mycin

About 15 years ago I had a physical problem that kept me from participating in society for a few months. Once God started to heal me of this condition, I was able to think clearly and God worked in me to refine my faith. Since I was at a well-connected Bible college, I was able to grow in faith through prayer groups, worship services, Bible reading, and excellent Bible teaching. Genuine, tested faith brings glory to Jesus because it shows that I am approved by God and He is faithful to work in me through all circumstances.

When we identify too strongly with our present homeland, we believe Satan's lie that we have no purpose beyond this earth. As the great song goes, "This world is not my home, I'm just a-passing through." I have too often found myself becoming too attached to the world. When I concentrate too much on earthly things, I lose hope and life becomes an endless cycle of duty and addiction. To get this straight, I must focus on my relationship with God and my relationships with others, especially other Christians at work and at home but also other coworkers and students.We must remember that God has placed us here to impact others through service, to draw others to Christ, and to allow others to serve us. We do this to become more like Christ so that when our lives end he will welcome us as "good and faithful servants" ready to enter into eternal worship and celebration in the City of Light.

I don't know that I have ever prayed for anyone to be filled with all the fullness of God. By praying this prayer, I am being that God can perfect someone so they look and act just like Him. It is possible and I have seen it in some people I know. We need to trust God that He is perfecting us and wants us make us just like Him in almost every way. Ultimately, the goal is holiness and blameless without any spot or blemish as Ephesians 5:27 states. In Colossians 1:28 Paul says that admonishing and teaching in the Word of God can lead to perfection. Of course, we cannot be totally perfect like Jesus but we can become more like Him each day. Lord, continue to perfect me into the image of your Son whether or not it is seen by others.

Paul longs for us to know Christ's love beyond what we can even imagine. God's loved does not end. It should change the way we love for ourselves because His love is "wide and deep and long and high." It knows no bounds. Once we understand that in our lives and let it change us, then we can change the way we love each other by loving them for everything that they are.

Paul prays for strengthening of the inner man that we might have power in the Spirit. Today, we should pray that God strengthen and empower our souls to do His work. He prays that Christ dwells in believers' hearts because we tend to put other things ahead of God. We need for Him to take permanent residence within us and move through us with power. We cannot do these things on our own.

We need to believe in God's power in us in order for our faith to be vibrant and effective. Without it, we are powerless and make little difference in the world. I have seen this develop in my life through asking God for it and serving others. Over time, we see the effects of the power as we see changed lives. In order for others to experience this power in their lives, I need to pray that they would have this power revealed to them and then let it work through them as they serve others.

If God is poverty-stricken, the believer has no reason to pray. But since we know that he is wealthy, we can pray knowing that "great is our reward in heaven." He has a glorious inheritance for us to share with the saints. Unlike earthly wealth, this inheritance has no limits. All believers past, present, and future share the inheritance of the saints. I am still learning to appreciate this inheritance and pray that others who continue to live in the dark would see this glorious inheritance through my life and long to receive it and walk in it. "I want to be in the light as you are in the light. I want to shine like the stars in the heavens. Let the Lord be my light and be my salvation. All I want to be is in the light. All I want to be is in the light." ("I Wanna Be in the Light", DC Talk)

Paul prays that the believers would come to know Christ better through the Holy Spirit's work in them to bring about greater understanding. Yes, people can come to know God on their own but prayer is essential in revealing greater truths about God. God can work in people in any situation but the prayers of other believers and a community of believers of which to belong to are so important to growing in the faith. This prayer for other believers is so important because some essential growth comes only through God's word revealed through the Holy Spirit into an individual's life. Teaching and mentoring are vital but some knowledge and understanding comes only through prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit in a quiet place.

The Father was pleased because put His will under the authority of the Father's will. We must be passionate about the Father's will if we really want to receive what is best for us. In order to fall in line with the Father's will we must first pray for what we want then surrender it to the Lord. If our will aligns with the Father's we will receive with full joy. If not, at least we did not pretend to car about the Father's will when we were really just selfish and religious. We must live in true relationship as the children of God and living to please the Father.

