Relationship with God

The Why and How of Prayer Mandates

Prayer, Relationship with God /

“As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you.” 1 Samuel 12:23 (NIV)

The prophet Samuel, in his farewell address and final warnings to Israel, reminds them of his faithfulness to fulfill God’s mandate upon his life to pray for them. My use of the word mandate to describe his prayer commitment is intentional because it refers to a royal command or authorization to act in a particular way. In this instance, Samuel’s prayer mandate from the Lord is so serious that he would consider it a sin if he did not do it.

A prayer mandate is a sacred trust in which God conscripts His prayer watchmen and warriors to intercede on behalf of particular groups of people for the fulfillment of His purposes in their lives.

Prayer mandates are common throughout the Bible. They reveal God’s heart and intentions for His creation. They are invitations to enter into the implementation of God’s sovereign plans in the earth. Prayer mandates gripped the lives of Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and Esther, just to mention a few of the Old Testament saints.

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul repeatedly makes reference to his unceasing, night and day prayer for the churches that he established. (Colossians 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 3:10, 2 Timothy 1:3 etc.) At one point in reference to this mandate he confesses “I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” (2 Corinthians 11:28 NIV)

It is not unusual to receive from God multiple prayer mandates. Paul reveals that he also had a mandate from God to pray for Israel’s salvation. “Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.” (Romans 10:1 NIV)

One of the best examples of a prayer mandate in action is the prayer that Jesus prays in John 17. In His prayer He clearly delineates His mandate when He says He is praying to the Father for a very specific group of people: “for all those you have given me” (vs. 2, 6) and for “those who will believe in me through their message.” (vs. 20) “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, for they are yours.” (John 17:9)

What group(s) of people has God given you responsibility to pray for? Do you have one or more prayer mandates that God has given you as a sacred trust of intercession for His purposes to be fulfilled?

Prayer mandates provide a rhythm to our life of prayer by assigning us a priority to praying regularly for particular groups of people. They give us specific focus and direction for prayer that when revisited again and again add a depth of increasing revelation, wisdom and authority.

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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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Is it time you took a rest?

5 Comments / News & Reflections, Overcoming, Relationship with God, Uncategorized /

For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! (Isaiah 64:4 NLT)

There is a foundational spiritual principle for realizing inner peace, transformation and breakthrough in life. And it is this, it only happens when we choose to rest and let God do the work. This is a simple truth but it is not easy to do because it is counter intuitive to human reason and how the world operates.

The fact remains, in the spiritual realm and in God’s kingdom it is all about His work from beginning to end. Our relationship with God, His choice of us, our acceptance and forgiveness, our very sonship is based upon His work and not ours. Paul writes “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes (trusts) in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,” (Romans 4:4-5 ESV)

In God’s economy the operating principle for increase is not driven by earning, but by receiving. Therefore it is God’s delight to “gift” His creation with good things like righteousness and salvation. The main thing that requires of us is not work but trust. There is a big difference between those two, working versus trustin. When that understanding first dawned on me as an unredeemed struggling sinner, and it actually happened when those two verses out of Romans jumped off the page into my heart at a home bible study, it rocked my world. I felt liberated from the frustration and inability on my part to earn acceptance from God and I found myself rejoicing in that fact that what I could not do for myself, God had already done and was offering it as a free gift. His only requirement of me was that I trust Him to do it – to cease from my work and trust Him do the work.

Recently I had to have a minor surgery on my hand. It required submitting myself to anesthesia and the care and skill of my doctor and those who attended him. I would not have done it if I had not trusted the surgeon to do what I could not do myself. Because I was “out” during the whole procedure, it could be said I was ceasing from my labors in “resting” while I trusted him do all the work. As a result, I have become the recipient of a new and better functioning hand.

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The Transcendent Power of the Lord’s Prayer

Prayer, Relationship with God /

“Our Father . . . give us . . . forgive us . . .lead us . . .deliver us.”

This past week I was one of approximately 150 unlikely people drawn together by a mutual desire to support the family of a dear saint who suffered an untimely death. At such times there is an understandable awkwardness, in part due to the diversity of those in attendance and the fact that many, although they knew the deceased, do not know one another. When we gathered in the funeral home chapel, and the service proceeded, as is often the case, one could hear a pin drop save for the voice of the pastor conducting the service.

Toward the end of the service, the pastor invited the congregation to stand and join her in the saying the Lord’s Prayer. I must say, given the mix of people in the room, the wide age span, obvious diversity of religious backgrounds and solemnity permeating the room, I did not expect much response – perhaps at best a perfunctory mumbling recitation by a few who knew the prayer and professed a Christian faith. I was genuinely and pleasantly caught off guard. The entire gathering, almost with gusto, prayed the entire prayer from memory without a hitch and the volume and deep resonance of the blended voices filled the room. It was as if the lid of a pressure cooker had been taken off releasing a pent up expression of corporate faith and love. The atmosphere in the room changed with the confession of that timeless prayer. In some mysterious way it bound everyone together in a shared grief for the passing of a loved one and the hope of eternity and the resurrection. It was, at least for me, a holy moment worth treasuring and meditating upon.

Why, in what is increasingly being called a non-Christian culture, does the Lord’s Prayer still have such a wide base appeal and effect? There are probably a number of reasons that could be cited. I will limit my attempts to answer this question to two.

First the Lord’s Prayer reveals some very compelling qualities about the God to whom Jesus was instructing us to pray.

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