The Gift of Repentant Prayer
Today at MCC, Pastor Henry talked about prayers of confession, and he began by looking into the window of Israel's experience as recorded in
Nehemiah 9. This chapter tells about Israel's times of stubborn, stiff-necked disobedience and how each time, when they cried out to God for deliverance, He responded with mercy and compassion. We see how we need to repent to gain God's forgiveness. Remember I John 1:9 which says, "
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
So what prevents us from turning to God in repentance? What could keep us from confessing our sin? I think it is mostly because we are afraid to trust Him. We don't want to admit that the way we have been thinking and doing things is wrong and that by following His commands, He really has our best interests at heart. God gives us the gift of repentant prayer as a way for us to let go of arrogance and pride and hold on to Him instead, and it is a gift of pure grace. He wants us to let go of that "thing" and
trust Him.
Today, I'll leave you with this quote by C.S. Lewis for something to think about:
"The thing is to rely only on God. The time will come when you will regard all this misery as a small price to pay for having been brought to that dependence. Meanwhile, the trouble is that relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing has been done."
What Happens When God Answers Our Prayers?
Today Pastor Henry asked the very appropriate question, "What happens when God answers our prayers?" We were encouraged to think about our response to answered prayers. In doing this, we looked at the story of Hannah in the Bible where she started out the first part of I Samuel 1 very transparent in her bitterness pouring her heart out to God. She wanted a son. After God gave her what she asked for, she responded with joyful thanksgiving. Like the leper in Luke 17, she responded in gratefulness. These are the good things we learn from her response:
1. She was humble with her circumstances.
2. She gives credit where credit is due.
3. She shows how life is found in God.
This story reminds us to look at how God is working in our lives so we can recognize what God is doing and celebrate it. I think sometimes the basic things we have everyday that we ask for - like daily bread - we can take for granted and forget to give God the credit. It also seems that the thing I ask for most is for God to keep us safe in His care, and wow, he is doing it. I hope I never forget to give God the credit!
Healing Prayer
Pastor Amy talked about healing prayer today and read the story from
Mark 9:14-29 where a father asked Jesus to heal his son IF he could do anything to help him. Jesus told him that anything was possible to whoever believes. The man said,"
I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
Healing prayer, Dallas Willard tells us, is part of the normal Christian life. To live under the reign of God, we must believe that His redemption is total. He has the power to heal all areas of our life. But so often, we do pray these "IF" prayers. We don't really think God can heal certain things because no positive outcome or possible way through is foreseeable to us. But in healing prayer, we speak in boldness to invite God's healing because we believe in His sovereignty. And we realize that we do not do the healing, only Jesus can.
So what "IF" prayers do we pray? As I thought about this, I thought that I do believe God is sovereign, but maybe sometimes I could be veiling these "IF" prayers in the phrase "If it is your will" because I don't want to be disappointed if things don't come out the way I think they should or as quickly as I want them to. I think we have to be patient and learn to trust in the God who can do all things.
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Rev 22:1-2
Praying in All Circumstances
Today at Monroe, Pastor Henry talked more about prayer – the emphasis being on prayer in all circumstances. My mind went immediately to that clever someone who said, “I only pray when I am in trouble, but I am always in trouble, so I always pray.” Wouldn’t that be great if we could always recognize the trouble we are in and immediately pray about it? If you think about it, even if we think that the good things happening are because of us instead of responding in thanks, we are already in trouble because these things are from God and we could be thinking too highly of ourselves. A righteous person, as Pastor Henry says, is someone who is in “right relationship” with God: they know that God is God and they are not. And James said in one of the texts (James 5:13-18) we read today that the prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective. There are 3 reasons in this text why we should pray constantly:
1. Life is like a box of chocolates (You never know what you’re going to get.)
2. Prayer is powerful and effective.
3. Anyone can do it. (Elijah was just like us, and look what he did.)
During the sermon, I thought of the Steven King movie we saw last night:
Desperation. In this movie, a very possessed cop had caught several people in the Nevada desert and brought them to his jail in the town called Desperation. The spiritual element in this movie was the best part as we watched a young boy pray throughout the story about the desperate situation they were in. And in the end, like Elijah, this is what saved them.
