Pray consistently!
This week’s devotions are based on Week 4 of Rooted – Grounded in Prayer (CLICK HERE)
1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray continually.”
Does that mean that you can get nothing else done in your day, but from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed you have to be in prayer?
No.
But it reminds us of two things.
Prayer is available any time of the day.
As a child growing up, you knew that your parents were available pretty much 24/7. When you were little, they were in proximity at all times. As you went to school and did some things on your own, you knew they were just a phone call or text away. While you maybe didn’t think of your parents 24/7, you knew they were available for conversation, help, and even late night bad dreams.
Our heavenly Father desires that we have such a close relationship with him that we can and do talk to him on an ongoing basis in our day. There is not a time where God sleeps and is not available. There is not an issue that comes up unexpectedly in our day that he is not interested in. There is not a situation that he is not interested in hearing about. We can call out to the Lord in praise and thanks or worry and concern anytime during our day.
Prayer is important at set times of the day.
While we can and want to be in ongoing communication with our heavenly Father, setting some deliberate times in our day for prayer is also a beneficial discipline. Probably the best example of this was Daniel. Daniel actually had such a regular prayer life that his enemies were able to convict him of prayer because they knew when and where he would be praying. Even under threat of the lions’ den, Daniel maintained his routine and set time for prayer.
Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. 11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. 12 So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the lions’ den?” The king answered, “The decree stands—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”
God spared Daniel from the lions’ den. Daniel was unphased by the external circumstances of his life because he had a strong and ongoing connection to the Lord almighty.
Here’s a couple thoughts and encouragements from Martin Luther on praying consistently:
In 1535, Luther wrote a book for his barber containing practical advice on prayer. In A Simple Way to Pray, Luther recommended that prayer be the first business of the morning and the last at night.
Guard yourself carefully against those false, deluding ideas which tell you, “Wait a little while. I will pray in an hour; first I must attend to this or that.” Such thoughts get you away from prayer into other affairs which so hold your attention and involve you that nothing comes of prayer for that day.
This echoes the advice given in his Small Catechism (1529) where Luther provided content and structure for a blessing or prayer “in the morning, as soon as you get out of bed” as well as an evening blessing “in the evening, when you go to bed.” He also provided prayers for before and after meals. Luther knew that set times and habits of prayer could be helpful to the Christian. Luther advocated daily prayer, as he wrote in the Large Catechism (1529):
Therefore from youth on we should form the habit of praying daily for our needs, whenever we are aware of anything that affects us or other people around us, such as preachers, magistrates, neighbors, and servants; and, as I have said, we should always remind God of his commandment and promise.…This I say because I would like to see people learn to pray properly and not act so crudely and coldly that they daily become more inept in praying. This is just what the devil wants.*
Apply: Set at least one time in your day which you will spend 3-5 minutes in prayer. Add or increase your time as you begin to realize the blessing of spending that time with the Lord!
Prayer: Lord forgive us for hurrying about our day without awareness of you or set times to speak with you. Give us your spirit of discipline to, like Daniel, make prayer a regular and set part of our days. AMEN.
* Practical Advice on Prayer from Martin Luther by MARY JANE HAEMIG https://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/35-1_Prayer/Practical%20Advice%20on%20Prayer%20from%20Martin%20Luther.pd*
Pray confidently!
This week’s devotions are based on Week 4 of Rooted – Grounded in Prayer (CLICK HERE)
Prayer is initiated out of a relationship.
Every parent has had their day interrupted by a piercing, “Mom!” or “Dad!” Their child has some need that they are unable (maybe sometimes unwilling?) to resolve and are calling out to you as a parent for help. At times the need is simply squishing a spider that wandered onto their bedroom wall or help on a math problem. At other times it may be an injury or some other predicament they can’t get themselves out of.
When our children call out to us for whatever need they have, they do so because they are confident of the following:
- You as their parent will hear them.
- You as their parent will listen to them.
