For everyone

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone...                                      1 Tim. 2.1

Paul’s first encouragement in prayer is that no one should be excluded. I see two clear aspects to this statement.

Firstly, our prayers can extend to embrace the whole of humanity. God created all things and all people. Our prayers must not be restricted to Christians – and maybe not just ‘good’ Christians at that. (And, yes, in the eyes of some there may be ‘not-so-good’ Christians!).

We may bring anyone to God in prayer –with request, intercession or thanksgiving. Leaders, governments, corporations, peoples of all races, status and beliefs can be included in our talk and request to God. Prayer can be global, extending to all places of human habitation.

The second aspect is perhaps more personal and concerns those people I have more direct dealings with. Some I may gladly pray for. Some may have hurt me. Some I may feel have wronged me in a grievous way. Some I just might find to be difficult to get on with. And there are others. God’s clear word to me through Paul is that I should not ignore any of these people. I sense he’s telling me to do the opposite, and focus on them. I am to make them the centre of my prayer, bring them before God, release them to Him and also release any pain, anger or sense of injustice that I might be feeling.

I should ask God to bless them. This may not be easy. I’m learning that the Christian way is not always a bed of roses, and the Christian life is not always easy. But I can do it, with God’s help.

Lord God,

I try to remember all those that are in need, when I come to You in prayer.  I know my prayer is not meant to be a list of wants and needs, yet Your love is all-embracing and I feel sure You receive every request willingly. Paul has told us to pray for everyone. He also encourages us that, when we don’t know what to pray, Your Holy Spirit will guide us, even pray for us. I know there are times when I need the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and so I ask for it.

Paul was wronged by many people, yet he was able to pray for all. Let me be likewise. I can’t do this on my own, I need You.

Lead me, please, in Jesus’ Name I ask.                                                                            Amen.

Christ’s perseverance

May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.      

                                                                                                   2 Thess. 3.5

Again I see great encouragement in these words. The Lord will direct our hearts – emotions, intellects and wills. He will lead us into God’s love, the all-embracing love that eliminates bitterness and hard feeling. God’s love causes well-being, good thoughts and right thinking to rise up in us. The Lord will also direct us into Christ’s perseverance. As I give this concept just the briefest consideration I begin to grasp something of the enormity and capacity of Christ’s perseverance. He did not give up. He conquered death itself through His perseverance. This same quality is available to me. I have His word that the Lord will lead me into it.

Even so, I don’t believe my part is to sit back, do nothing, and just wait for God to act. I pick up on the word ‘wait’, but I see it in an active and not a passive application. I believe I am to wait actively upon the Lord. How might I do this? I keep myself alert and vigilant to hear from Him and to see any opening He might offer to me. If I feel strongly to do anything, I give it to Him with specific indications of my intentions and I ask Him to change this if He so wishes.

Further, I expect Him to direct my heart into God’s love – into the very fullness of it, and to direct my mind, intellect, will and emotions into Christ’s perseverance. I also believe that my ‘body’ will follow my heart.

O, let me dwell in the house of the Lord forever!

Lord,

I come to You in full surrender. I offer my heart to You and ask You to fill it with Your love. Direct me in the fullness of Your love. Lead me into Christ’s perseverance. Strengthen me to never give up in my desires for You. You are everything to me. I rejoice in the relationship I have in You. And I ask for more. I crave for more. Let me never be satisfied.

I seek to know contentment in the way that Paul knew it (Phil. 4.12). Help me to learn this secret, Lord. But let me also press ever onward to seek further satisfaction in and of You. I will not rest until I know my heart to be fully in God’s love and Christ’s perseverance, and I ask for this in Jesus’ precious name.                                                                                  Amen.

The things of God

But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”                                   Mark 8.33

Jesus had been telling His disciples how He must suffer many things, how he would be rejected by the religious leaders and He would be killed. He would rise again after three days.

The disciples could well have been astonished at these revelations. This was the man they loved and admired. He did so many amazing and wonderful things. How could people possibly turn against Him?

Peter was moved to the point of rebuking Him, I imagine in a rather bullish way saying something like “No, they will never do this to you. As long as we are around, as long as I’m around, I will protect and defend you.”

Then it was Peter’s turn to receive rebuke. How might he have felt to be called “Satan”? Would he have been more incensed, and more moved to remonstrate, to say, “You’ve got it all wrong. I want to save you from any danger”? Or would he have heard, and heeded, Jesus’ words which indicated a difference between the “things” of men and the “things” of God.

