this regard, it is said that in WW2, England was delivered from the hands of Hitler because of the prayers of devout women. The men were fighting physical battles. The women were engaged in spiritual battles. Since things always happen in the spirit before they happen in the flesh, the women brought the victory which the men subsequently reinforced. There is no doubt that personality influences how we pray. Some prayers are bold and brash like Elijah. Others are quiet and reserved like Obadiah. In between there are many other styles. Our personality reacts and responds in prayer in accordance with our “comfort zone”. This is not surprising. That’s how we have been made. At the same time, in all our prayer, there must be reverence for God. He is our Heavenly Father and loves His children with a passion we can hardly conceive. But that does not give us the right to be casual and flippant with Him! In the final analysis, He is God. I would never dare shout at my physical father. We loved each other, but I was always respectful. It is no different with God. We shout at dogs not at God. We should make no demands. There is a need for decorum. The arrogant Pharisee received nothing. The humble tax collector was justified. Which one describes you best? Jim & Phyllida Strickland				2 Don't shoot off your mouth, or speak before you think. Don't be too quick to tell God what you think he wants to hear. God's in charge, not you--the less you speak, the better. Ecclesiastes 5:2 MSG 7 "When you pray, do not keep talking on and on the way ungodly people do. They think they will be heard because they talk a lot. 8 Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need even before you ask him. Matthew 6:7-8 NIrV 26 They took the bull he gave them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon. They said, "Baal, answer us!" But there wasn't a sound or an answer. So they danced around the altar they had made. 1 Kings 18:26 GW 10 "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:10-14 ESV 1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." Luke 11:1 ESV	Often I’ve been puzzled when Christian people shout. It seems, when they are praying, there’s some kind of a doubt, About the Master hearing. But God is never deaf! He hears when a soprano sings her highest treble clef. Even a faint whisper; He hears it like a bell, Even through the screaming of everyone in Hell. Other complications are our methods and our ways. Clumping up and down the room and shouting out our praise, Doesn’t make an impact. He seeks sincerity, In all the supplications which come from you and me. Don’t be like the priests of Baal, who slashed themselves with knives; Shouting “Come and hear us and prove you are alive!” Then they shouted louder. Perhaps he’d gone away? Sleeping in his bedroom? Or on a holiday? All of it was useless. The thing these priests had missed, Was he was just deity who never did exist. But stomping round their altar was what they liked to do. All they got was exercise. Does this apply to you? Jesus told the story of two men who went to pray. One man was a Pharisee with lots and lots to say. His was all thanksgiving, for how good he had been, Full of self-importance for all he’d done and seen. The other man was humble; he saw that tax was paid. And when inside the temple, the man was sore afraid. He knew he was a sinner. “Have mercy Lord”! He cried. And when he went back home again, he went there justified. He didn’t look to heaven, he merely beat his chest. Because he had been lowly, is why he had been blessed. Jesus told His people just how they ought to pray. Go into your closet and lock yourself away. Pray to God in secret and surely you will see, The blessing of the Master descending upon thee. In a public meeting when you gather for prayer. If there’s only two of you, know Jesus Christ is there. Pray to God and listen to what He wants to say. Then you can be certain of what you have to pray. Let Him give directions. Let Him take the lead. And He will reward you by filling every need. Jim Strickland Written 30th June 2012