Category Archives: Prayer

SERVE THROUGH PRAYER

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While we certainly should agree that prayer is an important part of Christian life, we often struggle to make prayer a primary, consistent part of our lives. We interact with others frequently through out smartphones, but the same urgency is often lacking with our prayers. With our phones, we can talk with people about their needs and concerns, but in prayer, we can to God, the Creator and Sustainor of the universe, about those same needs and concerns. By intervening on behalf of others through prayer, we can change others’ lives. Step into the lives of others by praying for them. Elijah was a prophet known for his praying. God dramatically changed the trajectory of Elijah’s ministry.

                                                  Read 1 Kings 17:17-18

17 Sometime later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

       The widow of Zarephath is unsure of Elijah’s identity when, after taking the prophet into her home, her son becomes deathly sick. By the end of the story, though, she is ready to proclaim, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth” (1 Kings 17:24). What enables such a dramatic shift in her outlook? The widow of Zarephath is unsure of Elijah’s identity when, after taking the prophet into her home, her son becomes deathly sick. By the end of the story, though, she is ready to proclaim, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth” (1 Kings 17:24). What enables such a dramatic shift in her outlook?

        Nothing less than the resuscitation of her dead child changes her mind. Elijah’s revival of her child from death to life relieves her doubt about who Elijah is, what his purposes are, and from whom his strange powers originate. Of course, she now believes he speaks God’s truth! Witnessing such a miracle would make a believer out of any of us — at least, we hope it would. But the widow’s profession of faith is not the only movement from doubt to belief in this story.

       Elijah himself is anguished by the child’s sickness. His prayer accuses God of having wrought evil in the house that has given him refuge from God’s own drought and famine (17:1). Already in this brief chapter, we learn that he has antagonized the king (17:1), received food from birds (17:2-7), and sought sustenance from a starving widow (17:8-16), all because the word of the LORD has come to him. Obedience, both his and the widow’s, seems to have been rewarded with suffering.

        Elijah does not voice this doubt publicly. In all of his interactions with the widow, he adopts a matter-of-fact tone. He does not answer the widow’s invective, in which she accuses him of singling her out and making her answer for her sins (17:18).

                          Read 1 Kings 17:19-21

19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”

        Elijah took him out of her arms: This vivid detail shows that the widow clutched the dead child tightly in her arms. The upper room where he was staying: The term upper room “Refers to a temporary shelter or room on the roof, accessible from outside the house. Such structures are common in the Near East. This arrangement would allow the widow not only her needed privacy but would safeguard her reputation”.

       Then he cried out to the LORD: Elijah prayed with great heart and intimacy with God. He brought this seemingly unexplainable and irredeemable tragedy to God in prayer. Since he knew God led him to this widow, Elijah laid this tragedy on God and asked Him to remedy it.

        He stretched himself out on the child three times and cried out to the LORD: This was an unusual prayer technique, but Elijah had no precedent for this. It was not because of his prayer technique, but because of his faith that God answered this prayer. There is an almost irresistible desire to embellish on these wonderful accounts of the power of God. There are those who speak of one such attempt: “Syriac translation, followed by Jerome, that the lad was the prophet Jonah is totally unsatisfactory and historically impossible (cf. 2 Kings 14:25).”

       O LORD my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him: “A prayer full of powerful arguments. Thou art the Lord, that canst revive the child; and my God, and therefore wilt not, do not, deny me. She is a widow; add not affliction to the afflicted; deprive her not of the great support and staff of her age. She hath given me kind entertainment; let her not fare the worse for her kindness to a prophet, whereby wicked men will take occasion to reproach both her and religion”. 

         These words, in which the word also refers to the other calamities occasioned by the drought, contain no reproach of God, but are expressive of the heartiest compassion for the suffering of his benefactress and the deepest lamentation, which, springing from living faith, pours out the whole heart before God in the hour of distress, that I may appeal to Him the more powerfully for His aid. The meaning is, “Thou, O Lord my God, according to Thy grace and righteousness, canst not possibly leave the son of this widow in death.” Such confident belief carries within itself the certainty of being heard. The prophet therefore proceeds at once to action, to attempt to restore the boy to life.

