One of the most picturesque descriptions ever read is from Andrew Murray in his classic, With Christ in the School of Prayer.
Murray compared prayer to water pipes carrying water from a large mountain stream to the town below. The water, Murray said, is like God’s blessings, ever flowing down to His people. The pipes are like our prayers--directing where the blessings will descend. [With Christ in the School of Prayer, Pyramid Publications, July, 1976, p. 167.]
We’re taught to ask for what we need [Matthew 6:9; Philippians 4:6; Ephesians 6:20], even though we learn in Ephesians that in Christ we have already been given every spiritual blessing [Ephesians 1:3].
We’re taught that if we don’t ask, we won’t have [James 4:2] and that not to pray for each other is a sin [1 Samuel 12:23]. The Lord chooses to use our prayers to release His blessings.
If we think in terms of a personal pipeline of prayer, it’s established for us through Christ. The strength of our pipeline is our personal love relationship with the Lord.
Our obedience keeps it in good repair, and our confession keeps it clean and clear of obstruction.
Water pipes come in sections, which connect, representing the prayer promises of Scriptures--each to be considered in light of the others, and in the context of both the passage in which it appears and the whole body of truth found in the Word. For reasons beyond us, God chooses to allow our prayers to direct His blessings--when we take the time to ask.
Today, may you pray something like this:
Father, may we and those we love never go without Your blessings because we’ve failed to pray. In Jesus’ name, amen.
PrayerPower is a fully authorized nonprofit organization under section 501(C)(3) of the IRS Code. We welcome your support through prayer, as well as donations. All contributions are fully tax deductible. To make a gift in support of our mission click here.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Learning from the Master, Part 3a
This article is the third and last in a series on the Prayer Life of Jesus. In the first article, we examined the elements of His earthly prayer life as described in Hebrews 5:7-10; in the second, we learned from the Gospel of Luke that it was in prayer that Jesus discovered the will of the Father. Now we turn to an illustration of His obedience to the Father when, in prayer, Jesus learned how to react to the pressures of the crowd that followed Him.
Jesus’ disciples frequently were caught up in the reactions of the crowd to the miracles and teaching of the Master. The crowd wanted to crown their hero as their king. He was their hero. He could have had enormous political power on the strength of the willingness of the crowd to follow and respond to Him.
But Jesus could ignore the praises of the crowd, sticking to the mission to which the Father had called Him.
Many a Christian leader has lost his effectiveness by responding to the crowd rather than to the guidance of the Spirit.
Keep an eye on our blog in the coming weeks as we wrap up our study on how we can be more effective in our prayer lives.
PrayerPower is a fully authorized nonprofit organization under section 501(C)(3) of the IRS Code. We welcome your support through prayer, as well as donations. All contributions are fully tax deductible. To make a gift in support of our mission click here.
Jesus’ disciples frequently were caught up in the reactions of the crowd to the miracles and teaching of the Master. The crowd wanted to crown their hero as their king. He was their hero. He could have had enormous political power on the strength of the willingness of the crowd to follow and respond to Him.
But Jesus could ignore the praises of the crowd, sticking to the mission to which the Father had called Him.
Many a Christian leader has lost his effectiveness by responding to the crowd rather than to the guidance of the Spirit.
Keep an eye on our blog in the coming weeks as we wrap up our study on how we can be more effective in our prayer lives.
PrayerPower is a fully authorized nonprofit organization under section 501(C)(3) of the IRS Code. We welcome your support through prayer, as well as donations. All contributions are fully tax deductible. To make a gift in support of our mission click here.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Learning from the Master, Part 2d
Look at Luke 6:12-16. This is just one of many illustrations of the extensiveness of the prayer life of Jesus.
In this passage, He is in the process of selecting the twelve disciples whom He will designate Apostles -- those who will be close to Him and will minister with Him during His earthly ministry.
What we learn here, I believe, is that Jesus spent the night going over the names and faces and personalities of a great many of those disciples who were now following Him. How did He decide there should be twelve? Was that a counterpart in His life to the sons of Israel, fathers of the twelve tribes?
More importantly, how was He to know which of the many disciples would best serve Him and do the Father’s will?
Henry Blackaby, among others, shares insight at this point. The reason Jesus spent all night in prayer, Dr. Blackaby believes, is that it took the Father that long to reveal to Him the twelve that the Father had already picked. Jesus needed to hear from the Father, and there was a long process of revelation and explanation.
