03/11/2024
I received a text message one day regarding the precarious position a close friend was in at work, and the stress this was bringing to him and his family. Hearing that his job was in danger I immediately began praying for God to intercede in his struggle. I prayed for my friend often over the coming days and then added an additional prayer for peace and prosperity to my ongoing requests regarding the safety of his job. I wasn’t praying that he would become wealthy, no, I was praying that the Lord would sustain him and take away this distraction to his faith.
In the devotional I wrote yesterday I spoke about contemplating the appropriateness of praying for our health and worldly affairs. Today as I read my devotional message, E.M. Bounds took this idea of praying for worldly matters a step further, and made it more personal...
"He who does not pray about worldly matters cannot pray with confidence about spiritual matters.
He who does not put God in his struggling toil for daily bread will never put Him in his struggle for heaven." – E.M. Bounds
As I thought about these statements that Bounds had made, I distilled them into a single thought... If you can't pray about things seen, then how can you pray regarding those which are unseen? This also ties into our previous studies regarding trust... If we can't trust in God to provide those things which we see and feel, how can we possibly have faith and trust that He will provide those which are unseen?
God created a physical world and gave us a body so that we could live in it; perhaps having one foot in the spiritual world, and the other in the physical world, allows us to better relate to Him. Jesus is referred to as our corner stone that orients us, and quite possibly our overall construction does as well. If our creation, and existence are important enough for Jesus to orient us then it is most certainly important enough for our prayers to ask the same. God doesn't wish us ill, and expects us to talk about these matters with Him when we pray, but are we doing this? Are we comfortable enough to pray for our physical sustenance along with our spiritual increase?
“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7 ESV
To remain focused on our faith we must clear away the things that distract us. There is a pilgrimage route in Spain called the Camino De Santiago, and on this route there is a monument that looks like a telephone pole with an iron cross at the top. This pole and cross are called the Cruz de Ferro, or the Iron Cross. Before leaving home to go on this journey of faith pilgrims examine their lives and determine what obstacles are in the way of their faithfulness; then they find an appropriately sized stone and place it in their pack. After walking many miles the pilgrims come to the Cruz De Ferro, and as they pass by it they place a rock that burdensome rock at its base. This rock represents sin, tribulation, or some other issue they have been facing… then they pray for the Lord to relieve them of it before leaving it there at the foot of the cross.. People weep and pray as they leave the rocks that they have brought with them, and this place has become a huge pile of rocks, and spiritually significant. Leaving behind their burdens and sins is a physical manifestation of a spiritual act of faith and prayer.
The wonderful thing is that we don't have to travel all the way to Spain and walk a pilgrimage in order to do this; we simply need to have a place that we call holy where we can leave our cares, and our burdens.. a place at the foot of the cross. Jesus sees our tears, hears our prayers, and feels the sins, and heartbreaks we have suffered as we lay our own personal rocks at His feet. Then He heals, forgives, and otherwise answers our prayers. It there a place where you go to pray when the rocks you are carrying become too heavy? Listen to what Jesus said, and understand that it is not a religion of prosperity, but one of exchanging our burden for His. Jesus offers to takes our heavy load and to give us His light one in exchange. He takes our raging storms an gives us a summer rain. He takes our heavy rocks, and leaves us with hope, and a prayer.
“”Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.””
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
God desires us to unite our physical and spiritual lives together as we worship Him. He cares for us physically even as He leads us to Himself spiritually. So whether it is our body, our job, our faith, or our heartbreaks; we need to pray them into submission at the foot of the cross. We must believe, and do this in conformance to God's will. If we do this He will most assuredly answer us. Do we have a cross of our own, and do we lay our stones at its base?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for not only creating us as physical beings, but spiritual ones as well. Thank you for sending your Son Jesus Christ to assume both a physical and spiritual body like ours so that He can show us what is possible when we believe in Him. He takes our heavy loads when we feel overburdened by life, or are tempted to our breaking point by the dark one. . . then He redeems us by removing the burden of our sin, and replacing it with our cross as we pick it up and follow Him. Help us Father to shoulder our faith, and bear our cross. Help us to find that holy place in our lives where we can experience quiet solitude and lay down the rocks we have been struggling to carry for so long. Hear our prayers in this place Lord, forgive us our sins, and bathe our souls in peace forevermore. Holy, Holy, Holy are you our God who was, and is, and is to come. Great are you who crushes mountains into sand, and removes every barrier to our faithfulness. You are merciful, full of grace, and able. You love us without bounds, and soothe our most painful wounds. We give you glory in all things Abba, and pray that you will find us worthy in Christ of dwelling throughout eternity in your amazing presence. Let us rest in you, and find endless joy in your house.
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?””
Matthew 16:24-26 ESV
Rich Forbes