PRAYER AND THE ONE PRAYING

          It is possible to preach without being right with God. Preaching is person-to-person encounter. We can teach a Sunday school class or even witness to a lost person without being right with God. These are person-to-person encounters.

          Prayer, however, is a person-to-God encounter. It is an audience with one to whom all things are open and naked. We can’t fake it with Him.

What we are when we are alone with God is what we are. It is “the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man” that avails much (James 5:16).

          Robert Murray McCheyene said, “What a man is in his prayer-closet is what he is.” No Christian is greater than his/her prayer life, and his/her prayer life can be no greater than his personal life (Ronald Dunn, Don’t Just Stand There Pray Something).

GRACE

          Grace is greater than sin. Therefore a good man makes the beginning of prayer a self-accusation and the conclusion of prayer a doxology. Oft we draw near the altar with lukewarm, barren hearts, offering our prayers; but abiding there we are of a sudden overwhelmed with grace, the heart grows full, and the soul overflows with emotion. Christ is called not only righteous, but righteousness itself, or justifying righteousness. It justifies me, if He against whom I have sinned is merciful to me. To be sinless is God’s righteousness; His forgiveness is man’s righteousness (Bernard of Clairvaux).

WHAT IS GOD LIKE?

          Some see God as a harsh father, waiting to punish his children when they do something wrong. Others perceive God as unable to handle the evil on earth, or indifferent to the suffering caused by it Billy Graham, Hope for a Troubled Heart).

LEARNING TO BE PATIENT

          The hard thing is that most of us are called to exercise our patience not in bed, but in the street. We are called to bury our sorrows not in lethargic quiescence, but in active service—in the exchange, in the workshop, in the hour of social intercourse, in the contribution to another’s joy. There is no burial of sorrow so difficult as that; it is the running with patience (Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, Streams in the Desert).

WHOM DO YOU LISTEN?

          A well-known television commercial announces, “When E. F. Hutton speaks, people listen.” At the time of this writing, Hutton has developed some legal hassles, and not as many listen to him now as previously. But when God speaks, as Job discovered, man listens (Henry Gariespy).

THE ETERNAL CHRIST

          The Lord is the eternal source of David’s being as well as his promised descendant. It presents the “distant” view of the transcendent Christ. It helps us look far down the corridors of time to see Him as the eternal Christ, the timeless One. It is a vision of Christ greatly needed in our day. We need to see Him in this age of power as the Omnipotent Christ, in this age of knowledge as the Omniscient Christ, in this age of electronic marvels as the Omnipresent Christ, in this age of dynamic change as the immutable Christ; in this age of star destined rockets as the cosmic Christ. But of course, we also need the “close” view of the immanent Christ, the One who is near. We take heart that the Christ of the galaxies is the Christ of our generation. He who inhabits the paths of the stars walks the paths of my life. He who is the timeless One occupies my brief moment of history. He who is enthroned in heaven is enthroned in my heart. He who knows every star by name knows my name, my need. He who presents His impeccable credentials to attest the truth of Holy Scriptures, is the One whose authority, both in the here and now and in eternity, will grant and guarantee His revelation to my life Henry Gariespy, Hundred Portraits of Christ).

THE SUFFERING GOD

          When the Bible describes the emotions of God in anthropomorphic terms such as suffering, anger of God, God is grieved it must not be explained away because of the theology which proclaims the impassibility of God. Jesus did not only suffer in His humanity, He also suffered in His divinity (D. A. Carson, How Long, O Lord (Chapter 10).

UNCONDITIONAL OR CONDITIONAL LOVE

          A soldier who went to war called his mother and said, mother can I come home? Is there a room in the home for me, the mother answered, sure there is room for you, so please come home.. The soldier said, can I bring a friend who has lost an eye, and a leg? Is there a room for him? The mother responded, well, you can bring him to stay for a while, but later he must find a place to stay. The son who is a soldier, hanged the phone and took his life. He was the one who had lost an eye and a leg. He knew his mother will not receive him back for what had happened to him.

WHO IS IN CONTROL? (PROVERBS 16:1-9)

          I know not what the day may bring. Tomorrow waits unknown; But this I know, the changeless Christ, my Lord, is on the throne. My unknown future is safe in the hands of my all-knowing God (Anonymous).

DON’T BE AFRAID

          I shall not fear though darkened clouds may gather round me; The God I serve is one who cares and understands. Although the storms I face would threaten to confound me, Of this I am assured: I’m in His hands.

