Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Several years ago, the Lord began to speak to me about my prayerlessness. It's not that I never prayed-I tried to live each day in a spirit of prayer, seeking to know the heart and mind of God in relation to my activities and relationships and to know what would please Him in each decision and circumstance. But, with few exceptions over the years, I had never cultivated the practice of setting specific times for private prayer. Others may have assumed that I was a woman of prayer; but God knew and I knew that it was not the case.
I'd like to say that I experienced a major "breakthrough" that turned me into the "prayer warrior" I wanted to be. There was no such breakthrough. However, what God began in my heart that summer has been a continuous process. It has included both a measure of growth as well as seasons of defeat. As Charles Swindoll would say, it has been "three steps forward and two steps back." What I do know is that there continues to be, deep within my heart, a call and a commitment to press on and to lay hold of the heart and hand of God through prayer.
As God opened my eyes to this matter of prayerlessness, I asked Him to let me see it from His point of view. Here is what I wrote in my journal one day when God first began to deal with my heart:
I am convicted that prayerlessness:
is a sin against God (1 Sam. 12:23)
is direct disobedience to the command of Christ ("watch and pray"—Mt. 26:41)
is direct disobedience to the Word of God ("pray without ceasing"—1 Thess. 5:17, KJV)
makes me vulnerable to temptation ("watch and pray so . . .you will not fall into temptation"—Mt. 26:41)
expresses independence—no need for God
gives place to the Enemy and makes me vulnerable to his schemes (Eph. 6:18, Daniel 10)
results in powerlessness
limits (and defines) my relationship with God
hinders me from knowing His will, His priorities, His direction
forces me to operate in the realm of the natural (what I can do) versus the supernatural (what He can do)
leaves me weak, harried, and hassled
is rooted in pride, self-sufficiency, laziness, and lack of discipline
reveals a lack of real burden and compassion for others
Why We Don't Pray
Since that time, I have pondered the question, "Why don't we pray more?" Why don't I pray more? Here is what I have come to believe is the number one reason for my own prayerlessness: I don't pray because I'm not desperate. I'm not fully conscious of my need for God. Puritan pastor William Gurnall makes this point in his writings:
"Perhaps the deadness of thy heart in prayer ariseth from not having a deep sense of thy wants, and the mercies thou art in need of . . .. The hungry man needs no help to teach him how to beg."
I remember the first time I visited The Brooklyn Tabernacle, a church that is known as a praying church. Pastor Jim Cymbala explained to us why it is not hard for his people to pray: "In our prayer meetings, you've got desperate people crying out to God. Some of them don't have jobs. Others have husbands who are alcoholics or strung out on drugs. Many are women with no husband at all, trying to raise their children on welfare. Every day we are dealing with crack/cocaine addicts, AIDS patients, people who are HIV positive, people who have never had any family to speak of. These people are desperate! They need God; they don't have anywhere else to turn. That's why they pray."
I have a dear friend whose third child was born with multiple birth defects, including the fact that he had no esophagus. For years, her son was in critical condition, in and out of hospitals, undergoing life-threatening surgeries, requiring a breathing apparatus every night, prone to choking, and frequently unable to breathe. Do you think anyone had to tell that mother to pray for her son? On the contrary, you couldn't keep her from praying—she was desperate. She knew her son's only hope of survival was for God to intervene and spare his life. She knew the only way she could get through those years of sleepless nights was for God to pour His grace into her life and grant supernatural strength and enabling.
In comparison to this mother and to some of those who attend The Brooklyn Tabernacle, many of our lives are relatively trouble-free. If we have a secure job and don't have to wonder where our next meal is coming from, why would we be desperate to pray "Give us this day our daily bread?" From a human standpoint, many of us can live our lives without God's help. We can operate, humanly speaking, on our own efforts and our own resources, apart from His grace and intervention.
So how can we cultivate a sense of desperation—the kind that drives us to earnest prayer?
Cultivating a Desperate Heart
(1) Ask God to make you desperate. Ask Him to make you conscious of your need for Him. Ask Him to give you an intense hunger and thirst for righteousness. Ask Him to place within your heart a longing for intimacy with Him, for purity of life, for the salvation of friends and neighbors, for revival in His church, and for the advancement of His kingdom in the world.
(2) Meditate on the spiritual riches God has promised His children. Compare the reality of your spiritual experience with the abundance He offers. If you are not enjoying the fullness of His peace, joy, freedom, and power, let that motivate you to come boldly to His throne of grace to receive all that He has promised.