Jesus prayed to have the cup taken from him because he may have wanted to remove the Father's agony of losing His son. He was so intense because this was the ultimate sacrifice and he wanted to show his humility. Although it sounds like Jesus was resisting the Father's will, He was not because he recognized that it was not his will but God's. He was willing to pay the price but he had to wrestle with it first since he was both fully human and fully God. In his humanity he had no strength to continue but, in his deity, God strengthened so that he might "endure the cross and mark out the race set before us."

Jesus tells his disciples to pray because he knew that they were so exhausted from sorrow that they needed strength to continue. They were tempted to flee and Jesus knew that he needed their support at this most trying time. The content of their prayer was simple, "Father, keep us from giving in to temptation." The disciples were not very diligent, though, as they fell asleep while waiting for Jesus to return. In a similar way, the Lord's Prayer says, "Lead us not into temptation." I think Jesus needed to be alone in order for the disciples to learn how to pray without him. They had spent so much time learning from him and now he was about to be taken from to be killed and, just over 40 days later, then to return to his Father.

Daniel and Esther both held high positions in the government and were being called on by God to save their people. It's even more amazing that they were in the same palace. I believe God places people in strategic positions because He has chosen to use people to accomplish His plans on the earth. Will we stand up for His name? It is our responsibility to stand for God's truth at all times even if it means that we might die for our beliefs. This has never really happened to me although I was with a group in Turkey who was being watched. Some areas of the country are very anti-Christian. I think we probably prayed as a group and our missionary leader finally got him to leave us alone.

Nehemiah bases his appeal on God's promises to His people and their desire to serve Him. God had made a covenant with Moses that He would one day gather the Israelites who had been scattered. He would keep His promise. Nehemiah also argued that the Israelites were delighting in honoring the Lord through service and that He should reward His servants by bringing them out of exile. Out of this, I learn that a big part of intercession involves God's people reminding Him of the covenant He has made to them while we also are called to served. Both parties have a responsibility in the reconciliation.

It looks like Nehemiah prays for four months in order to discern from God what he is to say to the king. He could probably have had an audience with the king at any time but he wants the favor of God most importantly. He fasts and weeps during this time because, like Daniel, he chooses to identify with his sinful nation. He stands in the gap for them, interceding for them that God might show mercy and forgive them. This act of humility is not excessive because God is an "awesome" God. His wrath knows no bounds. Yet, if we realize our sinfulness and truly repent, the Bible says that "his grace is sufficient to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God wants to restore His people if we will, like Nehemiah, humble others and cry out for mercy. Then, he may even kings, rulers, or other people to further restore us as we walk in His ways again.

Daniel's prayer was a prayer for mercy. 16O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us." The grounds of His appeal included God's precedent of delivering Israel from Egypt, that God would receive the glory, that deliverance displays God's mercy. The appeal also calls upon God's personal identification wtih Jerusalem as the City of God and his holy hill, a renewal of worship in God's temple, a city that "bears His name", and God's character as a merciful God. God answered their prayer by bringing them out of exile a few years later. Lord God, help me to apply the lessons I've learned this week to continue to grow as a "prayer". Be glorified in me.

This passage reminds me of the Christian rally "Stand in the Gap" a few years back in Washington, D.C. Organizers called on Christians to come together to pray and intercede for our country. They were asked to "stand in the gap" (identify themselves with the entire nation) for those who had sinned and not stood up for what is right. So even today, it is beneficial to identify myself with the "sinners" just as Daniel did. They are not likely to ask forgiveness for their wrongdoing but I can be repentant so that can God's mercy can rain down and heal the land, rescuing us from our sins and the devastating consequences. Christ also identified with the sinners when he sought forgiveness from them on the cross. However, He went the next step and took their sins. All a "sinner" like me had to do was accept His forgiveness, already given, and I would know His grace and mercy. I must be truly repentant but, praise God, I have the greatest intercessor of all who has already won the battle for me!

