Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Hebrews 13:3 (NIV) Imagine being given a 48 hour ultimatum, because you were a Christian, to either leave your city with only the clothes on your back or face […]
Pray for Iraqi Christians! Read More »
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD. Isaiah 1:18b (NASB)
Appealing to God to answer prayer can be likened to the ways in which children learn to convince their parents to act on their behalf. There are certain approaches that are more effective than others. In fact, the basis from which appeals are made can make a huge difference in how a request is answered.
When my firstborn son was three he loved going to the park near our home where there was a playground. Like many parents, I was sometimes too preoccupied to give him the attention he desired and occasionally found myself procrastinating in doing the things I had promised him. One day my little guy came up to me holding in his left hand a small bible we had given him. With his right hand he was pointing to it emphatically and looking me directly in the eyes he pleaded “Go park!”
Since my conversion to Christianity the year of his birth I have always unashamedly made the Bible my handbook for life. My son knew that from seeing me studying it daily, searching its pages for guidance, using it for family devotions, and teaching from it as a pastor. Needless to say his words and actions immediately melted my heart and without hesitation I put aside what I was doing in order to take him to the playground. Kid’s know how to touch their parents (and grandparents) hearts don’t they?
How much more can we as children of our Heavenly Father know how to touch His heart? The truth is there are proven ways to convince God to answer our prayers! I use the word “convince” here advisedly, understanding that prayer is not so much a process of convincing God as it is discovering His will and His ways in order to use that as the basis for our request.
7 Ways to Touch God’s Heart in Prayer Read More »
Most Christians would agree that demonstrating a self-sacrificial love for others is the essence of the gospel message and the highest form of obedience we can render to the New Commandment of Jesus. Our common concept of expressing Christ’s love is typically associated with our feet through going, our hands through serving and our mouths through proclaiming. But how often do we associate His love expressed from our knees through praying?
We think of love, and rightly so, as an action or deed done specifically for the benefit of another. Jesus, our example, expressed His love throughout His earthly ministry for those He came to save. He went from village to village with His feet, He healed all who came to Him with His hands, He proclaimed the Gospel with His mouth and yes, right up to His arrest in the Garden He agonized in prayer upon His knees.
His love, referred to in the Greek as agape, is a sacrificial kind of love. It is a love that found its purest expression in Jesus laying down His life for the salvation of human kind. Our expressions of His love for others therefore will always extract a personal cost from us as well. Like all forms of agape love, the price of loving others from our knees in prayer demands a sacrifice of our time, our effort, our comfort, and personal preferences.
Such prayer, motivated by love, is what the Bible calls intercession. It can be said that intercession is agape love on its knees.
“Look at the nations and watch– and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” Habakkuk 1:5 NIV
“Look at the nations and watch!” This is as timely an exhortation today as it was over 2500 years ago when it was first given! Keeping a watchful eye on what is happening in the nations is critical because Jesus commanded us that as His people we engage in being a house of prayer for all nations. Watching the nations provides us with understanding into the unfolding of God’s purposes in the earth. And, it arms us with strategic insights into ways in which we can intercede for His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
The manner in which the nations relate to God and His people, both Israel and the church, has always been associated with the blessings or judgments that He metes out. The three chapter book of Habakkuk provides an excellent illustration of how God invites us through intercession, into His history shaping intervention in the nations.
Look at the Nations and Watch! Read More »
Have you wondered if God is ever amazed? And if so, what kind of things do you think amaze Him?
In my searching the Scriptures I have found only two times where we are literally told that God had that kind of reaction to something. One is in the Old Testament and other one is recorded in the New Testament gospels.
It is significant to note that in both cases God’s amazement or astonishment was related to the issue of intercession. Intercession as Biblically defined is a type of prayer, often followed up by action, that protects someone in peril by making “up a hedge and stand[ing] in the gap before” God on their behalf. (Ezekiel 22:30 KJV) See the article “Praying a Hedge of Protection.”
Here then are the only two times recorded when God is amazed:
Two Things That Amaze God Read More »
