THE APOSTOLIC INTERCESSORY PRAYERS
It is Saturday and the end of the first week of this Blog and I want to give you something a bit different and very practical:
Sometimes it is difficult to find the language to pray. How can I express to God what is in my heart? If I am to pray within His will - what is that will? Sometimes I get "Intercessors Block". I hope that the below list may be helpful in their entirety or as a stimulus. Today’s submittal is a list of prayers prayed by the Apostles. I have adapted the language so that the prayers may be applied to different circumstances by the entire church in any given geographic area. These prayers are personalized and are meant to be used for all the saints in all the congregations in any given city or area.
I. Acts 4:29-30
Lord, grant that your bondservants may speak your word with all confidence and boldness by releasing the anointing of your Spirit upon them, while you extend your hand to heal through them with signs and wonders being released through the name of your holy servant Jesus.
2. Romans 10:1
Our hearts desire and prayer is for the salvation of the lost (for natural and spiritual Israel).
3. Romans 15:5-6
That God may supernaturally grant the saints and the congregations of the Lord in this area the ability to be of one mind and one purpose with each other, that with one accord we may with one voice glorify God in the church in this area. / Cor. 1:11-12; Phil. 1:27; Phil. 2:1-3; John 17:21-22
4. Romans 15:13
That the God of all hope would supernaturally fill the church with all joy and all peace in believing that the church in this area may abound in hope by the power and revelation of the Holy Spirit, (vs. 33)
5. Romans 16:20
That the God of Peace would soon crush Satan's works and put them under the feet of the church by the manifestation of the works of the kingdom with wisdom, signs and wonders.
6. 2 Cor 1:3-5
May the God of all comfort fully comfort the saints and enable them to comfort others by the power of your Spirit. That your comfort abundantly flow to them in Jesus Christ.
7. 2 Cor. 13:9
That the church in this area may be made complete in gifts, fruit and wisdom, by the
demonstration and revelation of your Spirit.
8. Eph. 1:16-19
That God may give us a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Jesus. That the eyes of our heart may be enlightened, so that we may experience the fullness of God's calling and might understand the fullness of the glory of the Father's inheritance in the entire church in our area and that we might experience the surpassing greatness of God's power in our lives and ministries.
9. Eph 3:16-19
That God would strengthen each believer in the church throughout this area with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that the fullness of Jesus may be expressed in our hearts and lives as we are rooted and grounded in love for God and for one another. That each believer may be able to fully comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth of Jesus' love for them and Jesus' love for His Father so that we might experience the fullness of God's Spirit working in and through our lives and through each congregation in this area.
10. Eph 6:19-20
Pray on the behalf of the leadership of the entire church in our areas, that words of utterance would flow through them supernaturally as they open their mouths to speak the word. That they might minister with the boldness that comes from being under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. (I believe this is a prayer for anointed prophetic preaching with the operation of the gift of Faith.)
11.Phil. 1:9-11
That the saints deep love for Jesus and for one another would abound more and more and that this love would be expressed with true spiritual knowledge and discernment, so that we might be able to clearly discern what God calls excellent so that our lives might be sincere and blameless in God's sight until the end. That our lives might be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes through experiencing the presence of Jesus in our hearts.
12.Phil. 4:7
That the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension would supernaturally guard the
mind and the emotions of the saints in our area, especially in times of spiritual warfare.
13. Phil. 4:19,23
That God the Father would supply all the needs of the church according to His riches in glory and that the grace of the Lord Jesus might be powerfully manifest on the human spirit (inner man) of each believer.
14. Col. 1:9-11
That each congregation and each believer might be filled with the knowledge of God's will in each specific area of our lives and ministries and that God would add spiritual wisdom and understanding to this knowledge so tat we might fully please the Lord and bear good fruit in our ministries.
15. Col. 4:3-4
That God might open to the church a greater door for the word. In other words, that the word might go forth by the spirit of wisdom and revelation and be confirmed with signs and wonders.