(3) Welcome pressures and problems as an opportunity to cry out to God. Though my natural instinct is to wish for a life free from pain, trouble, and adversity, I am learning to welcome anything that makes me conscious of my need for Him. The psalmist said, "When I was in distress, I sought the Lord" (Ps. 77:2). And "Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD" (Ps. 130:1; see also Ps. 107:5–6; Jn. 2:1, 7).
If prayer is birthed out of desperation, then anything that makes us desperate is a blessing. Rather than running from, resenting, or resisting problems, learn to embrace them, for they move us to seek the Lord. When we have nowhere else to turn, we will be more likely to turn to Him.
(4) Recognize that without Him you can do nothing. I sometimes wonder how much of my work for God will go up in smoke at the Judgment Seat of Christ, because it was done independently of His enabling and power. It was my agenda and my effort, not His. When I walk through my day without expressing my need for Him, without asking for His grace and enabling, I am really saying, "Lord, I can do this without You." All such labor is of the flesh and is less than worthless in terms of eternal or spiritual value.
(5) Remember that spiritual battles cannot be won without divine intervention. In the midst of everyday realities, we so easily forget about the warfare that is going on in the heavenly realm. How often do we tackle life's challenges and demands under our own means-natural wisdom, human effort, man-made programs-rather than in dependence on the power of His Spirit? Ask God to give you eyes of faith to see the real battle; the vision will move you to cry out to Him to exercise His power over the unseen forces of darkness.
May God make us truly desperate and grant us faith and boldness to approach His throne. For when we do so, we link arms with Omnipotence and become instruments of the fulfillment of His eternal purposes on this earth.
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
One Final Question
John Piper... year end sermon 2006
One final question: How shall we understand these six promises in verses 7 and 8: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened”?
Does this mean that everything a child of God asks for he gets?
I think the context here is sufficient to answer this question. No, we do not get everything we ask for and we should not and we would not want to. The reason I say we should not is because we would in effect become God if God did everything we asked him to do. We should not be God. God should be God. And the reason I say that we would not want to get everything we asked is because we would then have to bear the burden of infinite wisdom which we do not have. We simply don’t know enough to infallibly decide how every decision will turn out and what the next events in our lives, let alone in history, should be.
But the reason I say that we do not get all we ask is because the text implies this. Jesus says in verses 9-10 that a good father will not give his child a stone if he asks for bread, and will not give him a serpent if he asks for a fish. This illustration prompts us to ask, “What if the child asks for a serpent?” Does the text answer whether the Father in heaven will give it? Yes, it does. In verse 11, Jesus draws out this truth from the illustrations: Therefore, how much more will your Father give good things to those who ask him.
He Gives Only Good Things
He gives good things. Only good things. He does not give serpents to children. Therefore, the text itself points away from the conclusion that Ask and you will receive means Ask and you will receive the very thing you ask for when you ask for it in the way you ask for it. It doesn’t say that. And it doesn’t mean that.
If we take the passage as a whole, it says that when we ask and seek and knock—when we pray as needy children looking away from our own resources to our trustworthy heavenly Father—he will hear and he will give us good things. Sometimes just what we asked. Sometimes just when we ask it. Sometimes just the way we desire. And other times he gives us something better, or at a time he knows is better, or in a way he knows is better.
And of course, this tests our faith. Because if we thought that something different were better, we would have asked for it in the first place. But we are not God. We are not infinitely strong, or infinitely righteous, or infinitely good, or infinitely wise, or infinitely loving. And therefore, it is a great mercy to us and to the world that we do not get all we ask.
Take Jesus at His Word
But if we take Jesus at his word, O how much blessing we forfeit because we do not ask and seek and knock—blessings for ourselves, our families, our church, our nation, our world.
So would you join me in a fresh new commitment to set aside time for prayer alone and in families and in groups in 2007. All the rest of this Prayer Week, with its special booklet prepared for you, is meant as extended application of this sermon.
One final question: How shall we understand these six promises in verses 7 and 8: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened”?
Does this mean that everything a child of God asks for he gets?
I think the context here is sufficient to answer this question. No, we do not get everything we ask for and we should not and we would not want to. The reason I say we should not is because we would in effect become God if God did everything we asked him to do. We should not be God. God should be God. And the reason I say that we would not want to get everything we asked is because we would then have to bear the burden of infinite wisdom which we do not have. We simply don’t know enough to infallibly decide how every decision will turn out and what the next events in our lives, let alone in history, should be.
