O Lord. Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears
be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
Psalm 130:1,2.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication
in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints.
Ephesians 6:18.
You know, the world in which we live today is interested only in "what's in it for me?" If that has been a factor in your life, consider this: we do NOT love the Lord for what we can "get out" of Him! We love him, because he first loved us. I John 4:19. We don't love Him because of what He can do for us--we love Him because of what He has ALREADY done for us: He completed the PERFECT PLAN of SALVATION and made it available to ALL who would accept it.
Now let's go a step further: we do NOT love the Lord if we will not serve the Lord! If we are unwilling to serve Him, live for Him, be a witness of Him (in both word and deed), we don't love Him. Jesus said, IF YE LOVE ME, keep my commandments. John 14:15. If it gets any simpler than that, I know not how! He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a LIAR, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. I John 2:3-6.
The Living Bible tells us, "Someone may say, 'I am a Christian; I am on my way to heaven; I belong to Christ.' But if he doesn't do what Christ tells him to, he is a liar. But those who do what Christ tells them to will learn to love God more and more. Anyone who says he is a Christian should live as Christ did." (I John 2:3-6) And how does Christ tell US? Through the written Word of God. You can NOT know the Will of God if you do NOT know the Word of God, and IF you know The WORD of God, you will WANT to know the Written Word of God!
If we are not keeping the commandments of Christ, all we are doing is paying Him lip service. And I guarantee you, not a one of us wants those we love to merely pay us lip service! We want them to "mean it" sincerely, from their hearts. We want them to "show it" by the way they treat us, spend time with us, do things both with and for us! Well? Hello? I ask you, do we not want to KNOW their love?
God had such a love for mankind, that despite their lack of love towards him, in spite of their refusal to keep a right relationship with Him, He sent His ONLY Begotten Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Before Christ, on the great day of atonement the high priest carried the blood of the sacrifice he offered for all the people within the veil and sprinkled the "mercy-seat" with it and so made propitiation. However, Jesus Christ Himself became the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. I John 2:2.
Hanging on that old rugged cross, Jesus Christ became our substitute. He took the place each of us, you and I, should have occupied because you and I are truly guilty before God. Christ is unspotted by sin, Perfect of Perfect, yet He took your place, my place. He assumed our obligations! He Took A Debt He Did Not Owe, the debt of our sins, and paid it for us! And He did so that you and I might have a way to God. Prayer is our way to God: through Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit.
Prayer is both a gift from God and a task for us to perform. NOT a task of drudgery (although apparently countless numbers consider it so or SURELY they would pray more). God takes the initiative, He makes promise after promise after promise in His Word to us, but there are conditions to be met and we are totally UNWILLING to meet them!
You know, that is so sad--to have available to us all the promises of God, but we have settled for the poverty of this world. Do we not realize that there is no peace of mind with that which the world considers "riches"? If we don't have them, we focus on that and we are unhappy. For those who do have them, it's a constant vigil to make certain someone doesn't take them away! What kind of peace is that? Surely, we do NOT realize what God has made available to us!! But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19. Read it again: GOD SHALL SUPPLY ALL YOUR NEED, ACCORDING TO HIS RICHES IN GLORY! Come on, read those last five words one more time: ACCORDING TO HIS RICHES IN GLORY! We're not just selling ourselves short, we're renting ourselves out cheap!
Just stop and seriously think about what you TRULY NEED in your life, right now. (I said "need", not want like a pouty 4-year old.) Good health? Wisdom? Salvation of your loved ones' souls? Peace of mind? Strength to overcome temptations? Holy boldness to witness? A better job? Better friends? An improved pastor? EVERY one of those things (and countless more) are available to us through prayer and supplication! Oh how much the more we could have ACCORDING TO HIS RICHES IN GLORY if we were willing to spend time in prayer and supplication!
IF (and it's a HUGE "if") we were willing to spend the time in prayer and supplication to the Lord that we spend in useless enterprises, (gossiping, watching tv, to name only two), we would be amazed beyond words at the changes that would take place in our lives, and the lives of those we prayed for! We throw out a few obligatory words or whine a few "I wants", rush out into the world to try to attain through our own power and devices, and then wonder why we're still in the ranks of the Have NOTs.