- You as their parent will respond to them.
- You as their parent will do what’s best for them.
They trust you as their parent to help, and so they cry out with confidence.
What about in our prayer life?
Do we carry a similar approach to our heavenly Father?
Do we turn to him with confidence or a bit of a caution? Is praying to our heavenly Father a first resort or a last resort? Do we have faith he will help or skeptical he will do anything?
Where is your confidence level in approaching your heavenly Father? Martin Luther expressed it this way as he expanded on the address of the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven. What does this mean? With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.
With the same boldness and confidence as we would cry out to our parents, so we can approach our heavenly Father with the same boldness and confidence. Like our parents, you can be sure of your heavenly Father:
- He will hear you.
- He will listen to you.
- He will respond to you.
- He will do what’s best for you.
Perhaps the secondary challenge of our confidence is trusting that God will do what is best for us. We often can subconsciously prescribe the time and way God should answer our prayers and get frustrated when it doesn’t play out that way. Again, here is a helpful insight to reflect on from Martin Luther:
Luther emphasized in a number of places that we are not to prescribe to God the details of how prayer is to be answered. In On Rogationtide Prayer and Procession (1519) he admonished: [Y]our trust must not set a goal for God, not set a time and place, not specify the way or the means of his fulfilment, but it must entrust all of that to his will, wisdom, and omnipotence. Just wait cheerfully and undauntedly for the fulfilment without wanting to know how and where, how soon, how late, or by what means. His divine wisdom will find an immeasurably better way and method, time and place, then we can imagine. (*)
So pray with confidence, knowing your heavenly Father will always listen and do what is best when it is best for his children.
Apply: Evaluate your heart when you pray. Is it filled with confidence or a bit of skepticism? Ask the Spirit to instill a strong confidence in your heavenly Father’s ability to hear and answer your prayers for your best interest.
Prayer: Father, thank you for calling me your child and giving me the confidence to always approach you boldly as I would my earthly parents. AMEN.
Quote:
* “Practical Advice on Prayer from Martin Luther” by MARY JANE HAEMIG https://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/35-1_Prayer/Practical%20Advice%20on%20Prayer%20from%20Martin%20Luther.pdf
Who’s prayers does God respond to?
This week’s devotions are based on Week 4 of Rooted – Grounded in Prayer (CLICK HERE)
Prayer by definition is simply words expressed to a higher power or being. Prayer represents conversation to the divine. With this definition, anyone can pray if they acknowledge some entity or being as divine or more powerful than they.
However for the Christian, prayer is a very special thing.
Prayer is our communication with the true God because he has removed in Christ the barrier of sin and made us his children by faith. We are able to call him “Our Father” because he has made us his dear children. As a result, God, the true God, hears our prayers, listens to them and responds. The best example of this distinction I have found in Scripture is Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Both prayed. Only the prayer of Elijah was answered because there is only one true God and he only responds to the prayers of his children. Here is the account from 1 Kings 18:
20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
But the people said nothing.
22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the LORD’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”
Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it.
Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “O Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”
34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!”
Apply: Take time today to use the privilege of prayer.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the relationship you have established with us to be your children. As your children, we are grateful that you hear and respond to our prayers. Help me never take this privilege for granted, but use it often. AMEN.
Service is Stewardship
This week’s devotions are based on Week 3 of Rooted – Grounded in Service (CLICK HERE)
When we have the right mindset, we ask the right questions. When we ask the right questions we get the right answers. When we have the right answers we are able to implement the right behaviors.
What do I mean?
Our sinful nature wants us to have the mindset that everything we have in life is ours. It’s our time…our money…our careers…our resources etc. This mindset leads us to ask the question, “What do I want to do with my….?” We navigate life as stewards of our own belongings and manage them for what is in our own best interest. It’s understandable. It’s natural. But it leads us to view service as in imposition or invasion into our time and resources. As a result we don’t see service to the Lord through his church as something that is desirable, but rather an obligation or duty that we have to fulfill to get back to what I want to do.