16. Col. 4:12
That the church and its leadership might firmly stand in perfect wisdom, being fully assured in all the will of God for all its ministries. That the prophetic spirit of wisdom and revelation would flow in the hearts of the church.
17. I Thess 3:10-13
That God would release ministry that would complete what is lacking in any area of church life and that God may cause the church to increase and abound in love and compassion for one
another and for the lost, so that God may establish the saints with hearts unblamable in holiness.
18. 7 Thess. 5:23
That God Himself would personally sanctify the saints in every dimension, spirit, soul and body and that He would keep us in this purity without blame, until His coming.
19. 2 Thess. 11-12
That God may purify and lead this church into maturity that, He may count this church worthy of completely fulfilling our specific calling so that we might fulfil every aspect of our vision and desire to do good and that we might fulfil the work of faith with manifestations of great power, in order that the name of Jesus may be glorified in us.
20. 2 Thess. 2:16-17
That the Lord Himself and God our Father would comfort and strengthen our hearts in every
good word. In every ministry and every outreach of His word.
21. 2 Thess. 3:1-5
That the Word of God may spread rapidly and be magnified through signs and wonders and that God would grant the release of the full conviction of the Spirit on the Word. (7 Thess 1:5; John 16:8; Acts 19:20) That we may be delivered from perverse and evil men as God's anointing rests upon us. That the Lord would strengthen and protect us from the evil one, and that the Lord would direct our hearts into knowledge of the Father's love for us and that He direct our hearts into His love for Jesus and for all the saints and into the patience, perseverance and steadfastness that Jesus had under trials and temptations. (Rom. 5:5; John 17:6; Gal 1:11)
22. Hebrews 13:20-21
That God might fully anoint and equip us in every good work and ministry, to completely do His will in this area and then in our outreach to the nations. That God would supernaturally work in us that which is pleasing in His sight for the church in this area.
23. 1 Peter 5:10
That the God of all grace will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish each congregation in this area and each believer, in a supernatural way with power and revelation.
24.2 Peter 1:2
That grace and peace be multiplied to the saints as God supernaturally releases greater revelation of the knowledge of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ by opening the eyes of our heart. (2 Peter 3:18; Eph. 1:17-18)
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Prayer, Praise and Thanksgiving
1Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.
3Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples.
4For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.
5For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
6Splendour and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
7Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.
9Worship the LORD in the splendour of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.
10Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns." The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.
11Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
12let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
13they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth. Psalm 96
Richard Foster says that, “Prayer is the human response to the perpetual outpouring of love by which God lays siege to every soul.” He calls this type of prayer “adoration” and says that it contains two aspects: Praise and Thanksgiving. He goes on to explain, “In one sense adoration is not a special form of prayer, for all true prayer is saturated with it. It is the air in which prayer breathes, the sea in which prayer swims. In another sense, though, it is distinct from other kinds of prayer, for in adoration we enter the rarefied air of selfless devotion. We ask for nothing but to cherish Him. We seek nothing but His exaltation. We focus on nothing but His goodness. In the prayer of adoration we love God for Himself, for His very being, for His radiant joy.”
In the Psalm above David’s (see 1 Chron. 16:7) total focus is on the wonder of God. He asks for nothing, for himself or others, he communicates nothing about himself, rather he can only sing of the marvel and the nature of the most important person in his life. Such a prayer can be said all day long and for years without running out of material. Such prayer is a measure of the hold which God has on us. It can be said at the most difficult of times or the most joyous of occasions. It can be said collectively out loud with others or in the solitude of our souls.
O’Hallesby calls this prayer “the breath of the soul.” A. W. Tozer wrote, “True Christian prayer is the heart’s harmonious response to the Lord’s song of love.” E. M. Bounds adds, “Gratitude and thanksgiving always looks back at the past though it may also take in the present. But prayer always looks to the future. Thanksgiving deals with things already received. Prayer turns to gratitude and praise when the things asked for have been granted by God.”