When Paul wrote, Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication..., he used "encompassing" words: praying always; all prayer and supplication; all perserverance. All of that is imperative: intense earnestness, unwavering persistence. Mr. Webster defines supplicate as, "to ask humbly, to beg earnestly". Yet we consider that "beneath our dignity", don't we?
"Well, I ain't gonna beg anybody for anything!" We don't like the idea of humbling ourself in prayer and supplication to God? These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19.
"Hey you up there: Great Cosmic Force, I want ____________." Then when we don't get it, "Well, God doesn't love me." We haven't made our hearts right with God, we haven't studied the Word of God to know what the Will of God is, we sure don't know the Commandments of Jesus in order to follow them (and if we did, they would take up too much time) and then we whine? We wonder WHY we don't get what we ask?
The writer to the Hebrews says that there is no agony of the human spirit through which Jesus has not come. He knows the desperation of our tears, the sincerity of our hearts. Our Heavenly Father loves us! GET A GRIP ON THAT! He knows what is best for us and when we are ready to receive it!
When you brought your child home from the hospital after he (or she) was born, did you immediately give him a car? Did you give him books to read? Did you give him a piano to play, a horse to ride, a pair of skates, even a football? Oh, you might already have those things or have the funds put away for those things, but they could not be presented to be used by him until when? When? When he was ready for them! Hello? This, then is another perogative for us to study the Word of God and learn it: so that we can grow in Grace and knowledge. So we can know that which the Lord would have us to do. So we can know how to pray according to the Will of God for us! So that we can have the things we NEED through prayer and supplication. (If, through our own fault--stubbornness and rebellion--we didn't refuse to study the Word of God and learn what/how we should be be living, it might not take us so long to attain that which we have so long sought!)
Let's go back and pick up something right quickly before we close:
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. How do we do that? Read on:
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. What are "wiles of the devil"? The Living Bible says, "all strategies and tricks of Satan". The New International Version says, "the devil's schemes". Read on:
For we wrestle NOT against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Those things that come against our mind to worry and deceive us--those things that try to interfere with our spiritual walk with God. We canNOT overcome them in/of/by our own strength! So how do we overcome them? Read on:
Wherefore take unto you the WHOLE armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Promise: that we may be able to stand. Condition: put on the WHOLE armour of God. (That means, no picking and choosing--put it ALL on!) And then,
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; Know this: the "girdle" (some say "belt") is what holds all the body armor in place: the TRUTH. The biggest part of that armour is the breastplate, and what does it cover? The HEART. We MUST keep our hearts right with God! The Living Bible told us (above), "Anyone who says he is a Christian should live as Christ did." E-v-e-r-y thing Christ did, He did for the glory of WHO? Himself? NO! For the Glory of GOD, the Father. Now, there's more:
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Wherever we go, we should carry the Gospel with us. IF we are going places we cannot behave in a Christ-like manner, perhaps we'd better reconsider going there! And that shield of faith: what does a shield do, what is its purpose? To protect us! When things come against us, we need to hold on to our faith in God, not give in to worry and doubt! Hold up that shield of faith when things come against you!
And take the helmet of salvation... What part does a helmet cover? The head--the brain--that which we know. Well? Do we know in Whom we have believed? Are we persuaded that HE IS ABLE? Are we holding fast to our profession (of salvation) or do we let it slip according to the company we keep?
...and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: How can we possibly KNOW the Word of God if we do not study it? (Ephesians 6:10-17.) Then, THEN we see:
Praying ALWAYS with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Ephesians 6:18. Even when we don't know HOW we should pray, we have this already in place for us: Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Romans 8:26. For those times when we don't know how to pray, God has already provided a way for us to make known to Him our need: the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us!
Oh how God loves you and me! How marvelous, how magnificent, how abundant our God wants to be to us, if we will but humble ourselves and pray. If we will but come to Him in supplication, making known to Him what we want Him to do for us! The Word of God tells us, For ALL the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. II Corinthians 1:20. Prayer and Supplication: determined, heart-felt, sincere, earnest prayer, however long it takes, as many times as it takes!
"Prayer and Supplication" Copyright © 2001 by Patricia Sikes.
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