This view from Dr. Blackaby and other modern disciples makes perfect sense. Is not this the way our prayer life should be, if we are to follow Christ as our model? When we have a major decision to make, we need to spend the time to hear from God. We need to be sure we have weighed all the evidence He may bring to our minds as we are in the process of asking His guidance. He may not do that quickly, and we must be patient and purposeful as we listen and as we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the will of God to us.
When you obligated yourself for a 30-year mortgage on your house, did you pray it through? Did you ask God to show you whether this is the house for you, and whether just the idea of buying a house is His will?
What about the college you attended? Or the college your kids attend? How much prayer went into that decision? Were you willing to spend all night in prayer on a matter that would forever shape the life of your son or daughter -- or your own life? How about your business partnership, your career, your church membership, your acceptance of the committee chairmanship? Was that God speaking to you as you prayed and made the decision, or was it desire and political opportunism?
The key: Are we seriously praying about the most important things we do in this life, or leaving them to chance and to the siren song of the highest or lowest bidder?
You see, all of these things have to do with our relationship with our heavenly Father and with our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit living within us.
"He has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us," says Peter (2 Peter 1:3). This includes the right to ask Him for guidance -- and the right to expect an answer.
PrayerPower is a fully authorized nonprofit organization under section 501(C)(3) of the IRS Code. We welcome your support through prayer, as well as donations. All contributions are fully tax deductible. To make a gift in support of our mission click here.
In this passage, He is in the process of selecting the twelve disciples whom He will designate Apostles -- those who will be close to Him and will minister with Him during His earthly ministry.
What we learn here, I believe, is that Jesus spent the night going over the names and faces and personalities of a great many of those disciples who were now following Him. How did He decide there should be twelve? Was that a counterpart in His life to the sons of Israel, fathers of the twelve tribes?
More importantly, how was He to know which of the many disciples would best serve Him and do the Father’s will?
Henry Blackaby, among others, shares insight at this point. The reason Jesus spent all night in prayer, Dr. Blackaby believes, is that it took the Father that long to reveal to Him the twelve that the Father had already picked. Jesus needed to hear from the Father, and there was a long process of revelation and explanation.
This view from Dr. Blackaby and other modern disciples makes perfect sense. Is not this the way our prayer life should be, if we are to follow Christ as our model? When we have a major decision to make, we need to spend the time to hear from God. We need to be sure we have weighed all the evidence He may bring to our minds as we are in the process of asking His guidance. He may not do that quickly, and we must be patient and purposeful as we listen and as we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the will of God to us.
When you obligated yourself for a 30-year mortgage on your house, did you pray it through? Did you ask God to show you whether this is the house for you, and whether just the idea of buying a house is His will?
What about the college you attended? Or the college your kids attend? How much prayer went into that decision? Were you willing to spend all night in prayer on a matter that would forever shape the life of your son or daughter -- or your own life? How about your business partnership, your career, your church membership, your acceptance of the committee chairmanship? Was that God speaking to you as you prayed and made the decision, or was it desire and political opportunism?
The key: Are we seriously praying about the most important things we do in this life, or leaving them to chance and to the siren song of the highest or lowest bidder?
You see, all of these things have to do with our relationship with our heavenly Father and with our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit living within us.
"He has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us," says Peter (2 Peter 1:3). This includes the right to ask Him for guidance -- and the right to expect an answer.
PrayerPower is a fully authorized nonprofit organization under section 501(C)(3) of the IRS Code. We welcome your support through prayer, as well as donations. All contributions are fully tax deductible. To make a gift in support of our mission click here.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Learning from the Master, Part 2c
Do you think it is in God’s will for your life that you learn to pray? That you learn to pray as Jesus prayed? Ask Him. God promised that if we ask for anything within His will, and in the name of Jesus, we will have it.
James says we have not because we ask not. And Jesus said "Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full."
What we can have, if we ask in that way, is the ability to perceive God’s will. That is because we are praying in union with the Son, and in His Name. It is God’s pleasure to show us His will, and then to enable us to do it in the everyday working of our lives.
PrayerPower is a fully authorized nonprofit organization under section 501(C)(3) of the IRS Code. We welcome your support through prayer, as well as donations. All contributions are fully tax deductible. To make a gift in support of our mission click here.
