Persistence in Prayer
Pastor Amy talked about prayer today by comparing the story of Abraham pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah in
Genesis 18:16-33 and the story of the persistent widow in
Luke 18:1-8. In looking at how prayer was used in the 2 stories, we saw these 4 similarities:
Persistence
Boldness
Seeking justice and deliverance
God is a Judge
Amy brought up 3 good questions regarding these similarities.
1. What is the purpose of our persistence? Why can't God deliver us now?When we pray with persistence, we are declaring our faith in God. Because we believe in His mercy and deliverance, we do not give up! Luke 18:8 describes it this way: "However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"
2. What kinds of prayers do we persist in?Should we keep praying for a pony? :) Both of the stories today were about persistence in prayer to God the
Judge. We should keep praying in and for situations where justice is needed and we should pray that God's justice will prevail.
3. Will God answer these prayers?Yes, He will because He is merciful, and He does deliver.
Monday addition: What are you persistent in prayer about?
As a parent, of course I am persistent in prayer for my family - that my kids all know God and mature in their faith. I also pray for the patients who come to Pine Rest (where I work) to find Jesus' healing. I think these are both prayers to persist in - for God's goodness and justice to prevail over evil.
Labels: Prayer
Unity : Showing His Glory
When Pastor Henry asked us to talk to someone we didn't know very well and find 3 things in common, I was surprised to find out the first 3 things that came out of my mouth were things we had in common! Now this isn't very likely - we are all so unique - but it does show that different things unify us. One thing that every single person on this planet has in common is that we have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. The thing that unifies us as believers is that we believe that Jesus is the only way to God.
Pastor Henry read to us from
John 17 - this is the prayer that Jesus prayed for His disciples and even for us! In this prayer, Jesus prays that they (and we) may be one even as He and the Father are one. He then explains how He and God are one - they are one in their love for the world and they are united in proclaiming God as the source of life. He wants us to be united so that we can show His glory.
How can we promote unity within God's family? As we are all different parts of One Body, I think we need to encourage each other in our various roles and help where we can so that our relationship with God can be strong. In verse 11, Jesus puts it like this:
11 For I'm no longer going to be visible in the world; They'll continue in the world While I return to you. Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life That you conferred as a gift through me, So they can be one heart and mind. (The Message)
This topic of unity is so huge I can't cover it all! I haven't even mentioned love or work or fellowship or the Cross, so I need help here...
Come to Jesus
Today, Pastor Henry continued to talk about Prayer and started with the invitation of Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30:
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Jesus invites us to come to Him and take His yoke upon us because His yoke is easy. A yoke is a heavy wooden harness that fits over the shoulders of oxen and is attached to heavy equipment that they must pull. Why would Jesus’ yoke be easy? One reason why we know it’s easy is because He has all power and authority in heaven and earth to forgive and restore. In the Bible, we saw where He was able to calm the storms and heal the paralytic man, and we can even point to times in our own lives where He brings us love, healing, and peace.
Pastor Henry then talked about what it means to take Jesus yoke upon us. When we are yoked with God, He pulls us along and teaches us. We allow His voice to come right in to our situation. We need to be connected, or yoked, to Him so we can hear Him and then we can also speak to Him in prayer. Henri Nouwen described prayer as the way to connect the things that trouble us to the gentle and humble heart of Jesus. So prayer, then, is like a bridge where we can transfer our burdens and find rest for our souls. As a real life example, Skip and Gord shared their powerful experience from last week when they shared their burden with Christ’s Body. When we prayed for them, they felt peace as their burden was lifted. Our God is amazing!
Prayer
Today, Pastor Amy began the worship series on Prayer. She began by reading Psalm 103 which gives us a good picture of our relationship with God:
1 Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
6 The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: 8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. 17 But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children-- 18 with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. 21 Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. 22 Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, O my soul.As an example of how we must appear in our relationship to God, Amy showed us the tattered pink-ish pig which belongs to her daughter. Even though we are so broken and tattered and worn out by sin, God loves us. He forgives us. He already knows that we are broken, but then He gives us prayer as the method to communicate with Him. Prayer is the place where we lay out our brokenness and we are accepted by Him. We have to trust Him with what He already knows about us.
Toward the end, Amy challenged us to commit to use prayer in 2007 - and to think of it as our part in our love relationship to Him.
