The Subject of Prayer

"Pray at all times in the Spirit, with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints."      Ephesians 6:18    CSB 

This statement made by the Apostle Paul, forms part of the six weapons of armour which we need to wear daily, and Paul felt it was the greatest weapon of all. In prayer we are communicating with God and doing warfare against the devil and his demonic forces. Paul also felt that prayer should be carried out at all times. Common sense tells us that this request would not be possible literally. He meant that throughout the day, we should remain in connection with God, keeping Him on our minds wherever possible. Then when a crisis came along, we should be ready to reach out to God with our prayers.

For some people prayer can be boring; this is why Paul told us to stay alert and persevere. Many people have a prayer ministry and can see what is happening in the Heavenlies - the invisible realm. For others, this can seem that they are professional pray-ers and unless they focus, there can be a tendency to drift away. We should all endeavour to pray in the Spirit at all times.

William Barclay in his Commentary to the book of Ephesians, regarding prayer writes:

It should be constant

Our tendency is to only pray in times of great crisis in our lives, but it is from daily prayer that we will find daily strength.

It must be intense

Limp prayer never got anyone, anywhere; prayer demands the concentration of every faculty upon God.

It must be unselfish

Our prayers can focus more on ourselves than on others. We must learn to pray as much for others, and with others, as for ourselves.

The last bullet point by William Barclay is aimed at the temptation to focus on the 'Me, Me, Me Syndrome. We can tend to have a selfish attitude, and never recognise it, when we are going about our daily life. This can be obvious when we pray. We must learn to make God the key point and the main topic of our prayer and exalt others not ourselves. Remember, God gives grace to the humble James 4:6.

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

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Come before the Lord, right now

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.' V4    Psalm 100    CSB

Just imagine if you will, being in God's courts right now. It is hard to understand what it would be like because, our minds can only picture our own interpretation of what God looks like and what His house - heaven, is like. One thing though, we would be so overwhelmed by it all that we would probably be speechless. Let us therefore come before Him today with no requests, worries or fear and just praise and worship Him from our hearts. In fact, let our hearts be thankful and grateful for all He has done for us. He gave His all for us, let us now give our all to Him. Just sit quietly before Him and let the praises start but, also be open to be silent before Him too. He has things to say to each one of us. Pray this with me:

'Lord, we come before You this day and thank You for being so loving and faithful to us. We are so grateful; so thankful, we just applaud You and worship You for all you are to each one of us. Thank you that You are our great shepherd and guide us along the way we should go, protecting and feeding us each step of the way. We cannot fail to realise just how good You have been to us, even in times when we have let You down and haven't deserved your love and forgiveness. Thank you Lord so very much. Amen'

God wants us to worship Him with excitement because, He is an exciting God. He wants us to shout for joy. Verse 3 of this Psalm reads: 'The LORD is God'. The Hebrew meaning is Yahweh is Elohim, the name of God revealed in His covenant relationship with His people. Elohim, speaks of power - the LORD is God and is the one who created heaven and earth and us too. Therefore, our powerful God wants a powerful, exciting and spirit filled relationship with you.

Just sit quietly before Him right now and allow the Holy Spirit to saturate you in His presence. He wants each one of us to fully realise what He has for us. He wants each one of us to fully know just how much He loves us.  

"Thank you Lord for everything!'

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

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Give that little bit extra

"Give and it will be given to you; a good measure - pressed down, shaken together and running over - will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."                                                         Luke 6:38   CSB 

People in Europe today, are waking up to the horrific reality of rising energy costs. For many, it seems like a giant or a large mountain that has risen and is threatening to consume them. Many of them who don't know Jesus as their Lord, are frightened because the cost will be too much for them. They are fearful. Many people who do know Jesus are feeling exactly the same; it is affecting everyone.

We appear to be living in a Catch 22 situation. The cost of living is rising rapidly but, our income is not rising enough to meet these increases, In fact, the meagre rises in income are being swallowed up in the vast increase of inflation. Some have a nest egg to fall back on but, with the high rises in the cost of living, the nest egg will soon hatch, leaving nothing left.

