Everyone is Called to Pray
Everyone is called to regular prayer but not everyone prays regularly. Prayer is just an afterthought for many – hidden away until some test or trial forces us to bring it out of hiding and dust it off. What we fail to realize is that without prayer, we will not walk in the complete victory God has made available to us. According to the Gospel Coalition: The Bible mentions prayer 650 times The Bible records God’s answer to prayer 450 times The Bible shows us 25 instances of Jesus praying during His earthly ministry The Bible records Paul discussing prayer 41 times The Bible is our instruction manual for living. Like with any instruction manual, we shouldn’t ignore, or skip-over instructions that the “instructor” considers important enough to repeat. Let’s say you’re assembling a desk but choose to ignore the repeated instruction to check that the pieces face the right direction; you shouldn’t be surprised when the desk drawers won’t open and close correctly (OK, there may be a desk in my house like this…). How is not following the instructions of the Bible any different? If the Bible repeatedly instructs us to pray and we ignore these instructions, we shouldn’t be surprised when our lives just don’t work the way they should. If the number of times the Bible talks about prayer doesn’t convince us of the importance of prayer, then maybe this will: the Son of God and the man who wrote 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament prayed and repeatedly instruct us to pray. Jesus “went up on the mountain by Himself to pray” (Matthew 14:23), “…spent the whole night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12), “in the early morning…got up… went away to a secluded place and was praying there” (Mark 1:35),”and fell on His face and prayed” (Matthew 26:39). Paul tells us to “pray continually” (1st Thess. 5:16), “devote [our]selves to prayer” (Colossians 4:2), “be…faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12), and “…in everything, by prayer and petition…present [o]ur requests to God” (Philippians 4:6-7). We are to be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1), and Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). Jesus prayed often. We, as imitators of Christ, should also pray. We should “armor up” with the Word!
Three Reasons Why You Should Pray
Everyone is called to pray, but not everyone prays. Some don’t pray because they believe that God doesn’t care about the smaller details of their lives. Others don’t pray because they believe that God doesn’t hear their prayers, and even if He did, He wouldn’t move on their behalf. All of these are good reasons not to pray, if they were true, but they aren’t. They are lies; lies which can easily be exposed by looking at the truth of the Word. God cares about every detail of our lives, no matter how big or small God cares so much about us that He knows the number of hairs we have on our head (Luke 12:7). When Jesus walked this earth, He didn’t just “show up” when it was a matter of life and death, but He also “showed up” when it wasn’t. Jesus cared enough about the details of a wedding that when the wine ran out, He made more (John 2:1-10). He cared enough about a crowd missing lunch that He multiplied a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish to feed 5,000. God cared enough for me that when I asked Him to help me find a lost cell phone, He showed me where to find it. If it matters to us, it matters to God; we can pray about everything and anything, and we should. God Hears Our Prayers How do we know that God hears our prayers? His Word says that He does. Psalms 34:15 reminds us that “the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry.” In Jeremiah 29:12, God tells us that when we pray, He will listen. In Jeremiah 33:3, God tells us to call to Him and He will answer us and tell us great and unsearchable things. 1 John 5:14-15 urges us to confidently come to God in prayer because when we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. If it were true that God doesn’t hear our prayers, why would He spend so much time encouraging us to pray? God moves on this earth in response to believers’ prayers Sometimes when we pray, it seems God is not moving, but in reality, things are happening in the spiritual realm that we cannot see. Daniel fasted and prayed for 21 days, waiting for God to move. For 21 days, he cried out to God, but there was only silence. Finally, an angel appeared to Daniel and said to him, “from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them..…” (Daniel 10:12). Daniel had no idea that from the moment he uttered the first word of his prayer, God began to move in the spiritual realm towards the answer. God heard Him. Sometimes we must wait longer than we want for the answer, and sometimes we don’t receive the answer we want at all. Instead of letting doubt take hold, we must trust that God is moving on our behalf and that He always has our best interests at heart. You are called to pray. You are called to communicate with your lifeline, with your one true path to peace, your heavenly Father. God cares about you and every detail of your life, no matter how big or small. God hears your prayers. He wants you to talk to Him. He wants a relationship with you. Don’t lose faith. Don’t lose hope. Sometimes it seems God is not moving on your behalf, but the truth is, you can’t always see Him moving; you can’t always see what He is setting in motion. Even in those times of silence, you can be assured that God is working things out with your best interests at heart; that He is working to give you hope and a future!
