Learning to Pray

 Did you know that prayer is a taught discipline?

Luke 11:1

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

For some of us, prayer comes easy. For me, God has taught me to pray through the sorrows and struggles of my life. I cannot make it one hour without praying. 

But for others, prayer can be a struggle. The answer is simply to ask Jesus to teach you to pray.

Funny thing is, in order to ask Jesus to teach you to pray, you have to pray. So, start there. Pray that Jesus would teach you to pray. 

But anyone who ever took lessons to play an instrument or to hit a baseball or whatever, you know you have to practice to get better at what you are learning. 

So, pray. Pray about everything. Soon you will find yourself being completely dependent upon Jesus. Soon you will understand how it is possible to live out 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (which commands us to "pray without ceasing."

This will change everything.

The Elusiveness of Joy.

We are a rebellious people on this earth. That rebellious nature extends into the life of the Christian. Yet, we are called out of rebellion and into slavery when we come to Christ. This is not a forced slavery, but it is instead, an exercise of our free will, motivated by our love for Jesus, that calls us to become bondservants. You see this is one of the great paradoxes of scripture, that Christ has set us free, but He set us free so that we would use our freedom to become slaves to Him. Why? You can find the explanation in what Jesus says in John 14:31, “But I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”

The way the world can see we love the Father and His Son, is through our response to His commands.

Jesus went on and said this in John 15:9-10, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”

Yesterday in the sermon I heard preached, the pastor made this statement, “Christians ought to be the most joyful people on earth.” Yet, many of us walk around as if the whole world is coming down upon us. Maybe it is. But joy, Christian joy, is not dependent upon circumstances.

Why aren’t we joy-filled? (I’ve read your Facebook posts people, don’t be in denial, joy isn’t characterizing us as it should.) Again, let Jesus explain.

John 15:9-11
 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.  These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Our joy will be full, when our obedience is towards His commandments. It’s that simple. Abide in His love. Let love, not this fake, phony love the world speaks of, but true Christian love, dominate your life. Abide in His love. Again, what did Jesus say? He said this, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.”

These aren’t my words; they are the words of Christ. Abide in them. Abide in Him. Now go, open your Bible and learn what this means.

 

Great Is His Faithfulness

 

Have you ever just felt like everything is against you? Life gets so hard and it just seems like even God is not listening or if He is, He is just letting you drown in a sea of troubles. Those around you let you down. You even let yourself down. The temptation is to think even God has let you down. When this happens, it becomes unbearable and you just want to give up. I can tell you this, you are not alone. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

We simply must endure in these times and remember that people will let us down. They are human and humans fail. We are human and humans fail. But God? No, He is not human, and He does not fail. We cannot place our faith and hopes in others, nor in ourselves, but in God.

In the difficult days of despair, we must look to the scriptures to find our hope. The Book of Laminations has a wonderful picture of these times. Open it to chapter three, where we find Jeremiah, lamenting the sorrows of the results of sin of his people and nation. Sometimes it is the sins of others that bring us troubles and sometimes it is our own sin. Listen to the cries of Jeremiah.

Lamentations 3:1
 I am the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath.

Lamentations 3:3-7
 Surely against me He has turned His hand Repeatedly all the day.  He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones.  He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.  In dark places He has made me dwell, Like those who have long been dead.  He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.

Lamentations 3:8
 Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer.

Things are so bad; it seems God is no longer listening.

Lamentations 3:14-18
 I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day.  He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood.  He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust.  My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness.  So I say, "My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the LORD."

Have you lost your hope from the Lord?

If so then you must return to God’s Word and listen to the truth of who God is.

Lamentations 3:21-23
 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:  The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;  they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Our hope can only be in God. His love never ceases. His mercies never fail. They are new every morning. Great is the faithfulness of the Lord.

Lamentations 3:24
 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Put your hope in Him, not in any other, even in yourself. Our love, our mercies, and our faithfulness, will fail us. But not His.

But wait a minute and see this important truth.

Lamentations 3:25-26
 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.  It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

We have to wait on God.

Lamentations 3:28
 Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;

We have to sit in silence.