Where can a person go in a situation like this? I'm reminded of the widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17:8-16. She had very little, just a small quantity of flour and a few spots of oil. Elijah asked her to bake him a small loaf. She struggled with this request but, Elijah told her not to worry, the flour jar would not become empty nor the oil jar run dry until the drought was over. She complied with his request and it was as Elijah had said; also when her young son became ill and died, Elijah raised him back to life. Can you see what happened? The widow, even though she was in a dire situation, tithed some of it and she was blessed. 

When the funds are low, it seems ridiculous to give some of it away to others who need it. However, this is God's way, this is the way He operates. The more we give, the more we will receive. You may be familiar with the term, ‘Give until it hurts'; when you consider this, to give when you have little, would hurt; but it is God's money anyway, He gave us the ability to gather this in the first place. He is our provider and, if we fully realise this and put it into action, He will take care of the rest. 

Jesus told us not to worry but to seek His Kingdom (Matthew 6:33-34). Therefore, stop living in fear, give a little extra to someone who is in a desperate situation; then watch God work. You will be blessed; He promises this.

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

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God's Favour

"For You LORD, bless the righteous one; You surround him with favour like a shield." v12             

                                                                                                     Psalm 5   CSB

Favour can be described as: pleasure, desire, delight and grace. The Hebrew word for favour is ratson and refers especially to what is pleasing and desirable to God. In comparison, in verse 7 we read, 'But I enter Your house by the abundance of Your faithful love'. The words 'faithful love' are a translation of the Hebrew word hesed, which refers to God's loyal affection for those under His covenant. It was because of this love that David was able to enter into God's presence to worship Him.

David needed God and so do we. Not everyone is our friend, there are enemies around who use flattering tongues and scheme and plot against us when we are walking with Jesus v8-9. Therefore it is imperative that we take refuge each day in God's presence by way of morning prayer and worship. This doesn't have to be formal; we can worship and pray as we go about our busy day. However, we do need to plant God's Word within us by reading our bible. It is a must! If you want to have a good day, give it to God; commit all of your plans to Him. We are going through difficult times at the moment, what with Covid and ever-rising costs and the threat of huge energy bills. We need His help and wisdom to survive. 

David had many enemies who schemed against him yet, used flattering tongues in his presence. He knew there was nothing reliable in what they were saying to him. He knew the best way was to give it all to God; after-all, when we are walking in fellowship with Him, people may say bad things about us and plot and scheme, but they are really saying this against God, which is a dangerous thing to do. David was walking in God's favour and knew God had his back.

When we are in step with Jesus, a shield of favour is placed around us too. God has His faithful love (hesed) around us and He showers us with His grace. He wants to do this more and more, it is only us who prevent this from happening by trying to do things our way. I like what the late Tony Campolo used to say, 'God has our photograph in His wallet and when He sees someone, He shows them this asking, "Have you seen my beautiful son or daughter?' Obviously, there is no biblical evidence for this but, it is a nice thought and is a demonstration of just how much He loves YOU!

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

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The proud will not escape God's wrath

"Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall."  

                                                                                               Proverbs 16:18    CSB

Pride can be classed as, conceit, egotism, vanity and feeling puffed up and full of one's self. Jonah had preached a successful sermon in Nineveh leading the whole city to repentance. Now, many years later the prophet Nahum issues God's judgement on the city because they had departed from the Lord, returning to their old ways. 

The king of Assyria was proud and pompous, wicked and cruel and had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel carrying off its inhabitants to captivity. Enough was enough and it was time for God's judgement; Nineveh was destroyed in 612 BC. In a final conversation with the king of Assyria, Nahum told him, 'There is no remedy for your injury, your wound is severe. All who hear the news about you will clap their hands because of you, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty'  (Nahum 3:19). In other words, where can anyone be found who has not suffered from your continual cruelty.

Today in our world, there is much cruelty and bloodshed as leaders of nations, full of pride, destroy lives in their desire to be a 'somebody'. But God watches and will strike when they least expect it making the ,'somebody' a 'nobody'. 'Pride comes before destruction and an arrogant spirit before a fall.'