Focus on the Promise Not the Problem
When we face a problem, how many times do we find ourselves searching frantically for the answer, only to realize later that the answer was right there in front of us? We fail to see the answer because we are too busy focusing on the problem. That is exactly the situation a Samaritan woman found herself in one afternoon. Jesus was resting near a well in Samaria when a woman approached the well to draw water. Upon seeing the woman, Jesus offered the woman living water; water that if she drank, she would never thirst again. The woman, having no idea who Jesus was, answered: “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water?” Instead of focusing on Jesus’ promise of living water, the woman focused on the problem that she saw standing between her and the living water: Jesus’ lack of a rope or bucket to draw the water. Her focus on what was not there kept her from seeing what was right in front of her. Jesus was patient with the woman and did not give up until she understood that the living water was Him! Her understanding came when she finally took her eyes off the problem and focused her attention on the promise. When my oldest daughter was a senior in High School, she served on the board of her high school’s chapter of the National Honor Society. As a board member, she was chosen to emcee the induction ceremony. Upon finding this out, fear plagued her. She didn’t want to speak at the event. She wanted to pass on this amazing opportunity. Thoughts ran through her head like “I am afraid to speak in front of my class, so how can I speak in front of hundreds of people?” “What if I forget what I’m saying?” “What if my voice shakes?” What if I mess the whole thing up?” “What if people know that I am afraid?” She spent time focusing on her fears instead of on God. The more she focused on these fears, the bigger they grew and the less sure of God she became. When she realized that focusing on the problem (her fear) did not help her find her answer (peace), she decided to adjust her focus. She began praying God’s promise of 2 Timothy 1:7. “God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” By praying this promise, she began seeing past the problem and focusing on the bigger truth standing before her. She set her eyes on Jesus, not on her fear. Because of her renewed focus, her faith began to rise inside of her and her fears began to subside. On the evening of the ceremony, I approached her to give her my best wishes. She looked at me and said, “Mom, I’m not afraid” and she wasn’t. She went on stage in front of hundreds of people and spoke. Her fear was gone. She gave all glory to God because she knew and still knows that He gave her the spirit of power and love and enabled her to face this deep-rooted fear with His confidence and peace. The next time you find yourself toe to toe with a problem or circumstance that you can’t find your way around, stop focusing on the problem and start focusing on the Promise. For every problem that you face, God has the answer. God will speak to you and encourage you through His Word. Open your Bible, find His promise for your situation, and pray that promise. Focus on His promise and let it take root inside of you and before long your problem will not be able to stand – it will have to bow under the weight of the truth of the Promise. What are some of the promises that you are standing on? I’d love to hear from you.