Lamentations 3:31-33
 For the Lord will not cast off forever,  but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;  for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.

Lamentations 3:40-42
 Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!  Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:  “We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.

Therefore, we must take time to sit in silence and listen for Him. We are sinners who daily rebel and transgress against Him. We must examine ourselves and then repent and confess for as we see in 1 John 1:6-10 that reminds us that if “we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

Repent, confess and be cleansed. Let His Word be in us. Pray for those who, in their sin, bring sorrow to our souls and let God be the one who handles them.

Lamentations 3:52-66
 “I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause;  they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me;  water closed over my head; I said, ‘I am lost.’  “I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit;  you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’  You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’  “You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life.  You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge my cause.  You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.  “You have heard their taunts, O LORD, all their plots against me.  The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long.  Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the object of their taunts.  “You will repay them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.  You will give them dullness of heart; your curse will be on them.  You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under your heavens, O LORD.”

 

To those who seek Him with a heart of repentance and confession, His mercies are new every day. To those who reject Him and plot against His people, His curse will be upon them.

Take time to sit in silence and wait on the Lord. Great is His faithfulness. His love and mercies never end.

Us? We will fail each other, and we will fail ourselves. More importantly, we will fail God.

Put your faith in Him. Trust Him to be God over all people and over all things.

Great is His faithfulness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How To Get Out of Bed When Sorrow Makes You Sleepy

Whether you suffer from a life-long struggle with depression or you simply live life on this earth, most of us have known seasons of sorrow. These are those times when life just seems unbearable and you must battle to just even take another breath. One of the ways our bodies often deal with the stress that deep despair of mind heaps upon us, is to sleep. This morning as I read my Bible. I noticed something I had previously failed to see.

After the event we know as the Last Supper, Jesus headed out to the Mount of Olives, where He goes into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. I always knew that this was a deeply distressing time for Jesus, as He was about to go to the cross where the Holy, sinless Son of God, would become sin for us, paying the ultimate penalty we deserve. Read here Luke’s account of this event.

Luke 22:39-45
And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.  And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”  And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”  And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow,

I had always looked at the disciples in this story as simply lazy bums, who leave their Lord alone in the garden to pray while they sleep. But Dr. Luke tells us that they were not just tired and lazy, they were sleeping for sorrow. They were broken within themselves. They were depressed, despairing, and probably felt a loss of hope. Not only had they finally woke up to the fact that Jesus was about to die, they had just learned that one of their own would betray Him. But even worse, Jesus had also told them that they too, would abandon Him in this hour of need. I get it. How often my own sin has reminded me of my own experiences of failing Jesus.

Maybe this very morning, you have woken up from sleep wondering how you will get through this day. Sorrow, despair, and feelings of failure permeate your mind. The truth is, this is of the devil. It is a spiritual attack. We are at war with our enemy the devil and he will tell you that all that despair is deserved and that there is no hope.

But Jesus has an answer to these times of sorrow and depression. He knows they are temptations of Satan, who does not want us to turn to God in these times, but instead he tells us to pull up the covers and just go back to sleep. If Satan can keep us in bed sleeping, he knows we will be ineffective as Christ’s disciples. So, listen to what Jesus has to say to us.

 Luke 22:46
“Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Rise and pray that you might not enter into temptation. Jesus speaks not only with authority here, but also with the credibility of knowing true sorrow. As Jesus faced the most sorrowful event ever in human history, He, like us, was in agony. Dr. Luke describes it; “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down.”

Prayer is the answer to rising out of the ash pit of true despair. It was the means by which God empowered Jesus to say, “Not my will, but your will be done.” For God hears the prayers of those who are His when they in humility come to Him in their despair. God even sends help.

Luke 22:43
And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.

Hebrews 1:13-14
And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?  Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

When we face the trials and temptations of this life, we can go to our Father in Heaven and He will give us the strength to face the day. He will even send angels to help strengthen us.

The story of Jesus in the Garden is a story of both sorrow and of victory over that sorrow. But we must pray and as Jesus did, pray fervently and earnestly. We must, as Jesus did, submit ourselves to the sovereignty of God having faith in the fact that He will bring us through.

