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.
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| 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
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – 30 June 2013
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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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
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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CHRISTIAN
PRAYER
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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
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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
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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
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