But the reason I say that we do not get all we ask is because the text implies this. Jesus says in verses 9-10 that a good father will not give his child a stone if he asks for bread, and will not give him a serpent if he asks for a fish. This illustration prompts us to ask, “What if the child asks for a serpent?” Does the text answer whether the Father in heaven will give it? Yes, it does. In verse 11, Jesus draws out this truth from the illustrations: Therefore, how much more will your Father give good things to those who ask him.
He Gives Only Good Things
He gives good things. Only good things. He does not give serpents to children. Therefore, the text itself points away from the conclusion that Ask and you will receive means Ask and you will receive the very thing you ask for when you ask for it in the way you ask for it. It doesn’t say that. And it doesn’t mean that.
If we take the passage as a whole, it says that when we ask and seek and knock—when we pray as needy children looking away from our own resources to our trustworthy heavenly Father—he will hear and he will give us good things. Sometimes just what we asked. Sometimes just when we ask it. Sometimes just the way we desire. And other times he gives us something better, or at a time he knows is better, or in a way he knows is better.
And of course, this tests our faith. Because if we thought that something different were better, we would have asked for it in the first place. But we are not God. We are not infinitely strong, or infinitely righteous, or infinitely good, or infinitely wise, or infinitely loving. And therefore, it is a great mercy to us and to the world that we do not get all we ask.
Take Jesus at His Word
But if we take Jesus at his word, O how much blessing we forfeit because we do not ask and seek and knock—blessings for ourselves, our families, our church, our nation, our world.
So would you join me in a fresh new commitment to set aside time for prayer alone and in families and in groups in 2007. All the rest of this Prayer Week, with its special booklet prepared for you, is meant as extended application of this sermon.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer
Scot McKnight over at Jesus Creed has been posting on a new book called God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer, by Pete Greig. I have not read the book yet, but I have already benefited from Scot’s summary of the main points. Here are sixteen reasons Greig suggests that God sometimes does not answer prayer:
Common sense: Am I asking God to do something stupid, meaningless, or illogical?
Contradiction: Are my prayers likely to be conflicting with those of someone else?
Laws of nature: Are my prayers potentially detrimental to the natural order or to the lives of others?
Life is tough: Am I expecting God to spare me from stuff that’s just common human experience because of the Fall?
Doctrine: Does my prayer reflect God’s character and His promises in the Bible? Might it be out of line with His will for my life?
Second best: Although my desire in prayer is for something good, is it possible that God has something even better in store for me?
Motive: Are my prayers essentially just selfish?
Relationship: Is there an opportunity here for going deeper in my relationship with God?
Free will: Am I expecting God to override someone’s free will?
Influence: Am I trying to exercise ungodly power over a person’s life in prayer?
Satanic opposition: Is my prayer in line with God’s will but experiencing specific demonic resistance?
Faith: Do I really believe that God can do this? Am I out of my league?
Perseverance: Do I want it enough to keep praying?
Sin: Honesty time: Is there some secret sin you need to confess?
Justice: Am I actively seeking to express God’s love for the poor?
None of the first 15: Am I trying to find answers where I need instead to trust?
Common sense: Am I asking God to do something stupid, meaningless, or illogical?
Contradiction: Are my prayers likely to be conflicting with those of someone else?
Laws of nature: Are my prayers potentially detrimental to the natural order or to the lives of others?
Life is tough: Am I expecting God to spare me from stuff that’s just common human experience because of the Fall?
Doctrine: Does my prayer reflect God’s character and His promises in the Bible? Might it be out of line with His will for my life?
Second best: Although my desire in prayer is for something good, is it possible that God has something even better in store for me?
Motive: Are my prayers essentially just selfish?
Relationship: Is there an opportunity here for going deeper in my relationship with God?
Free will: Am I expecting God to override someone’s free will?
Influence: Am I trying to exercise ungodly power over a person’s life in prayer?
Satanic opposition: Is my prayer in line with God’s will but experiencing specific demonic resistance?
Faith: Do I really believe that God can do this? Am I out of my league?
Perseverance: Do I want it enough to keep praying?
Sin: Honesty time: Is there some secret sin you need to confess?
Justice: Am I actively seeking to express God’s love for the poor?