Zeal for Our Father’s House – John 2:13-21
Shortly after Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana, Jesus and His disciples traveled to Jerusalem for the Jewish Passover celebration. Once in Jerusalem, Jesus and thousands of other Jewish people made their way to the Temple, the holiest place in the Jewish world. Upon entering the temple courts, Jesus “found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.” As a convenience to those traveling far, sacrificial animals were sold in the temple courts. However, to purchase these animals and pay the required temple tax, visitors needed to present an acceptable currency. Money changers stationed themselves outside the Temple to offer currency exchange services for a premium. Jesus, when seeing this, “made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my father’s house into a market.” John 2:13-16 The temple courts had become a place of buying and selling instead of a place of worship. Jesus Caused A Stir in the Temple Courts Imagine the disciples’ surprise when Jesus made the whip and began driving out thousands of cattle and sheep from the temple court, scattering coins and overturning tables. The disciples had not been with Jesus very long. Now Jesus was causing a stir in the temple courts and publicly declaring that He was the Son of God. John 2:17 says that Jesus’ actions reminded the disciples of the Messianic Psalm, which says, “for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.” Psalm 69:9 Jesus’ actions made it very clear that selling sacrificial animals and changing money in the temple courts was insulting to God and, therefore, insulting to Him. He certainly showed His zeal for His Father’s house, the Temple. The Temple was to be a holy place, a place of worship, yet the men selling the cattle and sheep were there to make money, not to worship God. When Jesus began driving out and scattering their profit, why didn’t they resist? Why didn’t the temple guard or nearby Roman soldiers stop Jesus? Sacrifices Are To Be Valuable One possible reason that Jesus was not stopped in the Temple is that when those in the Temple heard His words, “How dare you turn my Father’s House into a market,” they felt convicted. They knew what they were doing was wrong. They knew that the Temple was a place for worship, not profit. They knew that selling sacrifices was not keeping with God’s purpose behind requiring sacrifice. A sacrifice was to be valuable to the person offering it: that is why God required the sacrifices to be the best of a person’s flock or his field, not something that a person would feel no “sacrifice” in giving. It wasn’t until after Jesus drove out the animals, scattered coins, and overturned tables that the Jews questioned His authority: They “demanded of him, ‘What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’” John 2:18 Jesus answered them in a parable of sorts: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” The Jew’s response was one of disbelief: “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” John 2:19-20 Jesus often used parables to explain spiritual things using earthly ideas. This time was no different. These words were prophetic to what would happen to Jesus. The Temple he spoke of was His body, which would be destroyed by death and then raised again in three days. Our Bodies Are God’s Temple Our bodies are also God’s Temple: although destroyed by sin, when we believe in Jesus, we are raised to a new life in Christ Jesus. Before Jesus’ death, God’s presence resided in the Temple behind a curtain and could only be approached by priests. But when Jesus died on the cross for our sins, this curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom, and God’s presence became available to all through Jesus Christ. Matthew 27:51 Instead of a temple in Jerusalem, God now resides in all who believe in His Son. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” 1st Corinthians 3:16-17 We are God’s house, His Temple! Zeal for Our Father’s House When Jesus began driving out the cattle and sheep from the Temple court, scattering coins, and overturning tables, His actions were meant to “cleanse” His Father’s house, the Temple. Like Jesus, we should have zeal for our Father’s house. Instead of being complacent and allowing those things to corrupt us which do not honor God and do not accomplish His purpose, we should speak up and take action. God’s house is meant to be a place of worship and sacrifice, a holy place, a place that honors God. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1 Stop and ask yourself today: Does zeal for my Father’s house consume me? Am I offering my body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God? I urge you not to be afraid to cleanse yourself of anything which distracts you or keeps you from focusing on your true and proper worship of the one who gave it all for us, Jesus!
The Bible: Is it Really Accurate and Reliable?