       A prayer full of powerful arguments. Thou art the Lord, that canst revive the child; and my God, and therefore wilt not, do not, deny me. She is a widow; add not affliction to the afflicted; deprive her not of the great support and staff of her age. She hath given me kind entertainment; let her not fare the worse for her kindness to a prophet, whereby wicked men will take occasion to reproach both her and religion.

                                Read 1 Kings 17:22-24

22 The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

        We hear that the boy is saved because “God listened to the voice of Elijah” (verse 22). This is surprising because on the surface the story of Elijah seems to be about the power of God’s word. It is a story about getting people to listen to God’s voice. Yet, at this pivotal moment in the narrative, the tide turns because God listened to Elijah’s voice. The boy’s breath returns to him because God recognizes the truth in Elijah’s protest. In this moment of crisis, in response to the truth in Elijah’s words, God mobilizes the power of life and does something God has never done before. God attends to this seemingly small thing — the death of a poor boy — with an enormous act of reversal. God pulls and saves the boy.

        When the widow sees her son revived in Elijah’s arms, she proclaims, “You are a man of God…. the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth” (verse 24). Now the woman saw that Elijah’s God could be trusted. In essence the woman confessed that she believed in the Lord God of Israel because He raised er son. The reality of the resurrection is rooted in faith in the living God. Believing in the resurrection of the body is not just for highly spiritual Christians. The resurrection forms the foundation of authentic belief in God.  Elijah does not argue, but the reader knows that while her interpretation may be accurate, it does not capture what happened in the upper chamber. The boy’s life returns because God recognized that the word of Elijah was truth.

        Even when Elijah protests against God, his word expresses God’s truth. Amazingly, God recognizes it too. Perhaps truth is not just the word of God delivered from on high. Because at least in this narrative, truth emerges out of a dialogue. In the context of this narrative, I expect a recovery of sorts. I expect a divine answer — or at least a narrator’s commentary — that communicates, somehow, that this resurrection miracle was part of God’s plan from the beginning. God thought this would be a great way to show the world that God is not only more powerful than Baal but more powerful than death.

       God provides us many opportunities to step into the lives of our friends and family members by praying for them, especially when they encounter life’s trials. Just like the widow in this story, they may hold false ideas about the nature of God or how He deals with people. As we pray and God answers our prayers, the results can lead others to turn to God in faith. When we intercede for others in prayer, we can likewise join with God in restoring lives and leading people to Christ.

COMMITTED TO PRAY

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                       What stands in the way for us to commit to pray? There can be many things that don’t make it easy to pray as often as we should. Praying as often as we should and especially and for others maybe fall into the category of a Spiritual Gift. We know they abound within the church and are given to each believer at the time of their salvation experience. Believers are gifted in different ways and are called to exercise their gifts in different even if they have the same gift. One ministry can share in praying for others as individuals, while another is led to pray for situations and groups as well as individuals. I just wrote a new lesson on Spiritual Gifts for November 8th for which I found some very good commentary. It’s natural, easy, and appropriate to go to God with our own personal needs, but we are also called to intercede for the needs of others. Furthermore, a commitment to pray for others brings the joy of seeing how God answers and work in others’ lives. We are to commit to pray for the salvation and spiritual growth of others. So, we must ask God to remind us of our access to God through prayer.

                                 Read Colossians 1:3-6a

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you.

        We give thanks to God, meaning himself and Timothy (v.3). This is the beginning of the epistle, which is introduced with a thanksgiving to God; to whom praise and thankfulness are always due as a Creator and preserver, as the author of all good things, as the Father of mercies, temporal and spiritual, and as the covenant God and Father of his people through Christ: wherefore it follows, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; the sense of which either is, that God the Father, who is the object of praise and thanksgiving, is both the God of Christ, and the Father of Christ, the God of Christ, as Christ is man, and the Father of Christ, as Christ is God; or the latter is exegetical of the former, and may be rendered thus, “God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”: and very properly are thanks given to him under this character, because it is as he is the Father of Christ that he blesses his people with all spiritual blessings; and because he is their God, as well as his God; and their Father, as well as his Father, though in a different sense, his by nature, theirs by adoption. Moreover, as all their blessings come from God, as the Father of Christ, and through Christ, and for his sake, so it is very proper that thanks should be returned unto him under that character; and through Christ, by whom alone such sacrifices of praise are acceptable to God: it is added, praying always for you; which, as it is expressive of the constant discharge of the duty of prayer, and the continual remembrance of these saints in it, and shows the affection the apostle had for them; so it points out the time when, and the way and manner in which Paul and Timothy gave thanks to God on account of them; it was when they were at the throne of grace, and in their frequent prayers to God; thankfulness for mercies received, both by ourselves and others, being a branch of the duty of prayer.

        Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus (v.4) – To wit, by Epaphras, who had informed Paul of the steadfastness of their faith and love; Colossians 1:7-8. This does not prove that Paul had never been at Colossae, or that he did not establish the church there, for he uses a similar expression respecting the church at Ephesus Ephesians 1:15, of which he was undoubtedly the founder. The meaning is, that he had heard of their faith at that time, or of their perseverance in faith and love. Which ye have to all the saints – In what way they had manifested this is not known. It would seem that Paul had been informed that this was a character of their piety, that they had remarkable love for all who bore the Christian name. Nothing could be more acceptable information respecting them to one who himself so ardently loved the church; and nothing could have furnished better evidence that they were influenced by the true spirit of religion; compare 1 John 3:14.

       Verse 5 starts, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. The union of hope with faith and love is natural enough. Compare the fuller expression of 1Thessalonians 1:3, “your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope.” But the place assigned to hope in this passage is notable. “For the hope” is really “on account of the hope.” Hence faith and love are spoken of, not merely as leading up to hope, but as being actually kindled by it. Similarly in Ephesians 1:18 we find that, while faith and love are taken for granted, there is a special prayer that they may be enlightened “to know the hope of His calling” as the one thing yet needful. The prominence given to the thought of “the heavenly places” in the Epistles of the captivity, and therefore to Christ in heaven, even more than to Christ risen, is evident to any careful student. Accordingly, the hope, which is the instinct of perfection in man, and which becomes realization of heaven in the Christian, naturally comes out with corresponding emphasis.

       Ye heard before that is, at their first conversion. There is an implied warning against the new doctrines, which are more fully noticed in the next chapter. The truth of the gospel.—This expression (as in Galatians 2:14) is emphatic. It refers to the gospel, not chiefly as a message of graciousness and mercy, but rather as a revelation of eternal truths, itself changeless as the truth it reveals. There is a corresponding emphasis, but stronger still, in St. John. (See, for example, 1John 2:27; 1John 5:20; 2John 1:1-4; 3John 1:2-3.) The gospel was now winning its way to supremacy over civilized thought. Hence the need of warning against the sudden growth of wild speculations, contrasted with the unchanging simplicity of its main truths.

        Which is come unto you – It has not been confined to the Jews or limited to the narrow country where it was first preached but has been sent abroad to the Gentile world. The object of the apostle here seems to be, to excite in them a sense of gratitude that the gospel had been sent to them. It was owing entirely to the goodness of God in sending them the gospel, that they had this hope of eternal life.

.                              Read Colossians 1:6b-8

As indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on yourbehalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

       As it is in all the world; as it was come into, and preached to all the world, and was made   useful, and continued in all the world at that time. Christ gave his disciples a commission to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature; it was no more to be restrained to a particular nation, but was made general and common to all the nations of the world, and accordingly they preached it to all; and by this time had delivered the joyful message to the greater part of the world, which is sometimes meant by all the world, and the whole world; or it had been now preached in all the known and habitable parts of the world by one apostle and another, some being sent into one part, and some into another; so that the grace of God appeared to all men, and the doctrine of it had been preached to every creature under the heaven, according to Christ’s commission; the Gospel of the kingdom was to be preached in all the world, for a witness to all nations, before the end of the Jewish state came, or before the destruction of Jerusalem, which was not many years after the writing of this epistle. Now this shows, that it was the same Gospel which had been preached at Colosses by their faithful minister there, as had been preached in other areas, and in all parts of the world by the apostles; which is said in the commendation of the Gospel, it being one, uniform, consistent, and all of a piece in every place, and as preached by every faithful minister, and might serve greatly to confirm the Colossians in their faith of it:

