This morning let's reflect on whether we are either leading or growing into a holy life that is full and rich. Let's ask ourselves the hard questions such as... "Am I seeking out holiness and the presence of God in all I do?" In our quest for a more enduring faith we should long to be holy, and long to be like Jesus in everything we do. Our lives should be dominated by a constant motivation, provided by prayer, to obtain holiness, and through that effort; salvation.
Have you ever been shopping or at a restaurant and seen an older couple walking together that have the same stride, have the same mannerisms, the same inflections in their speech, and in some strange way even resemble each other? It would be easy to mistake them as brother and sister, but they are in fact husband and wife. This is what years of love and living together does... it joins us in ways that we often can't explain and that are so subtle we barely realize it’s happening. Our faith and holiness should unite us with Christ in much the same way.
What is God's work in the world? Different people have quite different answers to this question, but today let’s focus on removing the negative impacts of the devil on God’s creation. To do so, let’s use the words of the Apostle John helps us in this regard…
07/09/2024
This morning we are contemplating the delays and denials we experience in prayer, but even more, we will visit the courage and persistence needed in such times. My morning devotional reading described these occurrences in prayer using these words:
This morning we will begin by studying one of the most incredible examples of intercessory prayer. Moses goes to the mountain to receive the first set of tablets but while he is gone the Israelites ask Aaron to build them a golden calf to worship... which he does. Moses isn't aware of this when God tells him He will destroy the Israelites and build a nation from his offspring (much like the promise to Abraham). But, Moses prays that God will spare them.
This morning we contemplate the symbiotic relationship between faith and prayer, and the fact that one cannot exist without the other. They are so tightly bound together that continuous prayer and never failing faith become as one. The persistence of prayer is the result of a strength of faith and vice-versa. Pastor E.M. Bounds states it in this way: "Faith functions in connection with prayer and persistence. Persistence cultivates the belief that prayer will be answered. A person with a persistent spirit will be blessed.” And, scripture leads us to understand the connection between prayer and faith in words such as these…
This morning we will concentrate on a miracle that occurred on the outskirts of Jericho. It is the story of Bartimaeus, another blind man that was healed after calling out to Jesus, and there is a lesson in it for both believers and unbelievers alike. . Here is the account of what happened that day:
Two days ago we spoke of cases where prayer wasn't answered immediately, and today we will speak further on that subject through the biblical story of Jesus healing the two blind men in Capernaum. This is indeed the first example we have of Jesus healing the blind... He had been busy through the course of the day, healing, teaching, calling Matthew to follow Him, and raising the dead, but as the people continued to follow after Him we read of two blind men calling out to Him from the crowd for healing. It appears that perhaps Jesus didn't hear them, and yet they continued to follow after Him until they finally entered into the house where He was, and there, because of their faith, He restored their sight.
Today is the 4th of July and I would like to take this opportunity to share with you a few thoughts regarding nations in general and ours specifically. Today we are celebrating the day our nation was established. Yet, in the lives of men, nations come (as ours did on this day in 1776) and nations go (as the rule of England over us also did on that day) so let's do more than just pray for the future of our country, let's pray for the souls of the men and women who are currently involved in governing us, and all those who have done so in the past. When this United States dissolves, at the return of the Lord Jesus, the souls of the men and women who are governing us, and those who have done so through the years, will rise, and be judged.
Three steps to successful prayer sounds like it could be a pamphlet in a church lobby, but it is much more than that, it is what we all desire… a simple set of three words that we can follow which will improve our ability to converse with God. This morning we won’t be studying some carefully compiled set of rules derived by a theologian in an ivory tower, but rather the actual words of Jesus as He directs us to ask, seek, and knock in scripture. Then, we will apply His words to our prayers and faith lives.
Forceless prayer is the topic of our contemplation this morning. My morning reading dealt with how prayer should be an earnest and inward movement towards God, and then it went on to say that although there was much prayer in the time of Isaiah that it was indifferent and self-righteous... with very little real movement towards God. Isaiah was a greater prophet and sent to prophesy for his time, but he also prophesied regarding the Messiah to come... Jesus.
Our devotional thought this morning surrounds praying as a holy act, and focuses on the subsidence of holiness in the church today. Our scripture verse tells us that unless we are holy then we will not see the Lord, and yet we, and our churches, spend an inordinate amount of time in the physical world. Even when we pray we tend to focus more on our wants and less on loving God and our neighbors, thanksgiving, asking for forgiveness, and other spiritual things. We need to lean into these things as we pray.
This morning we will reconsider the parable of the man who goes to his neighbor in the middle of the night to borrow bread. This parable teaches us persistence in prayer and typically is taught as prayer which motivates God by our nagging impudence. Today I would like to propose an alternate study. The lesson, as it is typically taught, goes like this... When Christmas is drawing near, our children begin to communicate their desires relative to Christmas gifts. Sometimes the list of wants might change but there are certain requests that remain as they repeat them time and time again. In this way they hope to nag us in hopes that they will get what they want.
As I prepare to move into the second half of the year reading a daily devotional each morning that was written by Pastor E.M. Bounds (The Power of Prayer), I would like to direct our contemplation today towards the Holy Spirit and the impact that he has on our prayers, and our prayer lives. Will you walk with me as we study some of the important aspects of praying that the Holy Spirit brings into our prayer closets with us? Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as our paraclete, which means our helper, counselor, and comforter. Merriam-Wester’s dictionary defines paraclete simply as the Holy Spirit.
Today we will be studying Holy Anointing within the church and its relationship to prayer. We will also consider the conditional nature of this gift and prayer's role in maintaining its freshness. Here is a quick rundown on anointing before we discuss these topics... There are different types of anointing; there is the simple practice of applying oil, or some other substance, to a person or thing, there is the common practice of anointing someone's head or feet as a sign of respect, there is an Ecclesiastical anointing of the sick, and then there is the Holy Anointing such as the one that priests and pastors receive, and which also carries with it the Hebrew translation of the word Messiah or “anointed”.