I hope this morning; whatever trial you face you will wake up and go to your knees. Pray. And don’t be afraid or too prideful to ask others to pray for you. I will. Just let me know what prayers you need.

Be blessed.

Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 142

Psalm 142 is a Makil psalm of David, which means it is a psalm that is to instruct us. Since it is also a prayer, we can see that it is meant to help us learn how we should pray.

Psalm 142:1-2

I cry aloud with my voice to the LORD; I make supplication with my voice to the LORD.  I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him.

David wrote this from the cave, probably during the time he was hiding from Saul, who wanted him dead. If you ever suffered from depression and feelings of abandonment, then you can relate to David, for this was his state of mind. David was alone, so he cried out to God. Sometimes we simply need to get away and cry out aloud to God. We need to pour ourselves out to Him and simply declare what troubles us. Yes, He already knows our situation, but it shows our humility and our recognition of our complete dependence on Him when we pour ourselves out to in prayer.

Psalm 142:3
When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path. In the way where I walk They have hidden a trap for me.

David was overwhelmed deeply inside his very spirit. He knows God knew where He was, yet David reminds God that he knows God knows. This is a form of worship. Going to God and telling Him we recognize God’s all-knowing power is part of how we express our worship.

Psalm 142:4
Look to the right and see; For there is no one who regards me; There is no escape for me; No one cares for my soul.

Most of us have been there. It seems as if no one cares. We think no one is there for us and there is no hope. Look at see what David says next.

Psalm 142:5-6
I cried out to You, O LORD; I said, "You are my refuge, My portion in the land of the living. "Give heed to my cry, For I am brought very low; Deliver me from my persecutors, For they are too strong for me.

He turns to God. He humbles himself and confesses it’s all too much.

Psalm 142:7
"Bring my soul out of prison, So that I may give thanks to Your name; The righteous will surround me, For You will deal bountifully with me."

David knows God will provide. He finishes this prayer with thanksgiving, having prayed in faith that God will deliver him and give him even more than he asked.

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This is a great lesson in faith for us all. Whatever the situation, pray and tell God where you are and how you feel. Then thank Him for answering your prayers. He will deal bountifully with you.

Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 113

Psalm 113 is clearly a psalm of praise. In it we can find great reasons why God deserves our worship and praise.

Psalm 113:1-3
Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the LORD.  Blessed be

the name of the LORD From this time forth and forever.  From the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the LORD is to be praised.

First of all, we can praise God because of His great name. This means that God is, who He says He is. He can be trusted because He is faithful to His promises and His Word. In the business world to say a man has a good name, is to say he has a good reputation. This means he can be trusted. God can be trusted. God’s name is powerful. This is why we must pray in the name of Jesus. Unless we come to the throne of God cloaked with the blood of Christ, we have no standing before God. Our name is not good and cannot be praised, because at the end of our name comes a title and that title is sinner. But the name of the Lord is to be praised and we are to praise Him from the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun.

Psalm 113:4-6
The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens.  Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high,  Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth?

The Lord is above, every single thing we know of. Every institution on this earth which has authority, has received that authority from God. They will be held accountable for how they governed. Yet, we see corruption at all levels of authority because of the selfishness, greed, and pride of man. But God, who is above all things, loved us so much that He humbled Himself and came to earth through the incarnation of Jesus, to bring us salvation. Who is like our Lord?

Psalm 113:7-9
He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the needy from the ash heap,  To make them sit with princes, With the princes of His people.  He makes the barren woman abide in the house As a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD!

Despite our sinful, rebellion against God, His love lifts us up out of our own ash heap of sin. In the Old Testament days, the ash heap was the gathering place of the outcasts of society. But when Jesus came, who did He come to? Not to those who thought themselves righteous and above the downtrodden. Listen to His words from Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Yes, there are great reasons to praise the name of the Lord from daylight to dark. There is also hope no matter how far you have fallen into the pit of the life. If you are part of the gathering at the ash heap, then raise your voice in praise for God has come to lift you up and take you to the heights of the heavens. Not because of who you are, but because of who He is.

Praise the Lord. The name of the Lord is to be praised.