       And bringeth forth fruit: by which is meant, either the conversion of sinners, the fruit of the Gospel ministry, when attended with a divine blessing and power; or the graces of the Spirit, as faith, hope, love, repentance, humility, self-denial, &c. with all the effects thereof, in new obedience, and a godly conversation, which come from Christ, the green fir tree, and are produced by the Spirit, through the preaching of the Gospel. The Vulgate Latin adds, “and increases”; the Syriac version has the same; and it is so read in some Greek copies, as in the Alexandrian copy, two of Stephens’s, and in the Complutensian edition; and may intend the spread of the Gospel among others, besides those who first received it, and the growing fruitfulness of the professors of it under its influence:

       And knew the grace of God in truth: by “the grace of God” may be meant the love and favor of God, in the mission and gift of his Son, to be the Savior and Redeemer of lost sinners, displayed in the Gospel, of which they had a comfortable experience, it being shed abroad in their hearts by the Spirit; or the blessings of grace revealed in the Gospel, as free justification by the righteousness of Christ, full pardon of sin, according to the riches of grace, and adoption of children, arising out of the love and free favor of God, of which they had had a real application made to them through the Gospel, by the Spirit of God; or rather the doctrine of grace itself, so called because it is a declaration of the free grace of God in the salvation of sinners and the means of implanting grace in the heart.

       As ye also learned of Epaphras – who is for you – Who this Epaphras was we cannot tell; only it is likely that he was a Colossian, and became, by the call and grace of Christ, a deacon of this Church, faithfully laboring with the apostle, to promote its best interests. Some think that he is the same with Epaphroditus, Epaphras being a contraction of that name, as Demas is of Demetrius; and it is remarkable that one of the Slavonic versions has Epaphroditus in this place. That he was a Colossian is evident from Colossians 4:12; : Epaphras, who is one of you, ὁ εξ ὑμων· some think that he was the first who preached the Gospel among this people, and hence called an apostle. He was raised up among themselves to be their minister in the absence of the apostle, and he showed himself to be worthy of this calling by a faithful discharge of his ministry, and by laboring fervently for them all, and pressing them forward, that they might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

       Your love in the Spirit – So we preached, and so ye believed. The heavenly flame in the heart of this minister communicated itself to those who heard him; it was like priest like people. They enjoyed a spiritual, energetic ministry, and they were a spiritual people; they had a loving spirit, and love through the Spirit of God which dwelt in them. And of this love of theirs in the Spirit, and particularly towards the apostle, Epaphras gave full proof, not only by describing to the apostle the affection they felt for him, but in presenting to him those supplies which their love to him caused them to furnish.

                                Read Colossians 1:9-12

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified youto share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

       Paul’s prayer that the Colossians would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will does not mean that he wants them to know whether they should take a different job offer or marry a particular person. Rather, he’s asking that they might know God’s moral will as revealed in His Word. “Being filled” with this knowledge is a prayer that they would be controlled by this knowledge so that it would govern every thought, word, and deed. Since God’s moral will is a reflection of His holy character, Paul’s prayer is that these new believers would grow to know God Himself as He has revealed Himself in His Word.

       The knowledge of how God wants us to live requires spiritual wisdom. “Spiritual” is emphatic by position and applies both to “wisdom” and “understanding.” Spiritual wisdom and understanding come from God’s Spirit and stand in contrast to the worldly wisdom of the false teachers (Col. 2:23). “Wisdom” is an Old Testament concept emphasized often in the Book of Proverbs. The same Greek words for both “wisdom” and “understanding” often occur together in the Septuagint, as in Proverbs 9:10:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

       The main idea behind the Hebrew concept of wisdom is “skill.” The men who were able to construct the tabernacle according to God’s plan as revealed to Moses are called “wise,” meaning skillful (Exod. 31:3, 6; 36:1-2). Just as a skilled carpenter can take a piece of rough wood and shape it according to a plan into a beautiful and useful piece of furniture, so the wise person is able to take the rough elements of life and shape them according to God’s plan into something beautiful and useful to Him. Spiritual wisdom requires learning about God and how He wants us to live so that our lives will not be ruined by sin, but rather will become a finely crafted product that will cause others to be attracted to the Maker, who displays His glory in us.