Daniel is prostate before the Lord. He has completely humbled himself, honoring God alone. He prepares by putting in sackcloth and ashes. This shows that he is very serious about his penitence and that he is willing to ask forgiveness in proxy for the whole nation. He probably went to a quiet place where he would not be distracted from his petitions. This is so important because Daniel was not interceding for just himself but for the entire nation. He needed to be completely humble because the people were totally unworthy of God's forgiveness. I can prepare for intercession by fasting and humbling myself by getting to a quiet place and bowing a knee or lying prostate before the Lord. Once I remove all hindrances and place all my attention on God only then will I be ready to intercede.

Daniel is encouraged because Jeremiah's prophecy of Jerusalem's desolation was near its end. Jeremiah had prophesied that the Israelites would go into exile for 70 years. Now that the time is almost up, Daniel seeks for God's forgiveness and a return to Israel. He was a great intercessor and through prayer it was revealed to Him that Israel's punishment was about to come to a close. He had been faithful to God and man and God was ready to reward His faithfulness.

It is so encouraging to know that God cares so much about me that His plans for me began before I was even born. He created me with special features and for a special purpose from the day of conception. For the young, pregnant woman, she can be assured that the life inside her is precious and already designed in God's image. The father-to-be can be encouraged to love his wife because the child she is bearing is being prepared to be brought up in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. This knowledge is so overwhelming because it is unfathomable that God cares for us so much that He weaves us together in the womb. We are "fearfully and wonderfully" made.

In verses 5 and 10, God's hand guides us and protects us at all times. This is a good thing that I have experienced numerous times working with children at youth camps, VBS, Wednesday night services, and Sunday School. I also felt God's special touch leading me through some difficult working relationships last school year. I could have easily given up like so many people before me but I sensed that God had a special plan for me and wanted me to continue working at the school.

People want to flee from God because they feel like they are hemmed in and restricted by an all-knowing God. I believe people imagine that God doesn't know what they do because they want to have control over their lives. I know that is why I have pretend that God is not all-knowing. I want to have control of at least one part of my life. But I forget that God has placed boundaries in my life to protect me because He loves me. No boundaries and wanton freedom will lead to my downfall and serving the kingdom of evil.

Hezekiah recognizes that this message is an insult to God that He must deal with. The idea is that we need to recognize when the battle is the Lord's and give it to Him. In His battle He is the commander and we are just His soldiers ready to do His bidding at all times. If we fail to apply this principle, we are easily defeated, stressed out, and unavailable to do what God calls us to at the right time.

A person's attitude about giving is related to the attitude about praise in that he cannot be truly generous until he learns to be generous with his praise. On the flip side, possessiveness gets in the way of worship because we begin worshiping our money instead of our Savior. Instead, we should see ourselves as stewards of the finances God gives us. It does not belong to us but to God. This will energize our giving because we are giving back what is already His. It will energize our praise because He is the only one worthy of our Praise.

I can mention God's greatness by praising Him at the beginning and end of my prayers. In the Lord's Prayer it says "for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever." Some of my favorite songs that proclaim God's greatness are "Great I Am", "Holy, Holy, God Almighty Who was and Is to Come", "How Great Thou Art", and "Ancient of Days". He is greater than anything else and God has existed as the Supreme for all-time. How can we not praise His name?

Our prayers of praise "bless" God because they reveal our unselfishness and how much we are thankful for what He has done in our lives. He wants to hear our thanksgiving for what He is doing and who He is. We have what God desires in a blessing because He has already blessed us. He has given us hands and hearts to bless others and bless Him. Prayers that don't include blessing are powerless and empty. They are selfish prayers that do not remember that God gives us everything we need; therefore, we should bless Him and praise Him every day for as long as we live.