The lovely aspect of prayer as adoration/praise/thanksgiving is that it takes our vision off of ourselves. It causes us to look heavenwards and recognize the author of all true goodness, the carer of our souls; remind ourselves of His attributes and His great unceasing love for us. As we do this, our perception of our current environment changes and we find ourselves transported – or our circumstances transformed – into one of God’s perception. Even as we look adoringly at Him we begin to see ourselves and those around us more accurately and this changes our response to the circumstance. None of this is deliberate or difficult, but automatic, as His Spirit works in us and in our prayer lives. This too is a part of the “simple prayer” we have been looking at these past few days.
If at present you are struggling with the “how to” of all this I thought that you might also like to read this short story of simple prayer by Leo Tolstoy:
There were once three hermits who lived on an island. Their prayer of intimacy and love was simple like they re simple: “We are three; you are three; have mercy on us. Amen” Miracles sometimes happened when they prayed in this way.
The Bishop, however, hearing about the hermits, decided that they needed guidance in proper prayer, and so he went to their small island. After instructing the monks, the Bishop set sail for the mainland, pleased to have enlightened the souls of such simple men.
Suddenly, off the stern of the ship he saw a huge ball of light skimming across the ocean. It got closer and closer until he could see that it was the three hermits running on top of the water. Once on board the ship they said to the Bishop, “We are so sorry, but we have forgotten some of your teaching. Would you please instruct us again?”
The Bishop shook his head and replied meekly, “Forget everything I have taught you and continue to pray in your old way.”
Mike Clarkson
2Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.
3Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples.
4For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.
5For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
6Splendour and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
7Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.
9Worship the LORD in the splendour of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.
10Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns." The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.
11Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
12let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
13they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth. Psalm 96
Richard Foster says that, “Prayer is the human response to the perpetual outpouring of love by which God lays siege to every soul.” He calls this type of prayer “adoration” and says that it contains two aspects: Praise and Thanksgiving. He goes on to explain, “In one sense adoration is not a special form of prayer, for all true prayer is saturated with it. It is the air in which prayer breathes, the sea in which prayer swims. In another sense, though, it is distinct from other kinds of prayer, for in adoration we enter the rarefied air of selfless devotion. We ask for nothing but to cherish Him. We seek nothing but His exaltation. We focus on nothing but His goodness. In the prayer of adoration we love God for Himself, for His very being, for His radiant joy.”
In the Psalm above David’s (see 1 Chron. 16:7) total focus is on the wonder of God. He asks for nothing, for himself or others, he communicates nothing about himself, rather he can only sing of the marvel and the nature of the most important person in his life. Such a prayer can be said all day long and for years without running out of material. Such prayer is a measure of the hold which God has on us. It can be said at the most difficult of times or the most joyous of occasions. It can be said collectively out loud with others or in the solitude of our souls.
O’Hallesby calls this prayer “the breath of the soul.” A. W. Tozer wrote, “True Christian prayer is the heart’s harmonious response to the Lord’s song of love.” E. M. Bounds adds, “Gratitude and thanksgiving always looks back at the past though it may also take in the present. But prayer always looks to the future. Thanksgiving deals with things already received. Prayer turns to gratitude and praise when the things asked for have been granted by God.”
The lovely aspect of prayer as adoration/praise/thanksgiving is that it takes our vision off of ourselves. It causes us to look heavenwards and recognize the author of all true goodness, the carer of our souls; remind ourselves of His attributes and His great unceasing love for us. As we do this, our perception of our current environment changes and we find ourselves transported – or our circumstances transformed – into one of God’s perception. Even as we look adoringly at Him we begin to see ourselves and those around us more accurately and this changes our response to the circumstance. None of this is deliberate or difficult, but automatic, as His Spirit works in us and in our prayer lives. This too is a part of the “simple prayer” we have been looking at these past few days.
If at present you are struggling with the “how to” of all this I thought that you might also like to read this short story of simple prayer by Leo Tolstoy:
There were once three hermits who lived on an island. Their prayer of intimacy and love was simple like they re simple: “We are three; you are three; have mercy on us. Amen” Miracles sometimes happened when they prayed in this way.
The Bishop, however, hearing about the hermits, decided that they needed guidance in proper prayer, and so he went to their small island. After instructing the monks, the Bishop set sail for the mainland, pleased to have enlightened the souls of such simple men.