None of the first 15: Am I trying to find answers where I need instead to trust?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Worship and Prayer
Worship and Prayer
Fasting
by Northwestern University students
The Bible defines fasting as a Christian's voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual purposes. Jesus makes it clear that he expects us to fast. In Matthew 6:16 he begins by saying, "When you fast." Also, this teaching about fasting in the Sermon on the Mount directly follows his teaching on giving and praying. It is as if it were assumed that giving, praying and fasting are all part of the Christian devotion.
We cannot use fasting to impress God (or others) or to earn his acceptance. We are made acceptable to God through Jesus' work, not ours. Fasting pointedly reveals the things that control us, whether that be our stomachs, pride, anger, bitterness, jealousy, selfishness, fear--the list goes on. Fasting reminds us that, instead, we are sustained "by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). Food does not sustain us; God sustains us. When the disciples, assuming that he was hungry, brought lunch to Jesus, he said, "I have food to each of which you do not know. . . . My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work" (John 4:32,34).
Richard Foster writes in Celebration of Discipline:
Therefore, in experiences of fasting we are not so much abstaining from food as we are feasting on the word of God. Fasting is feasting! . . . We are told not to act miserable when fasting because, in point of fact, we are not miserable. We are feeding on God, and just like the Israelites who were sustained in the wilderness by the miraculous manna from heaven, so we are sustained by the word of God.
Fasting does not change God's hearing so much as it changes our praying. There's something about it that sharpens and gives passion to our intercessions. Fasting also makes us more receptive to God's guidance and wisdom. The church in Antioch "fasted and prayed" before they laid their hands on Barnabas and Saul and sent them off on the first missionary journey (Acts 13:3).
There are also many other purposes of fasting such as expressing grief, seeking deliverance or protection, expressing repentance and a return to God, humbling oneself before God, overcoming temptation, expressing love and worship to God, and so on. In all of this, God will reward those who diligently pursue him.
A small group could decide to do a prayer fast together beginning after lunch on a given day. During the dinner hour, the following Bible study could be used.
* Read through Psalm 145 and jot down all the characteristics of God you see in the passage.
* Take some time to praise God for the characteristics in the passage.
* Then read Acts 4. Below are some prayer requests based on that passage.
o Personal: that knowledge of Scripture would grow for God's glory (vv. 8-11), that boldness and courage of Peter and John to speak to friends and neighbors about Christ (vv. 19-20)
o Christian community: that prayer would be the first thing on our minds (v. 24), that the Holy Spirit would shake us to speak the word of God boldly (v. 31), that we would exemplify the community of believers to our community (vv. 32-35)
o Community: that people in our neighborhoods and on our campuses would recognize their sinfulness (v. 10), that people would acknowledge that Jesus is salvation (v. 12), that Jesus would reside in our community (vv. 29-30)
That evening a small group could meet to process the day, discuss what God has taught them and pray together again.
Fasting
by Northwestern University students
The Bible defines fasting as a Christian's voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual purposes. Jesus makes it clear that he expects us to fast. In Matthew 6:16 he begins by saying, "When you fast." Also, this teaching about fasting in the Sermon on the Mount directly follows his teaching on giving and praying. It is as if it were assumed that giving, praying and fasting are all part of the Christian devotion.
We cannot use fasting to impress God (or others) or to earn his acceptance. We are made acceptable to God through Jesus' work, not ours. Fasting pointedly reveals the things that control us, whether that be our stomachs, pride, anger, bitterness, jealousy, selfishness, fear--the list goes on. Fasting reminds us that, instead, we are sustained "by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). Food does not sustain us; God sustains us. When the disciples, assuming that he was hungry, brought lunch to Jesus, he said, "I have food to each of which you do not know. . . . My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work" (John 4:32,34).
Richard Foster writes in Celebration of Discipline:
Therefore, in experiences of fasting we are not so much abstaining from food as we are feasting on the word of God. Fasting is feasting! . . . We are told not to act miserable when fasting because, in point of fact, we are not miserable. We are feeding on God, and just like the Israelites who were sustained in the wilderness by the miraculous manna from heaven, so we are sustained by the word of God.
Fasting does not change God's hearing so much as it changes our praying. There's something about it that sharpens and gives passion to our intercessions. Fasting also makes us more receptive to God's guidance and wisdom. The church in Antioch "fasted and prayed" before they laid their hands on Barnabas and Saul and sent them off on the first missionary journey (Acts 13:3).
There are also many other purposes of fasting such as expressing grief, seeking deliverance or protection, expressing repentance and a return to God, humbling oneself before God, overcoming temptation, expressing love and worship to God, and so on. In all of this, God will reward those who diligently pursue him.