      The knowledge of how God wants us to live requires spiritual understanding. Wisdom and understanding are somewhat synonymous, but there may be a subtle nuance of difference. “Wisdom” refers to knowing how God’s Word commands us to live, whereas “understanding” refers to insight, perception, or the ability to discern between things. Understanding enables us to put the pieces of wisdom together in specific situations. In 2 Timothy 2:7, after using the analogies of the solider, the athlete, and the farmer, Paul tells Timothy, “Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” The Lord would enable Timothy to grasp mentally the truths of those analogies and put them together so as to gain insight into how he should conduct his ministry.

       How do you become filled or controlled by the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding? To illustrate, when I was in the Coast Guard and we were navigating in the fog, we used two things to keep from running into something. First, we used our radar, which would show up an object as a little blip on the screen. We couldn’t see it out the window because of the dense fog, but the radar said, “Look out! Something is out there!” But in addition to the radar, we’d send a man to stand on the bow. Sometimes it was so foggy that you could barely see him, but he would wear a headset so that he could talk with the bridge. Sometimes he could see something from his vantage point that those on the bridge couldn’t see.

       Two things help us grow in spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that my life hasn’t run aground in the moral fog of this world. The first is prayerfully to read and meditate on the Word of God. By reading the Bible over and over and thinking about what it says and asking God for understanding, I can see the blips of danger on the screen and avoid smashing into them. God’s Word exposes the dangerous winds of doctrine that are blowing in our times. It also reveals the way that Satan has tempted people in the past and the consequences when they have yielded to his evil schemes. All of you men should burn into your minds the portrait of the foolish man in Proverbs 7, whose first mistake was to go near the home of the loose woman. Then he succumbed to her enticement, “as a bird hastens to the snare. So he does not know that it will cost him his life” (Prov. 7:23). God’s Word imparts spiritual wisdom and understanding.

        The second way I’ve been helped is by reading church history and Christian biographies. God’s Word is like the radar but reading church history is like the guy on the bow. You don’t depend on him alone, but sometimes he can help you interpret what you’re seeing on the radar screen or point out something that you missed. By reading what God’s people have faced down through the centuries and how they either succeeded or failed, you gain insight into our times.

       Spiritual growth means walking in a manner worthy of the Lord as we seek to please Him in all things. The knowledge of God’s will lead to a walk that is worthy of the Lord. The result of all biblical knowledge should be godly conduct. And the primary motive for godly conduct is not that we can live a happier and better life (although that always is the result), but rather that we please and glorify the Lord. Before we look at the four ways Paul says that we can please the Lord, note that this is a walk. That implies steady progress in a deliberate direction. You don’t get there by a dramatic spiritual experience or a quick fix, but rather by steady, deliberate, day by day growth in understanding through God’s Word.

      1. We please the Lord when we bear fruit in every good work.

      2.We please the Lord when we increase in the knowledge of God.

      3. We please the Lord when we are strengthened with His power to be steadfast and   

          patient.

      4. We please the Lord when we joyously give thanks to Him for His great salvation.

How do you develop this joyous, thankful attitude in the midst of difficult problems or difficult people? Paul’s answer is to set your mind of the fact that the Father has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light (the Greek text has the definite article before “light”). The picture in Paul’s mind is the division of the land of Canaan in the Old Testament. After Israel conquered Canaan, they divided up the land by lot. Each tribe received a portion of the land to live on and pass on to their descendants after them.

       Even so, Paul is saying that the Father has given us an inheritance that we share with all the saints in the light. We all have Christ in us and enjoy His full salvation. Individually, we’ve been given gifts to use for the common good. And we should pass this spiritual heritage down to our children and grandchildren. They should see our joy in the Lord, even when we go through trials, and want to experience the same blessings that we enjoy.