All tagged god’s will
When we pray we often ask for things we need, but do we also seek God's will for us in prayer. It is so tempting to determine our own way or to follow blindly the path that others have blazed, but our ways and those of others will be found lacking if they aren't guided by the will of God throughout our lives. We should place Jesus, and God's will for us, before all else. Our faith in God's will and the gospel of Jesus should be all consuming, and ever on our minds.
Persistence in prayer is our topic for this morning and at first glance it almost appears that in doing so we are attempting to force our desires on God, but there is more to this practice. God hears every word we utter in prayer and His memory is perfect, so why should we approach Him repeatedly with the same request until it is either granted, or denied? Because Jesus tells us to do so. Pastor E.M. Bounds gave some insight into this practice when he wrote: "it is praying with courage until our cries are [realized]." He went on to describe persistent prayer as "prayer on fire... Not having a feeble, flickering flame or momentary spark, but shines with a vigorous, steady glow." in other words it is a reflection of our faith which stands behind it.
Today we are contemplating praying "Specific Prayers" in a certain manner. In my morning devotional reading today, E.M. Bounds wrote that to get the things we desire, we needed to be specific and particular with our prayers and that we should include thanksgiving in our petition. I agree that we should clearly ask God for what we want of Him, and to demonstrate our confidence in His provision through thanksgiving, but this isn't to be confused with being a legal contract. Our Father already knows our desires before we voice them, but He expects us to demonstrate that we understand them as well, and are appreciative of His provision.
Visions and God's will, His plan, for us. This is my contemplation today. God gives us glimpses, and sometimes very detailed insights into what He has planned for us, and then He goes about accomplishing His will through us. The question becomes this... are we totally on board with His plan for us; are we excited about the vision (where He is taking us), or are we reluctant passengers, ready to disembark before the final destination has been reached? Are the goals we have for our lives consistent with His?
Are there places that we don't feel at home in… even when we are with God? This is my morning thought. My goal in faith is to be comfortable with God wherever I am and in whatever circumstance I find myself... So how do I get there? God is at home everywhere, so no matter where we are, the discomfort we might feel is ours... not his. There is a wonderful passage of scripture in Psalms 139 that speaks to this subject, and we should keep it in the forefront of our minds…
When we offer intercessory prayer for those around us, is our own sympathy for them getting in the way of effective prayer? Are we putting our own desires for them between them and God? So often we pray our will, and not God’s, and this can happen when we pray for others as well. Do we pray with empathy, or sympathy for others?
Our trust should be in the Lord, but more than that, all of the confidence we exhibit is comprised of Him. If we trust in Him and exhibit His confidence, then we will be truly blessed. The doubt we once had will be gone, and the fear will have been overcome by the confident nature of our Lord. Oh, what a blessing this would be.
I was convicted this morning as I bore into my devotional thought. I was searching an inconvenient truth... there are times when I wound Jesus in my attempt to achieve righteousness. In those times I am similar to Saul, and face imminent correction.
When the Lord our God gives us a bitter cup, and tells us to drink, what is our response? When we are told to face the death of a loved one, or perhaps our own death, do we walk dutifully into it, or do we resist it with all our might? What was Abraham’s response when he was asked to sacrifice his only son Isaac; did he hesitate to obey? In similar fashion, Jesus didn’t want to die, but more than that, He didn’t want to disobey the will of His Father. So He healed the ear that Peter had cut from the soldier’s head as he tried to rescue Jesus, and then our savior told him to put up his sword. Jesus didn’t just obey, but he helped to facilitate God’s will. Do we do this when we come to know God’s will for us? Is it in us to not only obey, but to contribute to God’s will for us?
God is love, and there is no love greater, but if there is a gold standard of love within the human race, it is the love of women. God suited them for this role, and when we compare our human love, the love of a parent, friend, or sibling, it is typically to the overall love of women. We see this in scripture in the words of David after Jonathon has been killed, and in our secular writing, poetry, and song throughout the ages.
As we look at the many and varied tasks set before us while doing God’s will we become keenly aware of the enormity of what He wants accomplished, and it can appear overwhelming to us at times. We are sent abroad, into our communities, asked to tend to the sheep of Christ in so many ways, and we are told to build churches, show mercy to the poor, and so much more. So we pray for wisdom, guidance, and strength, but there comes a point when the enormity of His plan is still too great, and we must ask for not only help, but helpers. This is not a failure on our part, but rather an admission of our successes, and an understanding of all that needs to be done. Jesus knew this, and instructed us to pray for workers; to ask the Lord to call others, and to send more laborers.
When we are in prayer, and asking for something in the name of Jesus, how do we feel at that moment, what are we asking for, and are we asking so that we will bear more fruit for Him? Is what we are asking for in the name of Jesus meant to glorify God? So often our prayers are selfish in nature, and meant to do nothing more than satisfy our own immediate wants, but are our wants aligned with God’s wants; with His will, and His desire?
Do we pray and ask as we should? Jesus intercedes for us, and so does the Holy Spirit, but they only do so when we ask for those things that are absolutely within the will of God. Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that God’s will and not His would be done, and this is the same prayer of intercession that He and the Spirit pray over us every day. In hearing His prayer we know that Jesus had His own will, and that it could be different from God’s; why else would He pray as He did. The same is true of us, and we need to be equally careful to pray for God’s will to be done in our lives, and to do so each time we pray.
In the gospel of John, the Apostle describes to us a historical progression in the method of praying for miracles, and our other divine petitions. He begins with a quote from Jesus in which Christ tells us to ask of Him, in His name, for the things we desire, but as the New Covenant is realized, and the Holy Spirit is poured out on us, John reveals a new, and revised, method via another amazing quote of Jesus. Our Savior tells us that we are no longer to ask Him for these things, but to ask God, our Father, directly. Although we are still to ask the Lord in His name, the name of Jesus. Now, In this, the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, we truly are new creatures… having become much more like Christ.
Have we completed God’s will for us? Perhaps we don’t understand His will for our life well enough to know when we have started working at it, have reached certain mileposts in the effort, or completed it. One thing is for certain, Jesus knew what God’s will was for Him, and He stayed the course until at last that will had been accomplished in full. How wonderful it must have felt to have done all that God had asked. So how do we come to know the will that God has for us, and to know it well enough that we can work it to completion?