I am reminded of God’s words through Isaiah: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.  (Isaiah 55.8) Peter’s thoughts in this instance were not in line with God’s. And any words he spoke or actions he may have proposed were very likely not in accord with God’s “things”.

I think many believers may well have been tested by events and actions that do not satisfy human needs. I believe Jesus experienced first hand the dilemma that confronts us when the things of God run contrary to our human wishes. In the garden, when faced with the immanence of His capture, persecution and death, Jesus cried out to the Father, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” (Matt. 26.39) In His humanity He did not want to face what lay ahead. Fortunately for us He completed His outcry with the words “Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

I do not know what is to come in the remainder of my life. I do know that there have been dark patches in the past, times I would rather not have experienced. But I did experience them, and I believe God brought me through. Those times do not trouble me now, I can even see how God worked for the good in and through them. This realisation did not come to me immediately, but it did come, and I see something of God’s ways of working.

So, for me, the future is a matter of trusting God. I cannot control what is to come, but I can give myself into His keeping. I can choose to believe, despite what circumstances might suggest, that He has a plan for my good, a plan to prosper me and not to harm me.

The circumstances Jesus outlined for His disciples may well have alarmed or even terrified them. If I am ever faced with adverse, maybe frightening, prospects, I pray I will have the courage to give myself to the things of God and not hanker or beg for the things of men.

Almighty God,

I address You thus in truth – You are indeed all-mighty. I give myself anew into Your all mighty care. I surrender fully to Your plan for my life. I truly want to go the way You would have me go. If the journey should challenge or even seem frightening at times, I ask You to give me calmness, courage and renewed conviction in you.                                         Amen.

The goal

The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.                                   1 Tim. 1.5

Once again Paul has encapsulated the Christian way. So often in New Testament writing a verse occurs which almost says it all. This is such a verse for me.

Of course, the Christian way centres on Christ. He must be the foremost focus for any who would follow Him. Good works alone won’t get a person into heaven. A simple faith in Jesus is the way, an acceptance of Him as Saviour and a commitment to Him as Lord provide the starting point for the Christian journey. But the journey takes a path, and the path is all about love. Firstly, love for God as the only one to be adored and worshipped. From this all-powerful love come love, compassion and concern for fellow humanity. And all of this emanates from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith. 

I see a pattern between these three phrases. A pure heart is a most desirable thing. But has anyone outside of Christ demonstrated a truly pure heart? This does not mean we don’t aim for it. And this is where a good conscience kicks in. The conscience will alert me to the impurities of the heart. If I am sincere in my Christian quest I will heed my conscience and make good where necessary. To God I will confess and repent of all that is ungodly. To my fellow beings I would ask forgiveness and seek reparation.

The conscience can also lead me into the building of a sincere faith. Do I want a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith? You bet I do!

Lord God,

I come to You in simple faith. I take this lead from Paul in seeking a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith. I ask You to lead me in all of these. Convict me, please, of any and all impurity. Grow in me a good conscience. Please help me to be obedient to the Godly dictates of conscience. Strengthen me in faith. Let it develop strong and sincere. Lead me on, Lord. In Jesus’ Name I ask.                                                                                                 Amen.

Praise the Lord!

Praise the LORD.

Praise the name of the LORD;

praise him, you servants of the LORD,

 you who minister in the house of the LORD,

in the courts of the house of our God.

                                                                                                    Psalm 135.1,2

I see this as a clear and direct call to God’s people. The call is to praise and the call is to all of God’s people. None are excluded, none are exempt. This is not a task that can be delegated. It might be seen by some as a duty. This may be, but it must first be seen as a delight – a delight and a privilege.

All believers should give themselves willingly in praise of an almighty and loving God. All need to understand the incredible privilege it is to give ourselves to Him in praise, adoration and worship coming, as we do so, into His presence.

For our praise to be effective in public, it must be practiced in private. Without private devotion and devotedness, public participation is no more than a sham display.

Let us praise the name of the Lord, publically and privately.

Lord God,

I love you and I delight at this opportunity to come to You with praise and thanksgiving. I rejoice in You and I enthuse that I can touch You with my praise and worship as wonderfully in private as I may in public.

Receive my sincere homage and adulation. Receive me! I join with the heavenly hosts and the faithful on earth in bringing You honest praise and accord.

You are my God, and You are my Lord. I bow before You. I kneel at Your feet. I salute You, wonderful Saviour, great King, holy, loving Father.

Receive the praise and honour I bring, in Jesus’ Name I ask.                                         Amen.