Author name: Tom Stuart

The Genesis of Prayer

2 Comments / Check this out!, Prayer /

Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD. Genesis 4:26 (NIV)

Enosh was the grandson of Adam and Eve. His dad Seth gave him a unique name meaning “human being.” It seems an appropriate moniker for a baby born into a world two generations removed from a life in paradise; where his grandparents once had face to face communion with God and walked with Him in the garden.

The world outside of paradise was one in which the curse of the sin of Adam and Eve inflicted creation with pain from childbirth, laborious toil for a livelihood, relationship conflicts and inevitable death. The frailty and hardship of the sin-flawed human condition seems sufficient reason for Seth, a first generation exile, to name his child “human being” and for the inhabitants of earth at that time to begin “calling upon the name of the Lord.” Therefore it stands to reason that a creation willing to acknowledge its brokenness would naturally turn to the one who created it all. And so viola, prayer is introduced into the world for the first time!

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The Year of the Lord’s Favor

2 Comments / Overcoming, Relationship with God /

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. Genesis 6:8-9

The hopes and expectations for 2014 for every Christ follower is probably best summed up in our desire to find favor in the eyes of the Lord. Finding favor carries with it the idea of being blessed with pardon, purpose, provision, protection etc.

Favor is one of those beautiful biblical words that communicate the extension of God’s grace and blessing to human kind. The Hebrew word “chen” interpreted most commonly as “favor” is also translated in some passages of scripture as “grace” or “blessing.” It is significant to note that favor is often phrased in the Bible as something that is “found.” For instance the first mention of the word “favor” is in Genesis 6:8-9: “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” I just happened to read this very verse today as I am launching into my annual daily reading plan to take me through the entire Bible in a year. (If you don’t already have one, try the YouVersion website or app for tons of Bible reading plan ideas.)

When something is found it carries with it the idea of being gifted or granted out of goodwill. That is an important distinction as opposed to something that we possess by virtue of having earned, purchased or gained it by the strength of our own will. Favor in many ways is like God’s mercy. It is unearned. Paul underscores this when he writes “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” (Romans 9:16 ESV)

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Waiting on the Lord

6 Comments / Prayer /

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. Psalm 27:14 KJV
One of the most challenging and perplexing aspects of prayer is the period of time between the request and the answer. That phase is commonly referred to as waiting on the Lord. When prayers are answered quickly, the waiting period is brief and buoyed by an expectant satisfaction and relief in having made the request. But when the answer lingers and the waiting period begins to slowly drag on, waves of doubt and impatience gather strength as they buffet the heart of the pray-er. It could be said that waiting on the Lord is the test between the request and God’s best.
This critical time of waiting on the Lord is often characterized by confusion and weariness. And yet it is in this waiting process, which God purposely allows, that prayer does its deepest, most beneficial work in the heart of the pray-er. As much as we would like to avoid it, it is the necessary path God provides to purify our desires and prepare us to move from promise to fulfillment.
It is understandable therefore that there are many scriptures extolling the virtues of waiting on the Lord. Waiting upon the Lord and hoping in the Lord are frequently linked and sometimes even used interchangeably. “We wait in hope for the Lord,” the psalmist tells us “he is our help and our shield.” (Psalm 33:20 NIV) “Praise awaits you, our God.” (Psalm 65:1 NIV) And “I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.” (Psalm 130:5 NIV)
In the waiting process hope in God’s character and His word is like the oxygen that keeps us breathing words of praise while we wait for God to answer. We can see therefore how critical it is in waiting for God to answer our prayers to maintain a lifeline to hope by reminding ourselves of God’s past faithfulness and many promises.

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The Throne of Grace

Overcoming, Prayer, Uncategorized /

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16 ESV)

One of the most attractive, unadulterated and treasured words in the English language is the word GRACE. It connotes a wide variety of desirable attributes ranging from beauty, elegance, refinement, dignity and ease . . . to kindness, forbearance, responsiveness, mercy and compassion. To be a recipient of grace and graciousness is often a disarming, deeply impressionable and even transformative experience. Gracious actions by gracious people have a way of overwhelming us because graciousness is often undeserved and unexpected.

Grace takes on an even more transcendent meaning when understood in the context of the Christian faith. It is a word that is used over 170 times in the New Testament in a wide variety of applications but most importantly it is the term used to communicate God’s free gift of salvation and all its accompanying blessings that come to us through faith in Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 2:8)

In order to really understand grace and thereby experience it in its fullness, we must always start at the place from which grace proceeds – the throne of grace. The very phrase “throne” of “grace” seems strangely incongruous in marrying/linking two such seemingly opposing ideas of absolute authority and sympathetic compassion. And yet the writer to the Hebrews, in the context of his explanation of how Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Old Testament covenant in order to establish a new covenant, beckons us to that throne of grace with these words: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16 ESV)

The key to comprehending the magnitude of this grace that flows from this throne is found in discovering more about the one who sits upon this throne.

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