Suddenly, off the stern of the ship he saw a huge ball of light skimming across the ocean. It got closer and closer until he could see that it was the three hermits running on top of the water. Once on board the ship they said to the Bishop, “We are so sorry, but we have forgotten some of your teaching. Would you please instruct us again?”
The Bishop shook his head and replied meekly, “Forget everything I have taught you and continue to pray in your old way.”
Mike Clarkson
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Prayer and Devotion
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, "Cornelius!"
4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked. The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea."
7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa. Acts 10:1-8
Of course we know the rest of the story: Peter receives the message following an impacting dream from God, travels immediately to Caesarea, speaks to the Gentiles assembled in Cornelius’ house, the Holy Spirit of God falls on them all, they go out to be baptized and the whole event becomes a guidepost to the church in Jerusalem that God intends to work among the Gentiles as well as the Jews. (Acts 10 & 11) All because of the devotion in prayer of a single Roman soldier.
Yesterday we looked at the “simple prayer”, the prayer of the humble and penitent. But look today at the impact possible when that prayer is devoted in its entirety to God’s service; when it is prayed by a “devoted” person. Of course when we pray devotedly, we are in essence also devoting the rest of our selves to that same service. We cannot ask God’s help or spend time in His presence and then turn our backs on Him when He asks us to be part of the response.
E. M. Bounds says: “Devotion is the particular frame of mind found in one entirely devoted to God. It is the spirit of reverence, of awe, of Godly fear. It is a state of heart which appears before God in prayer and worship. Devotion dwells in the realm of quietness and is still before God. It is serious, thoughtful and meditative. It is a part of the very spirit of true worship, is of the nature of the spirit of prayer.”
But this does not imply that somehow we have to have been transported to some heavenly realm before we can pray effectively. It merely means that we place ourselves before God, as we are, and give ourselves over to Him as we pray. We devote the time, the thoughts, the pleas, the love, the emotions and needs all to Him – allowing Him to do with them as He will. He may respond then, He may merely listen and stay with us. The answers may come internally through new understanding, or determination, or comfort or the quiet building of our character. The result may be external through guidance, a change in circumstances or direct instructions as with Cornelius. It doesn’t matter. Our time of prayer is not just “our time of prayer” but it is also His when this time becomes “devotional”.
Jonathan Edwards, the Puritan divine of the Great Awakening of 1740, tells of one such particularly special time for him: “Once as I rode out into the woods for my health, in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly had been to walk for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view that was for me extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God. As near as I can judge, this continued about an hour, and kept me the greater part of the time in a flood of tears and weeping aloud. I felt an ardency of soul to be what I know not otherwise how to express, emptied and annihilated; to love Him with a holy and pure love; to serve and follow Him; to be perfectly sanctified and made pure with a divine and heavenly purity.”
May God meet with us daily as we devote ourselves to Him – whether in the extraordinary or in the ordinary – that the rest of our lives may reflect the devotion of our prayer life.
Mike Clarkson
4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked. The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea."
7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa. Acts 10:1-8
Of course we know the rest of the story: Peter receives the message following an impacting dream from God, travels immediately to Caesarea, speaks to the Gentiles assembled in Cornelius’ house, the Holy Spirit of God falls on them all, they go out to be baptized and the whole event becomes a guidepost to the church in Jerusalem that God intends to work among the Gentiles as well as the Jews. (Acts 10 & 11) All because of the devotion in prayer of a single Roman soldier.
Yesterday we looked at the “simple prayer”, the prayer of the humble and penitent. But look today at the impact possible when that prayer is devoted in its entirety to God’s service; when it is prayed by a “devoted” person. Of course when we pray devotedly, we are in essence also devoting the rest of our selves to that same service. We cannot ask God’s help or spend time in His presence and then turn our backs on Him when He asks us to be part of the response.