          I am in His hands, I’m in His hands; Whatever the future holds I’m in His hands, The days I cannot see Have all been planned for me: His way is best, you see; I’m in His hands.

          What though I cannot know the way that lies before me. I still can trust and freely follow His commands; My faith is firm since it is he that watches over me; Of this I’m confident. I’m in His hands (Anonymous).

YOU AND YOUR MONEY

          A little boy was given two dimes. He was told one was for the collection plate and the other was an ice cream cone. He ran down on the street and in his enthusiasm he lost a dime down the culvert. Standing there, he looked down and was heard to say, “Well, Lord, there goes your dime!”

          We laugh at that, but that is precisely what many of us are doing as Christians—giving God the lost money. Have you learned what Christ meant when He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Howard Hendricks, Heaven Help Our Home)?

A PESSIMISTIC ATTITUDE

          We have a habit of looking at things out of our depth as barriers instead of possibilities, as signposts of discouragement instead of opportunities to trust and learn. We firmly resist things we have never attempted: No, thanks; “I can’t do that.” But there is so much that God wants us to do that we cannot do ourselves. When we run out of our natural resources, God is ready to show us His supernatural ones (Winkie Pratney).

SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS

          What do you think is the hardest thing in religion? Asked a young minister of a Christian farmer. The farmer politely turned the question back to the minister. “I think” the hardest thing to deny is sinful self.” But the old plowman said, “No, Sir, the hardest thing in religion is to deny righteous self” (Maxwell, Abandoned to Christ).

STRENGTH FOR SUFFERING

          No one ever promised us a life free from pain and disappointment. The most anyone promised us was that we would not be alone in our pain, and that we would be able to draw upon a source outside ourselves for the strength and courage we would need to survive life’s tragedies and life’s unfairness. We have a Resource, One who cares and comforts and enables us to find blessing even in brokenness (Anonymous).

THE TONGUE

          A careless word may kindle strife;

          A cruel word may wreck a life;

          A bitter word may hate instill;

          A brutal word may smite and kill.

          A gracious word may smooth the way;

          A joyous word may light the day;

          A timely word may lessen stress

          A loving word may heal and bless.

GOD OUR COMFORTER ( 2 COR. 1:1-6)

          A mother who lost her son asked an elderly Chinese philosopher how to overcome her deep grief. “I can help you, but you must first bring me some mustard seed,” said the old wise man, “But you must get it at a home where there has never been any loss or sorrow.”

          Eagerly the woman started her search, but in every home she visited was someone who had lost a loved one or had known some heartbreaking loss. Returning without any mustard seed, she exclaimed “How selfish I have been! Sorrow is common to all.” “Ah said the philosopher, “you have learned a valuable lesson. Because you know sorrow, you can sympathize with others and comfort them. And when you do, your own sorrow will be lessened.”

          When we have felt the oil of God’s comfort, which dresses our wounds like a balm we are able to comfort the hurting. And help them be patient and calm. God comforts us to make us comforters not just to make us comfortable (Anonymous).

ALWAYS WITH YOU (Matthew 28:16-20)

          A young Chinese Christian named Lo was given a New Testament, and he began to read it. When he found in Matthew 28:20 the words, “Lo, I am with you always,” he was greatly excited because he took the verse as a personal promise to him. Although he misinterpreted the first word of the text for his own name, Lo didn’t miss the impact of the verse. In fact, it became all the more real to him.

          Jesus whispers, “I am with you in the hour of deepest need; when the way is dark and lonesome, I am with you, I will lead.” When Christ sends us, He always goes with us (Our Daily Bread, November 15, 1992).

NOTHING VENTURED NOTHING GAINED

          It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out where the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with dust and sweat and blood . . . At the best, he knows the triumph of high achievement if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat (Theodore Roosevelt).

PERSISTENCE IN PRAYER

          The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere If they desire anything for God’s glory, they should pray until they get it. Oh, how good, and kind, and gracious, and condescending is the One with whom we have to do! He has given me unworthy as I am, immeasurable above all I had asked or thought (George Mueller, Delighted in God).

BE FIT FOR THE MASTER’S USE

          An old bishop in India was approached by a missionary who asked, “Bishop, I have sought a deeper experience with God all these years, and I don’t have it. I have read books about what to do, and I have kept all the rules, but I am nowhere yet. Does God have favorites? The old bishop replied, “No, my dear, God does not have favorites. But He does have intimates” (Anonymous).

A MAN WHO LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR

THE FREEDOM OF BLACKS

          “Now if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say, Let it be done” (John Brown).