Is the Bible historically accurate? For a skeptic like me, this question demanded an answer. After all, I was being asked to base my entire life on a book written over 2,000 years ago. It is not like I could find eye witnesses to Jesus’ death and resurrection and ask them to give me an account of what they saw and heard and then compare notes. Somehow, I needed to determine whether the Bible was historically accurate and not just made-up stories. The only thing I had to rely on was what was written in the Bible, and I was not yet convinced that the Bible was a reliable source of truth. I needed to understand why so many people were convinced that the Bible was historically accurate and reliable. So I began searching and here is what I found: THE BIBLE, AN ANCIENT TEXT The Bible is an ancient, historical collection of books. The first book was written around 3,400 years ago and the last book around 1,900 years ago. Historians who study ancient texts like those written by Homer, Plato and Aristotle use certain criteria to determine their reliability. This same criteria can also be (and has been) applied to the Bible. There are three tests that historians commonly use to test the reliability and accuracy of ancient documents: 1. The bibliographical test2. The internal evidence test 3. The external evidence test When these tests are applied to the Bible, there is no doubt that the Bible is an accurate and historical document. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL TEST HAS THE BIBLE BEEN TRANSMITTED ACCURATELY? The bibliographical test helps one determine whether the Bible has been transmitted accurately. This test compares the date the original text was written to the date of the earliest copies found of that same text. The closer these two dates, the more reliable the copies. The New Testament was written between A.D. 50 and A.D. 100. So far, the earliest copy of the New Testament found is dated A.D 130. This means that there is less than 100 years between the original manuscript and the first copy that was found! Compare this to Plato, where the time span between the original and the first copy was 1,200 years and to Homer (Iliad) where there is a 500 year difference. Historians consider Plato and Homer to have been transmitted accurately. Using this same test, the accuracy of the Bible far exceeds the accuracy of these other ancient texts, a fact historians cannot deny. Dead Sea Scroll Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the earliest copy of the Old Testament was dated around 90 A.D., which means there was a time gap of around 1,300 years between the first book written and the earliest copy discovered. This is about the same as Plato, who is considered reliable by an overwhelming majority of historians. In addition to the length of time between the original text and the earliest copy, Historians relied on how the Old Testament was transmitted to bolster its accuracy. The Old Testament was transcribed by Hebrew scribes who were bound to strict laws on how they transcribed the text, meaning mistakes in transmission were very unlikely. But until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, no one knew exactly how accurate these transcriptions were. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947 in a cave in Qumran. The scrolls contained fragments of every book of the Bible except Esther and were dated anywhere between 250 B.C. and 50 A.D. The entire book of Isaiah, dated 75 B.C., was part of the Dead Sea discovery. This discovery closed the gap between the original text of Isaiah and the earliest copy found. In addition, when scholars compared the previous oldest copy of the book of Isaiah to the Dead Sea Isaiah, they found 95% consistency. Of the 5% variation, most variations involved omitted letters and misspellings. Scholars can confidently assert that the scribal process resulted in a very accurate transmission of the Old Testament. Another facet of the test involves the number of copies found. The more copies found, the more accurate the text is. Seven copies of Plato and 1,757 of Homer (the Iliad) have been found, whereas over 5,500 copies of the New Testament written in Greek have been found. When you add versions written in other languages to those written in Greek, there are over 24,000 copies of the New Testament. Even more impressive is that after comparing these copies, the New Testament was found to be 99.5% accurate! Only 40 lines of the New Testament are in doubt. Historians consider Plato and Homer reliable texts. The bibliographical test shows the Bible to be much more reliable than both Homer and Plato. If Homer and Plato’s authenticity has not been questioned, then why should we question the historical authenticity of the Bible? Internal Evidence Test ARE THE BIBLICAL AUTHORS CREDIBLE? The internal evidence test helps us determine whether the authors of the Bible are credible. An author’s credibility is directly related to their proximity to the reported events and the time between the event and their report. In the case of the New Testament, the authors were either eyewitnesses to the event or relaying the testimony of an eyewitness to the event. John, a disciple of Jesus, was an eyewitness to all he wrote in the Gospel of John. He said in John 21:24, “This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.” Other authors of the New Testament wrote based on eyewitness accounts. John Mark, the author of Mark, was Peter’s translator. Mark’s gospel records the teachings of Peter, who, as Jesus’s disciple, had first-hand knowledge of Jesus, his teachings, and his life. Another way to determine an author’s credibility is to examine whether he had any motivation to lie. Early Christians were persecuted and killed for proclaiming Jesus. Their enemies were numerous. Why would the New Testament authors risk their lives
Walk By Faith Not By Sight
Faith compels you to act in ways that you never would have expected like building a boat to save yourself from a flood when it has never even rained, or fighting a giant that everyone is too scared to fight, or believing a promise that in the natural, just doesn’t make sense.