E. M. Bounds says: “Devotion is the particular frame of mind found in one entirely devoted to God. It is the spirit of reverence, of awe, of Godly fear. It is a state of heart which appears before God in prayer and worship. Devotion dwells in the realm of quietness and is still before God. It is serious, thoughtful and meditative. It is a part of the very spirit of true worship, is of the nature of the spirit of prayer.”
But this does not imply that somehow we have to have been transported to some heavenly realm before we can pray effectively. It merely means that we place ourselves before God, as we are, and give ourselves over to Him as we pray. We devote the time, the thoughts, the pleas, the love, the emotions and needs all to Him – allowing Him to do with them as He will. He may respond then, He may merely listen and stay with us. The answers may come internally through new understanding, or determination, or comfort or the quiet building of our character. The result may be external through guidance, a change in circumstances or direct instructions as with Cornelius. It doesn’t matter. Our time of prayer is not just “our time of prayer” but it is also His when this time becomes “devotional”.
Jonathan Edwards, the Puritan divine of the Great Awakening of 1740, tells of one such particularly special time for him: “Once as I rode out into the woods for my health, in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly had been to walk for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view that was for me extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God. As near as I can judge, this continued about an hour, and kept me the greater part of the time in a flood of tears and weeping aloud. I felt an ardency of soul to be what I know not otherwise how to express, emptied and annihilated; to love Him with a holy and pure love; to serve and follow Him; to be perfectly sanctified and made pure with a divine and heavenly purity.”
May God meet with us daily as we devote ourselves to Him – whether in the extraordinary or in the ordinary – that the rest of our lives may reflect the devotion of our prayer life.
Mike Clarkson
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
The Essentials of Prayer - Humility
9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men-- robbers, evildoers, adulterers-- or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:9-14
Knowing that we should pray, that it is essential to our growth and well being, sometimes leaves me feeling inadequate: focussing either on the prayerless person I have been or the prayerful person I long to be. While I am sure that it is not God’s intention to leave me further burdened, the idea of prayer as a task or function to be performed, and often not performed well enough or often enough, can lead me into a spiritual paralysis induced by guilt or hopelessness.
At such times, when I am so aware of my own shortcomings, I try to remind myself that God welcomes us into His presence just as we are. The simple prayer of “here I am Lord” or the prayer of “beginning again” is often the starting point for fruitfulness in our relationship with God.
The Tax Collector in Jesus’ parable is such a penitent. With nothing to commend himself he is the one whom Jesus said will be exalted. God loves to raise up the humble; we have nothing worthy of giving God in any case – why should seek to earn His favour in any fashion? Richard Foster in his book Prayer – Finding The Heart’s True Home, says that, “Simple Prayer is the most common form of prayer in the Bible. Simple Prayer involves ordinary people bringing ordinary concerns to a loving and compassionate Father. There is no pretence in Simple Prayer. We do not pretend to be more holy, more pure, or more saintly than we actually are. We do not try to conceal our conflicting and contradictory motives from God – or ourselves. And in this posture we pour out our heart to the God who is greater than our heart and who knows all things (1 John 3:20).”
As we begin this journey further into a prayer life with God, can I suggest to you that the first step may well be just that – being: being in God’s presence with awareness. This might be in the quiet of a remote beach, an alcove in the library or the end of a dock – or it might be stuck on traffic on 278. It doesn’t matter. Let us begin our prayer with the “warts and all” humility of seeking to spend time in God presence without pretensions or pride of accomplishment. Let us use our lack of prayer as an encouragement to take our desire for more to God as prayer, and to let him satisfy that hunger.
Mike Clarkson
13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:9-14
Knowing that we should pray, that it is essential to our growth and well being, sometimes leaves me feeling inadequate: focussing either on the prayerless person I have been or the prayerful person I long to be. While I am sure that it is not God’s intention to leave me further burdened, the idea of prayer as a task or function to be performed, and often not performed well enough or often enough, can lead me into a spiritual paralysis induced by guilt or hopelessness.
At such times, when I am so aware of my own shortcomings, I try to remind myself that God welcomes us into His presence just as we are. The simple prayer of “here I am Lord” or the prayer of “beginning again” is often the starting point for fruitfulness in our relationship with God.
