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!
The Beatitudes: Happy are the Merciful
The Beatitudes, eight short teachings found at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, lay the foundation for the rest of Jesus’ teachings and are fundamental to understanding Jesus. The Beatitudes not only give us the spiritual roadmap to true happiness, but they set out the character traits of citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. Character traits of the Kingdom of Heaven are set out in the first four Beatitudes and include being poor in spirit, mourning, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, and meekness. The fifth Beatitude flows naturally out of the first four. When a person recognizes their spiritual bankruptcy, mourns their sins, hunger and thirsts for God’s righteousness, and submits to the direction and control of God, then their character begins to change; it starts to reflect the nature of God. Mercy is an attribute of God’s character. The closer a person becomes to God, the more merciful towards others that person becomes. Mercy is the Greek word eleemon and means kind, compassionate, sympathetic, and merciful. Merciful people display compassion; they want to ease others’ suffering not just to appear “charitable” or to receive a benefit, but because they genuinely empathize with their plight. Like meekness, today’s world tends to view mercy as a weakness, as something undesirable. Our culture roots for the person who serves their enemies vengeance instead of serving them forgiveness. Our culture says, no mercy, you don’t deserve it, so you shouldn’t get it. Thankfully, the Lord is merciful. David said, “let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great. Do not let me fall into human hands.” 2nd Samuel 24:14 God’s Mercy The Old Testament describes God as merciful. Psalm 103:8 says, “The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.” The faithful love of the Lord never ends! “His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. Lamentations 3:22-23 We all need God’s mercy. We are all sinners. (Romans 3:23). We all deserve punishment for our sins. But because God loves us, He gave us a way to be forgiven of our sins. He sent His son Jesus who took our punishment upon himself. (Romans 6:23) Because of what Jesus did for us, we receive God’s mercy. Paul sums God’s mercy up for us in Ephesians 2:4-10 NLT, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them”. The more we understand our sinful condition, the more we appreciate the value of God’s mercy – mercy we do not deserve but that He gave us anyway because He loves us. His love lifts us from our sinful condition and seats us with “Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…” Mercy of Jesus Jesus being the image of the invisible God, was also merciful. He showed mercy to the poor, the outcast, the sick, the blind, the deaf, the dead, the tax collectors, and prostitutes. Matthew 9:36 tells us that when Jesus “saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Another verse says, “Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” Matthew 14:14 Jesus also wants us to be merciful. Jesus twice quoted Hosea 6:6 “…show mercy, not offer sacrifices.” The first time was in response to the Pharisees questioning Jesus about him hanging out with “tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.” Jesus responded, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” Matthew 9:12-13 The second time was after the Pharisees protested Jesus’ disciples “harvesting grain on the Sabbath.” Jesus said, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ Matthew 12:7 Jesus took notice of the Pharisees’ tendency to care more about looking like good Pharisees than focusing on the more important aspects of the law – justice, mercy, and faith.” Matthew 23:23 In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus shows us what mercy should look like in the lives of kingdom citizens. Jesus told an expert at religious law that he must “love your neighbor as yourself.” The expert asked, “and who is my neighbor?” ” Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this
What is Faith, Really?
Have faith in God. We hear that a lot. But what is faith, really? For Christians, faith is central. Without faith, we are not saved and without faith, it is impossible to please God. For unbelievers, faith in an unseen God is impossible to understand. I remember wondering “how is it possible to be so sure of something I can’t see.” Faith didn’t make sense to me. I thought that only the truly desperate would put all they are into a God they couldn’t see. As I began my journey toward the Truth, my perception began to change. The more convinced I became that the Bible was true, the more I began to desire to possess the same faith that I had once looked down on. But to be honest, deep inside, I doubted that I could ever truly have the faith I now so desired. We all practice faith in one way or another every day. We turn on the tap and drink, knowing that the tap water won’t make us sick; we board an airplane and travel, believing that it won’t crash; and we pile into elevators and ride, knowing the doors will open and let us off. We don’t question these things. We know by experience that the water is regulated, the pilot has been properly trained, and the elevator must meet certain codes in order to operate. We can see and verify all these things. This is an easily explainable type of faith: one that everyone can relate to. Biblical Faith Biblical faith is different. It is not natural, it is supernatural. Unlike the everyday kind of faith, the biblical kind of faith requires that we trust in the unseen. “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” John 1:18 The writer of Hebrews describes the biblical kind of faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.” Hebrews 11:1 Trusting in the unseen is not something that we, as humans, naturally tend to do. If we cannot perceive something with our senses, then verify it through experience, we question if it is real. God is revealed through the Bible, His Word, but we still can’t see Him. We can intellectually know the Bible to be true, but until our hearts are convinced of its truth, this knowledge is just knowledge, it does not change us. That’s where I was at: intellectually convinced that the Bible was true, but still not truly believing in my heart that it was. I felt just like the father in Mark 9:24 who said: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” God did not leave me in unbelief. He does not leave anyone there who seeks Him with all of their heart. [pullquote]God did not leave me in unbelief. He does not leave anyone there who seeks Him with all of their heart.[/pullquote] “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 Measure of Faith God has given us all a measure of faith (Romans 12:3). It is a gift from Him (Ephesians 2:8). This measure of faith is enough to cause us to believe when we hear the truth of the Gospel. Just because God has given us a measure of faith, doesn’t mean we will respond. God has also given us free will so we can choose whether to respond. I heard the Gospel as a child and as a teenager and for many reasons chose not to respond. But God didn’t give up. He did not leave me there. No matter how far I tried to run, He was there. 2nd Peter 3:9 says “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Thank God for this truth. Thank God that I started seeking His Truth. As I discussed in The Bible: Fact or FantasyTruth or Lie, my intellect kept me from responding to the truth. For me, it was important to find logical arguments that supported the truth of the Bible. These arguments began penetrating the wall of my intellect. At some point while seeking God and the truth, my intellect stepped out of the way and I stepped out in faith. I cannot tell you the exact moment that the measure of faith God gave me was activated and I believed – I just know it was and I did. Jesus describes it like this ” So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.” John 3:8 It is supernatural. There is no explanation. We all have faith. It is a gift from God. He makes it available to everyone. It is up to us to choose to accept His gift. Sometimes all it takes is to step out in faith and say “I believe God, help me overcome my belief!” Barlow Girl sings a song called Never Alone. This song is about choosing faith. Choose faith today. “And though I cannot see You And I can’t explain why Such a deep, deep reassurance You’ve placed in my lifeWe cannot separate ‘Cause You’re part of me And though You’re invisibleI’ll trust the unseen If there are obstacles in your path that are keeping you from choosing faith, pray this prayer: Lord, I ask you to move my heart towards you today and to remove any obstacles from my path that are keeping me from choosing faith and choosing You. I choose to believe You today and tomorrow and for the rest of my life.