"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD...," (Psalm 33:12a).
* The number and variety of idols a nation can serve are limited only by its citizens' imaginations. Because our nation is by-and-large drifting deeper and deeper into idolatrous denial of the God who made her great, our land is perilously ripe for judgment. Only as we repent, and return to the Lord God of all that is, will we again experience His promised blessing.
* Throughout the biblical record, as well as secular history, every nation that denied and opposed the existence and sovereignty of the living God eventually fell. With the rampant idolatry and flagrant sin throughout our land, America, too, is deteriorating from within. Our only hope is to acknowledge our rebellion, genuinely repent, and return to the Lord whose blessing we urgently need.
* If the nation is blessed whose God is the LORD, then cursed is the country whose gods are idols. America has been spared destruction for the sake of the remnant, but we fool ourselves to believe we are exempt from His judgment. Our land will be blessed only as the Lord sovereignly brings spiritual awakening, for which we must pray.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Bits & Pieces: Prayer Promises
"Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it," (John 14:13, 14).
* In these two verses the Lord Jesus reveals the pattern, purpose, and promise of prevailing prayer. Basic to answered prayer is asking according to the Lord's will, implied in the phrase, 'in My name.' The purpose of prayer is to glorify the Father, meaning He receives the credit and the praise. And the promise of answered prayer is based on who the Lord Jesus is: our sovereign Savior.
* Too often we use the phrase, 'in Jesus' Name' with little or no thought of the implications involved. Tacking the phrase on the end of our prayer, as if it were a magical formula for getting what we want is to miss the spirit of Jesus' promise. He so desires that we glorify the Father by praying with the supreme purpose of submission to His will.
* At first glance, the Lord Jesus seems to be offering a signed blank check to us, bidding us ask for every whim imaginable. The phrase, 'in My Name', however, involves an immeasurably holy standard by which He answers. Submission to His will, a deep desire to glorify the Father, and please the Son, are part of what it means to pray, 'in His Name.'
* In these two verses the Lord Jesus reveals the pattern, purpose, and promise of prevailing prayer. Basic to answered prayer is asking according to the Lord's will, implied in the phrase, 'in My name.' The purpose of prayer is to glorify the Father, meaning He receives the credit and the praise. And the promise of answered prayer is based on who the Lord Jesus is: our sovereign Savior.
* Too often we use the phrase, 'in Jesus' Name' with little or no thought of the implications involved. Tacking the phrase on the end of our prayer, as if it were a magical formula for getting what we want is to miss the spirit of Jesus' promise. He so desires that we glorify the Father by praying with the supreme purpose of submission to His will.
* At first glance, the Lord Jesus seems to be offering a signed blank check to us, bidding us ask for every whim imaginable. The phrase, 'in My Name', however, involves an immeasurably holy standard by which He answers. Submission to His will, a deep desire to glorify the Father, and please the Son, are part of what it means to pray, 'in His Name.'
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Bits & Pieces: Prayer Promises
"Be anxious for nothing, 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 comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus," (Philippians 4:6, 7).
* Someone has well said that worry slanders every promise in the Word of God. The antidote for the poison of anxiety is thankful, praise-filled prayer. And as we bring our specific requests with an attitude of trust in our sovereign Father, He promises His peace will stand guard over our emotions and thoughts.
* When we worry, we assume responsibilities that God never intended for us to have. Paul urges us to replace anxiety with petitions replete with gratitude. (A word to the wise: make specific requests in order to see specific answers.) As we do, His inexplicable peace will replace the fretting that can so easily entangle us.
* Someone has well said that worry slanders every promise in the Word of God. The antidote for the poison of anxiety is thankful, praise-filled prayer. And as we bring our specific requests with an attitude of trust in our sovereign Father, He promises His peace will stand guard over our emotions and thoughts.
* When we worry, we assume responsibilities that God never intended for us to have. Paul urges us to replace anxiety with petitions replete with gratitude. (A word to the wise: make specific requests in order to see specific answers.) As we do, His inexplicable peace will replace the fretting that can so easily entangle us.
Bits & Pieces: Prayer Promises
"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 he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened, " (Matthew 7:7,8).
Amid other Scriptural qualifications for answered prayer such as salvation, pure motives, obedience, and submission to the Lord's will, there is here added the necessity for perseverance. These commands of our Lord to ask, seek, and knock imply continuous action in persistent prayer. Additionally, there is a sense of progressive intensity here-- a sense of greater and greater aggressiveness as we move from asking to seeking to knocking. Finally, note that the Lord Jesus gives no timetable in this promise of prayer answered. The timing will be His, rest assured. And He always answers!