James says we have not because we ask not. And Jesus said "Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full."
What we can have, if we ask in that way, is the ability to perceive God’s will. That is because we are praying in union with the Son, and in His Name. It is God’s pleasure to show us His will, and then to enable us to do it in the everyday working of our lives.
PrayerPower is a fully authorized nonprofit organization under section 501(C)(3) of the IRS Code. We welcome your support through prayer, as well as donations. All contributions are fully tax deductible. To make a gift in support of our mission click here.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Learning from the Master, Part 2b
What should an understanding of His prayer life say to us as His present-day disciples? Are there some fundamental truths for those of us who really desire to follow our Lord and begin to live the life of prayer that links us to the heavenly Father in the same way?
Truth #1: It was in prayer that Jesus learned the Father’s will We know this from the many references to His prayer life, not merely from the prayer in the Garden where he yielded to the Father’s will when it was evidently contrary to what His humanity desired. One illustration that I like to ponder is the one we find in Luke 11:1.
He had been praying, about what we don’t know, but as soon as He was finished, his disciples came to Him
and asked, "Lord, teach us to pray."
What was behind that?
I really believe that the request came out of a realization that He had something they didn’t have. They saw that it was after seasons of prayer that He exhibited power, that He made decisions affecting their lives as well as His, and that He found wisdom for dealing with the difficult parts of His life.
PrayerPower is a fully authorized nonprofit organization under section 501(C)(3) of the IRS Code. We welcome your support through prayer, as well as donations. All contributions are fully tax deductible. To make a gift in support of our mission click here.
Truth #1: It was in prayer that Jesus learned the Father’s will We know this from the many references to His prayer life, not merely from the prayer in the Garden where he yielded to the Father’s will when it was evidently contrary to what His humanity desired. One illustration that I like to ponder is the one we find in Luke 11:1.
He had been praying, about what we don’t know, but as soon as He was finished, his disciples came to Him
and asked, "Lord, teach us to pray."
What was behind that?
I really believe that the request came out of a realization that He had something they didn’t have. They saw that it was after seasons of prayer that He exhibited power, that He made decisions affecting their lives as well as His, and that He found wisdom for dealing with the difficult parts of His life.
PrayerPower is a fully authorized nonprofit organization under section 501(C)(3) of the IRS Code. We welcome your support through prayer, as well as donations. All contributions are fully tax deductible. To make a gift in support of our mission click here.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Learning from the Master, Part 2a
This article is the second in a series on the Prayer Life of Jesus. In the first article, we examined the elements of His earthly prayer life as described in Hebrews 5:7-10. Here we turn to the first of two significant Scriptural examples that graphically illustrate the important place that prayer occupied in the carrying out of His earthly assignment.
Why did Jesus pray? Was He not divine? Did He not know the Father’s will for Him from the very beginning of His life?
Those are questions that naturally arise as we examine the prayer life of Jesus. The truth is that there are no easy answers. Because we are finite creatures, we can never fully understand those things we encounter as infinite. We cannot understand the Trinity (how can three be one, and one three?) We do not grasp what Paul means as he writes in Philippians 2 that Christ "made himself nothing" (or "emptied himself," as the King James Version says) in order to leave heaven for earth and take on Himself the form of a human servant.
How much emptying did He do?
In the same way, we cannot know how much Jesus, in His earthly journey, knew of His own nature. He seemed to know, from his childhood, that He was on mission for God ("I must be about my Father’s business" [Luke 2:49], age 12). More than once, He predicted His own impending death (Mark 8:31, 10:33; Luke 18:31-33) with clear description of the what, the how and the why. What did He not know?
While these are perplexing, if significant, theological questions, we must rely on the evidence of Scripture to guide us through those deep waters where there is much we cannot know for certain. And what we can discover in Scripture is that Jesus prayed. If there is a single dominant characteristic of His life, it is that He prayed. Prayer was the indispensable fact of His relationship with His heavenly Father.
PrayerPower is a fully authorized nonprofit organization under section 501(C)(3) of the IRS Code. We welcome your support through prayer, as well as donations. All contributions are fully tax deductible. To make a gift in support of our mission click here.
Why did Jesus pray? Was He not divine? Did He not know the Father’s will for Him from the very beginning of His life?