The Tax Collector in Jesus’ parable is such a penitent. With nothing to commend himself he is the one whom Jesus said will be exalted. God loves to raise up the humble; we have nothing worthy of giving God in any case – why should seek to earn His favour in any fashion? Richard Foster in his book Prayer – Finding The Heart’s True Home, says that, “Simple Prayer is the most common form of prayer in the Bible. Simple Prayer involves ordinary people bringing ordinary concerns to a loving and compassionate Father. There is no pretence in Simple Prayer. We do not pretend to be more holy, more pure, or more saintly than we actually are. We do not try to conceal our conflicting and contradictory motives from God – or ourselves. And in this posture we pour out our heart to the God who is greater than our heart and who knows all things (1 John 3:20).”
As we begin this journey further into a prayer life with God, can I suggest to you that the first step may well be just that – being: being in God’s presence with awareness. This might be in the quiet of a remote beach, an alcove in the library or the end of a dock – or it might be stuck on traffic on 278. It doesn’t matter. Let us begin our prayer with the “warts and all” humility of seeking to spend time in God presence without pretensions or pride of accomplishment. Let us use our lack of prayer as an encouragement to take our desire for more to God as prayer, and to let him satisfy that hunger.
Mike Clarkson
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Prayer and Faith
5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
8 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
9 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. John 14:5-14
These seem like such impossible instructions: Whatever we ask? Do the things Jesus was doing? Even greater things? This seems like an impossible faith. But we need to know that God can do anything before we can ask Him effectively. There are no boundaries on His power or His abilities. He can do the most impossible, incredible, unbelievable thing with no effort. Planets and people, nature and nations, time and temperament are all subject to His command.
But it is not enough that we know that God can do anything. We need to have the faith to believe that He would want to. It is often not the magnitude of the task but the insignificance of the need in the global perspective that holds us back from asking. Why should God care about me and my small problem? Our lack of understanding of the boundless love of our Father holds us back from asking and daring to believe.
Jesus patiently explains to Philip, that with the Father dwelling in Him and He in the Father – all things become possible. For Philip this is doubly true because not only is he indwelt by the Father through the Spirit, but Jesus is with the Father interceding on his behalf. What is true of Philip can also be true of us.
It is a strange truth that our prayer builds our relationship with God which strengthens and guides our prayer which further builds our relationship with God which…. Even more encouraging is that the faith supporting this upwards spiral is said to be a gift from the Holy Spirit available to us all for the asking. St Paul says that we are to eagerly desire the Spiritual Gifts and lists Faith as one of these (1 Corinthians 12-14) and Jesus says even a small dose will be enough (Matthew 17:20, 21:21).
A.W. Tozer explains this kind of faith: “Faith as the Bible knows it is confidence in God and His Son Jesus Christ; it is the response of the soul to the divine character as revealed in the Scriptures; and even this response is impossible apart from the prior inworking of the Holy Spirit. Faith is a gift of God to a penitent soul and has nothing whatsoever to do with the senses or the data they afford. Faith is a miracle; it is the ability God gives to trust His Son, and anything that does not result in action in accord with the will of God is not faith but something else short of it.”
Many years ago when Linda and I lived in South Africa, God found us and, through the help of the Anglican Marriage Encounter movement, taught us how to pray together each day. The experience transformed our lives. We found our lives suddenly filled with faith and turned back to God in prayer. This began a journey of discovering daily small miracles happening to us and through us in answer to our prayers. Our prayer built our faith which built our prayer life. Moreover, through this process we turned from ourselves towards God and it has made all the difference since. Our prayer this day is that He might do, or continue to do, the same for each of you.
Mike Clarkson
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
8 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
9 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. John 14:5-14
These seem like such impossible instructions: Whatever we ask? Do the things Jesus was doing? Even greater things? This seems like an impossible faith. But we need to know that God can do anything before we can ask Him effectively. There are no boundaries on His power or His abilities. He can do the most impossible, incredible, unbelievable thing with no effort. Planets and people, nature and nations, time and temperament are all subject to His command.
