Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance.
Psalm 33:12
I have never been able to tell whether a photo is of a sunrise or sunset. I believe that only prayers will determine which it will be for our country. Let’s pray for God blessing and more importantly His will this Sunday. We need Him now more than ever before!
In the Old Testament we learn that Daniel prayed three times a day
And though we can’t be sure of the exact hours they do correspond to praise a chorus we used to sing, “Jesus-Jesus- Jesus in the morning, Jesus at the noon time. Jesus-Jesus-Jesus when the sun goes down!” That little song neatly sums up the simplicity of prayer.Some of us say, “Well I’m really not a morning person!” Or “I’m no night owl!” as excuses why we don’t begin or end our days with prayer. But in the his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul tells us to” pray without ceasing” and king David tells us in Psalm 34 that he will bless the Lord at all times. In fact everywhere we look in scripture prayer is far more than just a night cap or a “Good morning Lord”. When the Lord Jesus was on earth set us an example of all different times for prayer.
Early Morning Prayer: And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. Mark 1:35
Mid-Day Prayer Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” Luke 11:1
Evening Prayer And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went upon the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone Matthew 14:23
Jesus prayed when he had to make decisions and he prayed to bless his food. Jesus prayed when he was sorrowful and He prayed when he was joyful. Jesus prayed for his disciples and He prayed for Himself. Jesus prayed at all these different times. While on earth Jesus prayed and taught us how to pray. How wonderful to remember that the prayer ministry of Christ did not end on the day He went to the Father but the Bible tells us that He is always there still praying for us!
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Exodus 14:21-22
In our walk of grace we sometimes begin to think that since nothing happens without God’s approval and that everything comes to us by grace that we have no role whatsoever in God’s plan. Nothing in the Bible however gives us any indication that such thinking is accurate. All of the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews chapter eleven are inked to action! Abel offered a sacrifice, Noah built an ark, Abraham left his native land. Moses was hidden by his parents and Rahab protected the spies. Not only these brave men and women but in fact all of us who belong to God’s family have a distinct, active and essential role to play.
Notice the order of the verses we are reading in Exodus: Moses stretched out his hand, then the Lord drove back the sea. The people of Israel passed through the sea then God closed the waters over their enemies.
The staff Moses carried wasn’t some mystical gift from an angel or a golden scepter which he had taken from Egypt. Moses’ staff was simply the tool of his shepherding work.
When the people of Moses’ time saw the staff Moses lifted up they didn’t think of it as something quaint or impressive in any way. The fact that God chose to honor his simple obedience had nothing to do with the staff and everything to do with the humility of surrender.
What are the tools of your own daily life? Whether you carry a chain saw or a laptop to work, God can choose to use anything you surrender to his command. Stretch out your hand! God is waiting on our faith made visible by our obedience to His Word!
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