Those are questions that naturally arise as we examine the prayer life of Jesus. The truth is that there are no easy answers. Because we are finite creatures, we can never fully understand those things we encounter as infinite. We cannot understand the Trinity (how can three be one, and one three?) We do not grasp what Paul means as he writes in Philippians 2 that Christ "made himself nothing" (or "emptied himself," as the King James Version says) in order to leave heaven for earth and take on Himself the form of a human servant.
How much emptying did He do?
In the same way, we cannot know how much Jesus, in His earthly journey, knew of His own nature. He seemed to know, from his childhood, that He was on mission for God ("I must be about my Father’s business" [Luke 2:49], age 12). More than once, He predicted His own impending death (Mark 8:31, 10:33; Luke 18:31-33) with clear description of the what, the how and the why. What did He not know?
While these are perplexing, if significant, theological questions, we must rely on the evidence of Scripture to guide us through those deep waters where there is much we cannot know for certain. And what we can discover in Scripture is that Jesus prayed. If there is a single dominant characteristic of His life, it is that He prayed. Prayer was the indispensable fact of His relationship with His heavenly Father.
PrayerPower is a fully authorized nonprofit organization under section 501(C)(3) of the IRS Code. We welcome your support through prayer, as well as donations. All contributions are fully tax deductible. To make a gift in support of our mission click here.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Learning from the Master, Part 1b
Certainly the most dramatic and illustrative passage of scripture describing Jesus’ life of prayer is found in the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 5:
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5:7-10 NIV)
Here we have a concise presentation of the Master’s prayer life. The first important thing we see is that this is what His prayer life was like during His life on earth (in Hebrews 7:25, we find that He is still praying in heaven, praying for us as intercessor. The life of Jesus always was and still is a life of prayer.)
On earth, Jesus’ prayer life contained:
1. Passion and Compassion
He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears. Is it any wonder that we have so few true intercessors in our time? How long has it been since your communion with the heavenly Father led you to loud cries and tears? But I can tell you that in our day God is raising up men and women whose hearts can be broken over a lost world and a lost neighbor and a brother or sister drifting into sin and rebellion. We’re seeing that more and more wherever we go. God is doing a work in His people to conform us to the likeness of His son in passion and compassion.
2. Reverent Submission
Do our prayers reveal a reverent submission to the will of the Father? The prayers of Jesus always did. The writer of Hebrews here reminds us of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me..." Was His prayer heard? Yes. But the answer was "no." The will of the Father was that He endure the cross, despising the shame, and thus become the firstborn among many brothers. And when Jesus heard the will of His Father, He yielded in reverent submission. Is it in your heart to yield to the will of the Father in reverent submission? When the evident leading of God takes you in a direction that you don’t wish to go, and the end of which is hidden from you, are you able to respond in reverent submission?
That is a characteristic of the prayer life of Jesus, and it must become a characteristic of ours, if we are to be conformed to His likeness.
3. Obedience
He learned obedience by what He suffered. And that is the way you and I will learn obedience. Not one of us will ask God to give us suffering, but I can tell you that suffering will come. Without a doubt, it has already come into your life, and will come again. That is why you’re seeking to learn more about prayer, and about your personal relationship with the heavenly Father. Because God is molding your life just as He molded the life of His Son -- through the purifying fire of suffering.
4. Victory
Once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. That was the culmination of God’s will for the Lord Jesus. Everything that came before was preparation. And everything in your life and mine so far has been preparation, as God has been crafting us into the vessels of His choosing.
Can we be made perfect? Yes. Perfect here means complete. Jesus, on the last night of His life, prayed, "Father, I have finished the work you gave me to do." That is what spiritual perfection is: completing the work God created us to do. Paul wrote to Timothy, "I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will ward to me on that day -- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing." Would we have looked at Paul and called him "perfect"? No. This is the same Paul who in Romans 7 says plainly that he doesn’t do what he knows he should, and does the things he knows he shouldn’t. But what he did was finish what God gave him to do.
The writer of Hebrews is giving us the example of Jesus in that same light. It was in His obedience to the Father, in accomplishing the will of the Father, that He became the source of our eternal salvation.
PrayerPower is a fully authorized nonprofit organization under section 501(C)(3) of the IRS Code. We welcome your support through prayer, as well as donations. All contributions are fully tax deductible. To make a gift in support of our mission click here.
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