But it is not enough that we know that God can do anything. We need to have the faith to believe that He would want to. It is often not the magnitude of the task but the insignificance of the need in the global perspective that holds us back from asking. Why should God care about me and my small problem? Our lack of understanding of the boundless love of our Father holds us back from asking and daring to believe.
Jesus patiently explains to Philip, that with the Father dwelling in Him and He in the Father – all things become possible. For Philip this is doubly true because not only is he indwelt by the Father through the Spirit, but Jesus is with the Father interceding on his behalf. What is true of Philip can also be true of us.
It is a strange truth that our prayer builds our relationship with God which strengthens and guides our prayer which further builds our relationship with God which…. Even more encouraging is that the faith supporting this upwards spiral is said to be a gift from the Holy Spirit available to us all for the asking. St Paul says that we are to eagerly desire the Spiritual Gifts and lists Faith as one of these (1 Corinthians 12-14) and Jesus says even a small dose will be enough (Matthew 17:20, 21:21).
A.W. Tozer explains this kind of faith: “Faith as the Bible knows it is confidence in God and His Son Jesus Christ; it is the response of the soul to the divine character as revealed in the Scriptures; and even this response is impossible apart from the prior inworking of the Holy Spirit. Faith is a gift of God to a penitent soul and has nothing whatsoever to do with the senses or the data they afford. Faith is a miracle; it is the ability God gives to trust His Son, and anything that does not result in action in accord with the will of God is not faith but something else short of it.”
Many years ago when Linda and I lived in South Africa, God found us and, through the help of the Anglican Marriage Encounter movement, taught us how to pray together each day. The experience transformed our lives. We found our lives suddenly filled with faith and turned back to God in prayer. This began a journey of discovering daily small miracles happening to us and through us in answer to our prayers. Our prayer built our faith which built our prayer life. Moreover, through this process we turned from ourselves towards God and it has made all the difference since. Our prayer this day is that He might do, or continue to do, the same for each of you.
Mike Clarkson
Monday, September 24, 2007
The Necessity of Prayer
As we begin to move into the landscape of “Prayer” in our sermon series “Face to Face” I have taken as a structure for these thoughts the titles of a series of small books written by E. M. Bounds in the early 1900’s. E. M. Bounds studied law in the United States and was admitted to the bar at age 21. After practicing law for three years he began to preach. After the American Civil War he served churches in Missouri, Tennessee, and Alabama. The later pattern of his life was to rise early in the morning for an extended prayer time and then spent the rest of the morning writing about prayer. He wrote eight books about prayer all of which are still in print and are considered to be “classics” on the subject.
9 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
11"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:9-13
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:7-8
21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. 1 John 3:21-24
God created us to live in relationship with Him and to enjoy the fullness of life which He has prepared for us. In the midst of want, despair and confusion it is often difficult to see how this is possible. In fact, without Him, it is impossible to find the joy and fulfilment He has set out for us. He is our guide, our provider, our enabler, our comforter, our protector and our saviour. We must then allow Him to do these things, and more, in our lives. Prayer is the key to all this. Prayer is the means and the product of our relationship with God. By definition it is our communication with him; it is the umbilical chord which ties us to Him and through which we are fed. But how do we then enter into this prayer that is so all important?
The Bible makes this plain. We ask God. We ask Him for everything we want and need. We ask Him to be with us. We ask on behalf of others. We ask Him to search our hearts and correct us. We ask Him to heal. We ask Him to provide. We ask Him to love and not forget. We ask Him to be with us in times of testing, or suffering, or despair. We unveil our hearts to Him and He in turn shows us His. We relinquish ourselves and He lifts us and carries us. We cry and He soothes. We rejoice and He delights. We rest and He allows us to rest in Him.
When we do this our lives begin to mesh with God’s plans and purposes. E. M. Bounds says: “The utmost reach and full benefit of the rich promises of the Word of God should humbly be received by us and put to the test. Neither Christian experience nor Christian living will be what they ought to be till these divine promises have been fully tested by those who pray. By prayer, we bring these promises of God’s holy will into the realm of the actual and real.”