We as individuals must also avoid being full of pride. People everywhere are hurting, their lives falling apart and they desperately need a friend. Take a look at the life of Jesus; look how He showed respect and love to the people who needed it. He used His wisdom when He met with people who were bullies and full of themselves. He didn't turn them away but, He didn't waste His time with them if they had no interest in kingdom business.

Things may be tough on occasions but, never be tempted to go back to your old way of life. It is too costly. Instead, be a rescuer of people who are lost in this world. Many have nothing to look forward to - no hope. You have oceans of hope within you and, all it takes is to offer this hope to someone who is desperate.

Look around, you may meet one of them today!

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

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God transforms your sorrow into joy

"For His anger is but for a moment, His favour is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."                                       Psalm 30:5    NKJV 

Each morning God's mercies are new (Lamentations 3:22-23). When Jesus was crucified, for most, hope and joy was lost. But three days later, Jesus arose and brought with Him new joy and new hope and a new day and beginning for all who trusted in Him. As Jesus told His disciples in John 16:20-22. God doesn't replace sorrow with joy, He transforms sorrow into joy, there's a difference.

Many times we let God down big time. We don't set out to do this, it just happens. This is mostly because we take our eyes off Him and go with the flow of the world. When we do this we open up a door for the enemy to step in and cause a rampage. Afterwards, we are left with the hopeless thought that we don't know how this happened; then we begin to go deeper into despair.

Take another look at our text today; it tells us that God becomes angry with us on these occasions but, this is only for a short time. As soon as we repent, His favour, which is eternal, kicks in and He forgives us. The big problem is, we find it difficult to forgive ourselves. The devil then gets involved in the situation and says such things as, 'Well, you've blown it now, you'll never be forgiven. What a mess and you caused it; call yourself a Christian.' He'll really put the boot in when you're flat on your back. Don't let Him, it's a new day. 'Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.' In other words, when you repent, a new day is sent. He transforms your sorrow into joy.

You know, we'll never get it 100% right - not even close, until we see Him face to face in Heaven. He knows our short-comings but He also knows our hearts too. He knows we want to live for Him and He also knows we will make a mess of things at times too. Stop beating yourself up. Peter did this when He denied Jesus (Luke 22:62). Be encouraged by this, you are not unique, you will mess up at times. But the great thing is, when you repent, Jesus' grace and favour is there with forgiveness.

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

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God can rescue you from the fire!

"Look" he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire and, they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."    Daniel 3:25    NKJV 

There are two points that I want to raise here (1) They are not hurt (2) The Son of God was with them. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had disobeyed the king by refusing to bow down to the golden image he had created. Therefore, he had them thrown into the raging furnace - seven times hotter than usual. One would have thought that they would have been vaporised in such heat. However, when Nebuchadnezzar looked inside the furnace, he saw four people - the fourth being Jesus. They had been delivered, the king couldn't believe it; even their hair and clothes were till intact and there was no smokey smell on them. Amazing.

Just consider this for a moment; in the most diabolical times of life Jesus can be there for us so that we are not hurt. So, what predicament are you in at this moment? You may be going through a nightmare situation, frightened and with no possible solution or future that you can see. For a moment, step aside and focus on the fact that whatever it is Jesus has the ability to fix it, no matter how hot the problem is. He can bring you through it all with no smell or aftermath. He has the capability to perform this for you, and He is willing. Because you have asked Him to be your Lord and Saviour, He is right there with you waiting for you to turn to Him.

Try and put yourself in these men's position. They were facing certain death and they knew it. However, they stood on God's Word and would not turn to another God. Therefore, they entered the raging fire. They had no knowledge of what was going to happen, they just went. I believe that as they entered the heat, they called on God, the God who was right there with them; and He went into action for them. You may also be in a dire situation and there appears no way out; you may need healing; you may have serious need of provision financially because of rent or mortgage debts or you may be facing bankruptcy or disciplinary action at work because of trumped up accusations. It could be anything. Take into your heart today that, God will not allow you to go under or get hurt; He will be right beside you and His intention will be to deliver you. Just believe it and go in faith.

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

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