The Spirit of God desires to create in us a new mindset, not a mindset of selfishness, but one that sees everything we have as a gift from God. When God’s Spirit helps me understand that the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it and that my times are in God’s hands, I begin to realize that my life, resources, gifts and talents are all on loan from God. When this mindset takes place, I begin to ask a different question, “Lord, what do you want me to do with your stuff that you have entrusted to me?” I see myself as a manager of the Lord’s time, money, and gifts and desire to use them as he desires me to. The Apostle Peter put it this way: 1 Peter 4:10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
We are stewards of a small portion of God’s gifts, goodness and grace. He has given us life and faith to be used in service of him and to be a blessing to others.
So now I ask different questions. Lord, how do you want me to use YOUR time? Lord, how do you want me to use YOUR money? Lord, how do you want me to use YOUR gifts?
When we ask these questions, we seek God’s answers in his Word where he directs us in the use of our time, finances, gifts, etc. to use them to glorify him and serve others.
The result? My life becomes one of service to the Lord and to others. I see my part in the body of Christ gathered at my church and desire to join the effort with fellow believers to grow the impact of the Gospel in our community. I realize that the finances God has given to me are first to be given back to him as a statement of trust that he will provide with the remaining 90%. I realize the talents and gifts he has given to me are to be used to glorify him and be a blessing to others.
Service is stewardship. Service is simply doing with the time, gifts, and resources God has given to me as God has desired from me.
The result?
Well done, good and faithful servant!
Apply: What is one behavior that changes when God’s Spirit works his mindset deeper into your life?
Prayer: Lord thank you for everything you have given to me in life. Help me with your direction to use all that you have given to me to glorify you and serve others. AMEN.
You are part of the team!
This week’s devotions are based on Week 3 of Rooted – Grounded in Service (CLICK HERE)
Nothing significant has been accomplished by just one person. One person accomplishes something significant because he is surrounded by a team of people. Think of great inventors that have provided an invention that has changed our culture and lifestyles…the Wright brothers, Edison, Gutenberg…all of these people had individuals around them who enhanced and promoted their ideas. Additionally inventors often build on experiments of people who have tried in the past. Each person on a team brings to the effort their unique abilities and insights. Together, even though the invention is credited to one individual, the invention becomes a staple of the people who live.
When we think about the Christian faith, it works in a similar way. The reality is that Christ, of course, is the initiator of the CHristian faith and movement. However, he has invited and called us all to be part of it. The Spirit of God has gifted each of us with different gifts and abilities that are to be used in service of the Gospel message. The fact that Christ is known around the world is because God’s people have been willing to use their gifts to serve.
1 Corinthians 12:4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
When the Spirit of God calls you to faith through the Gospel he also gives you gifts to serve the cause of the Gospel. He makes you part of the greatest movements the world has ever known to bring the solution to sin to the hearts of people. The service we give to the promotion of the Gospel is the greatest work we can ever do. The purpose is God-given and the impact is eternal.
Perhaps at times service to the Lord through your church can seem unimportant, busy work or an imposition on your schedule. Certainly service is not to be driven by guilt or obligation, but by a great sense of purpose and importance to connecting people to Jesus.
So whether it is mowing the grass, teaching Sunday School or kids church, giving an offering, or producing an online broadcast (and much more), the service we give impacts the lives of people. You are also needed. If God was done with you, he would take you to heaven. But if you are still breathing, God has a purpose for you.
When we serve, we participate in the greatest movement in the world and for the world. Don’t sit on the sideline as the opportunities are many and your gifts are needed. You are an answer to Jesus’ prayer:
Matthew 9:35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Apply: How can you use your gifts to serve the Lord through your local church? Your gifts are needed!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for calling me to faith and giving me gifts to serve. Forgive me for failing to use those gifts. Renew my heart to see and carry out the great purpose you have given to bring Jesus to the world. Use me Lord! AMEN