Week by week members of The Church of The Cross have been coming to me telling me how God has answered their prayers and met them in their time of need. Some of these have been shared with all of you as “Barnabas Spots” on Sunday mornings. Three weeks ago I prayed with a mother that her daughter would be given admittance into a new school which was proving difficult. This also had a financial implication and the whole scenario looked bleak if not impossible. I asked her how things were going two weeks later and she told me how everything had been resolved in the most straightforward manner. Her daughter was in the new school and the financial implications had been resolved wonderfully. God had changed the impossible to the natural.
I spoke to a couple in my office last week who were surprised that they were allowed to ask God for small things and for issues that had direct benefit to them. I reminded them of that part of The Lord’s Prayer where we are encouraged to ask God for our daily needs and suggested to them that God loves to look after us. He will of course refuse to supply that which is not helpful for us or His Kingdom but He encourages us to ask nonetheless. We might be surprised at how much He cares and wants to bless us.
James, the brother of Jesus, as a leader of the Jerusalem Church admonishes his fellow believers, “You do not have, because you do not ask God.” Let us not be like them. Let us firmly resolve to spend time with God each day – sharing our life with Him and asking of Him that which is essential for us to be fully how He has made us.
Mike Clarkson
9 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
11"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:9-13
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:7-8
21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. 1 John 3:21-24
God created us to live in relationship with Him and to enjoy the fullness of life which He has prepared for us. In the midst of want, despair and confusion it is often difficult to see how this is possible. In fact, without Him, it is impossible to find the joy and fulfilment He has set out for us. He is our guide, our provider, our enabler, our comforter, our protector and our saviour. We must then allow Him to do these things, and more, in our lives. Prayer is the key to all this. Prayer is the means and the product of our relationship with God. By definition it is our communication with him; it is the umbilical chord which ties us to Him and through which we are fed. But how do we then enter into this prayer that is so all important?
The Bible makes this plain. We ask God. We ask Him for everything we want and need. We ask Him to be with us. We ask on behalf of others. We ask Him to search our hearts and correct us. We ask Him to heal. We ask Him to provide. We ask Him to love and not forget. We ask Him to be with us in times of testing, or suffering, or despair. We unveil our hearts to Him and He in turn shows us His. We relinquish ourselves and He lifts us and carries us. We cry and He soothes. We rejoice and He delights. We rest and He allows us to rest in Him.
When we do this our lives begin to mesh with God’s plans and purposes. E. M. Bounds says: “The utmost reach and full benefit of the rich promises of the Word of God should humbly be received by us and put to the test. Neither Christian experience nor Christian living will be what they ought to be till these divine promises have been fully tested by those who pray. By prayer, we bring these promises of God’s holy will into the realm of the actual and real.”
Week by week members of The Church of The Cross have been coming to me telling me how God has answered their prayers and met them in their time of need. Some of these have been shared with all of you as “Barnabas Spots” on Sunday mornings. Three weeks ago I prayed with a mother that her daughter would be given admittance into a new school which was proving difficult. This also had a financial implication and the whole scenario looked bleak if not impossible. I asked her how things were going two weeks later and she told me how everything had been resolved in the most straightforward manner. Her daughter was in the new school and the financial implications had been resolved wonderfully. God had changed the impossible to the natural.
I spoke to a couple in my office last week who were surprised that they were allowed to ask God for small things and for issues that had direct benefit to them. I reminded them of that part of The Lord’s Prayer where we are encouraged to ask God for our daily needs and suggested to them that God loves to look after us. He will of course refuse to supply that which is not helpful for us or His Kingdom but He encourages us to ask nonetheless. We might be surprised at how much He cares and wants to bless us.
James, the brother of Jesus, as a leader of the Jerusalem Church admonishes his fellow believers, “You do not have, because you do not ask God.” Let us not be like them. Let us firmly resolve to spend time with God each day – sharing our life with Him and asking of Him that which is essential for us to be fully how He has made us.
Mike Clarkson
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