Amid other Scriptural qualifications for answered prayer such as salvation, pure motives, obedience, and submission to the Lord's will, there is here added the necessity for perseverance. These commands of our Lord to ask, seek, and knock imply continuous action in persistent prayer. Additionally, there is a sense of progressive intensity here-- a sense of greater and greater aggressiveness as we move from asking to seeking to knocking. Finally, note that the Lord Jesus gives no timetable in this promise of prayer answered. The timing will be His, rest assured. And He always answers!
Bits & Pieces: Prayer Promises
"Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With a long life I will satisfy him And let him see My salvation," (Psalm 91:14--16).
In an amazing series of promises, the Lord God pledges Himself to His people, all on the basis of two conditions: loving Him, and knowing Him. To the one who is committed to loving and learning Who He is, the Lord promises 8 things--- deliverance, security, answered prayer, His presence through trouble, rescue, honor, longevity, and salvation.
What choice rewards are these which await the one who purposes to love the Lord and to know His Name! Sadly, many experience so few of these blessings, because we are unwilling to pay the price of time and energy. Oh that we would do whatever it takes to love Him unreservedly, and know Him intimately.
In an amazing series of promises, the Lord God pledges Himself to His people, all on the basis of two conditions: loving Him, and knowing Him. To the one who is committed to loving and learning Who He is, the Lord promises 8 things--- deliverance, security, answered prayer, His presence through trouble, rescue, honor, longevity, and salvation.
What choice rewards are these which await the one who purposes to love the Lord and to know His Name! Sadly, many experience so few of these blessings, because we are unwilling to pay the price of time and energy. Oh that we would do whatever it takes to love Him unreservedly, and know Him intimately.
Bits & Pieces: Prayer Promises
"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you," (John 15:7).
* The prime conditions to be met in this prayer promise are to abide in the Lord Jesus, and have His words abide in us. To abide is to enjoy unbroken fellowship, characterized by unhindered communion. Since sin defiles our conscience and breaks our fellowship with the Savior, keeping current with confession & repentance becomes imperative to abiding.
* We like to focus on the 'asking whatever we wish' part of this verse, rather than paying the price of abiding in the Lord Jesus, as well as having His words abide in us. Only as He is our first Love are we willing to gain and maintain continuous communion with Him. Yet, when we persevere in disciplined devotion to the Master, His desires become ours, and we see prayers answered continually.
* The fruit of answered prayer stems from the roots of resting in the Lord, and His words sinking deeply into the soil of our lives. Abiding is not laziness. Rather, it is alertly resting in the Lord's sovereign control. As we do, our senses become trained to pray as He desires, and His will is accomplished.
* The prime conditions to be met in this prayer promise are to abide in the Lord Jesus, and have His words abide in us. To abide is to enjoy unbroken fellowship, characterized by unhindered communion. Since sin defiles our conscience and breaks our fellowship with the Savior, keeping current with confession & repentance becomes imperative to abiding.
* We like to focus on the 'asking whatever we wish' part of this verse, rather than paying the price of abiding in the Lord Jesus, as well as having His words abide in us. Only as He is our first Love are we willing to gain and maintain continuous communion with Him. Yet, when we persevere in disciplined devotion to the Master, His desires become ours, and we see prayers answered continually.
* The fruit of answered prayer stems from the roots of resting in the Lord, and His words sinking deeply into the soil of our lives. Abiding is not laziness. Rather, it is alertly resting in the Lord's sovereign control. As we do, our senses become trained to pray as He desires, and His will is accomplished.
Bits & Pieces: Prayer Promises
"Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it, the LORD is His name, 'Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not know,' (Jeremiah 33:2, 3)."
a.) Like Jeremiah, if we are to know God and His plans for us, it must be revealed to us. In this powerful passage, God commands our calling upon Him, assures us of His certain response, and challenges us to believe Him for magnificent answers. Oh, that we would pray in a manner worthy of the great God Who bids us come!
b.) Isn't it amazing that God must issue a command for His children to call upon Him! He knows only too well our prideful reluctance to consistently depend upon Him in prayer. How very much He longs for us to take Him at His Word!
c.) Our God is looking for people who will trust Him. It's rather sad that, faithful Sovereign that He is, we still doubt His willingness to answer our calling. We can't even begin to imagine the great and mighty things He wants to reveal to us!
a.) Like Jeremiah, if we are to know God and His plans for us, it must be revealed to us. In this powerful passage, God commands our calling upon Him, assures us of His certain response, and challenges us to believe Him for magnificent answers. Oh, that we would pray in a manner worthy of the great God Who bids us come!
b.) Isn't it amazing that God must issue a command for His children to call upon Him! He knows only too well our prideful reluctance to consistently depend upon Him in prayer. How very much He longs for us to take Him at His Word!
c.) Our God is looking for people who will trust Him. It's rather sad that, faithful Sovereign that He is, we still doubt His willingness to answer our calling. We can't even begin to imagine the great and mighty things He wants to reveal to us!
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