Prayer

Quiet Time or Prayer?

/ pastorpete51 / 9 Comments

Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. Isaiah 12:6 KJV

It seems that everyone is insisting lately that we have a “Daily Quiet Time.” But with all the discussion about it, maybe we have gotten a little off track. For starters, the phrase quiet time doesn’t occur anywhere that I know of in the Bible. Of course Jesus spent plenty of time teaching about prayer, but the prayers we read about in the Gospels are not always private and very few of them were quiet. In fact if we prayed like Jesus prayed, our time would be far from quiet –  

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, … Hebrews 5:7

And King David did not have much to say about quiet prayer either.

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Psalm 34:6

You could add to the list of these noisy prayers others; like Moses who was often crying out to the Lord because not a day went by without a problem, first in Egypt with Pharaoh, then in the wilderness with complaining Israelites. Elijah prayed loud enough for thousands to hear him on Mount Carmel and those loud prayers didn’t stop in the Old Testament. During Jesus’ ministry the Syro-Phoenician woman with a demon possessed daughter had the disciples begging Jesus to send her away because she was crying out too much. Then we all remember Blind Bartimaeus, whose friends kept insisting he sit down and shut up. But Jesus wasn’t disturbed at all by his noisy request. What impressed Jesus then and what impresses God today is when we believe in His ability and willingness to answer us so much that we cry out to Him from the bottom of our hearts. God values neither quietness nor loudness but when you and I need Him way too much to be quiet!

God’s Building Plans

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13A-14 NIV

First I want to give a big thank you to Alan of Devotional Treasures for inspiring me to get out of my funk. We’ve been dealing with a lot of serious health issues here with our two daughter-in-laws as some of you know. The one who was in the hospital with Covid is now home and gradually improving. The other is about to begin chemo for the same ovarian cancer that my wife battled through three years ago. Thanks for those of you who have prayed. I thought I would share today the encouragement God gave me while I was out for my walk yesterday.

Our lives seemed like a construction project that was being completed right on time; when these unexpected difficulties came and slapped a stop work order on our door. The inability to do a thing has been frustrating because it made me realize that in reality I am not in charge at all. It is easy to just blame the devil as some sort of evil building inspector, but God reminded me that His Holy Spirit in my heart is His guarantee that no matter how things look, everything is under His control. His guarantee is not really a down payment as a few translations render the word- because God has the resources to pay off our mortgage in full. Instead the Holy Spirit’s presence is like the deposit which we make on a home we wish to buy. That small amount of our money is our promise to the seller that we will pay their entire asking price once the lender runs our credit and sees that our finances are in order. The good news for us is that God is the buyer with the highest credit rating in the universe!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Now, think of your darkest moment. At the time when nothing has worked out, your plans have been frustrated and your world turned upside-down, God guarantees that we are still His. He has bought us, by paying the full price of our sins with the precious blood of Jesus. Now the title to our hearts belongs to Him. Though we face very real troubles in this life, God’s Holy Spirit has not nor will He ever abandon us. That tiny spark of His life in us is – that guarantee of our inheritance – is like the Spirit of God that overshadowed Mary. So be patient because just as Mary carried that spark for nine months inside her, trusting that God’s promise was true, so we can trust Him to keep His promise to us. He has promised that we are His and that He will finish the building project of our souls right on time and precisely according to His plan!

Unfailing Love

/ pastorpete51 / 18 Comments

How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings. Psalms 36:7 NLT

Two nights ago I spent a mostly sleepless night alternately praying and worrying about our two daughters in law. On the same day one was going through major cancer surgery while the other was diagnosed with Covid-19. I know, because I have taught about prayer, faith and trust in God that He has them in His hands. Yet the human side of me struggles and silently repeats over and over the same requests.

So last night when I woke at 2:30 gripped again with fears and anxiety I prayed not just for them but for God to help my faith to grow. Of course the answer did not immediately jump out at me like toast popping up. But I followed my dad’s advice on sleeplessness and got up and changed the subject. I grabbed a bowl of cereal, put my earbuds in and listened to the Bible. Then as I relaxed my mental grip on the situation (partly from exhaustion partly faith) I could feel God’s heavenly wings around me and I knew that He can handle this. His plan- and unfailingly love is enough no matter what my fears. In the words of the song, I stopped all negotiations with the God of all creation” and I found my rest in the Father’s hands. If some nights you are also caught in that anxious crossfire between worry and faith then stop and take a deep breath. Change the subject just long enough for those mighty yet gentle wings of God to cover you and then find your rest in the unfailing love of our Father’s hands!