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Effective Prayer Part One

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Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much  James 5:16

Prejudice is a common issue all across denominational lines. Many of our greatest struggles in relationships seem to be within the the church rather than out in the world. Amazingly even in the early church they had the very same issues! Right after the miracles and with the church growing at a phenomenal pace they ran into difficulties between the Greek Jews and the Hebrew Jews. It was a conflict that in various forms was played out through the entire book of Acts. What is encouraging is that though even the early church had problems, God worked with them in just as He continues to work with us today.

The breakthrough came, not because of some program or by the power of reason but by God’s action with a non-Christian Roman centurion named Cornelius and the Apostle Peter. First God spoke by an angel to Cornelius as he was praying and told him to send for Peter to learn the way of salvation. Cornelius then sent a delegation to Peter to find out what God wanted him to know. Since the apostles weren’t even speaking with Greek speaking Jews much less Romans, God had to send a vision to Peter telling him to receive the men coming to see him. After Peter went to Cornelius’ house and heard about Cornelius’ prayers and the angel visitation Peter came to a startling conclusion. God didn’t think the way that he did! God in fact cared about people whom Peter would not have even spoken with the previous day!

Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and workimg1348ks righteousness is accepted by Him  Acts 10:34-35

Is God’s work being slowed down by how we think about others? Who might we be praying for and reaching if we began to see them through the eyes of God? How much more effective might our prayers be if we saw men through the eyes of God rather than God through the eyes of men!

 

 

When God’s Answer Seems to be NO

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When God’s Answer Seems to Be No!

” But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”  

Matthew 15:24-26

Well finally after being ignored and just a little humiliated by the disciples, the woman got an answer from Jesus. But the response was definitely not what she had hoped for. What do we do with our prayers when it seems that on very good scriptural basis we are told that God’s answer for us is “NO!”? In fact, what may hurt the most is not only God’s refusal,  but also His apparent agreement with people who reject us. How could Jesus take the side of those who seem to have such cold and uncaring hearts.  How we choose our to respond in that lowest of moments says everything about who we truly believe our God to be.

p1020539lives? Have we begun to murmur, complain or even point the finger of blame towards Jesus Himself? This Canaanite woman somehow knew that no matter what the outward appearances were, Jesus was in fact both willing and able to heal her daughter and to grant her request and He will hear and answer our prayers today!

 

 

 

 

 

Challenged to Thank God

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My wife came across an interesting sign that asked the question, “What if you woke up tomorrow with only what you thanked God for today?  After we shared Communion tonight I began to ask myself, “What if next Sunday we only had the people for whom we thanked God for today?”

Maybe our church and yours would have a lot less empty seats if we wete grateful for one other rather than complaining. ( I confess to being one of those!) Maybe if we began to truly appreciate the people who do come to our services God could help us to grow and then He would get the credit!

1 Thessalonians 1:2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers.

I would be willing to bet big money that when the apostle Paul visited the folks couldn’t wait to get to church! When was the last time you couldn’t wait to get to church? I am taking the thankfulness challenge this week. Anyone care to join me? Let’s give thanks for as many people as we can remember starting tomorrow. Let’s give thanks and ask God to have His way in their lives and ours, then wait and see what He will do!