A small group could decide to do a prayer fast together beginning after lunch on a given day. During the dinner hour, the following Bible study could be used.
* Read through Psalm 145 and jot down all the characteristics of God you see in the passage.
* Take some time to praise God for the characteristics in the passage.
* Then read Acts 4. Below are some prayer requests based on that passage.
o Personal: that knowledge of Scripture would grow for God's glory (vv. 8-11), that boldness and courage of Peter and John to speak to friends and neighbors about Christ (vv. 19-20)
o Christian community: that prayer would be the first thing on our minds (v. 24), that the Holy Spirit would shake us to speak the word of God boldly (v. 31), that we would exemplify the community of believers to our community (vv. 32-35)
o Community: that people in our neighborhoods and on our campuses would recognize their sinfulness (v. 10), that people would acknowledge that Jesus is salvation (v. 12), that Jesus would reside in our community (vv. 29-30)
That evening a small group could meet to process the day, discuss what God has taught them and pray together again.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Thoughts on prayer....
Here's a scenerio:
Boy likes girl. Boy chases girl. Boy prays:Lord,i wished that you grant me this girl as my girlfriend.So after prayer, he went ahead to approach the girl. The girl is not interested and start to avoid the boy. Girl prays: 'Lord, keep this guy away from me, send another guy... erm... make it cute.' Surely one will end up:'Hallelujah, Praise the Lord!' ; and another will end up:' How long O Lord?' Did God answer prayer?
Here's another one...
A vacancy in a company. 2 christians applied. Both prayed. surely one will be disappointed. Surely one will end up:'Hallelujah, Praise the Lord!' ; and another will end up:' How long O Lord?' Did God answer prayer?
what's my point? God does answer prayers; it comes in the form of Yes,No or Wait. Dont expect God to answer prayers as according to your will and wishes....
i spoke to an aunty in church yesterday. She told me, as parents, they are praying for their children and children's children. I bet her other aunties also pray for their sons: to get the right job, to get the right girls( or for that matter, Lord, please keep the WRONG girl from coming to my boy...) , to enter into the right ministry... what i wonder who is praying on the 'other' side - maybe employers are praying that they will not want this guy in their company; maybe their son is a jerk breaking a girl's heart,the girl may be crying out injustices to God... maybe the pastor would not even want to consider this guy for ministry.
who is right? who is wrong? we don't know... only God knows....
it points to another aspect here... God considers ALL prayers, but surely he is in control and sovereign , and make the best possible path for all participants in light of his manifested wisdom.
Perhaps , just perhaps... the guy needs to grow up before getting the girl;
or God could send the guy to the girl as a form of suffering & evil -so that the girl can grow up. Either way, someone will grow up? right?
Boy likes girl. Boy chases girl. Boy prays:Lord,i wished that you grant me this girl as my girlfriend.So after prayer, he went ahead to approach the girl. The girl is not interested and start to avoid the boy. Girl prays: 'Lord, keep this guy away from me, send another guy... erm... make it cute.' Surely one will end up:'Hallelujah, Praise the Lord!' ; and another will end up:' How long O Lord?' Did God answer prayer?
Here's another one...
A vacancy in a company. 2 christians applied. Both prayed. surely one will be disappointed. Surely one will end up:'Hallelujah, Praise the Lord!' ; and another will end up:' How long O Lord?' Did God answer prayer?
what's my point? God does answer prayers; it comes in the form of Yes,No or Wait. Dont expect God to answer prayers as according to your will and wishes....
i spoke to an aunty in church yesterday. She told me, as parents, they are praying for their children and children's children. I bet her other aunties also pray for their sons: to get the right job, to get the right girls( or for that matter, Lord, please keep the WRONG girl from coming to my boy...) , to enter into the right ministry... what i wonder who is praying on the 'other' side - maybe employers are praying that they will not want this guy in their company; maybe their son is a jerk breaking a girl's heart,the girl may be crying out injustices to God... maybe the pastor would not even want to consider this guy for ministry.
who is right? who is wrong? we don't know... only God knows....
it points to another aspect here... God considers ALL prayers, but surely he is in control and sovereign , and make the best possible path for all participants in light of his manifested wisdom.
Perhaps , just perhaps... the guy needs to grow up before getting the girl;
or God could send the guy to the girl as a form of suffering & evil -so that the girl can grow up. Either way, someone will grow up? right?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
